The Tube Girl TikTok Phenomenon Explained, And Our Favorite Takes On The Trend
Because of TikTok, it’s prevalence in our lives, and people’s unending desire to go viral, shame is dead. That’s not a bad thing — sure, people breaking into elaborate dances in public places when you’re just trying to get on with your day can be grating. And disturbing the people around you by being obnoxious is never a good thing. But the confidence it takes to express yourself in a public place in a very public way is … often… ~ admirable ~.
That’s why the internet is obsessed with TikTok’s most recent phenomenon, Tube Girl. Tube Girl, aka Sabrina Bahsoon, rose to TikTok fame after a self-filmed video of her exuding confidence using the 0.5 lens on her phone while riding London’s Underground (hence the name — “tube”) went viral, inadvertently sparking a movement that champions self-confidence.
@sabrinabahsoon Gotta match the vibes when i arrive #londontiktok #nickiminaj
In the original video, which has garnered over 724k likes, nearly 2000 comments, and 30k shares, Bahsoon is seen hyping herself up in the middle of the train to Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida’s “Where Dem Girls At.” Over the caption “Being the friend who lives on the other side of the city so you gotta hype yourself up during the commute.”
A vast majority of the responses are positive, “Social anxiety is afraid of u girl” says one commenter, “EXCUSE ME??? THE CAMERAWORK AND FACE?!?!?!? simply giving,” says another, even Wendy’s UK account chimed in “Iconic Behavior only.”
@sabrinabahsoon Tube Girl M.A.C Girl @maccosmetics #ad #MACstudioradiance
Even the more self-conscious comments can’t stand up to Bahsoon’s vibe, “Imagine standing up to do this then silently sitting back down,” says one, to which Bahsoon replied, “I just kept jamming to my tunes.”
Word. We all need to embrace our inner Tube Girl. And this is exactly what people are doing — Bahsoon has sparked a movement known as the #tubegirleffect which has millions of TikTok users embracing self-confidence on subways, trains, and buses. And a lot of them are genuine — sure, there are also some parodies out there, but even the parodies are good-natured and positive.
Here are some of our favorite takes below.
@lohannysant The result video from the POV tik tok #tubegirl #nycsubwaygirl #tubegirleffect
@itsbradstoll
@loumayyy My first try and it took everything in me to keep filming I gotta work on those angles though
@ogechiokonkwo Channeling my inner tube girl on my way to Boston #tubegirleffect #tubegirl
@kelsealouuu Okay i was so nervous i did it getting off the train but i swear fully doing it on the train is the next stop #tubegirl #tubegirleffect
@kkbutterfly27xxlives i wanna see the result icl #tubegirl
@themichaelbarrymore Should I do it on the tube? #tubegirl #michaelbarrymore #confidence
@helen_christie tube girl feeding my delulu #tubegirl #comedy #ukcomedy #london
Bahsoon’s TikTok virality has led to some real-life success as well. Not only has she garnered quite a large following but she also made a runway debut at MAC Cosmetics’ London fashion show. Reminding us that as good as the imitators are, no one does it quite like Tube Girl.
@sabrinabahsoon Getting litty with my girlies have me acting silly on the tube #tubegirl