Social media is vast, yet some videos, audios, and challenges go viral in an instant. Some trends last the test of time, while others vanish in a week. Trends move so quickly that it’s nearly impossible to predict, but while they’re in the spotlight, we can examine how they get there, why we love them, and why some may hate them. Let’s take a look behind our next trend, corecore.
Corecore is a new trend hitting TikTok that, at first glance, looks like a mix-match of movie clips, memes, and other bizarre b-roll paired with melancholic music and audio. It’s causing a flood of emotions from viewers, ranging from confusion and head-scratching to appreciation and adoration. But what exactly is the meaning of these seemingly random video compilations?
@sebastianvalencia.mp4 Wake up. #corecore #nichetok ♬ original sound – Sebastian V
The Visual Poetry of Gen Z
While corecore videos seem like an arbitrary video compilation, each clip and sound is chosen very purposefully by the creator. As mentioned above, corecore videos contain an assortment of memes, b-roll, movie clips, and other random clips found from across the internet. These clips all hold meaning to the creator and share a common theme in the creator’s eyes and for whoever resonates with the video.
These videos have a surreal feel and can reflect an array of emotions—loneliness, depression, nostalgia, impending doom, joy, falling in love, fear of the future—and they can often express social commentary. Corecore videos can even be ironic and used to mock something the creator may dislike. There is no limit to the creativity that can be tapped into when creating corecore videos. It is stated by many to be an emerging art form for Gen Z creators, and it can be compared to visual poetry.
Corecore was given its strange name as an ironic play on the flood of “-core” trends, genres, and aesthetics. While the name corecore first surfaced on Tumblr, what corecore was on Tumblr is very different from what it has grown to be on TikTok. On Tumblr, it was used to create meme compilations and was solely used as a pun and to mock the overuse of the suffix. On TikTok, it has transformed into a new art form.
“In a corecore post, individually the snippets don’t make sense on their own but together give them a shared context and certain power. There is a bit of a therapeutic quality to corecore in the sense that the chaotic and disordered structure of the clips reflect the technological disarray and ennui young people face these days. It is a beautiful artform that fits the younger generation perfectly. What’s great about corecore is it has longevity and it’s ever-evolving, having taken many new forms in the past few months alone.”
– Paul Hoovestol, Creative Strategist
Similar to de-influencing, corecore is a trend that currently lives primarily on TikTok. Trend watchers began to notice the trend popping up on TikTok in November 2022, but it has recently reached a wider range of For You pages, with more creators hopping on the trend in the last couple of months. 
On TikTok, #corecore has 1.9 billion views and growing.
Meme Poetry, but WHY?
What makes corecore unique is that at the beginning of its emergence, it did not fall into any trend. It was even dubbed an “anti-trend” by Kieran Press-Reynolds, the digital culture blogger at Insider. The anti-trend nature of the content and the fact that the content is so visually different from other content seen on TikTok is what drew in the flood of people intrigued by corecore and the eventual corecore lovers.
Corecore brings a new wave of raw, amateur-edited videos to TikTok, which is the type of content that attracted many people to TikTok in the first-place. The core of TikTok.
Corecore’s stark difference from the typical FYP content isn’t the only reason why we think people are drawn to it. We believe corecore causes the most intrigue because its main goal is to both express the creators’ emotions and elicit emotions from viewers. Additionally, it elicits emotions that are not usually triggered while watching more “normal” trend videos.
Corecore videos, similar to other art forms, make people think about what they are viewing, plus they are often described in comment sections as pulling people away from mindless scrolling, particularly “doomscrolling.” Doomscrolling is the act of excessively and mindlessly scrolling through social media that has negative themes, in turn causing higher levels of hopelessness and anxiety. This endless scrolling also disrupts our sleeping patterns and our circadian rhythms.
Beneath many corecore posts, users comment on how they want to stay on corecore or how they were going to stop scrolling after watching the video. 
While the reality is that a lot of viewers won’t really stop their excessive scrolling, corecore videos are very therapeutic for many people and give people a space to release their emotions.
Do Brands and Corecore Belong Together?
Corecore is not a trend that can be easily hopped on or re-created by brands, but this does not mean that it is impossible. If a brand wants to dive into the corecore corner of TikTok, it must do so very tactfully.
Something to keep in mind about the corecore trend is that, even without a brand trying to enter, users can be very harsh critics of videos tagged #corecore. In the comment sections of some corecore videos, users praise the creator’s ability to capture corecore, and under other content that looks seemingly the same, it gets dragged.
In order to avoid eliciting eye-rolls and hate, brand marketers attempting corecore must hone in on an emotion or theme that has an authentic connection to the product and lean fully into creativity. If you’re considering hopping into corecore, keep these tips in mind:
- Don’t be afraid to stray away from product placement.
- Keep content raw and welcome amateur-looking content.
- Select a creator with experience in video editing, meme culture, or knowledge of the trend itself.
- Lean into absurdity or take an ironic approach.
Corecore videos all have a similar format, but they all convey very different kinds of emotions. While corecore is not the right fit for every brand, if you’re ready to take a leap into influential marketing by focusing on creativity and a unique niche, start by finding an emotion or social issue that your audiences resonate with and jump in.
“Brands have a great opportunity to tap into it for more anthemic brand content and compilation content that lives at a higher altitude in the hierarchy of messaging, aka more brand belief, mission, and lifestyle than tangible product USP’s and KM’s. It’s a wonderful opportunity to also string together brand or creator content in a way that emotionally resonates. Additionally, what qualifies as corecore is broad enough still that it gives brands a lot of flexibility to participate and continue to define corecore!”
– Alex Mathieu, Head of Creative Strategy
Take a peek at how Goldfish is leaning into the bizarre world of offbeat internet culture. While it does not follow the general video format of corecore listed above, it takes an ironic approach to the strange and “impending-doom” elements corecore can convey.
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Want to learn more about corecore and other unique niches your brand can dip its toes into? Reach out to Open Influence today. Our team of creative marketing experts can help you accomplish bringing to life even the strangest trends to surface on social media.
