Which song did TikTok identify as the soundtrack for its 2021 “August slipped away” memory trend?
Answer
“august” by Taylor Swift
TikTok identified Taylor Swift’s “august” as the soundtrack for its 2021 “August slipped away” memory trend.
The trend encouraged creators to assemble quick montages of summer memories, including travel scenes, cleaning clips, photographs, and personal stories saved on their phones. The song’s nostalgic imagery made it a natural fit for videos about summer ending and memories becoming distant.
TikTok’s newsroom described the format in September 2021, and Swift herself joined the trend. The recurring custom later became associated with the beginning of August, when fans and creators return to the song each year.
The trend is distinct from the song’s fictional love triangle. Some videos focus on romance, but the broader format is about documenting and romanticizing summer memories rather than retelling the plot of Folklore.