What is corecore on TikTok? Origin explained as an aesthetic trend sends the internet into a frenzy 

With #corecore blowing up on TikTok, you'll see a new video with the same qualities every few minutes. Poorly edited videos, melancholic music, and a quick mash-up of some random clips are the signature corecore themes.

Viewers are often left feeling slightly sad but relate to the videos. If you spend hours scrolling through social media platforms - there is a high chance that you've seen something like the TikTok video attached below:

It is an example of a trending hashtag. It is loosely similar to #nichetok, which covers almost the same domain.

With over 371 million views on TikTok alone, the hashtag corecore is meant to make the viewer feel something.

Know Your Meme defines it as:

"plays on the -core suffix by making a 'core' out of the collective consciousness of all 'cores.'"

TikTokers can't get enough of this trend, and almost every user's 'For You' page or 'fyp' has a video waiting for them to get to with the hashtag.

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Where does 'corecore' come from?

The suffix '-core' is used to describe some esthetic. It is usually preceded by the esthetic itself. For example, cottage-core or bloke-core.

The core was associated with music, with the origin being 'hardcore' music. The term "norm-core" music was first used in 2013, and soon the suffix began to separate itself from its musical roots. Tumblr saw cottage-core and bloke-core trends in 2018 and 2021, respectively.

With several esthetics emerging, it was only a matter of time before corecore became a thing.

It was first used in 2020 by a Tumblr user named Muttgirl. They started tagging corecore in the caption of her posts quite frequently. In April 2020, Muttgirl posted a Hannah Montana cigarette cartoon and used the hashtag for the first time. It gained approximately 110 notes.

Image via Twitter/muttgirl

In the early 2020s, the concept of corecore was taken lightheartedly. Several jokes on the internet connected the esthetic with a movie called The Core. Twitter user Rellortnocon posted a series of The Core merchandise with the hashtag corecore.

Another Twitter user, Soupforeloise, tweeted a series of pictures with the viral hashtag. The entire picture was a literal definition of the core and gained almost 1,400 likes on Twitter.

Only in early 2022 did viewers start taking this esthetic in a non-literal sense.

On January 1, 2021, masonoelle on TikTok posted a small number of clips put together in a video. The videos, which included footage from American Psycho and Charlie D'Amelio, demonstrated how an abundance of content might cause viewers to romanticize insanity. On TikTok, the video earned about 162.4k likes and 745 shares. The video received roughly 162.4k likes on TikTok with 745 shares.

Highenquiries on TikTok posted a similar video on March 18, 2022, and garnered over 100.8k likes and 797 shares. The clips in the video ranged from British filmmaker Adam Curtis to Nikocado Avocado.

Heksensabbat on TikTok was the first to post a corecore edit. He came up with the term on July 16, 2022. He combined many footage, including ones from the TV shows Family Guy, Good Times, and Taxi Driver. Over 132k people have liked, and nearly 1,500 have shared his video.

Soon enough, the hashtag caught the attention of content curators, and Corecore became a new trend that is everywhere.

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Viewers react to the #corecore viral videos

The Twitterati have mixed opinions about Corecore being on all social media platforms. Some say they are obsessed with the esthetic, whereas others say it isn't worth the hype.

With Corecore taking over TikTok, it is only a matter of time before it goes onto Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms.