The Grace Kelly challenge song refers to the 2015 viral TikTok trend where users tried to transform their appearance to look like Grace Kelly. The trend was set to the song “Grace Kelly” by Mika.
Origin of the Grace Kelly Challenge
The Grace Kelly challenge originated on TikTok in early 2015. It started when users, mainly young women, began posting videos where they transitioned from casual wear to a formal vintage-style look reminiscent of classic Hollywood actress and princess Grace Kelly.
The videos would show the user with messy hair and casual clothes lip-syncing to the beginning lyrics of “Grace Kelly” by Mika. Then they would transition to have their hair styled, makeup done, and dressed in elegant clothing to finish lip-syncing the song.
The trend caught on quickly, with the hashtag #GraceKellyChallenge gaining over 230 million views on TikTok. Users liked the escapism the trend provided through literally transforming into a glamorous princess. It also showed off makeup and fashion skills.
The Meaning of “Grace Kelly” by Mika
The song that accompanied the challenge, “Grace Kelly” by Mika, was a fitting choice thematically. Released in 2007, the upbeat pop song is about the pressures of achieving perfection and living up to unrealistic expectations.
The lyrics are written from the perspective of a man singing to a woman, telling her she is trying too hard to reach an impossibly high standard of beauty and poise set by the late actress Grace Kelly:
But in those shoes I don’t think you can walk,
The beauty queen on the silver screen
That beauty queen on the silver screen
They say that a hero could save us,
I’m not gonna stand here and wait
The song connects to the TikTok trend of girls attempting to transform into Grace Kelly’s likeness. The lyrics suggest that striving to achieve the actress’ level of beauty and composure is unrealistic and could prevent you from being yourself.
Viral Spread of the Grace Kelly Challenge
The Grace Kelly challenge took off rapidly on TikTok, quickly spreading beyond the lip-syncing videos to tutorials. Users filmed makeup, hair, and fashion tutorials to show how to recreate Grace Kelly’s classy vintage look.
| Year | Total Views |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 230 million |
| 2016 | 412 million |
| 2017 | 661 million |
As seen in the table above, the hashtag gained over 230 million views in 2015 when the trend started, growing to 412 million views in 2016 and 661 million by 2017.
Part of the viral success came from the trend spreading to other social media apps like Instagram and YouTube. Makeup vloggers would post their own Grace Kelly makeup tutorials to Instagram. On YouTube, girls would record full videos of their Grace Kelly transformations set to the song.
Criticism and Decline of the Grace Kelly Challenge
Despite its initial popularity, the Grace Kelly challenge was also met with some criticism. Some users felt it promoted unrealistic beauty standards by idolizing Grace Kelly’s appearance and Hollywood glamour. Others argued the trend romanticized harmful gender stereotypes, like prioritizing looks and dressing for the male gaze.
There was also backlash against the trend for its lack of diversity. The viral videos predominantly featured thin, cis white women attempting to look like Grace Kelly, excluding women of color.
By 2018, the hashtag had dropped to 415 million views as fewer users participated in the challenge. While interest declined, the trend remains one of TikTok’s first viral challenges that ushered in an era of users showcasing beauty, style, and transformations through hashtags and songs.
Key Elements of the Grace Kelly Challenge
The Grace Kelly challenge had a few key components that turned it into a distinctive viral TikTok trend:
– Song choice – Using “Grace Kelly” by Mika as the soundtrack ensured the videos shared a cohesive theme about transforming into an unrealistic standard of beauty.
– Before and after – Showing a visual transformation from casual to elegant recalled vintage Hollywood quick change acts and showed off makeup and styling skills.
– Vintage fashion – Grace Kelly’s classy, feminine, 1950’s style created a cohesive and recognizable look for users to emulate.
– Hashtag – Using #GraceKellyChallenge allowed the trend to spread rapidly as more users deliberately tagged their videos with the hashtag to join the viral moment.
While short-lived, the trend played an important role in TikTok’s growth by pioneering viral challenges tied to songs, beauty content, and showcasing talent through online videos.
Lasting Impact of the Grace Kelly Challenge
Despite losing popularity, the Grace Kelly challenge left a lasting impact on TikTok and influencer culture. Some key effects of note:
– Normalized beauty/style transformations – The videos popularized talent-showcasing transitions on social media that are now ubiquitous.
– Pushed vintage fashion – Grace Kelly’s glamorous retro style helped spark widespread interest in 1950s fashion and aesthetics that persists today.
– Influenced makeup trends – Bold red lips, winged liner, and sculpted brows became go-to’s partially thanks to the trend.
– Promoted creativity – The accessible, DIY nature of the challenge encouraged users to flex their creative muscles through makeup, hair, costuming, editing, and performance.
– Ushered in song-trend pairing – Using a specific song as the soundtrack to a meme or challenge took off after this trend.
– Set the stage for roleplay/cosplay – Cosplaying and roleplaying as celebrities, often with elaborate costume and makeup transformations, grew from trends like this.
Though controversial, the Grace Kelly challenge ultimately showed the power of TikTok to drive pop culture and creativity by sparking viral trends tied to music.
The Grace Kelly Transformation Today on TikTok
On today’s TikTok in 2023, the Grace Kelly challenge hashtag has 1.2 billion views though it is no longer as popular. However, TikTok users continue to post vintage-style “getting ready” transitions, beauty tutorials, and vintage outfit lookbooks. Grace Kelly transformations specifically also continue to pop up.
The trend has also morphed into users doing dramatic “Disney princess challenge” transformations where users emulate the look of a specific Disney princess. So while directly emulating Grace Kelly is less common, the creative spirit of the viral 2015 trend lives on through different iterations of costume and beauty transformations set to music.
Ultimately, the Grace Kelly challenge gave birth to one of the first huge viral trends on TikTok. Though controversial, it paved the way for showcasing creativity through hashtags, beauty content, song trends, and talent-revealing transition videos which are now staples across social media. For a moment in time, thousands of teens found escapism in channeling Hollywood’s elegant princess through the magic of TikTok.
Conclusion
The Grace Kelly challenge was one of TikTok’s first large viral trends in 2015-2016 that helped propel the app’s early growth. Users, mainly young women, transformed their look from casual to an elegant, vintage Grace Kelly-inspired aesthetic while lip-syncing Mika’s song “Grace Kelly.”
The hashtag #GraceKellyChallenge gained hundreds of millions of views at its peak. However, the trend was also criticized for promoting unrealistic beauty standards and lack of diversity. While the specific challenge has declined, it pioneered concepts like beauty transitions, song trends, and talent showcases. Grace Kelly’s glamorous style also influenced fashion and makeup. Though controversial, the viral videos ultimately demonstrated the power of TikTok to rapidly spread pop culture creativity.
