Taylor Swift x Messi: The unexpected crossover dominating TikTok
It comes as no surprise that the World Cup is trending all over social media right now, but TikTok users have put their own spin on Lionel Messi's crowning moment with an unexpected viral crossover.
When Taylor Swift dropped Midnights in October, she probably never expected it to provide the soundtrack to emotional fan edits of the World Cup, yet here we are.
The Great War, a bonus track from the 3 AM edition of Midnights, has dominated this trend more than any other Swift song.
Lyrics from the song's chorus, "I vowed I would always be yours / 'Cause we survived the Great War," accompany emotional clips of tournament victories in some of the most popular edits.
The dramatic final that saw Argentina beat France on penalties naturally spurred a flood of new edits, and fans knew exactly what would be coming next before they even opened the app after the game.
Swifties and soccer fans find common cause
"not looking forward to seeing edits of the french football team crying because they lost the world cup to a sad taylor swift song on tiktok," one Twitter user wrote.
Argentine Swifties, on the other hand, treated For You Pages everywhere not only to team edits set to The Great War but also an endless barrage of Messi-centric edits, most often paired with You're On Your Own, Kid (with a few Karma and Vigilante Sh*t videos thrown in there for good measure).
The combination has been incredibly popular throughout the World Cup, and it's even rubbed off on offline celebrations.
Several fans in Argentina shared videos from a crowded fan event that played one such Messi edit on the stage's screen while fans sang along to You're On Your Own, Kid.
It looks like Swifties just may be able to count a new crop of soccer fans among their ranks.
Cover photo: collage: screenshot/TikTok/@nickicox & @scarlettf4ncy