Another day, another silly microtrend has seeped out of TikTok hell. This time around, the label known as the “Candid Girlfriend” is now trending. Geeze Louise, I’m still recovering from the Mob Wife aesthetic and the Stanley Cups!
Over in TikTok land, punters are going bonkers about “the Candid Girlfriend” label. For folks who aren’t familiar with how the term was conjured out of thin air, it all stemmed from a viral snippet of Kareem Rahma’s Subway Takes (@subwaytakes), in which comedian Stef Dag (@stefdagz) unloaded about how men “think they want to date the cool, hot, artsy baddie girlfriend” but what they really want is the “Candid Girlfriend”.
The moment was definitely reminiscent of that one monologue in Gone Girl.
To save you from jumping through a never-ending Internet wormhole of all microtrends, here’s what you need to know about the Candid Girlfriend discourse.
Here’s the “Candid Girlfriend” TikTok trend explained
What is a “Candid Girlfriend”?
According to Dag a Candid Girlfriend is the type of girlfriend all men want but won’t admit it.
“Candid Girlfriend is a girl who’s like 5’5″ and a half, naturally thin, has mousy brown hair no longer than shoulder length,” Dag began.
“She’s like from New Hampshire, maybe studied art history I would say the biggest part of her personality is that she loves pomegranate and her boyfriend thinks that’s so quirky and adorable.”
Rahma — the host of Subway Takes — said he “100%” agreed with the Dag’s opinion.
She continued with her monologue, saying that the Candid Girl is the “patient zero of the Pick Me Girl.” When asked what that meant, Dag defined it as “a girl who pretends to be interesting and unique to get attention”, which also works.
“[The Candid Girl] just has nothing going on in her brain,” Dag continued.
“She like, just likes good pottery.
“All guys want that so they can make a muse out of her.”
Towards the end of the chat, the comedian becomes specific about her description of the Candid Girl. This time, Dag links a name to the Candid Girl.
“I’ve really only seen her on the third slide of an IG photo dump on her boyfriend’s Instagram,” Dag continued in her hilarious rant.
“I would love to meet one of them. I’m a girl’s girl. I want to see you up close. I want to touch your skin.
“Her name is ‘Emily’.”
The video hilariously ends with Dags saying “they’re taking the hot men.”
How has the internet reacted to the Candid Girlfriend label?
Under the hyper-viral TikTok video — which now has garnered more than 13.6 million views — punters listed a bunch of influencers, fictional characters and celebrities who match Dag’s description of a Candid Girl.
Some of the people mentioned in the comment section include Alexa Chung, Guinevere Beck from You, Jess Keogh and Suki Waterhouse.
Other viewers called the comedian out for bringing the so-called Candid Girl down and then saying she’s a “girl’s girl” at the end of the video while a handful suggested that Dag lost her boyfriend to a Candid Girl.
Ever since the video blew up, other TikTokers have stitched the video with their thoughts on Dag’s take.
A stand-out reaction from the Candid Girlfriend video was definitely one from Emmuh (@2percentcowboy) who described the video as a “national emergency” because Dag might’ve sparked a fashion and beauty microtrend.
“We have exactly one week until Candid Girlfriend core becomes a thing on here,” the TikToker began.
Is the Candid Girlfriend a real thing?
In my humble opinion, no. LOL.
I honestly believe the whole monologue from Dag was just a bit, and not that deep (she is a stand-up comedian, after all). I also thought that the “Candid Girlfriend” is the same thing (if not an evolution) as the 2010s hipster Tumblr girl.
You know, the girlies who had their blogs on check with an MP3 player that would only play The xx, “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men OR the whole Pure Heroine album. It’s definitely something I am guilty of — NGL best years of my life.
(Tumblr, if you’re reading this, I want my blog back.)
Also, Dag’s response to the internet’s reaction to her Candid Girl rant is so bloody sarcastic, therefore it kind of gives me the inkling that the whole thing was a bit.
Look, as a former teenybopper who followed the hipster trend of the 2010s — derping, flower crown and galaxy leggings included — if you fall into the description of Dag’s Candid Girl, please do not be put off by it. Especially if it brings you joy.
As Emmuh said, the only thing worse that can come from this video is bloody Candid Girlfriend fashion and beauty trends that are about to clog our FYP.
Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen!
Image source: TikTok / @Subwaytakes
