‘I love how your voice is in all of our heads’: How TikTok came to love and fear ‘Everybody’s so creative’

People making weird food on TikTok for clicks has just become part of the app's ecosystem, but now there is an easy way to address (and avoid) these food crimes.

The sound

There are two sounds going around TikTok, and they both include "Everybody's so creative." The sound that's become a trend was posted by TikToker Erica Coffelt earlier this month and features that phrase followed by ominous music. Typically, people used it to highlight a "creative" casserole or iffy food combination.

@ericacoffelt @tanaradoublechocolate ♬ original sound - Erica Coffelt

@mamamccrazy @t@tanaradoublechocolate should prob never post a casserole tutorial or should I?😅 #every#everybodysocreativee#casseroleso#badcookinge#badrecipesd#weirdrecipeso#badcookst#creativei#cookingcomedye#casserolequeent#creativecookingo#randomcookingo#randomingredientsi#gettingcreativec#maniccookingi#thomingd#trendingl#virale#DanceWithTurboTaxo#foryour#tanaradoublechocolate ♬ original sound - Erica Coffelt

@so_simple_ch3w It taste good. I promise @tanaradoublechocolate ♬ original sound - Erica Coffelt

Where's it from?

"Everybody's so creative" is a catchphrase of sorts from Philadelphia-based Tanara Mallory, who goes by tanaradoublechocolate on TikTok and has more than 2.8 million followers.

She has a long-running series where she narrates food tutorials that often produce culinary monstrosities—like this one from the account Yummy Cooking. She typically tries to stay in character, but there are obvious moments when that's just not possible.

This TikTok, posted Jan. 14, has more than 24 million views.

@tanaradoublechocolate #greenscreenvideo Make your own ORIGINAL casserole 🤣 VIDEO CREDITS @yummycookingj9 #comedy #fyp #everybodysocreative #viral #food #foodreview #cooking #commentary #philly #casserole ♬ original sound - Tanara

@tanaradoublechocolate #duet with @myjanebrain Now this is for all you cheese lovers! It ain’t gone slide down easy, if it ain’t cheesy 🤣 #comedy #everybodysocreative #viral #cheezy #food #cooking #commentary #keilbasa #funny #philly ♬ original sound - JaneBrain

While Mallory has similar videos going back to summer 2022, they started going viral around January. Now, "Everybody's so creative" has become both a loaded comment and an attention-grabbing device.

"When I hear 'Everybody so creative!' And I know I'm about to see the most disgusting sin against the culinary arts ever created," said one account. It was also recently invoked in a TikTok that broke down Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's baffling Super Bowl spread.

@tanaradoublechocolate #duet with @fanobie #foryoupage I’M CRYING 😂 I Love You All So Much!! I❤️❤️ Was it cheesy?? #comedy #everybodysocreative #Food #commentary #fyp ♬ original sound - Fanobie

@thevelrodfamily @tanaradoublechocolate had to pay homage in some way 🤗❤️ #everybodysocreative ♬ original sound - Erica Coffelt

A few videos Mallory commented on from last summer feature Anna Rothfuss, the same woman who was involved in an airplane prank last year, who also makes gross food TikToks. A good deal of these are likely part of a Facebook content mill that churns out clickbait food videos, which spill over onto TikTok.

A lot of the videos have the same look and feel, and largely produce food that isn't edible. (Or shouldn't be.) In a 2021 piece for Eater about the food-hack phenomenon, Ryan Broderick pointed out the common themes in many of them: "Women, almost always white, almost all of them identifying as young mothers, typically wearing expensive athleisure, cooking weirdly sexualized recipes in huge suburban homes."

And so many of these weird food TikToks are just wasteful. Someone commented "Everybody's so creative" on a recent TikTok of someone named Chef Bae compiling a truly nightmarish Erewhon "sundae" that another TikToker estimated cost nearly $1,000 to make.

Sound off

We reached out to Mallory for comment. Despite some of her reactions, she's always encouraging those who fear that "Everybody's so creative" is coming for them.

@tanaradoublechocolate #duet with @ericacoffelt I AM CRYINNNG!! I just love you Erica! I need to see a cooking video now. I promise I will be good😂❤️ #comedy #everybodysocreative #Food #fyp #viral #recipe #philly #cooking ♬ original sound - Erica Coffelt

Earlier this month, Mallory told Philly Voice a bit about her process: "I watch the video twice and then freestyle each video, so the reactions you're seeing are natural. I think that's why people have taken to them so well, because I'm saying what everyone else is thinking."

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