Everyone knows that February 14th is Valentine’s Day. In the Midwestern US, the third Saturday of October is called Sweetest Day (to the bafflement of countless people who have moved to the region with no idea the day had any significance).
And on TikTok, there’s October 1.
All are recognized — at least, by some people — as days to celebrate love and relationships. Valentine’s Day is the biggest day of the year for florists, the second-biggest for greeting card companies, and the third-biggest for restaurants. Sweetest Day is a lower-key version of Valentine’s Day.
But what’s the deal with October 1 on TikTok?
“National Girlfriend Day?”
Some people publicly (or privately) celebrate the first day of October as the unofficial start of fall or the start of the Halloween month. TikTok posts and memes prominently featuring pumpkin spice lattés, witches, and similar signs of the season are commonly seen beginning on the first of the month.
In 2023, however, a viral trend emerged on the social media platform. The day was marked by trending declarations of love by women in same-sex relationships, and most of the TikTok videos were backed by the same song.
Girl in Love, a Norwegian indie singer-songwriter, became a teen cult star with records focusing on her queer identity and mental health. Her song “We Fell in Love in October” was released back in 2018, with lyrics like “We fell in love in October/that’s why I love fall/looking at the stars/admiring from afar. My girl/my girl/my girl/you will be my girl.”
The song first became popular in the “women loving women” community, but its lyrics and the sentiment it conveyed grew the song’s fan base to couples of all types.
No one’s quite sure what triggered the event, but the song’s popularity exploded on TikTok on October 1, 2023.
It was the backing sound for millions of TikTok videos — many of which went viral — from women showing love for their female partners or wishing for a relationship. The following year, men in relationships with women also began posting videos using the song as background, expanding the trend dramatically.
More than 50 million videos were posted in the first two years of what became known as “National Girlfriend Day,” and they’ve received billions of views.
And it appears that much like the 21st of September has become an unofficial social media holiday thanks to the lyrics of Earth, Wind, and Fire’s 1978 hit “September” (“Do you remember/the 21st night of September”), October 1st is destined to become an annual celebration of girlfriends — at least on TikTok.
About the Author
Peter Hasselworth is a contributor at iDigic, sharing valuable insights about Instagram growth and social media marketing strategies.