Have you ever scrolled through TikTok and wondered why so many people were suddenly doing the same dramatic before and after reveal? That was the Buss It Challenge, one of the first big viral TikTok trends of 2021.
It was built around Erica Banks’s song Buss It, and the whole point was a quick transformation from casual, everyday look to a fully glammed up moment when the beat changed.
What made it so catchy was not just the song. It was the structure. The challenge gave people a simple, repeatable format that felt fun, confident, and instantly recognizable. That is why it spread so quickly across TikTok, then jumped to other platforms too.
Erica Banks herself later said the transformation part was one of the best things to watch, and the trend helped turn her song into a much bigger hit.
Table of Contents
In a Nutshell
- The Buss It Challenge was a TikTok trend based on Erica Banks’s song Buss It, released in 2020 and made viral in early 2021.
- The challenge usually starts with a casual look, then switches into a more dressed up reveal when the beat drops.
- TikTok creator Erika Davila is widely credited with starting the trend on January 1, 2021.
- The trend spread fast because it was easy to copy, visually dramatic, and picked up by celebrities and millions of viewers.
What does the Buss It Challenge mean?
In simple terms, the Buss It Challenge is a glow up style transition video. It is not just a dance trend. It is a tiny story told in seconds. The first part shows the person looking relaxed, plain, or low key. Then, when Erica Banks’s song switches in, the person reveals a more polished look and often adds a confident pose or dance move.
That is really the meaning behind it. The challenge is about transformation, confidence, and contrast. The fun comes from the switch.
One moment you are seeing a laid back version of the person, and the next moment you are seeing the fully styled version. The change is what makes the video satisfying to watch.
So when people say the Buss It Challenge on TikTok, they usually mean that before and after reveal format, not just the song itself. The song is the trigger, but the transformation is the real point.
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Where did it come from?
The challenge is closely tied to Erica Banks’s 2020 single Buss It, which started getting major attention on TikTok in early 2021. The song was released in 2020, then got a new life when users began building videos around it.
According to reporting from Harper’s Bazaar and Business Insider, the challenge took off in the first days of January 2021 and quickly became one of the most visible trends on the app.
One creator, Erika Davila, is credited with helping spark the trend by posting a transition style video on January 1, 2021. From there, other users copied the format, added their own style, and pushed the challenge across TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.
That part matters because a lot of viral trends do not come from a big advertising push. They grow because one simple idea is easy for other people to remix. The Buss It Challenge had exactly that kind of structure.
How the challenge works
The format is very simple. First, the participant appears in a casual outfit, often with little or no makeup. Then an old school sample from Nelly’s Hot in Herre plays. Once the beat changes to Erica Banks’s Buss It, the video cuts to the glam version of the person, and the new look takes over the screen. That transition is the whole hook.
That structure gave the trend its staying power. People did not need special editing skills or complicated choreography. They only needed one good transition and a confident reveal. That made the challenge feel accessible, which is a huge reason it spread so fast.
Celebrities joined in too, which pushed the trend even further. Harper’s Bazaar noted posts from Gabrielle Union, Monica, Tracee Ellis Ross, and others, while Business Insider also pointed out celebrity participation from people like Rico Nasty and Jackie Aina. Once famous names joined a TikTok challenge, the trend got even harder to miss.
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Why did the Buss It Challenge go viral?
A few things made this trend hit so hard. First, the format was easy to understand. Second, the reveal was satisfying. Third, the song itself was strong enough to carry the trend. Fourth, people love content that shows confidence, style, and personality in a short burst.
There is also something deeper going on here. The Buss It Challenge gave people a way to show two versions of themselves in one clip. That is very internet friendly. It lets creators tell a mini story about ordinary life and elevated energy all in a few seconds.
That format is one reason the trend was so easy to share and imitate. This is an inference, but it follows directly from the way the challenge was structured and how widely it spread.
The trend also helped Erica Banks herself. By February 2021, coverage was already noting that the challenge had given her song a huge new audience, and later reporting from the GRAMMYs said the viral moment helped vault the song and support her wider rise. Source: Capitalxtra
Variants and related meanings
You may see a few different versions of the phrase online, like #BussItChallenge, Buss It transition, or simply the Buss It trend. They all point to the same basic idea, which is the casual to glam reveal built around Erica Banks’s track.
There were also creative offshoots. Some users used the same format for jokes, commentary, or other types of storytelling instead of just a fashion reveal. Teen Vogue reported that the challenge format was even used for satirical takes tied to political events, showing how quickly TikTok trends can turn into a wider meme template.
So the meaning of Buss It Challenge is broader than just a dance. It became a flexible video pattern, a confidence moment, and in some cases, a whole internet language of its own.
Slangwise Thought
What I like about the Buss It Challenge is that it is one of those trends that explains itself the second you watch it. You do not need a long backstory to get it. The switch is the joke, the reveal is the payoff, and the whole thing works because the structure is so clean.
That is very good slang culture, because it turns a song into a shared moment. From a social media point of view, the Buss It Challenge had three strong ingredients: a clear audio cue, a visual contrast, and a low barrier to entry. Those are exactly the kinds of ingredients that help a TikTok trend travel fast.
People know when to switch, they know what the format looks like, and they can make their own version without much effort. That is why this challenge worked so well, and why it became one of the defining viral formats of early 2021.
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Conclusion
The Buss It Challenge was more than just a TikTok dance trend. It was a transformation format built around Erica Banks’s 2020 song Buss It, and it became a viral social media moment in early 2021 because it was simple, visual, and easy to copy.
The challenge usually showed a casual first look, then a dramatic reveal when the beat dropped. That contrast is what gave the trend its energy.
If you remember one thing, make it this. The Buss It Challenge means a confident before and after glow up video, powered by a beat switch and a lot of personality. That is why people could not stop doing it, and why it still gets talked about when people discuss memorable TikTok trends.
FAQs
It is a TikTok trend where someone starts in a casual look and then switches into a glammed up version when Erica Banks’s song Buss It starts.
TikTok creator Erika Davila is widely credited with starting the trend on January 1, 2021.
The challenge uses Erica Banks’s song Buss It, which became popular on TikTok after its 2020 release. The trend also starts with a sample from Nelly’s Hot in Herre before the beat changes.
It went viral because the format was easy to copy, the transition was visually satisfying, celebrities joined in, and the song gave people a strong audio cue for the reveal.
Yes. People have adapted the same format for jokes, commentary, and other storytelling moments, which is one reason it became such a flexible TikTok template.