What is the My New Character trend on TikTok?

The My New Character meme, aka He's Just A Chill Guy, is a TikTok trend stemming from a drawing of a brown dog character wearing a grey crew neck sweater, jeans, and scuffed red Converse shoes. He is smirking with his hands in his pockets and, as his artist @PhillipBankss described him, "his whole deal is he's a chill guy that lowkey doesn't give a f*ck."

Folks on social media are obsessed with him and turned this Chill Guy into a fancam edit meme.

What is the My New Character trend on TikTok?

The new TikTok trend, known as both My New Character and Chill Guy, is an anthropomorphic dog drawing by artist @PhillipBankss, which started going viral on TikTok in 2024, as it was used in a variety of formats, including joking about "his whole deal" in viral fancam edits.

One of the more popular sounds used in the meme format is a song that says, "They make it look so easy." Another version uses a Brian Griffin sound, given My New Character’s vague resemblance to the animated dog, saying, "I know I'm supposed to be a chill guy…" 

Trend origins

The My New Character meme drawing originates from a post by artist @PhillipBankss on X, formerly known as Twitter, on October 4th, 2023. The drawing of an anthropomorphic dog wearing a grey sweater, jeans, and scuffed red shoes is accompanied by the text, "his whole deal is he's a chill guy that lowkey doesn't give a f*ck." Since being posted, the tweet has amassed over 43K likes and over 10K retweets. 

He also posted the art as a Reel on his Instagram account (@philbbankss), where it has received over 68.5K likes.

Popularity of the My New Character TikTok trend

The artist followed up on his My New Character post on December 23rd, 2023 by posting a holiday-themed version of the character, with the caption being updated to say, "my new character. his whole deal is he's a jolly guy who highkey wishes you a merry Christmas." This tweet received 1.7K likes.

While the original tweet was the recipient of several memes following its publication, it wasn’t until August 30th, 2024 that it took off on TikTok, when TikToker @.blitzerzz posted a slideshow of three images, combining the Chill Guy artwork with a meme about Family Guy’s Chris Griffin, using the popular 'I Just Lost My Dawg' sound. The TikTok has been seen over 1.1 million times.

TikTokers have applied the exploitable meme to a variety of other meme formats and sounds since it made its way to the video app, such as using a quote from Dexter where the titular character says, "They make it look so easy, connecting with another human being. It's like no one ever told them it's the hardest thing in the world." 

@.jesuslover445 Filler edit My new charater edit , his whole deal is he's a chill guy that lowkey doesn't give a f—k , We may not think too highly of my new do character at first But the more we learn about him The more he works his way into our hearts@ᴿᵉᵛʸmrcy @Doctor Fauntsi @squid @Rimuru (purple) @big.hater ♬ original sound - James

TikToker @.jesuslover445, who posted the edit first on September 4th, 2024, gained over 4.5 million views, while @xssume, who reposted the video with their name added to the end on September 5th, 2024, has gotten 13.8 million views and is likely the cause of the boost in the TikTok sound’s popularity.

In another example of the Chill Guy meme evolving on TikTok, on September 6th, 2024, user @abnormalpenguin2 shared an edit of My New Character with an AI voice sound of Brian Griffin rambling about knowing that he’s "supposed to be a chill guy." The TikTok has been viewed over 2.5 million times.

Meme examples

@abnormalpenguin2 my new character lowkey has some lore #mynewcharacter #foryoupage #foryou #comedy #fyp #meme #hopecore #inspirational ♬ lowkey chill audio - abnormal penguin????

@blurays My new character in arthur #mynewcharacter #arthur #tvshow #fyp ♬ Relaxed (Sped Up) - MC Mablo Dos Paredões

@peathepea

My new character. His whole thing is that hes chill and lowkey doesnt give a frick

♬ lowkey chill audio - abnormal penguin????

@momazosyalomatastenormi1 My new character ❤️ #mynewcharacter ♬ suara asli - s

Not only is the My New Character meme blowing up on TikTok, but folks have brought it full circle back to X, where tweets using the character have been posted in replies to the original tweet from 2023.

More TikTok trends:

• Explaining the ‘I Lied, Put Your Clothes Back On’ meme
• What is the Hopecore TikTok trend? The wholesomeness and the controversy, explained
• The October Theory is going viral on TikTok
• What’s the Galvanized Square Steel meme all about?
  

The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.

The post What is the My New Character trend on TikTok? appeared first on The Daily Dot.