Why is TikTok suddenly obsessed with covering Mom Jeans Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA?
There’s no real way to predict TikTok trends. If you could, you’d be both fabulously wealthy and an out-of-touch, IRL social pariah incapable of integrating into polite society. It’d be impossible to foresee, for instance, that an emo song I enjoyed in 2016 would resurface on my TikTok FYP in 2024. And yet that’s exactly what’s been happening with Mom Jeans and their nearly decade-old song “Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA.”
Now if you’re unfamiliar with Mom Jeans — the band, not the style of denim slacks — they’re an indie, Midwest emo band out of California. I enjoy their music, so my FYP might be a little biased, and I think “Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA” is a really good song. Here’s the studio version of the track, off of the 2016 album Best Buds.
So, yes, the song is good, but why are people covering an eight-year-old track on TikTok? The best reason I can decipher begins with the fact that the song has a quite nostalgic feel to it. It starts primarily with an acoustic guitar and heartfelt lyrics, then layers in a trombone and loud drums. The song also has great sing-along moments and a distinctive style, all while addressing the ideas of moving on and being content with that. Those facts in mind, the song’s been used in a number of TikTok edits made to elicit nostalgia like — randomly enough — a compilation of highlights from former NFL star Todd Gurley.
I’ve covered the trend of indie rock soundtracking sports highlights — it’s not a new trend — but the Gurley clip racked up 2.5 million views, which is an unusually high figure. And a number of recent similarly nostalgic viral videos have used “Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA,” so much so that there are videos reacting to the very idea of Mom Jeans being viral. I know, I know, it’s all very confusing and snake-eating-its-tail, but such is the internet.
So, with the song on lots of folks’ FYPs, it tracks that suddenly there’d be lots of people covering the song. And that’s how we got the trend of covering a relatively obscure indie rock song from 2016. But the covers rule. My personal favorite comes from the account @pattakerhasnopats, a kid seemingly playing the song during gym class or at a sporting event while sitting in the bleachers. The background din of other teens really adds a nostalgic haze to what’s already a great cover.
That cover from @pattakerhasnopats — who has just over 2,000 followers on TikTok — has racked up nearly half a million views, which is effectively an identical number to the views on Mom Jeans’ most popular live version of the song on YouTube. In other words, that cover of the song has become as popular as the song itself. And it’s far from the only “Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA” cover racking up hundreds of thousands of views.
Every TikTok in this article is from the last month or so, and it feels as if the viral moment for the song is hitting its crescendo — basically, the moment the horns come in on “Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA.”
So if you enjoy this kind of music, you might see covers on your FYP for a bit longer. But soon enough, it stands to reason, you’ll be looking back on this moment fondly. If only there were a song for that.
