Lots of baby energy in the celebrity world right now. Kylie Jenner just had her baby last week, Rihanna confirmed the rumours with a flawless photo op, and now Shay Mitchell has announced that she has baby number two on the way with her partner, Matte Babel. She made her official announcement in an Instagram post…
…but in pure Gen Z fashion, I saw the announcement in a TikTok she posted shortly after the Instagram one.
@shaymitchell How would they know?! 🤣
♬ how would they know bad girls club - Sara Speax
In the Rihanna pap walk pregnancy post, Lainey talked about the celebrity baby bump reveal during the social media era. These announcements have felt like soft launches with precise strategies that bring the hype with a personal flare (which feels funny to say because these are literal mini human beings). For Rihanna, making it her own was having a spontaneous-but-not-really paparazzi moment while wearing a bomb-ass outfit. For Shay, making it her own was leaning into TikTok, and while obviously no one does it like Rihanna, a part of Shay’s reveal made a great impression with a viral video, and viral is goooood.
While her Instagram announcement is sitting at around 2.6 million likes, the TikTok already has 2.1 million likes and 10.8 million views, the biggest numbers she’s had on her TikTok account in a while. The reason why is because she nailed everything that comes with making a viral video as a celeb. She’s got the staple TikTok sound, a clear understanding of what she’s doing (nothing’s worse than watching a celebrity do a trend they have no idea about), simple production value, and a joke that picks on the fact that she was hiding the pregnancy so she can make this reveal happen (it's giving…Inception). What makes this even more impressive is how Shay knew that this trend, which blew up a while ago, is one that is a part of unofficial and unsaid classic TikTok trends. There have been a few times where I’ve seen celebs hop onto trends that were not a part of this classic TikTok trend group too late, and that’s cringe-city. But Shay has shown her true knowledge of the intricacies of the app with this one.
She’s also got the cutest brown pant suit and high ponytail to go with it which definitely doesn’t hurt. Shay knows that there are lots of young people who know her best from Pretty Little Liars when they were teens, and are now aimlessly scrolling through the app (LOL me). When it comes to general Gen Z audiences, watchers from Netflix’s You would also be able to recognize her. So while it was important to post her official post on Instagram for the social media formalities that come with Instagram announcements, TikTok was the place where she would get that nostalgic viral hit with a touch of humour to bring in eyes that haven’t been keeping up with Shay the same way her loyal fans have. This is all thanks to the FYP which is a collection of videos the app generates with content from all accounts—not just the ones you follow (and TikTok loves to push the most viral videos the most).
It’s been interesting to see how these celebs have taken different routes for their baby reveals, and while most of it has to do with fame status, it also comes down to who their target audience is and what feels most appropriate for them. I’m loving this new era of the reveals being tailored to their brand instead of the classic magazine reveal or the flower wall. I just have a hard time seeing how the next celeb is going to top Rihanna’s reveal.
Since we're talking about babies, here’s a cute TikTok of Meghan Trainor’s precious boy being chaotic which got 17.5 million views, and another example of perfect celebrity TikTok form.
@meghantrainor wait for it ðŸ˜ðŸ¤£ @Parents @darylsabara #parenting #dayinmylife #Riley
♬ averyy.perkinss - ap💖ðŸ’
