You step into the London underground, wade through a sea of commuters, squeeze into the tube, and take your seat. It’s an everyday occurrence. Multiple times a day, really. You know what to expect. But this time, you stepped onto the tube with TikToker Sabrina Bahsoon. She’ll teach you to expect the unexpected.
Also known as Tube Girl, Sabrina Bahsoon went viral last summer for dancing through the London Tube with confidence.
She’d just finished law school at 22, but didn’t feel like she fit into the corporate lifestyle. She wanted to shoot a self-made music video for a song she liked, but her friends said they didn’t want to help her film it. So she did it herself.
Her first attempts were on the bus and on the street, but then she was on the tube and noticed the wind hitting perfectly.
Nearly one year later, she amassed nearly 800k followers and 29.5M likes on TikTok.
Sabrina always wanted to be a model, and her TikTok stardom is opening doors for her. She’s proud of her Malaysian background and can’t help but notice feeling underrepresented in the music and fashion industry. Thanks to designer Christian Cowan, Sabrina got to walk at Paris Fashion Week.
In an interview with ABC News, Cowan said “Confidence is the runway to success and Sabrina, aka 'Tube Girl,' exemplifies it with every step she takes… I chose her to walk in my runway show because she doesn't just wear the clothes -- she wears them with unwavering self-assuredness, and that's a statement we're proud to make.”
Sabrina posts videos dancing and lip syncing aboard the London tube, seemingly oblivious and indifferent to judgemental eyes.
Another unique element to Sabrina’s videos is her recording style. She holds the phone in her hand and aggressively pans in all directions, giving her videos even more movement.
When it comes to phone settings, .5 mode is a must. She told ABC News her one attempt at filming without .5 was “a very humbling experience”.
The number one reason Tube Girl went viral was her confidence. Viewers see Sabrina shamelessly slaying in front of a packed tube and wonder how she manages to confidently put on a show to such an unwilling, unengaged audience.
Here’s one video she made responding to commenters asking how she doesn’t feel awkward:
In her caption, Sabrina writes: “Personally i think I’m slaying and trusssttt nobody cares #tubegirl shoutout to all the people who say hi while i made the videos - you make my day 🥰 #tubegirleffect”
It carries the same energy as Maddie in this Euphoria scene:
Maddie and Sabrina both show viewers they can choose not to care what others think. Live your best life and fake the confidence until you fly so high nobody can tear you down 🥹. With a message like that, why wouldn’t Tube Girl go viral?
Sabrina told ABC News that, to her, confidence is “basically just knowing yourself really well and also just not caring about what other people think.” She goes on to say that social media makes people afraid of being called cringy or embarrassing. Because of this fear, they’re afraid of being themselves and trying new things.
In response to her #tubegirl trend going viral, Sabrina said it’s nice to see people letting go of that fear, going on the tube and just being themselves and having a good time.
Jenny Li was one of the first to replicate Sabrina’s #tubegirl videos. She did it as a challenge to overcome social anxiety. Now, she no longer dreads going on the tube.
You may think the key to replicating Sabrina Bahsoon’s success is dancing in the New York subway. Not quite.
Tube Girl was so wildly successful because she is unapologetically herself. Even outside the tube.
Here she is honoring her Malay cravings by finessing noodles with a pitcher as the bowl, a hotel tray as the lid, and sunglasses as her utensils.
Channeling this energy in your own content means figuring out who you are and what you’re good at and creating genuine, authentic content without worrying about what other people think. It’s all about finding and exuding the kind of confidence that makes viewers’ jaws drop to the floor.
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