“Doing Something Unholy”

In the fall of 2022, the sexy, sacrilegious pop-EDM song “Unholy” by non-binary and trans artists Sam Smith and Kim Petras went viral on TikTok, spawning countless thirst traps, lip syncs, dances and more. Though the song circulated widely, users on the algorithmically created LGBTQ+ public #QueerTok used the app’s common forms to center “Unholy” within queer and trans communities, desires, and practices. This article reveals how the visibility that #QueerTokers achieved through “Unholy’s” viral circulation allowed them to leverage the algorithm and affordances of their online public to challenge heteronormativity and assimilation. #QueerTokers’ instrumentalization of visibility follows from a history of LGBTQ+ activism, both online and IRL, in which publicity has played an important role in queer and trans politics.

Through historiography and media analysis of creator-made “Unholy” TikTok videos, this article traces how “Unholy’s” circulation on #QueerTok insists on the song’s queerness against its mainstream assimilation on TikTok. Although TikTok’s algorithm privileges straight and conventionally attractive creators, #QueerTok thirst traps proudly proclaim queer and non-normative desire. Despite rampant cultural appropriation in mainstream lip sync videos, #QueerTokers recenter the practice as an LGBTQ+ art form derived from drag performance. Users on #QueerTok utilize their algorithmic knowledge to express queer desire, find community, share inside jokes, and carve out a space for LGBTQ+ people to thrive on the app. This article captures the strategies of these pandemic-era queer and trans creators in order to illustrate the importance of LGBTQ+ publics in propagating queer and trans culture.