Forever Young: How Alphaville’s New Wave Classic Became A TikTok Trend

In 1988, after becoming a go-to slow-dance number at high-school proms for much of the decade, Forever Young finally broke into the US Hot 100, at No.65. Nowadays, with more than 614 million Spotify streams to date, the song is finally getting its proper due after being reborn as part of a viral TikTok trend.

But how exactly did Forever Young manage to capture the hearts of Gen Z and find new levels of success on social media more than 40 years after its original release? Here is the story behind the Forever Young TikTok trend and Alphaville’s unexpected comeback…

Listen to the best of Alphaville here.

What is the forever young TikTok trend?

Although Forever Young has been used in TikTok videos for a number of years, its popularity has suddenly skyrocketed in recent months, as part of a rapidly growing viral trend which finds Gen Z users relating to the song’s timeless lyrics (“Forever young/I want to be, forever young”) as they share thought-provoking videos that deal with issues such as youthfulness and aging.

The videos are so diverse that the actual trend itself is somewhat hard to pin down. Often employed in various creative ways, Forever Young has been used in many tribute videos for deceased public figures or loved ones which tap into the song’s themes of mortality. However, it has also been used in more positive contexts, with young TikTokers engaging in joyful acts of revelry, or older people simply extolling the value of living in the moment.

When it comes to assessing its origins, it could be argued that the earliest iterations of the Forever Young trend made use of de-aging filters. In 2023, TikTok user @alexander_s_sindholt created a split-screen video contrasting his mother’s younger and older selves, evoking the song’s themes of eternal youth.

@alexander_s_sindholt Teenage filter on my mom ✨ #teenagefilter #filter #teenage #foreveryoung #fypシ #fyp #tiktok #recent #mom ♬ Forever Young – Alphaville

As of early August 2024, however, the Forever Young trend has evolved to become incredibly popular, and has been trending worldwide for over three weeks. Current statistics indicate that the song has been featured in more than 766,000 videos to date, racking up tens of millions of views. This massive resurgence has helped introduce Alphaville’s hit single to a whole new generation of listeners, much like we’ve seen before with the Blue Monday Dance Challenge or the Enyacore movement.

How did the forever young TikTok trend grow?

Given that the song’s lyrics make mention of death and mortality (“Let us die young or let us live forever”), it’s not surprising that the Forever Young TikTok trend re-emerged shortly after a tragedy.

In June 2024, when a British holidaymaker, the 19-year-old teenager Jay Slater, went missing on the island of Tenerife after attending a music festival, there was an outpouring of public concern on social media. A month later, police discovered Slater’s body in the Rural De Teno National Park, and it was confirmed that he had succumbed to the heat after attempting to walk back to his accommodation from the mountain village of Masca.

@reemified #jayslater #rip #sad ♬ Forever Young – Alphaville

Following the announcement of his death, TikTok user @reemified posted a short video of Jay Slater with the caption “19 forever 💙”, using Alphaville’s Forever Young to pay tribute to a life that ended far too soon.

Shortly thereafter, the mood of collective grief turned to gratitude for love and friendship, with @user.iz77 boosting the Forever Young trend with a video of friends running through a field, capturing the sheer impulsiveness of youthful abandon.

@user.iz77 #foreveryoung #cute #fyp #summer ♬ Forever Young – Alphaville

With Forever Young now officially going viral, numerous couples have also embraced the trend, using Alphaville’s song to express their thankfulness for being in love. Sharing a video of herself and her boyfriend running hand-in-hand on a beach, @0.9.1.1.9 used Forever Young to soundtrack a heartwarming moment in which the pair affectionately embrace one another beneath a glorious sunset.

@0.9.1.1.9 I love you @Benj ♬ Forever Young – Alphaville

In the wake of Jay Slater’s tragic death, the global TikTok community has bounced back by putting a more positive spin on the Forever Young trend, taking inspiration from the song’s relatable themes of youthful romanticism and expressing a desire to hold onto life’s fleeting moments.

Why is the Forever Young TikTok trend so popular?

Everybody recognises the impossibility of staying young forever, but that doesn’t stop us from wishing for it. In essence, that is what Forever Young’s lyrics are all about: “Youth’s like diamonds in the sun/And diamonds are forever,” sings Alphaville’s frontman, Marian Gold. What unites each TikTok video associated with this trend is an awareness of the same bittersweet notion: that being young is an adventure that can only be enriched by our memories, and those memories last a lifetime.

Ultimately, the reason the Forever Young trend has become so popular is because, similar to the idea of YOLO (“you only live once”), we are experiencing life in real time. Whether we rejoice in those special moments today or look back upon them in nostalgic appreciation, the heartfelt sentiments in the song help us to be more present-minded as we reckon with our own feelings of mortality.

Take, for instance, a TikTok video shared by @eeleeneeaa, in which a group of girls are rescued from a broken-down lift by a stranger. This random act of kindness, greeted by laughter and smiles as the friends are lifted to safety, is a moment they will never forget. While we all grapple with the passing of time, the Forever Young trend reminds people that life is a collection of moments that shape our experiences as we grow older. Much like the song itself, it’s all about the immortal power of memory-making.

@eeleeneeaa

♬ original sound – 00.13.h

What do Alphaville think about the forever young trend?

So far, Alphaville haven’t commented publicly about the Forever Young trend. However, lead singer Marian Gold did seem to give his tacit approval when he “hopped on the beam” to post his own video on the band’s official TikTok channel. Filmed on a home-video recorder in 1998, Gold is seen enjoying being a new father and playing with his infant daughter Lily. As the sounds of Forever Young ring out, it reminds us that kids do, indeed, grow up too fast.

@alphaville Our third single “Forever Young” (1984) is currently trending on social media and we hopped on the beam! ❤️✨ Lily was born in 1998! #foreveryoung #alphaville #mariangold #lily #dad #daughter #90s @Lily Becker ♬ Forever Young – Alphaville

With Gold’s own video underscoring the nostalgic appeal at the heart of the Forever Young trend, Alphaville seem to be embracing their newfound popularity on TikTok. The band will soon be releasing a new 3CD compilation, Forever! The Best of 40 Years, which compiles classic 80s new-wave hits such as Big In Japan, Sounds Like A Melody and Forever Young, in addition to a wealth of other material from across their four-decade-long career.

Helping them stage a fully-fledged comeback, Alphaville’s TikTok revival is a much-needed reminder of how great songs such as Forever Young transcend the passage of time, never losing their power to touch hearts across the generations.

Buy ‘Forever! The Best Of 40 Years’ here.