Tired of waiting on hold? Google is trying to alleviate that.

To be more specific, Google is working on a Search feature that will wait on hold for you and ring you up when a live customer service rep is available to speak to, per 9to5Google. It’s available now to Search Labs users, which means it may be available to all Search users at some point in the future.

It sounds pretty simple to use: Just search for a supported company, hit a button that says “Request a call,” specify your reason, provide contact info, and wait. After Google has waited in line in your stead for long enough, it will notify you that a rep is available and connect you with them.

It’s currently supported by a handful of companies like most of the major U.S. airlines, retail companies like GameStop and Best Buy, and insurance companies like Esurance and State Farm. One can assume more companies will hop on the bandwagon in the future if Google’s testing goes well and this becomes a standard feature for Search users.

In the age of rapid AI bloat and crypto scams, it’s nice when a tech company introduces something that’s both simple and seemingly actually useful.

Whether you need an entertainment hub of beloved movies to keep your kiddos occupied on long road trips or an engaging tool your child can use to meet their learning goals, tablets can help you as you support your kids.

Today’s best Amazon Fire Kids tablet deals as of Feb. 16:

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Best splurge tablet deal for older kids

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet-

$149.99
(save $40)

Get Deal

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Best budget-friendly tablet deal for older kids

Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro

$99.99
(save $50)

Get Deal

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Best tablet deal for younger kids

Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet

$69.99
(save $40)

Get Deal

As of today, Feb. 16, Amazon is running a limited-time deal on Amazon Fire Kids tablets, bringing shoppers savings as high as 36% off. Whether you’re shopping for the latest release or something that’s budget-friendly, today’s sale has something for every budget and every age range.

Best splurge tablet deal for older kids

Why we like it

Released in 2023, the Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet is the latest model, complete with a 10.1-inch display screen and super-fast processing thanks to 3 GB RAM. Normally, the tablet retails for $189.99. While today’s sale isn’t the lowest price we’ve seen for this product, it’s a very attractive deal, especially considering that it comes with one free year of Amazon Kids+, a kid-proof case, and a generous two-year warranty. With a lengthy 13-hour battery life, this tablet is prepared to support your child throughout the day.

Best budget-friendly tablet deal for older kids

Why we like it

If you don’t want to spend over $100 on a kids’ tablet, don’t worry: you don’t have to! In today’s sale, the Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro tablet is on sale for 33% off, taking the price down from $149.99 to $99.99. While this model is more budget-friendly, it’s still powerful enough to meet your older child’s learning and entertainment needs. Just like the HD 10 Kids Pro, this tablet has a 13-hour battery life and comes with a slim, kid-friendly case and a year of Amazon Kids+. (Plus the two-year warranty.) We also appreciate that this model has a 30% faster processor than the previous generation of the HD 8 Kids Pro.

Best tablet deal for younger kids

Why we like it

There’s something for the younger ones in today’s sale, too. Made for smaller kids ages 3-7, the Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet is extra durable and comes with a thick case that’s designed to hold up to the wear and tear of everyday life. Like all Amazon Fire tablets, this edition comes with one free year of Amazon Kids+ and a two-year warranty. The Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet has a 10-hour battery life and a 7-inch screen, making it easy to pack when you and your little one are on the go. While we’ve seen this tablet reach lower prices around the holidays, today’s price of $69.99 is an excellent value.

No, it’s not a temporary issue in a beta version of iOS – Apple is officially killing home screen web apps, also known as progressive web apps (PWAs), for iPhone users in the EU.

Apple confirmed on Thursday that iOS will no longer support PWAs for users located in the European Union. The company announced the news in an update to its developer support page regarding the EU and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Mashable was tipped off to the Apple support page changes by iOS developers and researchers at Mysk.

According to Apple, the move is a direct result of the DMA, a new EU regulation that requires companies like Apple to open up its core platforms to third-parties in order to spur competition. 

Apple supports PWAs in iOS through WebKit, the company’s proprietary browser engine that’s primarily used in its Safari browser. Under the DMA, Apple would be required to allow for home screen web apps built-upon alternative web browsers – without the need for Safari or WebKit. Apple claims that this could result in malicious web apps gaining access to users’ devices, so the company has opted to remove PWA-support entirely.

“Addressing the complex security and privacy concerns associated with web apps using alternative browser engines would require building an entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS and was not practical to undertake given the other demands of the DMA and the very low user adoption of Home Screen web apps,” Apple says. “And so, to comply with the DMA’s requirements, we had to remove the Home Screen web apps feature in the EU.”

Apple’s DMA changes are for the worse

Last week, iOS developers in the EU began noticing the removal of PWA support in the latest beta version of iPhone’s mobile operating system, iOS 17.4 beta 2. At the time, some developers claimed that certain home screen web apps continued to operate, but certain features like web push notifications no longer functioned. Due to the varying degrees of operability, some questioned whether the issues PWAs were facing were the result of problems with the beta release, or if Apple was just in the midst of preparing web apps in the EU for DMA compliance.

Apple has now confirmed that it is indeed preparing PWAs for DMA compliance by removing them entirely.

This latest DMA-inspired change from Apple will likely open the company to further critiques from developers. Apple’s changes to its App Store in order to allow for alternative marketplaces to distribute non-Apple-approved iOS apps has already been roundly knocked by other tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, and Spotify.

Many, such as Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, have expressed that the EU regulations meant to provide consumers and developers alike with more options has ironically been perverted by Apple in an attempt to bring the company more revenue and control.

Apple claims that the removal of PWAs will affect only a small number of users and that these users can continue to access web apps via their website within mobile web browsers.

Apple’s entire statement regarding the removal of home screen web apps in the EU can be read below:

To comply with the Digital Markets Act, Apple has done an enormous amount of engineering work to add new functionality and capabilities for developers and users in the European Union — including more than 600 new APIs and a wide range of developer tools.

The iOS system has traditionally provided support for Home Screen web apps by building directly on WebKit and its security architecture. That integration means Home Screen web apps are managed to align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS, including isolation of storage and enforcement of system prompts to access privacy impacting capabilities on a per-site basis.

Without this type of isolation and enforcement, malicious web apps could read data from other web apps and recapture their permissions to gain access to a user’s camera, microphone or location without a user’s consent. Browsers also could install web apps on the system without a user’s awareness and consent. Addressing the complex security and privacy concerns associated with web apps using alternative browser engines would require building an entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS and was not practical to undertake given the other demands of the DMA and the very low user adoption of Home Screen web apps. And so, to comply with the DMA’s requirements, we had to remove the Home Screen web apps feature in the EU.

EU users will be able to continue accessing websites directly from their Home Screen through a bookmark with minimal impact to their functionality. We expect this change to affect a small number of users. Still, we regret any impact this change — that was made as part of the work to comply with the DMA — may have on developers of Home Screen web apps and our users.

OpenAI just dropped an AI bombshell with its new video generating model Sora.

The text-to-video diffusion model is capable of minute-long videos that are so realistic, it looks like the real thing. Reactions on X can be divided into two camps: “Is Sora going to make video production obsolete?” and “How can I try it?”

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Answering the valid first question will undoubtedly be a long arduous battle for artistic rights, involving regulation at the highest level.

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The answer to the second question is, you can’t yet.

While Sora was publicly announced today, OpenAI says it’s still in red-teaming phase. That means Sora is being adversarially tested to make sure it doesn’t produce harmful or inappropriate content. OpenAI is also granting access to a select group of “visual artists, designers, and filmmakers to gain feedback on how to advance the model to be most helpful for creative professionals.” This is ostensibly to ensure creative professionals can benefit from the technology, rather than be replaced by it, but we won’t really know until Sora becomes publicly available and leveraged by businesses.

If you want to see some demos of Sora in action, OpenAI has several in the announcement. CEO Sam Altman has also been sharing videos of prompts requested by users on X.

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OpenAI hasn’t shared any timeline on a widespread release. So unless you’re a red-teamer or one of the creative testers, you’ll have to sit tight and make do with the existing demos.

OpenAI just announced Sora, an AI model for generating videos. They look exactly how you think they might.

On Thursday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X asking users to “reply with captions for videos you’d like to see” and quote posting those with Sora’s videos. There are plenty of valid concerns about generative AI, and the pace at which it’s being developed. Still, after ChatGPT’s AI-generated text and DALL-E’s images, videos were the next natural step.

Here’s what Sora can do:

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Ah yes, the future of Hollywood — videos that look remarkably similar to the 2003 crazy frog.

Well, that was weird.

Xbox’s big, much-awaited “business update” came to pass on Thursday afternoon in podcast form. After a couple weeks of rumor-mongering alleging that certain Xbox-exclusive titles would start appearing on consoles like PS5 and Switch, Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed as much in the podcast. However, he didn’t confirm exactly what we expected him to confirm.

Specifically, four mystery Xbox titles will come to other consoles at some point in the near future. Spencer refused to specify which games they are, but he did clarify that Starfield and the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are not in that group, as was previously rumored. He did not comment on the other rumors suggesting Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves were part of the initiative.

That’s not all, though. The Xbox podcast also confirmed that Diablo IV will be the first Activision Blizzard game to hit Game Pass following Xbox’s blockbuster acquisition of the Call of Duty publisher last year. You can play that game on Game Pass starting on March 28. First-party Xbox games will continue to launch on Game Pass on day one, and Xbox will continue to have a “robust and innovative multi-year hardware roadmap,” whatever that means.

So, in short, a few Xbox games are coming to PS5 and/or Switch, but we don’t know which ones. We can rule out Starfield and Indiana Jones, at least. There will continue to be Xbox hardware, and Game Pass will continue to operate as it has for the last few years. Also, Game Pass will remain exclusive to Xbox and PC.

This isn’t quite the explosive announcement that the gaming community had been expecting for the last couple of weeks, which is probably for the best. At the moment, it doesn’t seem like Xbox is exiting the console business or anything like that. There will just be a few games on other platforms…for now.

First text, then images, now OpenAI has a model for generating videos.

On Thursday, the makers of ChatGPT and DALL-E announced Sora, a text-to-video diffusion model. As of today, Sora is available to red teamers, or experts who adversarially test the model for harms and risks. Per the announcement, it is also available to a select group or visual artists, designers, and filmmakers “to gain feedback on how to advance the model to be most helpful for creative professionals.”

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OpenAI has been developing generative AI tools at breakneck pace ever since it launched ChatGPT in November, 2022. Since then, we’ve seen the release GPT-4, voice and image prompts, the new DALL-E 3 image model, all available via ChatGPT. OpenAI’s API has also had an exponential effect on the AI industry, by enabling companies and developers to create their own generative AI tools. Now, OpenAI is taking a major next step towards advancing AI capabilities with video generation.

There are other video generating models out there, but none that are able to produce realistic, complex videos like the ones Sora allegedly creates. Meta has a tool for making short video clips, and Google is working on its own text-to-video model, but it’s still in research phase.

With Sora, users can generate videos of up to one minute long, incorporating detailed scenes and multiple characters. The announcement includes clips of a video following an SUV along a winding mountain road and “historical” footage of California during the gold rush era.

Now for the safety fine print. Aside from red-teaming the model, OpenAI says its building tools to label Sora-created videos as such, with C2PA guidelines. It is also using existing safety methods applied to DALL-E that reject inappropriate or harmful text prompts.

Lastly, OpenAI says it will be “engaging policymakers, educators and artists around the world to understand their concerns and to identify positive use cases for this new technology.” The company believes the best way to learn all the beneficial and harmful ways people will use Sora is by “learning from real-world use is a critical component of creating and releasing increasingly safe AI systems over time.”

The best deals on Valentine’s Day gifts at a glance:

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BEST BEAUTY DEAL

Theraface LED

$198 at Amazon
(save $101)

Get Deal

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BEST TECH DEAL

Echo Dot (5th Gen) with Clock + free Sengled smart bulb

$39.99 at Amazon
(save $39.99)

Get Deal

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BEST SENTIMENTAL DEAL

Lego Icons Flower Bouquet

$47.99 at Amazon
(save $12)

Get Deal

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BEST SEX TOY DEAL

Lovehoney Wilder Weekend couple’s sex toy kit

$64.99 at Lovehoney
(save $65)

Get Deal

With Valentine’s Day just a little over a week away, it’s time to start thinking about gifts. A box of chocolates or some store-bought flowers are fine, but you can do better. This year, opt for something sweet, spicy, or maybe even practical. Better yet, opt for something on sale.

We’ve done some of the work for you and rounded up a dozen different products on sale that would make great Valentine’s Day gifts. There’s something for just about everyone on this list, from the tech-obsessed to the sentimental softie.

A smart speaker bundle

This Echo Dot bundle serves as a simple first step into transforming a home into a smart home. The 5th generation model with the clock feature is a great addition to a bedside table, shelf, or home office. It has a useful LED display, boasts vibrant sound, and motion and temperature sensors that can trigger smart home behaviors. Paired with the free Sengled color smart bulb, it makes setting the mood right for date night even easier. At $39.99, you’ll save 50% on the bundle — that’s just $5 shy of its lowest price to date.

A fancy skincare device

For the self-care junkies, the Theraface Pro combines multiple skincare devices into one compact device for the “ultimate it-girl skincare tool.” It earned a Mashable Choice badge of honor and a nearly perfect rating from deputy reviews editor Miller Kern, with the price being one of the only downfalls. The Theraface LED model narrows down the most popular capabilities of the Theraface Pro — percussive massage and LED Light therapy — which also knocks down the price tag quite a bit. Even better: it’s on sale for just $198 — a savings of 34%.

A card game that makes you go deep

We’re Not Really Strangers is a card game that encourages deeper connections. Whether you’re getting to know someone new or you’ve been together for years, the game helps you reach a new level of depth and self-realization. One reviewer called it “emotional foreplay.” It’s on sale for just $20 at the We’re Not Really Strangers website — that’s a 20% discount.

A smartwatch

A smartwatch like the Fitbit Sense 2 serves as a fitness tracker, a means of staying in touch with loved ones throughout the day, and a way to manage stress, sleep better, and live healthier. And that’s a gift anyone can appreciate. Save $100 and pick one up at Amazon for only $199.95 for Valentine’s Day.

A blowout brush for date night hair

That perfect blowout look can be achieved at home with the Shark SmoothStyle, which also happens to be on sale for just $79.99. With three preset air temperatures to take hair from wet to dry, plus a heated smoothing setting and ceramic-coated plates, the SmoothStyle makes date night hair achievable in just a few swipes while avoiding damage. Snag it for your long-haired lady and save 20%.

A couple’s sex toy kit

Looking for a sexy gift you and your lover can enjoy again and again? Try on the Lovehoney Wilder Weekend kit on for size. It includes all kinds of toys for adventurous bedroom fun: vibrators, plugs, rings, and more. The 10-piece set is typically $129.99, but you can save 50% ahead of Valentine’s Day and snag it for only $64.99.

A pair of noise-cancelling headphones

A good pair of noise-cancelling headphones can go a long way — from boosting focus and mindfulness during the day to eliminating annoyances on planes and commutes. Our favorite earbud option, the Beats Studio Buds+, are on sale for just $129.99 — that’s about $40 in savings and a couple cents away from their all-time low price.

A portable party speaker

Practical and fun? Check and check. The JBL Flip 6 portable speaker can get the party started anywhere, thanks to its bumping sound and its lightweight, portable design. It’s a great companion for just about any adventure and it’s on sale for just under $100.

A Lego flower bouquet

Real flowers are fine and all, but a bouquet that never dies has much more longevity. Plus, you can build these Lego flowers together for an enjoyable date night. The flower bouquet kit is on sale for just $47.99 — that’s 20% in savings.

A mini projector

Turn your bedroom or backyard into a personal movie theater with a mini projector for the ultimate Valentine’s Day date night. The pocket-sized Kodak Luma allows you to stream content via USB, HDMI, or Bluetooth onto any surface. It’s powered by Android, so you can download your favorite apps and stream shows without even needing your phone. It’s usually $349.99, but you can snag it on sale ahead of Valentine’s Day for only $299.99.

An instant camera

Make memories with your Valentine this holiday with a Kodak Mini Shot 3 Retro instant camera. Set up a boudoir photoshoot or capture your date night out on the town. An instant camera makes your memories more tangible to delight in for years to come. Save 35% on this bundle which includes the camera and two packs of paper for up to 60 shots.

A candle with a deeper meaning

Homesick’s candles offer a personal touch with scents tied to different locations, events, or ideas. For example, there’s Wine Country, Beach Cottage, Road Trip, Love Letters, Be My Galentine, and other fun picks. You can even add a personalized note for further customization. If you have romantic trip planned or just want to get nostalgic about a trip from the past, Homesick candles are the perfect way to say it. Plus, most scents are 25% off for Valentine’s Day.

Beauty trends on TikTok are a revolving door.

Last year’s entries included: the clean girl aesthetic, strawberry girl, rat girl, latte makeup, and more. The app’s latest favorite phenomenon is something called “visual weight.” It’s a dedicated filter that slices your face in two, applying heavier makeup on the left and lighter, more natural makeup on the right. But visual weight is much more complicated than simply applying makeup and, when done correctly, it can help you understand and celebrate your most unique features.

We dug into the trend’s origins to understand its roots in East Asian beauty and its universal appeal.

What is visual weight?

Visual weight is a beauty theory that helps you to identify your face’s unique features and amplify them with complementary styling. Its goal is to enhance your natural features, not alter them, and there is no such thing as “good” or “bad” visual weight. Instead, the theory proposes that all faces fall on a spectrum between “high” and “low” visual weights. 

Faces with low visual weight look best in makeup that creates balance and harmony among their features, while folks with high visual weight shine in makeup styles highlight their largest or most prominent features.

Where did the term ‘visual weight’ come from?

The term “visual weight” has been popularized in the West by beauty creator “Dear Peachie” who mentioned the term in multiple YouTube videos on her channel before making a video about the concept in Jan. 2023. Dear Peachie’s content aggregates beauty tricks from East Asia specifically, and fellow beauty creator Style Me Jenn says that focus may be key to understanding the “visual weight” trend. 

In a video analyzing a visual weight TikTok filter, Style Me Jenn explains, “I feel like this whole idea of high versus low visual weight came about when East Asians started realizing that traditional Western styles of makeup” — which tend to highlight individual “high” weight facial features — “don’t always work for our faces because our features are much more delicate” and may be best served by “low” weight makeup that achieves a harmonic beauty. 

But these are only observations, not hard-and-fast rules. There are East Asian celebrities with high visual weight and Western celebs with low visual weight. Every face is different, and exploring your face’s visual weight is just one way of developing and appreciating your unique style.

Is visual weight just another way to critique ourselves?

Beauty trends, especially those on TikTok, can be rooted in misogyny and consumerism. While beauty is a powerful form of self-expression, it can also be leveraged as a societal tool for oppression. Though the gender pay gap is slowly closing, women are still paid 15 percent less than men for the same work. And when beauty is a prerequisite for acceptance, women invest in makeup and other aesthetic pursuits not as a form of expression, but as a form of protection.

Take the “clean girl” aesthetic, for instance. Achieving “the look” requires the acquisition of accessories and styling products — like yellow gold jewelry or a gel that will shape the perfect wild brow. It also encourages harmful comparison, and has been critiqued as classist, racist, and fatphobic. If that girl is considered “clean,” what is everyone else?

As a beauty trend, the theory of visual weight can of course fall into these traps. But it is not designed to demean or divide or to be aspired to as an achievable “look.” Instead, it’s an approach to styling and makeup that anyone can access, with the cheapest drugstore palettes or fanciest lip stains. The theory of visual weight is supposed to help you better understand how to highlight your beauty, not fit it into a trend-shaped box.

That being said, if you do begin to feel like assessing yourself based on its parameters is harmful, a commenter under Style Me Jenn’s video about the trend says it best: “I love that people have more resources today to find what flatters most. The only problem I have is people thinking that one type of beauty is better than another… there is beauty in every one of you.”

What is low visual weight?

People with low visual weight look best when their features are balanced to create harmony. This can be achieved by makeup looks that opt for a softer or more natural application of color that ensures no one facial feature overwhelms the others.

Kate Bosworth (left) and Gabrielle Union (right) are examples of celebrities with “low” visual weight. In these photos, their makeup enhances the harmony of their features.
Credit: Mashable composite / Amy Sussman/Getty Images and Paul Morigi/Getty Images

What is high visual weight?

Folks with high visual weight usually have large or prominent facial features that pop when accented by bold, dark, or heavy makeup. These makeup styles enhance the feature rather than obscuring it, and draw attention to a particular area of the face as opposed to its overall harmony.

CL (left) and Angelina Jolie (right) are examples of celebrities with “high” visual weight. Their makeup in these photos enhances their most prominent feature — their eyes — to achieve balance.
Credit: Mashable composite / Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images and Samir Hussein/WireImage

How do I figure out my face’s visual weight?

The best way to find your face’s visual weight is through learning and experimentation, by watching videos on the subject and playing around with makeup. There are three main elements to consider:

The size of your features

The ratio of your facial features to the “blank space” of your cheeks, chin, and other areas affects the balance of your face. Large eyebrows, for example, often draw attention away from other features.

Color, complexion, and contrast

The colors of our features, skin, and hair create a contrast that helps draw attention to certain elements of our facial makeup. It’s a pretty simple concept: brown-colored eyebrows, for example, will likely draw more attention than large blonde ones.

Ariana Grande’s blonde eyebrows, a style choice for her role in Wicked, provide low contrast to her skin tone. As a result, her face loses dimension, with her eyes pulling the majority of the viewer’s focus.
Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage

In contrast, dark eyebrows bring a sense of balance to Grande’s face.
Credit: Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Your bone structure

Your bone structure affects the depth of your face, the prominence of your features, and where shadows naturally fall.

Below, Style Me Jenn does a great job of explaining the concept with dozens of celebrity examples.

The Cranberries dropped “Linger” more than 30 years ago. Yet, for one reason or another, it is now having a moment on TikTok. But not how you might think.

It seems like everyone and anyone is covering the song on TikTok right now. There are so many beautiful covers floating around. It is legit a trend to cover a wonderful, decades-old song.

There are a number of variations of covers. But for the most part, the recent covers have focused on one verse and chorus.

Chiefly, this part of the song:

So why were you holding her hand?
Is that the way we stand?
Were you lying all the time?
Was it just a game to you?

But I’m in so deep
You know I’m such a fool for you
You got me wrapped around your finger
Do you have to let it linger?
Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let it linger?

The covers typically slow down the pace of the original song and add a little bit of vocal flourish on the lines “in so deep” and “such a fool for you.” Frankly, it makes sense. It is such a pretty and delicate song. If you want to look good as a singer on TikTok, you could do worse than singing “Linger” with an acoustic guitar backing you. I can’t sing a lick — so I could be wrong — but it seems like a difficult and impressive song to cover. At the very least it seems very impressive to untalented rubes like me, so it’ll get likes.

“Linger,” while also an awesome song, has been making the rounds in the Online World for a while now. The idea of “letting it linger” became a meme of sorts early last year. It’s an absurd joke about choosing “letting it linger” as an activity.

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It makes some sense, then, that TikTokkers would return to the source material and cover it.

And frankly how could anyone complain about hearing more of that song? We should just let this trend…linger…a bit longer.