Within a few weeks, Megan Boni went from being an unknown 27-year-old to getting millions of views on Tiktok – and a song with David Guetta. All thanks to the mantra "I'm looking for a financier".
So it started:
On April 30, American Megan Boni shared a clip on Tiktok where she reads out a mantra about looking for a financier with blue eyes and a large savings account.
The clip went viral, and according to Boni herself, it's about satire.
It's a joke about girls who, just like me, complain about being single while having a long list of demands, she says to BBC Newsbeat.
Offered a record contract
This is the trend:
In the video, Boni encouraged Tiktok users to remix the sound into a song, and meant that it could become the summer's hit. It quickly spread, and in June, Boni, together with Billen Ted and David Guetta, released the song "Man in finance" on Spotify.
On Tiktok, the search for "man in finance" has around 150 million hits. There, videos of men in vests, shirts, and suits are shared, often recorded in financial districts in London and New York, but also tips on how to meet a financier.
So the trend has spread beyond Tiktok:
Since "Man in finance" was released, it has taken itself onto several international top lists. Boni was also offered a record contract by Universal Music to release a full album, but declined.
Even companies have taken on the song and used it in advertising campaigns. On June 18, employees of the English clothing brand Reiss performed a flash mob, dancing to the song outside their store in London.
Flirting with the 80s
Newspapers like Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and British Vogue believe that so-called "finance bros" have experienced a renaissance in connection with Boni's video.
According to Louise Thanem Wallenberg, professor of fashion studies at Stockholm University, the financier's new status among young people can be seen as a "nostalgic flirt" with the 1980s financial boom, and as an ironic critique of ideals associated with the style.
Probably, both of these perspectives are intertwined, a longing for a time and an expression they themselves have not experienced, and a critical insight that the style is the epitome of destructive egoism.
The 1980s have, according to her, been present on the catwalk for a while, but the typical yuppie style has not yet emerged among fashion houses.
I think I see that the suit is on its way to getting a boost, but maybe not as polished and uniform as during the 1980s financial boom.
From financiers to brat summer – the trends on Tiktok are replacing each other at a rapid pace. In our summer series, we write about some of the biggest buzzwords in the app, and unravel where they come from, what they mean, and how they have spread beyond Tiktok.
