THE BEST OF TIKTOK - THANKSGIVING WEEKEND EDITION

Much of indie music and pop culture never make it to official channels. Some of the hottest hip-hop comes out on mixtapes. A lot of the best dance music makes it to a 12" at best, with much of the action happening on late-night dancefloors, pirate radio stations, and on unofficial remixes between friends and collaborators.

If you wait for Pop Culture to hit the airwaves or the TV, you're going to miss a lot. Much of indie pop culture happens on social media, occurring in real-time.

Keeping up with official releases and singles alone is several full-time jobs. You could try and scroll all the social media networks all day, every day and still miss out on some mind-blowing music and entertainment. Lucky you guys though, this is where we come in and help you keep with the best media to be found on the TikTok.

Here's We Are: The Guard's Best Of TikTok, Thanksgiving Weekend edition!

@TAYLORFELTMUSIC SINGS ALICIA KEYS AFTER THANKSGIVING DINNER

Some of us go into a food coma after Thanksgiving. Some of us watch football. Some of us play board games. Taylorfeltmusic though ... sings Alicia Keys' "No One".

Alicia Keys' music always makes for good vocal audition music, showcasing the range of the vocalist's talent. Taylor Felt's got talent in spades, as evidenced on her cover of "No One." She also doesn't take herself too seriously, as you can see by the flub at the end. And people are flipping out for it!

PYNK LE’MONADE’S JACKIE’S PREGNANT WITH A FOOD BABY

TikTok's not just for Pop Music and musicians. It's got every kind of talent you can imagine (and a bunch you can't.) Of course, a lot of TikTok talent does it all.

Pynk Le'Monade's a group of singing, dancing pop stars.Over the weekend, they added impersonation to their list. Pynk Le'Monade's Jackie showed off a food baby, blowing up like a balloon to a song by fellow TikTok star @TheLeahWood. It's not the first time someone's pulled that trick, but that's part of the joy of TikTok. It might be the first time it's seen by so many, however, with @punklemmusic's 1.0M followers.

@THELEAHWOOD LIP SYNCS AND GETS DOWN TO DEJ LOAF’S “BACK UP” (FT. BIG SEAN)

@theleahwood doesn't just make beats. She also lip-syncs and dances, apparently, as she gets down to Dej Loaf's "Back Up" featuring Big Sean. She also rocks some killer turquoise nail polish and vintage Motley Crue t-shirt. She's truly a woman of many talents.

@BROOKTAYLORKIER LIP SYNCS TO SCREAM QUEENS

TikTok's a source for high-class fashion and style, as well as music, dancing, and lip-syncing. Lip-syncing doesn't have to just be to music, either. In this case, fashion diva Brooke Taylor lip syncs to Tayler Lockwood's "If You Use This Sound You Probably Tried Too Hard."

BrookeTaylor Kier's video is even more meta as she's lip-syncing to a lip-syncing video. Tayler Lockwood's "If You Use This…" finds Tayler Lockwood recreating a monologue from Emma Roberts on Scream Queens.

That's one of the joys of TikTok. You can see people recreate pretty much anything!

@LE.MUSIC CELEBRATES 3 YEARS WITH THEIR PARTNER

TikTok's not just for funny memes, dancing, and lip-syncing videos. You can find some real heart, real emotion in some unexpected places.

On @le.music's TikTok from 2 days ago, she celebrated her 3 year anniversary with a surprisingly sweet home showing her and her boyfriend kissing and making out over a weirdly inappropriate Xxxtentacion song, "I Don't Wanna Do This Anymore."

Romance is weird in 2019. We here at We Are: The Guard aren't here to judge. @le.music seems happy and she and her boyfriend are hella cute.

@ROSEE..SOUNDS - MOGT IHR KATJA?

Looking for some low-slung dancehall bass music with German vocals? You're in luck. The up-and-coming producer @Rosee..sounds is satisfyingly chill yet still funky with some trumpet stabs steady-thumping beats.

TikTok influencers haven't yet caught on to the producer's newest single, although some of their earlier stuff's been taking off. It's only a matter of time until the clones start rolling in.

@LORENGRAY TRANSITIONS INTO A ONSIE

Loren Gray is one of the biggest names on TikTok. She does it all… she sings, she dances, and in this case she transitions into a lizard onesie.

Loren Gray's newest video shows the TikTok superstar getting down to one of her own songs, both IRL and as a virtual avatar a la Street Fighter 2 from the new game Just Dance 2020. Halfway through, with a hop and a bass-drop and a quick jump-edit, Gray transforms into a human-size lizard.

@LAUREN GODWIN USES UNO FLIP ON HER DAD

It's almost impossible to calculate how much of a reach Lauren Godwin. She's got 17 million followers on TikTok alone. She's got 817,000 followers on her YouTube channel. 941.3k people follow her on Instagram. Can the hype around this blue-hair Gen Zer ever possibly live up to the hype?

We don't necessarily have an answer to that questions. We can say, definitely, that the social media superstar produces some entertaining content. While she doesn't post as much music as we'd like to hear, the short-form format of the TikTok platform actually suits her rather well.

In her most recent installment, her Dad tries to tell her to clean her room. She gives him a Uno Reverse card, magically transforming him into her maid. It's silly, light, trite fun. What more do you need or want in 12 seconds?

Make sure to check back with us regularly to keep up with the best, most inspiring, weirdest, most obscure and wonderful TikTok media out there.

J. Simpson occupies the intersection between criticism, creativity, and academia. Based out of Portland, Or., he is the author of Forestpunk, an online journal/brand studying the traces of horror, supernatural, and the occult through music, fashion and culture. He plays in the dreamfolk band Meta-Pinnacle with his partner Lily H. Valentine, with whom he also co-founded Bitstar Productions, a visual arts collective focused on elevating Pop Culture to High Art.