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Culture

Yassification, the hilariously bizarre beauty meme that has taken over social media

yassify, yassify bot, yassification, toni collette
Twitter

Toni Collette being 'yassified' on Twitter.

Kamala Harris has turned into Kim Kardashian. Abraham Lincoln is now Angelina Jolie. Behold, The Great Yassification is here.

Jumping off of the LGBTQ term "YAS, queen," a phrase made mainstream by shows like "RuPaul's Drag Race" and "Broad City," to "yassify" means to drastically glam up an image using heavy editing, usually through FaceApp. Click that slay button for contoured cheeks, thick eyelashes and ultra-defined eyebrows, and voila, you are yassified.

As it turns out, the beauty-app-trend-turned-hilarious-meme-with-a-dash-of-queer-slang has about as many layers as a yassified photo.

The trend started to fly off the handle after Toni Collette got yassified in a still from the horror film "Hereditary." Her transformation is almost more eerie than the movie itself.

Denver Adams, an art student in Nebraska, really took things up a notch by creating @YassifyBot on Twitter. Receiving thousands of requests, the Yassify Bot applies filter after filter, careful to not lighten skin tones so that people of color don't appear more Caucasian, which the app problematically does. Still, that doesn't stop them from applying crazy makeup and gender swapping. Cause why not?

​The Yassify Bot magically turned Joe Biden into the Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World," with esteemed Vice President Kamala Kardashian by his side.

​Mrs. Doubtfire is now QUEEN Doubtfire. All hail the queen.

Honestly I thought Abraham Lincoln was attractive before. But now THIS. Hello SLAYbraham.

British Bake Off’s Paul Hollywood is dishing out looks instead of handshakes.

The Doll from "Squid Game" is ready to slay more than just the players.

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out of here with that glam

As a Maggie Smith fan, this one was my particular favorite.

Sorry, Mark Zuckerberg. Even as a beautiful woman, you cannot sell me the Metaverse.

As with any successful meme, yassification has now evolved into the wordplay stage on Twitter.

The trend is now a strange hybrid between satire and celebration. On the one hand, it begs us to look once again at the bizarre beauty standards we place on ourselves with all the digital enhancements at our disposal.

Adams told BuzzFeed News, "This app is genuinely used by people. I think there's a conversation to be had about how unhealthy that culture is." No doubt we're used to seeing this undeniably warped sense of beauty flood magazine covers and social media. Yassifying just takes it to the nth degree.

On the other hand, this flamboyant embrace of camp also reflects the performance art spirit of queer culture. Think of the dramatic drag shows, theatrical fashion, the viral limp wrist movement … even the term "YAS queen."

The real difference between the two sides is awareness. One is hiding behind a mask, and one is expressing authentically through the mask. Or in this case, filters.

Whether it actually changes the public's perspective on either subject, the yassification trend is at least serving up some laughs, along with some serious face.

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'Lazy' mom of four shares a video of her incredibly messy home and parents love her for it

"It's not dirty, it's just messy."

via themessymama4/TikTok

Bri James and her messy (not dirty) home.

It’s hard to keep your home clean when you have a child, but when you have four, unless you have a live-in maid, it’s completely impossible. There is no dishwasher fast enough to keep up with the dishes in the sink and no magical point where all four children have it together enough to put their toys away.

The problem is that if you take your eyes off the prize and let a day go by without cleaning up, you’re practically drowning in chaos.

TikTok user and stay-at-home mom Bri James (aka @themessymama4) did the unthinkable and let her home go four days without tidying up and shared the incredible mess with everyone on TikTok.


"I know I'm going to get roasted," she says in the clip, "but ... this is what happens when two really lazy adults have four kids and don't clean up after themselves."

The clip shows cutlery on the floor, empty packets everywhere, dishes piled a mile-high in the sink, and clothes and toys strewn everywhere. The house looks like the parents went away on a permanent vacation and left their kids to fend for themselves.

The video was praised by a lot of parents who are tired of seeing mommy influencers with spotless homes and children in matching linen outfits. Finally, there was a mom on TikTok they could relate to.

"I'd MUCH rather see you clean your realistic house than watch another blonde clean an already clean countertop," Meghan Sanders wrote.

TikTokker Its_not_that_serious put things in perfect perspective. "Dude, at the end of the day all of their fingers and toes are attached and feeling safe and loved you’re doing fine. Someday the house will be clean," they wrote.

"Having children is mentally and physically exhausting and you don’t always have the energy to clean every day," Rose added.

But not everyone appreciated Bri's slice of reality. Some people thought that her messiness was borderline neglectful and that she was setting a terrible example for her children.

"Set a good example for your kids. Make them help," carleebocciaa wrote.

"Without children = fine, your choice. With children (especially small ones) = completely unacceptable," ACZOgirly wrote.

Shortly after posting her first video, Bri got to work on the impossible task of cleaning up the entire house. Noticeably absent from the job were her spouse and four children. She appears to clean the entire place by herself.

She showed her cleaning prowess through a series of fast-motion videos.

@themessymama4

my butt does not look flattering in these Walmart lounge pants 🤦🏼‍♀️😅

Finally, at 9:30 p.m., Bri was done with most of the job, although she still had a bit of vacuuming to do and there were still some dishes in the sink. At the end of the job, she was exhausted. But she got the job done and that’s all that matters. It’s OK to let your house fall into disarray from time to time but eventually, you have to take care of business.

@themessymama4

I'm going to bed now. 🤣🥱😴

We’ll give TikTokker Sannon Martin the final word on this story because she hits the nail on the head. “Your home is exactly like mine,” she wrote. “Some days it’s a wreck and some days it looks amazing. That’s life. You’re doing great!”


This article originally appeared on 03.05.22

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