Chad Face

About

The Chad Face, also known as the GigaChad Face, refers to the facial recreation of what a typical Chad and GigaChad is perceived to look like online. Making the face involves slanting one's eyebrows, flaring one's nostrils, sucking in one's cheeks and puckering one's lips, all while emphasizing the jawline. The practice of Mewing and its parodies are said to be an origin, leading to the face's usage in image macro memes. However, the "Chad Face" became increasingly prevalent on TikTok in 2022 where TikTokers would make the face in rapid succession, usually paired with sounds that included Vine Booms such as My Name Is Skyler White, Yo and I'm a Male. I'm a Man. I'm a 'He,' among others.

History

The history of Chad in memes dates back to the 2000s and even further in pop culture to the 1990s when "Chad" was a derogatory slang term for young, successful white men in their 20s and early 30s in Chicago, Illinois.^[1] "Chad" was first added to Urban Dictionary ^[2] on June 1st, 2006, by user Mav Himself, defining him as a guy who "goes to the bar to pick up chicks." On August 9th, 2013, Urban Dictionary^[3] user Dr. James Russell submitted an entry for "Chad Thundercock," which defined the character as a "stereotypical high school/college alpha male" who is "successful with women." Later, in 2015, "Chad" imagery and signifiers started to emerge on Tumblr^[4] via the blog Chad Thundercock (example shown below).

Going into the remainder of the 2010s, the aesthetic signifiers of the typical "Chad" solidified themselves in multiple "Chad" memes and trends. For instance, the physical practice of Mewing surfaced on YouTube in 2011. Mewing involves resting one's tongue on the roof of their mouth at all times, which allegedly leads to a stronger jaw and aesthetically pleasing jawline/face (example shown below, left). The Millimeters of Bone trend dealt with similar jawline-centric aesthetics, surfacing on Twitter^[7] for the first time in June 2016 (shown below, right).

For instance, on June 7th, 2017, the first iteration of the blonde Chad cartoon present in the Virgin vs. Chad template was submitted to 4chan's /r9k/^[5] board (shown below).

GigaChad also surfaced in memes in 2017, starting on October 15th, 2017, when an anonymous Redditor published a link to the @sleekntears Instagram page in the /r/bodybuilding^[6] subreddit. The Reddit post additionally namedropped the Bogdanoff Twins, who came to prominence in memes in 2015 (example shown below, right).

Going into the 2020s, Google Trends^[8] interest in the term "Chad Face" started to accelerate, notably occurring in 2021. This was in part to the rise of TikTok and multiple creators that made ironic Sigma Male and Sigma Grindset content that involved the subversion of their masculine aesthetics. One notable creator to do so was TikToker Bradeazy who became prominent on the platform following the Trade Offer template.

Face Stretch TikTok Filter

On September 26th, 2020, TikToker^[8] Bradeazy posted a video in which he claimed to have popularized the "face stretch" trend that distorted his face to look more Chad-like. Over the course of two years, the video received roughly 370,500 plays and 77,600 likes (shown below, left). Other TikTokers made more egregiously face-stretched content going into 2021. For instance, on January 17th, 2021, TikToker^[9] michaelsoepic posted a video in which he lip-dubbed a fake Chills audio, gaining roughly 11,800 likes in a year and a half (shown below, right).

"Prolly My Spookiest Beat" by Prodby668

In early 2022, the song 'Prolly My Spookiest Beat' by Prodby668 became a highly prominent TikTok sound, mostly due to a trend that involved switching to a "Chad Face" using the Face Stretch TikTok^[10] filter when the song's beat dropped. Sped-up audios of the sound also emerged in tow.

On March 7th, 2022, TikToker^[11] ithunderballz uploaded the earliest known iteration of the trend, gaining roughly 1.9 million plays and 283,200 likes in seven months (shown below, left). Brazilian influencers soon joined the trend, like TikToker^[12] peiranoo on March 9th, 2022, earning roughly 3.2 million plays and 418,700 likes in seven months (shown below, right).

"GigaChad Face" tutorials started emerging soon after as some creators were able to make the face without the filter. For instance, on April 2nd, 2022, TikToker^[13] lunarsviel uploaded a tutorial video, gaining roughly 20.6 million plays and 2.7 million likes in six months (shown below, left). On June 26th, 2022, TikToker^[14] itsyuhboiisam uploaded his own "Chad Face" tutorial, gaining roughly 50.9 million plays and 5.1 million likes in four months (shown below, right).

Related Memes

My Name Is Skyler White, Yo

My Name Is Skyler White, Yo refers to a scene from Breaking Bad in which Walter White's wife Skyler (Skylar) confronts Jesse Pinkman in his driveway about selling marijuana to her husband, ultimately not knowing about the meth business. The scene became a lip dub trend on TikTok in 2022, mostly due to Skyler's repetition and emphasis of the word "Yo." Also in their videos, TikTokers cosplayed as Skyler and Jesse and also made the "Chad Face."

Kazuya Guy

Kazuya Guy is a nickname given to TikToker emilseljeseth whose facial expression related to the "Chad Face" gained virality in September and October 2022 as a reference for redraws. The exploitable meme's name was spawned by a viral tweet referencing the fighting video game Tekken 8.

I'm a Male. I'm a Man. I'm a "He"

I'm a Male. I'm a Man. I'm a 'He,' continued I Don't Get Into That Mentally Ill Stuff, is a TikTok sound that was surfaced from an old, white man living in the most racist town in America (Harrison and Zinc, Arkansas) after he was asked what his preferred pronouns were within a YouTube video uploaded by YouTuber Poudii in October 2022. After the sound landed on TikTok, it was lip-dubbed by multiple creators who additionally raised their eyebrows for each Vine boom sound effect, making a "Chad Face."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References