A new TikTok trend is bringing pangs of nostalgia to the internet as people bring back an iconic ’90s dance.
Set to rapper Doechii’s song “Anxiety,” people have been re-creating a moment from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” between Will Smith and Ashley Banks, played by Tatyana Ali.
In recent weeks, even celebrities — including Smith and Doechii — have hopped on the trend and drawn millions of eyes.
Psychotherapist and TODAY columnist Niro Feliciano says the trend helps to normalize anxiety, and that by making light of it, people can feel like they have more control over their symptoms.
“People often feel paralyzed by anxiety and its effects, and the dance shows that we are not,” Feliciano tells TODAY.com. “It gives us something to do — and even dance in and of itself can help to overcome some of the symptoms.”
Here’s what to know about the dance trend taking over TikTok.
What is the ‘Anxiety’ dance trend on TikTok?
In the popular videos, two people re-create the scene from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” when Will walks in on Ashley jamming to music on her Walkman. At first, Ashley doesn’t notice Will, who then begins to copy all her dance moves. When Ashley turns around, she’s met with Will hitting some fierce moves of his own.
The videos have garnered so much attention that Will Smith shared the original clip from the show on TikTok, but set Doechii’s much newer “Anxiety.”
“I’ve been watching y’all and every video has been better than the last!! Love that track @Doechii. @Tatyana Ali,” Smith wrote, tagging both the rapper and his former co-star.
Reacting to her song and the dance going viral, Doechii also hopped on TikTok to clear up how the song came to be.
Doechii explained that “years ago,” she recorded a remix of “Somebody That I Used to Know” and titled the track “Anxiety.” Then, in 2023, rapper Sleepy Hallow sampled her song on his track also called “Anxiety.”
Now that the sound has surged in popularity, Doechii said she went back into the studio so she could release her own version. The track dropped on March 5 and has more than 22 million streams on Spotify.
On TikTok, more than 725,000 videos have been posted using the song, with many incorporating the dance from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
Doechii herself has taken part in the trend, as well as celebrities like Demi Lovato.
“Felt anxious, might delete later…” Lovato captioned her TikTok as she danced with a pal.
Influencer Bretman Rock also did a take on the trend involving a slew of chickens instead of a singular dance partner.
“Me and the girlies,” Rock wrote in the caption of the post, which garnered more than 4 million likes.
The benefits of ‘Anxiety’ dance trend
Certain anxiety disorders can cause intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations, and they can also involve panic attacks or repeated, sudden episodes of fear or terror that peak within minutes, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Feliciano explains research shows that creative expression can help overcome anxious thoughts and feelings, so she loves that the dance was paired with “Anxiety.”
“Dancing gives our brain another focus and requires multiple regions of the brain to perform,” she says. “It is nearly impossible feel anxiety when we do things like dance, sing or anything creative, which requires many physiological processes.”
A 2021 study from UCLAHealth that found conscious dance produced mental health benefits among the vast majority of participants with depression, anxiety or history of trauma.
“We also know dancing, like other physical exercise, releases mood elevating hormones, such as serotonin and endorphins,” Feliciano says.
