The "What Can I Say" Trend Is Heating Up on TikTok — Here's How It Originated

The Gist:

• The "what can I say" TikTok trend started in October 2023.
• TikTok user @444pray is the voice behind the trend.
• After being asked a question about why he is so sassy, @444pray answered "what can I say? what can I saaay? what can I saaaaaaaaay?" while doing a dance.
• TikTok users began using his audio in their own videos.

If you’ve been on TikTok recently, you may have noticed a new audio making the rounds. The audio snippet, which is only a few seconds long, contains a male voice asking “what can I say” three times. As of writing over 10,000 videos have used this original audio, which contains @444pray’s voice, in their videos.

So, what is all the hype about around this audio? Below, we shared how the “what can I say” audio originated and how it’s evolved into a new trend.

Remember when House of the Dragon star Emma D'Arcy went viral for her drink order (negroni sbagliato with prosecco)? Everyone and their mom couldn't stop saying it! Well, that's sort of the situation we have here with "what can I say."

TikTok creator @444pray first uttered the phrase in a TikTok video where he was answering a question about why he was so sassy. "I really don't know what to say about this whole sassy thing. The first thing I want to say is guilty, guilty, guilty," he exclaimed.

"If it was up to me, I would have chosen to be nonchalant and sexy, but God wanted me to be loud and sassy," he quipped. Then he animatedly said: "What can I say? What can I saaay? What can I saaaaaaaaay?" As he was doing this, he made the L sign with both hands and started dancing in his seat.

Generally speaking, the expression "what can I say" is something said when you don't actually have an answer to a question or don't want to answer. In other words, @444pray had nothing else to add about why he was so sassy in nature.

TikTok creator @mulahmovin watched his video and seemingly fell in love with his "What can I say?" spiel and dance. She then turned it into an audio clip for all to use on the platform and jumpstarted the trend.

In her video, she included the clip of @444pray dancing and saying "what can I say." But she wrote the following text over it: "When he asks why I have his whole family in my Facebook search bar on the first link." Basically, she uses his audio to share that she doesn't actually have an answer to why she did that.

Other TikTok users have also used the audio clip she made and have even started mimicking @444pray's dance moves themselves.

In the video above, @mayewaters and her sister use the "what can I say" audio and do the dance after they're told they are the funniest sisters.

Furthermore, in the video above, creator @wumi_10 is seen placing multiple untouched plates of pasta into tupperware at Olive Garden. In the video's text, she wrote: "When the Olive Garden employee asks me how I finished 11 bowls of pasta in 5 minutes at the all you can eat pasta deal today." Her answer: "What can I say!"