Peaceful Wojak character looking at a colorful ocean sunset with hopecore text overlay

Hopecore

2023viral videodeclining

Published August 12, 2026

Hopecore is a TikTok editing trend built from feel-good montages of wholesome clips, usually scored with older music from Bob Marley, Neil Diamond, or Frank Sinatra. It started with a Kung-Fu Panda 2 edit in January 2023 and peaked in mid-2024 with videos reaching over 100 million plays.

wholesome memes tiktok sound trends mashup video memes core aesthetics

Overview

Hopecore is a TikTok editing format where creators splice short uplifting clips into one wholesome montage, often layered under older songs by Bob Marley, Neil Diamond, or Frank Sinatra 3. The style sits next to other TikTok '-core' trends like stresscore and pinkcore, though hopecore's tone is specifically warm and nostalgic rather than cathartic or purely visual 3.

Early hopecore edits leaned on sports highlights and dramatic interview moments before the 2024 wave pivoted toward children, animals, and family scenes, with many posts stamping the phrase 'life is beautiful' across every cut 2. That later batch drifted closer to older 'indomitable human spirit' compilations, trading dunk highlights for playgrounds and pets.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok
Creator
@waxyegg
Date
2023

One of the earliest edits identified as hopecore was posted by TikToker @waxyegg on January 27, 2023, built around a Kung-Fu Panda 2 scene where Po tells Lord Shen that scars heal 1. The video collected over one million views and 100,000 likes within its first two years online 3.

How It Spread

Sports edits carried hopecore through its first months. In February 2023, TikToker @2ceeblok stitched together clips organized around the 'Who Do You Think You Are I Am' commentary line and passed four million views with more than 800,000 likes 4. On February 18, 2023, @mandohdropemoff followed with a montage of NBA and NFL moments featuring Derrick Rose and LeBron James, pulling roughly 14 million views and two million likes 5.

By 2024 the format drifted away from stadium footage. On July 12, 2024, @hopecore.o posted a short clip of a young girl trying on prescription glasses for the first time, which passed 100 million plays and 23 million likes within two months 2. Parody arrived within days. A July 17, 2024 post by @tboi_terraria_player used deliberately inappropriate monkey footage to subvert the wholesome premise and still cleared seven million plays 6.

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How to Use This Meme

A typical hopecore edit runs under a minute and cuts between several short shots of people, kids, or animals doing something touching. Creators often layer a mellow older track underneath, and 2024 posts commonly stamp the phrase 'life is beautiful' across each cut 2.

Frequently Asked Questions