Three-panel TikTok collage of women participating in the small waist pretty face with a big bank challenge trend

Small Waist Pretty Face With A Big Bank Challenge

2021viral videoclassic

Published November 10, 2026

Small Waist Pretty Face With A Big Bank Challenge is a TikTok dance trend set to $not and Flo Milli's 2020 track "Mean," where creators frame their face with their hands, then spin to show their backside as the lyric lands. Starting January 2, 2021, with a Subway-uniform clip from @halle.c00l.cat, the format fed over 550,000 TikTok videos within five months.

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Overview

A typical Big Bank Challenge clip opens with the TikToker showing off their waist, hands framing their face as they lip-sync "I've got a small waist, pretty face," then whipping the camera angle or their body around for a back shot on the word "big bank"1. Choreography is tight and short, usually under ten seconds, and almost always filmed vertically from waist height so the twist landing is clean2.

The audio driving the trend is "Mean" by rapper $not featuring Flo Milli, released in 2020, with the hook functioning as the cue for the reveal5. Entries leaned on the straight lip-sync format at first, then expanded into comedy riffs, couple versions, and skits poking fun at viewers watching the clips on their For You pages4. Workplace uniform takes were a distinct thread of the trend, with fast-food and retail employees joining in on-shift1.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok
Date
2021

It is unclear who first performed the Big Bank Challenge, but the earliest widely viewed entry came from TikToker @halle.c00l.cat on January 2, 2021, who ran the choreography inside a Subway restaurant while wearing the chain's green uniform1. That clip gathered roughly 7.8 million views over the following five months6.

Several other TikTokers hit viral numbers on the same day, including @ryleeethomass2 and @xoobruna3, establishing the pose-and-spin format within hours of @halle.c00l.cat's upload. Because multiple creators ran the sound simultaneously on January 2, KYM lists the originator as unknown rather than crediting any one account6.

How It Spread

Peak activity hit in early January 2021, then kept building into summer. Comedian Andrew Rousso extended the trend outside the dance-challenge audience on January 11, 2021, with a sketch acting out a girlfriend scrolling her boyfriend's For You page and finding video after video of the challenge, a clip that drew over 6.7 million views in five months4.

Aggregator coverage followed later that month. On January 26, 2021, the YouTube account "Tiktok clips" uploaded a compilation of the strongest entries, collecting 4.6 million views within five months and introducing the trend to viewers outside the TikTok app5. By June 2021, the "Mean" sound powering the challenge had been used in more than 550,000 TikTok videos, and the #bigbank hashtag counted over 1.2 billion aggregate views6.

Timeline

2021-01-02

@halle.c00l.cat uploads the Subway-uniform clip that becomes the earliest widely viewed example, reaching roughly 7.8 million views.

2021-01-02

TikTokers @ryleeethomass and @xoobruna post their own viral takes the same day, locking in the pose-and-spin format.

2021-01-11

Andrew Rousso posts a For You page girlfriend-reaction sketch, bringing the trend to comedy audiences; the clip tops 6.7 million views.

2021-01-26

YouTube channel "Tiktok clips" uploads a compilation that reaches 4.6 million views and spreads the format off-platform.

2021-06

The "Mean" sound passes 550,000 TikTok videos and #bigbank exceeds 1.2 billion total views.

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