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A bright orange jumpsuit. Feathered hair. Standing up while playing a piano. Pixelated video quality. A political message set to some serious synth.
The music video for the Alphaville 1984 song “Forever Young” has many of the signature trademarks of a classic ’80s hit.
“Forever Young” took parts of Europe by storm, peaking in November 1984 at the number four spot on the top 100 singles list in the band’s home country of Germany. However, the U.S. didn’t receive it quite as warmly, only reaching 93 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list in 1985.
Alphaville, a German synth-pop group, released the song amid fears of nuclear war as tensions during the Cold War continued to intensify. The song explores questions of who would want to live forever if there was nothing left to enjoy, plus the longing to preserve youth.
“It touches so many hearts, souls and minds because it seems to speak to every generation,” Marian Gold, lead singer of Alphaville, told The Washington Times in 2017. “Or to every problem in the world.”
Gold was right about the song’s staying power. A new generation connected with the song when “The O.C.,” which debuted in 2003, used a “Forever Young” cover by Youth Group at a pivotal moment.
Recently, the song has had another resurgence thanks to TikTok, where users have paired it with old video footage and real-life moments, leading to a feeling of nostalgia and contemplation.
The song has been used in over 2.5 million posts on TikTok, with a majority of users sampling the song’s last verse and a snippet of the chorus: “Swinging out of the blue / We let them come true / Forever young, I want to be forever young / Do you really want to live forever?”
Unlike other TikTok trends that have a choreographed dance or set format, the “Forever Young” trend is more of a vibe, allowing creators to express all sorts of emotions related to aging and the passage of time.
Some users have used the sound over photos or videos of themselves or their partners getting older. Others have used it to pay tribute to a loved one or celebrity who died young. Taking a more theatrical approach, some couples stage their own ’80s rom-com moment by turning in circles in slow motion as water from a water bottle falls around them.
Kristen Morgan, who has over 500 thousand followers on TikTok, used the sound to capture the moment her 13-year-old daughter decided to introduce her dad to a boy for the first time.
In the video, Morgan’s daughter, who is wearing a cheerleading uniform, approaches the camera with a boy in his football uniform. Text on the video reads, “That nervous feeling when he’s about to meet your dad for the first time.”
Morgan captioned the video, “If only they could stay forever young… DONT BLINK.”
Speaking to TODAY.com, Morgan explains why the song was fitting.
“Now that I’m growing older, to be able to watch my kids being involved and doing things that I did as a student… she’s growing and becoming a lady, (and) that song just matched the moment,” Morgan tells TODAY.com.
Morgan says that watching her daughter introduce a boy on the football team to them made her emotional and reminiscent on her own childhood.
It’s “pretty much the same memories, because when I was in high school, I had a little boyfriend that was on the football team,” Morgan says. “And I actually just found out not too long ago that he passed away. So, it just brought back a lot of memories from my childhood.”
Morgan expressed that for her, the song elicits sadness.
“I don’t feel like anybody wants to grow up and grow old,” she says. “We all want to stay forever in a time where we’re not forgetful and losing loved ones and growing up and paying bills. So, in a way, it makes me feel sad.”
Morgan, who has seen many of the viral videos on her feed, says they all circle around the same question.
“Why do we have to grow old? Why do we have to go through this stage in life where we’re growing old?”
The song’s resurgence is sparking deep thoughts, and deep feelings, in people, as this Reddit thread — with the title “How do you feel when you listen to ‘Forever Young’ by Alphaville? — shows.
“I have always been aware of this song… But this past week I happened to listen to the original version while scrolling through TikTok and something just CLICKED. It makes me feel so desperate for more time, so sad and nostalgic for my teenage years and panicked at how fleeting it all is. And yet, I can’t stop listening,” the user posted.
Alphaville also hopped on the trend, posting a video on July 27 of lead singer Marian Gold as he watched his daughter, Lily, grow up.
The video begins with home video clips of Gold and Lily as a baby playing around, as Lily lets out squeals of delight every now and then. As the video progresses, they both get older to what seems like present day before circling to one last clip of her as a baby at the end.
The band captioned the video: “Our third single ‘Forever Young’ (1984) is currently trending on social media and we hopped on the beam!”
Nothing lasts forever, it seems – except maybe the staying power of this song.
