TikTok can’t decide if viral group Boy Throb is sincere or the year’s smartest marketing stunt. 

TikTok can’t decide if viral group Boy Throb is sincere or the year’s smartest marketing stunt. The newly emerged boy band is on a mission to hit one million followers, supposedly so their fourth member, Darshan, can get a U.S. visa. Of course, immigration lawyers say the visa story doesn’t make sense. And with the band’s ties to the creator behind viral stunts like the Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest, their debut seems manufactured for virality. Still, they’re pulling in tons of views singing off-key covers with stiff choreography—at nursing homes with Darshan dialing into performances via laptop—and insist they’re being sincere. Gen Z can’t tell if they’re watching an underdog story or getting played, but the twist is it works either way—if it’s real, it’s inspiring; if it’s fake, everyone gets to say they knew all along. (In Interesting Times)