American social media users have been left baffled by a bizarre online trend recently, that has seemingly kept Brits in a chokehold.
For many of these UK residents, it's been impossible to open up TikTok over the last few weeks without the voice of a woman blurting out: "Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday, and right now, you can save £50 per person!"
This is all while Jess Glynn's 2015 banger 'Hold My Hand' is heard blasting in the background.
Where did the Jet2 Holidays trend come from?
Apparently, the viral sound that has since come to feature on thousands of online videos was first founded in 2019, when voiceover artist Zoë Lister was hired to record a new campaign for the British budget airline.
In the years since, holiday-makers have heard Lister's voice featuring on television ads and in online campaigns.
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It's also played over the tannoy as travellers embark onto their Jet2 aircrafts.
What started as a means of promoting the travel brand's latest discount, however, has since become a TikTok sensation, with some of the biggest names in content creation jumping on the bandwagon and using the sound in their videos.
Discussing the scale of the sound, 43-year-old Lister told press recently: "It just sort of escalated. They said actually we want you for the campaigns as well. And I was like, great. Now it's just been ticking over every year since then, which has been marvellous."
Chart-topping musician Jess Glynn has also discussed the notoriety of her song, taking to Instagram to celebrate 'Hold My Hand's' tenth anniversary recently by giving Jet2 a special shout-out.
"I can’t believe it!! My first solo number 1 and being real… It changed my life along with all of you so thank you so bloody much!" she wrote at the time. "Happy Anniversary 'Hold My Hand', here’s to another 10 years and here’s to Jet2 blasting it in everyone’s ears!"
How is the sound being used?
Most commonly, the 'Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday' voiceover is being used to accompany a clip of something on holiday going terribly wrong.
The most-watched videos of this nature have been women flying off the back of a banana boat seemingly travelling at 150mph, or losing their bikini bottoms as they whiz down a waterslide.
Other videos have shown entire groups of holiday-makers arriving at their 5* hotel, only to find the accommodation doesn't actually exist.
Why don't Americans seem to get it?
This could be why so many Americans have found themselves perplexed by the sound, as well as the trend as a whole.
In response to a Reddit user, who recently shared a meme they'd made of a Nothing Phone (an Android smartphone by the tech brand Nothing, which went on sale in 2022) in a boxing ring donning a pair of gloves, having knocked down a Jet2 plane, many yanks were baffled.
Seemingly not understanding the 'Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday' reference, one user questioned: "I think thats a nothing phone? But why is it boxing with a plane? Nothing fights and win with airplane?"
"Wait isnt the joke that phones can beat planes if you dont activate airplane mode," another asked, totally missing the point.
Taking to TikTok, a third user demanded: "Am I not getting the joke or does anyone else not understand why this is a thing?"
The same user added: "I’m genuinely confused. Or do we just like her British accent?"
Trying to provide an explanation to American's confusion, Lister admitted she often asks herself the same question.
"There's so many voiceovers out there, I don't know why it's seeped into the public consciousness in the way that it has," she began.
"It seems to represent Britishness or something like that, I don't know!
"You'll have to ask Gen Z why they love it so much."
Maybe it's because the kinds of holiday catastrophes that feature in the accompanying clips only ever seem to happen to British jet-setters?
Who knows?
Topics: Social Media, TikTok, Travel, Holiday, UK News
Rhianna Benson