Pinegrove "Need 2" Cash In on TikTok Dance Trend

The Pinegrove Shuffle is taking over the lives of new/old friends

Photo via @shlomoschmo on TikTok

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Jun 15, 2023

Nobody understands the TikTok algorithm. No mere mortal possesses the omniscient ability to forecast what will become a trend next, and that's kind of the best thing about the clock app; nothing has to make any sort of sense.

The latest dance craze to achieve viral status, wracking up thousands upon thousands of videos, is something called the Pinegrove Shuffle. It was inspired by the Montclair, NJ-formed indie band — purveyors of music that one couldn't exactly call danceable. Again, there are no rules!

All of these TikTok users have uploaded videos of themselves dancing to "Need 2," a track that appeared on Pinegrove's 2015 compilation album, Everything So Far, released just ahead of the band's breakthrough Cardinal in 2016.

The movement in question is a bird-like flapping of the arms done while, yes, shuffling the feet back and forth. Now, "Need 2" has a tempo of 77 BPM, so the flailing about has to happen nearly in slow motion, with partakers practically suspending gravity as they slice through the thick air with their limbs.

Again, no one really knows how and where these TikTok trends begin, but Mashable points to user @GarrettLee39 as the potential instigator. Whether or not that's the case, his video — posted three days ago and now viewed over 800,000 times — is unanimously a classic entry in the Pinegrove Shuffle canon. As he puts it in his caption, "Pine muthafreakin grove."
 
@garrettlee39

Pine muthafreakin grove

♬ Need 2 - Pinegrove
 
The band announced in April that they will be operating on a "more casual basis" after the departure of co-founding drummer, Zack Devine — which is a real shame, considering how the crowds at their shows will now inevitably be full of kids shufflin' up a storm. They released their fifth and most recent studio album, 11:11, last January.

However, in light of the trend, Pinegrove have released a Need 2 EP on streaming, featuring the moody ditty that started it all and three new versions of it: fast pinegrove, hyperspeed pinegrove and slow pinegrove. (The hyperspeed version is basically an Alex G song.)

Feast your hungry eyes on a Pinegrove Shuffle compilation 'Tok below, where you can also listen to the Need 2 EP.
 
@shlomoschmo

The Pinegrove Shuffle

♬ Need 2 - Pinegrove
 

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