“It is day five or six of rush week, I can’t remember,” Morgan Cadenhead says into the camera before sharing the details of her #outfitoftheday (a black dress from Arula, black heels borrowed from her mother). Behind her, beige curtains cover the window of her bedroom and a grey comforter is spread over the bed. The floor is covered in pillows and clothes, a messiness she addresses head on. “I’m sorry about my room. My mom said I wasn’t allowed to film if it was dirty but I ain’t cleanin’ it.”
Welcome to #RushTok 2023, the third annual frenzy centering on the sorority rushing process at the University of Alabama. Each year, sorority hopefuls share daily TikToks detailing the event, creating a sort of reality show in which they are both the producers and the stars. Viewers follow along obsessively as the PNMs (potential new members, for those of you who aren’t #RushTok literate) share their outfits-of-the-day; brands capitalize on the excitement by picking favorites and sending PR packages; and finally, the sororities make their picks. In years past, the stars of Bama Rush Tiktok have been girls immaculately decked out in designer duds, whose curls fall perfectly around their tanned shoulders. But this year is different: Some of the biggest stars taking over everyone’s For You Page are more relatable than straight up aspirational.
Cadenhead, whose TikTok handle is on_thedaily_with_morgan, is one of the undeniable breakout stars of this season of #RushTok. In her first video about the process, Cadenhead says she wants to start a new trend: relatable rush. “Let me show you my rush bag,” she says, referencing the videos other creators make detailing what they stock their often hundred-dollar bags with (among the products sometimes included are designer lipsticks, mini fans, and pocket-sized straighteners for emergency hair touch-ups). Cadenhead's contains a singular Tide Pen (“and dirt,” she says, “to keep the Tide pen company”). In the comment section, her authenticity and relatability is lauded. “You are a breath of fresh air,” one reads. “You are TikToks top rush girlie!” says another.
Cadenhead, 18, is surprised to find herself as one of Bama Rush Tiktok’s main characters — in her videos, she swigs from a jug of orange juice, buys makeup at CVS, and blinks sleepily into the camera from under her covers. For her, being at Bama has been a lifelong dream that she's worked hard to get. Cadenhead dual-enrolled during high school and reached graduation with an Associate’s of Arts degree under her belt. When she graduates from Alabama, she’ll be the first person in her family to have completed a degree at a university. Though she’s taken aback by her popularity, it also makes sense to her, she tells Teen Vogue. “When you look at somebody online, you’re really trying to find a little piece of yourself,” she says. “I’m like the average Joe of the bunch.”
There’s a reason why so many people are comforted by Cadenhead cracking the perfect veneer of Bama rush, says Jessi Gold, M.D., MS, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “There’s a psychological component to seeing yourself reflected back through content,” Gold says. “You feel less isolated and more validated.”
But the same thing that makes Cadenhead so popular is somewhat of an insecurity. “I know I’m not as polished as the other girls,” she tells Teen Vogue. “I was going to have runny makeup or something. That wasn’t typically what I’d seen with other rush girls.”
Despite Cadenhead's popularity, #RushTok is still replete with girls heading to Sorority Row wearing Dior, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton with makeup that rivals a professional’s. One TikTok account, @bamarushtok1, is dedicated to cost breakdowns of the outfits the girls features in their #ootds. One outfit’s estimate tops out at over $12,000 and videos regularly feature Cartier rings estimated to cost over $2,000 and Golden Goose sneakers with a price tag of nearly $600. “I need them to announce what their parents do for a living with their ootd,” one commenter says. And in the avalanche of videos featuring the casual decadence of Tiffany & Co. necklaces and Burberry skirts, Cadenhead’s videos stand in stark contrast. “I’m broke,” she shrugs. “You wanna know what I have to eat? Ramen. You wanna know what I’m sick of eating? Ramen.”
Bella Grace Gates, another star of this season of #RushTok, looks like what you might imagine a University of Alabama sorority girl to look like, with her perfectly styled blond hair and Lilly Pulitzer dresses and bedspread. Still, fans say her authenticity and wholesome nature make her stand out. In one video, the 18-year-old reads a motivational card her mother wrote from the point-of-view of their dogs “We’re buddies… mainly because I think we both have a lot of anxiety,” she says, unwrapping a pillow printed with the image of her rescue dog, Mabel. She tears up talking about how much she misses her mom and gets honest about feeling self-conscious. “I just am so hard on myself,” she says in one clip. “I just wanna make everyone around me proud of me.” Bama Rush TikTok isn’t usually a place where girls cry on camera about their insecurities or being away from their moms, but things are different on Bella Grace Gates’s page.
Gates tells Teen Vogue that high school wasn’t the best time for her. “I didn’t really find my people,” she says of her hometown in Michigan, where most of her peers went to in-state colleges after graduation. Gates saw moving to Alabama as a fresh start. Getting a scholarship helped make the decision easier, as did her boyfriend committing to play baseball at the University of Alabama–Birmingham, just 45 minutes from the Tuscaloosa campus. Even still, Gates was nervous heading into rush week. “I don’t own a ton of name-brand things,” she says, referencing previous years of #RushTok, where designer brands reigned supreme. “Before I posted [on #rushtok], I had 27 followers on TikTok. And 23 of them were bots.”
But Gates’ disarming, open nature immediately enthralled viewers, many of whom crowned her the co-queen of Bama Rush TikTok, alongside Cadenhead. Gates isn’t sure why people love her. Mostly, she hopes her videos reach girls who need them — girls like her, who are self-conscious and worried and in need of a little guidance. She wants to show them that the doubt they’re feeling is normal.
If you’re wondering if the two main characters of #relatablerush have met, they have. Morgan even brought Bella Grace a small cake with candles spelling out “100” sitting on top to signify Bella Grace’s passing of 100,000 followers on TikTok (and a Spider-man backpack that Bella Grace says is “going to be my rush bag for sure now”). Cadenhead says her new friend is “the sweetest person I’ve ever met and it pours out of her. Watching [her videos] is like watching the little sister you wish you had. I just feel like she gives this childlike innocence that isn’t typically seen in the rush girl appearance.” While Gates says she doesn’t know why her content is viral but she immediately saw why people were drawn to Morgan. “Every Potential New Member wants to appear perfect, but Morgan is like, ‘okay, I’m okay not being perfect,” Gates says. “To try to appear perfect is tiring. Morgan is the girl that I think everyone wishes they had as a friend.”
#RushTok is still #RushTok — it’s filled with perfectly curled hair, expertly done makeup, and clothes plucked off a designer rack — but the two break-out stars of this season are Cadenhead and Gates. In their own ways, they’ve broken the perfect veneer of rush and shown viewers something messier and more relatable.
As a psychiatrist, Gold finds the relatability of #RushTok’s main characters to be a sign of positive change. “It means we’re okay with seeing ourselves reflected in a way that isn’t the ideal self," she says. "It means we’re okay with being human.”
