“Respectfully, jaw dropped”: The “husband glow-up” trend has wives bragging and the internet thirsting

TikTok has a new trend that’s hot all of a sudden—and it’s all about the men in our lives.

What do the videos show?

The trend is based around the song, “When did you get hot?” by Sabrina Carpenter; more specifically, the lyrics “When did you get hot all the sudden? I could look you up and down all day.”

TikTokers are adding this sound to videos of their male partners: first showing them pre-glow-up, often looking nerdy or socially awkward, before switching to clips of them thriving in the present, looking much hotter, fitter, and glowing with confidence.

One notable example is this video by Tala Shatara, which, as of Sept. 24, 2025, has been viewed over 4.5 million times. Tala shows her husband goofing around in front of the TV, dressed in a plain navy shirt with red shorts, and wearing glasses. Next, we’re shown a muscular bodybuilder lifting weights at the gym—virtually unrecognizable from the man in the previous clip, if it wasn’t for his tattoo.

Hundreds of people flocked to the comments section to express their disbelief (and thirst) at the unlikely transformation.

@talashatara let it be known that found him hot before, but the glow up has its perks. 🤤🤤🤤 #glowup #husbandglowup #fyp #whendidyougethot ♬ original sound – flklore2. ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁

“I beg your finest pardon,” user Nicole Rudd wrote.

“Respectfully, jaw dropped,” added someone else, as another simply put, “Wow I need 3.”

Others wanted to know the secret behind the glow-up, with one person asking, “Word for word…what did you chant under the full moon?”

Many of the commenters also praised Tala for her foresight and vision, acknowledging that the women dating these men are just as important in allowing them to flourish into their final form.

“This is the equivalent to investing in bitcoin back in 2008,” wrote Mando.

“Buy a powerball ticket”, suggested someone else.

From nerd to gym bro

Tala’s video is far from the only example of the ‘husband glow-ups’ trend, but it sets a precedent for the typical pattern the videos tend to follow when it comes to the type of men represented. Almost all of them—like this video by @devita.haus—show awkward looking guys blossoming into gym bros or similar, with OP’s husband here transforming from a skinny nerd to a muscular guy in a climbing harness.

Once again, most comments were positive, and many celebrated OP’s role in facilitating her husband’s glow-up.

“Girl, you had a vision,” user Jordin commented while Lili added, “I love a woman in engineering.”

However, not everyone is sold on how drastic these glow-ups actually are, or whether they’re to everyone’s taste. In one video by @emilianadominguezb, while many commenters acknowledged that the already conventionally-attractive guy had got even hotter despite having a “headstart”, others concluded that he “was fine the whole time.”

@emilianadominguezb I would like to take full credit for this(; @Daniel Victor ❤️ always a 1000/10 in my eyesssss #trending #trending tiktok #couple #husband ♬ original sound – twotsclips

Another wrote, “All he did was buzz his hair. He didn’t need a glow up lol.”

What’s really behind the glow-ups?

The more videos you scroll through on TikTok, the more the root cause of what truly lies behind a glow-up becomes abundantly clear. While sometimes the husbands or boyfriends have a better fitness routine or improved fashion taste, in most cases the reality seems to be…getting a haircut.

Whether it’s this guy embracing his baldness to over 12 million viewers, or this long-haired guy going from “hot to hot damn”—it seems that the floppy-haired golden retriever boyfriend is out, and the strong, chiseled, short-haired guy is back in.

But that doesn’t have to be the case for everyone.

Kimberly Vered Shashoua, a therapist working with teenagers in romantic relationships, shared her theory about why we’re posting glow-ups online, while also explaining that they are not always representative of reality.

“In my opinion, the ‘husband glow-up’ trend is less about body image, and more about the joy of bragging about your conventionally attractive partner, with a nostalgic twist,” she told USA Today.

Despite this, though, she also encouraged men not to feel insecure if the type of guy they saw “glowing up” online looked different to them.

“Find people who make you feel like yourself, activities that energize you, and topics that spark your curiosity,” she said. “Life is a 3D experience that no image can fully capture.”