Tube Girl: Sabrina Bahsoon on the year she started a TikTok trend and became her ‘sassier’ viral alter ego

A TikToker who became a viral sensation by sharing videos of her dancing on the Tube has said she is “so glad” to have sparked a worldwide trend in 2023 which encourages women to have fun and get out of their comfort zones.

Sabrina Bahsoon, who is known as Tube Girl, has become known for dancing on the London Underground with the wind in her hair.

The 23-year-old filmed her first video as her dancing alter ego on the Central line in August with no idea she would become TikTok famous and now, as 2023 draws to a close, she boasts more than 800,000 followers and 28 million likes on her account.

“I definitely did not expect (to go viral),” Bahsoon, from west London, told the PA news agency.“I just posted that video for fun.”

In the video, which amassed more than 10 million views, Bahsoon can be seen dancing along to David Guetta’s "Where Them Girls At" featuring Nicki Minaj, with the caption: “Being the friend who lives on the other side of the city so you gotta hype yourself up during the commute.”

From there the dancing format exploded, with Bahsoon filming many more videos of her commute, with soundtracks from artists including Rihanna and Charlie XCX. Each one showed her performing her trademark move of using the windows of Tube carriages to allow wind to blow through her dark brown hair. “They’re super empowering and they make you feel confident,” she said.

Tube Girls around the world

Despite many recognising Bahsoon as Tube Girl, it was her current manager who came up with the name. “My manager reached out to me when I had 6,000 followers, after the second Tube Girl video,” she explained.

“He said to me, ‘I was telling my friends that I was having a meeting with the Tube Girl and they were so excited’, and it sort of clicked in my head. I hashtagged it on the rest of my videos and it kind of went from there.”

Bahsoon now has millions of views per video on TikTok, which has led to women worldwide emulating the trend by proudly dancing on often packed public transport. “I’m so glad other girls are having fun with me and getting out of their comfort zones and caring less about what others think,” she said. "Now I see the Tube Girls of Warsaw, of Paris, and it’s just insane.”

Bahsoon said she is much shier in herself than as her alter ego. “I am way more shy and introverted than Tube Girl is,” she said. “She’s like my alter ego, she’s way more sassier.”

Bahsoon, who grew up in Malaysia and was born to a Malay mother and a father from Sierra Leone, added she wanted to “represent my people” through her videos. “I did not really see any huge creators that looked like me,” she said. “And it genuinely is the best thing when people say they feel represented when they see me.”

Meeting idols

Some of the highlights of her year include meeting some of her music idols. “I met Raye recently and she was so lovely and appreciative of my videos,” she said. “I’ve met Omar Apollo and Troye Sivan, who I’ve been watching for ages, so meeting all these people who are my idols in music is just wow.

“I got to go backstage for a Valentino show (for Paris Fashion Week), which was an insane experience. I think my biggest highlight so far is that everyone I’ve worked with so far has been so kind and so understanding and as a person that’s just got thrown into this, it can be very daunting.”

Back up plans

Bahsoon said she has no fears about planned public transport updates removing carriage windows in years to come, saying she will carry a leaf blower instead.

In 2025, Piccadilly line trains are set to receive a revamp which will see them get air-conditioning and walk-through carriages, which could potentially lead to similar changes on other lines – and the removal of the Tube windows, which are a key part of the Tube Girl routines.

However, Bahsoon is “not too stressed” about it. “I think by 2025, I may not be doing Tube Girl videos on the Tube itself anymore – hopefully, I’m a rockstar by then,” she said.

“I’m not too stressed; I feel like the wind is now not the most dependent thing, but my managers did gift me a leaf blower so I can have wind whenever and anywhere. I think on the updated Tube, I would just get one of my friends to follow me around with the leaf blower.”