To do the gas station AI trend you need one to three photos and one 12-second generation: each person takes a turn in a sunset gas station lot, one dancing alone, one filming a fisheye selfie, one climbing slowly out of a car. The flashiest versions in your feed are celebrity or cartoon casts (38% of the 47 high-resolution posts we screened on 8–9 October 2026), and those are the versions most likely to fail when you try them. The version you can make is your own friends, family or pet.
What it is: the gas station AI trend recasts a 2024 road-trip clip of three friends at a gas station with anyone's photos, posted on TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
What you need: one to three photos, one person, pet or toy in each. Upload just one and it plays every shot.
Which photo goes where: photo one dances alone in the lot, photo two films the selfie, photo three climbs out of the car.
What it costs on Kavel: one 12-second 720p clip is $9.99 on its own with no subscription, or 925 credits from a plan or credit pack. A run that fails is refunded automatically (pricing).
Apps the tutorials use: CapCut, PixVerse, Higgsfield, Dreamina, pose.ai and Genematic templates, compared with the browser route below.
The fastest way: the gas station trend AI page, where the routine is already written and four real casts are one-tap templates.
The gas station trend AI generator on Kavel, screenshot 9 October 2026.
What is the gas station AI trend, and who is the gas station dance guy?
The gas station dance guy is a trio. The original clip comes from Russian blogger Mikhail Litvin and his friends Ravshan and Adel, filmed on a road trip in 2024 at a roadside gas station in the early morning: one dances in front of the pumps, one turns the phone on himself for a grinning selfie, one steps out of the car like he is arriving at a premiere. There are no words in it, so it needs no translation.
In 2026 the clip became an AI template. The gas station AI trend keeps the empty lot, the two cars with their doors open and the three camera moves, and swaps the three men for anyone. On 8 October 2026 our trend radar counted 88 creators posting it and 40 new posts in the previous 72 hours across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and X.
Not the same as other gas station clips
Search suggestions mix in other things with "gas station" in the name. In our screen, the Strava version (tagged #stravatrend and #fridgetrend) is a real run that ends at a gas station store fridge, with the run's distance and pace on screen; a "2v1" dance tagged #utah and #maverik was three real people filmed at a gas station at night. Older gas station dance scenes from films and celebrity clips also show up in autocomplete. This article is only about the AI remake of the Litvin, Ravshan and Adel clip.
The three shots of the gas station AI trend
| Shot | What happens on screen | Which photo | What the photo needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The solo dance | One person alone in the middle of the lot, loose shoulders, then both arms up | Photo 1 | Full body, facing the camera |
| 2. The selfie | Handheld fisheye close-up, grinning and dancing into the lens | Photo 2 | A sharp, front-facing face |
| 3. The car exit | Someone leans out of an open car door, looks around, climbs out and joins in | Photo 3 | Full body, standing |
The three shots and the photo that drives each one.
How to do the gas station AI trend, step by step
Step 1: Pick your cast, one, two or three photos
Use three photos if you want a different person in each shot. Two photos split the shots between two people. One photo works too: that person dances, takes the selfie and climbs out of the car. A pet, a stuffed toy or a grandparent all count as cast.
Step 2: Best photos for the gas station AI trend: which photo goes in which shot
- Photo 1 (the dancer): full body, head to toe, facing the camera.
- Photo 2 (the selfie): a sharp, front-facing face. This is the closest shot in the clip, so it shows the most detail.
- Photo 3 (the car exit): full body again, standing.
- For every photo: one person per photo, even daylight, both eyes visible, no sunglasses or masks over the face, no heavy beauty filters.
- Pets and toys: a photo of the animal sitting or standing up gives the model something to animate upright; a dog lying flat comes out stiffer.
- Costumes: you don't need a costume photo. Write the costume into the prompt ("the person from the third photo wears an 18th-century costume") and keep the photo a normal one.
Step 3: Keep the routine or tap one of the four casts
On the gas station trend AI page, upload your photos in order. The template preloads the scene and the shot order: a golden-hour lot, trucks in the distance, two cars with open doors, then the dance, the selfie and the car exit. Or tap one of the four templates below so the outfits and moves match a real clip, then change any line in plain English.
Step 4: Add the song on TikTok or Reels: sound, length and export
The clip comes back as a 12-second vertical (9:16) MP4 with its own upbeat dance-pop track. Reposts of the trend usually credit "On and On" by Akcent as the song; several AI versions on Instagram tag it. If you want the original audio, pick it from the TikTok or Instagram sound library when you post, and the clip's own track goes underneath.
Fixing distorted faces and extra limbs
If a face drifts, swap in a sharper front-facing photo for that slot. If two people blend into one, check that each photo has exactly one person in it. The default prompt already says to keep every face as photographed, never swap them, and put no logos on the cars or the station. A run that fails outright is refunded automatically.
Four real casts to copy for the gas station AI trend
These four were posted on Instagram in early October 2026. Each one is a template on the gas station trend AI page.
| Cast | Posted by | Who is in it | The shot that sells it | Photo tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A panda at the pumps | @leleopanda | One animal plays every shot | The fisheye selfie by a yellow sports car | One upright animal photo |
| Two friends and a lean-out | @musafirkidiary.salar | A man dancing, a selfie, a woman in the second car | The woman looking around before she grins | Full-body photo for the dancer |
| Three friends, three shots | @lucian_dima | Three men, one per shot | Arms up in the open lot, then green-tinted glasses in the selfie | Three separate photos |
| Golden hour, one in costume | @pose_ai | A dancer, a selfie, a woman in an 18th-century costume | The powdered wig climbing out of the car | Costume written into the prompt |
The panda version: one animal photo plays all three shots. Frame from @leleopanda on Instagram.
The panda. You can use a pet or a toy instead of a person. A single photo of an animal standing up is enough; the model gives it the selfie and the dance under the canopy.
The set every version shares: an empty lot, low sun, two cars with a door open. Frame from @musafirkidiary.salar on Instagram.
The sunset duo. Two cars, a door open, nobody around: this frame is the stage. The joke of the third shot depends on the car, so the prompt keeps both cars and their open doors in every version.
The solo dance at its peak. Frame from @lucian_dima on Instagram.
Three friends. For three distinct people, upload one separate photo for each shot. It works because each photo was a different person in different clothes; three photos of people dressed alike read as one person.
The costume twist on the car exit. Frame from @pose_ai on Instagram.
Golden hour, one in costume. The first two shots are played straight; the third person climbs out of the car in full 18th-century dress. To copy it, add one line to the prompt, for example "the person from the third photo wears an 18th-century costume with a powdered updo", and keep the photo a normal one.
Why the celebrity versions of the gas station AI trend won't work for you
Before building our page we screened every high-resolution (720p or better) gas station trend post we could download from TikTok, Instagram and X on 8–9 October 2026, the same way we screen any clip we show: no watermark, no app screen, no famous face.
| What was in the post | Posts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| A celebrity, politician or film / cartoon character in the cast | 18 | 38% |
| Burned-in captions or a creator watermark | 14 | 30% |
| An app tutorial or phone screen recording | 4 | 9% |
| A brand as the subject (a store front, a fitness app overlay) | 4 | 9% |
| Real people filmed dancing, not AI | 3 | 6% |
| Other | 2 | 4% |
| A clean AI cast of ordinary people or animals | 2 | 4% |
| Total screened | 47 | 100% |
47 high-resolution gas station trend posts screened on 8–9 October 2026.
Two things follow. First, the clips that look most impressive in your feed are celebrity casts, and Seedance 2.0 Mini's provider runs a copyright filter on what goes in and what comes out: on Kavel, that filter stopped 23 of 163 Seedance 2.0 Mini runs between 8 September and 8 October 2026. Uploading a politician or a film character is a quick way to get a failed run. Second, in this 47-post screen only 2 posts were a clean AI cast of ordinary people or animals.
Gas station trend AI free vs paid: which apps and generators make it
Prices below were read from each site on 9 October 2026. They change; check the site before you pay.
| If you want | Use | Photos | Length | Price as listed | Original song in the file | Failed runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To use an app you already have | The app template the tutorial post points to (see below) | Varies | Varies | Depends on your app plan | Varies | Varies |
| The original song baked into the video | gasstationdanceai.com | 1 or 3 | About 15 s | $9.90 per video | Yes, "song included" | "Refunded automatically" |
| The lowest listed per-clip price | Thumix (thumix.com) | 1 or 2 | 10 s | About $2.92–$4.00 at 720p; credit packs from $7.99 | "With music" | "Refunded" |
| A cheaper first try | Raindance AI (raindance-ai.org) | 1 or 2 | 12 s | $6.99 first video, $9.99 after | Original beat | Not stated in the guide |
| A longer clip, with 1080p as an option | Seadanse (seadanse.com) | 1–3 | 20 s | $9.90 pack covers one 480p video | Not stated | Not stated |
| No app, any cast (pets, toys, costumes), templates from real posts | Kavel | 1–3 | 12 s | $9.99 single clip, or 925 credits at 720p (smallest pack 2,700 credits for $19.90) | Its own dance-pop track; add the song on TikTok | Refunded |
Gas station trend AI generators compared, prices read 9 October 2026.
None of the dedicated sites we read makes the full clip free: Seadanse states its 40 free signup credits are not enough for this effect, and on Kavel the free credits run the free engine, which takes one photo and can't do this three-shot routine.
Which apps the tutorial posts actually use
The "how to make the gas station AI trend" tutorials on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube each point to a template in a specific app. From the captions of the posts we collected: CapCut templates, PixVerse, Higgsfield, Dreamina, pose.ai ("comment GAS for the template"), Genematic's "Gas Station Vibe" scenario (three character photos plus a photo of the car), and a Telegram bot. If you already use one of those apps, its template is the shortest path. If you don't want to install anything, the browser route above does the same routine.
Gas station trend prompt ideas for your own version
The gas station trend AI page has these as Random presets; you can also paste them into the prompt box and edit.
The selfie shot is the closest the clip gets to a face, so the photo in slot two matters most. Frame from @lucian_dima on Instagram.
- Night neon: the same three shots on a forecourt glowing under pink and cyan canopy lights, wet asphalt reflecting the glow, no station logos.
- Three generations: grandparent, parent and child, one per photo; the grandparent gets the solo dance and the child hops out of the car and copies the moves.
- Two pets: a dog and a cat, one per photo; one stands up and bounces in the lot, the other leans out of the car door before hopping down to join.
Before you post: failures, friends' photos and logos
- If a run fails: A run that fails on Kavel is refunded automatically (pricing). Two common causes: a famous face or a copyrighted character in a photo, which the model's copyright filter stops, and a blurry or group photo in one slot.
- Using a friend's photo: Ask them first. You are putting their face into a video you will post, so get their yes, and don't use photos of celebrities or strangers.
- Gas station logos: Our prompts ask for no logos on the cars or the station, so the result is a generic gas station. Recreating a real brand's logo is a trademark question we leave out of the clip.
Want another dance trend from photos this week? The Jawn dance AI makes one photo do the deadpan bounce from "That's the Jawn".
Gas station AI trend FAQ
Who is the gas station dance guy?
The original clip is credited to Russian blogger Mikhail Litvin and his friends Ravshan and Adel, filmed at a gas station on a 2024 road trip. Ravshan does most of the dancing, Litvin films the selfie and Adel steps out of the car.
What song is the gas station trend?
Reposts usually credit "On and On" by Akcent. Clips made on Kavel come back with their own dance-pop track, so pick the song from the TikTok or Instagram sound library when you post.
Is there a free gas station trend AI generator?
Not for the full clip on any dedicated site we checked on 9 October 2026. On Kavel one 12-second clip is $9.99 with no subscription, or comes out of plan credits; the free credits run a one-photo engine that can't do the three-shot routine.
Can I do the gas station AI trend with just one photo?
Yes. Upload one photo and that person plays all three shots: the dance, the selfie and the car exit. For one photo dancing in its own setting rather than a gas station, the AI dance video generator is the general version.
Can I put my dog or cat in it?
Yes. Upload a photo of the animal sitting or standing up; the panda version above is one animal in every shot. Mixing a pet with people works too: one photo per character. For a clip of just your pet with sound, try the AI pet video generator; for two pets making a beat in a studio, the Alors on Danse AI meme (how-to here).
Sources
- Original clip and the three roles: east.im, "Gas Station Dance Meme: Origin, Song and How to Make Your Own" (east.im/blog/gas-station-dance), read 9 October 2026.
- The four casts: Instagram posts by @leleopanda (post DeIBi77FCWF), @musafirkidiary.salar (DePAaB4R0h4), @lucian_dima (DeEe5UXNASb) and @pose_ai (DeMUF-ojCHa); all four are templates on the gas station trend AI page.
- Prices: each site named in the comparison table, read 9 October 2026; Kavel's from the pricing page.
- The 47-post screen and the radar counts: Kavel's own media screening and trend radar logs, 8–9 October 2026.
- Copyright-filter count: Kavel generation records for Seedance 2.0 Mini, 8 September to 8 October 2026 (163 runs).
Ready to cast your crew? Make your gas station AI trend clip: one to three photos, 12 seconds, $9.99 or plan credits, refunded if it fails.
