The Smalltown Boy AI trend is two pets (or two people) taking turns screaming into a wide-angle lens with their paws on their heads, then dancing side by side and lunging at the camera, posted with Bronski Beat's 1984 song "Smalltown Boy". There are four ways to make it, and only one builds every shot from two photos with nothing to film and no app to install.
What it is: pet one screams at the lens while pet two dances behind, they swap, then both dance an 80s routine side by side and rush the camera.
The four ways: film it yourself, a CapCut template, a done-for-you service, or a two-photo AI generator.
Two-photo route: the Smalltown Boy AI generator on Kavel: one photo of each pet, five ready-made scenes, a 12-second vertical clip, and $9.99 buys that one clip with no subscription.
The song is not in the AI clip. Add "Smalltown Boy" from the TikTok or Reels sound library when you post.
What is the Smalltown Boy AI trend?
The Smalltown Boy AI trend is a short vertical video in four beats, set to "Smalltown Boy", the debut single Bronski Beat released in May 1984, sung by the band's frontman Jimmy Somerville:
- The first scream. Dancer one runs up to a fisheye lens, stands on its hind legs, clutches its head with both paws and screams, mouth wide open. Dancer two dances in the background.
- The swap. Dancer two takes the lens and does the same head clutch.
- The dance. The shot opens wide and both stand side by side doing the same 80s routine in sync: arms swinging across the body, shoulder shimmies, little side steps, deadpan faces.
- The lunge. Both rush the camera together, paws reaching for the lens.
Most versions star two cats. Dogs, a cat and a dog, and pairs of friends all show up in the same feed. The comments ask the same thing over and over: "AI? Those cats are real, dude!" They are real cats; the dance is generated around them from one photo each.
The opening beat of the living-room version: paws over the face, then the scream. Posted by @zefosik on TikTok.
Two different Smalltown Boy trends
Search "Smalltown Boy dance trend" and you get two trends on the same song. The older one, from spring 2024, is parents showing their kids how they danced in the 80s; one mother-daughter video passed 11 million views (Remind Magazine, May 2024). The October 2026 one is the AI version above, with pets screaming into the lens. If your feed is full of cats clutching their heads, you want the 2026 one.
4 ways to do the Smalltown Boy AI trend, compared
| Method | What you upload | Clip | Price as listed | Wait | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film it yourself | Nothing; two people, a phone on a tripod | About 22 s | $0 | One afternoon, the swap usually needs a second take | 2026-10-14 |
| CapCut template linked from a creator's post | Your photos or clips into the template | Set by the template | Not shown on the post | Minutes, inside the CapCut app | 2026-10-14 |
| Done-for-you service (aiburningbridges.net) | Photos by upload, clip by email | About 20 s | $19.90 solo, $29.90 for 2 to 4 people or pets | Within 48 hours | 2026-10-14 |
| Done-for-you generator (smalltownboydance.org) | Two photos | 22 s | From $9.99, one-time | About 10 to 15 minutes | 2026-10-14 |
| Kavel Smalltown Boy AI page | Two photos, one per pet | 12 s, 9:16 | $9.99 one-time for one clip, or 925 credits from a plan | A few minutes | 2026-10-14 |
The done-for-you route has two sellers, so it takes two rows.
Filming it yourself
Filming it for real works for two people, not for two cats. You need a plain wall or fence, a phone on a tripod and a helper for the low shot. The swap is the hard part: it has to land on the beat, and most people need several takes.
The CapCut template
Most Smalltown Boy cat posts play the result for a few seconds and then cut to a screen recording of the CapCut template they used. That works if you can find the template the creator used and your phone has CapCut installed. The template decides the shots; your photos go into its slots.
Done-for-you services
Two other sites sell the finished clip. aiburningbridges.net has a person make it and emails it within 48 hours for $19.90; smalltownboydance.org renders it in about 10 to 15 minutes from $9.99. Both run 20 to 22 seconds, close to the length of the original posts.
The two-photo AI generator on Kavel
The Kavel page is built for the pet version: two photos, one per pet, and the four beats are already written into the prompt. The clip is 12 seconds, so the four beats come quicker than in the 22-second originals.
How to make the Smalltown Boy AI video from two photos
- Open the Smalltown Boy AI generator. It opens set to a 12-second vertical clip.
- Upload two photos. The first slot, "First to scream", is the pet that takes the lens first; the second slot screams second. Swap the photos to swap the order.
- Keep the default scene or tap a template. Five Smalltown Boy scenes are ready: two cats in a white living room, a ginger and a tuxedo cat in red bell collars, two dressed-up dogs on a playground, a tabby and a black cat by a red fence, and a cat and a dog by the same fence.
- Generate, download, post. One 12-second clip costs 925 credits. With no plan, $9.99 buys exactly that one clip, no subscription, and a failed run gives the credits back automatically. Credit packs and plans are on the pricing page.
The dog version on the playground template. Posted by @mongglobe on TikTok.
The Smalltown Boy AI prompt (copy it)
None of the creators behind the viral cat clips published a prompt; they used CapCut and app templates. This is the prompt behind the living-room template on Kavel, written from the original clip. Paste it into any image-to-video model that takes two reference photos:
Two reference photos, one cat each: the first photo is dancer one, the second is dancer two, each exactly as photographed and never swapped. In a bright, modern living room with a white sofa, a marble floor and a big plant in a white vase: (1) dancer one covers its face with both paws, then drops them and clutches its head, mouth open, and pushes its paws right at the lens while dancer two dances on its hind legs behind it; (2) dancer two takes its turn up close, clutching its head; (3) wide shot, both stand on their hind legs side by side and dance the same 80s routine in sync, arms swinging, shoulders shimmying; (4) both rush the camera, paws first. Real cat anatomy, paws not hands. Fisheye phone camera at cat height, warm ceiling light, vertical video. Upbeat 80s synth-pop beat in the audio, no vocals. No people, no text, no logos, no watermark.
What each part does:
- "each exactly as photographed and never swapped" keeps your two pets from trading fur or faces halfway through.
- "Fisheye phone camera at cat height" gives the huge-face close-up the whole trend is built on.
- "Real cat anatomy, paws not hands" stops the model from giving your cat human fingers in the head clutch.
- "no vocals" keeps the audio free for the Bronski Beat song you add when posting.
For dogs, change "one cat each" to "one dog each" and "Real cat anatomy" to "Real dog anatomy". To move the scene, swap the living room for "in front of a dark red wooden fence with ivy, on grey tarmac", the backdrop of the most copied versions.
The red-fence look with matching bell collars. Posted by @fluffyfishlover on TikTok.
Which photos work best, and fixing common problems
| What you see | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The two pets swap looks halfway | The photos look alike, or the order is unclear | Pick photos where each pet is clearly different, and keep "never swapped" in the prompt |
| The wrong pet screams first | Slot order | The first slot always screams first; swap the uploads |
| A blurry or squashed close-up | Small or cropped face in the photo | One pet per photo, face forward, whole head visible, the original from your camera roll rather than a screenshot |
| Human-looking hands in the head clutch | The model reached for the human version of the move | Keep "paws not hands" in the prompt |
Adding the Smalltown Boy sound to your AI clip
The clip comes back with its own 80s synth beat, not the Bronski Beat song. To post it as the trend:
- Download the clip. It is already vertical.
- Upload it to TikTok or Reels, tap "Add sound" and search "Smalltown Boy Bronski Beat". Pick the version most posts use.
- Line the first scream up with the high note, then turn the original sound down.
- Caption it the way the trend does: who your two are, and why they have no business being this dramatic.
A cat and a dog, one photo each. Posted by @annaliseamira8 on TikTok.
The two-people version
The same four beats work with you and a friend: you scream at the lens, they dance behind, you swap, then you dance the routine together. On the Kavel page, upload a photo of each of you and change "one cat each" to "one person each" in the prompt, and drop the paw lines. For a two-person dance that is built for people from the start, the Alors on Danse AI meme takes two photos, and the Toc Toc AI dance takes a whole group photo.
The long scream. Posted by @miniandchiqui on Instagram.
FAQ
What is the Smalltown Boy dance trend?
In October 2026 it is an AI video trend: two pets take turns screaming into a wide-angle lens with their paws on their heads, then dance side by side to Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy". The 2024 trend on the same song was parents showing their 80s dance moves.
Who is the singer of the song "Smalltown Boy"?
Jimmy Somerville, the frontman of Bronski Beat. "Smalltown Boy" was the band's debut single, released in May 1984, and it is the track the AI pet videos are posted with.
Are the cats in the Smalltown Boy videos real?
The cats are real; the scream, the dance and the lunge are generated from one photo of each. Two photos are all the Smalltown Boy AI generator needs, and no CapCut template.
In the 72 hours to 10 October 2026, 127 creators posted their pair. Put your two in it from two photos. For more trends that work the same way, see the Raindance AI trend, the Hotel Lobby AI trend and the zombie AI trend, or turn one photo into the ceiling fan outfit-change video.
