Two of the biggest artists in the world have sent love to some retirement home residents who made a mega-viral TikTok.
Rihanna and Jay-Z sent 100 roses each - Riri sent white roses, while Jay sent red - to the Arcadia Senior Living facility in Kentucky, USA as a sign of respect for putting their own spin on Riri’s recent Superbowl halftime show.
Everyone loves it when the oldies get their groove on, and the massive numbers the TikTok did prove that right. Arcadia’s TikTok has received 34.7 million views since they released it on the 23rd of February, with 4 million people liking it. As I said, numbers.
Jay-Z sent his bouquet, on behalf of his record label Roc-Nation (which represents the Superbowl performer) before Rihanna did.
So, Arcadia’s director of community relations, Paige Oakes, hoped the ‘Love On The Brain’ singer would recognise their moves, but never thought she actually would.
“We were just in shock,” Paige told Buzzfeed News. “This whole time, we've just been waiting for a response from Rihanna — not really thinking that it would ever happen because we know she's busy and we didn't really know if she saw it or not.”
“It made our day knowing that it reached her and she got to watch it and enjoy seeing our residents dancing to her music and having fun.”
Oakes and the facility’s director of life engagement, Maitlin Nuckols, are the people who decided to make the TikTok account, despite many of the residents having never heard of the app, or Rihanna.
Maitlin said he wanted to show that the oldies still know how to get down.
“Everybody loves to see the older generation letting loose and having fun,” Nuckols said. “You always think of the older population in this way, and then I feel like this video just kind of shows a different side of them.”
“They’ve really just enjoyed the last week and a half and all of the attention and all of the fame,” Oakes said.”
This is a story to tell the grandkids for sure.
