“I never wanted to be your weekend lover…” croons Prince in Purple Rain, arguably one of his most iconic tracks (feel free to fight me on that). But thanks to TikTok and the Stranger Things finale, the song is having a second life, much like how a previous season of the show reignited Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill — and yes, real Bushheads never left the moors.

When the algorithm started serving me video after video of people admitting they’d been Weekend Lovers — often complete with embarrassing text threads as evidence — I was forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: I was one of them. I had been a Weekend Lover.

Only I’d never be able to make a post like that. I’d have far too many slides to include. This was the norm for me back in the day. Too often, I’ve been someone’s Weekend Lover, but not anymore.

What is the Weekend Lover trend?

Most people are using the audio to reference a casual relationship in which they were relegated to the role of a Weekend Lover. The format is simple: a photo of the person, followed by a text thread in which they’re thoroughly — and I mean thoroughly — disrespected. Usually, the situationship insists they feel nothing while still very much wanting to hook up.

It can be about only seeing one another on the weekend, but more broadly, a Weekend Lover is someone relegated to a small part of your life, a time-sensitive fling that will never be introduced to their friends.

For some, the trend acts as a “then versus now” comparison, showing how a once-casual connection turned into a serious, committed relationship. For others — like me — it sparks a more sobering realisation: wow, I really let myself be treated badly… do I have any self-respect?

Not everyone is on board. “I would rather eat a pair of jeans than post the ‘Weekend Lover’ trend,” creator Alice (@aliceyyg) said on TikTok. “Why would you want a digital footprint of that?”

But I’ve never shied away from oversharing online. I genuinely believe it’s one of the few ways to make people feel a little less alone. So yes, I’ll tell you about my past as a Weekend Lover, and why I’m never going back.

I’ve always been a Weekend Lover

As a teenager, I always felt hot enough to hook up with, but not hot enough to be bragged about. Sneaky, drunken kisses — fuelled by neon-coloured drinks — were always kept secret. I was seeing a guy friend for a while, and we kept it quiet. It wasn’t until he loudly bragged to a whole party that he was hooking up with the most popular girl in our year — not me — that I realised something uncomfortable: it hadn’t been my idea to keep things secret, yet somehow I’d been led to believe it was.

At university, I thought things might finally be different. My taste in men hadn’t changed, though. Not interested in me? Wow, incredible taste—I might be in love with you. There was the guy who only messaged when he hadn’t found anyone else that night. The one who spent an entire Sunday in bed with me watching the Batman trilogy, only to tell me another woman was “The kind of girl you marry, not just the girl you f*ck,” making painfully clear which category I fell into. He started dating her a week later.