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It's primarily an algorithm - it tracks your interests, watch time, likes, and shows you similar content, so the coincidences seem mysterious, but really the system just knows you well. Sure, sometimes a coincidence looks way too spot-on, but that's more about probability: when you're shown hundreds of recommendations a day, some are bound to resonate perfectly.
TikTok collects data not just on what you watch, but on how long you hold your finger on a video, when you scroll past it, even if you don't like it. This lets the algorithm understand your interests way more accurately than you understand them yourself. Plus the platform sees what videos people with behavior similar to yours are liking, and that pattern affects your recommendations too.
But it's not just about the technical analysis - TikTok is just this massive content reservoir where there are already hundreds of videos for pretty much any thought or interest you have. If you were just thinking about moving to a different city and then you see a video about that city, it could be a coincidence that the algorithm just amplified by showing you similar stuff. Your brain notices coincidences way better than it notices regular recommendations, so they stick with you.
So in the end it's a mix: the algorithm really is incredibly good at predicting things, but our brain is also really good at finding patterns, even when they're not there. There's no actual magic, but the impression of magic is totally justified.
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