What Is a NeeDoh? Everything Rosé Has Said About Using Viral Stress Balls for Anxiety
Blackpink’s Rosé says she can no longer get through a meeting without her NeeDoh — a squishy, hand-sized blob that has become her go-to tool for managing anxiety she only recently learned to name. Retailers say they cannot keep them on shelves, and TikTok is certainly the reason why.
The singer has talked about her NeeDoh on two of fall 2024’s most-watched shows, turning a simple desk toy into a sold-out cultural moment for adults, not just kids.
What Is a NeeDoh and How Does It Work?
NeeDohs are squishy toys that come in an array of sizes and colors, giving a whole new meaning to the classic stress balls people have used for decades. They generally sell for $5 to $8.
The appeal, experts say, is sensory and accessible. “The popularity for these specific types of toys, I think, has to do with the way they tap into something satisfying that helps us feel calm,” Jenny Maenpaa, a licensed clinical social worker and the founder of the New York City Psychotherapy Collective, told NBC. “They give us a way to self-soothe that feels pleasant — and it is usually pretty affordable.”
“Items like NeeDohs can pull us out of that, give us a way to feel grounded and bring our attention back to our bodies and the present moment,” Maenpaa said. “The squeezing, stretching, or rolling sensations provide an anchor; something predictable and controllable for our brains to focus on.”
Why Rosé Says She Needs Hers in Every Meeting
Rosé held a pink NeeDoh Gumdrop during a November 2024 episode of Jake Shane’s “Therapuss” podcast and explained that the toy has become non-negotiable.
“Any time I’m in a meeting or anything, it’s like it’s always on the table because now I can’t work without it,” she said. “I just get anxiety and like I don’t know if it’s ADHD. I don’t even know what it is, but like, I need this and then if I have it in my hand, I focus.”
Her anxiety, she said, shows up physically. “I, like, tense up. It’s like muscles. I do weird things,” she said, adding that she sometimes squeezes her fingernails together — a habit the NeeDoh helps interrupt.
Rosé said she only recently recognized the pattern. “I’ve lived my life a little dull to that, I think. I only started noticing it, which is why I feel like it only started recently. I think it’s gotten really bad over the past few years,” she said. Friends returning to work with her after a few years told her she seemed different.
She was skeptical at first. “I’m like, ‘I don’t understand stress balls like why do you ever need them’ is what I thought until I came across one during a meeting once and I was like, ‘Ew, what is that?’” She initially called the texture “disgusting,” then reconsidered: “kind of a cool texture.”
“That’s when I diagnosed myself with bad anxiety,” she said. Now she builds breaks around it: “I’ll tell myself I just need like five minutes. I need a squishy break is what I say. You know how people go for smoke breaks? I need a squishy break.”
The NeeDoh made another appearance during her November 2024 visit to Hot Ones, where she reached for a blue Gumdrop NeeDoh to help her power through eating a spicy wing doused in hot sauce. “It actually helps. It distracts you. I think you need a distraction,” she told host Sean Evans, who tried it himself and said, “I need a stress ball I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life.”
Why Stress Toys Like NeeDohs Are Flying Off Shelves
The combination of celebrity endorsement, low price and sensory appeal has pushed NeeDohs into territory most stress toys never reach. Retailers describe demand they cannot meet.
“They sell out so fast. We have a dozen people either calling or walking into the store everyday asking for them,” Amanda Stewart, founder of Salt Lake City–based Mochi Kids, told The Strategist.
Learning Express owner Alexandra Garcia echoed the surge. “Our phones are ringing all day long with parents of little kids looking for NeeDohs,” she said.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
