The age of Tik Tok.
Tik Tok. Whether you love or loathe it, everyone’s heard of it. From learning about recent trends to keeping up with pop culture to trying out the latest challenges, Tik Tok’s got it all. The platform has the power to either make or break new, upcoming pop stars. While the pop stars of previous generations turned to alternative streaming services to get their music out there, the stars of today are using Tik Tok to their advantage. Many artists such as Lil Nas X and Megan Thee Stallion saw their songs go viral thanks to the Tik Tok app.
@PinkPantheress is a prime example of an upcoming artist who used Tik Tok to help their rise to popularity. The 20-year-old university student, whose breakthrough song, ‘Just for Me’, went viral this summer, started making her music in her university accommodation. What makes PinkPantheress stand out from the crowd is that she not only used Tik Tok to give a taster of her new releases, but she began to use it like a survey. She would upload her new ideas in order to better understand the response from her online followers, and to her predict which songs would gain the most traction.
‘Just for Me’, quickly gained a lot of interest on Tik Tok and has become one of the most used sounds on the app, featuring in over 1.2 million videos – a figure that just keeps increasing. The song has also been released on Spotify and was played over 12 million times in the first two weeks since its release.
So, what is it that helps songs go viral on Tik Tok? For Pinkpantheress, the emotional undertones of the song make it particularly relatable for audiences and suitable to be used for various memes. Different repetitive hooks and catchy rifts are perfect for short videos. The song also tunes into the Y2K theme which is currently popular amongst generation Z, with its electro-pop undertones that are resonant of the early 2000s.
Another public figure who has risen to fame thanks to the help from Tik Tok is @OliviaRodrigo. Her power ballad, ‘Drivers Licence’, went viral almost overnight, breaking records and taking over the music charts. The Tik Tok community enhanced the success of the song, resulting in it breaking the record for one-day streams on Spotify. The song promulgated numerous trends, and absolutely took over the community.
One of the first artists who rose to fame thanks to Tik Tok was @Dojacat. Her song ‘Say So’ gained 263 million views on Youtube and became the backing tack used for a viral dancing trend on Tik Tok. The dance that became known as the ‘Say So’ dance was one of the most popular Tik Tok trends during the first lockdown back in 2020. Since gaining popularity on Tik Tok, Doja Cat has massively increased her followers and has continued to have her music used across the Tik Tok app.
It is clear that Tik Tok is a very influential platform for upcoming artists and holds a great amount of power within the music industry. Although it is not clear whether songs are charting because they’re popular of Tik Tok, or if they are trending on Tik Tok because they are in the charts, there is a clear relationship between Tik Tok popularity and success within the music industry.
