Every couple weeks or so, a new song on TikTok starts to trend. No longer does gatekeeping work for the artist’s listeners. When this happens, millions of streams are given and the artist blows up. Last year, Djo‘s “End of Beginning” blew up, and has amassed almost 1.5 billion streams. Already a known-artist, he gained even more popularity, becoming a household name in the music industry. With this, came lots of users who become aware of his music. Many people claim “TikTok” music taste in unoriginal, but for a music app it’s purpose is to share new tracks and artists.
Originally Musical.ly, the app was designed to share songs through short video clips of dancing or lip-syncing. Despite the rebrand, TikTok continues the same purpose with trends like Charli XCX‘s “Apple” dance.” The app consistently introduces users to new types of music, whether it’s rock from the ’90s, rap from the 2000s, or forgotten pop hits of the 2010s. The platform has connected the younger generation to a wide variety of songs and albums, no matter the genre or time of release.
The “TikTok” music taste includes artists like TV Girl, The Smiths, Lana Del Rey, Mac DeMarco, The Weeknd, and Tyler, The Creator. All of these musicians were immensely popular before they had songs blow up TikTok. The app only added to their success rather than create it. For many teens, the platform’s targeted audience, they might’ve been unaware of thsee artists and have since discovered songs they enjoy. Like a radio playing in the car, TikTok is the same, just a different medium.
A popular way songs trend is through edits of celebrities, athletes, television shows or movies. One of the biggest examples of this was an edit of the show “Wednesday” which featured Lady Gaga‘s “Bloody Mary.” Perhaps a forgotten song from her album, the edit re-popularized the track and captures people’s attention. Viral songs have always existed and introduced listeners to new types of music. Just because a song goes viral on TikTok doesn’t make it any different. Music’s purpose is to evoke emotion and internally understand it. In the 21st century, with new technology, we should be grateful for apps such as TikTok that bring us to new artists.
Currently, I have been listening to Ravyn Lenae‘s “Love Me Not,”a song that gained popularity this year. If I didn’t have TikTok, I most likely wouldn’t have heard of the song or the singer. A music app’s purpose is to share the sounds of the world, ignoring barriers of genre, time or language. Having a music taste based on TikTok hits shouldn’t be looked down upon. While you should definitely try to find artists you like on your own, streaming “TikTok songs” is okay to do. Discovering musicians to listen to is one of the great joys of the world; we should all take advantage of the platform we have to open up our ears to something new.
