Press Release

#CornTok, Akon, and More TikTok Trends That Have The Juice

9.1.2022

TikTok Treats, Week of August 29th

It’s Corn! Plus a Collection of Trends From a UK Driller, K-Pop Royalty, a Country Rapper, and More

The News:

Each week, the TikTok Treats newsletter gives a snapshot of the state of Corn! (and music) on TikTok, touching on trending hits, emerging artists, superstar moves, ascendant memes, and much more. Check below to see which recent music trends have the juice to compete with the platform’s favorite cash crop::

TikTok is full of musical superstars and rising artists, but the most infectious song currently circulating on the platform comes from an unexpected source. In a recent episode of “Recess Therapy,” an adorable young boy named Tariq expressed his love for corn, or as he pronounces it, “cone.” The video reached an astonishing level of trending success when it reached the ears of The Gregory Brothers, experts at crafting viral songs for over a decade, who turned the boy’s enthusiastic endorsement of his favorite food into a banger. Since The Gregory Brothers’ video went live on August 18th, it racked up over 56 million views and over 300k video creations, as creators of all kinds channel Tariq’s irrepressible energy to talk about their own favorite things, figure out who in their circle is aware of the song, or just express their love for the trend itself. The pure, unfettered joy expressed in the song has proven to be inspirational, with TikTok users who’ve encountered the sound declaring themselves part of “CornTok,” a tag with over 141 million views to date. Whether or not “CornTok” can unite the world as The Gregory Brothers predicted, one thing is very clear–this trend has the juice.
Rap icon Nicki Minaj was honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award this past Sunday at the 2022 VMAs. In true Nicki fashion, a few TikTok creators from her beloved and dedicated fanbase The Barbz took to the stage to celebrate their queen and present her with the prestigious award after her electrifying performance of over a decade’s worth of hits. Hard core, longtime Barbz, including @carstontbh, have been excitedly recapping their experience of honoring Nicki, a heartwarming display of TikTok’s special power for connecting artists and their fans.
TikTok has a special knack for reviving throwback hits. This week, an acapella performance of Akon’s 2004 smash hit “Locked Up” ft. Styles P is making its rounds on the platform, thanks to a comedic trend that fits the song’s theme. To the tune of the song’s opening lyric “I’m steady tryna find the motive, why I do what I do?,” creators use the “Police” filter by @j_phant to imagine themselves in the back of a police car as they joke what would happen if one of their habits ever became illegal. The song is fitting for creators who recognize that they have bad taste in men, overthink too much, and for cats who twerk. Joe Jonas and Jersey Shore’s Vinny Guadagnino also hopped on the trend, acknowledging that they always forget song lyrics and never respond in the group chat. Capping off the song’s incredible TikTok revival, Akon acknowledged the trend by using the filter on himself, joking about how he would sing the song on the way to jail.
Superstar K-Pop girl group BLACKPINK shut down the stage at the 2022 VMAs this past Sunday with a performance of their new single “Pink Venom.” The song turned up the VMAs crowd, just like it has been turning up the TikTok community in recent days. Since teasing the song earlier this month and officially releasing it a week later, “Pink Venom” has amassed over 688K creations on the platform. Partly known for their catchy choreography, BLACKPINK is encouraging fans to try out the moves for the #PinkVenomChallenge. Fans are happily obliging, providing detailed tutorials of the choreography for fellow fans and showing their dedication by hitting the moves in the rain. Taylor Swift and Latin girl group ANGEL22 even showed their support for “Pink Venom,” strutting in full glam in slow-mo to the track and doing their own rendition of the fun choreography. The song is taking off from TikTok to Billboard, reaching #1 on both the Hot Trending Songs and Global 200 charts.
Drill music is a favored rap subgenre on TikTok, as drill songs from all over the world like Ghanian rapper Black Sherif’s “Kwaku The Traveller” and Brooklyn’s DUSTY LOCANE’s “ROLLIN N CONTROLLIN FREESTYLE” found trending success in the past year. After trending earlier this year with his G-Unit-sampling “Pump 101” (146.5K+ creations), UK drill rapper Digga D is making waves on TikTok once again with his song, “STFU” (717.8K+ creations). Using Digga D’s emphatic lyrics, creators test their hand-eye coordination with the Freeze Frame Photo filter as they attempt to hit each beat of the song. While some creators take on the challenge by themselves, others use the trend as a way to reveal that they have a significant other in the picture. Digga D did his part to keep the trend going on TikTok, testing out the filter solo and with the help of a lady friend.
Stranger Things inspired viral moments on TikTok for soundtrack hits like “Running Up That Hill,” “Master Of Puppets,” and “Pass The Dutchie,” but the show’s community has grown so large that it can even buoy songs that weren’t on the show to success. In July, fan edit account @EditingTherapy created a viral edit of moments from Stranger Things to the psychedelic sounds of gothic Swedish rock band Ghost’s 2019 song “Mary On The Cross.” The video racked up over 2.5 million views, and the sound quickly grew in popularity among those in the fan editing community–it soundtracked montages from Maleficent, The Craft, and more. The song has over 220k total creations from creators finding beauty in unconventional things, including moms and daughters learning to love their own appearance, creators overcoming superstition and loving black cats, and art lovers talking about their Van Gogh obsessions, among many others. Moved by all the TikTok love–and newfound streaming success that elevated the song into the Top 5 of Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 chart and #34 on Spotify’s Top U.S. Songs chart–Ghost released a slowed and reverbed version of the song last week.
Following the successes of artists such as Em Beihold and GAYLE, artists continue to source the TikTok community as first listeners for unreleased music. Recently trending on TikTok with his viral hit “Carrying Your Love” (2.1M+ creations), David Morris is back again with his new single, “Dutton Ranch Freestyle.” Previewed as a snippet on TikTok, in which the “country rapper” reveals that the beat was made with a tin of chewing tobacco and a freshly-opened can of beer, the song boasts over 32.8K creations since its release in late August. Morris’ opening lines, “Met a girl downtown at the bar last night and we got to talking/Said she likes cheap drinks, tattoos, and Morgan Wallen,” soundtracks creators’ videos of barrel racing, things they believe are attractive to women, and rodeo-inspired baby clothing. David Morris also interacted with the song once it took off, promoting the track on his TikTok page. “Dutton Ranch Freestyle” already has nearly 3 million streams on Spotify and sits firmly in Spotify’s Global Viral 50 chart.

Lewis Capaldi has announced a special TikTok LIVE to take place during his headline show at The O2 in London this Friday. The global TikTok community can tune in at 10PM BST, 11PM CET, 5PM ET & 2PM PT this Friday September 2nd as the BRIT Award winner and Grammy nominated star has teased “something very large is coming.” Tune in at @LewisCapaldi to watch the special show and read more at TikTok’s newsroom.

Check TikTok’s newsroom for more noteworthy stories: newsroom.tiktok.com

For more info, please contact:
Michelle McDevitt, Annjie Houston, Destiny Riley, T’Keyah Hayes, Audible Treats
Leah Linder, TikTok

The Background:

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Their mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy.

TikTok has global offices including Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.

Links:

TikTok’s Newsroom: https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us

Check out previous editions of TikTok Treats, a weekly newsletter about the most interesting music happenings on TikTok:

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#CornTok, Akon, and More TikTok Trends That Have The Juice

9.1.2022

TikTok Treats, Week of August 29th

It’s Corn! Plus a Collection of Trends From a UK Driller, K-Pop Royalty, a Country Rapper, and More

The News:

The Background:

Links: