9.7.2022

TikTok Treats, Week of September 5th

The TikTok Community Thought They Were Feeling These Songs by Cross-Generational Collaborators, EDM Veterans, Pop Trios, and More

The News:

Each week, the TikTok Treats newsletter gives a snapshot of the state of music on TikTok, touching on trending hits, emerging artists, superstar moves, ascendant memes, and much more. Check out this week’s trends below:

Six years after the release of her last album Glory, Britney Spears is back and she teamed up with fellow music icon Elton John for their new, bubbly pop single “Hold Me Closer.” Since Sir Elton teased the “Tiny Dancer”-sampling track on the app with a promo video and a live performance before its official release at the end of August, the sound has won the hearts of the TikTok community and racked up over 53.8K creations. Creators use the song to soundtrack their lively choreography, lighthearted, accidental pranks on their children, and their comedic wine tasting experiences. Celebrities on TikTok, including Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore, and Leslie Jordan, are excitedly celebrating the song’s release and Britney’s official return to music. On her own account, Britney put on her best British accent to express her gratitude to Sir Elton and the fans for the song’s success. The song’s TikTok success has translated into real world commercial performance –“Hold Me Closer” debuted at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. The song marked a new milestone for Britney, who has now officially scored a top 10 hit on the Hot 100 in each of the last four decades.
Indie pop trio AJR trended on TikTok last year with their song “The Good Part,” and now they’re taking TikTok by storm once again with their 2021 track “World’s Smallest Violin.” The song by the three brothers recently sparked a trend using the song’s lyrics “So if I do not find somebody soon, I’ll blow up…” to chronicle times they made a post on social media and it unexpectedly blew up. With over 492K total creations, the TikTok community is reflecting on their posts of their daughter holding muffins, makeup tutorials on dads, and tie-dye blankets launching them to viral status. The three brothers of AJR are happily engaging with the sound, participating in the trend themselves to display the success of the song and encouraging fans to continue choreographing fun dances to it.
TikTok is the internet’s premiere destination for discovering, discussing, and making jokes about music. If a song captures the internet’s imagination, it will likely inspire a universe of content on the platform, and therefore a boost in on-demand streams. Such is the story with “Cbat,” a quirky 2011 electronic jam by Hudson Mohawke, which resurfaced after TikTok discovered a Reddit post that prominently featured the song. “Cbat” generated over 85k video creations, most of which in the past week, and rocketed to the top of the Spotify Viral 50 chart in recent days. What is the trend about? If you search, or look at one of the thousands of videos with the #Cbat tag (196 million views), you can find out. Just heed this warning: once you learn the meaning behind the trend, you can’t unlearn it.
Music can help TikTok creators tell a story with just a few camera movements and only the slightest changes in facial expression. Snoop Dogg’s 2007 song “Sensual Seduction,” a pastiche of the slow jams Snoop loved in his youth, is powering a trend in which zooms and eyebrow raises tell a full story. Creators use the atmospheric synths and fluttering flutes to cut between perspectives, each cut timed to one of the song’s playful woodwind flourishes. Once Snoop’s vocals come in, the creators break the tension with a sunglass-clad shimmy. The trend is perfect for illustrating silent conflicts between siblings, the quirks of married life, the inherent awkwardness of luggage shopping, afternoon fruit snacks, and much more. TikTok-beloved Brazilian singer Anitta hopped on the trend to document her dinnertime standoff with her adorable dog Plinio.
Through shared experiences and an ear for rising artists, TikTok is a platform where life can imitate art. Inspired by rising NY drill artist Ice Spice’s viral hit, “Munch (Feelin’ U)” (105.6K+ creations), TikTok creators share their most hilarious-yet-relatable experiences in the dating world. Using Ice Spice’s emphatic hook, “You thought I was feelin’ you,” creators reveal their toxic traits when dating, such as ghosting and drunk flirting. The song also inspired a funny trend of creators showing off their Nike Tech sweatsuits after repurposing a clip of Ice saying she likes men dressed in them. Artists such as Kehlani, DreamDoll, and Dess Dior showed their support of “Munch (Feelin’ U)” by using the sound over their videos. Ice also interacted with her song on the platform, revealing her toxic dating habits. Thanks in part to the momentous growth on TikTok, “Munch (Feelin’ U)” earned a top 3 spot on TikTok’s weekly US Top Tracks chart and over 2.2M streams on Spotify to date.
The TikTok community always finds a way to bring hilarious context to our favorite song lyrics. Similar to Ice Spice, Memphis, TN rapper Finesse2Tymes has creators in the mood for relatable content with his song, “Back End,” which has over 277K+ creations to date. Inspired by Finesse2Tymes’ lyrics, “It’s cool when they do it/It’s a problem when I do it,” TikTok users challenge the double standards they’ve experienced and the consequences behind them. To emphasize their point, creators use the Police Runner filter as they question why the Bachelorette can date more than one person at a time, wonder why they can’t flirt with their siblings’ best friends, and contemplate how their parents got away with their youthful shenanigans. Flo Milli and Fuller House star Isaak Presley also hopped on the trend with their own creative scenarios. Receiving a boost from TikTok, “Back End” earned a top 20 spot on Spotify’s US Viral 50 charts, and racked up over 1M streams on Spotify.
Weeks ater the viral Recess Therapy video that started it all, #CornTok still has the juice. The Gregory Brothers’ autotuned version of “Corn Kid” Tariq’s ode to his favorite food has over 665k video creations, and over 212 million views on the #CornTok hashtag. The 7-year-old Tariq is living his best life–he recently went to visit South Dakota’s Corn Palace, a landmark in Mitchell, SD that is the world’s only palace dedicated to that big lump with knobs. The state of South Dakota was ecstatic to have him: upon his visit, Tariq was named the official “Corn-bassador” of South Dakota by the state’s governor, and September 3rd was officially designated “Corn-Bassador Tariq Day.” If #CornTok keeps growing at such a rapid rate, soon enough every day will be “Corn-Bassador Tariq Day.”

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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9.7.2022

TikTok Treats, Week of September 5th

The TikTok Community Thought They Were Feeling These Songs by Cross-Generational Collaborators, EDM Veterans, Pop Trios, and More

The News:

The Background:

Links: