6.22.2022

TikTok Treats, Week of June 20th

Gorillaz Teases New Music, JOJI Rides a Viral Trend to the Billboard Top 10, and Revived Hits by The-Dream and John Legend Highlight the Week in Music on TikTok

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. This week, TikTok continues to embrace hits of old, with trends from legendary groups like ABBA and Radiohead, while keeping an eye towards the future. Rising hits from Tate McRae and PLAYAMANE are making waves, with no sign of abating. Check out what music stories made TikTok tick this week:

- TikTok’s emphasis on authenticity sometimes inspires creators to share their emotional moments with their followers. The music of Japanese singer-songwriter JOJI often inspires people to get in their feelings, starting from his first TikTok hit “Gimme Love,” one of the first songs to go viral on the platform. The artist has a new hit on his hands: his new song “Glimpse of Us” has been inspiring many TikTok creators to take a moment and reflect on memories with their past and present loved ones. Eclipsing 400K creations within two weeks of its release, the piano ballad inspires creators to share adorable videos of their pets, express their love for their significant other through heartfelt montages, and recall sweet memories about their parents’ first loves. JOJI’s wistful lyrics, “‘Cause sometimes I look in her eyes and that’s where I find a glimpse of us,” also resonates with creators as they share screenshots of their ex trying to win them back after hearing the song. JOJI’s viral success with “Glimpse of Us” landed him his first-ever top 10 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and a #1 spot on Spotify’s Top 50 Global chart.
- Art pop project Gorillaz is always on the cutting edge of audiovisual presentation, and recently, they’ve turned to TikTok as a creative outlet. Earlier this spring, Gorillaz shared a snippet of their upcoming single “Cracker Island,” a buzzy and menacing slice of synth pop with a guest spot from Thundercat. Gorillaz spent the subsequent weeks using TikTok to spotlight the band’s animated characters and weave a mysterious narrative about the titular island and the cult that calls it home. Due to release at any moment, the track has already racked up over 8.8k video creations from excited fans, expert bakers, and more. Finally released today, the song is already building a cult following and looks to make an even bigger splash in the near future.
- TikTok’s #BlackMusicMonth celebration is underway, and R&B is thriving yet again on the platform. Like John Legend, The Dream is seeing a resurgence of a late 2000s hit, as his 2007 song, “Falsetto” (56.7K+ creations) rises to trending status. Inspired by dances by creators @elidadonn and @wh0.nia, TikTok users show off their best hip-rocking dance moves as they add their own flare to it – both by themselves and with their partners. In other creations, “Falsetto” soundtracks creators’ cooking videos, abstract hairstyles, and intricate tattoo designs.
- It is sometimes easy to be too hard on yourself, and a new trend on TikTok is reminding the community to be kind. Texas pop group Cigarettes After Sex’s “Apocalypse” (197K+ creations) has sparked a trend in which creators therapeutically reflect on their inner child. Creators start off by using the text-on-screen feature to say “being mean to myself then realizing I’m being mean to…” and, as the song transitions from the drums to the song’s melody, the video switches from their current self to cute pictures of them during their childhood. While Ashley Tisdale uses a mashup of “Apocalypse” and Nicki Minaj’s “Barbie Tingz” to remember be kind to herself and her iconic High School Musical character Sharpay, other creators remember to be kind to the younger versions of them who were going through their awkward phase and loved to play in piles of leaves and rock the cutest onesie costumes.
- TikTok enables unprecedented levels of engagement and connectivity between artists and fans. Creator couple Syd and Ry are superfans of the artist Andy Grammer, and used TikTok to plead with their favorite artist to sing a song at their wedding. They asked him on TikTok nearly every day for a full year, hoping against hope that Grammer would heed their request. With little more than a month to go until the big day, Grammer agreed to sing at their wedding, and last week, the wedding finally happened. Grammer documented the performance in a recent TikTok, noting Syd and Ryan’s genuine smiles and pure love for one another.

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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Gorillaz, John Legend, JOJI, and More TikTok Treats