11.2.2022

TikTok Treats, Week of October 31st

Midnights Mayhem Continues Unabated, Meghan Trainor Makes Them Look, Ice Spice Scores a Second Hit, Plus More From a Star-Studded Week of 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. Check out this week’s trends below:

Taylor Swift revealed the tracklist for her smash hit album Midnights on TikTok in an exclusive series called “Midnights Mayhem With Me.” Now, with Midnights officially out and breaking records left and right, Taylor Swift’s TikTok takeover is nearly complete! #SwiftTok is celebrating Midnights by amplifying project highlights, most notably “Anti-Hero” (148.9K+ creations), “Karma” (43.4K+ creations), and “Vigilante Sh*t” (38.3K+ creations). Each song inspires creators in different ways, reflecting the mood of the song: they dance solo in their bedrooms to “Karma,” show off their sharp eyeliner looks using lyrics from “Vigilante Sh*t,” and act out Taylor’s “Anti-Hero” lyrics in hilariously awkward ways. Taylor Swift did her part to keep Midnights bubbling on the platform, sharing her own bejeweled eyeliner using “Vigilante Sh*t.” After weeks of anticipation fomented by #SwiftTok and Taylor herself, Midnights topped the Billboard 200 charts this week with the biggest album debut since 2013 and claimed the top ten spot on the Hot 100. With the TikTok-trending “Anti-Hero” leading the way at #1, Taylor is the first artist in history to occupy the entire Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100.
Pop princess Meghan Trainor has another self-love hit on her hands with her new song “Made You Look”. Surging on the back of a dance choreographed by @brookieandjessie, the song is making its rounds on TikTok with over 345K creations. With lyrics emphasizing that everyone is beautiful and should feel confident no matter what, “Made You Look” inspires creators to feel gorgeous while doing chores around the house, trying on stylish outfits from their wardrobe, and running around in an adorable unicorn Halloween costume. Megan is excitedly engaging with the sound and her fans, crediting the choreographers as she participates in the dance trend and doing the popular TikTok trend of ranking her favorite lyrics of the song. The TikTok success of “Made You Look” helped the song score a #95 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 this week.
Latin music continues to grow in popularity on TikTok, with songs like Grupo Frontera’s “No Se Va” (49.6K+ creations) and ROSALÍA’s “BIZCOCHITO” (308.9K+ creations) making waves across the platform. Lately leading the Latin music wave, Ozuna and Shakira inspire TikTok creators to keep moving on the dance floor with their new collaboration, “Monotonía.” Garnering over 221K+ total creations, the mellow-yet-catchy song finds creators showing off their best moves. While babies get their groove on with the help of their parents, teachers dance solo in their empty classrooms. In other creations, “Monotonía” inspires the bachata and zumba instructors of the TikTok community to promote their services as they use the sound as part of their routines. Shakira teased a snippet of the song a week before its official release date in mid-October, and most recently used the song to highlight her favorite Shakira Halloween costumes that she’s spotted while using the app.
After finding success with viral hit “Munch (Feelin’ U)” (523.7K+ creations), New York riser Ice Spice poses a new question on her new song “Bikini Bottom” that has the TikTok community in a frenzy: “How can I lose if I’m already chose (like)?” Previewed on TikTok in mid-October, “Bikini Bottom” boasts over 39.2K+ creations. The song’s cartoonish beat inspired creators to pretend to be cartoon characters as they scurry through their houses. In other creations, the catchy banger soundtracks creators’ Spongebob Squarepants and Ice Spice-inspired Halloween costumes, outfit of the day videos, and jokes about wearing outfits that their parents hate. Artists such as Saucy Santana and Coi Leray showed love to Ice Spice by using the song on their own TikTok pages. Ice also promoted the track on TikTok, encouraging listeners to go stream. Thanks to its viral success, “Bikini Bottom” boasts over 1.1M Spotify streams and 2.4M YouTube views on the official video in less than a week.
One of the major trends that has taken over TikTok in 2022 is the rise of the sped up remix–users frequently double, or even triple the BPMs of their favorite songs to exhilarating effect. R&B star Summer Walker noticed her fans turning up to sped-up versions of her music, particularly her 2018 song “Karma” (63k creations on the sped up version), which resurged in popularity, generating over 250k streams per week after creator @whereisreese choreographed a trending dance. This week, Summer rewarded her fans with a sped-up version of her 2018 album Last Days Of Summer, available to stream on all platforms. The new Last Days Of Summer (Sped Up) is the first-ever sped-up full album to be released by an artist after their music trended on TikTok, and it is very unlikely to be the last.
Even though Halloween has passed, TIkTok is keeping the Spooky Season spirit alive by showcasing their creative costume and makeup skills. Whether the looks are funny, cute, or spooky, Ski Mask The Slump God’s “OOGA BOOGA!” (390K+ creations) is the soundtrack of choice. While some creators flaunt their intricate skeleton and evil pumpkin makeup looks to the lyrics “I’m the boogeyman, ooga booga,” others show off their hilarious Spy Kids-inspired thumb costume and a Babadook costume inspired by the cult classic horror film. Ski Mask is having fun with the sound as well, using it to soundtrack his mirror selfie process and reveal his friend’s scary clown Halloween costume. Originally teased as a snippet on TikTok in September, the song made major waves upon its official release, generating over 3.5 million streams on Spotify in its first week of release, reaching the Top 100 of the service’s streaming charts.
TikTok creators are using Cults’ 2017 track “Gilded Lily” to tell the story of emotionally taxing experiences with hope that others can relate. The repetition of the somber lyrics “Haven’t I given enough?” in the chorus deeply resonates with creators. Garnering over 56K creations, the sound is the home for creators who struggled with acne in middle school, can’t escape the pressures of going back to school, and always listen to their friends’ problems but have no one to listen to theirs. Inspired by the success of the song and the emotional weight of the trend, Cults recently joined the platform to express their gratitude for the support of the song and their happiness about the song resonating with so many people.

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

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T-Swift, Shakira, Ice Spice, and Meghan Trainor Inspire TikTok Music Trends