4.21.2021

TikTok Treats, Week of April 19th

Young Thug Goes Skiing with Drake, Dua Lipa Trends Again, and More TikTok Stories

The News:

TikTok provides a platform for users to be creative and critical when engaging with music. The community expertly transforms the context of songs, each user playing the role of music supervisor, picking the perfect song for each mood and moment. Meanwhile, artists on the platform can drive conversation and steer the community’s by engaging with fans and emphasizing the interactive elements of their songs. Take a look below on some of the latest ways TikTok is interacting with new and old music:

There are few things the TikTok community enjoys more than the futuristic and nostalgic pop music of Dua Lipa. After trending with hits like “Don’t Start Now” and “Break My Heart” in 2020, the British pop star has returned to users’ For You pages with “Levitating,” which has over 1.8 million combined video creations on the original and its DaBaby-featuring remix. The song is currently turning heads with the “You want me” trend, in which TikTok users use Dua’s lyrics to reveal things that people absolutely cannot resist. In their confessional videos, TikTok users revealed that they’ve turned down Michelin star food for McDonalds, bent their nail salon rules for a preferred customer, forgiven their best friend too quickly, and more.
Armed with an emotional powerful chorus from Faith Evans, Twista’s 2005 hit “Hope” is the perfect song for ending a movie on a heavy, but uplifting note. In TikTok’s hands, however, “Hope” becomes an ironic backing track for anyone who would dare hold the titular emotion in the first place. With over 122k video creations, “Hope” is the soundtrack for a trend that parodies a kind of ending popular in ’80s films, in which the camera would freeze on a character as underlying text explained what happens to them after the film ends. The trend has existed since 2020, but it’s currently peaking in popularity, documenting herculean efforts of procrastination, crucial studying errors, and good days gone wrong.
Earlier this year, rap superstar Young Thug teased a mysterious new song on TikTok and introduced a dance to go along with it. Now, the song from his new Slime Language 2 album, called “Ski,” is taking the internet by storm. Everyone in the rap game, including Quavo, Future, and even Drake, has tried their hand at the challenge. Meanwhile, Thug is documenting the enthusiastic fan response on his own TikTok, boosting a skit about the making of the song by creator @jayy_mass3.and an appreciative post from Zac Efron.
The TikTok community is fascinated with the styles and sounds of older generations, and this week, they’ve used Bell Biv Devoe’s classic New Jack Swing track “Poison” (69.1K+ creations) to create a TikTok time capsule. A new trend featuring the song takes us back to 1990, the year of the song’s release, as the TikTok community eagerly shows off photos of how their parents dressed, lived, and acted back in the days of Hammer pants and Keds. Whether they have parents who were high school sweethearts, too cool for school, or fresh to death, the TikTok community is always happy to be reminded that mom and dad lived whole lives before they were even born.
Florida indie rapper Iamdoechii is the latest rapper to have an unexpected hit on TikTok. With over 888K+ creations between the user-generated sound (866.6K+ creations) and the official sound (21.5K+ creations), Doechii’s song “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” has inspired a transformation trend. The track begins with a ringing school bell and opening line of “Doechii, why don’t you introduce yourself to the class” which prompts the transformation from a childhood photo to a more recent photo. The sound has proven to be the perfect inspiration for unexpected growth spurts, babies aging into children, and actress Christa Allen’s nod to her 13 Going on 30 moment. The trend shows no signs of slowing down on the app, and the song is already making an impact outside of TikTok–it currently sits at #1 on Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 chart.
More than just a place to discover new songs, TikTok is a valuable educational tool that could help you become a more knowledgable and better musician. Artists like John Mayer and Mike Shinoda happily share the music theory and guitar techniques behind some of their hits, and others like Vulfpeck’s Cory Wong lay down grooves and invite users to jam with them. The community of musicians on TikTok goes much further than just the famous names: from #GuitarTok, to #SynthTok, to #ProducerTok, aspiring musicians and studio wizards of all skill levels can find something to help them reach their goals.

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

For more info, please contact:
Michelle McDevitt, Andrea Higgins, Erin Ryan, 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.

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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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Dua Lipa, Drake, and Bell Biv DeVoe Make Waves on TikTok

4.21.2021

TikTok Treats, Week of April 19th

Young Thug Goes Skiing with Drake, Dua Lipa Trends Again, and More TikTok Stories

The News:

The Background:

Links: