6.16.21

TikTok Treats, Week of June 14th

WILLOW Gets Her Pop-Punk On, Rae Sremmurd Inspire a Dance Craze, and the Community Searches For Someone Who Can Pay Their Automo-Bills

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. The best TIkTok trends act as a kind of criticism, latching onto an aspect of a song and showing it in a new light. This week on TikTok, the community shined a light on old hits by Destiny’s Child and Rae Sremmurd alongside high-octane bangers by WILLOW and WHOKILLEDXIX. Take a look at what made TikTok tick this week:

No strangers to viral dance trends like the 2016 “Black Beatles” Mannequin Challenge, Rae Sremmurd has a new dance trend on their hands with “My X” (406.3K+ creations) making waves on TikTok. Though moderate in tempo, Swae Lee’s quick flow and high-energy verse have made the 2015 track a hit amongst TikTok creators. Creator Lesley Gonzalez (@yodamnmomma) kicked off the dance trend at the beginning of the month, switching tempos to match Swae Lee’s verse. Swae Lee even showed her some love for creating the dance in the comments of her post. Users on the platform have taken to the dance trend to show off their moves, whether with their cool moms, their best friends, or in their freshly-used softball jerseys.
Her brother Jaden got attention last year when he did a merch collab with TikTok, but 2021 has been WILLOW’s year to shine on the app. In late April, WILLOW on-boarded with a bang, sharing a clip of her Travis Barker-produced rock song “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l.” Since then, “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l” has become a mainstay on TikTok, generating over 55k video creations, primarily from the world of Haircare TikTok, its aggressive vibes adding an edge to impulsive dye jobs or bizarre crafts projects. On her own page, WILLOW has been feeding fans’ enthusiasm for the song, demonstrating how to play the song’s riff on guitar for those who want to cover the song on the app, sharing clips from the song’s music video, and generating over 12 million views on an excerpt of her recent Fallon performance.
TikTok has a unique power to revive hits from the past. In recent weeks, the iconic 90s R&B tune “Bills, Bills, Bills” by Destiny’s Child has reached trending status, inspiring over 128k video creations. For the trend, creators are using the sound to express what they look for in a partner as they cover their face and slap the air in a provocative motion. The sound is perfect for creators who look for zodiac sign compatibility, seek reassurance, and especially for those who have a very specific taste in partners who wear 5-inch inseam shorts and Bass Pro Shop hats.
Glitchcore duo WHOKILLEDXIX is having a major moment on TikTok with their genre-bending track “spy?” Garnering over 136.7K creations so far, the track has become a hit with the TikTok community for its mixture of alternative, punk, EDM, and trap vibes. Because of its reach, creators use it to soundtrack practically any situation, including setting daily reminders to annoy your cute cat, displaying fun video games to play with a significant other, or joking about astronaut aesthetics. After going viral on TikTok, the song peaked at #7 on Spotify’s US Viral 50.
With a propulsive, disco-adjacent beat and trancelike repetition of the titular phrase, “Nobody” by Mitski lends itself very well to TikTok interpretation (113k video creations). Though “Nobody” was the source of a dance trend in the Fall of 2020, the song truly took off in the past week with a new trend for when creators wish they could run away from a situation as quickly as possible. Dial up Mitski’s sad-on-the-dancefloor anthem whenever someone suggests that you need to get a summer job, someone uses outdated slang, or gives useful, but unwanted romantic advice.
18-year-old musician Rachel Sandy is making waves on the platform with her pitch-perfect impressions of beloved singer-songwriters. Using her acoustic guitar and her home studio, she crafts original songs in the style of artists like Lorde, Taylor Swift, and the aforementioned Mitski. Since joining TikTok in mid-May with her evocation of Phoebe Bridgers, Rachel has racked up nearly 15 million video views and grew a following of over 240k. Rachel’s video about Maggie Rogers drew the attention of Maggie herself, who duetted the video on her own page.

TikTok’s LIVE Headstream series continues this week with Rivers Cuomo of Weezer. For 30 minutes, on Fridays at 4PM PT/7PM ET, Headstream invites artists to introduce their new music, interact with fans in the live chat, and get into some real talk with their toughest interviewer yet—themselves. The Rivers Cuomo session drops on Friday, June 18th via @weezer and will feature music from the band’s new album Van Weezer. Weezer will also be hitting the road this summer on the Hella Mega tour, alongside Green Day and Fall Out Boy; grab tickets here

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.

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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Swae Lee, WILLOW, Mitski & More Inspire Trends on TikTok