10.6.2021

TikTok Treats, Week of October 4th

This Week, the TikTok Community Dances to Dembow, Obsesses Over Squid Game, and Reveals a Healthy Fear of “Teenagers”

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. Take a look at the dembow anthems, K-Pop gems, and rising rap hits that have made an impact on the platform in recent weeks:

Coi Leray consistently shows love to the TikTok community, and the TikTok community consistently shows her love right back. Already seeing major success on the app this year with her catchy hit “No More Parties” (465.4K+ creations) and NSFW “Ocean Prime” (467.4K+ creations), a collaboration with Bfb Da Packman, the trendy rapper is making waves again with her new song “TWINNEM” (979.1K+ creations). The sound has sparked a comedic trend of duos acting out the words of the song’s organ-led hook with their “twin.” From real twins to the closest coworkers, TikTok creators are adamant in affirming that they love their best friends and have no desire for any new friends. Coi Leray has even been interacting with the sound on her own page, as she vibes to the song with her friends to show off the song’s lowkey, danceable feel.
The community of K-Pop lovers on TikTok is large and growing, and it looks like they’ve found themselves a new star to stan. A member of world famous pop group BLACKPINK, known on TikTok for hits like “How You Like That” (11 million video creations) and “Ice Cream” w/ Selena Gomez (1.5 million creations), 리사 (LISA) is making major waves on TikTok wihth “Money,” her second-ever solo single. With over 1 million video creations since its release last month, the knowingly materialistic banger is an ideal mood booster–a new trend finds creators exaggerating the song’s ability to raise serotonin levels with a new dance and animated facial expressions. The song received another jump in popularity after its use in the Netflix show Squid Game, inspiring poses, games, and make-up tutorials based on the mega-popular Korean show.
With its high-energy vocals and insistent percussion, Dominican dembow is one of the ascendant sub-genres of Latin music on TikTok. Following the earlier success of El Alfa’s “La Mamá de la Mamá” (over 1 million creations), the latest dembow hit to drive the community mad is “Linda” (over 200k video creations), a collaboration between Dominican Republic native Tokischa and Spanish superstar Rosalía. Driven by the song’s loping bassline and persistent handclaps, “Linda” has TikTok users attempting their best runway struts in multiple distinct trends. Some “Linda” lovers plant “besitos” on their close friends, while others finds pantomime Rosalía’s claps during a stunning transformation, while others still just wanna dance. Spurred in part by it’s TikTok success, “Linda” is gaining steam, reaching the Top 10 of Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 chart and racking up over 20 million streams on the service.
TikTok often plays host to a friendly clash of generations, and a new trending song is making that playful conflict more explicit. In recent weeks, TikTok creators have sparked a resurgence of My Chemical Romance’s emo classic, “Teenagers,” inspiring over 117K creations on the platform. The trend, centering on the evocative lyric, “Teenagers scare the livin’ s**t out of me,” can help elucidate age-based anxieties, soundtrack 2000s picture day photoshoot concepts, and explain the mindset of adults who are amazed by teens’ daily work routines.
Blurring the lines between indie pop and alternative music with his song “Life Goes On,” Oliver Tree and his eccentric energy have had a hold on the TikTok community in recent weeks. While one of the “Life Goes On” sounds has already amassed over 3.5M creations on the app, another two sounds for the same song have garnered over 2.1M creations and 942.K creations respectively. The song’s energy has brought out a sense of off-the-wall creativity in the TikTok community and is soundtracking all types of art, from intricate paintings and skateboard designs to the cutest cats carving fruit into hearts. The song’s success on the app helped catapult it to a top 10 position on Spotify’s Viral 50 chart. On his own TikTok, Oliver Tree has been using the song to highlight his confessions of NBA dreams and his intense Cheetos obsession.
There’s a niche for everyone on TikTok, and it’s no surprise that the platform’s aspiring fashionistas have found each other. The fashion-forward side of TikTok discovered “Mr. Put It On” (26K video creations), a new song by Houston rapper Guapo, inspiring a stylish trend that has swept through the app. Over a heavy bassline and dark piano chords, Guapo raps about how he looks fly in any wardrobe–that’s why they call him “Mr. Put It On.” The flex-heavy track boasts over 29k video creations on the platform, resonating with TikTok users who also feel their sense of style is worthy of earning them the same name. Creators show off unwavering confidence in their wardrobe by sharing compilations of their best outfits (examples include this one and this one). In other creations, users offer store recommendations and evaluate outfits using the duet feature.

Today, TikTok announced that it partnered with UnbeliEVAble Entertainment (founded by Eva Longoria) to announce the TikTok Latinx Creatives program, inviting over 150 creators to the inaugural TikTok Latinx Creatives creator incubator. The program kicks off on October 12 with a full day of educational programming, including a keynote presentation from globally-recognized, most-followed Latin artist on TikTok, and Colombian-born superstar, J Balvin. Throughout the 10-week program, participants will join the TikTok team — along with some of the most successful Latinx leaders across entertainment, music, business, and more — at motivational town halls, community-building forums and educational workshops. TikTok is excited to kick off TikTok Latinx Creatives and to help them on their missions to become a part of the future of Latinx entertainment.

Check out full details about the initiative on the newsroom: https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/unbelievable-partners-with-tiktok-and-macro-to-announce-150-latinx-creators-in-inaugural-tiktok-latinx-creatives-program

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