How TikTok Has Changed Music's Path To Success
More and more artists are turning to TikTok in hopes of gaining attention for their new music. Songs like "Savage" by Megan Thee Stallion and "Say So" by Doja Cat have shown the new platform's enormous power. What does TikTok's huge success mean for the music industry?
In the first quarter of 2020 alone, the massive social media app TikTok had 315 million downloads. In total, the platform has upwards of 2 billion downloads. Needless to say, this short-form video app is experiencing impressive growth. And it only seems to be improving as more people are staying home amidst the pandemic and have nothing better to do than scroll through the app and learn the latest dance craze.
A large part of the entertainment on TikTok is its music discovery. TikTok provides a kind of music-listening demo to its audience with its 15-60 second videos, and when a particular sound goes viral, it’s great news for the song’s artist. This is because virality on TikTok leads to a boost in streams on other platforms, such as Spotify and Apple Music. Take Arizona Zervas, with a jaw-dropping 2472% increase in Spotify monthly listeners since his breakout hit on TikTok, “Roxanne,” or Doja Cat, with the use of songs like “Say So” and “Cyber Sex” on the platform launching her into stardom. Roddy Rich’s “The Box,” another viral dance song, beat out Justin Bieber’s “Yummy” for the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, despite Bieber’s widely ridiculed instructions to fans on how to boost streams. These are only a few examples of huge success stories as a result of TikTok’s influence.
TikTok's "anybody can get famous, fast" narrative only fuels its trends as millions of people will learn the choreography to a catchy dance or lip sync to an upbeat song in the hopes of getting thousands of views. Many artists have noted this path of success and attempted to curate their songs specifically for TikTok virality. For example, Megan Thee Stallion started the “Captain Hook Challenge” herself by posting a choreographed dance to her page and encouraging others to learn it, while Drake’s “Toosie Slide” features explicit dance instructions within its lyrics and the support of already-famous influencer Toosie, making it an instant TikTok recipe for success.
It is clear that TikTok has had a huge impact on the music industry and the process of reaching fame. It almost seems that for a song to even compete with other current hits, TikTok virality is a crucial component. The answer to what song awaits TikTok fame next lies in the hands of its millions of users, and the creativity or whomever wishes to launch the next viral trend.
Report: Grace Carlos
Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus Talk Staying Busy While Being Stuck At Home
Pop star Miley Cyrus has launched an Instagram Live Show called “Bright Minded: Live with Miley”. The show’s episode on March 17 featured an appearance from Demi Lovato, where they discussed how they’re keeping busy while at home and shared how they’re practicing self-care.
This week, pop star Miley Cyrus has launched an Instagram Live Show called “Bright Minded: Live with Miley” which offers hope and escapism, optimism, and a way to stay connected while people are practicing social distance. The live chat will air on the singer's Instagram every day this week at 11:30 a.m. PT/2:30 p.m. ET.
The show’s episode on March 17 featured an appearance from Demi Lovato, where they discussed how they’re keeping busy while at home and shared how they’re practicing self-care. Both singers enjoy using meditation apps like Headspace and Calm, while also enjoying quality time with their pets. Cyrus has been binge-watching “Love Island” while Lovato pledged to start knitting and do home workouts. Lovato practices breathing techniques and doing virtual therapy sessions with her therapist. She logs onto a guided prayer app daily, while maintaining her body with healthy foods and supplements. Lovato gave fans a tour of her “immunity table”, which included products like rubbing alcohol, Emergen-C, Manuka honey, apple cider vinegar gummies, vitamin C, CBD and probiotics. Lovato is also trying to use this time to be creative. Cyrus has been spending most of her alone time staying comfortable, she said, “I have not gotten of these sweatpants for five days and don’t plan on changing any time soon.”. She’s also working on the improving her skills with the guitar.
During the chat, they talked about why they rekindled their friendship. Lovato said, “It’s times like these to reconnect and realize what really matters. It’s important to stick together, especially being women in the industry. I feel like you've always been such a light and that's why we connected at 14.” Cyrus concluded their honest chat with an important for their fans to hear during the quarantine. Lovato said, “It's important not to beat ourselves up over getting nervous, over maybe not eating perfectly, not working out perfectly. These are different, very scary times. We've never been through anything like this in our lives. This is all new to everyone. Be gentle and take care of yourselves as much as possible."
Report: Amanda Lou
At the rise of Covid-19 many of us first questioned the timeline of fashion week and would we see the regular calendar continue - the question weighed over many of us for months! It was refreshing to see design houses and designers across the globe take advantage of the uncertainty and plow into production mode - thus my interest in Jerri Reid New York - The Black Designer based in Brooklyn New York wow’d instagram with his latest collection paying homage to the Black Is King film which debuted earlier this year in July. I was taken aback at quick of a turn round the young designer produced and released his well crafted designs reflecting some of the films most memorable moments.