Everyone listens to music.
Music used to mean something to the artist and their fans, even if it was just for fun. But now it seems like every artist is searching for their “viral moment.” Everyone’s trying to make the next big hit. All the lyrics are predictable, and the production isn’t much better.
And once an artist has created that viral sensation, you hear it constantly. On the radio, in stores, and especially on social media. The prime suspect in this is TikTok.
The problem with TikTok is that once it claims a song as viral, you never stop hearing that song. And typically, it’s the same five-to-ten-second clip over and over and over again. Give it a month or so, and you’ll never be able to listen to that song ever again.
I can’t stand Lorde’s “David” or “tv off” by Kendrick Lamar anymore, and it’s TikTok’s fault. When new music comes out from a popular artist, it’s beaten to death before most people can even hear it.
I used to be a huge Taylor Swift fan, but when “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” was released and got the TikTok treatment, I could hardly listen to the album anymore.
And then we have the artists that have practically dedicated their entire careers to going viral. Some of that might be their own choice, some of that might be from their label, but I digress. Canadian pop star Tate McRae writes music like she’s trying to start a TikTok trend.
And she has gotten quite a bit of popularity off of her most recent album, “So Close To What.” The problem is that every song on that album sounds exactly the same. Three of them, “Sports car,” “Revolving door” and “It’s ok I’m ok” are in her top ten streamed songs on Spotify, with over 300 million streams each.
You know how they got those streams? They blew up on TikTok.
I pride myself on having a somewhat niche music taste, and sometimes that means I like to gatekeep my music. So when I go onto TikTok and see a video with over a thousand views and the song is something I didn’t know the general population had heard before, it drives me crazy.
I know I sound like one of those music snobs who always says, “I liked them before they were cool,” but its true. The crazy thing is, I used to love Tate McRae. I went to a concert of hers years ago and knew all the words.
But now her music sounds like any other pop artist trying to get streams off of social media. All of us TikTok users unfortunately know about everyone’s (least) favorite backflipping pop artist: Benson Boone. He’s one of the artists that had one song go viral and just kept chasing another.
It started with “Beautiful Things” in 2024, which wasn’t absolutely horrible until about 500 TikToks later, and it sounded like screeching. Then in June Boone released his album “American Hearts,” which I’m sure you can’t name a single song from. I only recognize one, but no one calls it by its real name.
You probably know “Mystical Magical” from a singular line: “Moonbeam ice cream, taking off your blue jeans, dancing at the movies.”
It’s absolute gibberish, but TikTok latched onto it.
So yeah. Now, whenever we hear a new, catchy song, we can sit and wonder: is this song actually good, or is TikTok furthering its grip on our brains?
