TikTok Has an Invisible Hand Over the Music Industry

By Julia Bernstein

“Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac is charting for the first time since the 70s. Miley Cyrus has single-handedly revived Blondie from the New York punk scene. The indie scene of 2014 is gaining another wave of unwarranted recognition. “Stand By Me,” originally performed in 1961, has become the twerk anthem of the year.

Why? TikTok. That’s why.

Because when you combine a pandemic with the Zoom Age, the only cure for this everlasting year is TikTok (until we’re blessed with the actual cure). 

TikTok has something of an invisible hand over the music industry. If a song is charting, it’s most likely because of the mysterious TikTok algorithm. But what it comes down to is the fact that real people are the ones determining which songs get popular nowadays, and pretty much everyone has an equal shot of going viral. A crappy song made in someone’s basement has about the same chance at fame in 2020 as a Beatles song did in the 60s. 

Take “New York Summer,” a song written by Louisa Melcher that went viral on TikTok earlier this year. Here are some of the lyrics: 

“And we’re fighting in the grocery store, and I love you but I don’t know if I like you anymore.” 

If you’ve heard this song, you know it’s… bizarre. But as bad as it is (no offense), it was made by someone who knows how to grab Gen Z-ers’ shorter-than-usual attention spans. People appreciate songs more for their comedic value nowadays, which is kind of refreshing.

Another way that creators go viral is simply talking about how much 2020 sucks. Think “F2020” by Avenue Beat, which went viral on TikTok this summer. Within the first minute the song references the pandemic, failing as a musician, being broke, her cat dying (?)... Things that are so depressing you have to laugh in order to avoid falling into a pit of existential dread. TikTok creators are exceptional at turning horrible things into full-on jokes, which I think is a strength of our generation as a whole: not taking life too seriously. 

And it makes for some great music.