The video-sharing platform beloved by Gen Z is giving new life to some very old tunes – from YMCA to a twee number by a mid-century sister act
Mention of the video-sharing platform TikTok brings to mind two things: a) the endless torrent of spellbindingly inane 15-second clips created by its gargantuan teen userbase, and b) its ironclad ability to make anyone born before the turn of the millennium feel like a bewildered OAP. Yet since the app’s global launch in 2018, TikTok has carved out another reputation: as a musical tastemaker. Forget Spotify algorithms or, shudder, the mass media, nowadays young people are discovering their new favourite tunes layered under bedroom makeup tutorials or films of body-popping GCSE students.
That means TikTok can make unknown tracks go stratospheric; Old Town Road, Lil Nas X’s country-rap smash, owes its success to a cleverly engineered TikTok challenge. Yet the app also uses its hit-making powers to give random songs a second life: decade-old singles, such as Mariah Carey’s Obsessed and Jay Sean’s Ride It, have both enjoyed massive popularity spikes thanks to tie-in TikTok dance challenges.