TikTok vs. Music: How TikTok is Altering Our Perception Of Music
I downloaded the app TikTok summer of 2019 out of sheer curiosity. When I opened the app, the first video I watched was a fifteen-second clip of affluent teenage girls “dancing” to Chicago drill-rapper Polo G’s breakout song “Neva Cared.” I was confused, to say the least. To my knowledge, Polo G was still a fairly unknown figure at the time, even among seasoned hip-hop fans. Why did a catchy song about gang violence appeal to the youth of TikTok? And why did I feel that a song from one of my favorite up-and-coming rappers at the time was now unappealing? I soon found that this is a common occurrence on TikTok, particularly occurring with hip-songs, so I decided to explore.
There are two perspectives that we can use to view TikTok’s relationship with music. On one hand, we can say that TikTok trivializes quality songs by reducing them to simple dances and the backdrop of some teenager’s “thirst trap” video. Our music is precious to us, and it can be strange to see songs that hold deep meaning to us being relegated to TikTok dances. When a song becomes “TikTok famous,” much of the background and significance is erased, including only a fifteen-second clip of the most memorable portion. Many feel that this is disrespectful to the artist and the song. For example, songs by the late rapper JuiceWrld stirred controversy on TikTok as many of the rapper’s fans felt that creating dances to the deceased rapper’s music was demeaning to his legacy. Over fifty thousand individuals signed petitions asking TikTok to ban all dances to songs from JuiceWrld’s posthumous album Legends Never Die.
However, some argue that Tik-Tok is a platform that positively affects artists by popularizing songs. Many songs and artists have found immense success on TikTok because of the way the app’s algorithm works. The app shows its user’s videos in an endless scroll based on the user’s interest and likes.
Certain “sounds” or short clips of a song get popular and more users make content using that sound, creating more exposure for the song. A user will likely hear the same song five times in five different videos in a five-minute interval, especially if the song is associated with a trend or popular dance at the time, giving songs an exposure that is unrivaled by any other platform. The songs associated with these trends quickly rise to the top of streaming charts, but these songs fall into insignificance just as fast.
TikTok is creating a generation of one-hit wonders. Few artists have been able to establish careers beyond their TikTok hits. They rise to stardom quickly but struggle to maintain their popularity as new trends come and go. This is likely because these artists have not developed an enduring fan-base that will remain listening to the artist, even if their next song is not a viral hit.
TikTok has introduced me to many songs and artists, some notable finds being “Moral of The Story” by Ashe, “Stuck in The Middle” by Tai Verdes, and “Backyard Boy” by Claire Rosinkranz. Have I kept up with these artists and their latest songs? No, but they are songs that I thoroughly enjoy, and I often listen to these songs and forget that I found them on Tiktok.
Despite introducing me to many songs, I have since deleted TikTok. As someone who holds my music dear to me, I did not enjoy watching my favorites songs constantly getting degraded on TikTok. I also found that after a time the content on the app became extremely irritating and repetitive. TikTok subconsciously forces its audience to judge music on visual aesthetics sometimes more than even how it sounds. TikTok causes the genuineness of music to be nullified, changing the way we perceive music to be skewed, which is why we feel that TikTok has “ruined” music for us.
