Has TikTok Ruined our Relationship with Music?

In 2016, TikTok made its debut, but it was until 2020 that the app truly earned its place in Silicon Valley. Cut off from the outside world, we were forced to soothe our boredom another way. Our phones became our opioids and TikTok benefitted the most. The pandemic was truly the platform’s propeller. But it didn’t come empty handed, it came bearing gifts. One of which is virality. It proved itself a worthy marketing tool and many have munched off its success.

Since cementing itself as a viable ally, industries have declared their desires for a piece of the action and the music industry is not excluded. TikTok has done wonders for artistes, especially independent artistes. By eliminating  the middleman,  the app boasts over one billion monthly active users globally which heightens the chances of being discovered. All you need is a microphone and a TikTok account. Jax is one of the many artists  who   signed on to a record label just by employing this visual tool. She had many users lip syncing to her smash hit Victoria’s Secrets in the summer of 2022.

Music fans are discovering genres like Afrobeats just by being on the app. It has pushed some African artists to the international stage. For Ayra Starr, it was Bloody Samaritan and Rush. As for Tyla, it was Water. Even forgotten songs and artists  are being rediscovered through the power of trendy TikToks. Korede Bello’s Do Like That made a comeback on TikTok in 2021 and was later certified gold in the U.S that same year. With TikTok, the sky is closer. However, for all the blessings it has bestowed on the music industry, one cannot simply bypass its plagues.

TikTok thrives on trends. There is always a new dance challenge to be learnt or a montage to be curated. With a catchy chorus, any song can become a TikTok challenge. When this happens,  a loop emerges and the song remerges every two or three videos. Exhaustion is the aftermath. Many have admitted to being turned off by a song not because it lacked quality but it was reduced to an annoying earworm. Nimi, a musicophile whose Spotify Wrapped minutes banked up to 97, 000 last year, is one of the people who became an anti-fan of Ayra’s Rush due to its endless repetitions. 

TikTok is slowly creating a society where music is experienced in bits and pieces which is the wrong way to consume art. It is almost impossible to escape a hook when it blows up. Now, you find people fleeing art instead of embracing it. Many never sit through the complete track because they are fed up with the hook. 

On TikTok, after a sound goes viral, the algorithm kicks in. It goes on to select similar sounds which creates a homogenization of musical tastes. Everybody is plugged to the same sound which may end up limiting diversity in mainstream music.  This has reflected in the music produced lately, thanks to the laws of demand. Record labels and artists, armed with the knowledge  that consumers control the market and hoping to  make profit , steer towards consumer quirks. Ckay is an embodiment of this. After his song Love Nwantiti experienced the TikTok effect, it became huge. It is still his biggest song on Spotify averaging about 800, 000 streams. The only song that comes close is his Emiliana which bears a striking semblance to Love Nwantiti.  The repercussion of this homogeneity is boxing artists and  lessening experimentalism. 

The algorithm also seems to be stifling creativity. More artists  are making TikTok leaning sounds. A TikTok sound is made up of a sticky chorus or hook and a virality probability. Artists push their efforts into making a smashing chorus, ignoring the rest of the song. Ayra Starr is one of the artists who has leaned on chorus. Following the success of Rush, she attempted sounds like the former whose chorus held up the song as opposed to being one of the ingredients. These attempts were reflected in Commas and even Sability which carried choruses that outshined the verses, This is not  new but the choruses of these songs make the verses forgettable. When you think of the song, you think of nothing else but the chorus.  A major consequence of this is the promotion  of half-baked artists. Artists who only know how to deliver a fantastic hook. In place of growth, there is a regression. The chorusification of music also causes listeners to suffer from an anti-climax, listeners who got sucked in by the enchanting hook only to find the remaining parts abominable. Music enthusiasts are actively learning that not all that sizzles is gold.

Additionally, these choruses are often short as the medium is suited for bite sized content. Artistes strive to make  thirty seconds to one minute long choruses that can fit into  trends. The result of this is a shorter attention span. Less people are able to consume songs longer than three minutes. Billboard Afrobeats charts are now lined with songs under three minutes The album, The Year I turned 21 which currently holds the biggest debut day for a Nigerian artiste has fifteen songs of which twelve are under three minutes. The remaining songs are a few seconds over three minutes long. The same goes for the album Tyla.  There are fourteen songs, ten under three minutes and four that pass the three minute mark by mere seconds. Rema’s new album HEIS emphasises this point better. Eleven tracks all under three minutes. We are being put off from longer songs and artists who are lyrically endowed risk  being shut off.

Furthermore, songs made for the algorithm often lack artistic authenticity, they are perforated materials and easy to see through. Art is unique because one bares their soul in their work and their baring is relative. TikTok sounds are monotonous, yet the human experience isn’t. In the coming years, listeners may fail to connect to this art form because a single story dominates the charts.

Overall, TikTok emphasises virality over talent. A song is only as good as its TikTok challenge. Music as an art is being flattened and trendified, changing the way we experience it, clogging our appreciation of it. There is an aching need for us to find a balance, a better way to utilise this new medium, else music might bear the brunt of it.

Praise Okeoghene Vandeh is a culture journalist and screenwriter with a Bachelors degree in History and International Studies. Her work has appeared in Document Women, Marie Claire Nigeria, What Kept Me Up, Moda Culture amongst others. When she is not writing or advocating for women’s rights, you can find her reading, watching sitcoms or bantering on Twitter.