TikTok Treats, Week Of July 13th

A Weekly Roundup Of Interesting Music Stories From the World of TikTok; This Week, A Look at How TikTok Artists and Songs Reach an International Audience

• 19-year-old rising Latin trap star Lunay (Puerto Rico) has evolved into a TikTok power user, earning millions of views with videos of his impressive soccer skills, his much-less-impressive hair-styling skills, and his upcoming collaboration with Lil Mosey. His most popular video is also his cutest, teaming with his kid sister for an adorable interpretation of a popular Spanish sound. 
   
• Red hot reggaetonero J Balvin (Colombia) dove headfirst into TikTok during quarantine, making the most of his alone time by tapping into his inner comedian. Watch him quote his favorite movies, like Coming To America and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, try his hand at Whitney Houston karaoke (it could've gone better), or play with his golden retriever puppy Felicidad, who has a very boop-able nose and also can be used as a double-barrel shotgun (46 million views). Most recently, he indulged his love of Spongebob Squarepants with a goofy video set to his new collaboration with Tainy.
   
• 88rising superstar Joji (Japan) joined TikTok last week, capitalizing on the rising momentum of his song "Gimme Love." With over 435k video creations, "Gimme Love" is the ideal soundtrack to finding positive aspects of a rejection, insult, or negative situation. Joji racked up over 530k views with his first TikTok, a lo-fi, slightly creepy chronicle of two middle-aged men bro-ing out to "Gimme Love" in a vintage Mercedes. In 2019, Joji’s song “Slow Dancing In The Dark” was an early song to trend on TikTok and grew from there, inspiring the viral #MicrowaveChallenge (272 million video views). Propelled by TikTok and its users, “Slow Dancing In The Dark” became Joji’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit and eventually reached Double-Platinum status.
   
• One of the most popular and least likely songs to hit big TikTok is "Bagaikan Langit," a 1998 song from Indonesian rock group Potret. A remixed version of the Indonesian-language song popped up on the platform in early 2020 and caught fire to the tune of 36 million video creations, with listeners responding to the song's countdown and squeaky synth effects. The song has provided an opportunity for TikTok users (including portable corgis) to show off their elastic facial expressions.
   
• Skeletal, industrial post-punk isn't en vogue in the U.S., but it seems to be all the rage in former Soviet republics like Belarus and Russia. A vibey single by Sacred Bones Records-signed rock group Molchat Doma (Belarus) is the app's go-to soundtrack for fleeting glimpses of Russian life. "Судно (Борис Рижий)" has also been adapted by aspiring fashionistas to show off their wardrobes, and by skilled make-up artists for tutorials.