so sorry that you have to go through all of this as a musician. looking back i also do miss listening to music with process. taking out the casette from its case, rolling it, and read the lyrics on the spread. that was such a beautiful and mindful experience. despite i no longer do that, one of the thing ive been trying to do to be more mindful in consuming music is playing discover weekly playlist on mondays and explore release radar in fridays. carry on with your workk✨
my entire fyp has time travelled back to 2020, with everyone posting drafts and influencers bringing back duet chains. even though tiktok is not disappearing for me, it's so interesting to see how many trends, how many things we've gone through in the past six years (tiktok still feels like a recent app to me, until i realise that 2019 was six years ago and not 1-2). how quickly we've forgotten about them, and how all the memories flood back. "Maybe we’re mourning a way of experiencing art that we’ve already lost." this entire post is so true. short form media has wormed its way through every part and every app of our life- i strongly doubt that the tiktok ban will mean that we consume media in a different way now, because like you said we are simply swapping one out for a similar, parallel app/medium.
I loved how you could see the truth for what it is, while admitting that you’re not separate from everything that it has now become. And yes, I think you’re right to a large extent. The complexities of our existence feel like they have to be chopped up into easily digestible catchphrases and trendy sounds, to borrow from Bojack Horseman’s words.
But I feel like while this is true, there’s also the other part of TikTok, the part that makes one feel seen, feel less alone. The parts that do not shy away from our existence’s complexities, but rather embrace them. Will I miss the “These are the top trending sounds this week” posts? Absolutely not. I will miss the funny dances. The shocking revelations. The intellectual conversations. The challenge to be better, to be inspired by my counterparts all over the world and to be my best self.
It’s funny. Because I am not even American. I just feel this impending gaping loss.
oh yeah, I definitely know that part of tiktok; that’s the tiktok I personally know and love. but it’s not just that anymore and hasn’t been for a very long time… it’s just so sad to see it reduced to commodity and algorithms though, especially with tiktok shop being such a prevalent thing over the past year that I can’t even scroll twice on my fyp without getting an ad in-between videos
also so interesting how even non-americans are feeling a sense of loss with this too - I have a few friends outside the US who also have expressed such feelings to me. thank you for reading and for sharing thoughts!
Reading this brought me back to the moment in the movie “Reality Bites” when the filmmaker character’s earnest, emotionally honest efforts were chopped up and delivered as a product completely devoid of its original intent. The jarring sense of being unable to turn back. Yet I don’t think all is lost. My three offspring in their late 20s and early 30s seem able to counter the threats to attention span. My daughter listens to the entirety of her Spotify-favorite Judah & the Lion songs!
this is comforting to hear! I don’t believe all is lost either; I think awareness of a problem is the first step in solving it. and hopefully that’s the case for our modern culture and its relationship to art!
I wonder if there will come a time when we trade TikTok-ready 15-second hooks in songs, for 15-second songs entirely. The fact this hasn't happened already suggests to me that this could come from a desire to tell ourselves that we are actually engaging with 'deeper' or 'more complex' art and culture, even when we obviously aren't. Or perhaps it just hasn't really been tried.
I'd prefer it if we did start creating 15-second songs geared for this. It would be more honest and could potentially open up a new form of music with space to be, yes short and engaging, but also authentic. Haiku's aren't particularly long but they aren't expected to be! And there is beauty in their simplicity.
Perhaps to encourage this new form of music (and sanitise current music) a sound going viral needs to be directly monetisable, rather than requiring audiences to go and listen to a full song.
Alex O'Connor's post "Please Stop Playing Music Everywhere" speaks to a lot of what you said regarding how meaning is lost when its context is removed (or changed). It's an interesting read, sharing it in case you or anyone's interested! https://www.alexoconnor.com/p/please-stop-playing-music-everywhere
such an interesting thought — honestly, you might not be so far off. i’ve noticed that full songs are getting shorter and shorter these days, and I can think of two reasons why: one being the minimal capacity of the average listener’s attention span, and the second being that when a song is shorter, you’re more likely to want more of it — and as a result, you find yourself looping it over and over, giving the artist more stream numbers and in turn, more revenue.
Lots to think about! thank you for reading and sharing thoughts! 💌
This is going to sound completely ridiculous and too serendipitous to be true but I’m genuinely in shock right now.
Your song Apollo was the first song I added to my playlist for my debut novel four years ago. Back then, writing was just a hobby, and I was barely a few thousand words into the draft, and yet writing was something I truly truly loved and felt giddy about!! I’m now nine drafts, 3 rounds of beta reading and 2 stages of querying into the same novel, and while I still love the craft, I’ve become a little more jaded and pragmatic about the way I approach it.
I’ve been tempted to sacrifice quality or “literature value” just to get the book completed and sold, adding short quote-worthy lines and kind of “trope-milking” just to make the book more marketable. Reading this essay was a wake-up call about the whole POINT of creating art. I’m going to take a break from writing, so that I can return to my novel refreshed, able to give it the effort and care that it needs, rather than commodifying something that once brought me joy.
I wanted to search up your music, since I figured that an artist who puts this much respect and thought into their craft must create things worth savouring, and I just can’t believe that you’re the SAME PERSON who produced the music that was the soundtrack to my entire creative process, since the very start :)
Please excuse my very very long way of saying thank you :) I’m so grateful that this essay found its way to me, and thank you for inspiring other creatives out there <33
Wishing you all the best with your future creations!!
This was so thoughtful, well-written and resonant. I really enjoyed how you wove together your experiences as both a listener and creator of music, and could talk about the role of TikTok in such a holistic (?) way!!
Beautifully put. It's really good to hear this from someone who's been very successful on TikTok, and I am sorry about any adverse impact the ban is going to have on people who have built audiences - and livings - on the platform.
I'm certainly not here for an "I told you so", more for a "I ignored this huge opportunity and now it's probably gone" comment!
I've been releasing albums independently for 16 years now, focusing on talking to my growing mailing list and selling physical items direct to fans. I used to be (relatively) big (for what I do) on Twitter til 2012 or so, when everything started (was it then? or earlier?) becoming algorithmic.
I could always see the exciting potential of TikTok but have been focusing on long form video for the past 5 years alongside album making and membership running, and simply didn't have the time or energy left over for something else.
Funnily enough, in the past month I've been thinking it could be the right time to dip my toe in, and now of course the ban has happened. I'm in the UK so could still have a go, but...have I waited just long enough not to have to participate in a platform and format that I don't feel supports what I make?
I kind of feel like that - I mean, I've found great snippets of songs on there on the few occasions I did some scrolling, and that made me go and listen to the full piece of work - but it's not the way I personally want to listen to music. And from the other side, I'd rather spend time and energy in spaces that feel more me (here, my Patreon chat, YouTube) and introduce people to my work that way.
It's a bit of a moot point now in that the bulk of TT users are currently unable to get on the platform, and I don't have any extra time during my current album release than I did during my last one (I do literally everything myself). But anyway, I just wanted to say: thank you for your brilliant, thoughtful, helpful piece of writing. I'm glad I found you today and I will now go and listen to (at least) a whole song of yours! Have a fab day.
OK now *this* is weird and brilliant. I went to your YT channel to watch and listen, and found "Apollo" first. Absolutely brilliant. And it spoke to me especially because...I wrote a song about Daphne, Apollo and Cupid a while back! Great minds :) https://youtu.be/4-pOQf2ei-o
so sorry that you have to go through all of this as a musician. looking back i also do miss listening to music with process. taking out the casette from its case, rolling it, and read the lyrics on the spread. that was such a beautiful and mindful experience. despite i no longer do that, one of the thing ive been trying to do to be more mindful in consuming music is playing discover weekly playlist on mondays and explore release radar in fridays. carry on with your workk✨
thank you :,) for your kind words, and for your efforts in keeping deep listening alive 💌
my entire fyp has time travelled back to 2020, with everyone posting drafts and influencers bringing back duet chains. even though tiktok is not disappearing for me, it's so interesting to see how many trends, how many things we've gone through in the past six years (tiktok still feels like a recent app to me, until i realise that 2019 was six years ago and not 1-2). how quickly we've forgotten about them, and how all the memories flood back. "Maybe we’re mourning a way of experiencing art that we’ve already lost." this entire post is so true. short form media has wormed its way through every part and every app of our life- i strongly doubt that the tiktok ban will mean that we consume media in a different way now, because like you said we are simply swapping one out for a similar, parallel app/medium.
exactly, hit the nail on the head ella! thanks so much for reading 💌
I loved how you could see the truth for what it is, while admitting that you’re not separate from everything that it has now become. And yes, I think you’re right to a large extent. The complexities of our existence feel like they have to be chopped up into easily digestible catchphrases and trendy sounds, to borrow from Bojack Horseman’s words.
But I feel like while this is true, there’s also the other part of TikTok, the part that makes one feel seen, feel less alone. The parts that do not shy away from our existence’s complexities, but rather embrace them. Will I miss the “These are the top trending sounds this week” posts? Absolutely not. I will miss the funny dances. The shocking revelations. The intellectual conversations. The challenge to be better, to be inspired by my counterparts all over the world and to be my best self.
It’s funny. Because I am not even American. I just feel this impending gaping loss.
oh yeah, I definitely know that part of tiktok; that’s the tiktok I personally know and love. but it’s not just that anymore and hasn’t been for a very long time… it’s just so sad to see it reduced to commodity and algorithms though, especially with tiktok shop being such a prevalent thing over the past year that I can’t even scroll twice on my fyp without getting an ad in-between videos
also so interesting how even non-americans are feeling a sense of loss with this too - I have a few friends outside the US who also have expressed such feelings to me. thank you for reading and for sharing thoughts!
Reading this brought me back to the moment in the movie “Reality Bites” when the filmmaker character’s earnest, emotionally honest efforts were chopped up and delivered as a product completely devoid of its original intent. The jarring sense of being unable to turn back. Yet I don’t think all is lost. My three offspring in their late 20s and early 30s seem able to counter the threats to attention span. My daughter listens to the entirety of her Spotify-favorite Judah & the Lion songs!
this is comforting to hear! I don’t believe all is lost either; I think awareness of a problem is the first step in solving it. and hopefully that’s the case for our modern culture and its relationship to art!
thank you for reading 💌
Brilliant read!
I wonder if there will come a time when we trade TikTok-ready 15-second hooks in songs, for 15-second songs entirely. The fact this hasn't happened already suggests to me that this could come from a desire to tell ourselves that we are actually engaging with 'deeper' or 'more complex' art and culture, even when we obviously aren't. Or perhaps it just hasn't really been tried.
I'd prefer it if we did start creating 15-second songs geared for this. It would be more honest and could potentially open up a new form of music with space to be, yes short and engaging, but also authentic. Haiku's aren't particularly long but they aren't expected to be! And there is beauty in their simplicity.
Perhaps to encourage this new form of music (and sanitise current music) a sound going viral needs to be directly monetisable, rather than requiring audiences to go and listen to a full song.
Alex O'Connor's post "Please Stop Playing Music Everywhere" speaks to a lot of what you said regarding how meaning is lost when its context is removed (or changed). It's an interesting read, sharing it in case you or anyone's interested! https://www.alexoconnor.com/p/please-stop-playing-music-everywhere
such an interesting thought — honestly, you might not be so far off. i’ve noticed that full songs are getting shorter and shorter these days, and I can think of two reasons why: one being the minimal capacity of the average listener’s attention span, and the second being that when a song is shorter, you’re more likely to want more of it — and as a result, you find yourself looping it over and over, giving the artist more stream numbers and in turn, more revenue.
Lots to think about! thank you for reading and sharing thoughts! 💌
This is going to sound completely ridiculous and too serendipitous to be true but I’m genuinely in shock right now.
Your song Apollo was the first song I added to my playlist for my debut novel four years ago. Back then, writing was just a hobby, and I was barely a few thousand words into the draft, and yet writing was something I truly truly loved and felt giddy about!! I’m now nine drafts, 3 rounds of beta reading and 2 stages of querying into the same novel, and while I still love the craft, I’ve become a little more jaded and pragmatic about the way I approach it.
I’ve been tempted to sacrifice quality or “literature value” just to get the book completed and sold, adding short quote-worthy lines and kind of “trope-milking” just to make the book more marketable. Reading this essay was a wake-up call about the whole POINT of creating art. I’m going to take a break from writing, so that I can return to my novel refreshed, able to give it the effort and care that it needs, rather than commodifying something that once brought me joy.
I wanted to search up your music, since I figured that an artist who puts this much respect and thought into their craft must create things worth savouring, and I just can’t believe that you’re the SAME PERSON who produced the music that was the soundtrack to my entire creative process, since the very start :)
Please excuse my very very long way of saying thank you :) I’m so grateful that this essay found its way to me, and thank you for inspiring other creatives out there <33
Wishing you all the best with your future creations!!
This was so thoughtful, well-written and resonant. I really enjoyed how you wove together your experiences as both a listener and creator of music, and could talk about the role of TikTok in such a holistic (?) way!!
Brilliantly and Beautifully put. 💌
Loved this, so good
Beautifully put. It's really good to hear this from someone who's been very successful on TikTok, and I am sorry about any adverse impact the ban is going to have on people who have built audiences - and livings - on the platform.
I'm certainly not here for an "I told you so", more for a "I ignored this huge opportunity and now it's probably gone" comment!
I've been releasing albums independently for 16 years now, focusing on talking to my growing mailing list and selling physical items direct to fans. I used to be (relatively) big (for what I do) on Twitter til 2012 or so, when everything started (was it then? or earlier?) becoming algorithmic.
I could always see the exciting potential of TikTok but have been focusing on long form video for the past 5 years alongside album making and membership running, and simply didn't have the time or energy left over for something else.
Funnily enough, in the past month I've been thinking it could be the right time to dip my toe in, and now of course the ban has happened. I'm in the UK so could still have a go, but...have I waited just long enough not to have to participate in a platform and format that I don't feel supports what I make?
I kind of feel like that - I mean, I've found great snippets of songs on there on the few occasions I did some scrolling, and that made me go and listen to the full piece of work - but it's not the way I personally want to listen to music. And from the other side, I'd rather spend time and energy in spaces that feel more me (here, my Patreon chat, YouTube) and introduce people to my work that way.
It's a bit of a moot point now in that the bulk of TT users are currently unable to get on the platform, and I don't have any extra time during my current album release than I did during my last one (I do literally everything myself). But anyway, I just wanted to say: thank you for your brilliant, thoughtful, helpful piece of writing. I'm glad I found you today and I will now go and listen to (at least) a whole song of yours! Have a fab day.
OK now *this* is weird and brilliant. I went to your YT channel to watch and listen, and found "Apollo" first. Absolutely brilliant. And it spoke to me especially because...I wrote a song about Daphne, Apollo and Cupid a while back! Great minds :) https://youtu.be/4-pOQf2ei-o