Tiktok generation wants faster and shorter songs

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While such speed-ups — remixes that speed up the pitch and time of a song's source material by 10-35 percent — have long been a widespread trend on TikTok, they're nothing new.

In fact, Nightcore, as the genre was originally called, was named after a Norwegian duo of the same name who remixed Eurodance songs in the 2000s, and who were a YouTube phenomenon at the time.

Roots in Alta

Thomas S. Nilsen and Steffen Ojala Søderholm from Alta made songs with a high tempo and vocals for a school project. In an interview with The New York Times On the eve of 2022, they said they were “shocked” that their nightly soundscape had become a global phenomenon.

“Our main focus was to make the lyrics of the sad and iconic songs happier to listen to,” Nielsen and Söderholm told the newspaper at the time.

Today’s Tiktok trend also has strong roots in hip-hop’s “chip soul” — fast-paced remixes and samples of R&B songs where the vocals become loud and raspy — that could be heard in the 2000s. This is according to Watchman.

Rediscover old visits

Today, it doesn't take long from artists releasing new music, to such quick releases of songs being posted by private users on Tiktok.

Often times, quick releases have a bigger impact on the platform than the original release. The hashtag #spedupsounds got 9.6 billion views on TikTok last year.

But at the same time, they can also often play old original songs on the charts and give them new life. painting The above. Examples include Billy Joel's 1977 song “Vienna,” which was discovered by a younger audience thanks to a quick version on Tiktok. Also, ABBA's song ” Angel Eyes “And Marius Muller” who you know » Long time ago received the same treatment.

Spotify takes the fight

Many artists and record labels are currently releasing their own remixes of their music. One example is American Sabrina Carpenter. Her 2024 singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” are available in remixes on Spotify.

In April of this year, there was also news that Spotify was taking on the battle to speed up songs by developing a tool that would enable users to quickly remix and deliver music in the app.

“It increases the reach of the songs, attracting a new audience that may not have existed before, especially in the younger target group,” says Andreas Hendinäs, marketing manager for Swedish artists at Universal Music Switzerland. He sees this phenomenon positively.

shorter tones

According to Hendinas, there is a huge demand for artists to release quick versions of their music on music services.

“It’s a trade-off you have to make. Most of the time we see the impact on original songs. They grow at the same time as the trend on TikTok, and then you get the impact you want,” he tells TT.

But Damon Krukowski, a well-known drummer for Galaxy 500 and an activist with the Musicians and Allied Workers Union, expressed Watchman He worries about who makes fast songs and makes money from them.

– We see how these platforms control our interaction with listeners. They control how we can make a living from our recordings. Anyone who makes new music loses. Record companies don’t have to find new artists, they can just make three to five copies of what they already have and sell it again.

– inevitable

Music researcher Anders Reuter of Lund University in Sweden believes this trend will continue.

“I think there will be more songs with higher tempos and 'high-pitched' sounds, and the songs will be shorter,” says Reuter.

“We live in a time where everything is moving faster, from the way we live to how we use social media,” he says. “It would be strange if that didn’t affect how we make and listen to music as well.”

Many artists and record labels are currently releasing their own remixes of their music. One example is American Sabrina Carpenter. Her 2024 singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” are available in remixes on Spotify.

In April of this year, there was also news that Spotify was taking on the battle to speed up songs by developing a tool that would enable users to quickly remix and deliver music in the app.

“It increases the reach of the songs, attracting a new audience that may not have existed before, especially in the younger target group,” says Andreas Hendinäs, marketing manager for Swedish artists at Universal Music Switzerland. He sees this phenomenon positively.