TikTok has an uncanny ability to plant seemingly innocuous sound bites into the deepest recesses of your brain. While this can cause undue irritation in some cases (see: countless “Berries and Cream” remixes), it’s led many TikToker’s to their new favorite song. By the very nature of the algorithm, it seems as though a new release is going viral every week, if not even more frequently. The app’s most recent collective obsession? “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan.
Shortly after the track’s official release—before I ever heard the original version—TikTok users @mariannebl and @moiraandclair’s covers popped up on my “For You” page in immediate succession. I was mesmerized by the haunted tone and lyrical devastation, from lyrics like “And I am terrified of weather ’cause I see you when it rains” to “So I’ll dream each night of some version of you that I might not have but I did not lose. Immediately, I dropped everything (read: my mindless scrolling) to find the original on Spotify. It’s essentially the only song I’ve listened to since; Kahan’s TikTok comments suggest I’m far from alone, though many fans had to impatiently wait for the full song.
“This song has done more for me than therapy,” one commenter wrote.
“My soul has been infested with this song for the past year,” said another who was lucky enough to catch it previewed in concert.
“I had never heard this song before this video but I went to listen to it immediately and now it’s my favorite song ever,” said yet another.
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Kahan first teased the song in October of 2020. That clip scored over 75 thousand likes, but it wasn’t until July 8th, 2022, after a short period of successful “guerrilla marketing,” that the complete version was released.
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Almost a week later and still doing insane numbers on TikTok, the songwriter reflected on its release and the impact it’s had on listeners (and, in turn, they on him). He revealed he almost deleted the original clip right after uploading it in 2020, but his fears over getting the track the exposure it deserves were all for naught; it broke the top 50 on Spotify’s USA chart, and even Maisie Peters and fiddlist Philip Bowen are among the many to have fawned over the song, putting their own spin on it.
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It’s true that not everyone has this kind of luck with getting their music to take off as there are artists out there who loathe the idea of marketing on TikTok (remember when Halsey’s label allegedly refused to let them drop their next single until they had a viral video?), but it can be a powerful tool for lesser-known artists.
TikTok’s addictive quality leads to an almost inadvertent subliminal messaging when creator after creator uses an earworm of a song as their background music or puts their own spin on it through stripped-down covers or harmonized duets. From nonsensical raps to total bangers to strummy folk songs, TikTok can get will-be hits in front of an audience that might not otherwise have the opportunity to hear them, building anticipation for new releases from unknown artists and sending them climbing up the Spotify charts.
Recently Leah Kate’s “10 Things I Hate About You” and Maddie Zahm’s “You Might Not Like Her” performed similarly, but like clockwork, another hit emerges. My roommate and I even have a playlist full of the TikTok tracks we’ve hyperfixated on over the last year, playing them on repeat until it feels like we’ve never heard any other song in our lives.
“Stick Season” sits proudly on the top, but we still can’t wait to see what comes next.
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