My Discover Weekly, a Spotify feature in which the app creates a playlist of new songs based on current listening habits and trends, is truly a hit or miss. There are periods in which I add almost every song suggested to my everyday playlist, followed by times when I can barely listen to the first three songs before switching to a new playlist. One artist, though, entered my Discover Weekly and has not left my mind since—Australian guitar-pop duo, Royel Otis.
It began with Oysters in My Pocket, then evolved to Sofa King and then Bull Breed. Their songs are littered throughout my playlists and have found their home in my typical rotation for almost two years. However, it was not until this previous semester that I began to notice their name being mentioned more often with each day.
I was confused, of course, this niche artist I loved had suddenly made a huge name for themself and I did not know its cause. It was not until their infamous “Linger” cover made its way onto my TikTok For You Page. I get it, I love their music, so I was happy they were getting recognition for their unique voice, however part of me was upset about the song that blew them up.
Rather than being one of their own, original songs, it was a song with hundreds of covers. We were not hearing the voice of their music, but instead literally just their vocals. Trust me, I do enjoy this cover as much as the next person and it has made its home in many of my playlists, yet I find it sad that no one knows the beauty of their original songs. Compared to Linger, Royal Otis’s typical discography has more upbeat and high-energy alternative pop music with sillier, light-hearted lyrics. However, their newest album plays more into the edgier side of this genre.
There do not seem to be too many solutions to this issue, as people cannot single-handedly control what music goes viral, but they can control the effort they put into listening to artists. You cannot force people to listen to an artist, but one way to get them the attention they and their music deserve is to listen to it outside of the TikTok platform. Streams do matter in his scenario, much like they do matter on all platforms. However, listening to full albums will do an artist much more good than listening to just 15 seconds of a single clip on TikTok.
By doing this, you are helping prevent your favorite artists from becoming TikTok’s one-hit wonders, a modern-day equivalent of a radio hit. As much as songs that are viral on TikTok find their homes on the radio, it is not because they came from the radio but instead they came from TikTok and had blown up so much to make their way onto the radio rotation.
This is such a common phenomenon, especially over the last two, or three years with a rapid increase in artist emergence. Many songs I hear go viral on the app seem to be a one-hit wonder for the artist, despite them having full discographies full of music and talent. Some big-name artists who have seen a steady decrease in streams from their viral songs to their newer, improved music are American rapper Ashnikko and singer-songwriter PinkPanthresss.  There is the argument that their music has gone downhill since their fame, but that is frankly very objective and can be said about all and any artists. Even if their music has gone downhill, their marketing has not. If anything, new album drops come with more marketing and promotion than a single hit song.
Of course, this is not always what happens, as some cases are showing quite the opposite. Chappell Roan who had several songs go viral on TikTok. Now, her whole Midwestern Princess discography is getting the attention it deserves. However, this is a rare case in the history of TikTok’s one-hit wonders, as with one success hundreds of artists are not able to break through these chains.
In conclusion, do not gatekeep your artist and promote their work. Do your part as a fan to decrease the chances of your artist falling into a TikTok one-hit wonder. Add them to your playlists, use them on your Instagram stories and even lip-sync to their newest hits on your TikTok. All artists deserve recognition for their hard work and their discography, not just their Sirius XM single, Linger.