Influencer Music: Bop or Flop?
When you hear someone say “musician” you probably think of talented people who can speak to people through their musical ability. However, you’re probably not going to think of a person who is famous for being pretty and doing nothing except promoting products to sell to the youth. But influencer music has been around practically since the name “influencer” popped up on the internet, before TikTok or half the platforms influencers get their name on now. Don’t be mistaken: most influencer music has come from TikTok. But before TikTok, there were a few internet sensations who dipped their feet in the water of the music industry. Starting with who most people call the first-ever internet influencer, Paris Hilton with her first song Stars are Blind, which peaked at number 18 on the U.S Billboards Hot 100 in 2006. Little did she know she was going to cause a ripple effect for upcoming influencers. Then came people like Jacob Sartorius releasing Sweatshirt having 59 million views, Jake Paul with It’s Everyday Bro holding 295 million views, and others who gained popularity on the apps Vine and YouTube. Then in 2018, an app called TikTok came out to replace Musically, bringing countless amounts of soon-to-be influencers to the app.
When an influencer Dixie D’amelio put out a song called Be Happy the internet went wild. Most comments were about the amount of auto-tune and the shallow lyrics. But her fans loved it, and she now has 113 million views on the music video alone. Since the release she has put out an album and a few singles. Another one of many influencers who have put out singles is Lil Huddy (Chase Hudson) who had also sparked some hate for his first release 21st-Century Vampire, which has 11 million views now.
Now, why do these young adults get so much hate for just trying out a new thing? Well, one reason could be that they are taking the spotlight from the smaller artist that can’t afford studio time or equipment like they can. But most hate is that they are not the best at music, to say the least, and it’s drowned out in auto-tune. Now I’m not saying they deserve the hate or any type of harm towards them, but most agree that they need to stay in their lane, and for the love of the music industry, stay out of Garage Band.
