The story of an amateur artist suddenly being recognized by a huge producing company is all too familiar, and up until about 15 years ago, this was the only path for new artists to make it to the ranks of the US Top 200 List on iHeartRadio. As Tupac recalled it, going from a normal high school kid to one of the most popular people in the world only happened through the behind-the-scenes action of music powerhouses, who could sell out stadiums with screaming fans for any artist of their choosing. However, that story has since been tossed aside and dusted over by a new wave of social media.
The relatively recent popularization of SoundCloud and TikTok has opened the floodgate of opportunity for up-and-coming artists to impact audiences. SoundCloud allows new artists to “tag” their music by genre and similar artists, so that listeners can find artists like those they already listen to. This categorization also allows newer artists to tweak their sound to imitate that of more well-known artists, giving them an even greater opportunity to gain popularity.
Although SoundCloud has a wide variety of music on the platform itself, the number of up-and-coming rappers frequenting the platform soared, making way for a new sub-genre of music: SoundCloud rap. The headliners of this genre include JuiceWRLD, XXXTentacion and Ski Mask the Slump God, who rose to stardom in a collective called Members Only. This sub-genre expanded the already comprehensive genre of rap, giving young rappers inspiration to explore their sound without the fear of rejection by producers. SoundCloud and its constant stream of new music continue to attract millions of young listeners.
When the application TikTok was released internationally in late 2018, no music producer or connoisseur could have predicted that an app full of comedic 15-second videos would go on to become a hotbed for new sub-genres of music. Many dancers on the app became attuned to the new music being circulated to them, and posted dances to newly released songs, sparking a revolution of introduction to undiscovered artists. The “savage” dance was one of the most popular dances on the app during the pandemic. The artist, a newcomer at the time named Megan Thee Stallion, proceeded to drop an album to account for the influx of new listeners. Stallion, now with over 25 million listeners on Spotify alone, has become an international superstar, performing at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Festival alongside both Nicki Minaj and Pitbull. Her popularity has even allowed her to recently host an episode of Saturday Night Live.
2010s SoundCloud rap has been reinvigorated by a sub-genre nicknamed “mumble rap,” popularized by one of the fastest-growing artists in the nation. Yeat dropped his first song in 2019, and since then he has gained over 8 million monthly listeners across music platforms due to the repetition of his audios in popular TikTok trends. Yeat’s sound quickly spread throughout music and social media platforms, and as a result, he can be seen on the new Minions: The Rise of Gru soundtrack alongside superstars Diana Ross, Kali Uchis, Phoebe Bridgers and Tame Impala.
Social media and its ubiquity across teenage populations has inspired a unique and diverse lineup of music and artists that continue to counteract the age-old belief that producing companies are the only giants able to rock the music world.
Written by Margarita Williams of Thomas S. Wootton High School
Graphic courtesy of Emily Bupp of Thomas S. Wootton High School