I’m in my kitchen, chiffonading a fat stack of basil while a stick of butter softens on my counter. I turn to the stove and lift the lid of my pot to see if the salted water I put on earlier is boiling. The steam whips me in the face, signaling it’s time for the main event. Grabbing two corn cobs, I excitedly thrust them into the air and shout, “it’s CORN! A BIG LUMP with KNOBS. IT HAS THE JUICE!”, seemingly apropos of nothing. Now, if these walls could talk, they’d probably say something along the lines of, “this bitch is out of her GOURD fam”. Why my walls have the voice of a Gen Z-er, I’m not entirely sure…but one thing I am certain of is that toothless little corn-loving Tariq and his unabridged, songified adoration of this aMAIZEing vegetable (see what I did there?) has invaded my subconscious so much so that I – and seemingly most of America under 40 — cannot glance at a piece of corn without bursting into spontaneous song.
For those of you who have literally no idea what I’m talking about, here’s a synopsis; Earlier in August, the web series/Instagram account Recess Therapy posted a nugget of internet gold. The series, in which host Julian Shapiro-Barnum interviews kids between the ages of 2 and 9 in New York City, interviewed Tariq (age unknown) as he waxed poetic about corn, of all things, while wielding a slobbery half eaten cob. Tariq has a slight speech impediment that makes the word “corn” sound kind of like “cone”, which adds to the comedic value. The interview went viral and was soon “remixed” by The Gregory Brothers – a musical group who specialize in pitch correction to create comedic songs on YouTube. Some of their past work includes 2010’s viral Bed Intruder Song, which used soundbites from Huntsville Alabama’s Antoine Dodson describing a rapist who climbed into his sister’s window. The song became an ear-worm, and one that many Millennials can likely recall every single word of (myself included).
At present, “It’s Corn” has gained 1,369,187 streams on Spotify since it was released as a song on August 28th, 2022. Recess Therapy’s original interview has nearly 2 million likes, and The Gregory Brothers’ sound has 658.2k creates on TikTok. TikTok was really the driver for the popularity of Tariq’s songified interview, as it is for a TON of the songs at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100. TikTok has single handedly changed the music industry’s strategy for finding and signing talent. What once was a platform called Musical.ly meant for short form educational videos was purchased by Chinese company Bytedance Technology Co. in 2017, and was merged with the preexisting app TikTok, retaining the name and shifting the content from lip syncs and dances to stunts, tutorials, salacious tell-all story times, recipes, and other forms of user generated content (UGC).
A&R’s – short for Artists and Repertoire, responsible for talent scouting and overall artistic development for a record label – found a well of untapped talent among TikTok users. These independent, unsigned artists were ripe for the picking, and turned the traditional methods of talent scouting on its head. Not only did record labels begin finding new talent on the platform, but their respective Marketing departments began suggesting (read: demanding) that their preexisting talent heavily promote their music on the app to drive up stream counts. It used to be that A&R’s would get tickets to a dingy, underground, beer-soaked club to survey the latest band-du-jour after a decent amount of word-of-mouth. Now, an artist not only has to have talent, but also an allotment of impressive metrics and fan engagement. The revolution is being televised, and on handheld screens, no less.
Another phenomenon that TikTok has created is the sudden resurgence of once-popular songs. Take, for example, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”, re-popularized by the latest season of Stranger Things. Gen Z absolutely ate it up, pumping out UGC videos using the song and landing it back on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time since 1985. These pangs of musical nostalgia also appear in new music, where samples and interpolations are running rampant in the tracks currently gracing the charts, such as Jack Harlow’s “First Class” (sampling Fergie’s 2006 track “Glamorous”), newcomer Armani White’s “BILLIE EILISH.” (which borrows from Def Jam alum Noreaga’s 2002 hit “Nothin’”), and TikTok sensation and MILF magnet Yung Gravy’s “Betty (Get Money)” (which Rickrolls us all, sampling Rick Astley’s iconic 1987 masterpiece “Never Gonna Give You Up”).
Take a listen to some of my favorite viral tracks in the included playlist…and do yourself a favor and just download TikTok already. You know you want to, and resistance is futile. You don’t want to be that person who’s late to the party, discovering the now tired content two months later on Instagram Reels, right? Hell, butter yourself up a cob of corn while you’re at it…if for nothing else, for Tariq and his growing college fund.
Nicole is Sr. Manager, New Release Content at Warner Music Group. She lives in Jersey City, NJ and loves Oreos, puppies, and the smell of laundry.
