TikTok has made a profound impact on the music industry, popularizing old and new songs, as well as artists. 

Recently, a new trend has emerged, in which popular TikTokers, such as Dixie D’Amelio and Jaden Hossler, start music careers from out of the blue. This new trend poses the question of whether these TikTokers are just looking to find more fame or whether they are truly passionate about music. 

The debate over whether or not these people are really interested in pursuing a music career stems from the fact that many of them have never previously alluded to wanting to pursue a career in the music industry. 

One theory as to why some of these influencers have gained a sudden interest in music is that they have realized that TikTok fame is only temporary. 

Unlike actors and actresses, who continue to gain fame as they grow older, TikTok has the reverse effect. Prevalent TikTokers will slowly lose popularity, due to the fact their current fans will outgrow the app. Because TikTok is so popular right now, new people gain fame every day. This makes it very easy for previously famous people to vanish from the minds of TikTok users. 

As a result, these TikTokers must create a game plan to figure out how they will maintain their relevance when TikTok no longer does it for them. Consequently, many have turned to either music, YouTube, or both. 

It is clear that some TikTokers, like Jaden Hossler and Nessa Barrett, have an actual passion for music, which is seen through their mannerisms and the way in which they discuss their music. Moreover, they often post images of them in the studio and videos of them performing their songs live.

However, TikTokers Dixie D’Amelio and Quintin Griggs raise eyebrows, due to the fact that much of their music sounds heavily autotuned and the lyrics are extremely bland. 

For example, in D’Amelio’s first song, “Be Happy,” the lyrics are extremely repetitive and blatantly plain. For this reason she received much criticism and speculation over whether her music is a publicity stunt.

In addition to their music generally lacking any form of uniqueness or emotion, many people have questioned how these TikTokers have actually won fans of their music. Obviously, fans of the TikTokers are going to support their music careers. However, TikTokers have begun surpassing extremely popular artists in monthly listeners. 

This became apparent when people started to notice Spotify’s monthly listener count for artists. Spotify classifies a monthly listener as one who repeatedly listens to a particular artist a couple of times a month. It makes sense that people have gone on Spotify just to give favorite TikTokers’ songs a listen; however, these people would not count as monthly listeners, which is why the numbers seem too high.

To explain, D’Amelio at one point had accumulated more monthly listeners than artists like Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean, Mac Miller, and SZA. These are relevant artists with very large fanbases.

Recently, the numbers have seemed to even out and her monthly listener count makes more sense. 

It is doubtful that a music career will work out for everyone, but that will surely not stop TikTokers from trying.