The TikTokification of Emo Music

why is nobody talking about the

Resurgence of emo lately if you're

seeing this I'm going to talk about it I

know I don't look like it but I love pop

punk and alternative music I spent the

greater part of my high school years

obsessing over Mar hoopus I posted awful

photos like this the iPhone cameras were

really something in 2013 and I posted

[ __ ] like this I went to one of the last

warped tours I've met weer and my first

crowd surf at Bowling For Soup I had

this Simple Plan CD on repeat I can tell

you every lyric of every song A LaVine

was my first concert when I was 8 years

old along with the Jonas Brothers

opening for her of course and don't get

me wrong I'm not here to gatekeep when I

wasn't listening to all these bands I

was blasting Taylor Swift Justin Bieber

Lady Gaga mea remains one of my favorite

artists of all time and he could be

considered the antithesis of

emo unfortunately I felt the need to

explain all that before I get weird

comments about my credibility as a fan

of emo music people can listen to and

make more than one genre of music and

not be considered a poser oh yeah I

never finished the Tik Tok I was

watching Le if you're seeing this this

is your sign to finally wear all black

paint your nails black dress the way you

wish you did in 2007 you just need a new

anthem for that and we

got I didn't have all the components of

the outfit here but I did my best so

there's been a Resurgence of emo in the

past few years some say it started with

MGK making his move from rap into pop

punk in 2020 and that really got people

upset long story short there's been a

movement of Tik Tok artists notoriously

and stereotypically cringe making pop

punk and Emo music cool again I'll

expand on the timeline of exactly how

this happened in a second but first I

want to touch upon a main point a big

criticism of new age Tik Tok is how bad

the lyrics are of this one has been

going viral lately you're a you're a

beat do on a for

control don't get me wrong this is

cringe as hell this is a certified

cringe classic how many times can you

say leashed dog in one chorus that's

kind of yelling at me it's joining this

one for sure did I just write the next

emo Anthem we are the prin and

princesses of the Glory Days we were

raed on a train The Glory Days and then

there's this one

[Music]

kids I don't know if bragging about a

100,000 kids loving you is the flex you

think it is but honestly I respect how

how hard this opening line

[Music]

is do you think ninja would brag about

an entire fan base of flossing children

I'm not seeing enough movement actually

yes he would there's here's this other

one there's no such thing as hell but if

there was you'd be the first

to or how about I was with your you were

with when we met okay I get it we can't

deny that some of these lines are goofy

as hell but if you'll just allow me to

defend this for like one second I also

want to remind you that the pop punk we

listened to like 10 20 years ago are

equally if not more cringe

it always bothered me how they used the

wrong could they couldn't care less not

could care less if they could care less

it wouldn't make any

[Music]

sense this one actively made me laugh

out loud because I forgot about this

banger but come on that is hilarious or

how about this

[Music]

I mean Panic at the Disco alone had some

of the corniest lines in their

discography oh

well I will

you sorry honey but I pass it up now

look this

way my

[Music]

is it

time the point is I think a lot of

today's emo lyrics are no more or less

cringe than the ones we listened to back

then and I think part of it has to do

with well I related to the music because

I was an angsty teenager back then it

doesn't hit the same when I'm 26

listening to Lil huie sing about teenage

heartbreak and that's fine it's not for

me but there's way more than that the

bigger picture of why people think emo

is bad now well I think it's because of

a little something

[Music]

called listen you little punks you

little rap scallions you you you

Hellraisers I absolutely love the pp

Punk Community but they can simultane

ously be the most annoying music

listeners that love arguing about the

semantics of what's actually Emo or uh

that's pop punk uh that's pop rock and

this is punk not pop there's also that's

pop punk uh that's Punk that's po

Punk but then there's also punk rock

that's different fromal roal Punk metal

I know they're all marginally different

and they all influenced each other okay

you want to know why I think this whole

thing is ridiculous because Nickelback

is supposed to be post Rune hard rock

pop rock alternative rock alternative

metal and new metal dude they're just

Canadian for the sake of this video

Let's just call it Punk or Emo or

alternative and I'll be using those

terms Loosely Tik Tok 30 seconds

highlights attention grabbing moments

and

hooks over thee toop music promotion

because everyone wants a slice of the

pie because the saturation of music

artists is at an all-time high long gone

are the days of a handful of bands

getting pushed by big labels now

everyone can make music and get heard I

delve more into how Tik Tok affected

music in general in my other video

called the tiktock ification of music

but I want to focus more on alternative

emo pop punk music today because Tik Tok

entirely changed how we listen to music

and this permeates through all genres

and alternative music in particular has

been resurfacing into the Limelight

especially on Tik

Tok just because an artist comes from

Tik Tok does not mean they make bad

music I think that's a false equivalence

that a lot of people fall for that

ultimately has nothing to do with the

talent of the Creator Tik Tok just

offers a wider potential audience for

music than almost any other platform out

there but we should talk about the

effects that Tik Tok has had on the sub

genres of alternative music in the past

few years because I want to I found that

a lot of the Emo music on Tik talk is

not bad in a vacuum by itself if you

don't know anything about the art artist

but the way they promote their music on

Tik Tok the promotion surrounding the

music is what turns the cringe dial all

the way to 100 uh who would blast this

or what about saying I'm a no [ __ ] that

are you ready for me to change rock and

metal music forever cuz I've seen all of

your comments I've seen your videos but

like ah yes the most metal thing you can

do censor the word [ __ ] in a Tik Tok oh

[ __ ] that we're posting stuff with

captions like hardest rock song ever

made hardest rock song ever made hardest

rock song ever made hardest rock song

ever made hardest rock emo song ever

made hardest rock emo song ever made

hardest rock song ever made most emo

song ever made most emo song ever made

most rock song ever made [ __ ] I [ __ ]

it up hardest rock song ever made

hardest rock song ever made hardest rock

song ever made so hardest rock song ever

made 2024 most punk rock song of 2024

hardest rock song ever hardest rock song

you ever heard hardest rock ever made

song ever made song ever made craziest

emo verse ever hardest LGBT metal song

ever emo

Eminem that one's good I like that one

craziest emo song ever

made and responding to many many hate

comments in this way someone had to set

it would you blast this and mixing that

with you're not going to want to hear

this but there's no this is just the

same energy as so I had this idea for a

song from from the perspective of

anxiety check this out did I just write

the next or this silly skit is my

personal favorite hi do you have time to

talk about our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ goth dmy mommy goth dmy mommy [ __ ]

sorry maybe if

I you again I told

you okay it's not going to drop here

though

[Music]

right and don't you act like My Chemical

Romance wouldn't have been singing

heaven was full I'm going straight to

hell that sounds like something they

would write but cringe music promotion

just doesn't belong with pop punk it

doesn't belong anywhere but it just

doesn't fit very well the whole premise

of emo culture is not caring what people

think not trying too hard to be yourself

and having fun write about some silly

[ __ ] or some serious topic write about

hating your dad or how much you hate

this town over and over again I hate

this town leave this to let's leave this

to

how was your chance to get out of this

town no we're not going to waste another

moment in this town this town don't look

so bad no way out there's not much just

to do

anyway or about how being a teenager

sucks when you're in your mid 20s I'm

just a kid and life is a nightmare I'm

just a teen

AG still young wasting my youth I'll

grow up next summer and I think seeing

these Tik toks and recoiling a little is

part of why people aren't really

connecting with new emo as much hey I'm

editing here and uh the guy that we're

talking about actually did just post a

response video to the the cringe

allegations do you want to know why I am

so cringe or why people call me cringe

it's because I had to be and here's what

I mean none of you would have listened

or cared about another emo rock artist

unless they were cringe you see none of

my family was in the music industry so I

didn't have my easy in and I came from a

small town with no industry connections

so the only way I could ever join the

music industry blowing up organically

through this app which means I had to

kill my ego and stop trying to be cool

and make videos that I knew would piss

off all the goth Gatekeepers and make

videos go viral there's no question that

he knows what he's doing and you know I

get it I do think he makes some valid

points here I'm not really a big fan of

gatekeeping so whether I like his music

or not I'm not going to be so angry at

him doing this but this is a good place

to transition to what I do want to talk

about and that's the people who do have

the industry connections like he

[Music]

mentioned you have Tik Tok stars with a

lot of Fame and money starting up a

career in punk music that was always a

thing that outcasts and the weird kids

were at the Forefront of the movement it

just doesn't feel authentic when the

music doesn't match the lifestyle tell

me how many times we've seen this on Tik

Tok a new artist pops up with a song

that goes VI Al resulting in millions of

streams then people find out they're

actually not just a teenager making

angsty music in their bedroom but a

plant with tons of Industry connections

money and backing from a big label

everything the punk scene is opposite of

it feels more like they're just cost

playing the look but the thing is Tik

Tok is still a Grassroots way of

reaching people but it doesn't feel the

same because the direct intention of

posting on Tik Tok is to get views likes

shares and attention which almost goes

against Punk MO like performing in a

basement for 30 people because it's fun

but how else are you supposed to get

your music out there these days and

that's the whole thing because people

forget that emo punk grunge the alt

scene has always been industry backed I

hate to say it but fueled By Ramen

responsible for blowing up acts like

Panic at the Disco Fallout Boy 21 Pilots

Paramore Jimmy eator is owned by Warner

Music Group the founder John Janik said

in a huff post interview we operate like

an indie label that's very small and

Nimble and can do their own thing but we

have the resources of a major company

dgc records responsible for blowing up

acts like Nirvana and Weezer into the

mainstream operated under Interscope

Records smaller labels though still

labels helped launch the careers of most

emo bands that you love it was just a

time where you had to be signed by a

label in order to get seen not to

mention people get found on social media

these days and then become industry

plants instead of being discovered at a

dingy bar in New York in 2006 they were

probably already on social media as an

indie artist before blowing up that's

just how it works now and it doesn't

make it any less annoying when an artist

is marketed as independent or solo only

to find out they're not they were just

better at marketing the garage band type

look back then especially when the

internet was sparse they were always

industry plants that's what labels do

and labels always go to where the people

are back then it was the radio then it

was YouTube and now it's Tik Tok

authenticity should be their number one

priority and clearly they've been

missing the mark completely

unfortunately a lot of these Tik Tok

industry plants happened to be Emo

artists like [ __ ] stamps scale games we

play people who already had industry

connections some of which even had solo

careers of their own already making

decent pop music but clearly don't know

anything about Emo music through their

lyrics and inability to name any Mega

popular emo song from the last 20

[Music]

years wake me

up like why did they choose the not to

mention how embarrassing it is that the

lead singer is just putting on a pop

punk voice like

do that's not how she actually sings and

you can hear it in her other solo music

look the girl thinking they're cool the

people they're choosing to represent emo

at this time feel like a caricature of

early emo and hungry to jump on this

trend instead of making a genre of music

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or quick we also have to consider the

height of Pop Punk's popularity was when

it was a relatively new genre in the

late '90s and early 2000s of course pop

punk is self is a derivative genre but

it was Mega popular at the time that it

was emerging as that era's teen angst

music and now with some of these newer

songs we've heard the same things with

the same Concepts over and over again to

the point where you feel like you've

heard this before and not in a good way

what's more is that today's artists are

reimagining older genres all the time

like dualipa and silk Sonic to name

exactly to but it's been long enough

where they can reimagine and even take

heavy inspiration from these eras and

genres without exactly copy pasting

they're taking genres that are now 30 to

40 years old at this point and marketing

it to a completely new group of people

that didn't grow up hearing it as it was

coming out pop punk in the 2020s is like

barely a decade old and trying to Market

it to a generation of people who largely

already grew up hearing it which makes

people feel like it's played out if

you're trying to do that you have to do

something a little bit differently even

if it's just in the writing of the song

and when that's the case the new stuff

trying hard to be the old stuff becomes

boring you don't have to reinvent the

wheel and be the most original person on

Earth to create good music but when

you've heard the same song a hundred

times it starts to become not very

interesting to listen to that goes for

every genre and trying something new and

fun is the beauty of making music you

could say this whole trend is Nostalgia

bate and I'd agree with you but remember

we're doing the same thing with 80s

disco and stuff it's not unique to new

Emo or alternative of course some

artists are reimagining these genres

better than others and others aren't

really yeah it turns out there's like

good and bad artists in every genre who

knew I'm smart and this is my video

because this has all happened before

like Disney one of the biggest media

companies in the world saw it was a

profitable genre in the mid 2000s and

produced albums like get back with Demi

Lavado La La Land and get back still

absolutely

bang some early Miley Cyrus and Hannah

Montana songs The the Jonas Brothers

that was just the popular genre back

then so much so that its influences

became the popular music at the time

even Katy Perry's debut album is pop

rock I looked it up you can't tell me

I'm wrong that's just what labels were

putting out and it isn't all bad just

because they were sellouts even Rage

Against the Machine was signed to Epic

Records from Sony Music like come on

which brings me to think that the whole

industry plant argument is like kind of

stupid I don't know because record

labels taking a popular genre of music

and milking it for all its worth to the

point where they're commodifying it is

not new and it's happening

[Music]

again I got hungry so we have MGK going

from rap to tickets to my downfall in

2020 a big introduction and new sound

for him in pop punk and departure from

his rap career that was pretty well

received by a lot of people and pretty

awfully received by a lot of people the

hit single my ex's best friend Blended

pop production with trap high hats with

some distorted guitar however the rest

of the album was significantly more pop

punk inspired rather than trap pop with

guitar in it with this album he dropped

a short film surrounding all the tracks

like one long music video with a story

starring Chase Hudson also known as Tik

Tock star Lil huie and Maggie lindaman

along with some other young Tik Tock

Stars learning that the Travis Barker

was a huge and Main collaborator on this

album and project brought me in with

interest I went in in 2020 not knowing

anything about these other people I

didn't know who MGK was I didn't know

who Lil huie was and going in with an

open mind I didn't think the album was

half

bad definitely not as bad as some other

people were saying it was the way I see

it looking back MGK was already an

artist with mixed reception and changing

genres from rap to pop punk gave a lot

of people the impression that he was

opposing and since he was the biggest

face of bringing back the genre in the

mainstream he made the whole scene

cringe by doing things like making weird

comments about Kendall Jenner turning 18

Kendall Jenner is in your bedroom naked

and you're 50 you're

going yikes we're being super weird with

Megan Fox and I'll always support people

being genuinely themselves and weird in

public but can we not drink each other's

blood and also got more cringe cuz he

made weed his entire personality and

created produc produced and starred in

his own stoner movie that was pretty bad

smoke me smoke me smoke me I think

people felt like he was trying too hard

something that also LED people to

criticize some newer Tik Tok emo acts I

felt like tickets to my downfall was a

fine album with solid Concepts and as

someone who's listened to emo her whole

life I felt like he actually liked what

he was making unlike some people and to

have Travis Barker as the main

collaborator on this album the drummer

of blink182 one of the most famous and

talented drummers of my lifetime the

album had a lot of blink influences

because why wouldn't it but I also

understand that people felt like it was

too derivative of something they had

already heard before and liked

better I think I'm being cursed

by oh my God okay I get it I won't

defend this album but MGK being a

controversial figure of itself and

having the album blow up really

Amplified the hate and feel the negative

opinions about his music people just

didn't want him to be the face of why

Emo music was coming back so let me

present to you is it MGK or Blink 182

okay question one here we

[Music]

go okay what do we think 3 2 1 that

one's MGK did you get it right um did

you think it sounded like a bling song

Because Here's the the second question

is that one blink or MGK just kidding

it's blink that one's always by Blink

182 my favorite music video from Blink

182 and uh here's the third

question 3 2 1 that one is blank 182

that one's Josie good job guys here's

question

four okay 3 2 1 that one is MGK yes yes

World War II here's question

[Music]

five how about

now it's MGK and last question here we

go 3 2 1 that's blink I rest my case

Travis Barker has a background in this

stuff he had a record label in 2004 and

started a new one in 2019 alongside an

Atlantic records employee and the label

owned by Warner music group was meant

for Travis to basically produce other

artists something he was already kind of

doing here and there I realized a few

years ago that Travis Barker was behind

this entire Brigade of emo coming back

either signing working with or producing

tons of Tik Tock Talent like Lil huie J

Jaden his son Landon Barker Maggie

lindaman and of course non Tik Tock

talent I guess like MGK modon not long

after he signed Ava LaVine who's been

out of the Limelight for quite some time

and brought her into this circle then

she started dating Mod's son MGK's

friend who used to do reggae rap but

transitioned into pop punk no way then

they got engaged no way and then they

got unengaged oh my God another big

player in this new wave is industry

veteran John Feldman SCA Punk fans know

him from Goldfinger he's helped produce

albums for an insane roster like Good

Charlotte alltime low some blink albums

Sleeping With Sirens Pierce The Veil The

Ed Story of the Year 5 Seconds of Summer

more pop stuff like Hillary Duff Ashley

Simpson the list goes on it's clear he

and Travis have a history of working

together and have a lot of overlap on

the artists and albums produced for

example he worked on the new Avil lean

album after she signed with Travis ail's

album I felt was lackluster even though

I love her so much though some of the

other songs people dropped under Travis

or John were pretty good but people seem

to mostly be mirroring my sentiment of

this album in other records people

feeling like they're dropping more

generic lackluster stinkers than hits

now that we have this whole movement

going even not knowing so much of this

music is being produced by some of the

same people 20 years ago people feel

like the music now is overproduced and

generic with very clean production and

overly compressed and worked vocals

deviating from part of why people

originally liked that genre of music the

past few years of punk haven't had that

raw feeling that coincided with the

almost low budget image of pop punk that

was shown in the production of the music