After several weeks of dry, repetitive trends, TikTok got a refresh thanks to new tracks from Jack Harlow and Harry Styles. Additionally, Gen Z darlings Lorde and Olivia Rodrigo both began their highly anticipated U.S. tours, which resulted in an influx of concert footage across our FYPs.
TL;DR — This week is for the music girlies!
Jack Harlow does it again.
Following his Grammys debut, Jack Harlow had the biggest TikTok song of the week — and the single wasn't even released in its entirety until today (April 8). The Louisville rapper teased 13 seconds of his new track "First Class" last Friday (April 1), and in less than a week TikTok produced over 50,000 videos using the audio snippet of the song.
"First Class" samples Fergie's "Glamorous," which fits right in with Gen Z's current fascination with the early aughts of 2006. It's also sparking interest in 24-year-old Harlow. In fact, people are taking to TikTok to share that the song is converting them into fans. For example, @gingeraleprincess posted a video that reads, "can't say I've ever been a Jack Harlow stan but TRUST I am waiting with baited breath for this song." By the time the entire song comes out he might not have any haters left.
I know we've all fallen into the TikTok music trap before, where the viral snippet is the only part of the song worth listening to, but Harlow is no stranger to creating music that both performs well on TikTok and bangs in its entirety. See "WHATS POPPIN" and "Already Best Friends" as evidence.
Consider this a warning that "First Class" will be inescapable.
Harry Styles remembers the way it was.
"First Class" wasn't the only bit of new music to hit our FYPs last Friday. Harry Styles dropped "As It Was," his first song in three years, and it's already become the go-to song to add to any video. It has also inspired a new TikTok trend.
TikTokkers are using the clip of Styles singing "you know it's the same as it was, as it was, as it was" to post throwback photos of themselves from each year dating back to pre-pandemic times in 2019. This isn't the first iteration of this trend, but it has given a second life to people looking to explore how they've changed over these tumultuous past few years.
Lorde is on tour!
Lorde kicked off the U.S. leg of her Solar Power tour on Sunday (April 3), and it's the gift that keeps on giving on TikTok. Lorde hasn't toured since 2018, and in the hundreds of videos posted by concert attendees you can clearly tell how excited both Lorde and her fans are to have the Kiwi singer back on stage. As someone who has a special relationship with Pure Heroine and Melodrama, there’s a catharsis to watching an entire theater sing along to her catalog.
If you want to feel a weirdly emotional and wistful sort of joy watch this video of her performing "Ribs" or this one of "Perfect Places."
Olivia Rodrigo goes on the road with Sour.
Clearly, this week has been huge for Gen Z artists and music lovers alike. Grammy winner Olivia Rodrigo has begun her first tour ever after becoming a sensation during the pandemic, and it’s sparked a really fun trend on our feeds.
When Rodrigo released Sour in May of last year everyone slipped into a teenage state of mind, and that energy has been revived with the Sour tour. For millennial attendees, and even older Gen Z concertgoers, they’re using a sound bite from Knocked Up to express how brutal it is to be older than Rodrigo and most of her fans on tour.
The Knocked Up clip in question pulls from a conversation that goes, "Am I too old to be here? What? Am I too old to be here? Of course not. Does it look weird that I am here? No, not at all. Am I hotter than these little bitches? Yes you look amazing." Rodrigo's older fans are mouthing along to the audio in their fun Sour tour fits.
