Vietnamese singers disillusioned by TikTok

The effective spread of the TikTok platform has helped many singers solve the problem of promoting their products. However, there are also many singers who follow TikTok and receive results that are not as expected.

Over the past two years, the rapid development of TikTok has disrupted the Vietnamese music market. Among them, the most typical is the promotion and dissemination of music products, which is significantly dominated by TikTok. From here, in the promotion strategy, singers/rappers focus more on TikTok. Many artists have achieved outstanding success thanks to this platform, but at the same time, a series of products have had the opposite effect.

Unlike a song on TikTok, Han Sara's MV "I"m your Christmas Present" has poor appeal.

Han Sara's stumble

Among the many ways to promote music on TikTok, one of the favorite moves of singers is to use this platform to measure the effect before officially releasing it. Specifically, singers often release the most outstanding part of the song on TikTok, do everything to spread it to the audience, then release the complete version and expect the effect from TikTok to flow back.

Recently, Han Sara released a song that follows the same formula. The only difference is that the melody I'm Your Christmas Present The viral hit on TikTok came from someone else. Given the huge impact of the music, which appeared in more than 400,000 pieces of content on TikTok, Han Sara completed the song, hoping to continue the huge impact on social networks.

However, after a few days of release, Han Sara's MV received mixed reactions. Many viewers compared Han Sara's voice with the original (which was considered clearer and more rustic, more in the spirit of Christmas). This song is hot on TikTok in a different way. As for the MV I'm Your Christmas Present YouTube release is a different game, so it can't go viral.

That is the unpredictability of music spreading on TikTok. There have been many products that spread strongly with a demo music when released early on TikTok but when the official MV version is no longer maintained. Huyen Vi Masew's is another example.

On the contrary, there are many products that almost disappear when they are officially launched. Thanks to TikTok, those songs suddenly rise with a "viral" music clip of about 30 to 40 seconds. Most recently, a clip from the product Truong Dinh Hoang by young rapper Lil Van - contestant of Rap Viet season 4 - suddenly caused a stir.

There is no formula for how to go "viral" with music on TikTok. A piece of music that has a big spread can come from a specific musical element on the platform - remixing into genres like House, Phonk, Lofi... On the other hand, another piece of music can go viral when it has "trending" lyrics, like: "Whoever touches me, I will punch and punch like Truong Dinh Hoang".

Ngo Kien Huy wanted to create a trend with the lyrics "Everyone stand still, don't move" but failed.

Disillusioned

The time of 2021, 2022 is the peak of TikTok's stir in the music market. TikTok's dominance at that time was so great that many singers/rappers put TikTok as the top priority in solving the output problem for their products. Specifically, they see what the TikTok fever formula is and proactively integrate it right from the start into music, choreography and MV.

Because of TikTok ambition, many songs cram musical ideas (drop, hook) or "trend"-creating lyrics in an incomprehensible way. All stand still Ngo Kien Huy's is a typical example. Another example is Yes! I'm sorry. by Hoang Yen Chibi.

Two years ago, singers were racing to dance on TikTok. They proactively invested in at least one drop following the TikTok formula to insert choreography, then invited colleagues to join in the dance and spread the word. This method had a short period of outstanding success. But then, the dance craze was just a phenomenon.

SOOBIN did everything to make the "fan dance" in the product Heyy went viral on TikTok but failed. Thieu Bao Tram with Surely he has a pain in his heart , which the audience compares to "inviting everyone" showbiz "jump in", also can not push the heat for the product.

Because of TikTok, Vietnamese music has had turbulent years as the number of listeners/viewers on familiar platforms like YouTube has dropped sharply. Meanwhile, music "trends" have changed rapidly on TikTok. Many phenomena have emerged thanks to TikTok and many singers have been saved by this platform.

By 2024, TikTok's popularity has cooled down. The once-explosive phenomena like House remixes have become boring. The remix music style on TikTok, after a period of being "taken to the market" by the whole industry, has now reached the point of being exhausted in terms of appeal and has not been replaced by a new element.

Vietnamese music is returning to its roots, an explosion originating from game shows, invested MVs on YouTube and quality songs with high replayability on digital music platforms. From Cut the sorrow in half, Life partner arrive Don't break my heart , the MVs with hundreds of millions of views are back. Audiences are increasingly getting into the habit of listening to music on specialized platforms, typically Spotify.

"Can TikTok replace YouTube and other digital music platforms?" was once a question that was asked. After a few years, the answer has been given, TikTok is actually just an ideal media support platform for artists. As for being a music listening platform, TikTok is not the ideal place.

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