i was at the airport for hours and now you have a new edition of this newsletter
you're very welcome.
Welcome to this thing. It’s a Monday (AND MY BIRTHDAY !!!!!!!!!).
Let’s get into it.
This weekend, I was on a plane reading the Throne of Glass series (again) and listening to a random instrumental playlist on Spotify, when all of a sudden… I knew a song?
I’m not a music person. I live and die by Hits 1, Billboard Top 100, Pop Rising, and 2008 throwbacks. How in gods name did I KNOW a full-on instrumental composition?
A google told me what I expected, but what I didn’t want to believe — this random, 2013 piece of music, was already embedded deeply into my brain from ~TikTok~. Because of course it was.
My guess is you’ve never heard the name Ludovico Einaudi. But you’ve likely heard the song — it was streamed 15.6 BILLION times on TikTok. It also triggered a ton of listeners to find Einaudi’s other works, giving him 6.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and high rankings in these popular instrumental playlists.
We (I) talk a lot about the popular music and mainstream impact of TikTok, but stopping to think for a moment about this, I’m astounded all over again about the impact this platform has, the hold it has on culture, the likes of which we’ve truly never seen before. It’s at the crux of digital media and globalization and the attention economy and the creator economy, feeding on exactly what any individual needs to consume or build at any given moment.
F**king wild, man.
What’s Occupying My Brain Space…
This is the section where I tell you things that are happening on the Internet now.
TikTok has been kinda eh lately, except for the brainworm sounds
While my TikTok FYP has now been corrupted by my need to do competitive analyses for work, the only good thing that remains is 1) booktok, and 2) the sounds that I don’t realize I know until I’m singing them while getting ready in the morning. The ones that are particularly important to me at the current moment are My Money Don’t Jiggle Jiggle and Lizzo’s new song, About Damn Time (and the associated dance).
A Thing I’m Personally Super Pumped About + Why
This is the section where I blab about something that gives me joy and energy rn.
A New Round of Taylor Swift Easter Egg Hunting on TikTok
It’s kind of self-explanatory, but I’m going to explain it anyway because this is my newsletter and I can do what I want.
Taylor’s Version(TM) of her song This Love just dropped, as a part of the trailer for the movie The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on 1’s novel of the same name.
This Love was on 1989, indicating that that will be the next Taylor’s Version(TM) album to drop. Fans are likely going to jump on this slow release like they did for the last albums, particularly because Taylor is so well-known for her love of Easter Eggs and little hints spread across her accounts as well as in music videos, interviews, and even her friends’ accounts. (Like Drake’s post with her recently? Collab, anyone?)
The last round gave us deep analysis on the Jake Gyllenhaal scarf and virginity allegories and toxic relationships. This round is likely to feed into the iconic Harry/Taylor vehicular manslaughter legend, as well as some fun *female friendship* moments. (and they were roommates!!) I simply cannot wait.
Exposing Myself Just a Little Bit
This is the section where I give you one tiny glance into my For You Page/general interests, which exposes me and the depths of my personality just a little too much.
Like I said, I’m re-reading the Throne of Glass series. I’m generally addicted to anything Sarah J. Maas has written, and that has resulted in me reading all of her works twice now since last July. For context, that is 9,217 pages total, then doubled. I don’t think you understand… I’m obsessed. (And my TikTok page knows it, so I’m deep deep in BookTok, and I’m not mad about it at all.)
What are The Brands Doing Online?
This is only the stuff I see and actually enjoy, I'm not bothering with the boring or cringey stuff.
Zoom did this fun back-and-forth that turned a viral video into a great paid sponsorship for them with this guy, who you may have seen skiing and WFH-ing in the video that started it all. This is the video that followed.
The Paris 2024 Olympics TikTok is my favorite one on the Internet, and they did my favorite trend of all time.
Finally, not actually a brand, but an account that brands should be following because she analyzes the new formats and structures that go with sounds that are trending on TikTok.
A Cool New Account
Self-explanatory.
I like this one, that compares art and sports pictures. It satisfies my brain.
Something You Just Need To See and Think About
It took up time and space in my brain and now it has to take up time and space in your brain, because that's how this works.
THANKS FOR READING! And remember, there is literally no reason to follow anything Barstool, ever. Just don’t.2
Hasta la pasta,
Emma
^ Use this button to give your bosses, colleagues, friends, and fam my expert internet opinion too. You know they need it.
Jenny Han was also the writer of the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before books. So she has a pretty stellar track record of great YA books turning into GREAT movies. That’s all.
That includes the BFFs podcast, people! It’s weird that D*** P****** is friends with 20-year-olds and wants to know about their sex lives.