On Friday we brought you the story about how Newcastle band Vacations have been swept up in a Skins-themed TikTok trend.
In a nutshell, Vacations' track Young - which was originally released on their EP, Vibes, back in 2016 - has now become synonymous with the UK teen drama on the social media platform. Check out the full explanation here.
Now, frontman Campbell Burns has shared with us his insight into the trend.
"Yeah, I've had a couple of my friends delve into the world of TikTok - it’s something I don’t entirely get - but they were telling me about how they would just be scrolling through videos and then they'd be like, 'Oh, wait a minute, like I recognise that song, that’s my friend's song!' and then they would bring that to me," he said of how he first started noticing their song on the platform.
"And then eventually I downloaded the app after being like curious about it and you can search up your artist name or a song, and then you'll get videos like that have used that sound. So I started finding some trends here and there. And I was like, 'Oh, cool, this is actually really nice - people using music and just going about their daily lives, recording it and soundtracking that experience, and it's quite beautiful."
Soon after though Burns started to notice the Skins trend.
"Honestly, I can't remember how I stumbled across the biggest blow up we've had on TikTok - the mashup of Young, one of the tracks of our second EP Vibes, with Cassie from Skins. I don’t know how I found that but I stumbled across it and it's just trending on TikTok right now. I think like that Zoomer younger generation has just discovered the first season of Skins," he says laughing.
He thinks it's partly because of this generation romanticising the show now before they enter their early-20s and realise the more problematic nature of its topics.
"For some reason, we’ve been associated with Cassie from Skins, and this certain piece of dialogue and people just keep using that sound, that mash-up, and they’re pretending to act like Cassie..." he continues.
"I guess it does filter it back to us and we get new fans or this new appreciation. It’s actually kind of nice having a song that came out four years ago find a new home in a way."
The trend has resulted in a huge increase in streaming figures for the group, with an impressive 137% increase in the past month.
"It’s funny because we’ll go into the comments and scroll down a little bit and they’re asking ‘oh, what’s the song though?’ and it’s got a couple of thousand likes, each comment," Burns says of the how TikTok users are catching on to them.
READ MORE: The TikTok ‘Skins’ Obsession Has Gone Even Further & Now Has This Aussie Band Involved
"We’ve seen that surge on our Spotify and other streaming sites. Our listeners have just skyrocketed and that song has just blown up more-so… It’s overtaken Relax, which has been our longest standing song. It’s actually kind of nice another song knocked that off. We’re gaining all these new fans, and this newfound appreciation."
TikTok represents a new generation of music discovery; one that is more than apparent with acts like Vacations or Megan Thee Stallion who's track Savage spawned a viral dance sensation.
"That song [Young] - it’s not even doubled in plays, it’s on about times 10," shares Burns. "It’s actually ridiculous how much and how quickly it’s gone up."
"It has made me think about what our generation would have gone to - we would have started with MySpace and then that slow transition into Facebook. It’s just so different. It’s crazy how much the internet has changed over time and how we absorb media and culture and find out about new bands, or any other medium of art."
Check out Young below.
Vacations are set to release their second album, Forever In Bloom, in September this year. Check out their latest single, Panache, below.
Vacations are managed by Leigh Treweek, who is a director of Handshake Media, owner of this website.
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