Some music fans now know 15-second sped up snippets of songs better than the real thing. It’s thanks to an emerging trend on social media, particularly TikTok, of creators changing the tempo of popular songs by 25-30%, to accompany short viral videos of dances or other themes. These versions are even helping some artists climb the official singles charts.
In November 2022, fan-made sped-up versions of RAYE’s single Escapism helped the artist to achieve her first ever number one on the UK Official Singles Chart, nearly three months after its original release. An initial trend developed based around the lyric: “The man that I loved sat me down last night and he told me it was over, dumb decision." Users swiftly posted about their own “dumb decision” over sped-up versions.
The phenomenon presents a very modern challenge - how can singers create the next hit tune when the one people actually listen to might sound so different? Sped-up listening emerged in the early 2000s as “nightcore”, launched by a Norwegian DJ duo of the same name, who sped up a song’s pitch and speed. This is now commonplace on our social media apps, where the speed of podcasts, voice notes, movies and more can be increased so that we can consume them in less time. Take Spotify, for example, where in 2023 more than a third of listeners in the US sped up podcasts and nearly two-thirds played songs at a quicker tempo.
The streaming service confirmed to the BBC that it was currently testing a new.