Earlier this year, Radiohead decided to join TikTok with a creepy Chieftan Mews video. Since then, most of their posts on the platform have been in that same unsettling vein. Between launching the account and now, Radiohead has racked up over 100,000 followers, with which the band is not pleased, as they convey in a new TikTok video.
In the three-minute clip, Thom Yorke and Radiohead art director Stanley Donwood go over the analytics for the account, by which they are underwhelmed. “It’s kind of embarrassing,” Donwood says. Yorke adds, “I can’t even f*cking remember why we started it.”
The pair eventually brings Mews into the room, who Yorke proceeds to chastise. Blaming the lack of TikTok prosperity on Mews, Yorke says, “Clearly, it’s not going in the right direction. Clearly, you need to do something more, like dogs dancing, or whatever the f*ck it is.” He later adds, “You promised us you could give us a strong identity on TikTok, you know? Promote the music, get us back in the marketplace. But instead, you’ve just become a source of acute embarrassment.”
Check out the video above, and subscribe to Radiohead on TikTok if you want to help Mews keep his job.