Whether or not you’re an active user on the platform, you can not deny the impact of the social media platform TikTok. From legacy acts like Dolly Parton joining the site to funny one-off collaborations, the platform has proven to be a dominant force in today’s music scene.
Many rising acts, including Bronx rapper Ice Spice, have TikTok to thank for their boom in popularity. Like Spotify’s Wrapped list, TikTok has released its data for the year to provide the music power rankings.
In a statement, TikTok’s Chief Operating Officer, Vanessa Pappas, shared her excitement about this year’s list, “We’re honored to celebrate our global community who shaped this year’s trends, shared new ideas, learned from one another, and turned their passions into careers and livelihoods throughout 2022.”
At the top of their emerging artists’ list is the “Munch” rapper, and in the second position is “Bad Habits” singer Steve Lacy.
Budding music star Bailey Zimmerman came in at number three with the help of his single, “Rock and A Hard Place.” Pop singer JVKE’s “Golden Hour” secured him the fourth slot. Finally, former American Idol contestant Benson Boone arrived at the number five position due to his song “Ghost Town.”
Thanks to “F.N.F.,” Memphis rapper GloRilla secured the number six slot, whereas “Big Energy” landed Atlanta’s Latto at seven.
Grammy Award winners Omar Apollo and Muni Long, then Anees close out the last three spots. Apollo’s viral hit was “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me At All).” Long’s viral hit was “Hrs and Hrs.” Anees’ viral hit was “Sun and Moon.”
Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.
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Boris — Fade
Boris is known for immersive, crashing walls fo sound that can put the listener in a kind of hypnosis. With the surprise-drop of this new record Fade, they’ve done it again. The title feels appropriate for the way songs drip into one another gradually and sounds blend and fade into each other; it’s an album to listen to in full with no breaks.
Nilüfer Yanya — “Midnight Sun – Sapha Remix”
Painless by Nilüfer Yanya was a sprawling album that made lasting impressions earlier this year. Now a deluxe is here, and it features this bewitching remix of “Midnight Sun” by Sampa, who adds a layer of personality to an already idiosyncratic, compelling song.
Brakence — “5g”
While the riders of the pop-punk revival wave are often either a hit or miss, Brakence is the real deal. His distinct voice and dynamic, unpredictable instrumentation make for a song that keeps the listener interested, especially with his youthful charm: “I’m gettin’ this tightness in my chest that make me grind my teeth / So I’ma just take another edible and go 5g,” he sings on “5g.”
Jesus Piece — “An Offering Of The Night”
Jesus Piece don’t relent, especially on this new single “An Offering Of The Night,” the first preview of their forthcoming LP. At only a little over two minutes, it proves they haven’t lost their knack for packing a punch in as little space as possible. The vocals are powerful roars, conveying a new level of fury.
The news of the tragic passing of Low’s Mimi Parker was a devastation to the music world. Sometimes the only way to respond to grief is through music, so Storefront Church and Phoebe Bridgers came together to share a visceral, poignant cover of Low’s “Words,” a beautiful honor to Parker.
Ratboys — “Love Is A Wild Thing”
Musicians recently joined forces to unveil a Kacey Musgraves cover album, including Ratboys who made their own rendition of “Love Is A Wild Thing.” The ballad is thoughtful and becomes more endearing as it flows on, feeling both upbeat and nostalgic.
Teenage Priest — “Let It Pass”
Teenage Priest offer a nice dose of psychedelic, contemplative rock with “Let It Pass,” a Tame Impala-indebted track that moves softly and freely. The band are predictably based in California, and their bubbling synthesizers and warped guitars have the texture of a late-night pool party.
Wallice — “Japan”
24-year-old singer-songwriter Wallice Hana Watanabe has a knack for powerful storytelling. On “Japan,” the words shine through with their concise, emotional edges: “My grandfather passed / When I was barely one / Burning incense around the pine trees / Fell and scraped knee / Always on the run,” she sings.
Nervus — “Microsmiling”
“‘Microsmiling’ is about navigating an increasingly hostile world,” Nervus shared in a statement about their new song, “and it’s about being a little bit braver than you feel capable of.” “Microdosing” sparkles with this sense of hope with its unhurried pace and earnest vocals, singing memorable melodies: “Wait / Another day / No harm in being safe.”
Day Wave — “Cold Like Me”
Day Wave’s “Cold Like Me” definitely feels like a summer song with its surfy riffs and aura of recklessness, but it still hits hard in the winter. It sounds like the beginning of an adventure, the start of an exhilarating drive across the coast — its energy is infectious.
In Georgia, today is the day when citizens will cast their votes in a runoff election and we’ll soon find out whether Herschel “I’d Rather Be a Werewolf” Walker will actually fill a seat in the U.S. Senate. As the minutes ticked down to this momentous occasion, Republicans were pulling out all the stops to bring their heavy-hitters to the Peach State, as Jimmy Kimmel shared on Monday night.
“Over the past couple of weeks, a parade of Republican senators have humiliated themselves making in-person appearances to support Herschel Walker,” Kimmel explained. “But none of all those who appeared proved goofier than Louisiana senator John Kennedy,” who explained that it’s easy to recognize “these woke, high IQ stupid people” (by which we assume he means Democrats) because of the “Ziploc bags of kale” they’re always carrying.
“I have some bad news for Senator Kennedy,” Kimmel said. “That green stuff we’re carrying around in Ziploc bags? That is not kale.”
But Kennedy still had nothing on Walker, who offered up yet another one of his impossibly stupid ideas when he suggested that the best way to protect America’s children is to “Get them 87,000 IRS agents to get out to that schoolhouse and protect our family.”
Kimmel could not contain his laughter when he commented on “what a fabulous idea” this is: “Arm the IRS and send them to kindergarten!”
While millions of Georgians, mainly Democrats, have already cast their votes via mail-in ballot, Kimmel noted that Republicans have instead decided to wait in line to cast their votes today — much like they plan to wait in line to see Walker star in the new Avatar movie, which Kimmel ran the trailer for. It featured a very blue Walker and some of his most inane quotes, which — if Walker was watching — Kimmel says probably had him confused and wondering, “When did I do that?”
You can watch the full clip above, beginning at the 5:30 mark.
It’s about damn time for TikTok‘s top trending songs of 2022 to be revealed. Today, the video-sharing platform has shared its top songs of the year, many of them launching their lives through TikTok, and others gaining a second life despite being released years ago.
At the top of the list was the breezy “Sunroof” by Nicky Youre and dazy.
Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” came in at No. 4. Her comeback anthem was used in several video clips this year, in many of which, the user dances to a portion of the song’s second verse to specific step-by-step choreography.
At No. 5 was “Just A Cloud Away” by Pharrell Williams, from the 2013 film Despicable Me 2.
While Willow‘s collaboration with Tyler Cole, “Meet Me At Our Spot” proved to be a sleeper hit this year, another song of Willow’s, “Wait A Minute,” came in at No. 7. The song was first released in 2015, as part of her debut album, Ardipithecus.
Another song that received new life was “Nothing” by N.O.R.E., which was sampled in breakthrough artist Armani White‘s hit single, “Billie Eilish.” “Billie Eilish” placed at No. 9 and also resulted in White landing a deal with Def Jam.
Closing out the top 10 list is Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)“, which received a major resurgence in streams and radio airplay after it was played during season 4 of Netflix’s Stranger Things.
You can check out TikTok’s top 10 trending songs of 2022 below.
1. “Sunroof” by Nicky Youre & dazy
2. “L$d” by Luclover
3. “Ginseng Strip 2002” by Yung Lean
4. “About Damn Time” by Lizzo
5. “Just a Cloud Away” by Pharrell Williams
6. “Forever” by Labrinth
7. “Wait a Minute!” by WILLOW
8. “Jiggle Jiggle” by Duke & Jones & Louis Theroux
9. “Billie Eilish” by Armani White
10. “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”
Some of the artists mentioned are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
TikTok, which has grown exponentially over the past few years, released its year-end stats for 2022 via Variety — and the results might surprise some casual social media users. Out of millions of videos on the platform, TikTok narrowed down the Top 10 Trending Videos in the US.
At the top with 23 million likes was a video of a man constructing a chocolate giraffe, followed at No. 2 by a viral video of a chipmunk. It turns out TikTok users LOVE animals.
They also love Rosalía, as the star sits at spot No. 3, for the viral video of her chewing gum — set to her song, “Bizcochito.” Given it was a huge trend this year for fans and music lovers… and literally, everyone, to recreate her signature pose, this comes as no surprise. The Motamami singer’s video also gave us a TON of memes, for which we are eternally grateful.
Lizzo also made the list at No. 6, making her the only other musician to do so this year. She taught fans the choreography for her song “About Damn Time” and they thoroughly enjoyed it, enough to make it a major trend. Dancing gave TikTok its start, so it’s only fitting. Plus, Lizzo is so much fun.
As for the rest of the videos on the list, there’s everything from the Corn Kid remix to a showdown between lava and ice. (Or, what Jesse Pinkman says in Breaking Bad, science, b*tch.)
Continue scrolling to view Rosalia and Lizzo’s trending TikToks from 2022.
Of all the unpresidential things Donald Trump has done over the last several years, his recent calls to tear up the Constitution — the very document he has relied upon to try and get him out of trouble on so many other occasions — might be his magnum opus. And if Trevor Noah’s math is right, what ultimately led Trump down this dangerous path is… lack of access to Hunter Biden dick pics!
Over the weekend, as Noah explained, Twitter’s new and bitter owner Elon Musk “released the so-called ‘Twitter files,’ which many conservatives had hoped would prove that Twitter colluded with Democrats to censor news about Hunter Biden’s laptop during the 2020 election. Instead, they mostly just showed the Biden campaign asking Twitter to take down nude photos of Hunter Biden.”
Despite the fact that the “Twitter files” were the 2022 equivalent of Geraldo opening Al Capone’s vaults, Trump is still raging — and demanding he be reinstalled as president. It’s a claim so wild that even Musk pushed back, tweeting: “The Constitution is greater than any President. End of story.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Noah said. “The Republican frontrunner for President of the United States wants to terminate the Constitution because Twitter wouldn’t allow him to see Hunter Biden’s dick.”
“If you want to see Hunter Biden’s dick, just get a bag of cocaine like everyone else, Mr. President,” Noah advised him. Before rightly wondering why we are still talking about any of this:
“Why is this still news? Can anyone tell me? Like, why is this still a headline: Donald Trump Thinks This Undermines the Election. He thinks that about everything. Everything! However the math equation starts, his answer is always the same. It doesn’t matter where he is. A waiter could come up like, ‘I’m sorry, sir, the kitchen says we’ve run out of the Mickey Mouse pancakes,’ ‘This is the last straw! We need to redo the election!’”
You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 1:40 mark.
R&B star Kehlani is (apparently) single again after sharing a brief relationship with fellow musician 070 Shake, and that means fans watching like hawks for any sign of a new relationship. So, when Kehlani was spotted dancing with Black Panther star Letitia Wright at a party in London, fans of the singer (who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns) naturally flipped out on Twitter. Clearly, fans were already enamored of the seemingly unlikely pairing — although it still remains to be seen what their connection actually is.
kehlani grinding on letitia wright from black panther at the after party in london is not something i thought i would ever see but i’m not complaining pic.twitter.com/pyH4v9oLNY
— the writer formely known as LEX (@iamlexstylz) December 6, 2022
The two stars have both had a great year individually. Despite their breakup, Kehlani appeared to be having the time of their life on the Blue Water Road Tour with Rico Nasty while promoting the album of the same name. Kehlani was also a highly-demanded feature artist, popping up on projects from the likes of Syd, Justin Bieber, Burna Boy, and Babyface. Wright, meanwhile, stepped into the “sneakers” of Marvel’s Black Panther in the sequel to the 2018 original, Wakanda Forever. Her character, Shuri, the original Black Panther’s younger sister in the first movie, stole the show for fans, who praised her unique chemistry with Tenoch Huerta’s antagonist Namor. And while she took some flak during the filming of the movie over her vaccine views, she has since apologized and defended herself after a story in Hollywood Reporter questioned her awards chances over them.
Year-end list season is here, so data of what happened on various platforms in 2022 is making its way out into the world. Today (December 6), it’s TikTok’s turn, as the popular video-sharing platform has unveiled a number of lists. Among those is the most-viewed musicians on the platform in the US and the list is as follows:
Lizzo has long maintained an entertaining and uplifting presence on the platform, while Puth has used it to offer insight about his creative process. Meanwhile, Doja made her followers laugh, while Trainor had a TikTok hit with “Made You Look.”
Elsewhere on TikTok’s year-end ranks, Lizzo had one of the year’s top videos, music or otherwise, in a clip where she teaches choreography to “About Damn Time.” Rosalía also made an appearance on that list with her viral gun-chewing video, set to her TikTok favorite “Bizcochito.”
See what other people, topics, and videos made TikTok’s 2022 lists here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Robert Downey Jr. is hard at work promoting his new documentary, Sr., an in-depth look at the man who shares his namesake Robert Downey Sr. In a sprawling new interview that dives deep into their unusual father/son relationship, an open and candid Downey reflected on his transformative career and responded to Quentin Tarantino‘s recent remarks that Marvel actors aren’t movie stars.
As the godfather of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’d assume Downey would give one of his pithy responses as he done in the past when people have criticized the Marvel films. But this time around, the actor is now three years removed from playing Tony Stark and just completed work on Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Instead, Downey gave a more profound response about the constant need to thread the needle between commerce and art.
I think our opinions on these matters say a lot about us. I think that we are in a time and place that I unwittingly contributed to, where IP has taken precedence over principle and personality. But it’s a double-edged sword. A piece of IP is only as good as the human talent you get to represent it, and you can have some great IP even if it’s coming from an auteur or a national treasure of a writer-director, and if you don’t have the right kind of artist playing that role, you’ll never know how good it could have been.
Of course, Downey couldn’t help but offer a more blunt reaction about the state of the industry, but in the spirit of celebrating all filmmakers.
“I think that creatively it is a waste of time to be at war with ourselves,” Downey said. “I think this is a time when everything is so much more fragmented now that I think you have this kind of bifurcation. Throwing stones one way or another … and I’ve had my reactions in the past when people said things that I felt were discrediting my integrity … I go, ‘You know what? Let’s just get over it. We’re all a community. There’s enough room for everything,’ and thank God for Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water. That’s all I have to say. We need the big stuff to make room for films like Armageddon Time.”
Notorious Botox Boy Vladimir Putin has had quite a run of mortifying events over the past few weeks. He reportedly pooped himself after falling down some stairs, and he’s been very surprised that Russia continues to suffer humiliating setbacks in Ukraine. To counter this continuing mess, Putin decided to hop in a Mercedes for a PR stunt, which involved him touring part of a bridge that was bombed in October. That bridge led to Crimea, which Putin previously annexed in 2014, seven decades after it had transferred from Soviet Russia to Soviet Ukraine.
As the New York Timespreviously detailed, Ukraine has never officially claimed to have destroyed this bridge (which is vital to connecting southern Ukraine and Russia). Yet it’s understood that Zelenskyy’s forces are responsible for pulling off this “spectacular act of sabotage” (with a truck full of explosives that detonated at a strategic point, also next to a traveling train) which has been particularly “embarrassing” to Putin. It signaled this his army was unable to protect its lone connection to Crimea, and structural experts also declared this to be an act of “sophisticated planning.”
As Reuters now reports, Putin is attempting to erase this Russian screw-up by driving a Mercedes across the part of the bridge that’s been repaired:
Putin, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, was shown on state television behind the wheel of a Mercedes, asking questions about where the attack took place.
“We are driving on the right hand side,” Putin said, as he drove across the bridge. “The left side of the bridge, as I understand it, is in working condition, but nevertheless it needs to be completed. It still suffered a little, we need to bring it to an ideal state.”
Footage of Putin’s tour landed straight on Russian State TV, perhaps in an effort to falsely communicate a military comeback to the Russian people.
Putin visited Kerch bridge and drove on the lane that was repaired after the explosion in February. He also talked to construction workers.
And it’s no wonder that we’re seeing a more “desperate” Putin these days. He’s terrified of being killed if this war doesn’t somehow turn around. Given the difficulty of Putin staying stocked up with troops and supplies, however, he probably shouldn’t expect a Russian miracle anytime soon.
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