Photo Credit: Sry85 / CC by 3.0
After Hoobastank’s song “The Reason” went viral on TikTok, listening shot up over 1757%.
The song became part of a new trend on TikTok in which users challenge others to reveal embarrassing moments. The hashtag #NotAPerfectPerson began trending along with the challenge, exposing a new generation to the song. The near-overnight success has left some band members reeling in the wake of it.
The #NotAPerfectPerson hashtag has been viewed over 512 million times. There are over 73,000 videos on TikTok linked to the challenge, and that number is growing daily. Singer Doug Robb spoke about their music’s overnight success and whether that may lead to new albums.
When asked directly about Hoobastank creating new music after their TikTok success, here’s what Robb said.
“I don’t know. We’ve never really sat down at any point and gone, ‘We have to make music for this demographic.’ Not to say that it hasn’t crossed our minds ever, but usually, at the end of the day we go, ‘let’s just write music and see where the chips fall.'”
Despite being unsure if new music was forthcoming, Robb admitted the latest viral trend is an excellent motivator. “It’ll be a difficult balance to strike [whether] we satisfy older fans or try to satisfy newer fans. We’ll see. It does inspire me a little to go, ‘We should start exploring some new music ideas and stuff.'”
After the hashtag went viral, Hoobastank joined the TikTok platform to post their own video.
In their first video, they lament the fact that they named the band Hoobastank. Since joining the platform, Hoobastank has attracted a massive amount of attention from TikTokers. The first video posted hit more than two million views in just 48 hours on the platform. Hoobastank has also racked up 600,000 likes on their videos and over 81,000 new followers.
The situation almost mirrors the success Fleetwood Mac found by going viral on TikTok. A man skateboarding, drinking cranberry juice, and singing ‘Dreams’ sent their Rumours album to the top of the Billboard charts again. It also inspired a whole new generation to check out the band’s music on streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify.
There’s no denying the viral effect TikTok can have on the music industry. From singing sea shanties to finding stars like Lil Nas X, the platform has become a frontier for new music discovery in a variety of ways.