Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

TikTok Is Changing the DNA of Hit Songs, and Artists Are Taking Note

24/10/2023

TikTok Is Changing the DNA of Hit Songs, and Artists Are Taking Note Berklee songwriters explain how the smallest details of a song's structure and themes can help musicians connect with users on the career-launching app.

By

Darry Madden

October 24, 2023

Image by Solen Feyissa/Upsplash

Rosie Scher '20 was a student at Berklee when she had a viral TikTok hit in 2020 with Never the 1. The song launched her career and landed her a deal with Arista Records.

When Scher first posted Never the 1 to TikTok, she wasnt writing to crack the algorithm-she was just trying to keep releasing music and build an audience through the early days of the pandemic. I just had a huge vault full of songs, and I realized that I could sustain posting one a day for about three months, she says.

It so happened that Schers hook, and its use of a memorable count-down structure, caught the wave of a massive trend on the platform. I call them TikTok hooks, she says of choruses featuring numbers or ABCs. Theyre very specific to TikTok in that moment.

Measuring Success on TikTok

Rosie Scher '20

Image courtesy of the artist

As Scher came to discover with her record contract, the trends and hooks that rise to the top of the TikTok algorithm can have a massive impact on artists careers, and on the broader culture. What's trending on TikTok now impacts TV, radio, streaming services, and everywhere else music is consumed.

However, the platform is also world unto itself, independent from the music industry's traditional metrics for success. This is why the new Billboard TikTok Top 50 chart, launched last month, was created: to track music discovery and engagement on the social media powerhouse, whose most successful content seems to operate by a separate set of creative rules.

TikTok has become the discovery platform for artists today, says Rodney Alejandro, chair of Berklee's Songwriting Department. This new chart is a significant development in how artists find their place in the industry, because a lot of these songs arent on the radio or on television. A lot of these songs are solely living in the ether of the internet, and TikTok is a great place to see how theyre doing.

Get to the ChorusRalph Jaccodine, assistant professor of music business/management, highlights TikTok's capacity to cater to users' appetite for a song's most addictive elements. The success of TikTok has to do with a lot of AI, and figuring out what people want, and figuring out how to expand and explode a song, and get global reach for that, he says. The platform has more than a billion active users. . . . Thats a lot of power.

One way songwriters are approaching the challenge of giving TikTok users what they want involves reconfiguring the traditional pop song structure. TikTok moves fast, demanding that songwriters capture their audience's attention right from the start.

But there's an art to achieving this. You have to be very selective about what you introduce first, Alejandro says. It cant be too complicated. It has to be super catchy, really fast.

Since the chorus is typically the catchiest part of the song, many songwriters choose to lead with it on TikTok, but Alejandro cautions against revealing too much of the chorus upfront. Instead, he says, it should leave listeners curious to hear more.

Tell us your main idea for the song that would normally be three minutes-tell us what its going to be in 30 seconds.

- Rodney Alejandro, Chair, Songwriting Department

While catchy hooks help draw in listeners, song structures are evolving to emphasize and enhance these elements. Over the last decade, the bridge has largely vanished, and the second verse isn't far behind. Consider Nicky Youre's viral hit Sunroof, whose structure consists of a chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, instrumental interlude, pre-chorus, and chorus.

Its just focusing on the fun parts of a song, and thats becoming the formula, says Alejandro, pointing out that the songs that charted on the first TikTok Billboard Top 50 are light and accessible both in structure and subject matter, and steer clear of serious themes.

Teaching for TikTok

Rodney Alejandro, chair of the Songwriting Department

Professors in Berklees Songwriting Department have been keeping a close eye on how TikTok is changing the way songs are written, and theyve expanded the curriculum to make sure students know how to write and arrange for the platform. Students will not, however, be exempt from learning the core storytelling and songwriting techniques that they'll need to write a complete song.

We already talk about how song form has to adapt, especially if youre a new artist, says Alejandro. Tell us your main idea for the song that would normally be three minutes-tell us what its going to be in 30 seconds.

Does this make a songwriter faster? Alejandro says that is a debate in the department. Some schools of thought favor a more traditional approach-the more whole songs artists write, the stronger their writing becomes. Upper-level songwriting students are now also being asked to write more mini songs that are later expanded.

Although TikTok is the latest platform to shake up the music industry, Alejandro says its probably not the last: Maybe in three to five years theres going to be another, but it all pretty much works the same-the platform begins to dictate the creative process.

Jaccodine has also been staying on top of the shifts in the business over the years, and believes that TikTok isnt necessarily upending the fundamentals to developing a successful career.

A TikTok hit is good, he said. But it doesnt make a career, and it doesnt make you rich. Its what you do with that. Can you do it again? Can you keep that audience coming back to listen to you?

Looking Toward the Next Viral HitIt's been thre
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/tiktok-is-changing-the-dna-of...
See more stories from berklee

More from Berklee

03/07/2025

Berklee's Gospel Performance Program Welcomes Jonathan Nelson as the Herb Alpert Visiting Artist

Berklee's Gospel Performance Program Welcomes Jonathan Nelson as the Herb Al...

02/07/2025

Boston Conservatory and the Sphinx Organization Join Forces to Make Classical Education Accessible

Boston Conservatory and the Sphinx Organization Join Forces to Make Classical Ed...

30/06/2025

Berklee at Umbria Jazz Clinics to Host 40th Anniversary Concert

Berklee at Umbria Jazz Clinics to Host 40th Anniversary Concert The celebration will be held on July 10 in Perugia, Italy. By Colette Greenstein June 30, 202...

27/06/2025

How Two Berklee Alumni Landed Songs in the Oscar-Winning Film Anora

How Two Berklee Alumni Landed Songs in the Oscar-Winning Film Anora Joseph Capalbo BM '12 and Lyusi Simon BM '16 share how their collaboration spanned...

26/06/2025

Berklee in Puerto Rico 30th Anniversary Celebration Culminates in Awarding $3.74 Million in Financial Aid

Berklee in Puerto Rico 30th Anniversary Celebration Culminates in Awarding $3.74...

25/06/2025

Study Reveals Stark Gender Gap in Jazz Education

Study Reveals Stark Gender Gap in Jazz Education A new report from the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and researcher Lara Pellegrinelli finds th...

25/06/2025

Jazz at the Fort Returns, Featuring Yoron Israel and High Standards

Jazz at the Fort Returns, Featuring Yoron Israel and High Standards The performance is part of Berklee's Summer in the City concert series. By Kelly Won...

19/06/2025

Chelsey Green Makes History as Recording Academy Board Chair

Chelsey Green Makes History as Recording Academy Board Chair The violinist, violist, vocalist, and Berklee professor is the first Black woman and youngest per...

18/06/2025

Bostons Dear Summer Mixtape Vol. 3 Features Berklee Artists, DJs, and Producers

Bostons Dear Summer Mixtape Vol. 3 Features Berklee Artists, DJs, and Producers Created by Mayor Michelle Wu and the Office of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainm...

13/06/2025

Berklee's Music Business/Management Department Recognized by the Music Biz Association

Berklee's Music Business/Management Department Recognized by the Music Biz A...

13/06/2025

On Chick Coreas Birthday, a Newly Uncovered Archival Release

On Chick Coreas Birthday, a Newly Uncovered Archival Release The Visitors, composed by Corea and performed by vibraphonist Gary Burton and pianist Kirill Gers...

11/06/2025

Boston Conservatory Heads to Tanglewood This Summer

Boston Conservatory Heads to Tanglewood This Summer Student dancers and musicians from Boston Conservatory at Berklee will debut a new work by choreographer K...

10/06/2025

Berklee Professor Regie Gibson Named First Poet Laureate of Massachusetts

Berklee Professor Regie Gibson Named First Poet Laureate of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey honored Gibson as the inaugural Poet Laureate for the state in...

10/06/2025

Summer Songwriting Programs: Boston or LA? Berklee Lets You Choose Your Coast

Summer Songwriting Programs: Boston or LA? Berklee Lets You Choose Your Coast Whether you head east or west, Berklee offers aspiring songwriters the chance to...

07/06/2025

Berklee Professor's Fulbright Project Addresses Suicide Loss Through Art

Berklee Professor's Fulbright Project Addresses Suicide Loss Through Art Ray Seol's cross-cultural production Another Season draws from personal grief...

05/06/2025

Bob Clearmountain to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee NYC Graduate Commencement

Bob Clearmountain to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee NYC Graduate Commence...

04/06/2025

Betsie Becker Named Executive Director of Berklee NYC

Betsie Becker Named Executive Director of Berklee NYC A veteran arts and education leader, Becker brings a strategic vision for academic innovation and commun...

03/06/2025

Antonio Snchez '97 to Deliver Keynote at Berklee College of Music's Graduate Commencement

Antonio S nchez '97 to Deliver Keynote at Berklee College of Music's Gra...

03/06/2025

Alf Clausen, Composer for The Simpsons, Dies at 84

Alf Clausen, Composer for The Simpsons, Dies at 84 Alf Clausen '66 won two Emmys during his 26-year career on the iconic animated series. By Tara Bellu...

30/05/2025

How Musicians Can (and Should) Use AI-According to Berklee Experts

How Musicians Can (and Should) Use AI-According to Berklee Experts At Berklee's first AI and Music Innovation event, artists and educators explored how ar...

30/05/2025

The Most Underrated Hip-Hop Producers, According to J. Rawls

The Most Underrated Hip-Hop Producers, According to J. Rawls The producer whos worked with Mos Def, Talib Kweli, the Roots, and Common, joined a panel on camp...

23/05/2025

Berklee Global and Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Host Emerging Talent Intensive Program in Mexico City

Berklee Global and Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Host Emerging Talent Intensi...

23/05/2025

Berklees 2025 Commencement, Through the Lens of a Graduate

Berklees 2025 Commencement, Through the Lens of a Graduate Photographer Matthew Ryu shares a look at Berklees 2025 commencement from a graduates POV. By Ma...

22/05/2025

Berklee Online Holds Annual Berklee Onsite Music Conference May 30-31

Berklee Online Holds Annual Berklee Onsite Music Conference May 30-31 Kamilah Marshall, a backing vocalist for Taylor Swift, will give the keynote presentatio...

22/05/2025

Music Marketing: 5 Practical Strategies for Independent Artists

Music Marketing: 5 Practical Strategies for Independent Artists Five ways help you build visibility, engage your audience, and grow your fanbase-including one...

20/05/2025

From Death Becomes Her to Dead Outlaw, Boston Conservatory Actors Are Killing It This Awards Season

From Death Becomes Her to Dead Outlaw, Boston Conservatory Actors Are Killing It...

19/05/2025

Berklee's Summer in the City Returns with Free Concerts Throughout the Boston Area

Berklee's Summer in the City Returns with Free Concerts Throughout the Bosto...

16/05/2025

Berklee Announces Jonathan Mahoney as the New Dean for Pre-College, Online, and Professional Programs

Berklee Announces Jonathan Mahoney as the New Dean for Pre-College, Online, and ...

15/05/2025

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Tania Len and Kelli O'Hara at Commencement Ceremony

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Tania Le n and Kelli O'Hara at Commenc...

15/05/2025

John Yao Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship for Interactive Jazz Project

John Yao Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship for Interactive Jazz Project The Berklee professor and trombonist will debut Let's Make Some Noise, an immersive bi...

13/05/2025

Berklee Artists Take Center Stage at Top Music Festivals

Berklee Artists Take Center Stage at Top Music Festivals Thanks to the Berklee Popular Music Institute, students will perform at Lollapalooza, Governors Ball,...

12/05/2025

Building a Home Recording Studio? Here's What You Need.

Building a Home Recording Studio? Here's What You Need. Experts break down the home studio setup and share tips to create a pro-level recording space on a...

11/05/2025

Berklee Honors Andr 3000 and Sara Bareilles at 2025 Commencement

Berklee Honors Andr 3000 and Sara Bareilles at 2025 Commencement This years honorary doctorate recipients were recognized for their profound influence as art...

10/05/2025

Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2025

Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2025 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next. ...

09/05/2025

Berklee Online Signs Transfer Articulation with Conservatorio Nacional de Msica

Berklee Online Signs Transfer Articulation with Conservatorio Nacional de M sica The new agreement allows CNM students in the Dominican Republic to transfer i...

09/05/2025

Berklee Popular Music Institute Announces UK Festival Debut and Tour Dates

Berklee Popular Music Institute Announces UK Festival Debut and Tour Dates For the first time, BPMI will bring Berklee-affiliated artists and students to the ...

08/05/2025

Student Spotlight: Grigori Balasanyan

Student Spotlight: Grigori Balasanyan The Armenian composer, who was named Boston Conservatory at Berklees 2025 student commencement speaker, talks about his ...

02/05/2025

Students, Alumni, and Faculty Represent Berklee at International Computer Music Conference

Students, Alumni, and Faculty Represent Berklee at International Computer Music ...

02/05/2025

Four Boston Conservatory Alumni Nominated for Tony Awards

Four Boston Conservatory Alumni Nominated for Tony Awards Fifteen alumni from Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Berklee College of Music contributed to nomin...

30/04/2025

Tania Len and Kelli O'Hara to be Honored at Boston Conservatory at Berklee's Commencement Ceremony

Tania Le n and Kelli O'Hara to be Honored at Boston Conservatory at Berklee&...

30/04/2025

Andr 3000 and Sara Bareilles to Receive Honorary Doctorates at Berklee College of Music 2025 Commencement

Andr 3000 and Sara Bareilles to Receive Honorary Doctorates at Berklee College ...

25/04/2025

Listen to Kim Perlak and Francisco Mela's New Album, Recorded in a Single Afternoon

Listen to Kim Perlak and Francisco Mela's New Album, Recorded in a Single Af...

24/04/2025

Berklee in Puerto Rico Program to Host 30th Anniversary Concert

Berklee in Puerto Rico Program to Host 30th Anniversary Concert The event will feature Grammy- and Latin Grammy-winning artist Miguel Zen n BM '98, cuatro...

24/04/2025

Detach Yourself from the Herd': Fito Pez Inspires at Berklee

Detach Yourself from the Herd': Fito P ez Inspires at Berklee In a session hosted by the Mediterranean Music Institute, the influential Argentine musician...

23/04/2025

Berklee Abu Dhabi's Jazz Night Kicks off Global Celebration of Music and Culture

Berklee Abu Dhabi's Jazz Night Kicks off Global Celebration of Music and Cul...

19/04/2025

Berklee NYC and NYC Media Launch Season 3 of Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC

Berklee NYC and NYC Media Launch Season 3 of Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC This season features faculty member Arun Pandian as the new host and interviews ...

18/04/2025

Berklee Student Yukai Yang Named 2025 Yamaha Young Performing Artist

Berklee Student Yukai Yang Named 2025 Yamaha Young Performing Artist The drummer secured a spot among the elite winners in this years competition. By Maddie...

18/04/2025

Boston Conservatory Alums Bring Real Women Have Curves to Broadway

Boston Conservatory Alums Bring Real Women Have Curves to Broadway The Latin American immigrant community takes center stage in a new musical featuring Tatian...

17/04/2025

In Return to Berklee, Lucius Looks Back and Moves Forward

In Return to Berklee, Lucius Looks Back and Moves Forward From mood boards to live demos, the alumni band gave students an exclusive look at the process behin...

17/04/2025

Edward J. Lewis III Named Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement

Edward J. Lewis III Named Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement Lewis has more than 20 years of industry experience, leading fundraising initiati...