New music on TikTok this Valentine's Day 09 Feb 2023
Valentine's Day is one of the TikTok community's favourite days of the year, with over 40 billion views on the hashtags #ValentinesDay and #Valentines. Every year, we see TikTok creators come together to share wholesome moments with their lovers, friends and family. â¤
In the spirit of gift-giving, we have a host of playlists, new music and hashtag challenges to help our community share the love (or breakups) on TikTok.
New SoundOn singles for Valentine's Day
Last year, we hosted a first-of-its-kind SoundOn songwriting camp, teaming up with BMG. The pilot project in October brought together BMG producers and songwriters with SoundOn's artists for creative writing, production, and recording sessions to create new repertoire for the artists, helping them develop and build their careers.
First up, indie pop singer and songwriter Kayla Grace who is set to release her latest single 'Dumped' on Friday 10th February. With 16.9k followers on TikTok, the emerging artist is making her mark on the industry, recently performing on BBC Music Introducing and featuring in The Sun's 23 for 2023 breakout artist list. Co-written with Ed Thomas (Stormzy, Jorja Smith, Nia Archives) and James Newman (Ed Sheeran, Little Mix, Calvin Harris) with high-profile fans including The 1975's Matty Healy, many have called Kayla Grace the new Avril Lavigne and Olivia Rodrigo, and 'Dumped' is perfect for creators looking for a fun and fiery break-up song.
Another artist who took part in the camp was rising independent alternative artist Seb Lowe, who has released The London Song. From Oldham, Seb released his first EP 'Half-decent' with SoundOn in 2021 and currently has over 304K followers on TikTok. At the writing camp, Seb worked with Dom Valentino (Skepta, Olivia Deane, Nia Smith) to write The London Song, which is available on all streaming services as well as TikTok through the Sounds Page.
The songwriting camp is one of the ways that TikTok is helping artists release their singles independently to distribute new music on TikTok's Commercial Music Library (CML), which pre-clears songs for commercial use for businesses and brands. The CML grants brands unprecedented access to trending music, bringing them closer to the conversation on the platform whilst allowing them to post in an authentic way.
Speaking on the camp, Rachel Menzies, Vice President, BMG, Bespoke Services said: "The Songwriting Camp was an exciting opportunity to bring our extremely talented BMG songwriters and producers together with the brilliant emerging SoundOn artists. The camp aimed to pair expertise with fresh, new talent, resulting in unique matches of artists and songwriters who would not normally have collaborated. We eagerly await the first releases this Valentine's Day."
Playlists and hashtag challenges for the TikTok community
Irish singer-songwriter Niall Horan has a few Valentine's Day treats in store for fans on TikTok. The pop star, who is also TikTok's most popular Irish artist with 4.9 million followers, is releasing his first single 'Heaven' on the 17th February. Niall has decided to give the TikTok community an early preview of the track, with his recent teaser video racking up 2.5 million views.
Niall is also jumping on our popular Valentine's Day hashtag challenge #CoversforLovers, which calls on creators to share covers of their favourite love songs and put their own spin on romantic hits. The hashtag has racked up over 1 billion views, with artists such as Sir Rod Stewart, Bree Runway, Sam Ryder, Cat Burns, Noel Gallagher and Bastille, jumping on the trend last year and encouraging the community to duet their videos.
To bring it all together, fans can listen to exclusive Valentine's Day playlists on the TikTok Sounds Page specially curated by Niall Horan and chart-topping 'Escapism' singer RAYE, who will both be sharing their favourite and most iconic romantic hits with the community.
Lisa Skeppner, Label Partnerships Manager at TikTok said: "We have so much exciting music for the TikTok community to discover this Valentine's Day. From global popstar Niall Horan with his sneak preview of 'Heaven', through to emerging SoundOn artists Kayla Grace and Seb Lowe. We can't wait for creators to listen to RAYE and Niall's favourite Valentine's tracks, post their best #CoversForLovers submissions and discover the incredible musical talent on TikTok."
New to TikTok and want to find out more about Valentine's Day on TikTok? Simply download the app for free via the Apple App Store, Google Play or Amazon.
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THE HEADLINES
Does Daniel Ek deserve to be the richest ever man in music? (see Comment)
Independent music community publishes '100 Voices' on why Universal’s acquisition of Downtown should be blocked (see News)
Universal and Warner said to be close to landmark AI licensing deals (see News)
Industry leaders outline challenges to Creative Industries Minister (see News)
Spotify isn’t broken, it’s working exactly as intended (see Comment)
Spotify is completely unserious about combating AI music (see Comment)
Hw British and American musical tastes remain distinct (see Analysis)
Oliver Schusser on Apple’s strategy in music (see Features)
Europe’s music sector call for a comprehensive policy strategy and an ambitious budget for Europe’s music sector within AgoraEU (see News)
Artist-led lawsuit against Suno introduces stream-ripping claims (see Digital)
Music Tech has historically been a difficult bet. So why are investors still showing up? (see Comment)
IFPI publishes Music in the EU report (see Reports)
AI music - is it time to explore a blanket approach? (see Opinion)
The music video is back and more important than ever (see Features)
Author Liz Pelly discusses how streaming saved the industry from piracy, but not the artists (see Features)