By Kelly Kim
Staff Writer
It was another ordinary day of scrolling through my Spotify, choosing songs from my daily playlist to listen to that day. As I was about to play “Good Luck Babe” by Chappell Roan for the hundredth time, I noticed Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” pop up in my main menu. Intrigued about what other songs might be on the album, I clicked on it, where I came across a series of songs available as both double speed and half speed
At first, my instinct was to think, “Wow this is incredibly useless and unnecessary.” But then, I started to think about how many other artists were structuring their albums the same way. I started to believe that maybe this wasn’t as uncommon of an occurrence as I believed it to be.
With the steady and consistent rise of different social media apps – TikTok especially – it has become normal to film oneself with music overlaid. One of the common occurrences on these music-video apps is using either sped up or slowed down versions of popular songs.
One reason for this trend may be due to copyright issues, as many platforms might not have gotten permission from music labels to use certain songs. The other reason seems to be due to culture — a fascination the newer generations have with different sped-up, and at times slowed-down, audios.
It is interesting to see how much influence social media apps like TikTok have on music artists. While it’s only necessary to follow trends and cater to specific audiences, one cannot help but wonder if a bit of authenticity gets lost in the process.
Another perspective could be that there is a shift occurring in the music industry. Music is finding itself in a time where different tempos of a song is the new norm — even on official albums, with its larger target demographic being younger listeners.
Maybe this shift will redefine the way music artists structure their albums — incorporating title tracks and B-sides alongside their most popular songs that have special versions, allowing listeners to engage creatively with their content.
However, if such artists are producing versions solely to be relevant on certain social media apps, it’s only a matter of time before the hype and popularity dies down. When apps like TikTok eventually lose their popularity, will sped-up or slowed down versions of songs still hold relevance? Only time will tell.
