Making a hit song is every artiste`s dream, once it’s released, there are usually high expectations that it would go catch fire and reach millions of people. But the reality is it`s hard to make things go viral. It`s quite difficult to predict how music lovers will react to certain pieces of content, and whether or not they`ll share it.
Although it`s impossible to guarantee that a song will go viral because a lot has to be put in place for its content to capture the hearts of fans. This is where the use of Viral Challenges come in. Over the years, Social media has become a powerful tool artistes use to promote their music. Gone are the days of people buying Cds and the use of other archaic means to promote music. The world has gone digital now and is still evolving.
Artistes underhand the power of social media, it has the ability to make or break a song. With the emergence of social media apps like Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and others, getting a song to go viral has become extra easy. There is a lot to be learned from songs that have gone viral.
Recently artistes like Simi, Ladipoe, Falz, Mayorkun & Korede Bello have had their songs blow up thanks to viral challenges. In this article, we’ll be enlightening our viewers to the new social media tool and act that our artistes are now imploring to sell their song, get us the consumer to buy, and fall in love in no time. Also to get a wider audience.. That the Tik Tok social App and creating Challenges.
We’ll take a look at 5 different songs that would have gone down, not reach a larger audience and just be at same spot but they went viral thanks to challenges. Note; The songs picked as a case study are wonderful songs with good content, lyrics, beat, and melody but they wouldn’t have gotten the love and attention they had (be catchy to the larger consumers) if not for the created challenge.
Simi βDudukeβ
Simi`s mid-tempo pop record blended with the Afro-life vibe was released like another song. Initially, it was thought to be a love song when the audio dropped but its music video gave more insight to the message she was trying to pass across (She was expecting her first child with her husband).Β Simi then came up with a challenge to help connect with her fans better. She did a video on TikTok with the Duduke song playing in the background giving another clear view of her pregnancy while dancing.
The challenge saw fans both pregnant and non-pregnant fans and even men replicate the same exact steps that she did. The song also got amazing covers which fans later voted for the best. Before Simi announced the end of the challenge, βDudukeβ already achieved mainstream success and even became the number song in the country.
Note: Studies have shown that if you listen to βDudukeβ more than 5 times a day, you are likely to get pregnant.
Falz βBop Daddyβ
During the lockdown period, social media was a tool for people to showcase their creativity by innovating and participating in various virtual challenges with their peers and family. Using the same concept as the popular song Don’t Rush by Young T & Bugsey, Bop Daddy came to the forefront and took the internet by storm.
It features groups of friends transforming from their βΛhome attires` and makeup-free faces to a more glammed up look at the flick of a makeup brush on the camera. In no time, it managed to become many people`s favorite, to the extent that it landed some Female Nigerian Immigration officers in a hot mess with their agency.
Ladipoe Ft Simi – Know You
Interestingly while many of these trends fizzle out almost as soon they pop up, a few have stood the test of time and even seem to be growing in popularity and this track is one of them.βKnow Youβ is a track about two opposite sex friends who want to be more than just friends. They feel something special for each other but tend to restrict their emotions because they are strangers who know little about themselves.
Social media users swung into action and before we knew it, videos of men and women having conversations like the lyrics depicted went viral. The song doesn’t even have an official music video yet but all the videos seen on the internet have compensated for that, at least for now. This record is presently the hottest joint in the music industry and most played song in Nigeria across all-digital platforms.
Korede Bello βMi Casa Su Casaβ
Mavin prince, Korede Bello released this R&B track with heavy pop influences, centered around pillow talk and modern-day love with lyrics that exposes Korede`s flirty side, laced with his soothing voice. Shortly after its release, a challenge was announced and lots of beautiful ladies have partaken and are still doing the challenge. TikTok App again helped Korede Bello create a challenge for ‘Mi Casa Su Casa’ which in no time got to the heart of many youths and gain more streams with a wider range of attention.
Adekunle Gold – Something Different
For some time, Adekunle has been playing around with genres and sampling different sounds that fans aren’t accustomed to. He did this with Before You Wake Up and Kelegbe Megbe but it appears Nigerians were not just ready for the new Dekunle. He came back with a different vibe on Something Different. This sound would have disappeared without a trace just like the others but with the aid of social media and different Challenges, music lovers were able to get comfortable with his new sound. The reception was totally amazing as it became one of the most-streamed songs in the country even topping Duduke.
In conclusion, not that these songs aren’t good enough to achieve mainstream success without any promotion, they just needed a little push to make their success and attention come faster. It helps to push the songs to places one would not even expect it to reach, within a short while. These challenges which also sometimes comes with prizes to be won makes music get into consumers, even now most people use these challenges to relax and break the boredom.
We now have cases where people get to enjoy a song they didn’t like at first listen simply because they saw someone doing its challenge either by dancing, vibing, or making fun out of it. It’s a great tool in helping to sell music now without stress and reaching a wider audience….
