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
Musicians have one of the highest suicide rates in the world (see News)
Is old music eating new music? (see Analysis)
Mood Machine by Liz Pelly "a savage indictment of Spotify" (see Books)
Mining fandom: Music’s Drive to Survive moment (see Comment)
Social came for music streaming’s lunch – now is the time for streaming to bite back (see Comment)
The desperate need for optimism and action in the music industry (see Comment)
BRIT Awards viewed as a great success (see Comment, News)
Impala warns on Universal Music's stranglehold on the music market (see News)
Lucian Grainge: AI can’t match the human creativity needed for music (see Comment)
BBC Music Radio: playback data, artist development and the charter (see Analysis)
Prioritise artists over tech in AI copyright debate, MPs say (see News)
The music business is healthy again? Really? (see Comment)
UK ministers consider changing AI plans to protect creative industries (see News)