🥂tea total
go home 2020, ur drunk
You are cordially invited to the final High Tea brew of the year, your dispatch of 🔥 internet culture served piping hot. This week: in the spirit of telling 2020 to ceremoniously jog-on, we revisit some of our favorite internet moments from quarantine qulture, spilling tea on our pandemic best-in-class and the audacious rising stars taking on Hollywood, with a few told u so 💅 moments in the process.
Drink up! 🐸☕️
Trading Patterns for Pixels
This year brought a whole new meaning to ‘fashion-forward’. From Balmain’s virtual fashion show (who remembers that VIP Zoom front row 💅), to Balenciaga’s video game launch (ya know, the cyberpunk RPG that isn’t being hit with a potential class-action lawsuit rn), it seemed that despite the devastation of the pandemic, legacy couture and all it’s Miranda Priestly trimmings have proven people in glass (fashion) houses can’t be dethroned 👑. Not least, this year also saw the rise in prominence of purely digital fashion houses, enter: The Fabricant, Tribute and...Roblox. Offering the chance for fashionistas to buy their next instagrammable outfit with cold hard ca$h, be fitted to their exact body types (IRL or virtual), and even design their own creations to sell in store – let’s just say we are 😍overcome😍 with the progress made this year in this space. With Z creators on Roblox making six fig$ from the UGC creator program, and with the relative ease of design, we are excited about the potential for these fashion labels to open the floodgates, quit pro-CLO (3D) and give the power of creation back to the community. Fashion is expressionism, after all. 💅 – Faye
Kpop x virtual beings = the ultimate collab
Did we die and go to K/DA heaven? This year we witnessed the return of League of Legends notorious kpop group, K/DA and the release of their LP: All Out. They weren’t lying. Soon after, our fave virtual-influencer-turned-pop-star, Seraphine joined ranks for a special collaboration on K/DA single, More. We lost our heads (last seen rolling about Runeterra). With virtual pop stars receiving 58M views on YouTube, it wasn’t long before the IRL artists wanted in on the action. Enter: Big Hit Entertainment, BTS and TinyTAN. ICYMI, kpop group BTS have quite honestly owned 2020. Recently crowned 2020’s ‘Entertainer of the Year’ by TIME Magazine for their chart domination and mega-streams, (even breaking YouTube’s record for most views in 24 hours) and with a fan base that you don’t want to get on the wrong side of (or even tweet about, RIP ur notifs), it would be an understatement to say the band are in hot demand. So much so, this year BTS’ management, Bit Hit Entertainment officially debuted its own TinyTAN brand of BTS characters that could help carry the global popstar workload.
TinyTAN will allow BTS to focus more on what’s important: “producing better music and preparing better performances“. As idols, music isn’t the group’s only commitment. They also need to star in advertisements, record content, and more on a regular basis. TinyTAN, however, helps relieve some of those responsibilities. – Ha Se Jung, Big Hit IP
With rumours spreading of some of the band members needing to complete South Korean military service by the end of next year, their TinyTANs may just be the perfect substitute for the “real” thing. Watch 👏 this 👏 space 👏 – Faye
Small biz Tok and depop drams
What do acrylic nails, lashes, and slime all have in common? It can only be small business Tok. With TikTok the most-downloaded social media app of 2020 and COVID keeping many bored-in-the-house, this year saw thousands of crafty mofos start their own businesses and gain incredible success via the app’s infamous algorithm. Forget burning out on your IG to drive people to your Etsy shop; 2020 saw the potential for one post on TikTok to garner hundreds of thousands of views...and orders! This year, TikTok made e-commerce fun, interactive and personality-driven (Zuck, that new IG update – u okay hun?) The rise of second-hand re-selling platforms such as Depop and Poshmark also had us swaggering into the DMs to get the goods (omg, eBay could never). What arose was a community built purely off Gen Z interactions with hilarious insight into how teens bargain for their wares (Twitter account @depopdrama is now a 🐸☕️ staple.) Even early stage platforms in the social commerce space are getting their bag. Live shopping platform Popshop Live (which we covered in May), raised its Series A last month at a $100M valuation. Make no mistake, we ain’t seen the last of social commerce – in 2021 we predict we’ll learn to be even better sellers. Check out the Chinese influencer marketing schools already capitalizing on this new movement. 👀 – Faye
Our young padawan
Baby yoda aka Grogu takes the macaroon this year for not only carrying the weight of the Star Wars universe on his little green shoulders, but for providing us with the much needed memes to get us through quarantine. – Faye
Supalonely? Why don’t you Say So
TikToks referencing Supalonely by BENEE (feat. Gus Dapperton)
The volume inside of this bus is astronomical. 2020 was undoubtedly the year of the TikTok musician, but you already knew that. Without our beloved Subway commutes and depressive dawn rides on the Bakerloo Line, our new rush hour (aka from bed to Zoom) was suddenly without backing track and lacking in an imaginary film score (fyi, it’s Fukk Sleep ✨for me✨) to soundtrack the movie of our lives...because we definitely all do that, right? As Gen Z moved on from the coping mechanism of Cardi B’s “shit is getting real” and its subsequent #coronavriuschallenge (which we covered here, back in April), our cultural needs of distraction shifted from a 45 minute poddy to 15 seconds on TikTok. And boy, were we spoiled. While we were all trying our best (and failing) to whip up *that* iced coffee, ditch 20 pounds in 2 weeks with Chloe Ting and losing our heads over no neck Ed, TikTok really pulled through to catapult three of our favorite songs of the year into the zeitgeist.
Our crowning High Tea banger of the year goes to 20-year-old New Zealander BENEE and her breakout hit Supalonely, which couldn’t be a more perfect title for *the* song to define 2020 in its entirety. The earworm soundtracks a whopping 9.6 million videos on TikTok (of course the top two are Charli D’Amelio, followed by Addison Rae), with 297.5M views for its respective hashtag and 178M views on YouTube. Responsible, in part, for its virality is Zoi Lerma (aka 19-year-old @zoifishh, 4.5M followers) the creator who choreographed the accompanying dance that fuelled its popularity in-app. For the record BENNE, we’re lonely bitches too.
We called it as our song of the summer back in March and, well, 👇
Worldwide search results for ‘Supalonely by BENNE’ 1/1/20-12/20/20, Google Trends
Snatching silver place is Doja Cat (🎶Doja talented she do cartwheels🎶) with the outrageously popular disco bop, Say So. 651M Spotify listens, 254M YouTube views and 17.2M TikToks – numbers don’t lie, it’s a certified hit 💅. Like BENEE, Doja’s Say So was propelled into an unforgettable 2020 social moment thanks to its own TikTok dance, created by Haley Sharpe (aka @yodelinghaley, 3.4M followers), which was immortalized in the music video where Haley makes a cameo. Queens supporting queens? Ugh, we love to see it. This moment changed ~everything~ for the TikTok community (it was a cultural reset), the proof in the pudding that it pays to pay attention to smaller creators shaping the culture from our fyp to yours. Thanks to TikTok, Doja scored her first No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May with the Say So remix ft. Nicki Minaj. Expect to see this influencer + artist relationship play out x10 in 2021.
On TikTok there’s no time, but there’s also no time to waste. Early adopters from the industry world have also been rewarded with a piece of the TikTok pie, by latching on to smaller creators Doing Bits™ in this fleeting music space. - High Tea, 12 July 2020
Last but not least, we couldn’t leave death bed (coffee for your head) out of the running for a podium position. The banger by Powfu ft. beabadoobee (we stan our British 👑) was popularized with the “today I tried to kiss my best friend” trend, with 5.7M TikToks created to the audio. Sadly, we did not partake in the trend because, well, I ain’t never seen two pretty best friends. – Alice
🐸☕️ faves:
ROXANNE - Arizona Zervas 👉 987M Spotify listens, 121M YouTube views, 2.1M TikToks
WHATS POPPIN - Jack Harlow 👉 275M Spotify listens, 115M YouTube views, 361K TikToks
Mood - 24kGold ft. iann dior 👉 625M Spotify listens, 113M YouTube views, 2.7M TikToks
Freak - Sub Urban ft. REI AMI 👉 53M Spotify listens, 123M YouTube views, 3.7M TikToks
Overwhelmed - Royal & the Serpent 👉 47M Spotify listens, 6.6M YouTube views, 4.4M TikToks
Daisy - Ashnikko 👉 129M Spotify listens, 63M YouTube videos, 694K TikToks
Out with the new, in with the old
Nothing could surprise us this year tbh, including a 43 year old song re-entering the charts in the UK and breaking streaming records in the US. We are, of course, talking about Fleetwood Mac who smashed into Gen Z’s collective consciousness thanks to Nathan Apodaca (aka @420doggface208, 6.2M followers) and a rather timely bottle of Ocean Spray cranbo juice. Such was the overwhelming popularity of this moment, it prompted Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks (!!!) to join the platform in October, with TikTok capitalizing on this permeating trend and turning it into (you guessed it) an ad.
So, where does this leave us? As VICE said last week, “the record industry is now trying to engineer more viral moments to boost sales of its back catalog”. This is a trend that has doubled down as of late, with several of our childhood faves making an unexpected comeback, including 2007’s Potential Breakup Song from Aly & AJ (2M TikToks), Simple Plan’s I’m Just A Kid from 2002 (4.1M TikToks) and the song we didn’t know we needed this year – OMC’s How Bizarre (a 1996 bop, tea gang!). The industry is still playing catch up, but with Paul McCartney the latest addition to the platform, expect big tings from labels partnering with nano influencers to promote the archive within an inch of its life, securing the bag (and then some) in the process. 🤑 – Alice
Fuck it, mask off 😷
2021 is calling and we’re all ears. Our latest and greatest addition to our High Tea Class of 2020 is Frances Forever (230K TikTok followers) and their alt TikTok smash hit, Space Girl. On November 23rd, Space Girl hit 10K videos created to the sound on TikTok, with 57K Spotify streams in a day. Once again, thanks to a dance (by TikToker @papa.squash, 177K followers) Frances has since climbed to 412K TikToks to their audio and 9.3M Spotify listens, in less than a month. The hype doesn’t stop there, as Frances announced getting signed to Mom + Pop, an NYC-based independent record label, just this week. Now that’s what we call distribution. – Alice
Our 2021 watch list:
Cookie Kawaii 👉 must listen: Vibe (If I Back It Up)
Evann Mcintosh 👉 must listen: What Dreams Are Made Of
Tate McRae 👉 must listen: you broke me first
Niko B 👉 must listen: Who’s That What’s That
Okay, you made it. Now we’re getting back to our Baileys and we suggest you do the same. Happy Holidays, tea gang. We’ll see you in 2021. 🐸 ☕️
ttyl,
Yooo we just discovered this & we f*cking luv it! Keep it up! Jan & Nico
Thanks for keeping me updated on TikTok and such. See you next year :-P