We were just thinking we had understood TikTok when someone like Íñigo Quintero comes along.
Every time you think you have understood how songs on the video portal TikTok become hits, a new freak incident destroys the nice set of rules that you had put together as a non-heavy user. Previous assumptions: There needs to be a striking dance scene that encourages TikTok users to do so-called challenges, like the video for Lizzo’s song “About Damn Time”.
Or a strong motif like Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers”, the summer hit with the self-assertive line “I can buy myself flowers”, which enticed thousands upon thousands of people to post videos of themselves – obviously – buying flowers themselves. Or, also good: you write songs that are already adapted to the way TikTok works, such as the short, fleeting pieces by the British musician PinkPantheress, which are ideal for accompanying short video snippets.
An artist as a white wall onto which one can project one’s own grief and longings
You think you have it all figured out, and then someone like the Spanish singer Íñigo Quintero comes along and nothing is clear anymore. His song “Si No Estás” has started a crazy triumph from TikTok: the piano piece about the longing for landed not only at number one in the German single charts, but also in the top 10 of the Billboard Global 200 and at the top of the global Spotify charts an absent person, possibly always absent. Fans rave about the depth of the song, but upon first hearing it passes by like a fleeting memory of a thousand soulful radio tracks.
Maybe Generation Z is happy to hear a viral song that doesn’t encourage them to shop or create questionable dance collages? Before the attempts at explanation get any more complicated at this point, let’s agree on one thing: Quintero’s appeal may also be due to his anonymity. So far, little more is known about him other than the fact that he comes from A Coruña and is amazed at his success. An artist as a white wall onto which you can project your own grief and longings: you can certainly long for that too.
This column first appeared in Musikexpress issue 1/2024.