Have you heard of Benson Boone? We didn’t think we had either. But we have, and very likely, so have you.

 Wednesday afternoon, we were having our usual newspaper club meeting in room 606 when a FedEx package was delivered. We excitedly opened it up and pulled out a stack of posters of Benson Boone. The letter enclosed introduced “Global pop sensation Benson Boone” who had just released his “hotly anticipated debut album, Fireworks and Rollerblades.” As a group, we quickly opened Spotify to see if we did, in fact, know his music. After the first few seconds we all agreed that we did not. Then we skipped through to the middle, heard the hook, and all let out an “ooohhhhh” of recognition. 

Thanks to TikTok, we all knew the viral 20 seconds of “Beautiful Things.” Unfortunately, that was all we knew of it and we did not care to listen to much more. It was played out. We liked it a lot, and now we don’t want to hear it anymore. Is viral popularity a double edged sword? Musicians can now get extremely popular extremely quickly, but as a consequence, most of these artists become one hit wonders over a catchy chorus. These TikTok musicians, though may have their week of fame, will not sustain a thriving career because, if they can not maintain this level of content creation, then they will not sustain any level of status. 

Do you agree? Answer the poll and feel free to leave a comment!