From TikTok to Topping the Charts—4 Female Artists Who Rose to Fame From TikTok
TikTok is a platform where anyone can post a video and go viral. Many up and coming artists have used the algorithm as an advantage to promote their music. Some artist that have gained popularity through the app and effectively made their way into all of our playlists.
Often, people are finding new music through TikTok rather than the radio or any other media platform. We are here to share four female artists who have built their music careers from the app.
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RAYE
“A little context if you care to listen, I found myself in sh*t position.” If you’ve haven’t heard this catchy chorus, you are on the wrong side of TikTok.
Raye is a 25 year old Brit who took over the app with her song Escapism in late 2022. A sped-up version of the song gained popularity, with 658k videos using the sound.
The song changed Raye’s life as she has been stuck with a record label that has refused to release her album for seven years.
Due to the virality of the song, she is now an independent artists with the song hitting number one on the music charts.
In a Cosmopolitan interview she was asked about the song going viral and how it felt. Raye says, “To be honest, it was just happening… I think my sister pointed it out. I checked, and it had like 1000 videos made to the sound, I was like ‘oh that’s exciting!’ and then the next day it was 2000 and it just kept doubling out of nowhere and I was like ‘wow’.
She continues saying, “It’s the kind of thing you can’t plan. You can’t be like ‘Okay I’m gonna have a viral hit’… I’m just grateful that TikTok was like “Yeah we like that. Let’s make so many videos to it.”
The song has gained Raye new fans and has elevated her career, getting the chance to perform on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and BBC Radio, as well as interviews with Elle, Cosmopolitan and Z100 New York.
Raye has proven she can stand on her own and we are excited to see the endeavors she takes on as an independent artist.
Renné Rapp
You may know Renné Rapp from her acting career on the HBO Max original show The Sex Lives of College Girls or from the Broadway musical Mean Girls where she played the role of Regina George, however, her music career followed closely behind.
In summer of 2022, she posted a short clips of a song titled, Tattoos. The song quickly gained popularity with the honest lyrics of exploring the fear of being vulnerable in a new relationship and the hesitancy of showcasing insecurities.
The song rose to popularity leaving fans shocked by Rapp is multi talented in acting and singing skills. In November of 2022, Rapp released her first EP titled, Everything to Everyone. The EP is a stripped-back look into her emotions on love and loss.
On February 24th, Rapp released a deluxe version of Everything to Everyone.
She tells Variety in an interview, “I thought, I can do music on the side, like, I can just hustle.”
She goes on to say, “ And now I’ve just kept acting, because it keeps supporting the music…Acting was my way into tricking everyone that I warranted attention, so that I could have this interview with you.”
“But finding success in the music business didn’t come as easily,” She reveals. Rapp was told by many producers and record labels that she wasn’t “understandable” and need to “wear certain things, that my body needed to look a certain way.”
Renné Rapp is clearly an artists that is taking over the pop space and we can’t wait to see what more she has in store, music and acting wise.
Lauren Spencer-Smith
Lauren Spencer-Smith took over TikTok in late November of 2022 with her song titled, Fingers-Crossed. Smith posted a 15 minuted snippet of the song without permission from her label. She explained in an interview with Billboard that she didn't know when the song would be released but she knew she needed to share it.
The song reached millions of views within days of posting the short snippet. Many viewers were begging for a release date. The song gained mass amount of popularity that fans started an open verse challenge, where TikTok users added their own lyrics to the song.
Finger-Crossed released on January 5th and the song landed at Number 19 on the Billboard Top 100 Charts. Later in the year, Smith released more singles including, Narcissist, Flowers, Back to Friends and Best Friend Break Up.
Smith tells Los Angeles Times, “If you want songs to blow up, they have to include things that people are gonna relate to.” She says she estimates at least an hour on the app every day to get a sense of what’s trending.
She goes on to explain, “For example, right now everyone loves to talk about a red flag — like, ‘I should’ve known when he did this it was a red flag.’ That’s in people’s brains, so let’s include that in a line.”
With the success of TikTok skyrocketing her career reached 260 million streams on Spotify and four million followers on the app. Her successes have landed her performances at multiple award shows including People Choice Awards, MTV VMA’s as well as talk shows including The Late Show with James Cordon, and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Lauren Spence-Smith songwriting and vocals have shown she is going to be a force in the pop music world.
katie gregson-macleod
Katie Gregson-MacLeod is singer, songwriter from Scotland who pulled on our heart strings with her song titled, Complex. She posted a minute long clip of the chorus of the song to TikTok that exceeded all her expectations.
MacLeod had no plans of releasing the song, however, the clip reached 6.9 million views with fans begging her to release the song. The song touches on melancholy feelings of loving someone so much but knowing they will never love you in the same way.
The song resonated with so many people because many related to the feeling. MacLeod tells the New York Times, “people seem to love hearing going as in-depth of someone’s life as they can.” The rise of Complex shows vulnerability is contagious and people resonate with that.
Later in the week, she released a demo to all streaming platforms and a few days later was signed a deal with the British arm of Colombia Records. Her writing style is very in the moment and that is portrayed in her songs.
She tells the NY Times, “When the chorus did so well, I swore to myself, I am not changing one word of the rest of the song,” she said. “It worked because it was just a moment, and it was a moment that was very real and raw.”
In December of 2022, MacLeod released an EP titled, songs written for piano. Katie Gregson-MacLeod has seemed to encapsulate the emotions many young people feel as they experience a break up.
TikTok has skyrocket these four young women music careers and the app will continuously promote music to add to out playlist. We can confidently we will be looking out for more up and coming artists on TikTok.
Will you be doing the same? Leave a comment down below!