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August 18, 2025
When I scroll through TikTok, I frequently see users complain about the artists they enjoy blowing up. Recently this has happened with Osamason after his track “Made Sum Plans” blew up on the platform following a creator making a cover of it. There have been mixed reactions, but a lot of his core fan base has shown outrage.
Another artist who experienced this is SZA (despite being insanely popular) with her extended cut of the track “Wavy.” This song has exploded on TikTok lately and resulted in multiple trends and a lot more people being exposed to the song than before.
The pattern I see here stems from people wanting to be "niche" and participate in the practice of individualism. They want to be the only enjoyer of something, and not actively engage with mainstream activities. There is a desire to be different at all times, and notably in the music space, where pretentious attitudes can dominate the media. People should be more open to the success of artists they enjoy, as it opens doors for them that may have been inaccessible before, and provides them with resources that enable them to produce even more art on a larger scale. Individualism will be the death of communal engagement with art.