Remember back before March when TikTok was an app strictly for Gen Z, and no millennial would be caught dead on it? And now we’re all racing to go viral on it before it gets banned—TikTok may have had the only glow-up of 2020. But while we were all scrambling to learn the Savage dance, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Drew Ryn cracked the code on going viral on TikTok, for doing something totally new and creative (aka not the same dance or sound we’ve all seen a million renditions of). The 23-year-old has been making music since 2014, when she appeared on X Factor, and now she’s huge on TikTok. Drew only joined the app at the end of 2019 and has already racked up 1.6 million followers, largely thanks to her creative take on the random 3 word challenge. Basically, a word generator picks three random words and she then writes a 60-second song using those words. Recently, the word generator gave her “oppose, chest, and orchestra”, and Drew’s 60-second song went viral, getting over 10 million views in just 3 days.
Because of the viral success of “Orchestra”, Drew is now releasing a video for her hit, and Betches readers are getting the first look. But first, we of course had to ask Drew her secrets for going viral on TikTok. Here’s what she said:
“There are a few main things that I think are important for going viral on TikTok. The first thing, which seems obvious, but can be harder than you’d think at times, is AUTHENTICITY. I can’t tell you how big of a difference it makes when you post content that has a down-to-earth real feel, rather than planned out. People love real. I love real.
The second thing I always try to incorporate in my videos is original content mixed with current viral trends. If you can take a trend and then add something completely new to it, people will feel drawn to the familiarity but interested in the originality.
The last thing that I know has changed my content, is not overthinking anything. When I do my random word challenges I always take the first three words that pop up and write a song with them. I never film it twice or shoot for different words, and I always finish the song in less than 30 minutes. The more I think about it the less authentic it feels.”
Check out the video for “Orchestra” below, and be sure to follow Drew on Instagram and, of course, TikTok.
Image: @damagedmoments
