Why Sped-Up Music—From SZA, Steve Lacy And Many More—Took Over TikTok And Became A Key Marketing Strategy

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Why Sped-Up Music—From SZA, Steve Lacy And Many More—Took Over TikTok And Became A Key Marketing Strategy

Fan-curated remixes with faster beats and high-pitched vocals have gotten so popular that artists are hopping on the trend themselves.

www.forbes.com

This is an article that just popped up in my feed. I have noticed this is becoming a trend, but becoming an official method of remixing music. But MJ did it first, with Bad and with many of his songs. Not to the extremes TikTok did, with the chipmunk times, but certainly higherthan the songs actually were. That's fascinating. What's old is new again.

 

[DuranDuran]

This is an article that just popped up in my feed. I have noticed this is becoming a trend, but becoming an official method of remixing music. But MJ did it first, with Bad and with many of his songs. Not to the extremes TikTok did, with the chipmunk times, but certainly higher than the songs actually were. That's fascinating. What's old is new again.

I don't know about that. 'Cause I'm pretty sure there's some Stevie Wonder, Sly & The Family Stone, & Funkadelic songs from the 1970s with sped up and slowed down vocals. It has also long been used before that on comedy (like Spike Jones songs) & children's records. I think George Martin sped up some parts of Strawberry Fields by The Beatles too. George Martin produced comedy albums before working with The Beatles, so he probably got the idea from working on those.

 

[zinniabooklover]

I don't know about that. 'Cause I'm pretty sure there's some Stevie Wonder, Sly & The Family Stone, & Funkadelic songs from the 1970s with sped up and slowed down vocals.

I'm sure you're right about this. Especially the kids' songs, they were hideous, IIRC. Tbf, we used to make our own. With a record player you could do your own speeded up or slowed down stuff. I did it all the time although that's a different kind of 'speeded up' I guess. The 'comedy' kind. The kind you mean, I can't remember specific artists, just the general idea that it did happen. It must have been mentioned in the music press, I suppose.

It has also long been used before that on comedy (like Spike Jones songs) & children's records.

This for sure. Although it was grim.

I think George Martin sped up some parts of Strawberry Fields by The Beatles too.

Yep, the Beatles for sure. It was more than just SF. There were a few others.

George Martin produced comedy albums before working with The Beatles, so he probably got the idea from working on those.

god, that's so interesting.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

I do think we were talking about different things actually

 

[DuranDuran]

I do think we were talking about different things actually

Are we though? Alvin & The Chipmunks have been around since the 1950s and they're still popular. They even had a series of live action movies not that long ago. Also Kanye West was doing sped up old R&B songs in the early 2000s. Although not sped up, there was the fast talker John Moschitta Jr. in the 1980s, the early 2000s rapper Twista, and the character Six on the 1990s sitcom Blossom. So people have always been into this. TikTok didn't create a trend, maybe it made it popular with a younger audience. Just like TikTik didn't invent funny dances.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Are we though? Alvin & The Chipmunks have been around since the 1950s and they're still popular. They even had a series of live action movies not that long ago. Also Kanye West was doing sped up old R&B songs in the early 2000s. Although not sped up, there was the fast talker John Moschitta Jr. in the 1980s, the early 2000s rapper Twista, and the character Six on the 1990s sitcom Blossom. So people have always been into this. TikTok didn't create a trend, maybe it made it popular with a younger audience. Just like TikTik didn't invent funny dances.

I'm talking about MJ, for starters. Yes, other people filtered their voice, Prince and Camille, hello? But just the act of speeding up the vocals on your records, I still say that was a unique way he did it. Subtly, to make it enhance his style. Not in an obvious way, not for a comedic purpose. Just to change his range.

Certainly in R&B you wouldn't have expected Mariah Carey to play with and filter her voice like that.

 

[DuranDuran]

But just the act of speeding up the vocals on your records. I still say that was a unique way he did it.

Sir Nose D Voidoffunk doesn't agree with that.

This is Billy Joel in the 1990s talking about his debut solo album from 1971

I've also read that the Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue album was slightly sped up (not on purpose) and that's an instrumental record. I think a corrected speed was released on a deluxe remastered reissue in the 2000s. But it's only on that version. The versions out now have the same mix as the original

 

[@mjfanatic777]

It didn’t just take over TikTok it took over middle school girls


I’m sorry but it’s so annoying they are like “the boys a lier” “the boys a lier” “your not looking at me boy” all the time
I’m in 8th grade and I’m the only MJ fan in the school so it get’s annoying and then the 8th grade (now 9th grade) boys also have to mock the girls and then your teacher gets mad and she yells at us for being disrespectful to her so yea…and it all has to happen in history class, my favorite subject, and last year we had to share the class with the now high schoolers then 8th graders

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

It didn’t just take over TikTok it took over middle school girls


I’m sorry but it’s so annoying they are like “the boys a lier” “the boys a lier” “your not looking at me boy” all the time
I’m in 8th grade and I’m the only MJ fan in the school so it get’s annoying and then the 8th grade (now 9th grade) boys also have to mock the girls and then your teacher gets mad and she yells at us for being disrespectful to her so yea…and it all has to happen in history class, my favorite subject, and last year we had to share the class with the now high schoolers then 8th graders

Most kids know how to drag a joke through the mud lol.

 

[filmandmusic]

Maybe this is not new but it apparently got bigger than any of its past iterations. Speeding up children’s music or comedy is one thing (speeding up images is being done since the early Lumière days in film to make something comedic). This feels different, the speeding up is not done for comedic effect to please kids but it feels artistically merited even if I don’t understand why lol

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Sir Nose D Voidoffunk doesn't agree with that.

This is Billy Joel in the 1990s talking about his debut solo album from 1971

I've also read that the Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue album was slightly sped up (not on purpose) and that's an instrumental record. I think a corrected speed was released on a deluxe remastered reissue in the 2000s. But it's only on that version. The versions out now have the same mix as the original

Most of those examples aren't very subtle. The TikToks aren't either. Tabloid Junkie or let's say, the Bad album, is overall a bit harder to detect if you're not paying attention.

 

[filmandmusic]

Look at the girl dancing in the Elvis clip, I will never understand how you could dance like that in the 60s without feeling completely awkward. It’s terrible.

 

[DuranDuran]

Look at the girl dancing in the Elvis clip, I will never understand how you could dance like that in the 60s without feeling completely awkward. It’s terrible.

That's called go-go dancing. It's all over the 1960s music show Shindig. Shindig was an American Bandstand type of program.

 

[filmandmusic]

That's called go-go dancing. It's all over the 1960s music show Shindig. Shindig was an American Bandstand type of program.

Hehe I had seen it before but couldn’t put a name on it. I wonder when it will return as a hype

 

[DuranDuran]

Hehe I had seen it before but couldn’t put a name on it. I wonder when it will return as a hype

You can kinda say twerking is the modern go-go dancing, lol.

In regards to speeding up music. Sometimes it wasn't done as an effect to be noticed by the listener, just like autotune isn't always done for a T-Pain type of vocal sound. It was done because they were working with vinyl and they wanted to fit the songs on a record and avoid cutting parts of the song off. If you go over a certain amount of time on a record, it will lose sound quality. The engineer can either speed the song up, or they would have to make it a 2 record album. They didn't just speed up the vocals like The Chipmunks, they sped up the entire song. In this case, it's not supposed to be detected, it's only slightly sped up.