Here’s why ShantyTok makes the headlines:
I suspect the tok is related to TikTok. What’s the rest of it?
Indeed, you are half right. Sea Shanties are the latest trend at TikTok, hence ShantyTok.
I’m still at sea a little bit because of the “shanty” part. Help me?
I like the pun so I will. It’s a distinctive folk song genre invented by seafarers to tell their life at sea, and which also synchronizes actions of daily activities such as rowing or sailing with the singing.
I see (pun accidentally). Are those new songs then?
Oh no, the songs themselves are hundreds of years old. But now they have a new life on TikTok.
How did it start
It was a Scottish musician, Nathan Evans, who started it – accidentally – when he shared a video performing a version of “Wellerman,” a 19th century shanty from New Zealand. It turned out to be so catchy that it soon got 4 million views on TikTok.
I have it. But how did it become a viral trend?
So TikTok has a duet feature that allows users to record other people’s videos. Another TikTok user soon made a duet version of Evans’ rendition, and that too was noticed when it eventually turned into a multitude of TikTok videos that everyone jumped into and had fun with.
This whole trend has a nice, collaborative sound to it
Exactly – that could only be one reason why this trend has increased so much. With all the isolation surrounding the pandemic, this seemed like a chance for people to do something together, albeit virtually. Not to forget, the original idea behind the sea shanties was also that of solidarity, in which the seamen sang together.
This is then the year of the sea shanties
That’s exactly what a Twitter user said. However, Indians have to suspend this trend.
Well We just have to watch the videos elsewhere and pretend we’re singing along!
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