Like I assume many did, I’ve been logging some serious time into social media over the course of the pandemic, and one app, in particular, has been particularly interesting to me. TikTok is a short-form video app and one of the most popular social media apps on the market with 689 million active users. The app is unique in its relationship with music, it’s partnered with many major record labels on top of their catalog of user-submitted sounds, and that makes it one of the few platforms right now where you can have copyrighted music in your video without getting slapped with an infringement notice. One thing that makes the app really stand out is how it can absolutely propel a song into the stratosphere, and not just its own. Some American artists like Lil Nas X, Lizzo, and Doja Cat have all seen major cross-platform success from users making fan videos to their music.

I personally have found a lot of artists I like through TikTok and one of them I didn’t even know was from the town next over?

This artist is Powfu, and even if you don’t know the name you’ve probably heard his music. His track “Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head)” was released a year before it ultimately swept social media and netted him a No.1 on Billboard’s Hot Rock and Alt charts and is currently sitting at almost a billion listens on Spotify.

He’s had a busy 2020 putting out an album, an EP, and several singles. 2021 has already seen Powfu release three singles and one of the things I really like about his music is his writing. His latest track “The Long Way Home” deals with the difficult subject matter of domestic abuse, through the eyes of a teenager in the house. It’s a raw track and what I think Powfu has done really well is how he’s able to translate those feelings in a way that makes me remember what it felt like when I was a kid going through real problems and I felt I had no one to relate to. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/COk-BElLZV6/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

It was that feeling that got me into the alternative music scene in the first place, for me the writing in music from groups like Linkin Park, MCR, and Canadian groups like Billy Talent, Marianas Trench, and Faber Drive.

Funnily enough, Powfu (real name Isiah Faber) is the son of FD frontman Dave Faber and I think it’s super cool to see how music runs in the family and how that writing style is finding new life with Gen Z artists in 2021. 

Powfu’s next EP “Drinking Under the Streetlights” comes out June 4th and I for one, can’t wait.