I’m not very fond of TikTok and all of its delusional life hacks, but whether I like it or not, there is recycled content there that became part of the Instagram reels that kept me stuck. Now that I’ve ditched reels entirely, I can confirm the brain rot and suspicious gathering of my private conversations with my phone sensors off. I can’t say it’s all bad news though, because a band I know has resurfaced thanks to Tik Tok called Mother Mother, thanks to their songs like “Hayloft” and “O My Heart”. 

I remember hearing them on Evolution’s radio when I was on air, especially “Hayloft”, which turns out to have the most searched-up lyrics in the United States, and it has the second most searched lyrics in the world in 2022.

Mother Mother / Spotify

Ryan Guldemond was surprised to see the band growing on Tik Tok in 2020. While everyone in the studio pleaded for him not to go on Tik Tok because it’s Chinese spyware, he found out how much their older songs appealed to the Gen Z audience, especially the LGBTQ demographic. Especially for such a lonely and strange time, Mother Mother has a shifting and experimental sound, and it happened to click so well with those who felt like misfits. 

Another reason it happened to click so well was because Ryan’s voice was androgynous, which means that it has both masculine and feminine traits that might be somewhere in the middle. 

I think Garrett Borns’ falsetto would be a good example if you ever listened to BORNS. That word also helps describe my inner voice. Whenever I read, it’s in my voice, but it’s more androgynous. Ryan actually wanted his voice to be masked because he had insecurities about it, which formed a sound that’s almost genderless.

Normally for things that go viral online, people quickly move on, but it’s good that wasn’t the case for Mother Mother. While they were primarily featured in Canada, they eventually resonated with a loyal fanbase internationally years later.

Ryan was worried since the band relied on Canadian radio stations to survive. He wrote his older songs proudly and almost effortlessly. He makes a good point of how the work of artists degrades over time as they struggle to find that childlike spark when adult life is so taxing.

While I generally don’t like Tik Tok, it can give artists an opportunity to resonate with a new audience.