Music focused social media platform Tiktok has really exploded in Nigeria, thanks to the quarantine and the thousands of challenges it has spawned. Music artists like Doja Cat and Megan The Stallion have ridden tik-tok virality to help improve the charting of their songs on streaming platforms to much success. Doja Cat (a South African born American popstar) as been especially skilled at leveraging social media to promote her music. And Nigerian musicians like Simi and Ladi Poe are finally catching on and making the trend work for them.

The first Nigerian song to really drive a challenge on Tik-Tok  were the duo Young T & Bugsey whose song ‘Dont Rush’ was used to drive a Tiktok challenge that saw people ‘transform’ from understated to glamorous versions of themselves. Thousands of ‘Dont Rush’ challenges flooded the internet from across the world, carrying the song along with them and turning the song into one of the most instantly recognizable songs on the globe. You know a song has attained virality when it is used to soundtrack a marvel challenge with some of the biggest cosplayers in the world.

These cosplays are siiickkkkkkk ? pic.twitter.com/wpAiEvFiNe

— Eyan Shinana Mefa (@TheAkindare) April 28, 2020

Ever a consumate business man, rapper Falz took over the Dont Rush challenge in late March 2020, about a month after it had gained virality with his ‘Bop Daddy’ challenge promoting his own single. The premise was the same, transformation challenge, but he added a cash prize on Instagram and piggybacked off the trend to send his music to a global audience. Falz’s iteration of challenge made such headway, it eventually put three officers of the Nigerian immigration challenge in trouble after their video was shared on social media.

 

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The Jam! Now you can vibe on #KnowYou on @tiktok – Do a duet with me or Ladipoe – follow us too ?. . @symplysimi @ladipoe.live

A post shared by Simi (@symplysimi) on Apr 22, 2020 at 12:09pm PDT

Now Simi and Ladi Poe are piggy backing off the trend by releasing ‘Know You’, a duet clearly crafted for Tiktok virality. The duo released a companion video introducing their challenge on Instagram that uses the Tiktok duet feature to promote the song. So far, dozens of high profile Nigerian celebrities have jumped on the trend including Tacha and Don Jazzy.

Is Tiktok going to level the playing field for Nigerian streaming artists looking for a boost? Its a little early in the game, but we think so.

Editor