I stumbled on a track I really like by Estherlivia (Esther Ribbstedt Österman). It’s called Limbo and which is taken from her upcoming debut EP. The 22 year old singer-songwriter and producer hails from Sweden. The song was featured on Sounds of Sweden Playlist via Apple Music and Spotify’s GRL PWR. Give it a stream on Indie Invaders Playlist.

Did anyone watch ‘One World Together At Home’? I did not. But I sifted through the some headlines which were more or less negative and watched some clips. Mind you, I’m not looking for negativity. I want the pot at the end of the rainbow. I wanted to be uplifted but most of the artists chose to sing sad songs. I’m not sure why? Maybe because most their shows were forced to cancel for the remainder of 2020.

I’ll be honest, the two hour live stream put on by the World Health Organization and Global Citizen was hard to watch. Regardless, it was put together to raise awareness and money. Hence, stay home and save lives is a motto to live by for today.

Taylor Swift was forced to cancel all performances for 2020. Although Swift never booked a massive tour in support of her Lover album, she did still have a handful of shows.

Swift was set to headline the European festival Glastonbury. She was also booked July 25th and July 26th at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on July 31st and Aug. 1st.

Post Malone and Lana Del Rey have produced a new crop of artists capitalizing off their sound. Some are even better, well to be open, I haven’t discovered an artist better or more relatable than Post Malone but I think Lana Del Rey has lost her way musically. I think emerging artists like Baby Jane fills that space, offering emotion over quick soundbytes. The 18 year old hails from Los Angeles and her debut single “Khaleesi” garnered traction on TikTok with her #KhaleesiChallenge clocking over 250,000 impressions. Check out the track Games on Indie Invaders Playlist.

TikTok is the latest trend. But can you get famous off of the Chinese-owned platform? I’m not sure if you can build a meaningful audience through TikTok. Everybody is trying to build popularity off these platforms which also makes it difficult. Plus, the concept of building off a platform, then starting another site is no longer new.

Is TikTok more than a passing fad? I don’t know, but do you remember when Snapchat was hyped as the next big thing?

Don’t get me wrong, TikTok does have some features that makes it stand out. TikTok is all about fun. Hence, it’s not really a place for brands and social media marketers, it’s all about fun.

Hashtags, lip synchs and the ByteDance are the pillars of the platform. The algorithm quickly learns each user and taste and then rolls out an endless stream of content hooking the user. People spend about 45 minutes a day on the platform.

Users aren’t pressured to build a sizable audience or at least that doesn’t seem to be the goal like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.