Photo: Burak Cingi/Redferns
TikTok tends to anoint a very specific type of artist. Dancey, young, conventionally attractive. Your Addison Raes, Bellas Poarch, and Stephen Malkmusses. Yes, one of the biggest bands on TikTok right now is Pavement, and we’ve collectively popped our Malkmussies enough to give the 90’s indie band its first RIAA Gold certification. Stereogum noted the achievement on May 16. The B-side “Harness Your Hopes” became a thing thanks to the Spotify algorithm, then became a trending sound on TikTok. (So if Billy Corgan suddenly starts arguing that ByteDance needs to divest for the sake of America, you’ll know why.)
“Harness Your Hopes” wasn’t even an official album release until 2008, when it was added to the expanded reissue of 1997’s Brighten the Corners. After getting noticed by the Spotify algo, the band commissioned a new music video directed by Alex Ross Perry and starring Yellowjackets’ Sophie Thatcher. On TikTok, people have made up their own dances, but also dissected the lyrics, or just used the song for fit checks. “Harness Your Hopes” joins “Strange” by Galaxie 500 and Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love” as songs that our robot overlords decided were bops. Hey, when they’re right they’re right.
