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Does Virality Lead to Positive Life Changes?
“Life Changed by a Single Video!” You may have seen such words and stories in recent years. But, has it really changed the life of the person who got the buzz? Are they happy?
Before you proceed with reading this text, I’d like to clarify who is writing this. Until about six months ago, I worked at Bytedance (the company behind TikTok), and currently, I work as a music writer, editor, and creative director. I interview and engage with a new generation of artists who showcase their talents in ways not seen in the pre-pandemic music industry, such as imase, natori, meiyo, Noa, Mulasaki Ima, and Peroperokyaan Day while create content by myself, including videos on social media platforms. Amidst all this, me and my parter started a Tiktok account on a whim to try posting short videos. Our account went viral from the very first video, and now their total social media followers exceed 500,000.
I was inspired to write this article on this topic after watching the movie ‘Buzzy Noise.’ The film, which opens in theaters on May 3, is directed by Hiroki Kazama, who also directed the dramas “silent” and “Chelimaho,” and is written and directed by Kawamura Yoshiaki, who also wrote the manga ‘Buzzy Noise.’ Takumi Kawanishi (JO1) and Hiyori Sakurada play the lead roles. The content of the film was very realistic, depicting very delicately the anguish and emotional turmoil of artists and creators in an age when social networking services cannot be ignored.
Without giving away spoilers, here’s a summary: Kiyosumi (Takumi Kawanishi), who composes music alone at home, gets unexpectedly filmed by Ushio (Hiyori Sakurada), and when she uploads it on social media, it goes viral. Following this, Kiyosumi proceeds with his activities as an artist. However, triggered by a certain event, he begins to convince himself to live as per the advice of a senior figure in the record company, who suggests that as a person lacking social skills, it’s more suitable for him to write songs for someone else and be appreciated as a songwriter. As the story progresses from there.
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Capturing the Essence: ‘Buzzy Noise’ Reflects Today’s Music Industry
The phrase “Life Changed by a Single Video!” often used in promoting SNS-related content or introducing SNS-born artists/creators feels too conveniently abbreviated in the process. “Life changing in a single video” is frankly an illusion.
“The buzz” is nothing more than opening one door. In the next stage, one’s abilities, humanity, intellect, luck, and more are tested once again. Sometimes, while struggling with the dilemma of “continuing what you love is difficult” (a line from the movie), the only way to move forward in activities and life is to keep opening doors one by one and advancing the pieces. Artists who hit the mainstream from SNS have all continued to open doors one by one with their own efforts. What I first felt in ‘Buzzy Noise’ was the realism of not portraying a simplistic narrative like “a single video going viral changes your life.”
Is “buzz” happy for artists and creators? For Kiyosumi, who was afraid of getting involved with other people and thought it was fine to just work with his hands alone, an unexpected buzz was not necessarily something to be happy about. Buzz also opens a different door to happiness for him. In the first place, the door may open when you don’t fully understand what happiness is for you.
Kiyosumi in the situation of “I wasn’t prepared to be on the stage, but I ended up being on the stage” also seemed very realistic. Nowadays, with the development of SNS algorithms, an unknown person can suddenly attract a great deal of attention, and even if the person is not ready for it, there are more and more cases that make them debut or release music before they are forgotten by the public. Unless an artist is ready to be on the stage and in the mainstream of the music scene while interacting with a large number of people, he or she cannot continue to produce good results and may even suffer from mental illness. I have actually seen talent in the industry that has withered away in this way, and talent that has been crushed by third-rate adults.
There are many artists in today’s music scene who posted videos on SNS with the idea of “I’m not confident in my singing, but I just tried to sing along,” and who have since gone on to become professional singers, struggling hard and refining their own ways of expression. Kiyosumi, who “just wanted to live a normal life and play music,” began to work and interact with people after the buzz, and the sight of her struggling with various problems and even trying her hand at singing seemed to overlap with the battles of such people.
