There is basic algorithmic logic at play: sped-up songs are favored by the app because they pack a greater deal of emotional and lyrical information into a shorter window of time, and therefore cater well to diminishing attention spans.
William Gruger, who works on Global Music Programs at TikTok, wrote in an email that pitch- and speed-shifted remixes are “used to convey different meanings that then become synonymous with TikTok trends.” TikTok has identified sped-up as one of four production tweaks that have become the lingua franca of the app, alongside slowed down, bass boosted and lo-fi, each with its own “mood.” Sped-up remixes offer a dose of feel-good frivolity. “It’s cute, silly or happy,” Gruger said.
The TikTok creator Tristan Olson, known online as xxTristanxo, has amassed over three million followers by creating remixes for use on the app. His sped-up remixes receive overwhelmingly positive responses. In a phone interview, he described “nightcoring” a song as a transformative process: “Sometimes it feels like I’m hearing a song for the first time.”
Songying Wang was still in high school in the United Kingdom when he started his nightcore YouTube channel, AxionX, in 2015. He, like many other YouTubers, has pivoted his focus to TikTok as a matter of pragmatism. “TikTok has recently become a great place to upload nightcore and sped-up songs due to their more relaxed copyright policies,” he said in a phone interview, echoing the experiences of other creators who have seen their work vanish from YouTube. The D.I.Y. ethos of nightcore aligns with the culture of the app, which gives users incentives to become creators, as well as consumers: “Anyone can make nightcore and that’s what’s so fun about it.”
Although Nilsen and Soderholm had no specific professional ambitions when they pioneered nightcore, their legacy aligns with their sole artistic aim. “Our main focus was to make sad and relatable lyrics happier to listen to. Now, people reach out to us daily to tell us their story and about how Nightcore gets them through tough times,” they wrote. “We feel proud that our music makes people feel exactly the way we wanted them to.”
Harle believes the word “happy” undersells the sound’s emotional impact. “It doesn’t make me feel happy,” he said. “It makes me feel euphoric.”
