Alternative rock band MGMT has opened up about their track “Little Dark Age” going viral on TikTok, attributing luck for the viral success. The duo consisting of Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamin Goldwasser spoke about the success of the song years after its release since they were not TikTok users, and they were not initially aware of the song’s virality on the platform during the pandemic.
Goldwasser said, “That was enlightening in that none of the conscious stuff we did to promote that album mattered as much as this random thing that got picked up on TikTok. I think in a way that freed us up a little bit on this record to just focus on the music. Don’t worry about the other stuff and whatever happens, happens.” Meanwhile, VanWyngarden mentioned that their fear of attempting to make a viral pop song was absent, and “We just keep getting pretty lucky.”
According to reports, TikTok users have used the song to create more than 5.5 million videos that embed the song into different social contexts such as anime, superhero films, and video games. Other users use it to transform themselves into figures from classical paintings, express solidarity with those who identify as trans, and, most recently, to soundtrack footage of Russian missile bombardment of Kyiv.
Goldwasser added, “What I think is really cool about it personally is how much of it is out of our hands. It’s completely unintentional. It’s not like we have control over how people are interpreting this. People are just taking it and running with it. For me as a musician, that’s really exciting. That’s more creative than trying to figure out what an artist has to say, or trying to get at the deeper meaning behind something. A lot of times, there is no deeper meaning. The meaning is what’s out in the world.”
The band’s latest single “Nothing to Declare” is out, and it is from their upcoming album “Loss of Life,” set to arrive on February 23 via Mom + Pop Music, which is the band’s first album in nearly six years and a follow-up to 2018’s “Little Dark Age.” Brian Burton, popularly known as Danger Mouse, provides additional production on “Mother Nature,” while Christine and the Queens is set to appear on the song “Dancing in Babylon,” marking her first feature on an MGMT album
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