Everyone had to commodify their personalities now by becoming a comedian, or making some other sort of clickbait emotional appeal. Artists needed to be dancers and models and lifestyle influencers; they needed to open up about their innermost struggles. An extreme sense of literalism in lyrics triumphed, with songwriters angling to position themselves as easily legible TikTok personalities, as relatable underdogs hustling for streams.
I never considered TikTok to cause the rise of deeply confessional songwriting, but it makes sense
