postcard playlist no 9: I got back on TikTok edition

the plus side of rot time is discovering new artists

I quit TikTok in January of 2024, and then I got sick of not being able to watch videos friends sent me, so I made a burner account and would delete and redownload the app every time I wanted to watch a video. Somewhere in the exhausted overwhelm of this summer, I gave in to the cheap dopamine hit and now lose a solid hour or two of my life to TikTok a day. I’ve already given myself an expiration date for this habit that I thought I’d kicked long ago. I’m deleting the app before I get on the plane to Dublin and not touching it again. But for now, I’m letting the brain rot escapism soothe my sleepy, anxious soul.

As a byproduct of being on the app, though, I have been exposed to more new artists throwing their hat in the ring, hoping each video is the lottery ticket that brings them into the big time. While I’ve always argued that TikTok isn’t actually all that great for music discovery or artistry, it is one way to be introduced to new talent, and being a few years removed from my music industry degree, I don’t actively make an effort to discover music the way I used to. It’s almost made me nostalgic for the time I spent running my online music magazine, Musings, in high school and college.

So here’s what I’ve added to my playlist from my time on TikTok:

“Graves” by Cas Cleo

It’s been a while since a chorus hook has randomly hit me like a freight truck but “I’m just thinking about how / We’ll have graves in different states / And I thought, mine would have your last name” truly did that. It’s a lens on the quieter devastation of a break-up that manages to make an age-old topic feel fresh. Cleo’s writing lives up to that line through the rest of the song with each verse encapsulating its own haunting memory of the relationship. She utilizes sensory details heavily in a way that creates a world to inhabit within the song. Cleo perfectly encapsulates the implications of no longer having a forever that hit you in the quiet moments after the anger has passed.

favorite lyric: when you go to parties and you can’t see straight / do you ever find me in someone else’s face?

“Body” by Elle Coves

While “Graves” is a perfect cry in the shower phase of the break-up song, “Body” takes the cake for when you’re ready to rage scream along to something more high energy. On the track, Coves wades through the ever confusing state of knowing that you no longer want to be involved with this person but being ripped apart inside with every piece of evidence that they’re moving on. It’s a fantastic “I’m totally okay but I’m not” song with a beat that will make you want to jump and head-bang simultaneously. Or, as seen in the visualizer, sing in the car.

favorite lyric: the thing is that it makes me kind of sick to think about / another body in your sheets / another reason you don’t sleep / somebody taking off your jeans

“True-ish” by OSTEN

And for this final song, OSTEN digs into the painful, confusing, and irritating reality of being trapped in a situationship with someone who has commitment issues (is that redundant?). There’s so much detail and playing with language wrapped in this tight, bouncy pop song that boils down to a very articulate version of “if he wanted to he would.” The song charts her growing understanding that this person is more than capable of making their relationship official if they wanted to.

favorite lyric: I don’t want to sit here in bar and sip on watered-down excuses