Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
This week: The second song from Doja Cat’s new era appears off to a stronger start than her first, a new viral hit injects streaming with a particularly youthful energy, and a TV sync helps a music legend “Shine” even brighter than usual.
Doja Cat “Paints the Town Red” With Ample Streams
After launching her new musical era with the boom-bap-influenced “Attention” — which debuted and peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 — Doja Cat has returned with her newest single, “Paint the Town Red.” The Grammy-winner’s latest radio single features a prominent sample of Dionne Warwick’s classic 1964 Hot 100 top ten hit “Walk On By,” accented by subtle brass and finger snaps.
According to Luminate, “Paint the Town Red” earned just over 8.12 million official on-demand U.S. streams between August 4-7, with its biggest daily total (2.47 million) coinciding with its official release date (Aug. 4). Since its debut, “Paint the Town Red” has remained in the top ten of Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart, maintaining stronger daily numbers than “Attention” did across its debut week.
Unlike some of her past hits such as the Hot 100-topping “Say So” (with Nicki Minaj), Doja’s latest hit is not riding on a wave of TikTok virality: While the official “Paint the Town Red” TikTok sound currently boasts over 11,500 posts, more of the song’s traction appears to be coming from its horror-themed music video. In the official clip for “Paint the Town Red,” Doja dances with both the devil and a Grim Reaper-esque Death figure. The music video has amassed just under 6 million global views on YouTube in under a week.
Doja’s streaming success comes on the heels of her five nominations at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, including a video of the year nod for “Attention.” – KYLE DENIS
‘Wasted Summers’ Goes Viral Thanks to Little Sister Sing-Along
Juju<3, an 18-year-old California singer-songwriter who’s been posting music online for roughly a year, is currently sitting atop Spotify’s Viral 50 U.S. chart — although it’s more accurate to say that Juju and his kid sister are sharing that No. 1 ranking.
“Wasted Summers” starts off as a melancholy pop-rock track featuring Juju (real name: Julian Perez) bemoaning his dog-day regrets in out-of-focus vocals, but in the second half of the song, he’s joined by his 10-year-old sister Lailah, who harmonizes in an ecstatic high pitch. The duet between the teen and pre-teen siblings started taking off on TikTok late last week, with users focusing on the Lailah-assisted portion of the track and finishing the lyric, “I wasted my summer trying to…,” with their own time-chewing activities.
Streams of “Wasted Summers” have exploded over the past week — from Aug. 4-7, the song earned 647,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, a nearly 1700% increase from the previous Friday-to-Monday period, according to Luminate — and Juju<3 and manager Peyton Miller recently finalized a funding deal with Indify, partnering with Good Boy Records and Stellar Trigger. “Lailah and I are very grateful and cant even wrap our heads around this!!!” he posted to TikTok a few weeks ago, adorably including the hashtags #bigbrother and #littlesister. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
A ‘Righteous’ Bump for Dolly’s ‘90s Alternative Cover
You’ve likely heard that recently inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dolly Parton is recording her first rock album this year – Rockstar, due on Butterfly/Big Machine this November – but did you know that she’d previously covered one of the biggest rock hits of the mid-‘90s? The creators of HBO’s megachurch satire The Righteous Gemstones did, featuring Parton’s rootsy version of Collective Soul’s 1994 alt smash “Shine” (which she covered on her 2001 Sugar Hill/Blue Eye LP Little Sparrow) in the closing montage to the show’s season three finale, “Wonders That Cannot Be Fathomed, Miracles That Cannot Be Counted,” which aired July 30.
Parton’s version of the song saw a considerable bump as a result of the show’s surprisingly emotional use of the immaculate cover. According to Luminate, after amassing just over 10,000 official on-demand U.S. streams July 28 – 30, that number nearly tripled to just over 30,000 from July 31 – August 2, the three-day period following the finale’s airing. (It also sold nearly 500 digital songs the full tracking week of August 3, after selling a negligible amount the previous week.) As usual, heaven lets its light shine down on the Leading Lady of Country. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
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