THE incredible social media-driven success of Newcastle band Vacations overseas reached new heights this week when they cracked the US viral top-50 on Spotify.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The viral charts are determined by metrics and take into account a song's virality or how often it's shared. Amazingly it wasn't Vacations' latest single Panache, but their 2016 track Young which has experienced the renewed interest.
The song is currently No.39 alongside international giants like One Direction and Glass Animals.
This is where it gets really interesting. Young's popularity boost is the result of the song being used in a new TikTok craze for the mid-2000s UK TV show Skins.
Apparently Skins has become "nostalgic" with young TikTok users.
Vacations' Young was used as the soundtrack for a new TikTok video made for Skins, which has since gone viral.
That in turn has driven thousands of new listeners to Vacations.
Young has since risen to more than 4 million streams on Spotify and taken Vacations' monthly listeners to 541,000.
It's perfect timing with the forthcoming release of the band's second album Forever In Bloom on September 18.
TRUE BLUE HIT
KURRI Kurri country-pop songstress Kirsty Lee Akers has also been enjoying viral success.
Her collaboration with Amber Lawrence, Aleyce Simmonds and Dianna Corcoran for the cover of John Williamson's iconic True Blue surpassed 1 million views of its video on Facebook.
The song also debuted at No.1 on the iTunes Country chart and cracked the top-40 in the pop chart.
"The amount of times this video has been viewed has blown us away, along with the very beautiful comments of how much this song means to people," Akers said. "It's been an amazing experience."
SLOBBY LAUNCH
THE long wait to finally hear dave the band's debut album Slob Stories is gonna end with a bang on August 28.
Not only are the Newcastle three-piece releasing the album that day, they'll also play a launch show at the Cambridge Hotel. Due to COVID-19 restrictions it'll be a seated gig restricted to 100 people.
Slob Stories was recorded in Chicago back in November 2018 by Nirvana producer Steve Alibini.
JONES SHARES BABY
ANYONE that tuned into Triple J's Roots n All on Monday night was treated to Georgie Jones' new single Baby.
The Newcastle soul singer has left behind her jazz roots on the new single for an anthemic pop-rock sound with elements of '70s Americana and '80s new-wave. But as usual, it's Jones' amazingly powerful voice which shines.
Melbourne musician and Sex On Toast frontman Angus Leslie produced and features on the track.
Baby will be released on August 13, followed by the video on August 18.
JOURNEY AT AN END
FOLK-rock band India & The Journey To The East announced their break-up on Wednesday after two years to focus on new projects. However, before they depart the band are releasing a final single Something on August 15, the 21st birthday of frontwoman India Seddon-Callaghan.
Last year India & The Journey To The East released their debut EP The Sun, The Moon, The Truth and in March they dropped a single, Sunshine.
MAYF TO THE CORE
THE often-maligned working-class Newcastle suburb of Mayfield, while home to many songwriters, isn't often celebrated. However, indie-folk songwriter Megan Core has penned a homage to her former home with her upcoming second single Lost In Mayfield.
The track will be released on August 21.
BENNETT SINGLE
NEWCASTLE folk troubadour James Bennett is also getting ready to release a new single and he's wound the clock right back.
The new track Strong In The Wind was originally written in 2011 when Bennett started performing live.
"I've been waiting for the right time to record it properly ever since I wrote it," Bennett said.
"It's very acoustic and percussive, quite different to a lot of my other songs and previous recordings."
