Bluegrass “Mr. Brightside”
A Tiktok Roots Revival
Photo By Nathaniel Clayton
I was born in the year 2000, a member of the first ever group of humans handed social media accounts in middle school. We lab rats were the first to leave our digital footprint on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat at the tender age of twelve, tying us permanently tighter to the virtual world than any past generation. I knew social media like the back of my hand—until TikTok introduced the idea that it might truly serve the music industry in a meaningful way.
Given its billion users across the globe, all connected by a virtual string whizzing by at the speed of sound, TikTok’s collective determination to make something happen has the scope and velocity to make real-world change— like when TikTokers spread the word about how to reserve a ticket online to former president Trump’s rally in Oklahoma with no plans of attending. But TikTok’s influence extends far beyond political pranks. In fact, its crown achievement is arguably its hand in the music industry.
TikTok wields overnight stardom power unlike any app I’ve ever known, shooting artists to fame overnight. And while the app gives established fans the power to boost their favorite artists’ songs to the top of the charts, it’s demonstrated a distinct willingness to create and amplify spaces for non-mainstream music to thrive, offering a loving home to every niche genre you could think of. So as a lover of all things folk and Americana, my spirits lift with each video of an indie-folk artist with hundreds of thousands of likes. Still, I never imagined TikTok would make room for bluegrass—until it fed me a video of twenty-somethings playing a bluegrass cover of “Mr. Brightside” with over two million views.
Posted on October 28, 2020 by 24-year-old Nashville-based musician Theo Kandel, the video has since amassed 2.2 million views, 505,900 likes and reigns as #Bluegrass’ top trending video. Settled into the idea that the most popular content only featured mainstream music, I found Theo Kandel and his band of musical housemates a hopeful treat—and I wasn’t alone.
Upon exploring Theo’s page
(@theokandel) I was amazed to find half a dozen more clips of him and his housemates gathered around their living room delivering twang-riddled renditions of the most iconic early 2000’s hits ranging from Fall Out Boy to Britney Spears, their second most popular video a lively cover of “Fall For You” by Secondhand Serenade that’s been viewed one million times.
Hearing the emo anthems of my tween years dressed up in blue jeans by a group of strangers was a laugh—but more importantly, it was good. A few times now, I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down with Theo and his talented housemates over Zoom to discuss how the video came to be, our generation’s relationship to bluegrass and why TikTok is currently the most powerful resource in a musician’s toolbox.
TikTok started off as a casual endeavor for Theo. “I got it and I was like, ‘I’m gonna try to do music because everyone says you’ve gotta get big on TikTok if you want to do well.’” He started by toggling between song covers/originals and funny content that he says, “didn’t do well but was fun for me,” until bluegrass changed everything. Theo bought a banjo on Facebook marketplace for $100 five days before making the video, saying “I learned the basics for like a month Junior year of high school, but I really hadn’t played since then.” Adding with a laugh, “Some people—the bluegrass purists—like to point out that I don’t play it right. But I’m learning and getting better.”
Ben Pleasant, Theo’s best friend and roommate for six years, talks about what it’s like contributing his guitar playing to the mix, saying, “It’s so fun for us because it’s just what we do, just sitting around playing music, and all of a sudden people want to watch. It’s awesome.”
Theo is what he calls, “your friendly neighborhood bluegrass imposter.” Like the rest of his friends, all Vanderbilt graduates, he’s not a bluegrass musician. “We’ve never played bluegrass in our lives,” Theo laughs, though Ben says he’s learned some from O Brother, Where Art Thou?. But on that night in October, with old friends from Vanderbilt’s star acapella group the Meladors gathered in the home of its former president, Theo, they took a crack at bluegrass. And boy, did it hit home.
Theo understands the nostalgic weight it holds for younger people, including Ben, who recalls trips to the mountains with his family scored by Nickel Creek and Allison Krauss & Union Station Live. “I think I probably had more revivalists,” Theo says about whether he thinks he converted any new bluegrass fans. “People that listened to bluegrass growing up with their family and then went through an emo phase. It touches on a big feeling of nostalgia with a lot of people and I’ve definitely seen that in the comments, too. Hopefully I converted some new people to like bluegrass. I think, though, people’s tastes work in waves and cycles, just like fashion. So, if I could start a new wave of appreciation for roots music, I’d be pretty psyched.”
Since the overwhelming success of “Mr. Brightside,” Theo has made a habit of hopping on TikTok livestream to engage with his followers and take requests, thousands tuning in to enjoy both the music and the company of others who have found joy in what Theo and his friends put out. “2,400 people joined [our livestream] last night which is more people than I’ve ever played to in one night.”
Unlike his housemates, Ben, a jazz guitarist, and Charlie Hackemer, a classically trained bassist, Theo is a singer-songwriter who planted his musical roots in folk at a young age. His venture into bluegrass simply is one exploratory branch of many, all of which continue to grow up and out in inspired directions. His first EPs were fueled by a love of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Simon and Garfunkel, all inspirations that continue to guide his newer music towards what he calls, “electro folk” as he connects with new artists like Bon Iver and Maggie Rogers, all while taking advice from the hits of Jackson Browne and The Eagles. It’s a fresh sound with one foot in folk and the other in modern pop and rock, aiming for, “songs that could be folk songs if you stripped it down to guitar and singing.”
While Theo has been releasing music on Spotify and Apple Music since 2015, TikTok continues to strengthen his fanbase and bring him to the next level. His latest singles have seen a boost in initial streams and he has high hopes for his new EP Spin Cycle that hits streaming services on June 18. “I think more than anything else it’s fostered a good relationship between me and the new fans that I’ve formed. The bluegrass demand has died down a bit, but what’s interesting is that the same type of people that are listening to my music and becoming new fans are all fans of— if not bluegrass music—bluegrass adjacent music, like folk. And I think as music continues to develop and we see different genres of music blending, it’s more important than ever for people to have an appreciation of different genres.”
Theo’s now successfully promoting his own music on TikTok but speaks to the pressure musicians feel about gaining recognition on the app. “I think TikTok is the best thing if you do well and the worst thing if you don’t,” Theo explains. “Because you see people do well that you think either don’t deserve it or you’re filled with jealousy and think you’re doing something wrong. But if you start doing well, you’re like, ‘Huh, this is the best thing ever.’”
Regarding the opinion that TikTok is boosting mainstream music so loudly that the little guys can’t break through the noise, Theo replies, “I disagree 100% and here’s why: ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac is #1 on the Spotify charts right now, and that’s insane. I think what TikTok does is hyper boost the pop that gets created. But in the same way that Spotify used playlists and recommendations to open up entirely new niche genres to people that would otherwise have to make communities and forums online to discover and find new people that like that music, TikTok expands the scope of discovery.”
TikTok’s Top 40 channel will always be loud, but alt genres like Bluegrass are becoming equally acceptable stations, and they’re reaching more people every day. After all, Theo, Charlie Hackemer, Garrett Cotter and Willy McNamara delivered TikTok one of the greatest alt-rock hits via banjo, upright bass, guitar, cajon drum and three-part harmony, and it resonated with hundreds of thousands of people—and we want more.
