As a music fan, I’ve really enjoyed the second chance that older songs are getting when they are featured in new TV shows, and it looks like it’s happened again with Netflix’s Love Is Blind.
If you’ve never heard of it, the unique dating show (now in its 4th season) has an interesting premise: people get to know one another without ever seeing each other, removing the “physical attraction” aspect of dating from the equation.
The show first premiered in February of 2020, so a ton of viewers tuned in while, you know, everyone was stuck at home and dying for something to watch.
Love Is Blind has stuck around though, and besides the recent fiasco where Netflix unsuccessfully tried to live stream the season finale, things have gone really well for the show. The series’ most recent season even revived the 2000’s hit by Lee Ann Womack “I Hope You Dance.”
The powerful country-pop single hit the music scene in 2000 and was a Top 20 hit on the Hot 100 list during its initial release. Though it had a great run on its own, the Netflix show inadvertently helped to rejuvenate it.
The Grammy winning song has seen an increase of plays on streaming services between 24% and 30% since it was featured in a very special romance on Love Is Blind.
It’s also sitting Top 30 on iTunes Right now as well (may have been higher following the finale).
One of the couples, who “met” each other (remember they can’t see one another), happened to find a connection point with the song. Zack Goytowski and Bliss Poureetezadi (heck of a last name duo) were getting to know one another during the season, and Bliss asked Zack what his favorite song was.
Zack tells Bliss that he has a deep emotional connection with “I Hope You Dance,” and Bliss happens to be strongly connected to the country classic as well. Though Zack mistakenly says the song is by “Lee Ann Wombat,” the couple brushes past the name mispronunciation and end up falling in love.
Lee Ann Womack had a great sense of humor about the name mix up when she posted the clip on her social media and said:
“Just call me Lee Ann Wombat from now on.”
I will say, if you are going to say something is your “favorite song,” you would think you’d be pretty confident in the name of the song’s artist.
That guy looked like he was saying Lee Ann Womack out loud for the first time ever, but I digress.
It has become very common for TV shows and movies to cause spikes in streaming numbers for featured songs. In a time where many music consumers are discovering songs through media platforms like TikTok (rather than radio), you never know what song is going to catch fire next.
Depeche Mode’s 1987 song “Never Let Me Down Again” saw a “220%” increase on streaming sites following its feature in HBO’s The Last Of Us, and Spotify announced that Kate Bush’s 1985 track “Running Up That Hill” saw a staggering 9000% increase in streams following its inclusion in Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Based on those numbers, we are able to conclude two things:
-You never know when a song’s “time in the limelight” is going to be
-If you want a song to “pop,” feature it in a highly watched hit television show
Might as well start a playlist of “Songs That Were Featured In Popular TV & Movies And Popped.”
I’ll get it started:
Lee Ann Womack- “I Hope You Dance”
Depeche Mode- “Never Let Me Down Again”
Kate Bush- “Running Up That Hill”
