Just when you thought pop country was on its last legs…
There’s absolutely no doubt that TikTok has changed the music industry. Much like how radio singles started taking away from full album releases, TikTok has prioritized and rewarded artists for presenting short, catchy excerpts of their songs. If the short sample of the song goes viral on the social media app, that can lead to spikes in popularity and listenership for the artist.
Long story short, TikTok can be life changing for artists as it allows them to promote their music and build up a fanbase… maybe not a loyal one, or one old enough to get into a concert, but a fanbase nonetheless who will stream the hell out of your music.
That being said, the trend towards TikTok being the new way to discover music brings forth things like this artist named Graham Barham. This TikTok “country” artist has cracked the code on how to use the social media app to his advantage, and has been teasing a new, unreleased song of his called “Oil Money.”
He first shared that it was in the works back on January 22:
@grahambarham WHAT Y’ALL THINK!?🧐 #newmusic #countrymusic #unreleased #musictok #countrymusictiktoks #fy ♬ OIL MONEY – Graham Barham
Since then, he’s been dropping teaser after teaser (after teaser) in an effort to build up the hype for the Landman inspired track.
And he’s racked up millions upon millions of views on TikTok, partially (if not all) thanks to calling in the viral ring girl Sydney Thomas from the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight. The 21-year-old started popping up all over social media even as the event was still unfolding, and Thomas has done a tremendous job of extending her 15-minutes-of-fame by staying active online ever since.
What do I mean by staying active online? Well, Thomas continually keeps her social media accounts active, she recently posed with Nick Saban after sharing that an SEC coach slid into her DMs, and she apparently chose to star in this TikTok country artist’s music video for “Oil Money.”
Just to clarify, it still hasn’t come out yet… but plenty of teasers like this one have:
@grahambarham OIL MONEY🛢️💰 #newmusic #countrymusic #unreleased #musictok #countrymusictiktoks #fy @Sydney Thomas ♬ OIL MONEY – Graham Barham
Yep, that’s Sydney Thomas alright.
Does she know all the words to the song? It doesn’t appear so. But I doubt most of the people tuning in to watch really care about that. And like I said, that’s just one of the many clips that have dropped playing the exact same part of the song repeatedly.
Here’s another that Graham shared of he and Thomas a couple of days after that first one:
@grahambarham OIL MONEY!!🛢️💰 #newmusic #countrymusic #unreleased #musictok #countrymusictiktoks #fy @Sydney Thomas ♬ OIL MONEY – Graham Barham
Whether you want to avoid the song altogether or it’s already stuck in your head and you actually do want to listen to it, “Oil Money” is set to come out on Valentine’s Day. Nothing says, “I love you babe,” like comparing the female body to oil money. I guess you could call this the modern version of “Body Like A Back Road?” Except it’s somehow so much worse…
Some TikTok users are excited for the drop (why?) and others are confused as to why Sydney Thomas agreed to be in the music video. But most are simply leaving behind comments like this:
“I knew ‘Landman’ was gonna go to people’s heads.”
“Song is hot garbage… and get a real hat if your gonna be a poser.”
“Morgan Fallen.”
“POV: you just finished binge watching ‘Landman’ season one.”
“I’m getting Doug Dimmadome vibes.”
“Is this that Beyonce album?”
“This is so good… said no one ever.”
“Rap album of the year!”
“Morgan Holleran.”
“I’ve gotta lie… this song is fire.”
“People who never once worked in the oilfield but watched ‘Landman’ think this slaps.”
“I miss old country music.”
“This is HARD… to listen to.”
Make no mistake, country music is in a GREAT place right now, and yet… we still have bozos like this popping up left and right. You’d almost assume this was some kind of parody, or trolling, but then you scroll through the TikTok feed and nope… he’s dead serious.
