# Sped Up Tiktok Audios > Sped Up TikTok Audios emerged in 2016 as a music trend that accelerates popular songs by 25-30%, creating higher-pitched versions for short-form videos. Sped-up TikTok audios are a major music trend where users increase the tempo of popular songs by roughly 25-30% to create higher-pitched, faster versions for use in short-form videos[1]. The practice traces its roots to the early 2000s Nightcore genre but exploded on TikTok in the late 2010s and early 2020s, reshaping how people discover and consume music[2]. By 2022, the trend had grown large enough to push songs onto official charts and pressure major artists and labels into releasing their own sped-up versions on streaming platforms[1]. ## Origin Speeding up songs as an online practice first took hold in the early 2000s through Nightcore, a genre started by a Norwegian DJ duo of the same name who sped up Eurodance and trance tracks with higher pitch[5]. The name also became associated with anime and otaku culture because the high-pitched vocals in many remixes reminded listeners of anime character voices, leading to YouTube compilations set against anime still images[2]. The trend migrated to TikTok's predecessor, Musical.ly, as early as 2016. On March 30, 2016, a YouTuber uploaded a video titled "Musically Sped Up Song" featuring a sped-up version of Meghan Trainor's "No"[5]. By April 2017, compilation videos of Musical.ly content featured sped-up tracks throughout[5]. On November 5, 2018, Twitter user @nanasehirokawa posted "sped up tiktok songs is the nightcore of this era," marking one of the earliest explicit connections between the two trends on social media[5]. A separate but related wave came through the Chipmunk versions trend of the mid-2000s, where people posted sped-up songs designed to sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks around the release of the 2007 film. Many of those videos were pitched up rather than truly sped up[5]. - **Platform:** Musical.ly / TikTok (viral spread), YouTube (Nightcore precursor) - **Creator:** Unknown (community-created format); Nightcore (Norwegian DJ duo, genre originators) - **Date:** 2016 (TikTok/Musical.ly adoption), with roots in early 2000s Nightcore ## Overview Sped-up TikTok audios involve taking existing songs, increasing their playback speed by around 25-30%, and using the resulting higher-pitched, faster version as the soundtrack for short videos[1]. The sped-up treatment gives tracks a bouncier, more energetic feel that pairs well with dance clips, lip-syncs, comedic skits, and transition videos. Creators use these rapid audios to dance to, sing along with, or dramatize their content[4]. Most sped-up audios on TikTok are premade by another creator and then recycled across the platform. Users can tap the audio on any video and click "use this sound" to add it to their own content[4]. The format is closely related to the older Nightcore genre and Chipmunk versions of songs, both of which involve speeding up audio, though sped-up TikTok audios tend to be shorter snippets optimized for 15-60 second videos rather than full-length remixes[5]. ## How It Spread Sped-up sounds grew steadily on TikTok through the late 2010s. A sped-up version of Nicki Minaj's "Roman Holiday," posted by @stanaccountsog on September 22, 2019, was used in over 800,000 TikTok videos within three years[5]. The trend hit a new gear in early 2022. A sped-up remix of Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right" went viral in January 2022, spawning a wave of videos on the platform[5]. That same month, Instagram user breakingbad_irony posted an ironic Breaking Bad meme mocking TikTokers vibing to "horrible" sped-up tracks, pulling over 50,000 plays in nine months. A repost by pampam.mp4 hit 275,000 views in the same period[5]. YouTube channels like TikTokTunes began reuploading popular sped-up remixes, with two February 2022 uploads pulling 29 million and 15 million views respectively within eight months[5]. On Spotify, the account Speed Radio launched in March 2022 and quickly amassed over 7.3 million monthly listeners, with its top upload reaching 27 million plays by October 2022[5]. The hashtag #spedupsounds had gathered 23 billion views on TikTok by early November 2022[2]. A sped-up version of "Un Poco Loco" from Pixar's Coco, uploaded by @bestspedup in May 2022, accumulated 283,300 videos on TikTok, and the hashtag #unpocoloco hit 347.6 million views[5]. Artists began releasing official sped-up versions of their own tracks. Michael Bublé dropped a sped-up "Sway" on Spotify in May 2022 after the song went viral on TikTok, collecting over 13 million plays in five months[5]. Summer Walker released the first entirely sped-up album in 2022, a remixed version of her 2018 record Last Day of Summer, following a TikTok dance trend[1]. Sabrina Carpenter's hits "Please Please Please" and "Espresso" received official "Double Shot" (sped-up) and "Decaf" (slowed) releases that racked up millions of streams[1]. By 2023, UK artist RAYE's single "Escapism" climbed to number one on the UK Official Singles Chart, boosted by fan-made sped-up remixes that went viral around the lyric "the man that I loved sat me down last night and he told me it was over, dumb decision"[1]. The sped-up version alone hit over 216 million Spotify streams, contributing to a combined 841 million with the original[2]. Online producers also gained official recognition from labels. Music producer xxtristanxo, with over 3.7 million TikTok followers and nearly 2.6 million Spotify listeners, signed deals with major labels to release his remixes as official versions. His official sped-up remix of The Weeknd's "Die For You," released through XO and Republic Records, reached over 24 million streams[2]. ## How to Use Creating a sped-up TikTok audio typically follows this process: 1. **Find your song.** Pick a track you want to speed up. Download the audio from YouTube or another source[4]. 2. **Use an editing app.** CapCut is the most popular choice. Start a new project with any placeholder video or photo as background[4]. 3. **Import the audio.** Use the "add audio" button, then select "from device" to load your downloaded track[4]. 4. **Speed it up.** Tap the audio timeline, find the speed option, and slide to your desired tempo. Most viral sped-up audios increase speed by about 25-30%[1]. 5. **Adjust pitch (optional).** CapCut offers a pitch adjustment option. Some creators keep the natural pitch shift from speeding up, while others tweak it for a specific sound[4]. 6. **Export and post.** Post the CapCut project to TikTok, then go to the posted video and save the audio as a favorite so you can use it in future videos[4]. ## Cultural Impact The sped-up audio trend fundamentally changed how music gets promoted and consumed. Over a third of US Spotify listeners sped up podcasts in 2023, and nearly two-thirds played songs at a quicker tempo. Spotify confirmed it was testing a new feature that could let users remix song tempos and share the results[1]. The UK Official Singles Chart began grouping official sped-up and slowed-down versions with original songs, alongside remixes, acoustic, and live versions, helping artists climb the rankings[1]. TikTok itself noted an increase in sped-up and slowed-down catalogue tracks being pulled off the platform and turned into official releases[1]. Not everyone welcomed the shift. At a 2022 Steve Lacy concert during his Give You The World Tour, the audience appeared unable to sing along to much of his hit "Bad Habit" because many fans only knew the sped-up snippet version that had gone viral[1]. Lil Yachty said on the A Safe Place Podcast in March 2023 that he was so embarrassed by additional speed-altered versions of his song "A Cold Sunday" that he asked for them to be taken down[1]. Dr. Mary Beth Ray, an author focused on digital music culture, told the BBC that short-form video platforms like TikTok "constrain our ways of listening" into snippets, but those constraints also let listeners "experience a track in a new way." She noted that short clips provide "a quicker line to that dopamine rush social media wants us to feel"[1]. BBC Radio 1 DJ Maia Beth observed that it's now hard for established labels and musicians to ignore the trend because "it can sometimes feel like if they don't release the [sped-up] version, then someone else will"[1]. The trend effectively forced labels to act on the momentum, seeing that fan-made sped-up remixes were generating streams comparable to official releases[2]. Refinery29 captured the backlash side of the conversation, quoting one social media user: "I need songs to be 4 minutes again. I can't with this TikTok length music anymore"[3]. ## Fun Facts - The first known use of the phrase "sped up TikTok songs" on Twitter dates to November 5, 2018, by user @nanasehirokawa[5]. - Miguel's 2011 hit "Sure Thing" returned to Billboard's Hot R&B Songs Top 20 at number 15 more than a decade after release, entirely because of sped-up TikTok versions[2]. - Nelly Furtado was reportedly "called back" to music after her older hits started trending on TikTok through sped-up remixes[1]. - London artist tonka._.b listens to each of her songs three times during her creative process: sped-up, slowed, and normal, saying "each gives a totally different feel, each opening the door to new audiences"[1]. - CapCut, the go-to app for creating sped-up audios, is owned by ByteDance, the same parent company as TikTok[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What are sped-up TikTok audios? Sped-up TikTok audios are popular songs with their tempo increased by about 25-30%, creating higher-pitched, faster versions used as soundtracks for short-form videos on TikTok[1]. ### Where did sped-up TikTok audios come from? The practice evolved from the early 2000s Nightcore genre, a Norwegian DJ duo's style of speeding up Eurodance tracks. It migrated to Musical.ly around 2016 and grew massively on TikTok through the late 2010s and early 2020s[5]. ### What does a sped-up TikTok audio mean? It's simply a song played at a faster speed, usually 25-30% quicker than the original. The result is a punchier, higher-pitched version that fits the fast-paced rhythm of short video content[1]. ### How do you make a sped-up TikTok audio? The most common method is using CapCut: import your audio, adjust the speed slider, optionally tweak the pitch, export, and post to TikTok. TikTok's built-in tools don't allow speeding up audio separately from video[4]. ### Are sped-up TikTok audios still popular? Yes. As of the early-to-mid 2020s, the trend is firmly embedded in TikTok culture. Spotify tested features letting users remix song tempos, and artists routinely release official sped-up versions of their tracks[1]. ### How did sped-up audios affect the music charts? Fan-made sped-up versions helped artists like RAYE reach number one on the UK Official Singles Chart. The chart now groups sped-up and slowed versions with original tracks[1]. ### Why do artists release official sped-up versions? Because fan-made versions were generating massive streams and views, labels realized they needed to capture that attention officially. BBC Radio 1's Maia Beth noted that artists feel if they don't release the sped-up version, someone else will[1]. ### What is the connection between sped-up audios and Nightcore? Nightcore, created by a Norwegian DJ duo in the early 2000s, pioneered the practice of speeding up songs with higher pitch. Sped-up TikTok audios are essentially a modern, short-form evolution of the same concept[2]. ### Has anyone criticized sped-up TikTok audios? Yes. Some listeners want full-length songs back, and artists like Lil Yachty have asked for sped-up versions of their music to be removed. At concerts, some fans only know the sped-up snippet rather than the full song[1]. ### What was the first sped-up song to go viral on TikTok? The exact first viral sped-up track is unclear, but early examples include sped-up Musical.ly content from 2016. One of the biggest early TikTok-era hits was a sped-up Nicki Minaj "Roman Holiday" posted in September 2019, used over 800,000 times[5]. ## References 1. [What’s The Deal With Sped Up Songs On TikTok?]() 2. [Here's How to Make Your Own Sped-Up TikTok Audios]() 3. [As TikTokers speed up songs, are we forgetting the original? - BBC News]() 4. [Sped-Up TikTok Audios - Know Your Meme]() 5. [TikTok]() 6. [How Sped Up tracks on TikTok have influenced music production — Public Pressure]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/sped-up-tiktok-audios Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library