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Ericka Hewitt

OPINION: Why Do YouTubers Keep Making Music?



On Oct. 3, KSI’s new song “Thick of It” featuring Trippie Redd was released on YouTube and other music streaming platforms. Immediately, millions of views poured in to listen to the famous singer and YouTuber’s newest addition to his large discography. Opinions however, have arguably not been gracious. Comments have varied, but a consensus in comment sections is that KSI’s song is not very good, as one may notice under the comments of the original music video on YouTube

Though I must admit—I am not a KSI fan. Before “Thick of It” went viral, I had no idea who KSI was beyond his relationship with popular YouTubers Mr Beast and Logan Paul, as they have recently partnered to launch Lunchly. The new lunch kit brand has been met with recent criticism from dietitians and other YouTubers, according to video game and entertainment news site Dexerto. This could be why the song gained attention so quickly; as KSI’s already involved with online backlash. 

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the comments. The first time I listened, my impression was that the song was missing something. The “missing” piece is hard to pin, but I believe that comparing it to AI-generated music wouldn’t be a far-fetched idea. I just do not believe that the song has what it needs to stand out compared to other music now. The lyrics do not help the musicality of it either, with “[f]rom the screen to the ring, to the pen, to the king…” being lyrics that I believe most could come up with if given enough time. 

This leads me to ask: Why do YouTubers keep making music? We’ve seen it before with Logan Paul’s famous “Help me Help You” featuring Why Don’t We and many other YouTubers as well. Creating music seems to be a key part of a YouTuber’s career as the past two examples provide, but why does this happen? Is it because they genuinely enjoy making music, or is it a cash grab? I’m leaning towards the latter with some YouTubers. I believe this because the music just isn’t like what’s produced by other musicians who did not start on YouTube. Those musicians did not already have a career established before them, which is why I believe that their music sounds more high-effort and therefore better. With YouTubers like KSI–he already knows the audience of his channel, and that they’ll likely enjoy his work no matter what, so he may not have felt that his music needed to stand out compared to other artists. In my opinion, this could easily lead to worse music being put out, like how I feel about KSI’s new song. 

With YouTubers already having an established audience and career ahead of them, I believe that there aren’t as high of stakes being set with them releasing music, unlike people who started as singer-songwriters. If a bad song goes out, then at least the YouTuber can fall back to what they were doing before. If a singer were to release a terrible song it could hurt their credibility in potentially the only thing they’re profiting off of, music. 

While I understand that music is entirely up to a person’s preference, I believe that some music is objectively better than other music. KSI’s song sounds like it was made purely for money, which I think can be supported by the Prime product placement in the music video and commercial-like shots of people throwing papers in an office building–something that I could swear I have seen in a commercial before. Ultimately, I don’t think that people having an already established, trustworthy audience always put the same effort into their product as people who have to start “from the bottom.” Without the risk, there may not be the same push to create a good product. That is why I don’t believe that when a YouTuber is thinking of expanding their horizons professionally, creating music should necessarily be the first thing they think of doing. 


By: Ericka Hewitt, Contributing Writer

Graphic by Shae-Lynn Henderson, EIC

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