Written by: Phoebe Rothschild
You might be walking the streets of New York hyperaware of what song you are listening to and how others might perceive it. Would they laugh at the fact that you’re listening to Hannah Montana at 2 pm or would you receive comments of approval for listening to Baby Keem? This is all thanks to Nicolas Nuvan and his viral “what song are you listening to” TikTok videos.
His first video of the series racked up more than 8 million views and he’s managed to continue the success. Now with 1.5 million TikTok followers and over 79.3 million likes, Nicolas Nuvan has made it to part 760 of this video series, and I anticipate even more by the time anyone is reading this. What started as “what song are you listening to?” has evolved into much more in the time since.
A couple months back, Nuvan landed in New Orleans while on a mission to answer the burning question of what people like to listen to all over the United States. Slightly altering the original question format, Nuvan asked, “what’s one of your favorite songs to listen to?” A woman responded with “‘Butterfly Effect’ by Travis Scott.” Nothing Unusual, right? That’s a pretty big song and Travis Scott has a lot of fans around the world. Well, this wasn’t just a Travis Scott fan. After posting the clip to TikTok, a comment revealed that this woman was none other than Travis Scott’s mother.
Nicolas Nuvan, in his random selection of passerbyers, managed to find the mother of one of the most famous rappers. And TikTok users got the privilege of watching this unfold. It’s creators like Nicholas Nuvan that allow for one in a million, online interactions like this to occur. I applaud his willingness to meet new people, and create with curiosity at the center of his process.