TY - JOUR
T1 - #Runningupthathill, revival and popular music fandom on TikTok
AU - Zaborowski, Rafal
AU - Bennett, Lucy
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2025/1/30
Y1 - 2025/1/30
N2 - The fourth season of Stranger Things (2022) used Kate Bush’s 1985 single ‘Running up that Hill’ for a key narrative moment, propelling the song back into the charts. This resurgence also inspired new generations of listeners who turned to TikTok to perform covers, analyses or parodies of the song. While TikTok has been discussed as an emerging player in the music industry and as a space of agency and expression, there is still limited understanding of how audiences use the platform to express and negotiate their musical affinities. To investigate this, we conducted a content analysis of TikTok videos tagged with the hashtag #runningupthathill (N = 442). We identified two primary themes which fostered musical meaning on TikTok: (1) platform dynamics and possibilities for creativity, and (2) affective nostalgia. Our findings show that these factors cultivated a two-fold sense of musicking: a renewal of communal, fandom practices alongside a reflective engagement with music cultures and their cyclicity. The analysis reveals a convergence between platformisation and the role of music in identity formation, self-creation and self-maintenance. Ultimately, this research offers empirical insight into how digital spaces reshape and renew music fan practices.
AB - The fourth season of Stranger Things (2022) used Kate Bush’s 1985 single ‘Running up that Hill’ for a key narrative moment, propelling the song back into the charts. This resurgence also inspired new generations of listeners who turned to TikTok to perform covers, analyses or parodies of the song. While TikTok has been discussed as an emerging player in the music industry and as a space of agency and expression, there is still limited understanding of how audiences use the platform to express and negotiate their musical affinities. To investigate this, we conducted a content analysis of TikTok videos tagged with the hashtag #runningupthathill (N = 442). We identified two primary themes which fostered musical meaning on TikTok: (1) platform dynamics and possibilities for creativity, and (2) affective nostalgia. Our findings show that these factors cultivated a two-fold sense of musicking: a renewal of communal, fandom practices alongside a reflective engagement with music cultures and their cyclicity. The analysis reveals a convergence between platformisation and the role of music in identity formation, self-creation and self-maintenance. Ultimately, this research offers empirical insight into how digital spaces reshape and renew music fan practices.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85216681327&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10304312.2025.2459129
DO - 10.1080/10304312.2025.2459129
M3 - Article
SN - 1030-4312
VL - 39
SP - 450
EP - 461
JO - Continuum-Journal of media & cultural studies
JF - Continuum-Journal of media & cultural studies
IS - 3
ER -