04/08/2025

LYFE MONDAY | AUG 4, 2025

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Malaysian Paper

@thesundaily @t

How songs explode online

Y OU hear Nunca Muda? Once on Instagram, then again on TikTok. Next thing you know, the chorus or beat is stuck in your head and you do not even know the song’s name or who the artiste even is. That is the power of virality. In 2025, a song does not need to be played on the radio or be featured in a big movie to become a hit. It can take off in a matter of hours thanks to short videos, streaming algorithms and the power of online fans. But what exactly makes a song go viral today? TikTok is new radio In the past, record labels pushed songs to radio DJs. Now, they pitch to TikTok influencers and hope for a dance trend. Just 15 seconds of the right chorus is all it takes. Old songs such as Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams and Lady Gaga’s Bloody Mary saw renewed popularity after trending Ű BY MARK MATHEN VICTOR o TikTok, streaming now shape how music goes mainstream

audio clips spread online, years after their original release. Once a clip gets picked up by enough users, the algorithm will start pushing it forward and further. According to TikTok’s own analytics in 2021, 75% of the short video platform users said they discover new artistes through TikTok, while 63% of its users heard new music they never knew about through the platform. Relatable lyrics or catchy hooks win However, before a song becomes viral, it usually needs to check one of two boxes: 0 It has to be relatable, in some form or another, by often being tied to emotions such as heartbreak. For example: Olivia Rodrigo’s Drivers Licence . 0 It needs to have a catchy, repeatable hook. For example: NewJeans’ Super Shy , Moliy and Silent Addy’s Shake It to the Max and its different remixes, or ATLXS’ Passo Bem Solto . Ultimately, the song does not need to be deep. It just needs to be memorable and infectious within a 15-second time frame. Streaming algorithms do heavy lifting Once songs meet the two criteria

Songs gaining traction on short-form video apps such as TikTok are often included in streaming playlists.

weeks or months. Fans are no longer just listeners. They are part of the marketing engine. A viral moment can come from an ordinary teenager dancing in a rural town just as easily as from a major label-backed multi-million dollar campaign in New York. There is no fixed recipe for virality, as the ingredients are clear: 0 A catchy or emotional hook 0 Visibility on TikTok or Instagram 0 Momentum on streaming platforms 0 And most importantly, fan interaction In this digital age, any artiste, from a bedroom singer in Penang to a K-pop giant in Seoul, has a shot at blowing up overnight. All it takes is one well-timed post and the right 15 seconds of music.

year

alone

is

Hanumankind’s

submission confirmation emails that mimic legitimate notifications from crypto exchanges, attackers used the platform’s credibility to bypass email filters and also the victim’s unfamiliarity with its format to lure them into divulging sensitive wallet credentials. There is a critical need for users to verify email sources, scrutinise links and adopt robust security measures to protect their digital assets,” said Kaspersky email threats protection group manager Andrey Kovtun. Recommendations to avoid falling victim to such attacks: 0 Do not tap or click links in messages you were not expecting. 0 Check for any unusual attributes in the email, such as those pertaining to Google Forms that were described above. 0 Install a reliable security solution that would prevent the user from opening a scam website. above, people will start searching for it. This is where platforms such as Spotify, YouTube Music and Apple Music come into play. These platforms also have algorithms of their own, which push songs that are trending or frequently repeated, especially on user-generated playlists. A track that does well on TikTok will likely appear under “Viral Hits Malaysia” or “Top 50” lists, which helps increase exposure, often internationally. Global trends shape local charts Gone are the days when music was siloed by country. A song from Korea, Nigeria or Indonesia can be just as likely to go viral here as one from Kuala Lumpur. The best example in the past

Big Dawgs . Its

heavy beat, accompanied by a unique rap style that pays homage to American rapper Project Pat, helped the song explode beyond Hanumankind’s native India into the global scene, breaking charts across the board. It currently sits at just over 460 million plays on Spotify. The trend proves that today’s music scene has been made even more borderless and catchy beats do not need translation. Fans, memes make difference Sometimes, it is not the music itself but what people do with it. Think of sped up remixes, parody versions, fan edits or even comedic lip-syncs – all of which keep a song circulating for and hard

Dance challenges remain one of the most popular ways for songs to go viral online. – FREEPIKPIC

Crypto scammers target users through Google Forms RESEARCHERS have discovered a new wave of scam attacks that use Google Forms to target crypto users. Knowing the email address of the potential victim, the attackers send a scam email through Google Forms, which is designed to appear as a notification from a crypto exchange service. sends a questionnaire submission confirmation email to the victim. The attackers crafted this form submission confirmation to look like a notification from a crypto transaction service – indicating a sum to allegedly be paid out, urging the user to click on the link to receive the payout before it “expires”.

Users are invited to receive an alleged transfer in cryptocurrency by following a link to a website where they are instructed to contact “blockchain support” and make a “commission” payment in crypto to receive the transfer. Following these instructions could lead to the loss of funds, as the whole “transfer” story is a hoax. The attackers used Google Forms – a free tool for online surveys – to create a short questionnaire with just one slot to fill in: the email address. The attackers themselves input the victim’s email address into the form and then Google Forms

The scam email contains Google Forms attributes, such as a header with the Google Forms logo, a link to the questionnaire (which the user never filled in), and the field value that had been submitted. The attackers bank on the fact that the email passes through spam filters, since it was sent from a legitimate Google address and the user is tricked by a catchy headline. “This campaign demonstrates a cunning exploitation of a trusted and widely used platform to deliver scam attacks on cryptocurrency users. By crafting fraudulent

A scam email sent via Google Forms.

After clicking on the link in the email, the user is directed to a scam website mimicking a crypto transaction platform.