The 16-year-old from Ålgård thanks both Broiler, Emma Steinbakken and Undergrunn with the song he himself describes as a “crap song”.
– It is sick. I actually posted the song just for fun to see if I could get streams with a friend.
16-year-old Lasse Sælevik is from Ålgård in Rogaland. He has zero experience in the music industry, but on Wednesday night he released the song “Hawaii”.
In a couple of days, he has received over 873,000 streams on Spotify. On Friday, he tops the most popular songs with 172,849 streams.
You have to go down almost 60,000 streams to find number two on the list: Emma Steinbakken with “Delilah”. Close behind are Undergrunn and Broiler.
– It’s very strange, I’m still in shock, he says on the phone to VG.
And the background for the song with which he is now thanking the big stars? A school project that he somewhat foolishly chose to market on TikTok.
– The text itself was only created in a few minutes, me and a friend just looked up words that rhymed with “Hawaii”.
– A shit song
– How would you describe the song yourself?
– If you ask me, I think it’s a “Vibe”. It’s catchy and today’s youth think it’s fun with things that are easy. I don’t think they care about quality, he says before laughing and adding:
– Because it’s bad, it’s not a good song. It is not made with any professional help.
According to him himself, the reason why it has taken off is “the power of TikTok”.
– I told the family, this will be a project about how many streams I can get on a crap song on TikTok.
– It’s incredibly cool. I never thought it would get so much, but it proves that you don’t necessarily need labels to get a lot of streams.
Provoking
The triumph of the 16-year-old has also caused some to be provoked.
– I have received reactions from artists who have been doing this for many years and who have not received as many streams.
– But I also don’t think they understand how much work I’ve put into this.
He estimates that he spent around 20–30 hours on the actual post-production of the song.
But the most important thing, according to him himself, is that since the summer of 2022 he has built up an account on TikTok, by posting humorous content. Today, he has over 74,000 followers, and in the run-up to the song release, he went hard on marketing.
– So even if the song is shit, it makes sense. I can safely say that I am Norway’s most popular Tiktoker at the moment. There is no one who gets as many Norwegian streams as me now, and the power you have when you have so many followers is quite large. But this was not easy.
Overwhelmed
He says the following about the future of the song on the top list:
– I think it might drop, but I think it will be number one tomorrow and that it will be in the top 50 for a very long time.
He says he is overwhelmed by the response.
– Friends think it’s cool, and family are a bit shocked in a positive way, like me.
Lasse is currently in the tenth grade at secondary school.
– Will there be more music from you? Have you gotten a taste of the music industry?
– It might happen, you’ll have to wait and see, he says a little cryptically.
