TORONTO -- It鈥檚 taken social media by storm.
If by now, you don鈥檛 want to sing along with Nathan Evans to a tune that was written nearly 200 years ago, you might be in the minority.
The Scottish postal worker is a part-time singer, and the source of a monster trend on the social media app TikTok: sea shanties.
singing a sea shanty -- specifically, a song called 鈥淭he Wellerman鈥� -- on TikTok in December and his soulful performance drew the public鈥檚 attention.
Sea shanties are folk songs that sailors typically sang while hard at work. The steady rhythm would aid sailors in timing things, and could help keep them entertained.
As Evans鈥� post grew in popularity, more and more fellow TikTok users began adding their voices to his original video, using a function of the app that allows creators to use the audio of others鈥� in their project.
The harmonies built up, becoming increasingly intricate and full -- and garnering more views with every new rendition. Other songs sprung up and gathered more collaborators and views as well.
鈥淣ever in a million years would I have expected to go so viral and so crazy and reach how many people it has so far,鈥� Evans told 麻豆影视.
The trend has since begun hitting other social media media apps, as users called the trend wholesome, pointing out that it was nice to see people collaborating on a joyous project considering the upheaval of 2020.
Others made more grim comparisons to how sailors were trapped in a sometimes dangerous situation on boats at sea.
Some collaborators have taken the trend and added instruments, or put their own spin on the old genre by mixing it with newer ones, such as electronic music.
