Singer, songwriter, and producer Vaultboy might have discovered found his audience on TikTok, but the rookie artist is using that momentum to launch a much broader career. 

First debuting the track “everything sucks” as a 30-day songwriting challenge for TikTok, the snippet gained traction which led to the song’s full-fledged development –  written and produced by Vaultboy alongside musician and songwriter gnash. The song eventually took on a life of its own, earning the singer over 250 million views on the original TikTok, two weeks at #1 on the Spotify Global Charts, and 25 million streams on Spotify entirely, with an unexpected remix being the perfect way to continue generating buzz around the viral track. 

Hopping on “everything sucks” the remix is Eric Nam, a respected industry name, bringing a different side to Vaultboy’s newly curated sad-boy aesthetic. When looking at the success he’s achieved, and the opportunities that are coming from the song, the singer tells us, “It’s definitely been so crazy to me! I would say there have definitely been a lot of doors that have opened up. The remix with Eric Nam included, but also things like Rolling Stone doing an article about the virality of the record. But the biggest thing for me is just the response from fans.” He elaborates, “I thought it would take a very long time to get to where I am in my music career and I’ve only put out one song. That’s all because of the fans listening and sharing it around the world.”

That ability to have your work seen by countless people at such a rapid pace is definitely a modern change for the industry, so keeping momentum is crucial for a modern artist – and remixes now feel like a necessity. Luckily Nam is a celebrated artist for his contributions to the industry, which was a factor in pursuing his friend turned collaborative partner. Vaultboy explained his idea behind the remix, noting, “I definitely did have [Eric] in mind, but more as a hope than anything! I had worked with him on another song he was in and so we already knew each other, but I had no idea if he was gonna be down to be on the song, or if he was going to be able to make it happen with his schedule! But the stars aligned and I couldn’t be happier with how things have worked out.”

Once the two were able to establish that they would be working together, it purely became a challenge to tell a genuine story – as the “everything sucks” singer details, “As soon as I found out that Eric was down to do the remix, my only goal was to make it as dope and authentic as possible. He’s got such a great personality in his music and in general, and I wanted his being on ‘everything sucks’ to reflect that. I think people are going to love it, and if you listen to the ending part, I think you can hear how much fun we had making it!”

Nam himself has the ability to be very selective with his music, which makes his willingness to participate in the remix an exciting feat for any artist – especially someone relatively fresh-faced. When asked about why Nam was interested to hop on “everything sucks” he explains to us, “I thought the song was incredibly witty and playful, but still had heart and a message that was clearly being delivered. It also just felt like something I, and many of us would say on a regular basis and I wanted to put my own twist on it.”

In regards to that twist, or what feels tonally different from the first version of the song, Nam shares, “I think the biggest difference fans will hear are the ad-libs towards the end and a slightly different delivery in the verses. The song shouldn’t and won’t feel completely different or brand new, but just a little unique with a twist of my voice and vocal styling.”

The Vaultboy song (now featuring Nam) is available to stream as an alternative take on a widely successful track, and the music video for “everything sucks (ft. Eric Nam)” is included above!