what’s Up? 4 Non Blondes‘ 1992 Hit Returns to the Charts Thanks to TikTok
“It has been one of the surprises of the season. The group 4 Non Blondes published their first album in 1992 and their wild sound did not exactly make them candidates for success. But a song, What’s up, achieved the miracle: Linda Perry’s fiery voice and her invocations to the revolution have placed the song on all the hit lists.” These lines,written by music journalist Diego A. Manrique in this newspaper in 1993, could well have been published today.More than three decades after this song saw the light, What’s up continues to be “one of the surprises of the season” and also breaks records, but for different reasons than then. Mixed with Beez in the Trap by rapper Nicki Minaj, it has become the latest viral challenge on the social network TikTok, returning the group, which broke up after releasing its first and only album, to unusual popularity.
The trend which these days has more than two million publications on the Chinese social network is easy to execute.Two participants are needed: the first pretends to do playback with a song by 4 Non Blondes while the second lip syncs with the rap of Minaj’s 2012 song. Some of the most famous contenders include such notorious names as Sabrina Carpenter,Joe Jonas,Khloé Kardashian,Malala Yousafzai,Ibai Llanos,Bizarrap,Simone Biles or Jennifer Lopez,who appears singing with Linda Perry herself,the group’s vocalist. Such is the revolution that this mix has brought about on TikTok that the band itself has shared a video compiling the famous faces that participate in the challenge between emotion and disbelief. “This song is 30 years old and is number one on the TikTok list? TikTok, you have given us an amazing welcome,” thay wrote, adding the required astonishment emoji.
The group 4 Non Blondes is originally from San Francisco and owes its name, which could be translated as ‘Four Non Blondes’, to the anecdote they experienced while spending the afternoon in a park. When a boy approached them looking for food to give to the pigeons, his parents – a couple of blonde yuppies, they said – reprimanded him, warning him that he shoudl not associate with those people. Clarifying that for them “being blonde is a state of mind” and even including a dedication on the album to Madonna herself “whom they didn’t know, but they would love to say hello”, the band began its journey in 1989 made up only of women: the vocalist, Linda Perry; bassist Christa hillhouse; guitarist Shaunna Hall and drummer Wanda Day. However, shortly afterward they broke “what was a political decision” to prioritize musical criteria and the drummer, who would later die from an overdose, was replaced by Dawn Ricardson, while Roger Rocha took Hall’s place.
The group, labeled alternative rock, rose to fame in the early ’90s, but disbanded after releasing their first and only album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, which included What’s up.