How King Khan & BBQ Show’s ‘Love You So’ became inescapable on TikTok
"My brain explodes with rage every time I hear this bloody song" is one of the top YouTube comments on the King Khan & BBQ Show's "Love You So," a song originally released in 2004. So how did a nearly 20-year-old song become one of the most ubiquitous—and maddening—TikTok sounds?
The sound
The sound that's been popularized on TikTok is just the beginning of the song, a 1-2 drum beat accompanied by fuzzy guitar. It's been used in more than 28 million TikToks, and the most popular one, which has more than 177 million views, features a woman caught off balance by a TikTok filter.
@brunebattistini Ahí te voy san pedroo
♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show
But "Love You So" has become so ever-present over the last year that some people link to the sound, likely in an effort to get a boost or more views via a popular audio, but then use another song in the actual video, like this TikTok from Khaby Lame, which has more than 100 million views.
@khaby.lame Create the caption👇🏾 I will comment under the top captions 🤣 #learnfromkhaby #learnontiktok @tiktok ♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show
In fact, a majority of the top TikToks under this sound don't use the King Khan & BBQ song, something that's been pointed out on TikTok. Around spring of 2022, people started having a more visceral reaction to hearing "Love You So" in every video, which perhaps led it to be obscured by other songs.
And yet, this week it still made a list of the most viral TikTok songs.
@urfavhotgemini777 TIKTOK PLEASE… #fyp #HPSustainableSounds #urfavhotgemini777 #SearchForWonderMom #ShowYourJOWO #FORDfortheBuilders ♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show
@deje951 #joke #fyp ♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show
Where's it from?
It's from the 2004 self-titled album from the King Khan & BBQ Show, the Canadian rock duo of drummer/guitarist/singer Mark Sultan and guitarist/singer King Khan. The album was originally released via Goner Records, and reissued by In the Red Records in 2007.
A music video for the song, posted last year, is filled with comments debating whether the song "slaps" or "sends a deep feeling of hate and pain through my body when i hear it," thanks to its TikTok ubiquity.
Having seen the King Khan & BBQ Show live several times in Austin, I can attest it's an incredibly fun show. Their 2006 album What's for Dinner? is a classic. It makes sense that this kind of song—short, snappy—is popular on TikTok. But I could never have foreseen this level of omnipresence.
Sound off
So has the band or the label seen any royalties from the astronomical plays it's gotten over the last year? TikTok doesn't have the best track record in that area. Goner Records told the Daily Dot that while it released the self-titled LP, In the Red Records likely handles the digital royalties.
We reached out to Sultan and In the Red for comment.
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