The other thing is that it’s NOT completely random, it’s not even very random; it’s just that the things that factor into its appearance and creation are spread so widely due to our (new-ish) ability to connect as a community across the entire world that it SEEMS random from up close, AND it couldn’t have been precisely predicting in advance.
Pirates are not a new thing; we have media about them, recently pirates of the caribbean and black sails both being fairly well known pirates media. Ren faires often feature pirate material. There’s been a lot of talk about “pirating” media lately because of the recent uptick in streaming services wanting to all have their own thing. There’s people trying to hitch laws about pirating onto COVID relief bills. There was a recent release of a video game that was popular, I believe it was the Assassin’s Creed one, that featured pirates AND sea shanties, introducing a lot of people to the idea of sea shanties, who could then spread it to others, that was probably one of the major catalysts in a previously simmering pot (the other major one being COVID-19).
And the thing about sea shanties is that they are supposed to be sung as a group, the way most popular music isn’t really made to do. Why not Megan Thee Stallion? Because those songs aren’t created specifically to be sung by a group. You can sing them too, and you can sing them in a group, but they aren’t created specifically with being sung as a group in mind. They’re meant to be sung along to rather than sung together.
Okay, but then why not something like campfire songs?
Because campfire songs are meant to be sung in a group, usually with kids, but not particularly made to bring together a community that is facing a lot of isolation (which is where COVID-19 comes in). I mean, camping is sometimes “isolated” but often they are camping at a grounds where there are other, discrete groups of campers nearby, and even if they are actually alone, most people singing campfire songs are not isolated more than a weekend, or a week or two, and MOST camping is pretty close to a community where people could go, and MOST camping songs are not meant to be sung repeatedly. They’re fun to sing once or twice, but imagine singing them on repeat for 3 months. I don’t know about you but that is not really my idea of a good time.
A group of pirates on a ship, they’re a group, but they’re also a community. They are a job and a family in one. And, IMPORTANTLY, they are isolated for LONG stretches of time together, in a place where the only friendly social contact they have is one another and the only songs they have are the ones they know themselves. And the shanties they sung were meant to bring them together, often for a task (sometimes that task was not murdering each other out of boredom or stress), and to remind themselves that even on days where they can’t see a single other sign of human civilization as far as the eye can see in any direction, they are not alone.
And THAT particular, specific sense of community is HIGHLY appealing to people that have been stuck in one form of stressful isolation or another for MONTHS, almost a year at this point. Think back to the beginning. I can’t be the only one who remembers videos of people singing from their balconies together during the early lockdowns. I can’t be the only one who remembers the story of the night howl. People are desperate to reach out and say “Am I alone?” and just as desperate to answer “No!! I am still here! Are there others??”
So take a bunch of people who have been isolated for a long time (like pirates on the sea), with a good possibility that they’ve recently been exposed to a novel, fun concept (sea shanties) through a game (something more people probably played than usual because of the isolation), which they have potentially shared/spread to friends (because they are GOOD songs), and give them easy access to a single person singing one of these songs (a CATCHY song with easy, rhyming words and a good ONE-two-three-four beat, which humans love) that they are all now aware is meant to be sung as a group (which calls upon their nature as social creatures!!) or see others joining in as a group (because monkey-see-monkey-do is a HUGE human behavior phenomenon), and then give them a way to be included in this group with minimal effort (tiktok), as a way to feel connected to a wider community (those that view their inclusions) and have fun at the same time (which is DESPERATELY needed in a world where things are otherwise majorly crap)…
Well, is it any wonder? Maybe the exact, particular song is a bit random, because it could have been any shanty, but even that’s not particularly surprising either since it’s a shorter one (that fits in with Tiktok’s time limit) with easy lyrics (and a REALLY easy, repeating chorus, so it’s quickly learned) and it has a good, solid beat. Whoever first picked it may have chosen it “randomly” or may have narrowed it down from those type of criteria. You’d have to ask the first person to post.
Maybe people 20 years out wouldn’t be able to piece enough together, but right here right now, it seems like a fairly obvious culmination of events. Maybe not a predictable one, but one that, looking back, makes sense. Something something, Hindsight is 2020 right
