The sea shanty momentum continues: Scottish musician Nathan Evans landed a record deal this week.
His solo version of sea shanty “The Wellerman,” posted to TikTok in late December, has more than 8 million views and is part of the current wave of duets and covers. On Thursday, Evans announced he’d signed with Polydor Records and was releasing a remix of “The Wellerman” as a single.
In the TikTok announcement, he riffed on the fact that he was “a postman on Friday” and now he’s signed to “the biggest record label in the world.” He told the BBC he first performed a sea shanty on TikTok in July, at the request of a commenter. Now he’s getting recognized on the street.
The TikTok sea shanty trend has had an odd ripple effect: It’s revived old memes and now the brands are trying to get on board.
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