Why Is the ‘Glee’ Version of the ‘Rose’s Turn’ Song Playing in Multiple TikTok Videos?

TikTok says it has removed all music by artists licensed to Universal Music Group. This means that songs by famous artists such as Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Drake, and BTS have been removed from the platform. "We started the removal late last night Pacific Time, Jan 31st as we approached the deadline of the [UMG/TikTok] license expiration," a TikTok spokesperson told NPR in an email. Now, TikTok users are finding new music to use for their videos. One such song with the line, "All that work and what did it get me?" has recently become popular and users can be found singing along. If you are wondering what Kurt Hummel from "Glee" (played by Chris Colfer) is doing in every second video on TikTok lately, then you are not alone. So, what is the new trend? Read on to know more.

The song titled "Rose’s Turn" is a song from the musical, "Gypsy." The version of the song used in the trend is featured in one of the "Glee" episodes titled, "Laryngitis." Thankfully, this song happens to be under Columbia Records and therefore, is at the center of the new trend. The song was used in the season of the show and TikTokers are opening up to this trend. The trend has received more than a million views across thousands of videos.

Ray Kenley was one of the many users to take part in this trend; his video has now reached close to 10 million views and 3 million likes in just three days. In the video, TikTok user Ray is seen looking into the void and twitching his eyes while singing a single line of the "Glee" song.

In another video, TikToker Kelly Salpeter took part in the trend as the camera moved across her face. The overlay text reads, "When I spent 8 hours scripting, filming, and editing a high-quality video for it to get 800 views, but the one of my back that took 45 seconds to make, got 66 million views."

People flocked to the comment section to talk about the situations that made them feel that their efforts were all in vain. One user wrote, "Studied for 3 hours for 78%" while another wrote, "You know what hurts more? Not trying to have a decent grade...Then, studying and having a lower grade than before."

Recently, people are looking at ways to use other music as UGM removed all its music. The videos that contained the music licensed by Universal have been muted.

UGM, in an open letter, said that TikTok wasn't giving enough credit and compensation to the artists of the songs. 

Tatiana Cirisano, a music industry analyst at Media Research, told NPR, "UMG is kind of taking the nuclear option of removing all their music and trying to prove that TikTok couldn't exist if it didn't have their catalog." 

As per Cirisano, compensation is the big sticking point. TikTok on the other hand accused UMG of promoting "false narratives." You can read the full open letter here.

You can follow Mary (@ Kelly Salpeter and @Ray Kenley ) on TikTok for more funny content.