It's hard to pinpoint the start of the surge in popularity of one of Jeff Buckley's greatest songs - but the TikTok boost does coincide with the gradual release of the documentary ‘It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley’.
It’s heartening when some good comes from TikTok, as opposed to accusations of suppressing Trump criticism, more social media addiction / lobotimisation, or yet another here-today-gone-tomorrow spasmodic trend...
The platform has offered virality to one of Jeff Buckley’s greatest songs, leading the late singer-songwriter to score his first US Top 100 hit, 29 years after his death.
The song, ‘Lover, You Should Have Come Over’, featured on his only studio album ‘Grace’, has entered the charts at N°97, following a boost on TikTok. Users have been pairing the acoustic ballad with videos that go from the semi-sublime to the downright ridiculous.
As much as TikTok videos don’t count towards chart positions, viral trends do drive listeners towards streaming services, which do count.
Check out some examples of viral TikTok posts that feature the song:
While it’s difficult to pinpoint when the 32-year-old track started gaining more traction on the platform, the tune being used in 300,000+ videos does coincide with the gradual theatrical rollout of Amy Berg's documentary It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley.
The stunning film, which premiered last year in Sundance and follows the life and legacy of the artist, is being drip-fed in select theatres in Europe this year. It comes out in France and the UK next month and in Germany in April.
Regardless of the ‘when’ or 'why', the current virality of the song means that a new generation of listeners are discovering the romantic songwriting of the most talented musicians of his generation, who tragically died in 1997 of accidental drowning in the Mississippi River, aged 30.
And if you manage to keep your peepers dry and avoid plunging into a state of emotional turmoil when hearing the lines “It's never over / My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder / It's never over / All my riches for her smiles / When I've slept so soft against her”, you’re made of stronger stuff than the hopeless romantics in the Euronews Culture team.
In our review of the album, for its 30-year anniversary in 2024, we wrote: “'Grace' is without a doubt one of the greatest albums of all time, a breathtakingly intimate and passionate collection of songs from a singular talent gone too soon. (...) Listening to 'Grace' is akin to a transcendental experience, one which leaves you with few words to explain what you felt by the end of the runtime.”
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is out in select cinemas in Europe next month. Buckley’s live album, 'Live at Sin-é', gets a full 4-vinyl box set re-release on 13 February – and anyone who already owns it on CD can tell you it’s an absolute must-have.
