Of all the things I thought might happen in 2021, spending the first two weeks weeping with joy over a song about the slaughter of a whale is not something I could ever have predicted.
But that’s exactly what I and thousands of others have been doing thanks to sea shanty TikTok.
It's the rare kind of viral moment that transcends its meme status and offers something more: a vital glimpse of hope.
The start of a phenomenon
In the final days of 2020, Scottish singer Nathan Evans posted a TikTok of himself singing the sea shanty Wellerman. It's a New Zealand folksong from the mid-19th century, about a Sydney whaling company called The Weller Bros, whose employees and ships were called 'Wellermen'.
The song features a supply ship bringing "sugar and tea and rum" to a whaling crew off the shore of New Zealand.
Nathan's video is simple — black and white, with Nathan dressed in a hoodie and beanie as he taps out a beat on the back of his guitar and uses his own voice to add layers and harmonies to the chorus.
There's something soothing in the repetitive rhythm, and Nathan’s sincere delivery. His Scottish lilt and rich voice feel made for the sea shanty. In itself it's fantastic, but what happened next turned the video from a quirky one-off into a viral phenomenon that united and delighted people all around the globe.
A sea shanty made for two (or more)
TikTok's duet feature allows people to easily add their own spins to other people's videos, leading to weird and wonderful collaborations like the Ratatouille musical, and one about a grocery store. Now it’s bringing us sea shanties.
Immediately after Nathan posted his Wellerman video, TikTok user Luke Taylor created a duet, posting it with the caption "I know no-one cares but I love this song way too much to not add a bassline".
It turns out he was wrong — many people do care — but his words speak to a big part of the appeal of this video series. Before they went viral, sea shanties were pretty niche, but here these people were singing them for the pure joy of it.
At a time when we're all feeling weary and cynical, there's something irresistible in the unashamed earnestness of these videos, in the simple act of delighting in this weird thing and sharing it with others.
And what delight Luke takes in it. He smiles and lip syncs and bops along to Nathan’s voice, and then in a key moment he closes his eyes and offers up his own contribution — a beautiful bassline that is so deep it's startling from the baby-faced teen.
It was this video that made sea shanties break out of their corner of TikTok and go viral elsewhere, with writer Elizabeth Kingston tweeting it on January 1, calling sea shanty TikTok "a good omen for 2021".
A collaborative work of art
The sea shanty trend snowballed from there. Other people added their voices and built on what Nathan and then Luke had started, including Irish singer Aaron Sloan and American singer Bobby Waters.
On January 5 another Scottish singer, Jonny Stewart, added what he described as "filler baritone which nobody will hear but adds gentle thiccness" to the duet chain, causing it to go viral beyond TikTok once again. And once again, the self-deprecating caption encapsulated the beauty of the thing.
As Luke had originally, each TikToker who contributed to the trend filmed themselves smiling and swaying and lip syncing along to Nathan's singing, patiently waiting for the right moment to contribute their own small part.
Their joy is palpable, and there's something remarkable in it all.
While the world feels divided, sometimes beyond repair, and we're all more isolated than ever, here is an exhilarating example of the way people can be appreciative of one another and willingly take part in something that's bigger than themselves – even if their own contribution, as Jonny suggested, might go unnoticed. It's exactly what we need right now.
Why sea shanties?
It makes sense that it's sea shanties uniting us. Designed to bring workers together as one, a sense of connection is in its DNA.
"There's an intrinsic feeling of solidarity and shared experience with sea shanties," Jonny says, adding that the lyrics of this particular shanty seem to have struck a chord.
"Having the Wellerman come and bring sustenance, with the prospect of returning to life as normal ('take our leave and go') is an appealing prospect at the moment."
Nathan agrees, saying the best thing about sea shanties is that "anyone can join in — you don’t even need to be able to sing to join in on a sea shanty!"
The original duet chain has since spun off in all kinds of directions, including a Kermit the Frog contribution, an EDM remix, and a Smash Mouth-turned-sea shanty cover. It's a viral trend that encapsulates joy, sincerity, creativity and togetherness in a way few things have recently.
There's a lot of hope to be found in it. As one Twitter user put it, 2021 is the year of the sea shanty — and that's a truly beautiful thing.
Jenna Guillaume is a freelance journalist and the author of Young Adult books What I Like About Me and You Were Made For Me.
ABC Everyday in your inbox
Get our newsletter for the best of ABC Everyday each week