They Wrote a Song to Help Them Stop Crying. Now All of TikTok Is Singing Along

HATE. It’s one of the easiest things to receive when you put yourself (or your work) on the internet. But for Corinne Savage —stage name Corook— and Olivia Barton, two Nashville-based indie musicians and partners, an afternoon of tears and a simple ditty about wishing to fit in turned into a viral hit— and an online movement about being proud of the things that make you unique.

The duo are the creatives responsible for one of the most popular songs on TikTok at the moment: ‘If I Were A Fish.’ But before the song, officially released on Friday, became a BBC Radio 1 Top Pop Pick, it was a short TikTok between two partners trying to cheer each other up. “If I were a fish and you caught me, you’d say look at that fish/ Shimmerin’ in the sun, such a rare one, can’t believe that you caught one,” the two sing, eyes bright and firmly fixed on each other. “Why is everybody on the Internet so mean/ Why is everybody so afraid of what they’ve never seen?”

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For the past five years, the couple has built a life together in their home base of Nashville, all while balancing the stressful and opposite schedules of our touring. Their music — and videos about it on TikTok — have resulted in a steadily growing fanbase over the past two years. But their budding popularity wasn’t able to shield Corook from a slew of hurtful and targeted comments on one of their videos.

“I am expressing myself in the purest way I know at this moment like I never have before,” Corook tells Rolling Stone. “And I think that leaves me out of a lot of boxes or groups that are way more clearly defined, whether it be the way I express myself colorfully, or my gender or genre of music. [The hate] just ended up shining a light on how lonely I feel right now in my life. I just ended up feeling really sad, like I didn’t have anywhere that I fit in.”

There were tears. There was pain. And then Barton had a suggestion: to spend 10 minutes making something as weird as possible.

“Olivia was comforting me and said, ‘You should be as weird as you possibly can, because that is what we’re crying about,’ Corook says. “So I said, ‘Well, I think if I were a fish, all of the things that make me different would be cool to people. If I were a big ass, chubby ass fish, people would love it.’ It was like, ‘Well, that’s weird. Let’s go with that idea.’”

“What’s in the video is all that we wrote that day,” Barton adds. “It took 20 minutes. And we’re like, ‘Let’s just take a little video. This is probably a weird time to post, but who cares? This is for us.’ And then, obviously, it took on a life of its own.”

When the clip was first posted on April 11, it hit 1 million views in two hours. As of Friday, that number has ballooned to 11.2 million views, 2.1 million likes, and 13 thousand videos attached to its sound. While those numbers are impressive, what’s shocking to Corook and Barton is the conversation the song has sparked about celebrating every special thing that makes up a person.

“I could have used this song at that age,” Corook says. “It’s a reminder for people on a daily basis how cool it is to be different. Boxes don’t matter, and being yourself is the best.”

Barton and Corook aren’t just TikTokers — both have their own music careers creating indie pop and folk projects. But it’s their relationship that the musicians are the proudest of. Barton and Corook attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston. While they graduated in different years, a chance listen to the school’s acapella group called “Pitch Slapped” and Barton’s solo, drew Corook in.

“I fell in love with her through her voice and weaseled my way into her life,” Corook laughs.

“I just continue to be more and more grateful that we met and got together before either of our careers started,” Barton adds. “It’s unbelievable to watch each other grow.”

The two tell Rolling Stone that collaborating, calming each other down, and celebrating each other’s wins is just a natural part of a strong relationship. So to have so many people appreciate a moment just meant for the two of them has made the response to ‘If I Were a Fish” even more special. Immediately after posting, their comments were inundated by people expressing their own frustrations with fitting in, feeling different, or isolated. There was one cover. Then ten. Then too many to count. And among it, all was a near-constant request — for the couple to make the ditty into a genuine, streamable song. So they did.

“What I loved about continuing to write it was that I really wanted to hold on to the energy it was created from,” Barton says. “We finished writing it in the car and the shower and the night before the recording session. And it came from a pure place.”

For indie artists and famous musicians alike, TikTok has become a place for overnight success. But the pressure to constantly post, on top of spending so much time developing music, can create major rifts between artists and their record labels — all in search of the next viral moment. It’s that pressure that makes hateful comments — like the ones Corook received — all the more upsetting. But now that the song is released, Barton and Corook aren’t focused on its numbers. The two have much bigger things to do: Barton is currently on tour opening for Lizzy McAlpine (of “Ceilings” fame), and Corook recently played the Troubadour, in support of TikTok songwriter Maddie Zahm. And while “If I Were a Fish” is already a success in their eyes, the process has made them think about doing more projects together— and appreciate their relationship with the app that celebrates this one.

“I think this song is just the epitome of everything beautiful about Corinne,” Barton says, eyes watering a bit. “I don’t know anybody that would want to write this song, this way, this weird. It’s a great little capsule of what makes Corinne special.”

“The kinds of videos people are making to the song and the kinds of the emotional reactions people are having and their feeling of connectedness with themselves and with each other has shown me [TikTok]  is actually really special,” Corook says. “It’s literally the fastest community builder. So as a musician, you have to be a part of it. But as a human, I want to be a part of it.”

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