In 2020, Fortnite YouTuber Tiko, known for his voice-changing videos, released the song “Fishy on Me." The song became a viral phenomenon, amassing over 129 Million views as of March 2023. Featuring his signature high-pitched vocals and fishy Fortnite persona, the song not only helped boost Tiko’s YouTube channel but also served as the jumping-off point for his music career.
Game Rant recently spoke with Tiko about the creation of the song, and he reflected on its success just a few weeks after the three-year anniversary of its YouTube release. Tiko also discussed his music-making process after the success of “Fishy on Me," as well as his future plans for his music career.
According to Tiko, “Fishy on Me” was a freestyle song he put together at the very start of his music journey. “I’d say “Fishy on Me” was my first song, even though it wasn’t really supposed to be good,” he said. “It was just like a random thing that I put out as a joke. I had previously made kind of similar things in the past, but none of them has really done that well. It did well at first, and then it just took off after a few weeks.”
“I didn’t think it’d be that big,” Tiko stated. The voice changer Tiko uses to pitch up his voice helped make his approach viral, and he knew that making a song with it was going to please the fans who were already interested in hearing a song by him.
“If I post a song, it will do well. That was what was going through my mind. So I kind of had high hopes for it, but it really just blew everything that I expected out of the water.”
After the success of “Fishy on Me,” Tiko began a more serious venture into the music world. Alongside several remastered versions of his original hit, he’s also released 13 singles, as well as two full studio albums titled “Wave” and “UPSIDE DOWN,” while crediting artists including Charlie Puth and Dominic Fike as some of his strongest influences. As of now, the 17-year-old artist currently has nearly 550,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, and while the immense success of his debut song may have added pressure in terms of creating later music for some artists, Tiko emphasized he tries not to let any of that pressure affect his production.
“I just really focused on the idea that I want to make music that I feel like my viewers will enjoy, and also that I’m going to have fun making. I try to take my time and produce something that I think my fans will enjoy.”
While most of Tiko’s music is sung in character with the voice changer, he’s also featured on his own songs using his unfiltered voice. He stated that while he wants to continue making songs as Tiko, he sees himself venturing into making more music as just Jayden, his real-world name.
“I’ve made a few songs without the voice changer, and I’m definitely going to keep making more songs without them. I’m trying to build out my two separate brands: me as Jayden and then also Tiko as Tiko.”