Along with other timeless pursuits, like baking sourdough and gardening, singing sea shanties surged back into popularity during the recent lockdown, thanks, in part, to the app TikTok and its “duet” feature, which allows singers from around the world create music together.
By the time late-night host Stephen Colbert tweeted it was the “Year of the Sea Shanty”—with a video featuring the unlikely duo of an American gamer and a British rock and roller singing in haunting harmony—the trend had hit the mainstream. Almost overnight, thousands of by Scottish singer Nathan Evans stuck in their heads. The original video has been “liked” 2.4 million times since its debut in late 2020.
