Irfan’s song went viral on TikTok and Spotify
It started as a promise to himself to publish one song every day on Youtube. Six months later, the student Irfan Okanovic’s song I Am Woman, with the artist Emmy Meli, is one of the most played songs on TikTok and Spotify with over 30 million streams on both channels.
Irfan Okanovic studies the marketing programme at Linnaeus University. In addition to his studies, he creates music.
Irfan uses different channels to spread his music. However, he has primarily worked with his Youtube channel Okano Beats. This is where he first reached through with his song I Am Woman, which has now become massively popular on TikTok and Spotify.
“It all started in summer 2021, when I promised myself that I would publish one song every day on Youtube. A few months later, one of the songs was discovered by the artist Emmy Meli. She created a demo version and published it on TikTok. After this, the song grew quickly in popularity and people could not get enough of it, resulting in 30 million views in the app. At the time being, the song also has 59 million streams on Spotify.
Irfan thinks that the song has received so much attention because it is something of an anthem. It’s about the “I Am” concept, which is also repeated throughout the song. The listener gets a self-confidence boost, he explains.
The song has also received a lot of attention among friends, acquaintances and in the music industry.
“All this attention means incredibly much to me. One of the first obstacles for a music producer is to get a big hit. Once you have made a hit song you will have a lot more authority in the music industry, and also feel more motivated to continue producing”, Irfan continues.
Music has always been part of Irfan’s life and he started producing music at a young age. Today, he creates music while also studying on the marketing programme, which can be a challenging combination at times.
“There are days when I don’t want to create music, if I have been studying a lot and spent a lot of time at the gym, for example. But with a clear vision of what you want to do in life you carry on anyway”, says Irfan.
Irfan, who studies his final year on the marketing programme, thinks a lot about how he can combine music and his knowledge in marketing in the best way possible.
“I will pursue a music career, but will always have my education as a backup plan. We haven’t really learnt how to make a post or video go viral, but I’ve started thinking about my music catalogue as an entrepreneur and become more strategic”, Irfan concludes.