Cherry Waves: How TikTok helped turn an underrated Deftones track into an extremely popular one

In 2006, Deftones released an underrated album by the name of Saturday Night Wrist. The album was filled with some of the band’s most exciting tracks, like the bludgeoning “Rats!Rats!Rats!” and lead single “Hole In The Earth”, yet still feels a bit overlooked sometimes due to the sheer number of killer albums the band has. Still, it’s a great album that ranks among the band’s most prominent, and there’s a particular Deftones song off the album that, by some metrics, is one of their most popular and successful.

@rsdlrs

theyre so pretty wtffff #deftones

♬ Cherry Waves – Deftones

@4shleyjo

#deftones #cherrywaves #fyp

♬ YOUUU – gavin

The song in question is “Cherry Waves”, a song from the album that was never released as a single. Yet its euphoric chorus and shoegaze-heavy nature works well in almost any situation, and is one of the most important songs in their catalogue. Creating a rush of emotions and feelings within almost anyone fortunate enough to hear it, Chino Moreno’s vocal abilities are delivered with absolute conviction. It’s one of Deftones’ greatest shoegaze-influenced songs, as well as one of their most distinct.

@kallenhill

Saturday night wrist is my fav album #deftones #music #car #forza #fy #fyp #foryou #foru #4u #fypage #foryourpage #fypシ #fypシ゚viral #viral #funny #songs

♬ Cherry Waves – Deftones

Would you be surprised to see the song going absolutely wild on TikTok, though? As more of the platform’s younger demographic starts discovering the song (and by product, Deftones) on the social media video app, it’ll continue to have benefits for both Deftones and the song. After all, while Deftones have existed since around 1988, they’ve done a great job at reeling in a much younger generation – both to their music as a whole as well as their live shows.

@prollynot.chz

#fy#fyp#fypage#deftones #shoegaze#cherrywaves#cherrywavesdeftones#meme#memes#memestiktok

♬ cherry waves by Deftones – Im.chz

This says a lot about the interpolation of their critical and commercial success, and also about the bands they’ve influenced in their wake. Sitting at almost 140 million streams on Spotify alone, it’s also one of the band’s most successful songs there – eclipsing the likes of “Rocket Skates” and even “Passenger”.

@sleepiestgirlintheworld

videotography by @shartiedmelio #deftones #sad #depressed #brocenhartforever💔💔😭😭

♬ cherry waves x nate x jules – halfmoonrue ☾

@kiddeath1995

Cherry waves is so amazing #deftones #deftonesenjoyer #deftonestiktok #deftonesfan #deftonesedit #kiddeath1995 #deftonesmusic #deftonesgirl

♬ Cherry Waves – Deftones

This is, of course, far from the first time a similar band or musician has gained a significant amount of attention on TikTok. The Plot In You scored a Gold single thanks to social media taking hold of “Feel Nothing”, while Bad Omens (“Just Pretend” and basically the band’s entire third full-length album) and even Superheaven (“Youngest Daughter”) have garnered a radically overhauled fanbase here. And really, you can’t argue with the results. Plus, many of these videos actually do express what hearing a song like “Cherry Waves” must actually feel like, which is great! And it’s also kind of the point.