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Gennaio 22 2025
‘Somebody to Love’ the trend rising from Gossip Girl

Leighton Meester’s ‘Heartstrings’ album is soaring on digital charts, thanks to TikTok

Flavor Flav, American rapper and member of Public Enemy, scrolls through his iPhone. He pauses on a forgotten folk-pop melody from 2014 by Leighton Meester, and hits ‘share‘. Within minutes, thousands of teenagers on TikTok are dancing to a song they’ve never heard before—the buried hit of an actress they only knew as Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl.

As wildfires ravage Pacific Palisades, iTunes algorithms are tracking an unexpected phenomenon: Leighton Meester’s solo album Heartstrings is rapidly climbing the digital charts. Landing at number 18, it’s outperforming new releases from established artists like Post Malone and Sabrina Carpenter—a remarkable achievement for a record that until a few days ago had disappeared from the music industry.

The catalyst for this revival was news of the Meester-Brody residence’s destruction in the fires currently sweeping through the Los Angeles area. “Her house was destroyed by flames, her music deserves its moment of glory,” commented podcaster Gibson Johns, triggering a social media chain reaction. Within 48 hours, her 2010 single Your Love’s a Drug went viral on TikTok, followed by Somebody to Love, her collaboration with Robin Thicke.

The Heartstring case is part of a broader musical rediscovery phenomenon brought by recent calamities. In the same area, Heidi Montag, singer and actress, also lost her home, prompting fans to rediscover her album Superficial, which now tops iTunes’ 2025 charts.

Public Enemy’s member Flavor Flav is playing a key role in this digital renaissance. After personally contributing to relief efforts through GoFundMe donations, the rapper launched a social media appeal: “Use Somebody to Love in your TikToks. Let’s help my girl Leighton recover from the fire.”

Among these digital first responders is Ali Mae, a content creator who represents the bridge between Leighton Meester ‘s original millennial fanbase and today’s TikTok generation. “Music is my special interest,” she explains. “When her home burned down and I saw that there was a potential to revive the music I loved when I was younger, I jumped at it!” The movement has also gained momentum thanks to the ripple effect of users like Ashleigh, who says: “I noticed one of her songs in someone else’s TikTok. When I learned she had music, I looked it up in Apple Music and searched it in TikTok and made a video with the sounds!”

While the Meester-Brodys maintain their privacy about the incident—their last public appearance being at the recent Golden Globes—the self-produced 2014 album, featuring nine original tracks produced by Jeff Trott, is experiencing a second life on digital platforms. A phenomenon that highlights how social media is redefining community mobilization and support in response to emergencies.