A ’90s rock anthem that nearly everyone can sing at the top of their lungs is suddenly back in a huge way — and for the first time ever, it’s made its debut on Spotify’s Weekly Top Songs Global chart.
"What's Up?", the 1993 single by 4 Non Blondes, entered the chart this week at No. 182, an impressive first-time appearance more than three decades after its release. The song originally dropped on March 11, 1993, as the second single from the band’s album Bigger, Better, Faster, More! — and while it’s been a staple of cafes, karaoke nights and road-trip playlists for years, it has never before cracked Spotify’s global elite.
Now, thanks largely to TikTok, the song is everywhere.
RELATED: Neil Young & Jackson Browne Join Major Hall of Fame Class for 2025
The track has exploded across the platform, currently sitting at No. 1 on TikTok’s Top 50 chart and No. 2 on the Viral 50 chart. Creators love using the signature moment — the part where lead singer Linda Perry howls the chorus with full-volume frustration — as a soundtrack for everything from pet chaos to daily-life meltdowns. It’s become one of TikTok’s most reliable “scream into the void” audio trends.
And that brings the song’s story full circle, because Perry wrote it from a place of frustration and emotional turbulence.
In a 2021 interview with TAPE OP, Perry said she had zero studio experience when she wrote the track. She was a solo artist in San Francisco, “climbing [her] way up,” and joined 4 Non Blondes mainly because “it seemed fun.”
Perry explained the origins of the song this way: “I wrote that song, and we went into a studio for a day. We recorded eight songs really fast… The song I wrote was based out of frustration with what was going on in the world. I had no money. Everything seemed hard, and desperate, and challenging. I wrote this song that seemed to fit the mood, not only for myself but for the world.”
She said she immediately sensed the track’s potential — even if others didn’t. Their producer at the time, David Tickle, “had no sense of what the song was” and pushed her to let him overhaul it. Perry refused.
Eventually, she grabbed the band, went to The Plant in Sausalito with one reel of tape, and rebuilt the entire song:
“I started moving things around… Then we got the tempo, and we got the recording of it, the base of it, done. I re-did my acoustics… We comped the vocal and mixed it that night, and it made mastering the next day. That is the version that blew up all over the world.”
She never received a producer credit, but she’s clear about what happened: “I did save the song.”
RELATED: Iconic ’70s Rockers Suddenly Delay Shows — Fans Call It ‘Total BS’
A Remarkable Moment With Stephan Jenkins Years Before Both Songs Took Off
The song also has a surprising connection to another era-defining ’90s hit.
In a 2020 interview with Billboard, Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins recalled sitting on a bed with Perry early in their careers, trading unfinished songs with no idea of what they’d later become:
"I remember sitting in a room with this other songwriter who worked down the street — she was a waitress — and she came up and sat on the bed and we played each other some songs and I realized years later that the songs we played each other had sold 17 million records… it was [4 Non Blondes singer and mega-producer/songwriter] Linda Perry. She sang me a song called 'What's Going On?' and I sang her this song called 'Semi-Charmed Life.'"
Note: Fans always think the song is called 'What's Going On?" because that is the repeated phrase in the chorus, but the song is actually titled "What's Up?" — a phrase that never actually appears in the lyrics.
Three decades after its release, the song is finding an entirely new life with a new generation. Between its emotional scream-along chorus, its TikTok virality, and a massive global Spotify debut, the track remains as cathartic and universal as ever.
And clearly, the world still needs that moment where you just scream the chorus at the top of your lungs.
? SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox ?
Hence then, the article about a 90s hit everyone knows just hit a new milestone for the first time ever was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( A '90s Hit Everyone Knows Just Hit a New Milestone for the First Time Ever )
Also on site :
- PIN Stockholder Alert: Shareholder Rights Law Firm Robbins LLP Reminds Investors of the Class Action Lawsuit Against Pinterest, Inc.
- ‘Murphy Brown’ Star Jessie Jones Dead at 75
- 2026 APRA Music Awards Nominations: Full List