Leah Kate's the latest artist to see her viral TikTok song turn into a bona fide radio hit. After she posted a snippet of her song "10 Things I Hate About You" on the app, it went viral, then blew up on digital service providers and is now on radio stations nationwide. And that's something that Leah says she just can't get her head around.
"I don't believe it. I'm just like, 'What?'" she laughs. "In my head, I'm so, like, 'Please listen to my music. I'll do anything ... stream my song!' ... so it hasn't connected in my brain. Like, reality hasn't caught up with what the truth is, in my head. So every time I hear it on the radio, I'm like, 'Oh, how is this possible?'"
And no, despite the song's title, it was not inspired by the 1999 rom-com starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger. "I love the movie, but it actually had nothing to do with the creation of the song," Leah tells ABC Audio.
She explains, "I was not over this guy and I was like, 'I need to get over him.' [But] I could only really remember the good parts of our relationship, [so] I was like, 'OK, Leah, time to remember the bad parts,' because there are way more bad parts than good!"
Leah adds, "I started writing this list of everything I hated about him, and I was like, 'Oh, this is kind of a fun song idea.'... It started out as, like, 100 things, and then I narrowed it down to 10 things."
You'll hear Leah performing that song and more as she kicks off a tour with Australian band Chase Atlantic on Wednesday.
"You can expect, like, so much new music in the set," she promises, teasing "crazy things and visuals." "It's going to be really fun. I'm so excited!"
(Video contains uncensored profanity.)