Radiohead join TikTok, share a sinister ‘wake up call’

Radiohead have officially joined TikTok, with a verified account for the band popping up on the short-form video app earlier today (April 1). Predictably, the group’s first offering isn’t the usual TikTok fare, but a creepy, cryptic video marking the return of their recurring character Chieftain Mews.

Previously seen in old Radiohead webcasts — and resurrected for an OKNOTOK unboxing in 2017 — the character, played by longtime producer Nigel Godrich, sits behind a newsreader’s desk in front of the Radiohead logo.

Over a snippet of OK Computer’s “Paranoid Android”, Mews asks an off-camera figure, “Well, what do you want me to say? TikTok. Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.” Shifting his attention to the viewer, he then adds in a deadpan voice: “This is your wakeup call. Have a good day.”

“Proud to be joining the TikTok revolution,” reads the description to Radiohead’s newly-launched account, though some fans have suggested that their presence on the app could be part of a prank (especially given the April Fools’ Day launch date).

Recently, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke also shared a haunting new remix of the band’s track “Creep”, to soundtrack Jun Takahashi’s Undercover runway show for AW21.

Take a look at Radiohead’s TikTok debut below.