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Who is Nathan Evans? Meet the viral 'Wellerman' sensation behind the Sea Shanty trend on TikTok

Nathan Evans' music got more than a million views, prompting an array of diverse arrangements of the song ‘Wellerman’

Among the latest viral trends, #seashanty has garnered more than 69 million views making it all the new rage in Tiktok. A Scotland-based Tiktoker Nathan Evans has received over a million views on a sea shanty song titled ‘Wellerman’ along with multiple renditions of it.

For the unversed, sea shanty is a particular type of sailor-work song that is sung while tackling heavy waves. Accordion to FreshPlans, “Sea shanties are a part of the great genre of work songs. Sailors used the rhythm of the songs to keep together when rowing, hauling up sails, and doing other cooperative work. They also enjoyed music during their downtime. Pirate musicians, according to documents preserved from pirate ships, only had Sunday nights off from playing music.” The songs heavily built on chorus helped to keep the workflow and worked on a call and response format.

What’s the Tiktok trend?

In the new ‘sea shanty’ trend, Tiktokers have been adding their own unique take of harmonies, crafting Capella arrangements of the sea-shanty tunes, adding vibrant bass lines, and putting out their renditions. According to Google trends, sea shanties have never been more searched in Google before.

Who is Nathan Evans?

Nathan Evans, a Scotland-based postman who posts regular videos on Tiktok is one of the people whose music got a whopping more than a million views and prompted an array of diverse arrangements of the song ‘Wellerman’, a shanty lore of New Zealand tracing back to its origin to the 19th century. The 26-year-old Tiktoker posted the song on December 27 and it instantly became a Tiktok favorite among the users which went on to become the trend. “It went wild. I don't really know what happened”, the singer shared. Since his rendition of ‘Wellerman’ took off, the Tiktoker’s follower number has gone from 45,000 to 347,000.

The trend has also made its impact on other social media platforms where users are sharing their views on the trend. Comedy writer James Felton shared, “Indescribably jealous that the TikTok equivalent of a quote tweet is to join a sea shanty!” Another user shared, “I'm stuck on sea shanty tiktok and I've never been happier!” A user shared, “Sea shanty TikTok is the gift that keeps on giving!”

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