As the co-writer of several top 40 Billboard hits — including Rihanna's "California King Bed" and Pitbull's 2014 "Timber," featuring Kesha— Priscilla Renea is looking to make her mark not only as a gifted songwriter but as a talented recording artist as well.
Renea has one of the hottest songs of 2022 and is finally getting the attention she deserves as an artist and performer. If you're familiar with TikTok, you may have seen how quickly a song can gain popularity. Renea is no exception to this trend, releasing music under a new identity, Muni Long.
The 33-year-old artist has the most popular song, "Hrs and Hrs," on the video-sharing app and is on her way to having one of the biggest hits of the year.
According to Billboard, the artist's popular "Hrs and Hrs" song has jumped from #20 to #7, reaching the Top 10 for the first time. The song is her first charting track as a solo recording artist. The song that lives rent-free in our mind has amassed over four million views on YouTube since its release in November.
Muni's song has received reactions from celebrities such as Latto, Jordyn Woods, WNBA player T'ea Cooper, and others.
TikTok music marketing is a lucrative business, with up to 67% of users seeking out songs on streaming services after hearing them on the app, according to a study by music analytics firm MRC data.
Additionally, Business Insider reported that trending TikTok songs tend to chart on the Billboard 100 and Spotify Viral 50 charts, both of which "Hrs and Hrs" are currently charting. Almost 120,000 TikTok videos have featured the song, a collection of makeup and hair tutorials, a couple of compilations, and more.
As a songwriter, Muni had written hits for others, such as Ariana Grande, Mariah Carey, and Rihanna, before becoming successful with her current single. According to her interview with Rolling Stone, after years of feeling unappreciated for her singing, Muni believed she needed to try something different.
"For the longest time, I felt like I had to do a departure from Priscilla Renea because everybody knew me already," Muni said. I was just trying things for a second, and none of it was working. I had changed my name to Melrose. In 2018, I put out this country record — let me switch genres, let me see if that helps."
Although the country song failed, she soon realized that "it wasn't clicking" after she had attempted to record a country album. Her manager encouraged her to sing R&B instead, and in 2020, she released two EPs, Nobody Knows and Public Displays of Affection.
After completing the second EP, Muni came across the beat known as "Hrs and Hrs," which she soon recorded with Beyonce's producer Kuk Harrell. In Nov., the song appeared on her Public Displays of Affection EP, but it only became viral among young people posting videos dedicated to their love on TikTok in December.
The song reached the Top 10 on Apple Music within a week.
