What is the 'are you a real one, or are you basic af' Spotify website?

A mysterious website asking the question ‘are you a real or basic?’ with a Spotify pre-save is spreading on TikTok, but what actually is it?

Where is ‘are you a real one, or are you basic af’ Spotify pre-save from?

There’s so many trends emerging from TikTok that it’s easy to get lost in it all. Sometimes, things even become a trend from sheer confusion and that looks like the case with ‘are you a real one, or are you basic af’.

A TikTok has encouraged people go visit a website as a test to see if you are ‘a real one’ by scanning your Spotify, similar to the How Bad Is Your Streaming Music? site from 2020.

However, after TheFocus tried out the site, it’s not what the TikTok is claiming.

One TikToker user tried it and asked “what do you get? I got the ‘real one’ thing but whats it for? I really don’t get the thing?”

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The real meaning of the site

Googling ‘are you a real one’ will not direct searchers to the correct site, so you can access it here.

After investigation and testing, we’ve concluded that the site is simply a music marketing tactic by an artist called Karim Ismail.

He uses show.co, a service for artists to promote their music through pre-save campaigns and Spotify adverts.

The sites states that something will be available on 5 November 2021, probably a song or album, and teases the audience to click the Spotify pre-save button with:

“People have been putting up a mask long before the pandemic — in a world filled with fake and basic people, we’re trying to find the real ones. Maybe it’s you? Let’s find out now…”

Naturally, everyone’s curious to find out whether they’re a real or fake and how the site detects it, so people click the bright green button.

It directs you to link your Spotify and presents the final answer:

“You’re a real one, it has been confirmed. Now send this to your friends, see who’s a real one like you and who’s fake af and just all around basic…

REAL ONES ONLY: Follow @karimxismail on Insta”

So really, anyone who clicks on the link is ‘a real one’ since they just signed up to get notifications for Karim’s next release.

Quite brilliant actually; the mystery has got everyone signing up.

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Yasmine Leung

Yasmine is a third-year Anthropology and Media student at Goldsmiths University with a new obsession with League of Legends, despite being really bad. She's always on social media keeping on top of the latest news and trends and is HITC’s expert in Korean pop culture. She also loves music, TV and fashion - her favourite things to write about.