Millennial nostalgia, social media with kids and connection via The Wiggles

Abstract

The Wiggles are often called popular ‘children’s musicians’—yet their music and influence clearly extend beyond child audiences. Examining the period of the first COVID-19 lockdowns in Australia in 2020 and continued disruption into 2021, the article explores the ways The Wiggles used specialist recorded and live content to appeal to diverse groups of audiences, including co-watching/listening family groups, and older fans returning to the group as a form of musical nostalgic comfort. Particularly important during this period was the way The Wiggles used a number of social media outlets to allow for as many of their fans to engage with them as possible. The article includes a cultural history of key media posts and interactions between artists and families made during the time period 2020–21, and how these informed other forms of nostalgic engagement like the The Wiggles’ cover of Tame Impala’s ‘Elephant’, which won the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2021/2. Subsequently they have also been the subject of a 2023 documentary, ‘Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles’ (Sally Aitken, dir.). The preservation of fan and artist engagements like this demonstrate the continued importance of popular music during, and beyond, periods of crisis.