Hearing that someone has passed away is a sad moment. But when a musician dies, it is so much more. Musicians or artists who pass away often receive dramatic increases in popularity since the shocking news is an eye-opener, regardless of the amount of fame the person had.

Recently, a wave of fake love has trended across social media. Music artists who weren’t as worshipped before their death are now raved about. People tweet out statements of support such as “just listened to XXX for the first time after I heard he died…RIP” and “I never heard of them before until now…but their music is so good.” The fact that it takes death for someone to be noticed is frightening.

Senior Felipe Orozco is a huge Lil Peep fan, and he finds some people disrespectful for trying to join the culture of being an original fan. “Bandwagons are okay if they enjoy music after someone passes, but if they claim to be a hardcore fan they’re not really part of the culture,” Orozco said.

Not only are these artists gaining more publicity than before on social media, but their music sales also skyrocket. Hours after the media heard XXXTentacion had been shot dead, his albums “?” and “17” held the No. 1 and No. 2 slots in big music apps.

The recent death of hip-hop rapper Mac Miller had similar results. On Aug. 3, 2018, Miller released his album “Swimming.” About a month later he died. Suddenly his songs earned 32.5 million streams, compared to the 3.04 million streams from the day before. Why did it take him dying to make this happen?

Keimora Armstrong, a junior, shares the opinion of how it’s bogus to support music artists after they die. “It kinda seems like they are posers,” she said. To her, people just claim their love for the artist for show.

Armstrong believes another reason behind the fake love is lack of appreciation. “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” These unexpected deaths begin to trend and “open up the eyes of generations.”

From artists like Mac Miller to Selena, dying has played a huge role in their fame. It’s tragic to know that after such unforeseeable events, fake love is revealed.