Photo: Peacock/Ben Symons/Peacock
Love Island USA gave us things we never asked for: the overuse of the phrase “girl’s girl,” the reminder of the importance of breakfast, and never-ending podcast interviews. But one pleasant surprise came from outside the Villa when islander TJ Palma used “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls in a TikTok, a day before he was eliminated from the show, and possibly made it a 2025 summer hit. His TikTok account posted a compilation of him and Iris Kendall’s relationship on the show, with “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls playing in the background. He continued to post videos with the song, and so did fans as they hoped their favorite couple would eventually get back together post-Villa, even noticing that she reposted a video on TikTok months earlier that says “Imagine being someone’s Iris.” She was born in 1999, just one year after the Goo Goo Dolls song was released.
The song must’ve resonated with new fans as it’s gotten a huge streaming boost this summer. Or original ones who were reminded that the song is really beautiful and added it to their playlists. This week, “Iris” hit a new peak of no. 9 on the Spotify Global Streaming charts on September 25 (it’s also hit another peak of no. 12 on the weekly Global Streaming Charts). Spotify listeners aren’t the only fans eating up the song. The Goo Goo Dolls staple entered the Billboard streaming charts for the first time on July 5, just two days after TJ was dumped from the island. It’s continued to stay there for the past 12 weeks, hitting a peak high of no. 39 (currently, it’s at no. 46). However, the 1998 hit isn’t a stranger to streaming stats in the new millennium.
Even though “Iris” is receiving a huge streaming boost this summer, its resurgence has been in the zeitgeist since last year, as part of the Deadpool & Wolverine soundtrack in July 2024 and in Shrinking season two. The band even performed the song at Demi Lovato’s wedding in May 2025. Since then, the song has been yearned for by hopeless romantics on TikTok, with videos featuring the song racking up millions of views, similar to the ones Iris posted herself. Of course, the City of Angels song is an eternally loved and classic romantic ballad and has been for the past twenty years, but now it’s reaching new listeners who are younger than the Meg Ryan/Nicolas Cage flick. Even if in 1998, the Goo Goo Dolls didn’t want the world to see them, maybe they wouldn’t mind in 2025.
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