Why are so many TikTok stars becoming singers?

Let's talk about the pretty-to-popstar pipeline.

May 25, 2021

Six of the top 10 most-followed TikTok users have released music.

One of them is Will Smith, and another is a beatboxer who mostly makes sounds, so let’s focus on the others: Addison Rae, Bella Poarch, Loren Gray and Dixie D’Amelio.

The four have a lot in common. They’re beautiful. They dance. They make cute little faces. They have embraced a “mall goth” aesthetic in their videos, per Ryan Broderick. They’re largely “blank slates customized for mass engagement,” as Kat Tenbarge aptly put it in her Substack last week. They have boring-girl-itis, as I wrote about iCarly back in March. And they’re suddenly all singers.

Now, Loren Gray has been putting out music since 2018, and I believe she is genuinely talented. There’s no doubt she still fits into what I’m calling the pretty-to-popstar pipeline, though. She’s just a few years ahead.

Side note, influencers LOVE singing in cages? It’s a metaphor, for social media, for fame, the screen is a box, do you get it??? Do you. See.

These women are not only digestibly beautiful, they are publicity machines. They have 52 to 80 MILLION (!!!!) TikTok followers. Addison’s videos have been liked more than 5 BILLION!! times. A single post from Bella has 50 MILLION!!!! likes.

That’s all well and good, but it’s not making them much money. TikTok videos aren’t monetized like YouTube videos are, and though some creators make money through the platform, they’re mostly relying on brand deals and sponcon to pay the bills. Experts say the best way to make money on TikTok is to get your audience off of TikTok.

Per Forbes, Addison is TikTok’s highest-earning star with a net worth of $5 million. That’s, I mean …. a lot … but like, is it? There’s so much more money to be made there, right?

And that’s why they pivot to music.

Dropping unexpected music after dumping your boyfriend everyone thought you were dating for joint publicity? Genius.

According to TikTok user Charles Gross, who spoke to his friend who works in influencer marketing about why so many social media stars are suddenly singers, offered a few reasons behind this mass pivot.

For one, transitioning a TikTok audience to an audience that listens to your music is easy. You don’t have to build up a new fanbase, the app is already loaded with songs. They can put their songs on TikTok, like Bella did, and have their song become a trend that they and millions of other people can dance to.

Also, and here’s the spicy one … you don’t actually have to be a good singer. Technology and production can make up for the fact you don’t have a good voice. All you really need is a solid chorus and an earworm and you’re golden. Not gonna earn you any awards, but it’ll roll in the dough. That’s why so many of them sound like whisper-talk-singing-lil-babies.

I’m not a music critic, but this Dixie song is bad. It also has 106 MILLION views.

It’s also really easy to integrate brands into music videos. Self-explanatory. I would also argue that a lot of these folks built their fame on being able to stand there and look cute and occasionally dance, so music videos are a great platform for that as well. More video views = more revenue.

In the “Build a B” music video, Bella graciously did the little blink-crossed-eyed-smirk-wink face that’s made her the big bucks.

Is it worth mentioning that for the longest time, the only management one (read: I) could find for Bella was a content marketing company that is also linked to only two other accounts — both used to promote music for Columbia Records? I think so! I still have a few questions about that!!

Anyway, I would also note that it’s easier to defend your music if it ends up flopping, especially if you write it yourself, by saying it’s your “art.” And maybe it is your art! And maybe your art isn’t, you know, as exceptional as the art of people who make it as singers outright.

Gabbie Hanna was recently banned from TikTok, but she’s always on my mind!

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about how these TikTok stars compare to people like Olivia Rodrigo — THEEE pop girl of the moment who is a Disney start-turned-TikToker-turned-ultra-famous-singer-but-still-Disney-star. Why is she so successful? (She’s talented at singing and songwriting and marketing. That’s the whole reason. Let’s find a different example.)

A lot of our current pop icons — Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, (clears throat) Ariana Grande and Hilary Duff (depending on who you ask) (justice for “Sparks”) — started as child stars. How did so many of THEM successfully pivot to pop stardom and earn acclaim for their powerful voices? Sure, they’re talented, but it’s a loaded field.

I’ve written at great length about child stars and how cutthroat the industry is, and I have a hunch that being able to sing on top of their acting skills set them over the edge at auditions. Like, if you can hire anyone in the world, why not hire a triple threat, like Zendaya or (checks notes) Bella Thorne?

Didn’t hurt that Disney owned Hollywood Records and could yeet the stars who aged out of the child star industry into that machine, and that this success was widely expected and rewarded. But the ones that stuck around beyond those contracts, ultimately, had star power — that special something that Ariana has but Victoria Justice does not (sorry queen) that will keep them around.

We shall see which TikTok stars are still making music in 3 years.

I’ll play us out.

Content dump

This article on the great lengths Gen Z goes to to study — and to perform studying — has given me heartburn
TikTok is the fastest way on earth to become a food star
See also: What a suburban teenager eats in a week
The Millennial vernacular of fatphobia (this is legitimately a log of all the sinister ways that diet culture and body image issues sinked into the brains of so many people in my generation and shoooooooooo does it sting. But it’s so good.
Selfies, surgeries and self-loathing: Inside the FaceTune epidemic
The Uncanny, Fluorescent World of the Costco Influencer
Let me dress like a teen, please
The most terrifying things TikTok says will kill you
The public turned their backs on celebrities during the pandemic. 'Bennifer' is here to save them and us.
Social media creators are helping women and people of color identify possible symptoms of ADHD, a disorder most often diagnosed in white boys
How a Spotify playlist became Gen Z’s TRL

I don’t think you understand, I’m obsessed

Last week we talked about my obsession with newsletters. This week, let’s talk about my obsession with video essays from YouTube commentary channels.

Video essays, which are … well, they’re longform articles in video form that have helpful clips rolled in and touch on areas of the internet the ~mainstream media~, IE people like me, have not gotten to yet. Here are some favorites I’ve watched recently (and creators you should check out):

Oops that was a lot.

I’m writing about the distinction between commentary channels and drama/tea channels and reaction channels, so more on that later.

From yours truly

That’s all! Tell a friend. XO.

okay zoomer

Discussion about this post