When someone brings up the app “TikTok,” you probably automatically associate it with the biggest creator on its platform: Charli D’Amelio. After being on TikTok for only about a year, the sixteen year old has amassed over 76 million followers and 5 billion likes. Her success on the app has led to numerous opportunities; she was on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, is featured as the face of Morphe’s new makeup line, Morphe2, and was even a part of a Sabra Hummus Super Bowl commercial. Her family members are also in the spotlight. Her sister Dixie is also popular on TikTok and recently released her first song, titled “Be Happy.” Additionally, the D’Amelio family has their own TikTok with 12 million followers. With all this fame, Charli D’Amelio has certainly faced the pressures of going viral, but she has managed to continue creating content that her fans enjoy. Being a dancer for most of her life, Charli went viral doing what she seems to be most comfortable with: dancing. At the beginning of her TikTok fame, many people knew her as the girl that danced to Lottery by K Camp, more widely known as “Renegade.” In this twenty second video, which now has 2.9 million likes, she does fellow TikTok creator Jalaiah Harmon’s dance and adds her own flair to it. From there, her TikTok started gaining tons of followers; soon her videos were getting more than 20 million views each. Although many of her fans like her because of her appearance and dance skills, a lot of her fans appreciate that she’s just a normal teenage girl. To them, her videos and personality seem genuine, relatable, and humble. In fact, some of her most liked videos seem like the ones that take the least amount of effort. Those who wonder why she’s famous are just as confused as she is; her bio used to say “don’t worry, I don’t get the hype either.” Shortly after she went viral, Charli joined the Hype House, a group of TikTok stars who also had “the hype” and wanted to collaborate with each other. The Hype House appeared to be very exclusive, as only very famous creators could join. Although Charli later left the Hype House as it turned into more of a business, each creator in the house gained tons of attention by making videos with each other.
While Charli does have “the hype,” this attention also makes her subject to negativity and hate comments. In a video with UNICEF, Charli says that she has been body shamed, which has been difficult for her since she has struggled with body image before. She explains that she uses dance as an outlet for stress and negativity and her family has always been supportive. Additionally, being famous as a teenager puts lots of attention on Charli, making private matters extremely public. The Hype House has been involved in lots of drama involving ownership, relationships between creators, and other miscellaneous topics. The D’Amelio family has managed to mostly stay out of these issues. However, Charli’s name is constantly all over social media, and media outlets like the Hollywood Fix always want to know more about these young creators’ lives. Charli’s breakup with fellow TikTok star Chase Hudson became extremely public and a lot of drama ensued with other creators. There are countless “tea” videos on YouTube and Instagram, allowing everyone to know all the details of her personal life. Throughout these situations, her family and fans have stuck by her and Charli has continued to make her normal, happy dance videos.
Although Charli has become wildly successful and well-known, she still posts the same types of videos on her TikTok each day and continues to have a passion for dance. It seems like as long as she continues to stay true to herself and ignore negativity, her platform will grow even larger.
Sources
Travis M., 5-26-2020, “Charli D’Amelio is TikTok’s biggest star. She has no idea why.,” Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/26/charli-damelio-tiktok-star/?arc404=true
Tonight, 2-10-2020, “TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio on being bullied online,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jFYPyC9n_0