Charli D’Amelio is Taking Over Tiktok: 15 Seconds at a Time

Humans have always been fascinated with the best of the best. When you scroll through a Guinness Book of World Records; sprawled across its pages are the words: Most, Biggest, or Longest and all other superlatives you could think of. If someone would ask who has the most followers on Tiktok; a content creation platform that took the world by storm in mere months. One might guess that it’s an A-List Celebrity. (HINT: Wrong!)

Charli D’Amelio, a 16-year old content creator was hailed by the New York Times to be the “Queen of Tiktok.” As of June 2020, she has already amassed almost 61 Million Followers in Tiktok with 4.2 Billion likes. When MEL Magazine asked her what made her Tiktok famous overnight, she simply replied with “I wish I could tell you, but I do not know either.”.

Overnight Celebrity: Facts and Figures

It took Charli exponentially less time to do what others have been trying to do for a long time now: Get famous. She started creating content for Tiktok in the summer of 2019 with a lip sync video of her and a friend. In December 2019 her follower count has already surpassed 5 Million.

Her main content includes videos of her dancing to the most popular music on Tiktok. This is why no one understands (not even Charli) what’s the big deal about it. She says that she’s just a normal girl doing everyday stuff and posting it to the platform. From about 300 videos in December 2019, she now has over 1200 videos in her profile which varies from her signature dance cover, duet with other content creators, and random lip sync videos that trend daily on Tiktok’s “For You Page”. 

Her other Social Media platforms aren’t a joke either. She currently has: 19.6 Million Followers on Instagram, 2.1 Million Followers on Twitter, and 4.5 Million Youtube subscribers on her channel despite having only a few videos. 

Elevating the Brand of Tiktok Content

Her run-off-the-mill content is exactly what’s getting her attention. Despite being plain and simple, her content could easily be used in Tiktok’s “Duet” feature and make a meme out of it. It’s the everyday cringe comedy and Dynamism of using videos to tell a story that set Tiktok apart from other social media platforms. Many say, it is this generation’s “Vine” (if you know, you know.)

Being a famous figure in the internet could be a disastrous venture for her, too. Despite the love she receives, there are also critics or in the current generation’s lingo, “Haters”. She claims that it’s tough being popular especially when her content is out there on the internet. She says she gets recorded while walking at school; the videos getting sent to private snapchats and stories. 

By far, the most criticized part of Charli’s fame is her dancing. Some people dub it as “too basic”. However, she takes this lightly and steers clear from the hate, she said she enjoys dancing on Tiktok. That’s it. She tells MEL Magazine:

“I get self-conscious and I get insecure, as everybody else does, but I try not to show that. It’s going to make them feel like they won, and I’m not going to let them feel like that.”

Charli D’Amelio

Charli has worked with UNICEF along with her sister Dixie to speak and campaign against online bullying. 

What’s in it for her in the future?

At 16, she has been to attend the Super Bowl and startED the “J Lo Superbowl Challenge”; She has performed in the most recent NBA All Star Game; and Ramble Podcast Network has signed her to a deal along with her sister, Dixie.

We could say that her future is bright. People have only seen the tip of the internet’s iceberg. There’s no telling what these young influencers will achieve in the future.