THE APP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

Chase Hudson, siblings Ondreaz and Tony Lopez, Avani Gregg, my personal favourite Addison Rae, and the queen of Tik Tok herself, Charlie D’amelio are the most popular teens on the internet right now. They have individually and collaboratively created some of the most popular trends on the entertainment app known as Tiktok. 

In the summer of 2019, Charlie D’amelio started her TikTok account and began creating content just to pass time, but as she continued, her number of likes and followers started to rapidly multiply. Her videos consist of her dancing to her own choreography and sometimes of others to trending sounds on the app. As she climbed the ranks of TikTok, the hype house began to form. The hype house is the name of a group of popular, young TikTokers as well as their mansion located in downtown Los Angeles where some of these influencers live. This group consists of Chase Hudson (aka Lil Huddy), Connor Yates, Alex Warren, Charlie D’amelio, Dixie D’amelio, Addison Rae, Avani Gregg, Wyatt Xavier, Daisy Keech, Ryland Storms, Nick Austin, Ondreaz Lopez, Tony Lopez, Kouvr Annon, Thomas Petrou, Calvin Goldby, James Wright, Jack Wright, and Patrick Huston. The house was founded by Daisy Keech, Chase Hudson, Thomas Petrou, Alex Warren, and Kouvr Annon strictly for creating online content. After Charlie’s rise to fame began she was invited to create a few videos with the internet stars in LA whenever she visited from her home in Connecticut. As the house started to become more of a business than a shared setting to create content, TikTok stars Charlie and her sister Dixie D’amelio have decided to leave that aspect behind but have continued to stay friends with the members of the house.

Other than the surge of fame these TikTok stars have, they are also exposed to numerous opportunities that otherwise would be very hard to get a hold of. Some of these astonishing possibilities include advertising stunning, popular brands, being featured in the latest music videos, and even getting to dancing with your life-long idol, Jennifer Lopez before the super bowl like Charlie D’amelio had the chance to! Addison Rae is also an internet star with an account that has been blowing up ever since she started to create short, entertaining videos on TikTok with her friends. But her fame really started to surge after she posted a video with her gorgeous mom, Sheri. She has been signed with one of Hollywood’s most prominent talent agencies, WME. This company will represent her in all areas of her entertainment career such as modelling, fashion, music, dance, touring, TV and so many more. WME also continued to sign a deal with the star’s beloved parents Sheri Easterling and Monty Lopez who are celebrities in their own right. WME also represents the Hype House as a brand and fellow Titok star Chase Hudson. Charlie and Dixie D’amelio, sisters and well-known collaborators signed with competing entertainment agency UTA along with their parents Marc and Heidi D’amelio.

But why is TikTok so popular? The concept of “going viral” and becoming online celebrities overnight was largely appealing to a lot of young individuals. Micro-entertainment and short and trendy bursts of distraction are also craved by the younger generation. This entertainment app also provides users with a never-ending thread of randomized videos which makes the app so addictive. TikTok also has the typical attributes of a social media platform including direct messages and the option to like and comment on various videos. This up and coming app also permits their users to present their creativity using short sections of songs and other auditory sounds. This allows a great range of videos to be posted on the network and distinct and popular trends and challenges to be created and involved in. 

As this app started to blow up during 2018 and throughout 2019 it now boasts over 800 million active users worldwide. Everybody I knew had the famed app. Finally, after a few months of watching my fellow classmates break out into TikTok dances throughout the day, I eventually caved and downloaded the most popular app on the planet. Scrolling through my “for you page” there were tons and tons of fifteen to sixty-second videos that mainly consist of young people dancing, singing, lip-synching, or sometimes even just talking. Most videos are usually created about something big that is going on in the world, for example, the riots in Minneapolis have created a surge of TikToks surrounding the subject of BlackLivesMatter. Other popular videos are regarding something that is widely relatable which can cause it to go viral overnight. Additional trending topics include the Covid-19 pandemic and the SpaceX launch on Sunday. Personally, I really adored the big idea of allowing people to share their opinion or even just make it a creative medium that is easily accessible. Since the feed is constantly changing and refreshing, it is so easy to know what is happening in the world around you and the different perspectives that people have. TikTok also has a particular audience, the majority of the users are between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four, which makes some of the content inappropriate for younger users on the app, but if used with proper parental guidance, common sense, and responsibility TikTok is safe for you to use. But as the app’s community guidelines clearly state, TikTok is an app intended for users over the age of thirteen.

Hours and hours passed by as I stayed on the very addicting app scrolling through my feed. I finally understood why my friends and most of the world were so obsessed with this brand-new, trending app, this new way of virtually interacting with each other is definitely going to change the way we see our world!