During a year when screen time has felt more like a punishment than a reward and the word “viral” has taken on a completely different meaning, one social media platform has stood out from the rest and in many ways defined 2020: TikTok. Its continuing popularity is likely due in part to the creatives who flocked to the app when traditional venues were shuttered in the midst of the pandemic.
Welcome to old lady tiktok. ##rollerskating ##80s
♬ Don’t Stop The Rock – Freestyle
“It’s basically an app for theater kids, where theater kids want to be,” says Elizabeth Gomez (@juannarumbel), a comedian and storyteller who initially discovered TikTok through her cosplaying teen. “What really kept me going was the diversity; there were people from all sorts of ages, people from all sorts of backgrounds, religious, ethnic, and I don’t have that kind of access with Instagram or Facebook.”
Tis the season to be ##glamathome ##happyholidays##christmas##covidchristmas##christmastree##vintagestyle##vintageaesthetic##oldhollywood##1940shair##40s##1940s
♬ Sleigh Ride – Ella Fitzgerald
“I think TikTok and Instagram fill the void of just needing to be seen, seen on my own terms, and [I’m] able to curate that,” says burlesque performer Iridessence (@iridessence_) who has grown an audience with her cottage core posts and glamorous, sometimes very elaborate looks—in one video she dresses in full Marie Antoinette garb to take out the trash. “Unfortunately due to being a person of color and size, in person I can be very invisible unless I go out of my way to be over the top. The Internet can connect you to strangers across the world who understand what it means to be invisible even if you’re not fancy.”
Guess Who! Will be going to Heck ! ✨💀✨ ##fyp ##duet ##dragqueen ##makeup
♬ original sound – 🤮 Derry Queen 🤮
“I’ve only posted like 25 TikToks and like out of the 25 I probably had like eight of them taken down,” Derry Queen says. “One time I had a TikTok taken down for saying I had 17 butt cheeks, which makes no sense. They said it was a medical lie or something like that. I’ve had a lot of censorship, but there is safety for that reason where it’s like there are a bunch of tiny kids on the other side.”
