The influence (and aftermath) of an app that only a teen could love.
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But Gray had an online identity that compromised his IRL social standing: He was Musical.ly famous.
Oh, its the Musical.ly kid!
He dropped out after Christmas break to pursue a career online.
But only one of these apps became TikTok, the defining app of a generation.
Perhaps its time to reconsider its legacy.
And then would go home and thats all theyd watch.
Musical.lywas supposed to be a serious app.
By the summer of 2015, Musical.ly had shot to the No.
1 spot on the App Store.
I wanted to be Musical.ly famous.
I really practiced those hand motions.
Nearly every Muser I spoke to said they taught themselves how to use Musical.ly by watching her videos.
I sucked at all the hand motions and transitions, says Gray, who once dated Ariel.
She taught me, Im not gonna lie.
Thats not to say creating videos on the app required no talent.
Cool transitions, or particularly awe-inspiring cuts, were the most difficult and most impressive to master.
People would come up with crazy stuff.
That was my thing.
Nobody was really making money on Musical.ly.
She was like, Yep, I press the button!
It was very authentic.
Some creators had an easier time getting noticed than others.
(Sartorius and Gray both later released their own original music, too.)
Raised in Aruba, their first language was Papiamento, not English.
When they made videos, they relied on exaggerated, Jim Carreyinspired body movements and cliche punchlines for laughs.
But they managed to build a community of more than 15 million followers.
Jayden, playing the son, complains, Dad, Im hungry!
while Gilmher, the dad, sings, Hi hungry, Im Dad.
They filmed it in the popular Musical.ly style: cartoonishly sped-up movement to a popular sound.
Walker attributes that in part to the algorithm.
You start thinking,How can I cater to the algorithm?
Yet every Musical.ly star I spoke to still credits that app almost entirely with kickstarting their career.
I want to say to the people that didnt like Musical.ly, Suck it, laughs Harvey Mills.
Its the reason why we have things like TikTok that youre so entertained by every night.
Whoever created Musical.ly, I want to meet them and firmly shake their hands.
