From lip-syncing to Forbes: 20-year-old PA native becomes 15th most popular TikTok creator

At age 13, Loren Gray from Pottstown, PA joined an app called Musical.ly so she could lip-sync songs to entertain her friends. Over the years, she grew a sizable following among tweens and teens. Then in 2018, Musical.ly became TikTok, a short-form content app that took off overnight.

Suddenly Loren was one of the biggest creators on an app that was rapidly eclipsing YouTube. It was an adjustment. "It was really challenging in the beginning. Now, TikTok is less strategic and more strategic in a way. It's more organic but also more thought out at the same time."

She took a break to see what the app would turn into, and then adjusted her own content accordingly, sharing snippets of her life along with her lip-syncs. Right around that time, the music industry came calling and Loren began releasing singles. The first one, My Story, was released as a TikTok video and is a sweet pop tune about "a friend who kept falling in love with the wrong people."

Gray says she took her time creating her sound: "I really want to perfect the music because I want it to mean something to me." She cites her inspiration as Taylor Swift, who she met 3 years ago when she had a cameo in Swift's video for The Man.

The songs got bigger and better but it was a struggle to get the music industry to listen to what she wanted and respect that she knew her own audience. Her manager told her: "If I'm not writing something that really means something to me, then I'm not passionate about music. So I was really trying to dig deep and making music wasn't fun anymore because I was revisiting things I didn't even want to write about. So what I'm writing now, I just want to have fun with my friends and make music that I like and dance."

Gray became an independent artist in 2020 and has released a number of singles on her own that have had hundreds of millions of streams. Her popularity continued to grow and at this point she has 54.4 million followers, making her the 15th most popular TikTok creator.

Gray moved to Los Angeles in her teens. She says going to school in Pennsylvania "was kind of rough for me. Kids weren't always the nicest with what I was doing." But now she says she loves going home to Pennsylvania to visit family and friends.

Some say it's difficult for creators to build an income on TikTok, but that hasn't been the case for Gray. In 2020, she became one of Forbes' 20 under 20, signing deals with Skechers, Hyundai, and Burger King. Forbes reported the star earned 2.4 million in 2019.

But becoming a social media star isn't all glamor. Once you've made it to the top, the pressure to stay there can be intense, especially for a 20-year-old. Fortunately, Gray has a refreshing perspective.

"It's something I struggle with. On the inside I feel that 'oh my god, you have to keep up!' But at the same time, I've made peace with the fact that numbers don't matter. I started for fun, and I'm in it for the fun of it. There's always going to be the next person, but there's room for everyone."