UMBC TikTok Star Uses the App for Laughs and Important Conversations
The 19-year-old University of Maryland, Baltimore County student originally downloaded TikTok to watch funny videos. She didn’t know that she’d go viral.
College freshman Maya Detlessen has TikTok on her phone, just like any other “zoomer.” While Vine has an official successor, Byte, TikTok scratches the comedic itch Byte can’t with its audio feature that is prominent throughout the app. Detlessen tapped into that and came out a small star.
Detlessen was introduced to the app like many others, through funny videos friends shared with her. Eventually, she downloaded the app to join in on the fun.
TikTok, which was formerly known as Musical.ly, has changed heavily since its inception. While Musical.ly was filled with people lip-syncing to popular songs matched with quick transitions, TikTok acts as the former’s cooler, older sibling. Most content is based on an “original” audio that creators put their own twist on.
This is exactly what Detlessen does. She finds an audio that she likes and either comes up with an original idea or gains inspiration from someone else. An average post takes her around 30 to 45 minutes to complete, which she then shares to over 3,000 followers.
In the era of “relatable” content, TikTok and its audience are not spared. The more people your video can relate to, the more traction it will get. Sometimes this comes at a cost for the creator, having to balance relatability with creating content they enjoy.
“I try to make more relatable ones just ‘cause I know that they do fare better,” Detlessen said.
But she doesn’t let the numbers get to her. At the end of the day, she makes sure to keep a balance with what’s trending and what she finds funny.
“If there’s a certain trend going on I’ll kinda follow that trend and I’ll do that because usually I genuinely just find the trend interesting,” Detlessen said.
Besides posting on TikTok, Detlessen is fond of singing and dancing, which are both popular on the app. She’s thought about posing dance content but isn’t so sure about how singing would fit into her niche.
“...one of my friends told me, actually specifically, my niche is about being Asian/being mixed with white and Asian, that’s kind of my thing,” Detlessen said.
Detlessen’s first couple of TikToks were well-received, each of them garnering thousands of views. But on Feb. 6, everything changed. Detlessen sat in her dorm room, staring into the camera.
“Stop it,” Detlessen said playfully in Tagalog. “Love, stop it,” she repeated twice. In the end, her feigned amusement wears off and she yells at the viewer, waving a lilac sandal. The video’s caption reads, “filipinas are crazy 🇵🇭.”
As the day went on, the video’s views grew exponentially. Detlessen remembered exactly where she was the evening of the post. She was in Target around 7 p.m. when the video exploded with over 4,000 likes.
“And it just kept on climbing and then I woke up the next day, and it was over like, 10k,”Detlessen said. She was impressed the video did so well.
This is where Detlessen found the niche audience her friend mentioned—through mixing relatability with race. Detlessen is Filipino, Chinese and white. Currently, her aforementioned TikTok has over 133,000 views and 36,000 likes.
Detlessen didn’t think this was her best work, and some of the comments echoed that sentiment. Many commenters made fun of Detlessen for her Filipino accent. She was shocked it went viral.
In the same realm as her viral TikTok, Detlessen’s debut was also centered around race, masking a tough topic with humor. Text floats above her head reading, “me from kindergarten to high school wishing i was fully white,” as she’s bare-faced, wearing a black button-up and lip-synching to a slow song. The audio switches to something more upbeat and Deltessen looks like how she dresses now: a red tube top with hoops and makeup. The text now reads, “me in college realizing i’m a wasian queen.”
Detlessen got the audio from other users and saw that they were also posting about growing up being uncomfortable in their own skin, specifically wishing they were white – Detlessen could relate.
“I used to really—all throughout high school and middle school really just wanna fit in with just the white kids at my school, ‘cause that’s who a lot of who was around me growing up,” Detlessen said.
Growing up, she lived in a white neighborhood and went to predominantly white schools. She got bullied for having Asian food.
“...I just really wanted to fit in but I knew I didn’t,” Detlessen said.
When she heard this audio, she felt that she had to make the TikTok because of how relatable it was. It shows that she accepts being mixed-race and is proud of it now, Detlessen said.
She uses humor to start a conversation about these tough topics and as a “way to explain something bigger.” While TikToks are mostly only 15 seconds, their messages can still pack a punch.
“A lot of us have kinda given into the idea that we should try and conform to a societal norm,” Detlessen said. “We’re all trying to fit in at the end of the day and I think we just need to accept our differences and be proud of our differences.”
Detlessen credited the audio for carrying the video’s message. She believes that using humor is a way to start talking about this serious issue “but in a lighter sense.”
While Detlessen has gained some clout from her videos ranging from pure meme content to comedic social commentary, she hasn’t let it phase her.
“I wanna be a business lawyer, that’s my dream at the end of the day,” Detlessen said.
Detlessen said if her account ends up getting more traction, she “might see something come out of it.” But Detlessen believes fame on apps like TikTok is fleeting.
“You see a lot of these people now on Tik Tok and they’re like putting in a lot of effort into it—which is great, I have no problem with that,” Detlessen said. “But the thing is, at the end of the day, I think people need to realize that this is kind of like your fifteen minutes of fame.”
Right now, she’s a financial economics major and not taking TikTok too seriously, which is advice she gives to those who want to start creating content.
“I genuinely think the videos you’re just supposed to make are for fun, to laugh about with your friends, or to be relatable,” Detlessen said. She doesn’t believe it’s something worth putting hours of time into.
After completing her undergraduate degree, Detlessen plans to go to law school.
“I personally see being a business lawyer as a much more steady career option with a significant income,” Detlessen said.
In the meantime, she’ll continue sharing her content with over 3,700 followers while working toward her degree.
