Readers’ pick: Kamau Louis

Junior Eliza McLamb began creating TikTok videos at the beginning of quarantine. As she describes it, she was “wasting away” in her childhood bedroom and decided to write a song about being stuck in her hometown and the accompanying nostalgia. 

McLamb had been writing songs since she was six, but she had never been public about it. But once McLamb posted the video on TikTok, she received immediate positive feedback to the tune of one hundred thousand likes.

McLamb then started to take requests for customized songs based on her followers’ life experiences on the app, like one she created after a follower requested a song about “crying alone in your car but feeling warm and therapeutic.”

She said her viewers were impressed by how quickly she could craft new music that was universally relatable. 

“They felt like it was relatable and people thought it was interesting how fast I could turn it around and make a new one,” McLamb said.

She also documented her experiences traveling across the country on a road trip that ultimately landed her in Los Angeles. McLamb stopped at several campsites and worked at farms in North Carolina and Kansas on the way there in return for a place to stay. At these spots, she made TikToks chronicling her daily life, took more song commissions and talked about reactions to her music. 

Now, with more than 300,000 followers on TikTok and an EP with 1 million streams, McLamb is making a name for herself in the music world. But her TikToks aren’t just limited to her music. McLamb also makes comical content and videos about her takes on capitalism, feminism and self-care. 

“You are really encouraged to find a niche on TikTok and stick to it,” McLamb said. “But if you, from the jump, paint yourself as a person with many interests and talents and whatnot, then people get more attached to you as the person and are more willing to follow you.”