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There are over 1 billion users on TikTok, and the 11th most followed person on the app, is Spencer X, with 54.9 million followers. The professional beatboxer is partnered with a brand known for its superior audio, JBL, and HOLA! USA had the opportunity to attend the celebration of the brands’ limited-edition gaming headset in collaboration with 100 Thieves. We talked to Spencer at the event about how he got into beatboxing, his journey to becoming the 11th most followed person on TikTok, and more. Get to know the TikTok star below.
Tell us a little bit about your collaboration with JBL.
Oh, wow. JBL has been a lifelong dream for me to collaborate with. So I’ve been super excited to just be in the space with them. A lot of really, really cool things everywhere at this amazing event right now. I’ve had the chance to be someone to really push their new line of speakers out within the last couple of months. And then now we’re here. We’re getting with the community, 100 Thieves as well as is here. It’s amazing.
So you are the 11th most followed TikToker and a professional beatboxer. Tell us what beatboxing is in your words.
So beatboxing is the art of creating sound. You can be emulating or creating instruments, and it can go through a lot more things than just music. I believe it’s through communication, through vibrations and frequencies, and I think it’s the most primal language that we’ve ever used, but I think it’s the future of communication.
And how did you get into beatboxing? Was there someone in your family, did you watch someone? How did it come to be?
I started beatboxing when I was a junior in high school. I was on the tennis team and my friend Scott comes up to me and he is like, ‘I’m gonna show you something you’ve never heard before.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t understand what’s going on right now. Like, what did you do? Is that magic? Are you crazy?’ And I ran home and just spent every last second going into beatboxing researching, studying. And then I came outta my room and I was like, ‘dad, mom, I know what I wanna do for the rest of my life. I wanna be a beatboxer. And they looked at me like I had 10 heads.
Yeah, I was about to ask, how did they respond to that?
It wasn’t until I was on Forbes and like in movies and doing like these big brand partnerships, it took a long time for them to accept me, as you know, the person that was gonna be part of the beatbox community and world. And I wanna say it took around, like 12 years for them to really, really accept it, basically since I’ve been here in Los Angeles. But I mean, who’s to blame ‘em I, I expect even the people that are [reading] this right now, you don’t know who I am either. You might have never heard of me before, but I promise you, I’m a force to be reckoned with and I’m gonna get there one day.
So here at HOLA! USA we love our Latinos and we know that you are half Ecuadorian, half Chinese. Tell us a little bit about your culture. Are you planning on maybe having some of that influence you?
Yeah, so, I’m in the talks with some Latin groups right now and some Latin artists. I can’t give too much away, and I can’t like, you know, speak too much about it. But really, really excited. I’m talking to a certain record label, that handles a lot of Latin artists right now. And we’re looking at making these collaborations happen, in the future.
That’s awesome, and I also know that you used to act, so is that something you want to play with again?
I was part of my first feature film this year as a cameo on “He’s All That,” my first Netflix premiere and I’m super happy being part of that. We’re looking into TV, and we’re looking into, hosting and being part of, the bigger ecosystem of entertainers out there. I’m a lot more than a beatboxer, I’m really talented in beatboxing, but I think my personality is a lot bigger, for that. And, yeah, I love it… I was a part of advanced theater in high school.. I’ve been acting since I was a child, just here and there, improv comedy, all that good stuff.
And how did that transition work? I know that you blew up on YouTube, then how quickly did it take to kind of transition over to TikTok and build this huge following?
Wow. That’s an interesting question because I’ve been creating content for many years. I’ve been putting out a video and a photo a day basically for like three years on Instagram and nothing really happened there. And then on YouTube, I was posting like a video a week and I got up to like around 50, 70 K on YouTube and like 1520 on Instagram before TikTok came. And then when TikTok happened, there was no transition, I think like the third video in it went viral. And then it took a while to get to my first million. I wanna say like around like four or five months of just like making as many videos as possible. But then I said to myself, if I’m a beatboxer and my only outlet is TikTok, I’m gonna make a song, a beat every single day. And so I said, I’m gonna make 365 beats, and then I ended up making a thousand that year instead. So, yeah, just keep on, you know, persistence. It, took, it took a little bit, but once it starts happening, you’re already there.
A limited number of the JBL and 100 Thieve’s headsets will be available beginning March 24 at 1 p.m. ET exclusively on StockX via DropX, the platform’s innovative direct-to-consumer product release method.