Ten years ago, I was in the guest bedroom of my childhood home. My sister and I shared a room, and I didn’t want her watching as I filmed Musical.ly videos for what I delusionally believed was a massive number of adoring followers.
The 2016 song “All We Know” by The Chainsmokers and Phoebe Ryan had recently come out, and while everyone was busy filming copy-cat lip-syncing videos of their bigger hit “Closer,” I thought I could stand out with a stab at creative phone-maneuvering choreography to a more “underground” song.
For those that weren’t on Musical.ly, the app that became TikTok, lip-syncing videos were their own form of art — and I had mastered it…