If TikTok is a high school, Brooklynne Webb has been an outcast for the last year.
Webb, 17, attracted a following of more than 10 million users after she went viral for her body positivity videos last year. But soon, opinion began to shift.
"All your videos aggravate me," a person commented on a video posted in October. In September, a commenter wrote: "Hear me out, [I don't know] why but I don't like her. Something about her bothers me."
Such remarks have been fixtures of Webb's comments section for months. So early this year, she had an idea for how to fight back.
“I’ve been still getting continuously the same hate and general dislike of myself for anything I do,” Webb said. “So, about nine months ago, I came up with this idea: What if I did a song but almost make it more of a satirical, fun thing?”
Webb released the song “My Crown” on Dec. 8. It has been viewed on YouTube more than 2 million times. More than 22,000 videos have been made on TikTok using it. Webb will drop her first album Friday.
While she said she couldn’t disclose any tracks besides “My Crown,” she said listeners should expect a lot of ... variety.
Some have likened "My Crown" to Rebecca Black's "Friday," which is widely considered to be one of the most hated songs on the internet. Webb said, however, that she has been in on the joke from the start.
"It's very much, for me, a way for me to take back my power, because essentially I've been made the butt of the joke on TikTok for a long time," Webb said. "People ... think they're making fun of me, they think they're being the funny ones, but I'm the one making all the jokes, and they're playing along with it."
The music video for "My Crown" takes the concept of TikTok as a school and makes it a reality. Webb plays a student who is bullied and harassed as mean comments directed at her appear on the screen, like "You're a joke" and "Cringe." The video culminates with Webb's getting glittery slime poured on her head at her prom, a reference to the film "Carrie," while others look on laughing and mocking her.
The response was, well, more of the same. Commenters tore the song to shreds, saying that they "thought this was a joke" and that it is "giving kids bop."
But "My Crown" has also given Webb a way to toy with the haters. On videos mocking the song, Webb writes the same comment: "[Thank you so much] for using my song."
She has responded with the comment so many times that some users, to mock her, have commented on her videos, copying and pasting her words "[Thank you so much] for using my song.” When that happens, Webb, purposefully being obtuse, responds, "I didn't use your song?"
The hate tactic is also a way for the song to get more traction and listens.
"Gotcha"-style videos, which show screenshots of Webb's response of "I didn't use your song?" and are set to "My Crown," have millions of views.
The song has also won her the admiration of others.
"Y'all giving Brooklynne hate but I promise if your favs dropped this song you'd be bumping it daily," TikToker @Sevryn wrote.
Another TikToker, @Crimason, wrote that Brooklynne was "so clever" to release the song as a marketing tactic and that "you guys are falling for it."
A flood of TikTok stars have been making music and using the platform this year as launching pads for their singing careers.
Bella Poarch, the third-most-followed person on TikTok, released her first single, "Build a B----," this year after she teased it to her more than 86 million followers. Addison Rae, the fourth-most-followed person on the platform, released her song "Obsessed" in March and performed it later on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." Dixie D’Amelio, the ninth-most-followed TikToker and sister of the most-followed TikTok star, Charli D'Amelio, dropped her song “F---boy” the same day Poarch dropped her song.
While many TikTok stars use the platform to launch legitimate careers, Webb's music, for now, is a way to hit back at the haters.
Webb said that she isn’t attached to a music label and that she is working with friends and her managers to produce her music.
"I've been trolling, especially these past two to three weeks, doing a bit of a character online that doesn't really ring true to how I actually act in real life," she said, emphasizing that her work making body positivity videos has always been genuine and isn't part of the trolling campaign.
Although she is doing it to reclaim her power, there are times when the hate does get to her. However, she said, she has no plans to go away any time soon.
"People want to do anything to tear me down, they want to do anything to get a piece of my crown, so they get really creative," Webb said with a laugh. "But they're sitting behind a screen, and I put myself out there, which is really cool."
