I was at school taking summer physics when I got an email asking if I wanted to be part of a TikTok docuseries about fans in the music industry. Being me, I said yes immediately.
Then came about two weeks of self-tapes. I answered questions about TikTok, music and artists, including Bella Kay, Gigi Perez, Lola Young and Young Miko. The team told me TikTok executives had to approve the final choice, so even after sending everything in, I had no idea if it would actually happen. Eventually, they told me they’d chosen me—and that they were flying me to Los Angeles. My flight, hotel and transportation for filming would all be covered.
I was losing my mind with excitement. My mom was suspicious, which, honestly, was fair. But I recognized the production company from music videos they’d made for artists I knew, so I felt comfortable going. I also joked that flying someone across the country and putting them in a hotel would be the world’s most expensive kidnapping. My mom and a friend came with me, and getting to spend time in LA felt like a dream before filming had even begun. I’d only been there once when I was younger, and this time I actually got to experience it.
On shoot day, I brought what felt like three million outfits. I had practically packed my entire suitcase for one interview, then showed up wearing a Bella Kay shirt simply because I liked it. Looking back, I wonder if everyone on set was nervous. I’d guessed the surprise.
While I got my makeup done, I started noticing something strange: I hadn’t seen any other fans or creators. My makeup artist was so sweet, but she didn’t seem to know what was happening either. Then I met our director, Ava Rikki, who was full of life and energy. I’m used to being behind the camera, and between my nerves and the early morning, I needed help waking up. Ava got me excited about filming—and got me a Celsius, which definitely helped.
The crew mic’d me up, sat me down and started asking about two of my favorite things: TikTok and music. I was nervous, but I was finding my rhythm. Then they paused filming because another “client” was supposedly arriving. I thought, Okay, sure. I had noticed people acting a little suspiciously, but I assumed that was just how a set worked.
Then I heard a huge knock. Someone opened the curtain.
It was Bella Kay. The actual Bella Kay.
I think I stared at her for ten full seconds. She asked for a hug, and that was when my brain finally caught up with my body. After our first hello, we just stood there giggling at each other for what felt like 30 seconds straight without saying anything else. Giggles one and two. I even poked her and said, “Oh my God, you’re real.” I knew the cameras were there, but there was no way I could have prepared a reaction to someone I never expected to see walking through that curtain.
We started asking each other questions on camera. Inside, I was panicking; outside, I was doing my absolute best to seem nonchalant. But whenever filming paused, I found myself talking to her like we’d met somewhere completely ordinary. The first thing I asked was whether her guitarist was her brother. Of all the questions I could have asked Bella Kay, that was apparently the one my brain chose.
Once we got going, the conversation became easy. I told her things about my life, and we kept talking between takes until Ava reminded us to get back on topic. It felt like meeting someone at a party, going to the bathroom at the same time and unexpectedly spending the rest of the night talking there. For a while, I stopped thinking. I’m talking to Bella Kay. She was someone my age who was funny, sweet and genuinely easy to talk to. I was surprised later to learn that she remembered some of the things I’d told her, because I’d been so overwhelmed that day that I wasn’t even sure I was making sense.
I wasn’t prepared for what came after filming, either. So many people saw the video and reached out to ask how I got the opportunity. It was exciting and surreal to see that day from the outside, knowing how nervous I’d been before Bella walked in and how much I’d enjoyed talking with her afterward. Part of me kept wishing I could call her and say, Can you believe all these people are seeing this? I missed having someone to yap with about it who had actually been there.
That trip also changed how I pictured my future. I changed my major from biomedical science to communication arts and began focusing on creating content for artists, with the hope of eventually working in tour or artist management. I’d gone to LA excited to talk about music, but being on that set made me realize how much I wanted to build a life around it.
When people ask how I got to do Behind the Breakthrough, the practical answer is an email and a lot of self-tapes. The fuller answer is that I took a chance, flew to LA with a suitcase full of clothes, met someone whose music mattered to me, and came home with a much clearer idea of where I wanted to go next.