Consider it a TikTok take over: boasting well over a billion downloads (and counting), TikTok is the biggest social media app in the world. Last year, it secured the title of second most downloaded app. Their claim to fame is through their viral dance challenges that users can recreate and upload to the platform. While these dances are typically regarded as lighthearted, the reality of what occurs behind the scenes isn’t so fun.
In Feb., the name “Jalaiah Harmon” spread like wildfire all across the internet. People began rallying behind the 14-year-old after an expose in the New York Times highlighted her struggle to receive credit for choreographing TikTok’s biggest dance yet: the “Renegade.” Before the article, most users accredited the popularization of the Renegade to Charli D’Amelio, a TikTok user who now has over 30 million followers.
Jalaiah’s original choreography was uploaded to Instagram in Sep. of last year. In the months to follow, Renegade was remade thousands of times as the challenge went viral. Even celebrities like Lizzo and Millie Bobby Brown joined in on the trend. Jalaiah shared with the New York Times that, “I was happy when I saw my dance all over, but I wanted credit for it.” None of the big stars on TikTok attributed Jalaiah to the dance, even when she commented on their posts asking to be tagged.
Unfortunately, Jalaiah is not the only young Black artist fighting to receive credit for their creation. Other dance challenges on TikTok such as Aniyah Davis’s “Holy Moly Donut Shop” or Nicole Bloomgarden’s “Out West Challenge” went viral, but their creators are receiving a similar fate as Jalaiah. But this trend is not just limited to TikTok: the global phenomenon “Fortnite” has also been criticized for profiting off the work of Black creators. Many of the viral Fortnite dances found in the video game are stolen moves that the Fortnite rebrands as their own. Last year, Fortnite’s profits exceeded over $200 million, but the artists they copied never saw a dime.
The trouble with TikTok is that when their users begin to amass millions of followers, doors open for them in the form of opportunities, endorsements and brand deals. Charli D’Amelio was invited to the NBA All-Star Weekend along with other TikTok “famous” users such as Addison Easterling. During the All-Star Dunk Contest, they performed Jalaiah’s dance. More often than not, white people are profiting the most off the work of young Black creators like Jalaiah.
It’s no secret that obtaining legal ownership of a dance is nearly impossible to achieve. However, giving credit where credit is due can go a long way – even if it’s just simply tagging the original artist. Sometimes, dances spread so quickly that the original creation is lost, but there are instances where popular TikTok users have stolen choreography and attempted to pass it off as their own. Recently, Addison Easterling and Jack Wright uploaded a video of them dancing to “Walked In” by Ultradiox with the caption, “everyone go do this dance @addisonre made.” Immediately, fans noticed the similarity of their dance to one Hunter Lasaster made to the same song over a month ago. Despite the controversy, it was Wright and Easterling who were invited to perform the dance on Entertainment Tonight, not Lasaster. It was not until after their performance that the duo finally attributed credit to Lasaster. Wright excused their actions by commenting that, “every TikTok dance is normally the same moves in different orders.”
Only now is Jalaiah beginning to reap the benefits of her creative efforts. K. Camp, whose song “Lottery” is used in “Renegade,” recently tweeted a video of them together. In the tweet, he credited her for helping “make “Lottery” the BIGGEST song in the world.” Two days later, on Feb. 16, Jalaiah was able to perform her dance at the NBA All-Star Weekend. While fame and recognition are more than well-deserved for Jalaiah, her truest passions lie with dance. She wants to attend a dance school one day because “it makes me happy.”
Don’t miss out on what Jalaiah’s creates next. You can follow her here:
Instagram: @jalaiah
TikTok: @_.xoxlaii
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