Brody Wellmaker is an amazing content creator and comedian who you have likely heard of from the platform TikTok. His videos have received millions of views, likes and comments, and we asked to speak to him because we love how many people he’s making happy on the app.
Starting out on the platform just last March, he has amassed 7 million followers on TikTok since.
He tells The Breakdown this is because he wanted to express his creative side. Starting with lip syncs, and dueting videos, he has since created his own characters including the brilliant Vampire Girl, creating relatable content, especially inspired from events that have actually happened.
He says: “I didn’t think anything of it. It took me 20, maybe 30 seconds to shoot this one half-duet; I posted it, didn’t monitor it, but a couple of hours later while I was at the airport waiting for someone to show up, I checked it and it had 400,000 views. That to me, at the time, was a big shock. And the more you’re on TikTok, the more you can tell based on the statistics, whether a video is going to go viral or not.
“Off the top of my head, since September, the snowball effect occurred.”
Brody says that many videos that TikTok chooses to promote on the app give viewers a dose of serotonin. He calls it “the serotonin high”.
He also feels that going viral on the app “recharges” content creators’ decision to continue with the app. But viral success on TikTok isn’t all it seems. There’s a tremendous amount of pressure — especially for those who, like Brody, make a living from the TikTok creator fund. And he’s keen to remind the audience of TikTok that the content creators behind the app are people, with real feelings, and people need to be aware of that when they are viewing the content and making comments — in person or online.
@brodywellmaker Story behind the bruise.
He says: “There are some creators who get millions of followers every week, whereas there are others who are constantly grinding. And this can be very unhealthy, and this is something I’ve learned over the time I’ve been on the app.
“It’s been exponential no doubt, and I’m incredibly grateful for my experience.”
Due to the algorithm of TikTok, it’s for certain that some content does better than others due to what’s shared on the ‘For You’ page. This can have a negative effect on creators — because it leads them to questioning what they’re posting. Whether their content is no longer good enough. It can be an immense pressure on your wellbeing when you find yourself experiencing imposter syndrome.
Brody says: “It leads me to thinking, is my content not funny? Am I not good enough? What’s going on? And so, as a creator, it’s my job to always question what it is about the algorithms and the app, and figure out how to work around it so I’m not slipping into these really long periods of time, where views are down, likes are down, and you start to question your worth as a creator, and whether this is something that you should be doing. It’s a very tricky and messy line of work to be in mentally. It really messes with your emotions, for sure.”
It’s difficult to work out how TikTok works, and Brody feels that unless you’ve got ideas coming constantly out of your brain, you need to cool it down. Brody usually posts between one and two times a day.
“I try to make sure that the idea is extremely relatable”, he says. “Those are the videos that do well.”
Brody’s character ‘Vampire Girl’ is the perfect example of what does well on TikTok — because it’s such a relatable character. But it’s not just a ‘character’. The experiences Brody parodies through these videos are real. And that can be a comfort to many viewers (including us).
He continues: “This was stuff that I did. And then, you get older and you block it out of your memory, thinking nobody did that except me. But I think this is what makes really good comedy. Because you realise it’s something that everybody chooses to block out. And then you bridge that gap between someone who’s a creator, and someone who just lives a normalised lifestyle, when you find something that’s relatable, it makes the content even better. It’s more about quality and finding really good ideas. But then there’s a side of me that wants to stay sane and mentally healthy, and do things I enjoy — like lip syncs. It’s what I started out doing.”
@brodywellmaker Throwback to everyone witnessing Bella drinking sink water with a bunch of bottled waters next to her. #twilight #fyp #teambrody
Though TikTok may seem like any other app, so many people are making a living from it. It’s a job. Especially for Brody. But it can be frustrating.
“Occasionally you’ll go through a period of time, where you have really great views. I had one month which was really relaxing and the ideas were constantly coming in. It was a much better period of time. But lately it’s been kind of feeling low. It’s been up and down. It’s been very tiring for sure.”
When asked how Brody handles feeling low, he tells The Breakdown: “My advice, if you’re in a scenario where I’m in, where you’re posting one to two times a day, what I do for myself is keep myself occupied throughout the day. I’ll have a set time in the morning where I decide to post my video, I’ll spend about 10 or 15 minutes commenting to be active with my community, and then I try my best to put my phone away and I don’t check it for hours.
“I have other hobbies: I go to the gym, I’m a big gamer, I cook for myself, so I cook a nice dinner for myself; I do stuff throughout the day that is going to completely keep me away from TikTok. And it helps. I enjoy what I do, but I still have to look at what I do as a job. It’s like, I’ve done my job. I’m incredibly blessed to only have to be working an hour a day. But I look at it as okay, I’ve done my job, now I need to focus on my wellbeing and not constantly refresh my TikTok page.”
Brody feels focusing on his wellbeing helps him stay away from the app to not obsess over the reaction.
He said: “My advice to anyone is to have any hobbies. Don’t let whatever line of work you’re in completely consume you. Just do the best you can do, and walk away from whatever you did, saying ‘I did my job; I did the best I can do.”
Due to his content, Brody receives thousands of positive comments — but he’s not immune to trolling. He says that luckily, through years of being on social media, he’s developed a thick skin. But his heart breaks when he sees fellow creators rising to negative comments, because it causes further trolling which can be incredibly damaging.
He says: “It’s a very difficult thing. The way that they look at it is ‘I’m safe in my home, there’s nobody who knows where I live, there are no consequences for what I’m going to say or do — so I can do whatever I want and get away with it.” Fortunately there are some cases where they don’t get away with it. Everybody thinks that they’re safe and sound in their home. So they’ll say whatever they want and pretend to be this person that they’re not — but I couldn’t tell you why.”
The number of people using TikTok is constantly rising. And Brody has some advice for young creators: “Whatever you’re doing, make sure that it’s not going to affect your mental health. Post what you love; whatever it is, doing something that you enjoy is very important. Post what you enjoy; and put a structure to your day. Don’t become consumed by it. When you put a structure to your day, and tell yourself ‘This is what I’m going to post’, do it during that period of time, but don’t let it take over your life.
“If you’re sitting down and spamming refresh, and the progress isn’t going as fast as you want; remember that people are in different time zones.”
Brody has always been someone who’s really funny and makes everyone laugh — and this is what he’s bringing to TikTok. He is making people laugh every single day and bringing positive videos onto the platform.
“My biggest advice is that, whatever you want to be your niche, make sure that it’s something that you want to do every day, so that you don’t get burnt out by it.”
He adds: “Money doesn’t buy happiness. What makes me happy, is when I have a video do extremely well, that is a comedic video. So if I create something that’s entertainment and that I know made people across the laugh, or that they related to it — that’s what made me stay.
“I’ve always been the class clown. Growing up I was always making my family laugh, I’m just a really goofy person once you get to know me, and I think the interesting thing about TikTok is that you can immediately default to being that person. You don’t have to be cool or sophisticated: you can immediately be who you are.
“That’s what got me into this. It’s the entertainment aspect. I like entertaining people and making them happy.