The Untold Truth Of Loren Gray

Flashback to 2015, when a young Loren Gray, 13 years old at the time, posted for the first time on a new app. The app, called Musical.ly, encouraged users to lip-sync along to their favorite tunes. And Gray, like many teenagers, made a few videos for fun to share with her friends. But people outside of her school started watching, too. "When I looked at my account I noticed that a bunch of my videos had been featured and I had like 30,000 followers," Gray later told Interview. "I went to my parents and I was like, 'I don't know what this means.'" What it meant was the start of her new life.

Musical.ly later turned into TikTok, but what stayed the same was Gray's soaring follower count. As of August 2020, this teenager has over 46 million followers on TikTok — fourth most on the app — and close to 20 million followers on Instagram. "The best part about what I do is getting to make other people happy," the teen influencer explained to TigerBeat. "It's the most rewarding feeling to know that your content is making someone smile." But while Gray has used her social media presence to launch into other creative passions, the road to stardom didn't come without struggles.

Whether or not you're a longtime fan or are logging onto TikTok for the first time, let's lip sync along to the untold truth of Loren Gray.

As the age old internet saying goes, with millions of followers comes a lot of responsibility. This is especially true for teens like Loren Gray, who find themselves as social media leaders for Gen Z kids who obsessively follow their posts. While speaking with TigerBeat in 2017, Gray explained what it's like to be part of such a varied generation: "We have the world at our fingertips. Social media allows everyone to be connected."

While that's one of Gen Z's biggest strengths, Gray told Idolator, "I realized early on that my fans are pretty young." Even though the TikTok star is quite young herself, she understood her part as a role model. Her aim, then, is not to inspire others to look like a "Barbie doll" but rather to be confident: "I just want my followers and young girls to be able to express themselves in the way that they wish."

While the world of social media can appear to be picture-perfect, Gray has started to let her guard down with success. "I posted a photo of me having a mental breakdown on New Year's Eve. It ended up being one of the most-liked pictures on my account," she revealed to Interview in 2019. "I want my fans to be able to approach me in public," Gray explained, "and not think that I'm some robot who only exists online."

Starting from humble beginnings, Loren Gray's hometown is Pottstown, Penn. — a small city outside of Philadelphia. Recalling to Flaunt that growing up in this town felt like a typical childhood, she said, "It was really normal, I have pretty great parents ... I went to normal public school, just average." However, things later became very unaverage. 

During Gray's early teen years, her social media presence exploded in popularity, and all of a sudden, those formative years were on display across the world. "It happened so suddenly. I was a cheerleader in middle school, I did not know what was going on," Gray remembered while speaking with Idolator. With this overnight attention starting at a young age, she revealed, "I didn't know what to do with it. I was just being myself. I was 13."

Looking back on her experience, Gray is the first to admit that her day-to-day quickly changed from that simple life in rural Pennsylvania. "If you think about it," she confessed to Refinery29, "I haven't had a typical childhood."

A sad reality for too many school children is dealing with bullies, and this negativity is usually only amplified online through cyberbullying. While Loren Gray experienced rapid fame like few could even dream of, she quickly discovered an unfair consequence. 

"Towards middle school, people started to get really awful, and then bullying started happening," Gray revealed on Sidewalk Talk EDM in 2018, recalling, "The bullying started around sixth grade, so it was before social media." Gray left school for a year and returned for eighth grade: "And then I started social media, and then it started up again, and then I left again. So it's kind of a really awful cycle."

Looking back at her homeschooling, Gray told Hollywood Life that she "began making videos to pass the time and ease some of the loneliness and isolation [she] had felt." The views on social media continued to increase, and though Gray admitted she "was still struggling," she added, "I felt like I had finally found people who cared, regardless of my situation."

If you become famous through an app by lip-syncing to popular songs, what's the next logical career step? Trying to become a bona fide musician. "I posted a few music videos of myself singing here and there," Gray explained to Uproxx, noting that despite receiving some negative comments claiming she had "no talent" and was "just pretty," Gray pursued her passion. "I can only explain so much [to] people, 'No, I have been playing piano. No, I have been playing the guitar. I have been singing.'" 

Luckily, people who properly understood the industry saw a future star, and Gray eventually signed to Virgin Records under the Capitol Music Group, and dropped her debut single, "My Story," at the age of 16 in 2018. However, the young star realized that she would still face challenges given the start of her music career. "I have to work a little bit harder to have good music that's respectable, because I don't want to just put things out for views," the "Queen" singer told Insider. "It's harder, because you have to gain the respect of people listening. But it's not impossible."

Though Gray admitted in a March 2020 interview with J-14 that she was undecided about releasing an entire album, the singer wants to keep pleasing fans. "My favorite aspect of music is the performance part! So that's what I'm most excited about," she revealed, adding, "[Creating] the music, that's the hard part."

Taylor Swift fans may have noticed a familiar face in her music video for "The Man": Loren Gray appears as a tennis player and, despite having no lines, her acting impressed the song's creator. As Swift noted in a February 2020 Instagram post, "@loren your eye roll really was aStOnIsHiNg." Meanwhile, Gray appeared to have a great time working with the superstar singer-songwriter, telling Flaunt, "She's so sweet. She's very supportive of me which I really appreciate because she's my top female idol." She added, "I grew up on her, she's my #1."

Explaining that these music video shoots are usually secretive — especially for the most popular artists — Gray revealed that she didn't know what the experience would be like. "[Swift] came out in the full prosthetics outfit," she said of Swift's gender-bending costume. "I didn't know it was her at first." Still, the two "talked for a while" and Swift gave her younger counterpart "a lot of great advice." The funniest part of all? "I never met her dressed as herself," Gray continued. "I only met her dressed as The Man."

Making a case to be a music video star, Gray previously (and briefly) appeared in the video for HRVY's song, "Personal," in which she plays, per TigerBeat, "a heartbreaker cheerleader who passes on" the British artist.

The favorite artist of this young, blonde teenager may surprise you. Yes, Loren Gray appeared in Taylor Swift's "The Man" music video, but her musical tastes extend beyond country and pop. Growing up, her parents listened to a wide range of music styles, which influenced the future star. 

"My dad listened to Sublime, Eminem, Metallica. My mom listened to Fleetwood Mac, so I listened to everything," the "Cake" singer recalled in an interview with Flaunt. "The biggest ones I listened to were Eminem when I got a bit older, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Panic! At The Disco, Sublime, My Chemical Romance." But if she had to choose her favorite of all, the rapper from Detroit earns the top spot.

"I know everything about his life. I know every underground song, I know every song front to back. I cry over him," the Eminiem fanatic confessed. Gray added that one year she spent her birthday weekend at Coachella and the best gift ever stood on stage. "My friends all ditched me, I stood in the crowd by myself and watched him. I was sobbing," Gray remembered. And as a growing singer herself, Gray hopes to see Eminem in the studio one day, telling Billboard that she "could die happy" if the two ever collaborated.

Sure, Loren Gray stays busy with her social media platforms. And singing. And vlogging. But she's still a young woman and loves to unwind. During a 2018 interview with Billboard, Gray revealed that her biggest guilty pleasure is watching TV — specifically, baking shows. "I watch baking shows on YouTube. I have found some on Netflix — The Great British Baking Show — I watch them all," the internet personality said. So, have her baking skills improved after tuning into these series? "I don't bake, which is the best part," she admitted with a laugh. "... I just watch baking shows." Many viewers can probably relate.

Another one of Gray's favorite shows is the Lifetime reality series, Dance Moms. It's fitting, given the star's past experience as a cheerleader, and perhaps the viral dances that make up so much of the content on TikTok. "It's so good," Gray told Flaunt of the show, recommending, "If you like trash reality TV, you'll like it."

Among the many things Loren Gray is known for, her sense of fashion is high on the list. As a star on camera in her natural environment, fans get a glimpse into the everyday style of Gray. But how does she describe her personal look? "Some days it's really girly, like Mean Girls, Clueless vibes," the TikTok star told Flaunt, referencing the classic high school movies. But other days, Gray is more focused on comfort: "I really like basketball shorts, crop tops, oversized hoodies." 

However, even when she's dressed for comfort, Gray explained her looks are "still cute with some necklaces or jewelry. Cute hair, cute makeup, depending on the day and what I have to do." You might also spot her wearing an Eminem t-shirt, as she confessed, "I have all his merch. Every time his merch drops, I'm there."

In 2020, Gray put her fashionista know-how to use when she partnered with American designer Betsey Johnson on a prom collection ... even though the teen influencer never attended her own prom. "I put myself in their shoes," Gray she told E! News. "And I know my demographic and I remember when my sister went to prom and what a hassle it was to find a dress that wasn't too expensive because you're only going to wear it once."

In 2020, TikTok became a global phenomenon, turning people into stars one 15-second clip at a time. Loren Gray knows exactly what this feels like, though the app and herself have come a long way. Hopping onto social media at age 13, the future star downloaded Musical.ly to make lip-syncing videos. 

"At first it was just me being silly, doing covers, and I loved doing it because I was 100 percent myself," she later told Uproxx. "And I would choreograph dance routines and make my friends be my backup dancers." As her follower count skyrocketed into the millions, Gray noted, "People would post reaction videos and compilations. My videos were getting featured one after the other, after the other."

Gray ruled the app for years and was a top "Muser" between 2014 and 2018, according to Insider. But despite being on top, she decided to take a step back. "I actually took a break for a little while, cause it went through this weird phase where everyone was confused as to where it was going," Gray explained of the app's rebranding into TikTok in March 2020. "I see a lot more comedy and a lot more original content. It's definitely very different and it took me a minute to get the hang of it, but I think I get it now."

In 2019, most people would have given you a blank look at the mention of social media stars Charli D'Amelio or Addison Rae. But Loren Gray? Anyone with a TikTok account would likely know the app's superstar. Just one year later, however, the platform exploded in usage, and the rising stars of TikTok found that collaboration could push their collective popularity even higher, which led to places like the Hype House. 

Just like the rest of the world, Gray revealed to Refinery29, "I mostly watch my friends or I watch Charli [D'Amelio] and Addison [Rae] and all the Hype House kids." By the spring of 2020, D'Amelio took over Gray's former position as the most followed account on TikTok — not that Gray minds. "I personally haven't met her, but I support it," she told Insider. "... I think the Hype House is kind of paving the way for the new generation of TikTok and social media." But would Gray follow the concept and round up other social media stars for a collective unit? "I don't have enough friends for a Hype House," she confessed. 

Gray further explained to Forbes that while she sees many influencers flocking to Beverly Hills for fame, "I don't want to be that person. I don't want to exploit what I have to make money." She went on to claim, "A lot of influencers look at their fans as dollar signs."

Though Loren Gray had been open in interviews about being bullied in school, no one could have predicted another tragic event from her childhood. According to Hollywood Life, she posted a TikTok video in May 2020 to reveal "that she was sexually assaulted at age 12." After sharing her story, Gray admitted to the outlet, "There was a lot of support and it was really overwhelming." The social media star recognized that opinions and feedback would be varied, but said, "At the end of the day, if one person could take something from it, that's all that matters."

Gray further opened up to Radio 1 Newsbeat about what it was like to share the most horrific moment of her life with the world. "It was really difficult for me, because I didn't know what to expect. And I was afraid that people were going to look at me differently," she explained. Knowing that there was little to do in preparation for posting her story, Gray bravely pushed forward. Feeling grateful to her fans for joining her along the difficult journey, Gray explained, "They were just there to support me in what I was doing and what I'm passionate about, which is making videos."

Loren Gray's life has clearly been anything but normal — and all of this while still a teenager. So, what is life like for a mega Gen Z influencer? 

"Everything I do is based around what's fun for me," Gray told Insider. "I used to put a lot of pressure on it and now I kind of do things when I want to. Social media has been my stepping stone." Though she has, of course, earned amazing opportunities along the way, the TikTok star's alternative career path meant skipping out on events teens can take for granted. For example, she switched to homeschooling and missed out on attending prom. But for Gray, these were small prices to pay. After moving to California, the "Kick You Out" singer claimed in reference to her childhood home, "I'd much rather be here than in Pennsylvania."

As far as a typical day in the life of this TikTok star goes, it's unsurprisingly filled with social media. Some days, Gray likes to take a break, mostly staying off the social networks and hanging with friends. But other days, especially when promoting a new single or other content, Gray finds herself tied to her phone, revealing to Flaunt, "It's an all day thing, some days more than others."

As Loren Gray's popularity started to grow at a young age, the savvy teenager began investing in herself and her potential future career. As Gray told Uproxx in 2019, she created Musical.ly videos as an "outlet," recalling, "Then I bought all this lighting and cameras and equipment." The equipment helped with the production value, Gray's talents shone through even brighter, and she eventually turned into a bona fide star with impressive earnings.

According to Forbes, Gray banked an estimated $2.6 million through TikTok between June 2019 and June 2020, with her huge social media following landing her sponsored content deals with the likes of Revlon, Skechers, Hyundai, and Burger King. Add this on to her blossoming music career and other branding deals, and Celebrity Net Worth estimates Gray is worth $3 million, as of this writing in 2020.

With all this cash to her name, Gray is known to spend some on herself and some on others — like when she posted a YouTube video of herself buying an outfit for her video costar, British singer HRVY. In another clip, Gray documented her own spending spree while on a cabin getaway trip.