This month, TikTok-viral music duo Aint Afraid is in the hot seat to answer our burning questions. In Next Question, Her Campus rapid-fire interviews emerging Gen Z talent about what it’s like to rule over the Internet.
With an emphasis on authenticity, social progress, and uplifting voices that have traditionally been marginalized, Gen Z is changing the very face of music — and at the forefront of that movement is Aint Afraid. A self-proclaimed “multi-talented double dose of dopeness,” these 22-year-old twin sisters are Muslim women staying true to their faith while also creating genre-fusing and boundary-breaking music that allows listeners from all backgrounds to relate and sing along.
“We’re sharing our experiences in these lyrics and in our songs, but people are connecting to certain lines differently,” sisters Straingth and Wizdumb say when we discuss the beauty of universality in music. “We may have meant it one way, but people see it in another way that helps them continue to elevate and grow.”
Born in Baltimore and raised in Detroit, the sisters have been busy making music their whole lives. They’ve combined elements of hip-hop, pop, R&B, and a slew of other genres into their addicting sound, which has helped them rack up an audience of 520,000 followers and counting on TikTok. Most recently, they released the colorful, Squid Game-themed music video for “Easier Said,” their latest single, on March 11, and they tell me they have plans to drop more in the coming year, with an unnamed project on the horizon.
Straingth and Wizdumb have captured the rapt attention of Gen Z’s FYP with their beautiful vocals and catchy rhythms in songs like “Rock Bottom” and “Rover and Benz,” both of which have gone viral. But stick around and you’ll see these sisters have far more than a few short TikToks up their sleeve — they’re carving out a space for themelves and for other Muslim women in music, with a mission to empower and inspire young people everywhere.
1. WHAT’S ONE THING THE INTERNET DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT YOU THAT YOU WISH THEY DID?
We talk about this all the time: People think we’re so new to this art, and we’ve actually been doing art for a very long time. We just were not on the internet with it. So, as far as being recording artists and being on the internet — yes, we’re new. But as far as us embracing our art and performing and entertaining, we have veteran years.
We’ve been creating for a very long time. I remember songwriting as early as seven years old, and performing as young as eight. So I think people see us and they think, oh my gosh, like, you guys are artists, but they don’t register that we’ve been doing this forever.
2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE GEN Z IN THREE WORDS?
Gen Z is a very amazing group of young people, and I’m happy that we get to identify and be a part of this collective of dope people in existence.
Three words? Eager, innovative, and passionate. Our generation is so eager to do what we love. We’re not trying to follow an easy path that’s just going to guarantee us a certain outcome — a lot of us want to take the risk to follow our dreams and the path of the unknown. And then, while on that path, we create new, evolving ways to do things better or to add or contribute to a culture. And we just love what we do.
The only other word I would add would be creative. Watching us be risk takers and the boldness that our generation has? Amazing.
3. WHICH ONLINE TREND ARE YOU TOTALLY OVER, AND WHICH IS HERE TO STAY?
I already got it. It happens less now, but it was this sound, “What did I do? What did I do?” and people would have these very risky jokes. So, one was a guy asking, “What did I do?” when the teacher was telling him to go to the office for asking a hijabi what her waves look like under her wave cap. They were joking about the scarf as a wave cap. And then that went super viral, that and many other things, and then anybody that was a part of the community that was being quote-unquote “joked,” all of our TikToks would be flooded with that comment: Can I see what’s under your wave cap? And people thought it was so funny.
We’ve dealt with ignorant comments like that our entire life, so we just have a low tolerance for it. Those kinds of things are just like, you’re laughing, but somebody’s on the other side of the joke and it’s not always funny. We’re very strong people and so thankfully, it didn’t affect our mental health. But for other people, if it’s something that they’re not used to, being talked about in a certain way that is very sensitive for them can deteriorate their mental health. It happens less now, but trends like that pop up all the time.
When people feel like it’s cool to say this negative term about a specific group of people, or a specific action, they harp on it and I just wish people would be their own person and recognize the effects of their actions. Sometimes, we just have to know where the line is between “this is funny” and “this could really hurt someone.”
For a good trend, I love going down a sound that someone created and just seeing all these new videos of different kinds of people, learning about their story, or just relating to them in their different situations all across the board. Like the one sound: “The girls that get it, get it, and the girls that don’t, don’t.” You could go down that sound and see different communities of people like, the girls that get this specific thing get it, and the girls that don’t, don’t! And I just love it. I think people should definitely continue doing that because it helps us all connect and to expand our minds and empathize.
4. WHAT ARE YOU MANIFESTING FOR THE NEXT STAGE OF YOUR CAREER?
For the next stage of our career, we are dedicating this year to giving people a year of music. So our hope is to drop something, leading up to a project. For now, people can just expect many singles coming out until our project comes out. But other than that, what we really look forward to is the Aint Afraid mission and movement growing. We hope for everyone to find how they’re Aint Afraid, how they show up confidently in their own space. And we also look forward to other projects — I don’t want to put a label on it, because I’m just so open to it all. I think we’re just really excited to be out here.
Also, to find ourselves in different spaces that we haven’t been tapped into, or that representation hasn’t been tapped into. We would like to start paving lanes in those spaces and finding ourselves in a growing space, always elevating ourselves and the mission.
5. WHAT ARE THE FIRST THREE SONGS ON YOUR SPOTIFY “ON REPEAT” PLAYLIST?
We share an account! We’re always around each other, so this should absolutely be the same thing. Let me go check out our Spotify. Oh, wow!
“Always There” — Aint Afraid
“Chronicles (feat. H.E.R. and Lil Durk)” — Cordae
“No Pressure” — Mahalia
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.