This month, TikTok star Sydney Morgan 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.
Sydney Morgan, also known as @sydney_art on TikTok, hasn’t even reached her twenties yet, but she’s already established herself in at least three different creative industries. As an actress, model, and makeup artist, Morgan has grown her audience to over 7.5 million followers on TikTok, and 1.8 million subscribers on YouTube. She makes doing makeup look easy, like in this Halloween Beetlejuice TikTok, and her collection of emoji-themed makeup looks, which has since been viewed over 50 million times.
But Morgan’s impressive beauty skills aren’t the only reason her audience has grown so vastly; another crucial factor in her rise is her authenticity and honesty, something she remains very conscious of as she looks to the future of her platform. She’s continuously shared her story of being diagnosed with Crohn’s and colitis with her followers, having to undergo surgery to get her entire colon removed in 2019 as a senior in high school. Rather than let this hold her back from success, Morgan started posting online during her recovery, and now works with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.
Read on to learn more about Morgan’s thoughts on Gen Z, online trends, and what’s next in her career.
1. WHAT’S ONE THING THE INTERNET DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT YOU THAT YOU WISH THEY DID?
On my platform going forward, I’d like to open up a little bit more about my mental health, because everyone just sees when you get in front of a camera and you kind of “put yourself on.” And you’re always very high-energy and very positive, and I think it’s important for them to see the not-so-good side of that as well.
It’s always very important to me to be very real with my audience and to further that connection with them as not only a follower, but also a friend, and to do a check-in with them, let them know how I’m doing. I think that could be beneficial going forward.
2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE GEN Z IN THREE WORDS?
Creative, outgoing, and unique. I feel like Gen Z is just a very cool generation in comparison to others.
3. WHICH ONLINE TREND ARE YOU TOTALLY OVER, AND WHICH IS HERE TO STAY?
I think cancel culture is horrible. Whether it’s hate comments or really anything, I think it’s just a terrible thing and that no one deserves to feel like the whole internet’s against them. Being taken out of context and just getting on that bandwagon and running with it, is something we should stop doing. I’ve definitely participated in it before — say there was a public figure everyone was unfollowing, I was like, okay, let me do it too, and I regret that now.
There was this great trend on TikTok that I saw last week. It was mostly women doing it. It was just the lyrics of the song saying, like, I’m creative and then it was showing a photo of them doing something creative, I’m beautiful, showing a picture where they feel beautiful, I am divine. Stuff like that. More self-love trends, I feel like people should be participating in. And then the girls can be there for the girls in the comments, supporting each other. I know for a fact every time I see those on my ForYou Page that I definitely leave a positive comment, and I’m happy to see that.
4. WHAT ARE YOU MANIFESTING FOR THE NEXT STAGE OF YOUR CAREER?
I’m very excited about where my acting is going right now. I have a lot of projects coming out in 2022 that people can stay tuned for. I think that’s the biggest thing that I’m working on.
Within the beauty realm, I’d like to eventually have some products come out, or even a makeup line of my own. So those are the biggest dreams right now.
5. WHAT ARE THE FIRST THREE SONGS ON YOUR SPOTIFY “ON REPEAT” PLAYLIST?
Okay, let me look. So I don’t have Spotify, but I do have Apple Music, so let me look real quick for the most similar thing.
“drivers license” — Olivia Rodrigo
“good 4 u” — Olivia Rodrigo
“Please Notice” — Christian Leave
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.