Harry Daniels Knows You're Watching

Since then, Daniels has done similar singing videos with SZA, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, two presidents and one major political party candidate. He’s racked up more than 1.6 million followers on TikTok. SNL just parodied him. Bowen Yang even captured the lilting “Period! Well, yes,” he ends most videos with. And now, he has a photo shoot and feature with PAPER. Over two years into his nascent social media career, Daniels has become quite famous. But all of his success looks dim when compared to the shining light he’s moving towards, which is a real career in music.

He believes in order to get there, he’ll need to piss off, entertain and make millions of people cringe. It’s a very 2024 career model, but one he believes is worth a shot. “I want [a career in music] so badly that I'm not going to let anyone's thoughts or expectations or judgments get in the way,” he tells PAPER. “I'm confident and fearless in my abilities as a musician. [But] in order to get people to take that seriously, I needed to get ahead somehow.”

Indeed, people have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Daniels and his content, which is, of course, by design. In all of his videos, Daniels approaches celebrities with a giddy disposition. Sometimes he asks for permission to sing for them. Other times he simply goes up to them and begins. Sometimes, when watching his videos, your eye lands on the celebrity’s strained smile as he delivers his tone-collage so boldly. Sometimes you notice his hands move through the air like a painter’s brush while he coos. Sometimes you admire his tenacity. Other times you empathize with the celebrities subjected to this “fan encounter ” — an experience, you realize, they probably have many times a day. If you’re prone to feel rage about nonsense you see online, that’s usually when the emotions will kick in. But if you’re savvy, you’d realize your rage is fruitless.

Many (if not most) of these encounters are organized by the celebrities’ teams. Some, like one particularly awkward encounter with Trevor Noah, are truly unplanned and thus deeply uncomfortable, but the eyeballs his videos attract are usually to everyone’s benefit. Daniels delivers attention and that, at the end of the day, is the life blood of figures both big and small — including the President who he sang Lana Del Rey’s “National Anthem” for at an event with Dr. Jill Biden.

His semi-collab with Biden, at this dark moment in history, could well warrant your rage, but Daniels is clear that he sees his content with politicians as no more than bait. When asked if he would do a video with President Trump, he doesn’t reject the concept, telling PAPER, “My videos are entertainment. They're troll videos,” adding, “It's like, ‘If you give a mouse a cookie,’ personified.”

Daniels is part of a new generation of creatives who were raised within online fan culture’s cruel asylum. A viral video from when he was 13, filmed in 2016, shows him verbally brawling with a rival stan on the street. In the video, Daniels is castigated by the rival, Ronnie, who spits the words — “You stan Zara Larsson” — right at him like a grave insult. Since its filming eight years ago, the video has made the rounds online as a rare example of stan culture’s manic digital culture happening IRL. One would think the video was a stunt, like most of Daniels’ content, but he assures PAPER that this viral confrontation was deadly serious. “I was so immersed in pop culture. It felt so important,” Daniels remembers of that video. “It was life or death to me,” he says. “But we got a really funny video out of it, so who cares?”

In many ways, Daniels is still in that mindset, riffing on stan culture’s chaotic culture and risking it all for one big moment. But the super-stan hopes he can shift the narrative surrounding him and turn into a superstar himself. The first step in doing so is his debut single, “I’m Him,” which he describes as an “icebreaker” to his artistry. It’s sleek, somewhat slinky and a totally serviceable pop song, but only time will tell if Daniels is truly the “him” in question.

You are so busy right now. I just saw you perform at that radio station, [Z100 New York]. Congrats on that!

I didn’t even know that went online. I'm constantly doing shit. I'm really here for it... I think.

Are you enjoying the craziness?

This whole life is everything I wanted. If I wasn't enjoying it, then it would be a waste and someone else should be in my place.

You still live in Long Island, where you grew up, right?

I still live there. I was essentially broke until last month. I had no money to move out anyway. Now I have money, so I’m thinking about it. But at the same time, I live 30 minutes outside the city. I'm in such close proximity to where I need to be and it’s rent-free. So I'm like, Damn, What's the rush? Because I’m almost never home anyway.

I’m glad that we did the PAPER shoot in your hometown, because a lot of what I'm curious to talk to you about is how you grew up. Were you always this pop culture obsessive? Were your peers into similar things as you?

I remember being in middle school and all I'd want to talk about is the new Dua Lipa single. And at the time, no one knew who the fuck that was. All my peers would want to talk about the volleyball game they had after school. I looked to my favorite artists and looked at pop culture as a form of escapism, because I feel like I really didn't resonate or understand a lot of the kids who were growing up around me. I would go on these deep dives on the internet, and try to find as many new artists as I possibly could and new albums to listen to. That's really where my love began to foster. I was always super into it, but it wasn't really common amongst my peers.

How would you describe the town you grew up in?

It was just like any other American middle class high school. You had kids who were into sports, and they just wanted to go to Victoria's Secret Pink or Dunkin to chill out. There were no bigger aspirations than the town itself. That was something that irked me as a kid.

Who were your pop girls and idols when you were young?

I loved Dua back then. I still love her now. I jumped around with so many different artists. I remember the first fan page I ever ran was for Demi Lovato. There's a photo of me reading a J-14 magazine with Miley Cyrus on the cover when I was three. That's what I wanted to read as a kid, not Diary Of a Wimpy Kid. I've always loved the Disney girls and music in general. I remember there was a moment where I was super obsessed with Mercy by Kanye West as a kid. I have a distinct memory of when it came on in the car and I was like, “I love this song.” I was seven and my family was just like, “What the fuck?” I've always listened to everything, honestly.

I was so immersed in pop culture. It felt so important. It was life or death to me.

So you weren’t a Zara Larsson stan?

[Laughs] I knew that’s what you were looking for!

[Laughs] I’m not looking for anything, but I assumed that video was just you being dramatic and 14.

I loved Zara Larsson so much. That was definitely someone who I loved, and still do to this day. You can throw her in the mix too.

So what was the story for that video then? You weren’t doing a joke for the internet?

No, that was my reality. It got to a point where I was so immersed in pop culture. It felt so important. It was life or death to me. I couldn't understand how anyone could care about anything else that wasn't pop culture. Too much of anything is bad. I was really immersed at that point, but we got a really funny video out of it, so who cares?

When you say you were immersed in it, were you on Tumblr or Stan Twitter? Where were you online?

I’m 20, so I kind of missed the Tumblr glory days. But I would watch things from afar. Stan Twitter is definitely where I really got my education in pop culture. That's what really helped me foster my love and interests for so many different artists and the entertainment industry as a whole.

How old were you when you started popping off on TikTok?

I skipped a year of high school to pursue my music. My freshman year of college is what would have been my senior year of high school. I then dropped out after my freshman year of college, because I was just like, What degree would I ever need? Either you're going to sing the song and you're going to dance your little dance and you're going to entertain who you're going to entertain, or you're not. You can't learn that in school. I dropped out and then I was like, I need to make this work. I was 18 at that point and I started making TikToks. It's just been a slow climb.

The first video where you were singing was to Sabrina Carpenter at the Emails I Can’t Send CD signing, right? Was the video impromptu, or did you already have a vision in mind?

I was in the line and I was like, Damn, I have nothing to say to this girl. I really don't give a fuck. I was a fan of so many different artists and Sabrina was one of those artists who I really liked. I had met her like five times at that point through meet and greets and different fan events. I was just in line like, Fuck it. I'm just gonna troll her. My friends and I thought it would be really funny, so I went up to her and was singing. It was so awkward and the rest is history.

The rest is history in the sense that you started doing this all the time?

I posted it. It did really well at the time. I had like 400-500 followers and I didn't really have a distinct content style, so I was just seeing what worked and people resonated with that. Have you ever seen that video of Meghan Trainor where she's like, “Oh, the world needs these. Okay, let's do eight of them.” That was me. But instead of it being eight, it's been eight bazillion.

I imagine it took a while for it to become a coordinated effort with people's teams, right? I imagine you as celebrity-hunting for six months.

Teams got involved really early. I think the first time I'd ever been approached by a team was after I did a video with Lil Baby, which was my third video in the series. Certain labels and teams were really privy to the whole thing, and certain people take their influencer relations really seriously. That's definitely been a huge part of it from day one.

As it became more professionalized, did it start to become a mix of impromptu encounters and PR stunts? And for the PR-coordinated videos, do you ever feel like the energy behind the videos was shifting because they were less spontaneous?

I'm really firm on what I want. If someone's team is approaching me, I'm going to be like, “Look, this is my content. This is what I've built. And we're going to do this on my terms.” They’re making my life easier by granting access, so I don’t have to find them on the street anymore. But I certainly come with a vision in mind. I think the teams are like, “That's what he wants to do. Screw it.”

No one owes me anything. So however people react is fair game.

Someone who watched your videos would assume that you're a generally fearless and confident person. It takes a lot of bravery to put yourself out there with these celebrities. Would your friends and your family describe you that way?

It's very hard to get me to crack under the pressure. I'm a very firm person. But I think more than it being that I’m fearless and confident, it’s that I saw this as a means to an end. All I ever really wanted to do was music. I want it so badly that I'm not going to let anyone's thoughts or expectations or judgments get in the way. I'm confident and fearless in my abilities as a musician. In order to get people to see that and take that seriously, I needed to get ahead somehow, instead of just being a busker on the street.

You’ve talked about having panic attacks early on after your interactions with celebrities. Do you remember what was creating that sense of panic or anxiety in you?

It was a lot of adrenaline at once. Having to put yourself out there in that capacity was really stressful. I was fine mentally, but my body was shocked from these experiences. I learned to handle it. I think it stemmed from the inherent fear of being judged. As a kid, I was always scared of what people thought. And at that point I realized, if I wanted to make this work, I had to no longer care what people thought. It had to just be about what I wanted.

You've had people react to you in so many different ways, from insane excitement to ignoring you. Did you ever have interactions that genuinely hurt your feelings?

I was really gutted after the Billie Eilish thing. Billie was another one of those artists who I fucking adored as a kid. That was my whole world. I really hyped up what this amazing interaction was going to be like. So when it happened and it wasn't that way, I was incredibly disappointed and honestly kind of hurt — not because she did anything wrong, but because I had my own expectations about the whole interaction. You never know what people are going through. You never know why someone might react a certain way. You never know if they're having an off day or anything. And so honestly, at this point, I'm at a place where I'm like, No one owes me anything. So however people react is fair game.

And the Trevor Noah video? That was not planned, right?

I could never plan something that good. I don't know Trevor Noah and Trevor Noah doesn't know me. There's a Jennifer Lopez quote from Interview Magazine. She was talking about how everyone who judges her, doesn’t know her. And she knows her intentions. I know my own intentions. I know where I'm coming from. Why would Trevor Noah hurt my feelings? I don't know him. I bet if I saw him walking down the street, he would not remember me.

When Chappell Roan started talking about setting her own boundaries with fans, people were positioning you as the anti-Chappell, as this person who will go up to anyone to make a video. That’s ignoring the point, though, that Chappell herself was a really good sport with you.

I love Chappell, that’s my homegirl.

But as someone who is coming up to people and surprising them to make content, did you have any reflections on what she was saying about stan culture and boundaries between artists and fans?

I understand what she's saying. Imagine you're trying to go for a peaceful walk to clear your head, and someone rolls down their car window and they're like, “Yo, Kayleigh!” I would be like, “Shut the fuck up,” There's a time and place for everything. Even in my interactions, it's a business, at least when I do it. It's one thing to go up to someone and be like, “Hi, I love your work so much.” And then it's another thing to show up to someone's parents' jobs, which is what was happening to Chappell. My interactions are done with pure intentions and they're harmless, good fun. I had an artist one time email me who said, “Take down this video.” And I took down the video promptly, so I would never want to cross anyone's boundaries. I think it's all supposed to be good fun for entertainment's sake. The whole thing with Chappell didn’t make me particularly reflect on anything other than, Damn people are fucking weird to this girl. Not me, though. [Laughs]. People should probably leave her alone.

Why the fuck would I care about what some random twink in Bushwick has to say?

Your profile has grown a lot recently. Have you experienced any of that yourself where your boundaries were crossed?

This is what I wanted. I’ve built a career, profile and public image off of essentially going up to people and shoving a camera on their face and singing to them off-key and subjecting them to that. It would be really, really, hypocritical for me, of all people, to be like, “No I have this strict boundary.” Look, I've had people come up to me and be like, “I love your TikToks. Let's go on a date.” That's when I start setting a boundary. But if you shove a camera on my face, that's fair game because of what I do, how I've made a living and how I got my start.

Have you ever had to create boundaries for yourself online with reading negative comments? I imagine it’s impossible for it not to affect you.

It used to. But it's difficult to care about the negative comments when you have people like SZA, who I adore, or Doja, who I also adore, who are like, “I love you so much.” Those are people whose validation and opinions I actually value. They like me, so why the fuck would I care about what some random twink in Bushwick has to say? They're just mad it's not them. Hate comments don’t resonate with me the way they used to. I just laugh at it now. I was watching an old video of mine. It was with Demi Lovato, and I was like, This is so funny. Who cares? If I see someone who has videos I don't like, I just keep scrolling. [So my haters] clearly like the videos.

When you say, “It used to?” You mean when you first were starting out?

In the beginning I would get a hate comment and I'd be like, Okay, but I'm trolling. This is rage-bait. People who were taking it so seriously just means they lack media literacy. As it evolved, people were like, “I know that he's trolling, but it's not funny!” But it's like, Alright, then keep scrolling. No one's forcing you to watch my video. I think people really like to project their shit onto me. It makes me laugh, because I'm like, Damn, y'all are really letting this random kid get under your skin. The whole thing is funny to me, because I'm like, Don't they know that they're giving me what I want? I wanted the attention, because I knew I could leverage the attention for my music.

My perception of you shifted when the Biden and political videos came out. I'm just curious how those came about. Did Biden’s team or the Democratic campaign reach out?

Those were happy accidents. I swear on everything. I saw Anna Wintour [at an event with Dr. Jill Biden]. They start setting up a barricade immediately. And I'm like, Why are you setting up a barricade? We know it's Anna Wintour. Y'all are doing the most for Anna Wintour. It was not for Anna Wintour. It was for Joe Biden. Joe Biden goes around the barricade and starts shaking hands. My sister Madeline and I start screaming, “Let him sing for you!” He was very confused. That's a really random request. He came over and access was granted. I had to do what I had to do. I saw an opportunity, and I had to take my chance.

Were you nervous?

I was like, This is so unserious. What the fuck? This is crazy. It didn't even feel real. It was so surreal.

And then the Kamala video was at the DNC?

It was just an old video and I scrapped it. That video was a really old video that I filmed quite some time ago. When Biden dropped, that's when I was like, Okay, I should post this now, because everyone's talking about Kamala. My social media presence is no different than anyone else's. You see what I want you to.

I'm wondering to what extent you are coordinating with the campaign. They work with Gen Z influencers and they see you as a part of that.

I definitely played ball with the DNC, given my attendance at the convention. But when it comes to working with them, I've always set a hard boundary. I've always told them, “We're going to do this, but we have to do this on my terms.” It's really more so about having me show up to things and then from there I get the freedom to do what I want. With Obama, for example, the Biden one was so successful that they were like, “We're just going to conveniently invite you to this fundraiser, and Obama will be there and if you stand in this spot you'll be directly in his path.” They didn't directly set anything up, but they've definitely tried to make my life easier and grant my access to the best of their ability. It’s their own benefit, but it's to my benefit too.

I saw there's a TMZ video where they're asking if you would sing for whoever the next president is. Would you sing for Trump?

How the hell would I even get in touch with that damn team? Or how would that team even get in touch with me?

Would you do it if Trump’s team reached out to you?

It would be funny. I don't look at singing for Trump as a direct endorsement of Donald Trump. My videos are entertainment. They're troll videos. They're rage bait. They're insane. It's like, How far can I take it? It's like, “If you give a mouse a cookie,” personified.

My videos are entertainment. They're troll videos. They're rage bait. They're insane.

Well, you did all those videos with Woah Vicky, and she's probably the most intense conservative on my timeline. So maybe unity is possible.

You get it. Exactly, I will unite both sides.

I get that you’re a troll and have this laissez faire attitude about all these different people, but there are serious and consequential people that you are now around. Does the gravity of that ever affect you?

I think it's just a testament to if you want something really badly, you'll get it. If Billie Eilish can be posted up with the president because she makes really good music, then why can't I? For better or for worse, here I am. It's really just a testament to how far and how willing and how influential and how impactful these videos have become, and how popular they are. That's all I really think about when that stuff happens. I don't think anyone's looking to Harry Daniels, though, for political advice. I have no influence in that.

You’re not submitting an endorsement right now?

I mean people know where I stand, but it doesn't even matter [Laughs]. It's not like when Taylor Swift endorses someone.

It seems that nothing phases you because you have such a clear goal, which is music.

TikTok was always just a means to an end. How popular and how notable and influential these videos have become is a testament to if you want something really badly, you can get it. I want music really badly. I'm willing to put so much effort into the videos, and those are just a promotional product for the music. It's just a matter of time with the music.

You're obviously a very meticulous person if you've gotten to this point. What do you see as the path for music now that you've officially put out your first song?

That song, [“I’m Him”], was an icebreaker more than anything. I just needed to put something out, and I couldn't put out some random song that I had sitting in my notes app, because it wouldn’t fit the overall narrative of my career. I think it comes down to having the right song. I just want to make music that I like, and then if people resonate with it, then that's the reward. People who make music for commercial success... that doesn't tend to age well. I love Jasmine Sullivan. I love Phoebe, Bridgers. I love Deftones. I love Wolf Alice. I want to make music like the music that has comforted and inspired me. That's the most important thing. So in terms of my path for music, it's just to make more songs and to touch people through my music from now on and not my content. But, I mean, the content is still going to be made.

Is there ever a moment where you miss being a regular 20-year-old and having limited responsibilities?

There definitely is. There's such a thing as too much of anything. But then I’m like, Well, the alternative is so much worse. I have to really, really want it. And I think obviously there's moments where I'm a bit overwhelmed, but I always say to myself, “This is the life that you wanted. It would just be a waste if you were taking it for granted. And so every opportunity you get, you have to be really grateful for.”

What would be the alternative?

I suppose wanting it is the alternative. You have to want it really badly. And that, in and of itself, is a void. But then there's a void of having it too. But I would rather have it and choose what I can do with it than not have it at all and have no choice.

Photography: Tim Schutsky
Styling: César Álvarez

Editor-in-chief: Justin Moran
Managing editor: Matt Wille
Editorial producer: Angelina Cantú
Story: Tobias Hess