The top Asian stars on Musical.ly, Chinese lip-synching app big in US with teens and 20-somethings
Made for teenagers who love music, videos and social media, the app is popular not just in America but across Asia. We profile seven of the continent’s top ‘musers’, from Chinese bloggers to an Indian homeopathic doctor
If you took social media app Snapchat and combined it with karaoke app Smule you’d get Musical.ly, the hugely popular video-based social networking app on which hundreds of thousands of young influencers are broadcasting their way to internet stardom.
If you’re over 30, chances are that you haven’t heard of the Chinese-made lip-synching app, but the platform is a smash hit among users in the teens and twenties; one analyst says 50 per cent of American teenagers have it installed on their phones.
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Even if you’re not in that demographic, perhaps you’ll recall January’s “Karma Is a Bitch” meme? The selfie video fad, in which participants film themselves undergoing a striking makeover, was a sensational hit in China as well as globally, and originated on Musical.ly.
Musical.ly is one of the few apps to come out of China to become popular in the United States. It was created in 2014 by programmers Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang, and is headquartered in Shanghai.
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Musical.ly allows users – known as “musers” – to make videos lasting 15 to 60 seconds showing them lip-synching along to the music of their choice. Musers can also add a variety of filters and emoji, like on Snapchat, repost content created by others, and perform duets or collaborate with fellow musers.
Musical.ly co-creator Zhu says he was inspired to create the app while observing the lifestyles of American teenagers who love music, videos and social media, and decided to combine all three in one package.