WTF Is The Hype House?
photo courtesy of @thehypehousela Instagram
If you spend a lot of time on TikTok, you’ve probably heard of the enigmatic and extremely confusing entity known as the Hype House. For the uninitiated, the Hype House is a real mansion located in Los Angeles that is home to 19 TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram “stars” between the ages of 15 and 22 (we put “stars” in quotes because we’re not quite sure if they truly qualify as stars, although their social media following would indicate that they are). Their combined TikTok account (@thehypehouse), on which the members post collaborative videos of dancing, skits, vlogs, and lipsyncs, has over 10.3 million followers and counting. On top of that, each member has no fewer than 1 million followers on their personal accounts. We know what you’re all thinking: How did they become so popular, why did they decide to create the house in the first place, and, most importantly, how do a bunch of teenagers afford rent in L.A.?
The Hype House was the brainchild of two of its current members, 21-year-old Thomas Petrou and 17-year-old Chase Hudson (who you probably know as lilhuddy). They formed the idea because, believe it or not, this is not the first time a bunch of content creators have rented a space in L.A. together. You may have heard of Team 10, a group of YouTubers led by Jake Paul. In fact, Petrou was involved with Team 10 from 2017 to 2019. Basically, Team 10 walked so the Hype House could run (and walk they certainly did. No one is quite sure who is left as a member of Team 10). Hudson and Petrou then assembled the most formidable army of teenagers since the Teen Titans, adding creators such as Charli D’Amelio, who popularized the “renegade” dance on the app, and her older sister Dixie D’Amelio.
Much like Jake Paul’s idea for Team 10 and YouTube, each member of the Hype House was handpicked specifically because they were already popular on TikTok. According to Petrou in an interview with The New York Times, the “house is designed for productivity” in content creation. We have to admit that the idea is pretty smart; if you have a group of popular TikTokers constantly collaborating, their fanbases will all merge, and they can all become more famous and make more money.
It’s not always fun and games in the Hype House, though. As you can imagine, when a house is populated by 19 wildly popular teenagers and young adults, drama is bound to ensue. Think of it as Big Brother, but it’s a bunch of spoiled young people. As basically any YouTube exposé channel will tell you, the group is constantly dating, breaking up, hooking up, beefing, and, of course, lip-syncing racial slurs. That’s right: lilhuddy himself was recently caught on video saying the n-word. Shortly thereafter, he posted a 55-second TikTok to his personal account apologizing to his fans and the black community.
Despite the drama, there are no signs that the Hype House will slow down. In January, every member of the house signed with WME, one of the largest entertainment conglomerates in the country. This means that we might soon see Charli D’Amelio and lilhuddy hitting the woah on national television. Until then though, their TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube pages will most likely continue to grow, along with the Hype House.