Sporting a simple black shirt and a crochet cat beanie—a staple Gen Z accessory—I was greeted by a familiar face that I often see from my social media pages. It was Niana Guerrero, a popular social media personality from the Philippines. It’s a Wednesday afternoon and the 17-year-old content creator is online to have a quick chat through Google Meet. Though she admitted she is a bit tired due to the Harry Styles concert in the Philippines that we both attended separately a day before this exclusive interview, Niana never failed to give me her warmest smiles which lit up her room throughout the whole chat.
Sitting comfortably on her black gaming chair, Niana spoke to EnVi about the process behind her viral TikTok dances, her journey as a Gen Z content creator, and a glimpse of her future plans.
Niana’s Fun Journey So Far
Niana’s journey as a social media personality started when she tagged along to her brother’s group for a dance cover of “Teach Me How to Dougie.” In the 2011 video, little Niana is seen dancing and nodding her head to the beat with sunglasses on for a few minutes which charmed netizens. Aside from the fact that it was a popular song that time, her brother Ranz Kyle, was a part of a Filipino boy group. With that growing online attention, this gave Niana a chance to gain her own set of online followers and build her online career.
Two years later, she went viral again, but this time for a solo video of her dancing to the “Gwiyomi Song,” which currently has 14 million views on Youtube as of writing. She also made waves overseas back in 2017 with her viral video vibing to “Despacito” in a carpool karaoke style which has over 50 million views so far.
Looking back to her old viral moments on social media, EnVi asked Niana what inspired her to continue sharing content online, “We have no intention to go viral, or make money or anything,” she answered sincerely. For Niana, social media content creation was all about fun, and will always be about fun. “We were just having fun, you know? When we were doing it already, people started commenting for more. We were like, okay then, we should do it since it’s just [been] fun. We love doing it in the first place.” Niana said, giving a small chuckle at the end.
It is not a secret that one of Niana’s biggest supporters of her career is her family. At one point of our interview, her father also joined in the call to check-in for his daughter. The Guerrero family is in full support of Niana by participating on her vlogs and doing challenges. According to Niana, it is a very fun vibe to do content creating with her family. “The support and energy they give me pushes us more to do what we do which is amazing.” she shared.
Grooving on TikTok with Niana
If you’re active on TikTok, you might probably come across Niana’s videos or have seen a person dancing to one of her choreographies. Her favorite is the “Booty Wurk” dance challenge trend she started. “Nothing could ever beat that, that was very cool.” Niana further explained that it came to her as a shock when the said dance was all over her TikTok for you page back in 2021. The dance trend has over 648.6K posts tagged under the song on TikTok. As it went viral, Niana got noticed by the singer of the song, T-pain, and had a quick talk over an Instagram live. As of January 2023, Niana is the most followed Tiktok account from the Philippines with over 29.1 million followers.
Niana shared with EnVi how she creates with her original TikTok dance choreographies. Though the process and amount of time she spends choreographing varies from time to time, the most important part is a dance that is doable and catchy for everyone. Most of the time she looks for old, groovy, and fun songs that she thinks “get the fun in people.”
Her passion in dancing started, which is as far as Niana remembers, at a young age of five-years-old. Putting up her hand between her head and giving a little dance shake, she reminisced about her younger times where she was just grooving, but not dancing seriously. The moment she realized she wanted pursue professional dancing was when she heard music playing at home. “I just felt the urge to dance and it’s like my body was looking for it,” Niana explained. Currently, she is all about improving her skills by attending dance classes during her free time.
The Ups and Downs of a Gen Z Content Creator
In addition to gaining millions of online followers, Niana has received awards and nominations from both local and international award shows for her status as a young social media influencer. Niana was recognized as a TikTok superstar at the Creator and Influencer Council of the Philippines‘ Spotlight Awards 2022. She also won at Kids Choice Awards in 2019 for Favorite Pinoy Internet Star in YouTube category and is nominated for this year’s Favorite Asian Creator category.
We asked Niana what’s the most important thing for a Gen Z content creator when it comes to creating content. After giving it much thought, she answered that it’s all about keeping up with the trends and most importantly, having fun doing it. “I’d say to just catch up with the trends. Because these days, the flow [of trends] in social media is fast,” Niana said. As far as advice for aspiring content creators just starting their careers she said, “Don’t worry about the serious things first. Don’t worry about the views or earnings. Do what you love to do, share what you love to do, and have fun.”
Niana has also had a fair share of ups and downs in the social media zeitgeist that didn’t come easy. The Gen Z star shared that she can overcome any challenge head on with the help of a team by her side—which could be a friend, a parent, or any family member. She emphasized the importance of having someone there to ask for help when things get tough, “It’s difficult to be alone. You can think of new ideas but it will take time.” She mentioned that a lot of content creators like her experience something called a creative block, where your “mind is just blank and couldn’t think of anything” Niana described. Aside from her family and friends, Niana shared that she gets her inspirations in creating content from famous Youtubers like MrBeast and FaZe Rug.
Though Niana mentioned multiple times that she is having a fun time being a social media personality, she shared that there are times when she felt pressured. Her maturity shines throughout the interview as she explains her understanding about negative feelings and how to overcome them. “I sometimes just pause for a minute and reflect on life. I just get back once I feel good again. Everyone feels the pressure so it’s very normal to feel that way.”
Going with the Flow with Niana
For Niana, it’s all about going with the flow. Giving the most enthusiastic face on the screen she told EnVi that she hopes she’s putting a smile on people’s faces. “What I love most in what I do is putting smiles on people’s faces. When I read their comments in my video that it made their day, it makes my day too! It’s the fact that I hopefully inspire people.” she sweetly says.
Out of all the vlogs she uploaded, Niana mentioned her crosswalk concert vlog with SB19, “It means a lot to me. That video is one of the biggest videos we ever produced,” she says excitedly. The said vlog is the most memorable one for her as “it’s a video [done] in public so it’s very scary” she explained, “It was cool and it’s fun cause they agreed to do it.”
Though it feels like she has done a lot of things, one viral video after another, the young creator is keeping her eyes peeled for what the future holds. “Maybe, maybe not? I mean, who knows the future? I don’t really know,” Niana cheekily answered when asked if she sees herself doing the same thing as a content creator in the near future. “I’m looking forward to it. […] I’ll just continue doing what I do.” she further explained. Currently, she shared that she is trying new things like singing and playing the guitar. Last year, Niana released a song with his brother titled “NOISE.”
OMG on K-pop
Even though Niana has fans of her own who look up to her as their idol, the influencer showed EnVi she also has a fan side, especially with K-pop. Throughout the past years, she has been noticed by multiple K-pop idols for her dancing. Some K-pop idols have either danced to her TikTok dance choreographies or contacted her on Instagram, like EXO’s Chanyeol and SM Entertainment’s official account.
With these exciting K-pop interactions Niana said she’d like to work with NewJeans. “They’re so good, ohmygosh! All their songs are vibe, so hopefully [I get to collaborate] with NewJeans.” she shared, gushing and swinging her arms to her head as she imitated the K-pop girlgroup’s popular choreography to their song “OMG.”
A Thank You For Her Fans
Niana’s online community just keeps on growing bigger and bigger as the days pass. Aside from sharing fun with her fans, Niana wants to feel connected to them through the screen, “Obviously, I want them to feel very connected in what we’re doing. [Make them] smile. Feel hopefully inspired by what we do.” she answered when asked how she wants her viewers or online followers to feel or react to the content she shares.
Niana left a message for her fans who have been supporting her ever since the start of her career. She opened her message with a cheerful “What’s up party people?” a line she often says. She continued, “Thank you for all the support. The support you have been giving me recently has been very, very nice. Thank you so much for all the support, I hope to see you guys again and just, watch out for what we’ve been working on. So many things!” she teased at the end.
