Seven months ago, Carter Vail released “Dirt Man,” a fairly ridiculous song that is just over 30 seconds long. “It just came to me while I was sleeping,” he said. The song is about leaving dirt under his pillow for “the dirt man.”
The silly yet snappy song propelled Mr. Vail, 27, to a new level of internet fame almost overnight. That and other social-media-friendly hits helped him build a combined audience of more than two million followers on Instagram and TikTok.
“It started a lot of very surprising momentum,” Mr. Vail said of “Dirt Man.”
The rapper Yung Gravy tapped Mr. Vail to open for his fall tour; Zane Lowe of Apple Music posted a video of himself on TikTok dancing to Mr. Vail’s music; and record labels started a bidding war for Mr. Vail.
In addition to other hit songs geared to a social media audience (in one, he assures his audience that he would be able to beat up aliens if they ever came to Earth), Mr. Vail, who studied sound engineering at the University of Miami, has multiple albums of what he calls his “serious” music. Another is on the way.
Mr. Vail says he is in talks with production studios that want to turn his shorter songs into animated projects. He hopes to eventually make a variety show, write a blog and start a clothing line.
“I want to create a world for an audience and let them have access to all the strange ideas I am having,” he said. “That is a fun world to live in.”
At his home in Los Angeles, during a break between a U.S. tour and his first international trip to Europe, Mr. Vail discussed his quick rise to fame, his upcoming projects and what it means to be a content creator in 2025.
You have a mix of pithy, funny songs you release on the internet, and albums full of what you call “serious songs.” Which do you like making better?
We are at this time when it isn’t exciting anymore just to be a musician. I love doing a lot of different things and being creative in different fields. This idea of building this world that crosses different genres and different mediums is super exciting, and now it feels like the audience is there who will follow me across.
The shorter songs are mostly just me entertaining myself. I just think of something, put it out into the internet and then it’s onto the next one. Making serious music feels like hitting my head against a wall until something good comes out. I can be toiling away on a song for two months.
Do your fans like both types of music, or do they pick a side?
At first I think people were very confused when I started releasing funny and serious music, but I think it’s pretty blended now. I think the core of my audience just likes the stuff I make. I have tried to cultivate a bunch of people who have the same taste in everything as me. I’ll post a funny song on Spotify, and someone will comment, “Have you listened to his other stuff? It’s really good, too.” I don’t have to be as much of a loudspeaker for myself anymore because my fans are doing it for me.
You’ve had multiple songs go viral online. Do you have any advice for people eager for their content to do the same?
I honestly don’t feel like I’m a good judge of what is going to be viral. So much of it is chance or hitting things at the right time. I can’t replicate the random success of that. I just make stuff that is funny and I think my audience will like. If it goes crazy viral, more power to it.
With your online content, you said you put out what comes into your head. Do you ever get scared that it isn’t edited or polished?
My bar for creating stuff is pretty low. Any idea I have, I want to see it through to the end and share it with people.
If I waited for everything I make to be perfect, I would never put anything out. It would be such a slow trickle of music — people would immediately forget about me. I don’t have that luxury as an up-and-coming artist.
What kind of messages do you get on social media?
John Mayer commented on one of my videos. Rainn Wilson messaged me to say he was a big fan. I’ve known who these people are since I was a child!
People message me all the time now, and a lot of it is people being excited about the music.
You release a lot of content on TikTok. Are you worried about a ban?
I feel very bad for any artist where that is their main platform. But that is not me. TikTok is a difficult platform to have a conversation with your fans on. You can make a funny video, and it will blow up, which is fantastic. But as soon as you make another video saying “come to my show,” no one sees that. So the utility of TikTok as a publicity platform — I don’t think it is as good as people say. If it goes away, it may not be the worst thing for humanity.
You put a lot of thought into what you wear onstage. Can you explain your costumes?
I like to have these vignettes around my albums. For example, for “100 Cowboys,” I’ve been leaning into western wear. I’m about to go to Europe, and I don’t know how it is going to go there, but I am going to lean heavier into it. I am going to go full on with jackets and tassels and rhinestones.
A lot of the clothes I wear are thrifted. My girlfriend finds some amazing pieces.
This fall, you went on tour with Yung Gravy. Any fun memories from that?
We had a day off in Rochester, N.Y. We weren’t playing a show anywhere near there; we truly just stopped in a town, and there was nothing else going on, and we went to go see the movie “Wild Robot.” I remember walking into the theater and seeing the number of people who turned and stared at him. People’s confusion about the whole thing cracked me up; it felt very surreal.
As you get more famous, what is it like for you to be noticed by strangers?
When I go to Trader Joe’s, people will often come up to me, which is really fun. The nice thing so far is that it has happened when I am trying to impress people. My parents came to visit me in Los Angeles and we were walking around the reservoir, and someone was like, “Are you Carter Vail?” I was like, Heck yeah, this is the perfect time.
I don’t foresee myself getting tired of it — I love talking to new people — but famous last words. You never know.
The post Internet Star? Rock Star? Carter Vail Would Like to Be Both. appeared first on New York Times.
