Tony Talks is one of the most viral content creators right now. He has more than 7.3 million followers across all platforms, and he recently created and produced his own musical. Boss Up: The Musical is a story about identity, and it came at a perfect time. Revry Network will release the musical Feb. 1 to kick off Black History Month, so the social media superstar came by the office to talk about it.
What is Boss Up: The Musical about?
Boss Up: The Musical surrounds one of my most popular characters named Cassandra, and she goes through a whole inward discovery of figuring out who she is without her job title. What [prompted] me to tell this story is I genuinely feel like a lot of us are walking around as our titles. You know what I’m saying? Like, if you’re a DJ, you’re walking around like my name is DJ such and such, I’m a DJ. I feel like a lot of people don’t know who they are without their titles, and I felt like I wanted to tell that story publicly because we all have that conversation now.
How was your journey reflected in the musical?
Yeah so I’m a content creator outside of all those amazing titles that you gave me. And before all of that, I presented myself as just a content creator. I didn’t know what I was outside of that. And with what just happened with TikTok? Without social media, all these influencers are just like what else can I bring to the table? So I wanted to tell that in a bigger version. And that’s where Cassandra and Boss Up: The Musical came to be.
What do you hope viewers take away from this musical?
Okay, this is gonna sound so corny, but what I hope people [take away] from this is how to boss up in their own lives. Like, I hate when people say the name of the movie when they’re talking about the movie. So I felt like it was kind of corny, but it’s true. I want people to be able to look into themselves and learn how to truly boss up in their own lives and take control over what they want to do, what their titles are, and who they want to be in the world.
What are some tips for people who want to [be] social media famous?
So I always tell people, as corny as it sounds, truly, or cheesy as it sounds, just be yourself. There’s an audience for anything. I did this conference for Threads a while ago, and I was telling people if I wanted to get big off of just sneezing, I could. You know what I’m saying? And that’s not even in a conceited way [pause]. I would just sneeze every single day the same exact way or any other way. Just record myself doing it, post it everywhere, and then over time, there’s going to be an audience that loves to see somebody sneeze.
Why was it important for you to debut this musical during Black History Month?
Well if we’re being honest, the whole cast is, you know, our people. So yeah, it was important for me just because, I love seeing my people and I love seeing us get together and create something that actually is beneficial toward our community, opposed to things that may not be.
