Life after going viral can be a minefield of trolling, hiding in your mum’s house and wishing you’d never heard of the World Wide Web.
But one of the OG’s of YouTube has proven you can make a success out of social media superstardom. Ten years after Tay Zonday’s politically-motivated masterpiece, Chocolate Rain, went viral UNILAD found out what he’s up to now.
In case you missed Tay Zonda’s riveting track, you can watch it below:
Tay’s distinctive bass vocal, the progressive keyboard composition and the powerful lyrics quickly made Chocolate Rain a viral sensation and – at the time of writing – the video has been watched a staggering 113,881,841 times.
Zonday – born Adam Nyerere Bahner in Minnesota – was 25 when his social commentary hit a chord with YouTubers, a whole decade ago.
Now in his mid-thirties, Zonda, a successful singer, musician, announcer, voice artist, actor and comedian, has been referenced in pop-cultural heavyweights, South Park, Saturday Night Live, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Guitar Hero World Tour, and even by Kanye West.
Tay also won a prestigious YouTube award for his musical contribution.
Not to mention, Zonday has spectacular Twitter game:
It just goes to show, the Internet does reward deserving talent and if you put something out into the world – for the right reasons – you too could be immortalised as a South Park animation.
So, create responsibly, kids!
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.