Zay Dante on the Drake vs. Kendrick beef, music fandom, and going full-time on TikTok

Zay Dante listens to a lot of music. Like, a lot of music.

And you can tell when you watch his content. It’s why his TikTok videos about the Drake and Kendrick beef went over so well, and why his skits about popular songs hit so hard: He has the context to make the content sing (pun intended). It’s that kind of dedication to the craft that has led to him amassing an audience of over 2.5 million followers across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

And Dante doesn’t just talk about music — he’s creating it, too. He released his debut EP, TBTV, on March 27 to mostly positive reviews. At VidCon 2025, we sat down with Dante, who was a featured creator, to talk about making his own music, where he gets the inspiration for his videos, and how he amassed nearly two million followers on TikTok.

Credit: Mashable Composite: Zooey Liao/ Image Credit: Getty Images/ TikTok/ Spotify/ Zay Dante’s Instagram

How has social media affected your transition into the music industry?

It is a direct one-to-one. One day, I decided I wanted to do a parody song. I had been doing parody songs since about 2020, but never seriously. [After recording my first parody song], it did really well. And I was like, “Oh, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t keep doing this.”

After I dropped the EP, I was really interested in people’s thoughts, and I was so pleasantly surprised by how much people enjoyed it. I was really happy because I definitely know that parody music has a stigma to it, that it’s not supposed to be taken seriously. And there were songs on my EP where I was like, “Nah, there’s not really a joke to this. I just wanted to rap. I just wanted to make a song.” But I understood that people who were coming from the videos would come into it with the same mindset that they were watching the videos, which was, “This is a joke.” But I was pretty happy that people got something from it at all. It really made me very excited about releasing something else, too. I was honestly just hype that anyone cared at all. 

How much time do you spend listening to music? Are you listening on Spotify?

Last year, I had 50,000 or 60,000 minutes listened to on Spotify, but I split my time between Spotify and Apple Music. I really did like it. I did go back to Spotify, but I did really like [Apple Music]. I missed having the Wrapped. Everybody was posting their Wrapped, and I wanted to see how left out I felt. Can I stand it? Am I going to be able to stick with Apple Music? And I could not stand [feeling left out].

When you made those videos about Kendrick and Drake, were you afraid?

Definitely. I was so scared. I tried to be so fair. I was making videos about what was happening. I never wanted Kendrick to do what he ended up doing. And I never wanted Drake to lose that badly. But he did. So, what else am I supposed to do?

Have you covered anything that’s surprised you this year?

Pusha T’s new album rollout has been amazing. I always expected to listen to it, but I never expected it to get to a point where I would be able to make content about it. It’s been pretty cool. I’m really excited for that album.

Zay Dante at VidCon 2025.
Credit: Mashable / Christianna Silva

Who do you want to collaborate with more than anyone?

Obviously, Kendrick. If Drake was a better sport about stuff, then him. Tyler, The Creator. SZA. The Weeknd. All of them.

How do you come up with ideas?

I’m doing what everybody else is doing—scrolling through and seeing what people are talking about. But a lot of the things that I’m doing are retroactive, looking back to the 2010s. 

Can you walk me through your creation process?

I use the Notes app for writing all the songs, and I use CapCut for editing all the songs. And I also use CapCut for all my original music as well — not building the beats because I have producers making the beats — but in the reference tracks that I’m making, I make all of that in CapCut.

I was expecting you to say Logic. 

My producer, Demko, produces in Ableton, but I don’t know how to use Ableton.

I do a crazy setup in my garage where I write the notes in my Notes app, and then I get my MacBook, and I get my headphones, and I get my phone. I bring that downstairs and get the file of the beat, send that to myself on the computer, send that file back to myself, play that in my headphones, and then I do the song over that. Send that back to myself, play that version on my laptop, and then I will respond to the thing that I just recorded.

What kind of headphones are you using when you do that over there?

I use over-the-ear Sony headphones.

I love how high-quality your headphones are, but you’re editing in CapCut.

I’m running CapCut to the bone. CapCut will literally shut off numerous times while I’m working, and I’ll get frustrated and then remind myself, “Wait, I am not doing things that are normal.”

Do you save your work on a drive?

No.

I’m so scared for you.

I save my YouTube videos and long-form stuff on my drive. But for all the short-form videos, what I really love about TikTok, and just in general, is the fact that you can pop out a video at any point in time. 

When did you realize that you could turn content creation into a full-time job? 

I started doing content in 2020 and realized I could turn it into a job probably a year in, when I had around a million followers. Back then, if you had a million followers, you had to move to LA, so that’s what I did. 

Yeah, I’ve heard that’s the law.

Yeah, it’s in the privacy policy on TikTok. One million followers? You gotta move to LA.

Were you making money only through the Creator Fund?

Yeah, I was making money through the Creator Fund and brand deals. 

What was your first brand deal?

What Do You Meme? They were my first major deal. I had done some smaller stuff where I got sent some free things, which was nice. But that was my first brand deal. They paid based on viewership, which made me enough money to move to LA.

Do you use AI at all in your content creation process?

None. I do not get involved.

Why not?

I don’t like it. I’m just not an AI guy. It makes me uncomfortable. As AI continues to grow and becomes more part of society, I’m realizing I’m going to be like one of the old men who’s just like, “I can’t turn this into a PDF.”

Be yourself and do the things that you find funny, not the stuff you find funny because you think it’s gonna make you go viral.

Do you have any tips for creators who want to create viral content?

Be yourself. I know that is the cliche. There’s never been a better example of being yourself than being online, because everybody that I know, and everybody that you know as well, is trying to feed into an algorithm to a point where it is not natural anymore. Be yourself and do the things that you find funny, not the stuff you find funny because you think it’s gonna make you go viral.

Do you have any advice for people who are trying to combat the reality that it can be embarrassing?

Just keep going because sometimes videos aren’t going to do well. The way that you scroll when you’re online is that you’re not checking like, “Oh, this video has only five likes. It must be bad.” You don’t care, you just scroll anyway. It doesn’t matter. The most important thing to remember on the internet is that you’re not the main character. If it doesn’t do well, then who cares? Nobody saw it anyway. And if it does well, then great. Do more of that.