What you need to know about the TikTok ‘Hype House’ (2024)

3February 2020

In Los Angeles, a group of teenagers and young adults are living the dream: making TikToks all day in their shared mansion. Dubbed the ‘Hype House’, it’s the latest in a long-line of ‘creator houses’, which bring young stars together to make collaborative content and collectively build on their individual successes.

Of the group’s 21 members – who range in age from 15 to 22 – just four of them live in the house full-time, while the others regularly swing by, primarily to film videos of themselves dancing to popular TikTok tunes.

As they hit 7.5 million followers, here’s everything you need to know about the Hype House.

WHAT IS THE HYPE HOUSE?

The Hype House is a mansion in LA where four TikTok creators live and 17 others go to film content. As well as being a physical location – which has an enormous backyard, a pool, and palace-like interiors – the Hype House also refers to the collective of teens and young adults who create videos under a TikTok account of the same name. The group was formed in December last year by some of the platform’s most famous stars, and was launched on Instagram with a family portrait-esque group photo. Within minutes of the announcement, #HypeHouse began trending on TikTok, with videos under the hashtag surpassing 200 million views. The collective TikTok account has 7.5 million followers, and features videos of the group filming in their LA mansion.

A New York Times explainer about these types of houses revealed that they need to be big, with “the more amenities the better, like a pool, nice bathroom, nice lighting, big back and front yard, room for activities, and fun stuff you can do inside or outside”. Many Airbnbs in LA don’t allow renters to film – citing concerns about property damage – so influencers need to find properties that are not only spacious and aesthetically impressive, but can actually function as a creator house.

Read More

@thehypehouse

Hype House ❤️

♬ No Idea - Don Toliver

WHO’S IN THE GROUP?

The Hype House was created by 17-year-oldChase Hudson(11.8 million followers) and 21-year-oldThomas Petrou(1.7 million followers), who signed a lease on the LA mansion just 13 days after coming up with the idea in November 2019. Hudson – who goes by the name Lilhuddy – achieved star status on TikTok with lip-syncing and dancing videos, while Petroufound fame on YouTube, after leaving engineering school to “pursue (his) passions” of acting, modelling, fitness, and vlogging.

Also joining them in the house is 15-year-oldCharli D’Amelio, who’s both the youngest and most popular TikTok creator, with 22.8 million followers. Other stars include Charli’s sister, 18-year-oldDixie D’Amelio(8.7 million followers), 19-year-oldAddison Rae(13.8 million followers), who only just joined TikTok in summer last year, 17-year-oldBillie EilishsuperfanAvani Gregg(10 million followers) – who doescostume make-upandsponsored contentas well as traditional TikTok dances –Ondreaz Lopez(5.7 million followers), who’s the oldest member of the group at 22 years old, and his 20-year-old brotherTony Lopez(4.4 million followers), as well asHootie Hurley(716k followers),Calvin Goldby(227k followers),Ryland Storms(853k followers),Patrick Huston(280k followers), and the onlynon-dancerDaisy Keech(1.9 million followers), who are all aged 20.

Other members include 19 year oldsAlex Warren(3.1 million followers) – whose videos focus on humour and pranks, as opposed to dancing and lip-syncing –Kouvr Annon(1.6 million followers),Nick Austin(2.1 million followers), andWyatt Xavier, who has 57k followers on TikTok despite never posting on the platform – instead he has activeInstagramandYouTubeprofiles – 16-year-old twinsJack(1 million followers) andJames Wright(558k followers), along with 21-year-old ‘stunt man’Connor Yates(188k followers), AKA ‘Paper’, and newest Hype House addition, 21-year-oldLarray(6.4 million followers).

Only Petrou, Keech, Warren, and Annon live at the house full-time, with Petrou managing schedules and any house issues, resolving conflicts, and scouting for new talent. Many have rightly called the Hype House out for its lack of people of colour, leading to some TikTok stars to suggest the creation of a ‘Melanin Mansion’.

SURELY IT’S JUST A PARTY HOUSE?

Not at all. According toThe New York Times, if you want to be a part of the Hype House, you have to create daily content (and replace anything you break within 15 days). “You can’t come and stay with us for a week and not make any videos,” Petrou told the newspaper. “This whole house is designed for productivity. If you want to party, there’s hundreds of houses that throw parties in LA every weekend. We don’t want to be that. This house is about creating something big, and you can’t do that if you’re going out on the weekends.” Unlike other creator houses – like Jake Paul’sTeam 10– the Hype House doesn’t take a cut of any influencer’s revenue.

@thehypehouse

🌴😎✌🏻 lilhuddy charlidamelio avani

♬ Verzache Needs - tootymcnooty

WHAT’S THE BENEFIT OF CREATOR HOUSES?

There’s a number of ‘collab houses’ in LA, which act as bases for influencers to create content and share ideas. Speaking toThe New York Times, Caron King, a 20-year-old YouTuber, said: “I think it’s a dream for a lot of people to be able to move in with friends and be able to work on whatever you want to work on.” 31-year-old YouTuber Mitch Moffit added: “The biggest struggle creators have is that people around them don’t understand at all the culture of what they’re doing.”

Though these houses undeniably build hype around the individual creators, as Team 10 famously found, there’s likely to be some drama. To avoid this, Hype House members are careful about who they film with, what they wear, and how they act in their videos to avoid misinterpretation, as well as rumours and backlash online.