Erynn Chambers
Erynn Chambers, better known under her TikTok username rynnstar (born 1992), is an American social media content creator, activist, and teacher. She is best known for her work on TikTok. She is also credited as a co-author on the country song "Beer Beer, Truck Truck", as a result of a viral video she made satirizing country music.
Erynn Chambers | |
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| Born | Erynn Malessia Chambers[1] 1992[2] |
| Occupations |
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| TikTok information | |
| Page | |
| Followers | 1.2 million |
| Last updated: January 6, 2025 | |
Erynn Chambers, better known under her TikTok username rynnstar (born 1992), is an American social media content creator, activist, and teacher. She is best known for her work on TikTok. She is also credited as a co-author on the country song "Beer Beer, Truck Truck", as a result of a viral video she made satirizing country music.
Career
[edit]Chambers taught music at an elementary school in Charlotte, North Carolina.[3] She is the creator of the popular account @Rynnstar on TikTok,[4] which she started during the COVID-19 pandemic and before the 2020 surge in Black Lives Matter protests.[5] On TikTok, she posts about a variety of topics, including linguistics, history, musical theater, and activism.[6][7] The murder of George Floyd shifted her research towards a greater focus on racial equity.[8] According to People, "What makes Chambers' content so special is that it meets her followers where they are without coddling them."[9] In 2021, USA Today described her as "one of the most important creators raising awareness of the Black experience and racism on TikTok".[10]
Podcasts
[edit]Chambers has three podcasts: Hot Tea Hot Takes, Close Encounters of the Blerd Kind, and The Wordy & Nerdy Show.[11]
TikTok
[edit]Activism
[edit]| Erynn Chambers on TikTok | |
|---|---|
 About y'alls favorite "statistics" | |
| "Beer Beer, Truck Truck" |
Chambers' TikTok includes advocacy and information about racial equality,[2] including a video she posted in July 2020 in which she used TikTok's "duet" function to add commentary to another user's video.[12][13] She was inspired to create her video after watching a TikTok about how statistics are manipulated to create the false impression of greater violence perpetrated by Black Americans.[2]
In her video, titled "About y'alls favorite 'statistics'", she criticized the argument that Black people are responsible for more violent crime in the form of a jingle, singing "Black neighborhoods are overpoliced, so of course they have higher rates of crime. And white perpetrators are undercharged, so of course they have lower rates of crime. And all those stupid stats that you keep using are operating off a small sample size. So shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up."[14]
The video garnered over two million views.[12] Wired magazine named it one of the best TikTok videos of 2020, with Emma Grey Ellis writing, "TikTokkers duetted it, made horn remixes of it, pole danced to it. It's TikTok at its best and most dystopian at the same time, and it lives in my head rent-free."[15]
In a video titled "Why is Rosa Parks the only black activist we learn about?", she discussed the Montgomery bus boycott.[14] In 2020, Chambers discussed her practice of body neutrality on TikTok,[16] and she has been part of the body neutrality movement for years.[17]
Beer Beer, Truck Truck
[edit]In 2020, Chambers made a video satirizing country music, summarizing the style of country music produced by men as "Beer, beer, truck, truck, girls in tight jeans, beer, truck, beer, truck, America, America".[18][19] She contrasted this with her view of the style of country music produced by women, summarized as, "He cheated on me, so I burned down his house and destroyed everything he loved—and then I killed him".[18][19] The video currently has over 1.8 million likes.[19] George Birge, a country musician who was considering ending his singing career at the time, then made a legitimate song out of the chorus entitled "Beer Beer, Truck Truck", which he posted to TikTok and subsequently released in 2021.[19] As a result of the song, George Birge was signed to a recording contract in Nashville.[20] The song was released June 18, 2021 as his first single.[21] Chambers was listed as a co-author of the credits of the song,[22] causing her to be inducted into the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.[23]
References
[edit]- ^ Beard, Brandy (December 2, 2018). "Messiah". Gastonia Gaston Gazette. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- ^ a b c Rosenblatt, Kalhan (July 30, 2020). "From the renegade to Black Lives Matter: How Black creators are changing TikTok culture". NBC News. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ name="ATC transcript 2021">Shillingford, Brandon; Venkat, Mia (August 19, 2021). "How A Joke TikTok About Country Music Stereotypes Hit The Radio". All Things Considered (transcript). GPB/NPR. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ name="Ohlheiser 2021">Ohlheiser, Abby (June 30, 2021). "Online activism: a year in review". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ name="Rosenblatt 2020">Rosenblatt, Kalhan (July 30, 2020). "From the renegade to Black Lives Matter: How Black creators are changing TikTok culture". NBC News. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ name="Ohlheiser 2021"
- ^ name="Rosenblatt 2020"
- ^ name="Guynn 2021"
- ^ Wurzburger, Andrea (March 14, 2021). "Black Activists, Artists, Historians and Changemakers You Should Follow on Social Media". People. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- ^ name="Guynn 2021"
- ^ Marks, Andrea; Mier, Tomás; Paul, Larisha; Conkling, Anna; Garber-Paul, Elisabeth (April 25, 2022). "Meet the Creators and Activists Leading Social Media's Next Wave". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ a b Ohlheiser, Abby (June 30, 2021). "Online activism: a year in review". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ Watercutter, Angela (April 12, 2021). "TikTok Duets Are Reviving the Exquisite Corpse". Wired. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ a b Guynn, Jessica (February 2, 2021). "BLM influencers: 10 Black Lives Matter activists on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter you should follow". USA Today. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- ^ Knibbs, Kate; So, Adrienne; Pardes, Adrielle; Kehe, Jason; Watercutter, Angela; Ellis, Emma Grey; Greenwell, Megan (December 17, 2020). "The Best TikToks of 2020". Wired. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- ^ Godwin, Cody Melissa (September 2, 2020). "Body neutrality: What if you don't really love or hate your body?". BBC News. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ "Telesna neutralnost: Prihvatanje tela zbog svega onog što može da uradi, ne zbog toga kako izgleda" [Body Neutrality: Accepting the body for all it can do, not what it looks like]. British Broadcasting Corporation (in Bosnian). October 1, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- ^ a b Chambers, Erynn (October 17, 2020). "Erynn Chambers on TikTok". TikTok. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Shillingford, Brandon; Venkat, Mia (August 19, 2021). "How A Joke TikTok About Country Music Stereotypes Hit The Radio". NPR. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- ^ Crone, Madeline (June 21, 2021). "George Birge Credits TikTok & A Twist of Fate for His Renewed Artistic Vision Through "Beer Beer, Truck Truck"". American Songwriter. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- ^ Holthouse, Jerry (June 1, 2021). "Records Nashville Signs George Birge". Nashville.com. Nashville Music Scene. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- ^ Despres, Tricia (June 18, 2021). "A TikTok Influencer Poked Fun at Country Music – So George Birge Wrote a Song That May Make Them Stars". People. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ Dukes, Billy (June 22, 2021). "George Birge Turns A Joke Into A Viral Hit With 'Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck'". Taste of Country. Retrieved September 21, 2021.