He built a huge audience with ridiculous (and catchy) songs on social media. Despite negotiating a record deal and landing a European tour, he has no plans to change.
Seven months ago, Carter Vail released “Dirt Man,” a fairly ridiculous song that is just over 30 seconds long. “It just came to me while I was sleeping,” he said. The song is about leaving dirt under his pillow for “the dirt man.”
The silly yet snappy song propelled Mr. Vail, 27, to a new level of internet fame almost overnight. That and other social-media-friendly hits helped him build a combined audience of more than two million followers on Instagram and TikTok.
“It started a lot of very surprising momentum,” Mr. Vail said of “Dirt Man.”
The rapper Yung Gravy tapped Mr. Vail to open for his fall tour; Zane Lowe of Apple Music posted a video of himself on TikTok dancing to Mr. Vail’s music; and record labels started a bidding war for Mr. Vail.
In addition to other hit songs geared to a social media audience (in one, he assures his audience that he would be able to beat up aliens if they ever came to Earth), Mr. Vail, who studied sound engineering at the University of Miami, has multiple albums of what he calls his “serious” music. Another is on the way.
Mr. Vail says he is in talks with production studios that want to turn his shorter songs into animated projects. He hopes to eventually make a variety show, write a blog and start a clothing line.
