Aliyah's Interlude: The Self-Love Queen

"I’m a fashion girl, I’m an It girl, I’m that girl."

Aliyah’s Interlude is one of the funniest Tik Tok creators on the entire platform. Recently, the self-proclaimed IT girl from Clayton County, GA hit 1 million Tik Tok followers, but her influence doesn’t stop there. She’s pretty freaking popular across all platforms actually, being reposted by the likes of Kehlani and Megan Thee Stallion on their respective social media pages. The best part? She’s as authentic as they come - down-to-earth, friendly, and just overall likable. She says what we’re all thinking and she always does it hilariously. We sat down with the #1 fashion girly to get her opinions on all things Tik Tok, self-love, and admiration:

First things first, we want to say we LOVE your content. The way you’re able to connect with your audience and make us feel like we’re best friends through a video is a skill not many people have. Why do you think you can connect with thousands of people every day so easily? How do you think of such relatable topics that appeal to everyone? 

ALIYAH: “These are just my thoughts. I have thoughts and then I just speak them into the world. I think everyone has the same exact thoughts they just don’t make videos about them.”

You’re one of the biggest Tik Tokers on the platform and one of the most recognizable faces. How did you manage to grow your audience in such a short amount of time? 

ALIYAH:“When I got my account deleted, I already had a base of supporters on there so they just followed through. And I’m also kinda big on Instagram and Twitter so ya know, all the platforms just kinda spewed onto the next if that makes sense. But I also am a fashion girly, people love fashion, and people love to hear me talk. I think that’s really what grew my audience.”

At one point, you lost your main page and had to make a new one + build your audience back up from scratch (so annoying). How did you feel at that moment? How do you feel about how the platform treats Black creators and/or do you have any input on what they can do to help empower Black creators? 

ALIYAH: “I was just at a loss for words, I thought I was gonna lose my mind but also at the same time, it felt kind of freeing because with my old account I feel like I wasn’t able to be the fashion girly I truly am on there since I built an audience out of me just talking. On this account, I created an audience of fashion AND talking. I found a way to mix them both so in a way I knew it was gonna be a blessing in disguise because it made it easier to grow into the creator I wanted to be and niche myself down into the niche I wanted to be in. So, I was sad but I also wasn’t that pressed, I knew I was gonna come back.” 

“I think every platform treats Black creators worse than any other race. I think Tik Tok has a lot of work to do with empowering Black creators and just giving us more resources and everything to be truly successful on the app. I will say they have given us a lot of resources because look at me, I’ve hit a million followers in such a short amount of time. But also at the same time, the community guidelines and everything kinda needs to be revised in a way that benefits everyone, not just a certain demographic of people.”

So, in our eyes, you’re THE QUEEN of Self-Love. One of the reasons we thought you would be perfect for this issue is because a lot of your content focuses on loving yourself and talking your ish on why you’re the baddest! But we also know you’ve spoken about the journey of self-love as a long one for you. What is your advice for people who might be struggling with self-love? 

ALIYAH: “The biggest advice I’d have for people struggling with self-love would just be the fact that people, every single day, will shit on you and treat you horribly, and will say the most hateful things to you. Do not let yourself be another person adding to that. The whole world can hate you but if you love yourself that’s literally all that fucking matters. Because it’s like, who the fuck are y’all?” she says with a giggle. “Like I’m me, I’m the one that has to live in my body, I’m the one who has to wake up every day and look in the mirror and see this person. I’m gonna make sure this person knows that they are loved, and even if they’re not loved by anyone else they are loved by me, and that is all I need. I understand that ya know, validation helps but it’s not necessary because you can validate yourself every single day that you wake up.”

Love is an emotion that has many sides to it, one being admiration. However, there is both light and darkness to admiration. With you having such a big spotlight on you, how do you feel about the admiration you receive? 

ALIYAH: “I feel sexy as fuck, because whenever people come up to me they always compliment me or say that they love me so I don’t get that much hate, and even if I do get hate, it’s always from a loser,” she says with a laugh. “Like I don’t care about your opinion, your opinion is so worthless to me like what are you talking about? But yeah I love the admiration I get because I feel like girls truly relate to me and girls love me because I feel like we’re sisters. Like I’m preaching to my sisters like I love y’all.” 

Do you feel like you navigate it well or have you ever struggled with being in such an intense spotlight where thousands of people are watching you?

ALIYAH: “I feel like I navigate it well just because ever since I was younger I always wanted this. I don’t wanna sound cocky but I always knew this was gonna happen for me just because I work hard for everything. Everything I do, I put my all into so me being in the spotlight is not a big deal to me because I wanted this. I prayed for times like this, word to meek! Sometimes it will get overwhelming like if I’m in public and look crusty, so basically I can never look bad anymore. But I mean, I guess that’s motivation too,” she says with a laugh.

Love has a way of allowing us to feel conflicting emotions at times. In your current state, how do you feel about love? This can apply to romantic, self-love, or platonic love. What do you love most about it and what do you hate about it (if anything)?

ALIYAH: “Honestly, I am SO open to love right now like I’ve experienced so much heartbreak and people playing with my feelings but I would never let that be the reason why I’m not a super loving person, like self-love on 10, romantic love tryna get that on 10, and platonic love on 2 BILLION - I love my friends. I love the people who support me and I feel like right now I’m experiencing the most love I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. I think what I love the most about love is I feel like it’s something you can’t control, it’s undeniable. When you’re in love with somebody, you’ll do anything for them and you love doing it because it’s like ‘I love you.’ And what do I hate about it? The same reason - you’ll do anything for somebody you love so even if it’s hurting, if it’s benefiting you I guess that’s okay. I’m learning to stop doing that and start putting myself first. That’s one of my biggest missions for 2022.”

You can follow Aliyah on all platforms: @aliyahsinterlude <3