Crash Adams knows a thing or two about making viral videos. The Toronto-born pop duo have been blowing up the charts and making waves online with their catchy songs and creative content style for years.
In many of their videos, the pair — singer Rafaele Massarelli (aka Crash) and guitarist Vince Sasso (aka Adams) — can often be seen performing live on the street, in stores and even in subway stations, inviting spectators or musicians in the vicinity to join along.
You might best recognize Crash Adams for their music videos featuring a big red couch. They also often challenge random people on the street to answer questions or perform tasks while they sing for a $100 reward. It's actually kind of wild to watch.
According to their website, Crash Adams really started focusing on content creation in 2019.
"We've been musicians our entire lives, but content was the only way to get our music heard," Adams told Narcity during an interview at Dine Alone Records in Toronto on May 31.
Since then, the group has racked up over 10.7 million followers across social media platforms and 1.6 billion views on YouTube. The music video for their newest single, "Lucky," has already hit 180,000 views on YouTube since its June 2 release.
So what does it take to become a content creator with a massively loyal online following? Narcity spoke to Crash Adams about how they come up with their content ideas, who inspires their creativity and what's in their secret sauce to make a video go viral.
Narcity: Let's talk about going viral. You have gotten big on YouTube and TikTok; social media is huge for you. For people who are starting out, can you give a couple of tips? What's your secret sauce?
Adams: It's really just those days, you know, those days when you're just like, "This video's not good enough. I'm not going to post it." Just post it anyways, because that moment that I'm talking about right now actually changed our lives. There was a video where we were singing bad and then singing good. We both looked at it and said, "Are we really going to post this video?" We posted it and it ended up going crazy and now we're here.
Crash: I would also say, do your research. We learned a lot by watching a lot. Watching a lot of videos, there are a lot of great resources out there for people who are trying to be successful in the space. And it's not a secret, it's just hard work.
Narcity: Who are your favourite content creators?
Adams: I really like CelinaSpookyBoo and Kallmekris.
Crash: That's definitely our number one. Airrack is another great one as well.
Adams: I like MrBeast a lot as well. I take a lot of inspiration from him.
Narcity: How much of your content is planned and how much is organic?
Adams: I would say a little more than half is definitely organic. You know, there are some moments where we definitely plan it, but that one moment you're speaking about with the rapper, that just happened. I was just as surprised as you are.
Crash: I think if you're there every day, doing it and doing it and doing it, the moments will present themselves.
Narcity: How important is it to follow trends and how important is it to be original?
Adams: We did trends at the beginning. Do things that other people do, but just do them better.
Crash: I think the apps are built to reward things that have been done and trends that are occurring, but at the same time the viewers like to see something fresh. So if you can adapt something and make it your own, I think that's definitely the best way.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
