His Next Chapter Beyond TikTok

“People thought that I was actually like that,” Bryce Hall said as we sat down for our interview. “[But] if you meet me, you’ll understand that it’s just a part of the game.”

The game of social media is something Hall has mastered over the years — with over 33 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. But he’s also had his share of controversies; from paparazzi encounters to street fights and an arrest in 2020.

There’s the viral clip of Hall boasting he’ll knock out his boxing opponent because he’s, “been in probably over 40 street fights.”

But these days, Hall is out to prove he’s more than just a headline.

Hall is a budding entrepreneur; launching BLACKOUT, his own beverage earlier this year. He’s also an aspiring actor, co-starring in Skill House with 50 Cent, a film set to debut early 2024.

In August, Hall made his Bare Knuckle Boxing debut; winning by TKO against Gee Perez.

“[The] goal is to take over the entertainment space,” Bryce Hall said. “Every single form of entertainment, I’m gonna do it at least once.”

I had the chance to sit down with Bryce Hall to discuss his ambitions beyond social media, his start as a creator 10 years ago and what he’s learned along the way.

Bryce’s Beginnings

Scroll through any of Hall’s socials and “introvert” might be the last word that comes to mind. His content brims with energy, constantly featuring other friends and creators. But in high school, Hall had a much different experience.

“I didn’t have friends in high school. I started social media when I was 14, it was frowned upon,” Hall said. “So I started live streaming because I didn’t have anyone to talk to.”

Hall was live streaming to a platform called YouNow. While at first he streamed to an audience of three or four, it quickly grew into the hundreds and thousands.

Later that year, YouNow began paying their creators and Hall received his first check in the mail for $2,400.

“[My mom] was like, ‘What did you do to get this $2,400 as a 14 year old boy?’” Hall said. “‘My 14 year old son is live streaming on a random website and got paid for it?’”

“I started social media originally because I wanted to help my mom,” Hall said. “I wanted to buy her house. I wanted to just give back to her for raising a son, single.”

While Hall’s mother was skeptical at first, after watching a live stream from the sidelines, she gave her approval.

Around the same time, Bryce started posting to Vine, where he grew his following further. After Vine shut down in 2014, Bryce turned to Musical.ly (the platform that eventually became TikTok) and grew his following to over one million. But coupled with this online success came the continued bullying.

“People would make fun of me every single day and it sucked,” Hall said. “They were talking shit. They were, they were like making my life miserable in that little square, which was high school. But once you get out of that square and you’re in the real world … You’re a completely different person. You can do whatever you want. You can shape yourself to be whoever you want.”

Hall started uploading to YouTube and eventually stopped posting on Musical.ly, until it became TikTok in 2018.

“I saw Josh Richards, Jaden Hossler — They only had like 300k on Instagram getting 150,000, 200,000 likes [on TikTok],” Hall said. “I saw that and I was like, oh my god, am I going to have to do this shit again?”

Taking Over TikTok With The Sway Boys

Inspired by these unseen levels of engagement, Hall started posting again on Musical.ly — which was now TikTok. And by the end of 2020, Hall had over 16 million followers on the platform.

That same year, Hall became part of the Sway House — an internet collective with five other TikTok creators. The group moved into a Bel Air mansion in January of 2020 and started creating content together. On the surface, the ‘Sway Boys’ had viral content, a rapidly growing fanbase, and a luxury house in one of Los Angeles’ wealthiest neighborhoods. But behind-the-scenes it was different.

“We were all not making any money,” Hall said. “None of us had any money. We had a sponsor paying for the house.”

Without a set plan for monetization from the management of the Sway House, TalentX, the members started monetizing on their own.

“It was mainly like me and Josh first that figured out how to make money on social media,” Hall said.

Hall was making ad-sense money from his YouTube uploads. He launched Party Animal University (PAU), a merch line that did $400,000 a month at its peak.

Under the same name, Hall started a subscription club where he posted his uncensored vlogs for $15 a month. At its height, his PAU club had 15,000 members.

Hall and Josh Richards, a fellow Sway House member, released Still Softish, a diss-track aimed at creator-turned-musician Lil Huddy. The music video has 44 million views, and the Spotify track has over 30 million streams.

But by February of 2021, Hall had left and the Sway House was officially shut down.

The End of Sway House & Hall’s Next Chapter

“I screwed up a big deal for the Sway Boys,” Hall said. “Me, Josh [Richards], Jaden [Hossler] and Blake [Gray] went to Texas and got arrested for weed,” Hall said. “So that screwed a multimillion dollar deal for a lot of the guys that were in Sway.”

After the arrest in Texas, Hall says Michael Gruen, a co-founder of the Sway House and Hall’s former manager, internally placed the blame on Hall.

“He made everybody distance themselves away from me for controversy reasons,” Hall explained. Yeah I was getting in a lot of controversies. But the arrest kind of put it over the edge for him.”

The arrest occurred in May of 2020, and shortly after the group split in two. Hall, Noah Beck and Blake Gray moved into one house, and the other three members moved into another house.

While the Sway House was technically still alive during this, Hall says each of the members were ready to go their own ways. In February of 2021, Michael Gruen confirmed to People that the content house was officially over.

Leaving the Sway House and his management behind, Hall signed to a new management, Panther Talent, run by Brad Baskin.

“He’s done so much more for me,” Hall said. “[My old management] didn’t believe in me. They didn’t think that I was gonna exceed past the Sway Boy, TikTok boy era.”

“Me and Brad immediately clicked. We have a lot of conversations and our goal is to take over the entertainment space. And I feel like we’re coming for it,” Hall said.

Hall also started working with Alec Celestin, founder of the Nofhotos Group, who helped with the launch of Blackout.

“In 2020, I met Bryce at my first company, Flighthouse. It’s been incredible to see his personal progression and maturity as of late,” Celestin said of his friendship with Hall. “It seems like he’s happy in his own lane staying true to himself.”

Throughout our conversation, Hall routinely returned to his goal of growing beyond his old style of social media content.

“[Now] I’ve changed my whole TikTok content to straight comedy. Just reacting to shit, making fun of myself,” Hall said.

Scrolling through Hall’s TikTok, and the change is clear. Hall’s comedy often puts himself as the butt of the joke. His uploads now make fun of what he describes as his “cringey” early content — from lip singing videos on Musical.ly to dances on TikTok.

This past August, Hall made his Bare Knuckle Boxing debut against Gee Perez, winning by TKO.

“Everyone was doubting me that entire time, [I was] a plus 500 underdog… I fought my ass off, I trained my ass off,” Hall said. “I had to lose 30 pounds for the fight. I could only eat 1,100 calories a day”

“And then, winning? Ugh. Winning as the massive underdog? I get the knockdown in the first 10 seconds, It was just so emotional,” Hall said. “I proved everyone wrong. It was such a crazy moment for me.”

Hall is also co-starring with 50 Cent in a horror thriller called Skill House, set to release early next year. Written by the writers of Saw, the film follows 10 social media stars that are kidnapped and made to compete for views. Whoever has the least views each round, dies in a Saw-like fashion.

While filming Skill House, Hall achieved his goal from 2014; buying his mother a home.

“It was incredible … I was shooting the movie with 50 Cent. So in the middle of scenes, I would be signing the papers for the house,” Hall said. “And now that I bought her a house, I’m like, all right — now what the hell do I do?”

Hall insists he’ll step into every facet of entertainment throughout his career. But for the moment, acting seems to be the next career goal.

“I do really enjoy acting. Comedy is where I want to keep my lane in,” Hall said. “We’re talking about a pretty big movie that’s a comedy … I can say one of the writers is the writer for Van Wilder, that college movie.”

From being bullied for his social media presence to co-starring in a film with 50 Cent — it’s clear Hall is a force to be reckoned with.

“Doing a bare knuckle fight, training for it, putting two and a half months of my time into something and really putting my all into it. And I win it,” Hall said. “I think I could do anything.