With pop-star impressions so on-point they’ve even kept the Barbz on side, Nia Ivy is transcending TikTok to become her own kind of star
This article is taken from the summer 2025 issue of Dazed. Buy a copy of the magazine here.
Just weeks after finishing high school and telling her parents she wanted to swap college for content creation, Nia Ivy posted a hilariously dramatic parody video, mimicking how pop stars act in music documentaries. 24 hours later, her TikTok video blew up: Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas commented, and more than a million other people watched it. (As of April, the video had upwards of 8m views.)
“The whole adrenaline behind being a pop star is what I wanted to embody,” says Ivy, who now has more than 1.2 million followers on TikTok. “That was just me getting to do it full-out with no repercussions, no judgment. I knew on TikTok somebody was going to like it, so I just put it out there.”
At the age of 20, Ivy sounds a lot like the seasoned pop stars – from Nicki Minaj to Britney Spears – she’s become known for mimicking on TikTok. On our call today, she’s excited when I ask about her background, particularly her parents and two brothers whom she lovingly calls “the best people in the world”. On this late morning, the natural-born entertainer is fresh-faced like an off-duty celebrity, wearing only lipliner and Charlotte Tilbury’s Pillow Talk gloss, along with a baby-pink tracksuit. Like a true Virgo sun – she is quick to remind me that she and Beyoncé have this in common – her answers are thoughtful but not calculated, and she opens up candidly about her life and struggles with anxiety and depression as a teen. As in her videos, Ivy is charming and flows in and out of her impressions with ease, particularly her freakishly good Nicki Minaj, which even the Barbz approve of. (She even released her own single, “Encore”, which was written “20 minutes and recorded on BandLab in a day”).
As someone who makes a living from social media – a notoriously volatile career – Ivy expresses deep gratitude for the position she is in. “[I’ve learned that] you’ve got to sit back and take it all in, because this is the dream and I’m in it right now. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be in it so I want to stay asleep a little bit longer,” she says, adding that she’s currently tackling the entertainment industry but plans to dominate the beauty world next.
You started making clips on YouTube and musical.ly with your brothers at the age of 10. What inspired you to start doing that?
Nia Ivy: It was an escape because growing up in St Charles, Missouri, we moved around a lot. By the time I started filming videos, I was at my sixth school. That can be a lot for a child who has so much creative output and you feel like you have no place to put it, so I started filming videos and performing music. I was in choir and I saw some YouTubers I really adored. I was watching a lot of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and I saw that they all lived in California. I said [to myself], “I’m going to move there one day because this is what I want to do. I can provide [me] and my family with my dream life simply by being myself online.” My brothers – because they’re the best people in the world – naturally wanted to do it as well. They would film for me and I’d say, “One day it’s going to pay off, just wait” – and it paid off.
Speaking of the Ellen show, why was seeing [viral internet kids] Sophia Grace and Rosie perform with Nicki Minaj so inspiring to you at that time?
Nia Ivy: It was so impactful because – I don’t even know why I’m getting emotional right now – to see two young girls my age doing something like that and know it was [possible] for someone to not only recognise your talent, but to fully step into your passion, that was just my inside scoop – like, I knew I wanted to do this. Every day I was filming, filming, filming, so just seeing that it was possible for a girl my age, and I still wasn’t seeing a lot of Black girls yet… I was like, “I have to do it because, duh.” [laughs]
To be Nia Ivy means to be a star... I don’t care if you’re the janitor or Ariana Grande, I’m going to be just as happy to speak to you and hear your story
Many of your videos highlight celebrities and pop-culture moments from the early 2000s. Why is this era so special to you and why do you think it resonates with your audience so much?
Nia Ivy: I think there was a different kind of drive in the early 2000s with regards to the pop industry and the music industry as a whole, because there was a lot of newness occurring. [Artists] were performing at malls to get noticed or doing pop-ups. I’m a good Nicki impersonator, but Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, I watch them every day. I watch rehearsal clips. I don’t even just watch awards shows any more. Whenever I watch those rehearsal clips, I am in it. So I just started making pop-star POVs. I did the trailers and the documentaries, but this is what happens before that. This is the stuff that happens before they come on stage at the Grammys, Billboard Awards, MTV Awards and everything. We wait to see that stuff. I think that brought in the millennial crowd and then people from Gen Z were like, “I’ve heard that song before but I’ve never really cared too much about it.” I love the early 00s and appreciate that drive – I wish we saw more of it today. I might bring it back once I start putting out music because there’s a rarity to it now and people need to see that again.
On the topic of music, you recently released a few parody tracks with Ashley Blue Def. What can fans expect from you in the future?
Nia Ivy: I feel like every song that I write, I’m not the best singer, but I can sing and I can record. I remember showing my friend my song and he said, “You’re a really good songwriter. This is a story.” So I want people to treat it like a story, and I hope that they want to share their own stories from it. I’m ready to take over, and with the drive and the people I’ve studied and pay homage to, they are all within my music, so it’s probably going to give you early 2000s, a little punk rock here and there, maybe some EDM influences from the 2010s, maybe Beyoncé early days, but it’s still me. It’s going to be Nia Iv y. I hope people take something from that, because music moves you in ways you can’t even teach in schools. And of course, voice acting. I can’t wait to be on people’s big screens. I’m taking that seriously this year. I hope to do something with animation. I love Disney, Pixar and anime.
What is it about celebrities and pop culture that you love so much?
Nia Ivy: Honestly, I feel like I am one because when it comes to being a celebrity or a maker of culture in general, I feel like you have to have a certain authenticity [where] you are yourself in and out of good and bad situations, and people are just naturally drawn to you. They’re drawn to your light. I told my friend this the other day, “To be Nia Iv y means to be a star.” With whatever I do there’s a certain cadence, there’s a certain volume that I hold when I’m interacting with people. I don’t care if you’re the janitor or Ariana Grande, I’m going to be just as happy to speak to you and hear your story. And through my favourite celebrities, I’ve seen how they navigate their situations, interactions, communication, teamwork and tours in the same way. Beyoncé is a great example. Whenever you hear her talk, there’s a weight that she carries in her voice, her words, and to me that’s what it means to be A-list-famous. Treat people with respect and care about your craft, because not a lot of people get to pursue their passion. People don’t get to say, “I’m living my dream life.” And if I’m making people happy by doing that, if people smile or feel the need to go create their art when they hear my name, then I’m a celebrity. I’m a star. So I’m obsessed with it and I love these people and I always pay homage when I can.
Throughout your journey of becoming a content creator and entertainer, what have you learned about yourself and what keeps you going?
Nia Ivy: I have honestly learned that I like control, but at the same time, I’ve learned to let loose. I’ve learned to let go when I can and process things. When you’re making videos and trying to make it in general, you’re so go-go-go that you’re not really getting time to really sit back and say, “Oh my gosh. I just hit 500,000 followers. Oh my gosh, I just met Keke Palmer. I just spoke to Rihanna. I just got signed to this awesome management. I just got my first place. I just got my third place. I’m in LA on my own, no help, no roommates, no anything.” So yeah, it’s OK to home in on that control because I know what I want. I’m going to get what I want, but there’s a respect you’ve got to have for yourself, because you’ve got to sit back and really take it all in because this is the dream and I’m in it right now. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be in it, so I want to stay asleep a little longer. So those are the two things that I’ve been wrestling with and now I’m kind of resting with.