How a College Student Went Viral Imitating Pretty Boys on TikTok

Paul Jr Rwechungura, known as PJ to his friends and tiktokpj to a million followers on TikTok, has been pushed into the whirlwind that comes with going viral. The blow up of one video – a reworked “16 Missed Calls” format that depicts the user before and after a glow-up – pushed his following into the hundreds of thousands within a few months, and a million by January. 

In his version of the trend, a nondescript, gangly white teenager transforms into PJ wearing a blonde wig. It’s humour with vast reach.

With 50 million views, PJ’s content took off. The blonde-wigged persona continued. When he appears, he’s usually green-screened onto videos with classically good-looking white guys – men who pine to camera as if caught off guard by an attractive girl. Captions like “POV: You enter the elevator” or “POV: We meet at the subway station” are commonplace. It’s meant to make simps swoon. But PJ’s videos are made to point out that cringey pretty boys are doing too much.

At 21, PJ is currently enrolled at Penn State studying Information, Science and Technologies. Here, VICE chats to PJ about TikTok, going viral and being a mini celebrity.

VICE: Let’s take it back to where your TikTok journey started. When did you first get onto the app?

PJ Rwechungura: Oh God, I want to say I downloaded the app in 2018 but I wasn't really making anything. I was just watching. And then when quarantine hit in 2020 I had a lot of free time so I just decided to mess around and make some videos. One random day in the summer, one of my videos blew up. I was freaking out to all my friends and I was like, “Yo, I gotta keep making videos, I got to see what happens”. Ever since then I've been pretty consistent on posting. 

Which video was that? 

When I first started making videos I would dress up as the Disney princess, Elsa. It was just me running around in my backyard. Just leaping and doing jumps. And people just… liked it. It got a million or so likes and back then that was insane. So I was freaking out.

Had you always been interested in making videos or was TikTok the first time you ventured into that?

TikTok was definitely the first time I started making videos. When Vine was the thing, I surprisingly didn't really watch except for YouTube compilations. So yeah, I just got on TikTok for fun and I thought they were funny. So I was just like: I'll try and see what happens.

What do you think it is about your content that people like? That made you viral?

I think, as far as I know, my content is pretty original. When it comes to green-screening myself, I think people just like the originality. And the fact that it's just entertaining to watch.

The videos that get you the most views are the ones where you've green-screened yourself in groups of guys biting their lips, or staring up to camera seducingly. Basically, they’re trying to look hot. What first inspired those particular ones?

Back in December my friends saw this video of guys running up an escalator, and it was just kind of goofy. They were like, “Yo, use your Elsa wig, pretend to be one of them”. So I did that. If it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't have ever thought of doing it.

Do these videos of these pretty boys turn up in your ‘For You’ page? Or do you actively seek them out? 

They never show up in my ‘For You’ page. Usually, what happens is a lot of people tag me in their videos and go, “Oh my god, do this with green screen.” Sometimes I'll look at people's pages and scroll through and try and find a video that I can use.

Do any of these TikTokkers ever feel like you’ve done them dirty?

A bunch of the guys that I greenscreen with will follow me back and DM me afterwards. At the end of the day I'm just trying to have fun and there's no hard feelings. I'm not trying to make fun of anyone. A bunch of them have reached out and are like, “Oh my god, you should come to LA so you can actually recreate the videos in person.”

Do you find that TikTok has opened up those opportunities for you? Travelling, meeting new people, making money?

Oh 100%, especially this summer coming up. I'm planning on taking a couple of trips to LA and New York. I meet up with a lot of my mutual's, and I've definitely started making an income. Not anything insane, but from the creator fund. It's very mild but there’s also a bunch of brand deals coming up and they offer a lot of money. Which is surprising.

Have you found that there's a formula to gaining a following on TikTok with this kind of content?

When I made my first viral video, I got 50 million views. And it was me wearing the blonde wig pretending to be a white guy on TikTok. After I saw that it blew up I just decided that I should probably keep making these. So I think If you want to gain a following you just have to be consistent: Find what you like to make and find what people like to watch. And just keep going at it. Hopefully, you get lucky because you can make great content, but TikTok has a little bit of luck to it as well. And you just have to hope for the best.

I'm really interested to know whether outside of TikTok people recognise you on the street? Are you a bit of a celebrity?

Oh, it hasn't happened in my hometown. But up here in college, especially since in my bio it says that I go to Penn State. A lot of Penn State people – when I go to bars or parties or when I'm just walking around – sometimes they'll stop me and be like, “Hey, are you the guy who wears the blonde wig?” Or like, “Hey, you’re that guy from TikTok aren’t you?” It's definitely been happening more and more as time goes on.

What do you think about pursuing a career from TikTok, or do you think it’ll be study first, then job?

That's definitely been on my mind recently, a lot. Ever since I hit a million, I was like, “Do I keep going and see where this takes me?” But I think what I'm gonna do is keep going through college, keep making TikToks, and then see when I graduate where I'm at and how much I've grown. Then I'll see if I can realistically make this a career.

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