Sioux was on the reality series ‘Dance Moms’ from 2011 to 2017. Jason Merritt/KCA2015/Getty Images and Nia Sioux via YouTube Nia Sioux rose to fame as a member of “Dance Moms” at the age of nine. Over a decade later, having amassed millions of followers, she wants to be seen as an influencer.
But not everyone seems ready for her to express her authentic adult self, she told Insider. Nia Sioux was catapulted into the spotlight when she joined the first season of ‘Dance Moms’ in 2011. Nia’s performance on season 2 of ‘Dance Moms’Lifetime TV via YouTubeNia Sioux was just 9 years old when she first pirouetted and leaped across our TV screens dressed in glittery costumes and colorful leotards, dancing in competitions on the Lifetime reality series “Dance Moms.
“The hugely successful show followed a group of girls (and their moms) aged six to 16 who were training to become professional dancers under the tutelage of controversial dance coach Abby Lee Miller. She appeared on the show for its first seven seasons before leaving in 2017. Since then, Sioux’s kept busy.
She’s had numerous acting roles and recently released music — and spent years building up her platform as a social media influencer. Now 21, she works with brands — including drink company SunnyD and makeup brand Benefit Cosmetics — on sponsored partnerships while studying American Literature at UCLA. She has a combined 15 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
But growing a social media presence wasn’t just a savvy career choice — it’s helped her process and open up about her experiences as a child star, despite being surrounded by online users who don’t want to see her grow up, she told Insider. At 15, Sioux began her social media journey by posting on the TikTok predecessor Musical. ly.
@niasioux Bestieeee ♬ Linda And Heather Theme Song – nooneinparticular Some of Sioux’s earliest social media endeavors took place on Musical. ly, a now-defunct social media platform mostly used for lip-syncing and dancing. Sioux began posting lip-sync Musical.
ly videos when she was 15, often filming with other cast members from “Dance Moms,” including Kendall Vertes and Maddie Ziegler. @niasioux ♬ Me Too part 1 – Meghan Trainor Sioux told Insider she considers the videos “cute for the time, but now they’re just a bit cringey. ” Then TikTok dances became a viral craze during the pandemic.
Sioux took part in them because she thought they were “fun” and allowed her to keep sharing her dancing with fans. The videos quickly racked up millions of views and still perform well. A single 19-second clip Sioux posted to TikTok in January dancing to the song “Boss Ladies” by Photronique has 14.
8 million views. As someone who used to compete in regular dance competitions, Sioux said producing dance content for TikTok feels “very different, because TikTok dances are only, like, 15 seconds, and a dance routine is around three minutes long. “But, she added, “I’m not even going to lie, some of the TikTok dances are super active and tiring.
It can be exhausting. ” Sioux also runs a successful YouTube channel — though she admits that being a full-time college student has made it “hard” to regularly post. Screenshot from Sioux’s ‘Spring Thrift Haul’ YouTube video.
Nia Sioux via YouTube. With 5. 8 million Instagram followers and 1.
1 million YouTube subscribers to her name, Sioux hesitantly told Insider that she “would hope” that people considered her to be an influencer. The dancer launched a YouTube channel in 2015 to promote the music video for her first single, “Star in Your Own Life. ” She gradually pivoted to sharing vlog-style content on the platform, discussing her workout routine and vacation plans with fans.
“Since I’ve been in school, lately, it’s been hard for me to, like, keep up with my YouTube channel,” Sioux told Insider. Now, the dancer posts occasional vlogs to give viewers a glimpse into her life at UCLA. Sioux’s mother and management team have been involved in curating her social media presence since she was 13.
Sioux said he mother managed her social media accounts until she was 13. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty ImagesSioux told Insider her mother managed her Instagram account on her behalf until she turned 13, the minimum age required for setting up your own account.
The dancer said that even though she’s now able to control her own accounts, she often still asks her mother for her opinion on pictures or captions she intends to post. “I’ll be like, is this correct? Did I spell everything correctly? It’s kind of funny how it works out because even though I could post whatever I want from the age of 13, I still reach out to her or my team about stuff. ” Despite joining social media at a young age, Sioux says she still finds it difficult to deal with negativity online.
Screenshot from one of Sioux’s TikTok videos. Nia Sioux via TikTok. As a teenager, Sioux said that receiving negative comments felt normal to her and came as a consequence of being a reality TV star.
“I feel like people have always thought of us as characters instead of real people. When in reality, I wasn’t playing someone else, I was being myself. So the comments I got back then were sometimes awful, which is really sad because I was so young,” she told Insider.
Even today, Sioux told Insider she regularly receives negative comments after posting pictures in form-fitting outfits. Users often complain that her looks are too “revealing” or “inappropriate. ” “Comments do get to you at a certain point.
There can be one comment that just gets under your skin,” she told Insider, adding, “often I just have to decide to not care because I don’t even know who the person is. ” Though Sioux is now 21, she still faces criticism from people who don’t want to see her grow up. @niasioux Don’t remember this episode of DanceMoms🤣 fit from @bleachedtiedye #wapchallenge ♬ WAP（feat.
Megan Thee Stallion） – Cardi B In March, Sioux posted a TikTok of herself dancing to “23” by Mike WiLL Made-It while wearing a bikini. The next day, she posted a second video where she addressed a comment which said, “Nia I respected you for years and now I am discusted [sic] in your sleasey [sic] behavior. ” “If you don’t like it, you can get off my page, girly.
Go ahead and hit the block button,” Sioux responded. It wasn’t the first time Sioux had faced such comments. Some viewers criticized “Dance Moms” for showcasing routines that “sexualized” its young cast.
Sioux said some social media users still react to her videos as though she were a misbehaving young child. In August 2020, Sioux took part in the “WAP” challenge, a viral TikTok dance choreographed to the song of the same name by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. Sioux’s TikTok went hugely viral, and currently has 123 million views, but some commenters expressed shock at her decision to participate in the challenge.
Many top comments referenced her role on “Dance Moms” as a child star and implied that the video was inappropriate. “It’s really hard for people to picture me as an adult because they’ve seen me on TV since I was 9 years old,” Sioux said. “It’s like they don’t want to see me grow up.
” Sioux said she’s come to terms with the fact that not everyone will like how she expresses herself. “If they don’t like seeing me be myself as an adult, that’s their problem, not mine,” she told Insider. Sioux has used TikTok to speak out against her former dance coach Abby Lee Miller and talk about the difficulties she faced on ‘Dance Moms.
‘The cast of ‘Dance Moms’ at Nickelodeon’s 28th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards in 2015. Charley Gallay/KCA2015 /Getty ImagesIn August 2020, Sioux posted a video featuring a remixed version of La Roux’s “Bulletproof” with an on-screen caption that read, “You think you can hurt my feelings? I was the only black girl on dancemoms. ” @niasioux And that’s on being bullied by the biggest bully in America lmao🤪Also gonna credit @mackenzieziegler and @itsjojosiwa ♬ Bulletproof – La Roux Sioux posted her video after other former “Dance Moms” stars, including JoJo Siwa and Mackenzie Ziegler, also took part in the trend, captioning their videos, “You think you can hurt my feelings? I was on Dance Moms.
” Sioux put a secondary caption under her video that read, “And that’s on being bullied by the biggest bully in America lmao. ” She told Insider she was referring to her former dance teacher on the show, Abby Lee Miller. Both “Dance Moms” parents and viewers were critical of Miller’s teaching style, and former dancer Maddie Ziegler referred to Miller’s studio as a “toxic environment.
” The parents of two Black dancers also accused Miller of making racist remarks. In June 2020, Miller tweeted an apology to the “Black community” and said she wanted to “grow, and do better. “”I realize that racism can come not just from hate, but also from ignorance.
No matter the cause, it is harmful, and it is my fault. ” In 2017, Miller was convicted of bankruptcy fraud and failing to report money brought into the US from abroad. A federal judge sentenced her to a year and a day in prison.
Miller did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. Sioux said she does not regret her decision to publicly call out Miller. Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic”I stand by what I said, but I also don’t wish anything bad on anyone,” she told Insider, saying she does not keep in touch with Miller and is “proud” that she and former co-stars spoke up for themselves.
“When we ended the show, I think we all had to take time to heal for lots of different reasons,” she told Insider. “But I feel like now that we’re adults, we’re opening up about it on social media. And it’s coming from a place of being grateful for the show but also feeling like we’re able to say what we want because we’re now old enough to properly realize things, and it’s easier to articulate our points now than when we were all, like, 12.
” Sioux says she wants to use social media to set an example of what it looks like to express and accept yourself. Sioux performing during theatre show “Trip Of Love” in 2016Astrid Stawiarz/Getty ImagesIn the long term, Sioux’s main goal is to “just keep performing in any capacity,” whether it be on stage or in videos. “Everything comes with time, and I’m not in a rush to get loads of things done at once,” Sioux said.
For now, she says, she’ll keep expressing herself in social media videos and posts, despite the backlash she’s received for it in the past. “I enjoy being confident in my own skin. It took me a really long time to get here, and I’m not gonna let a few comments tear me down, because I’m out here doing what I’ve always dreamed of doing.
“For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider’s Digital Culture team here. Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/nia-sioux-dance-moms-influencer-interview-2022-7