♪ (ragtime music) ♪
(laughter) ♪ (acoustic guitar music) ♪
- Jacob Sartorius, "Sweatshirt."
- ♪ Chillin' with a hair tie ♪
- I wonder how old he is.
- ♪ ...sweatpants on ♪
♪ You know I can always be that guy ♪
♪ You can think about me... ♪
- Is he trying to be another Justin Bieber type of thing?
- He's got a lot of confidence for such a young guy. (chuckles)
- ♪ ...just this ♪
♪ So baby, if you are not ready for my kiss ♪
♪ Then you can wear my sweatshirt ♪
- That's cute.
- ♪ And you can tell your friends ♪
♪ We'll be together till the end ♪
- (laughing) That's kind of creepy.
- It kind of sounds maybe a little Auto-Tuned.
- I think it's pretty mediocre.
- How old is this guy?
- ♪ ...just this ♪
♪ So baby, if you are not ready... ♪
- Eye contact. Now get it.
- ♪ Then you can wear my sweatshirt ♪
- "You can wear my sweatshirt." How innocent and sweet.
- ♪ ...friends ♪
- This guy's a star, huh? - ♪ ...sweatshirt ♪
♪ (slow interlude) ♪
♪ 'Cause you're the only one I hold ♪
- Yeah, you go for it, young man. (chuckles)
How to be young.
- That's a song? (chuckles)
- Is he trying to be a singer?
- That's just cute.
It's sweatshirt, and it's a lot more innocent
than some of the videos that we've seen here.
- I've spent a long time in middle school.
So this is like-- this is like, "Ugh, yeah, okay."
Egotistical little boys who think
that they just kind of rule the world
and that little girls should be thrilled
that they're offering up something.
It's 2016. Aren't we past that yet?
(movie reel clicks)
- (Finebros) Okay, so what did you think of this kid?
- Well, he looks nice. He looks clean.
- He's a cute little middle-school kid.
- He's a nice-looking kid.
The voice is so-so.
- Well, I mean, he's a young kid, man.
You know? Us guys, we don't listen to young kids.
- I think he's very fond of himself.
He comes across as highly egotistical and narcissistic.
- As much as I hate to admit it,
Justin Bieber came out with the voice of an angel.
This child does not have the voice of an angel,
but he's a real kid. So is he talented?
He's talented and looking like a real kid.
- (Finebros) That was Jacob Sartorius
and the music video for his song, "Sweatshirt."
Before he even made this video, though,
he had a huge following on the musical.ly app.
Do you know of musical.ly? - No.
- Nope.
- No, no.
- (Finebros) So recently,
we had you in "Elders React to Musical.ly." Do you remember that?
- Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
You kinda lip-sync to a song that's there
and try to dance and whatever, and I did terrible.
But that's okay. (chuckles)
- (Finebros) Musical.ly is an app where you create short videos
lip-syncing to popular music,
where Jacob has about 10 million fans.
What is the appeal of Jacob for younger people?
- I think, to me, he's a good-looking kid.
- We just identify with that idealism
and the sweetness and the innocence.
- He's doing something that they're into that they like.
He's entertaining them.
- There've always been male stars.
What is their appeal? I don't know, but it does exist.
- People like to see people their own age doing things,
so I think that the appeal's there.
And I'm sure the little girls just think he's adorable.
- (Finebros) So is this situation
where young kids are idolizing a young celebrity
something that's always been around? - Yeah.
- There was Shirley Temple.
- We look back at Michael Jackson, Donny Osmond.
So they were quite young too.
- I was just showing my daughter pictures of David Cassidy.
I thought this guy was the business, you know?
And I look at him now like, "What did I see in him?"
I'm sure the girls that think
that this guy's really hot right now, you know,
will look back in however many years
and be like, "Whoa, what was I thinking?"
- (Finebros) Now we're gonna show you a compilation
of some of his videos from musical.ly
which led to his popularity. - Oh, okay.
- Oh, I get to see more of him?
(sarcastically) Oh boy.
- (lip-syncing) ♪ ...half past 5 ♪
♪ The only time that I'll be by your... ♪
- I do that in the car too.
- ♪ ...love it when you touch me, not feel me ♪
♪ When I'm... ♪
- I consider that age is a little more like a showoff.
- ♪ When I'm ... up, that's the real me, yeah ♪
- When I'm whatting, it's a real thing?
- (Finebros) He did that to cover the swear word.
- Okay. Well, pfft.
- (lip-syncing, sped up) ♪ ...remix to ignition ♪
♪ Hot and fresh out the kitchen ♪
♪ Mama rolling that body ♪
- I mean, he lip-syncs absolutely perfectly.
- ♪ Sipping on coke and rum ♪
♪ I'm like, so what, I'm drunk ♪ - Oh, that's nice.
That reference I heard. - ♪ I'm about to have me some fun ♪
♪ Bounce, bounce, bounce... ♪
- Well, I understand why the adults are a little upset.
Yeah. Hmm.
- Guy's got schmaltz. He's got some appeal.
- (lip-syncing to rap) ♪ ...flirt back, takin' off her skirt ♪
♪ Let her wear my shirt before she leave ♪
♪ I'ma need my shirt back ♪
♪ You know how it go ♪ - Oh my gosh. (laughs)
- Now, that's-- that's sexual right there.
- Okay, buddy. You're getting to me a little bit.
- Do the kids not know what this is saying?
Do the kids not hear the lyrics?
- (lip-syncing) ♪ No stopping her now, no stopping her now ♪
♪ (echoing) ♪
♪ Then she started dancing ♪
- Cracks me up when kids who are lily-white get all gangsta.
- ♪ Sexual romancing ♪ - That's a little risque there. (chuckles)
- He's so talented.
- Where's Mom and Dad?
Where are the boundaries on this?
- He should be careful. And his directors or parents
should make sure he's careful with what he does,
'cause he's got a big, big following
of young people who want to do what he does.
- (Finebros) So musical.ly stars including Jacob
get a lot of hate online,
with some people feeling that they don't really have any talent
or that it might even be inappropriate for kids that are so young
to be singing and dancing the way some of them do using this app.
- Oh.
That's too bad.
I mean, he's just being creative and doing something
and having fun. He's obviously having a good time.
- If you're on the internet, you have to have a thick skin.
Don't respond. That's your best bet, no matter what.
There's always gonna be haters, as they say. Just don't respond.
- He's so full of himself.
They probably want to just slap him back to reality.
But I think that the whole concept that you can say mean things
and not be held accountable is very dangerous.
People would rather be negative than just turn it off.
That's what kind of amazes me.
- (Finebros) So Jacob recently put out another music video
that received a lot of love from his fans
but also still a lot of hate from the online community.
Do you think the internet's dislike of Jacob
and these other musical.ly stars is justified,
or do you consider this to maybe be bullying?
- Well, yeah, it's definitely a form of bullying, right?
And there's gonna be haters there anyway.
- I don't consider it a form of bullying.
It IS a form of bullying.
- No, not bullying.
When you're a performer,
there's always been criticism.
- I think anything anybody do, there's the pros and cons.
They have the freedom to express themself.
Either you approve or not, it's on their own--
they have their own right to do it.
- (Finebros) So after hearing a bit about Jacob and musical.ly,
do you think what Jacob is doing and other kids are doing online
is appropriate? - Some...
Well, some of the movements--
I think I only saw a few movements that kinda simulated sex.
It wasn't that bad.
- He should keep it as clean as possible.
Later on, as he gets older,
he can go off in the direction he wants to go in. But right now,
he should keep it clean.
- The delivery of the opinion
is really the crux of the issue here.
How are you delivering your message? Is there hate behind it?
At which point, face value that serves no purpose whatsoever.
If you're offering your opinion
and there's a little constructive criticism,
still, nobody asked ya.
But at least somebody's offering an opinion.
- It's kind of normal for little junior high kids
approaching high school to start acting like that.
And it's bringing it out in the open,
where parents can actually see
what their kid's doing when they're not around.
It's a good indicator of how oblivious a lot of people are.
I mean, you get around young people that age,
and they're jumping out way before Mommy and Daddy did.
I don't think there's any justification for hating him.
He's being a little outlandish, but meh.
- Thanks for watching this episode of Elders React.
- Like what you saw? Hit that Like button.
- Thanks for watching. Goodbye.
♪ (ragtime music) ♪