David Kim
17-year-old David Kim (@dxvidkim) is suave, creative, and most of all: adaptable. He came to the US from South Korea at the age of 8 without knowing a word of English. A decade later, Kim has a surging international audience of over 1.2 million TikTok followers. His content is generally one of two things: POV’s or fashion. The latter almost always includes flashy transitions guaranteed to wow you in between showcases of his most stylish outfits. The former is a display of the entertainer’s imagination and talent. He may have joined the app as a joke, but with 32.3 million likes on his page, his online popularity has quickly turned into a social media career. We recently spoke with David about his hobbies, being TikTok famous, and more!
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is David Kim and I was born in South Korea. I moved to the United States when I was 8 years old, not knowing how to speak English. Now I am 17 years old and live in Virginia. Some sports I play include taekwondo (which I've been doing since I was 3), bodybuilding, and lacrosse. Some things that not a lot of people know about me is that I love to draw and that I play many instruments such as the piano, violin, guitar, and bass guitar.
Did you have any specific plans or ideas when you joined TikTok?
I joined TikTok as a joke like a lot of people. I didn't really have a plan or an idea for what I was going to do on TikTok at first. Some of my close friends always used to tell me to get TikTok and that I would be good at making content on it, but I never took any of it seriously. After making a few videos for fun, one of my videos blew up and one thing led to another and here I am now.
You have over 1 million followers on TikTok. What was your reaction when you discovered you hit 1 million followers?
When I hit 1 million followers, I honestly couldn't believe it at first. I never in my life imagined that I would have an audience of such a number. I was very very grateful and blessed that I was able to have such an amazing opportunity. One thing that I was really thinking about when I hit 1 million followers is that this achievement is not the end, but a new beginning and new chapter in my life
Your recent video has racked up over 28 million views. How does it feel to see that kind of response from a video?
Receiving such a massive response to a video with millions and millions of views is still quite hard to comprehend for me. I am just an ordinary 17 year old that makes videos and it's just incredible that such a platform like TikTok is able to share and reach millions and millions of people with my video. I sometimes catch myself thinking, "Why me out of the thousands of kids from all around the world?"
When did you realize that you were TikTok famous?
To be honest, I thought I was TikTok famous when I hit 10k followers because even 10k was such a huge number for me back then. I remember me thinking that I was on top of the world when I hit 1k on instagram, so to see 10k on TikTok was mind blowing. As I started to get familiar with TikTok, I think when I really realized that I was TikTok famous is when I started to see fan pages being created on Instagram. Just the thought that people would dedicate a whole Instagram account to me was fascinating.
What are some of your favorite things to do outside of social media?
Some things that I love to do outside of social media includes thrifting with my friends, going to the gym, playing instruments, drawing, and playing games. Once in a while, I try to step away from social media and spend some time on my other hobbies because social media can really be addicting and sometimes even bad for mental health.
If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
If I could have any superpower, it would be super speed because if my speed reaches a certain point, time would almost be frozen around me. I'm a big fan of all the speed heroes such as The Flash and Quicksilver.
Who’s someone you’d love to make a TikTok with?
Someone I'd love to make a TikTok with is Avani. Her work with makeup is just amazing and I'd love to get some cool clown makeup done by her. Overall, she seems like a really nice and fun person to hang out with.
What’s next for you?
What's next for me... That is a question that I think about every day, but I still don't have a clear vision of what I want to do in the future. However, some short term goals include growing my YouTube account and joining the IMG modeling agency. As of now, I will continue to create content on all of my social media platforms and focus on school as a student and go with the flow. I will leave what is next for me to God because God knows what's best for me.
