interviews
Sonny5ideUp Gives Us Exclusive Insight Into Working On Bloomberg’s Meme 2020 Campaign And What It’s Like To Be A Full-Time Memer
nown best for his meme account, Sonny5ideUp, Sonny was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and was an early newcomer to Instagram before the massive wave of the now countless meme pages on the platform. He’s currently based in New York City where he lives and operates as a full-time meme creator and curator for several accounts across social media, as well as collaborating with the BrandFire Creative Agency team. Although he’s most well-known for memes, Sonny is also a musician -- creating electronic music under the name Sonny Side Up. We had the opportunity to interview Sonny and get some insight into what it’s like to make a living off memes. As one of the many accounts who participated in Bloomberg’s infamous Meme 2020 ad push, we also got some exclusive insight into the advertisement campaign and what it was like to be involved in an unprecedented era of political memes.
Q: Hey, Sonny. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to interview you. Can you give us some basic info on your background, where you grew up and what you did before getting into memes for a living?
A: I grew up in Midwood, Brooklyn and was always into skateboarding/music. Before I worked in memes, I was in clothing, importing and working on production in the garment district of NYC.
Q: So what’s your early history with internet and meme culture? What sites did you spend your time on when you were younger and which ones had the biggest influence on you?
A: I was always into Myspace and Facebook or whatever was popular at the time, and I kind of got into memes from Facebook. It all started when I joined a vaporwave-glitch Facebook group and saw people making ironic artsy images. E-cards and impact-font memes were always around, but these images were meta and ironic in ways I haven't seen before. I brought these ideas and memes with me to Instagram, which at the time was only normie memes like “when pizza is bae.”
Q: Where did you see your career path leading you after leaving the clothing business? Can you expand on how you got into working with influencers on social media and how that led to you doing it for yourself?
A: After leaving the clothing business, I decided to shift my focus to growing my online presence and hopefully getting a job through that. Within the first month, I took on a few clients and ran social media accounts for a few tech startups/apps. After six months of not having a job, I finally got one at an influencer marketing agency. My job there was to make memes for influencers to post for advertisements.
Q: What about making memes for personal use? How’d you get into that, what was your main source of humor, and where did you primarily post them?
A: I started out by making weird video edits of vines that I found and matched it to the music I was making. I was just trying to get my music out there anyway, and I was drawn to darker humor/content -- and definitely still am.
Q: So how did the Sonny5ideUp accounts start and where did the name come from? What were the early days like, and what was your approach to get them to grow?
A: The first account I made with Sonny Side Up was a Soundcloud account. My name is Sonny and Sonny Side Up is my music name. Everything is really a blur for me at this point, I’ve been doing this for five years and it moves fast.
Q: What did your parents think of all this? Did they understand how you could ever make a living off memes and social media, let alone the concept of memes in general?
A: They were happy I was doing something productive (that had nothing to do with music). They saw my numbers going up, but getting a job at an agency was when they really understood. At that time (in 2015), I was the only person I knew who got paid to make memes in a professional setting or even at all, it wasn’t a thing.
Q: What was your initial reaction when you first noticed the account beginning to gain traction? How long did it take to get to a point where you finally felt like you could utilize it?
A: At around 5-6,000 followers, I was able to prove to tech startups that I can help them with social media. This was all like 2014-2015 when social media was usually handled by an “intern” so the idea of paying someone for that was still a new thing for businesses.
Q: When your account hit the point that you could start paying the bills with it, what were the reactions from your family and friends? Did they fully support the endeavor or did they still doubt you?
A: At that point (May 2017 was when I quit the agency job), it didn't matter to me what anyone thought -- I kind of put blinders on. I moved to Manhattan, which is something I never thought I’d be able to do. Then there was no doubt as to whether I was successful or not.
Q: What’re some of the toughest parts about running meme accounts for a living? Do you love every minute of it, or are there times when it feels like a chore?
A: It’s a race that has no finish line. You have to do it all day, every day -- #nodaysoff.
Q: When people or companies approach you to collaborate, how does that work? What goes into turning memes into money?
A: I decline 99 percent of the companies and people that approach me. I like working with brands that understand my value as a creator and not just a machine that wants to use me for big numbers.
Q: How did you become a part of the Bloomberg Meme 2020 campaign? What was that like from the other side, and why did you decide to work with them?
A: I got a call from a friend who was working on it, and it was surreal. I couldn’t believe I was getting asked to work on a presidential campaign. My account isn't political at all, and I knew Mike had no chance of winning the election. The deal they offered me was too good to turn down.
Q: Did they give you specific direction as far as what you could post, or were you given creative freedom?
A: They showed me the other posts that were going up and asked me to make something in the same format.
Q: What was the reception like after you posted the ad? Do you regret getting involved in the project or would you do it again?
A: The reception was mixed. Most people that I know were not happy. I was getting death threats in my DMs and on Twitter (understandable). But on the other hand, I was getting a lot of interview requests from reporters, which I ignored. My account was still mentioned in a bunch of articles, and I got a lot of press from it, which is something that never happens after I do a campaign. They asked me to do more posts several times and I declined. It did open the door for us meme creators to be taken more seriously in the advertising/agency world.
Q: What’s something people don’t know about working on those kinds of advertisement campaigns? Have there been times where you refused any?
A: I used to do ads with record labels and had to decline some promotions from artists who had rape or domestic abuse accusations against them. This happened with at least three or four artists I was asked to promote.
Q: In recent years, we’ve seen meme culture and politics converge online to an unprecedented degree. In your opinion, has this had a positive or negative effect on social media and internet discourse?
A: I don't think that deep into things.
Q: You said during your interview on “Berning In Hell” that you aren’t motivated by money, so what keeps you going and why do you do it?
A: This is the only thing I was ever good at. It feels good to be successful at something so dumb. I never wanted to have a job, and when I did, I would stare at my phone all day or think about going home to make music.
Q: Outside of social media for your job, what other places online do you frequent? Where do you spend time online for personal enjoyment?
A: UFO conspiracy theory Facebook groups.
Q: What’re some of your favorite memes or formats currently circulating? Are there any you can’t stand?
A: It all moves so fast, so none of them matter. They are too temporary to dwell on or care about.
Q: If you could pick a meme from any point in time, which would you select as your personal favorite?
A: After I see a meme and get a laugh out of it … it's pretty much done for me.
Q: Although most people know you for your meme pages, you also make music, so how’d you get into that and how does it influence your work?
A: I’ve been writing music for most of my life, so my lyrical content definitely got better after writing memes for so long and knowing what people do or don’t want to hear.
Q: In closing here, do you ever regret getting into social media to begin with, or would you do it all over again without ever looking back?
A: I would do everything the same without looking back.
Want to see more from Sonny? Find his music on Spotify or Soundcloud, and see his meme pages on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more info.