Brian Jordan Alvarez Isn’t Taking ‘Sitting’ Success Lying Down

TJ Mack is sitting … first-class up in the sky on the path to international stardom. The bug-eyed fictional pop star who loves his wife even more than he loves discount retail is the creation of actor, writer, and comedian Brian Jordan Alvarez, who has recently been featured in many publications to discuss his TikTok character’s breakout improvised song, “Sitting,” which has garnered millions of views in all of its iterations and remixes. In the past two days alone, with an efficiency unmatched by even the most prolific recording artists, TJ dropped two new a cappella tracks, ripe for the remixing, titled “Inside” and “Sunshine.” Alvarez has co-starred in M3GAN and Will & Grace, but on TikTok, he is known for the characters he creates using face filters and invented accents as conduits for his truly unmatched ability to riff. For TJ Mack, that riffing is musical, with flow-of-consciousness songs that take inspiration from the simplest of things, like the ditties you make up to sing to your pet when no one else is around to hear — only Alvarez is really, really good at making them catchy. If things go viral because they’re relatable, he has cracked the code: What could be more universal than enjoying a nice sit? As “Sitting” gets actual radio airplay and Alvarez keeps the bit alive, we discuss his dream pop collabs, his plans for an album, and the secrets behind TJ Mack’s son.

You’ve been making really funny, really queer comedy for years now, but these TikTok characters are definitely hitting with a wider audience and doing something different. How do you feel about reaching out to such a wider group than before? 
I think it’s great. I’ve always wanted to hit the widest audience possible, but I don’t want to compromise my values to do so. A little bit naïvely, I’m always like, Anything I make, anyone could like. I felt that way about just about everything I’ve ever made. I trust that people who really get what I’m doing will stick around. So then when I am doing stuff that breaks out to a much wider audience, that’s when I become self-aware, like, Was I doing stuff that only a small pocket of people like without realizing? But it’s being seduced by the wrong thing if the numbers are guiding you.

So much of what makes TJ Mack’s songs special is that off-the-cuff feeling that you’re just singing and seeing where the song takes you. Following the success of “Sitting,” are you feeling self-conscious about trying to make another hit? 
Luckily, no, I don’t feel self-conscious about that. To compare myself to somebody who is way more of a genius than me, Patty Griffin went on The Kelly Clarkson Show and said something like, “I just show up and I do my work every day. And I don’t know when it’s going to be gold and when it’s not, but I just show up and I do it.” I relate to the feeling of calmly and consistently doing the thing you like to do and the thing you know you’re good at and then really joyfully not knowing which things are going to blow up and take off. The song has been awesome. I’ve let myself lean into it more than I ever have with any other video. I’ve had these viral moments perennially. The last one wasn’t that long ago. It was when my student character, “the Student,” as people call him, did this video where he says, “Welt, I’ve been on an elegant walk.” I let myself lean into that pretty hard and then I returned to my regularly scheduled programming, which is all of these different characters. But with “Sitting,” I want to chart.

It feels possible! Which is fun, because in TJ Mack’s universe, he’s a recording artist. He’s a pop star. 
What’s cool is he’s always talked about his music career, the wife talked about his music career, and now it’s thundering into reality. It’s breaking through some kind of a wall in the fabric of the universe, and people are actually listening to a song of his! Which is so crazy! So I’m letting myself almost run an experiment, like, How far can this go? It’s been done before! Doja Cat, who’s so brilliant, came out of “Mooo! (I’m a Cow)”! I’m letting myself lean into this moment more to see what cool stuff can happen. I have a meeting with Atlantic Records. I want to make a video. I’m wondering whether to do it myself off the cuff or do we make a real video? Do we go into the studio and cut an album? TJ Mack has a lot of songs, actually, that have blown up a little bit to varying degrees, and people have put music to them but never like this.

Real heads have been there since “Splashing,” parts one and two. Who are your musical inspirations? 
I do listen to a lot of pop. I listen to a lot of ’80s music. I like Disney music as well. I don’t even know if I should say this, but I’ve gone to Disney World–slash–Land a couple more times than I would care to admit in the past few years. I really do enjoy those places. I think my other closest to fully fleshed-out song is “Splashing,” part two, that that amazing guy Luke Thering put this piano under. I’ve been talking to him. I need to get it up on streaming platforms.

TJ Mack’s songs have really grown so much more soulful since he had a son. 
That’s my cute little nephew in real life, by the way. That’s my sister’s kid, and she lives in New York, where I am right now. She’s the best. Her husband is the best. The kid is the best. The baby is already so cute and then you put that filter on that makes anybody more adorable looking, and it’s like, oh my God, this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s not revealing your baby’s face online, but it’s getting to have him be part of something cool.

Are you planning plotlines for these characters? Do you map out the lore?
Not at all. If anything, I’m only ever one video ahead. It’s definitely giving improv. I love my comment sections, so I’m responding and giving people what they’re asking for. And people like an uplifting story. They like that the thing about the student-slash-intern is everything just always does end up working out for him.

He’s the opposite of “tragedy + time = comedy.” Success + immediacy = the Student. 
Things are for him, as he says, “going up and up all the tine.”

The first place to play “Sitting” on the radio was Australia, where they seem to really click with your work in a deep way. Besides your flawless accent, why do you think that is?
I think that I must, more than I even know, share a sense of humor with Australians. There’s just some kindred-spirit quality. Years ago, I was at this party in Berlin and all of these Australians were coming up to me and telling me they liked my work. And then I ended up dating this wonderful Australian person there for a while. There’s just something between me and Australia. I haven’t even been to Australia! I just watched a lot of Australia’s Next Top Model.

Obviously, you collaborated with Joe Jonas on TJ Mack’s song “Laser Tag” last year. Do you have any dream collabs? 
My dream collab would be for Doja Cat to feature on “Sitting.” I would love for Adele to do a cover. Lana Del Rey and TJ Mack singing it together, kind of “Snow on the Beach” stuff. I would love a full pop version from Taylor Swift.

Do you have a favorite version so far? 
I love them all equally. I will say Remi Wolf just released one and it’s so amazing. Remi Wolf’s voice is like a drug. It’s like a bell. I’m really loving that now. Monica Martin’s cover I adored because it’s also funny. I like the country cover by Jaden Heather. As far as produced versions, I really love Josh Mac’s. This guy @doctorn0gloff did a really cool J-fusion one. Alt Hays has an EDM remix that goes really hard. He’s going to do a full version in the next few days.

Do you think the WGA and SAG strikes had anything to do with why you’re going viral right now, whether it’s giving you more time or just that people are starved for funny things to watch?
There’s definitely some very cool stuff I was working on right up until the strike, and all of that came to a full halt. Also, congrats to the WGA!

I just started having a lot more free time, and the characters were almost like a tree growing around barbed wire or something. I start doing more and more of them, and then more videos go viral, and that starts to occupy my life more. If something more mainstream is taking up that chunk of work energy I have for each day, I’m going to spend less time on the characters. But it’s all very organic. And I feel grateful to have my own creative outlet and this venue to put out something I’m trying that might not be funny or might be a hit. I did TJ Mack once in like November or December of 2021, then I didn’t do him again for like a year or something because the first video was so good and I was kind of intimidated to touch it again. I was like, I don’t know what else I would do with this guy. And I was sort of patient with him. One day, I was like, All right, I’ll make a second video. Now, he’s an international pop star, No. 1 on the charts, happily married, and has a child.

Is the lyric in “Sitting” “hanging from a bar, but …” or “hanging from a barbell?” 
What’s your guess?

Barbell.
No! Hanging from a bar like doing pull-ups. I’ve been doing a lot of pull-ups! I think that’s why that visual makes sense to me. And everybody else is like, “What the fuck is hanging from a bar?” But it’s funny. It’s almost like people did get that by saying barbell because they’re sort of on the path of gym equipment. At some point, you just have to accept the de facto lyric of barbell. There isn’t a famous person who sang the song that hasn’t said barbell, so it’s game over.

Speaking of pull-ups, you recently started a new account on X, @bjapersonal, where you post the kinds of fitness pics you used to post on main. Did the success of “Sitting” and all the attention it brought make you feel like you needed to create an alt for thirst traps? 
I guess! At a certain point, it’s so clear that people are there for the comedy videos. And I’m trying to hold fast to my principles, like, I’m a gay man, I’ve been getting more fit lately, I’ll post some fitness pics!

I think it’s key to have this comprehensive view of the artist! We need the comedy videos, and we need the videos of you dancing shirtless to “Cruel Summer.” 
That’s the opinion I prefer. But some people will be like, “Not here for the gym pics, unfollowing,” and I feel sad.