Jacob Sartorius

Rising to prominence through social media exposure while still a preteen, singer and budding actor Jacob Sartorius delivered his first single, “Sweatshirt,” in 2016 when he was 13. He continued blending photogenic appeal with lighthearted pop songs whose lyrics touched on ordinary experiences, issuing his initial EP, The Last Text EP, the following year. By the time his fourth EP, Where Have You Been?, appeared in 2019, Sartorius had already performed on multiple continents and amassed tens of millions of followers on various platforms. Remaining focused on concise projects, he issued independent tracks such as “Over U” in 2020 and “youtube & bbq chips” in 2021.

Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and brought up in Reston, Virginia, Rolf Jacob Sartorius began cultivating an online audience in 2015 by regularly uploading lip-sync clips of current hits. He gathered millions of followers on several video platforms before reaching his teens, then recorded and put out “Sweatshirt” as an official teenager in April 2016. In the track, he extends the offer of his sweatshirt to a girl; the single appeared on Billboard’s streaming charts and ultimately reached number 90 on the Hot 100. He soon staged his earliest concerts, and that July he followed with the single “Hit or Miss,” which climbed to number 72 in the United States and number 76 in Canada. Both that song and a remix of “Sweatshirt” were featured on his debut EP, The Last Text EP, released in early 2017 via T3 Music Group; the project entered the Top 40 of the Billboard 200, peaking at number 32, and simultaneously topped the Independent Albums chart. Later in 2017, “Hit Me Back,” which featured Blackbear, appeared among the singles from the October release Left Me Hangin’ EP. In November he made his first appearance on national television, performing on MTV’s TRL. Further 2018 singles included “Better with You,” the title track of his third EP, which coincided with a successful world tour; that EP arrived on T3 that November.

After signing with Crazy Cool Records, Sartorius issued Where Have You Been? in May 2019. Additional stand-alone singles followed, among them 2021’s “youtube & bbq chips,” which marked the first occasion he received an explicit lyrics designation.