Skip to content

Tate McRae: How a ‘Very Sensitive, Very Introverted’ Singer Became a Pop Superstar

Search

How A Simple Apartment Tour Made Two Influencers Stars

How A Simple Apartment Tour Made Two Influencers Stars
CT Jones
By CT JonesAug 21, 2024
CT Jones
See Full Bio

Haley Kalil and Caleb Simpson have over 30 million followers combined and are part of a budding generation of creators paving their own paths to success. But if you ask where they got their start, the answer is as easy as picking up a camera. 

“I picked up a camera when I moved to New York nine years ago,” Simpson says. “And then TikTok rolled around and that’s all she wrote.”

Simpson is best known for his apartment tour series on TikTok, where he asks strangers on the street how much they pay for rent, and then asks to tour their apartments. It’s a Gen-Z version of MTV Cribs, with constant appearances of stars like comedian Ben Schwartz, Sarah Sherman, and Shark Tank star Barabara Cocoran. But most people don’t realize that the fan-favorite series is how creator Haley Kalil (@haleyybaylee on TikTok) got her start in the world of online stardom and red-carpet hosting. Now a staple at traditional red carpet events, Kalil makes comedic skits and satirical videos about nostalgia, feminism, and sometimes, just how difficult it is to be a girl and be perceived. But before she made a video with Simpson, she was considering leaving New York City entirely to go back home and re-start applying to medical school — a process that had been interrupted by a surprise chance to pose for Sports Illustrated.

“I was working as a model. I had had enough — it was bad for my mental health,” Kalil says. “And I was gonna move home to Minnesota to go back to medicine and then you found me and were like ‘Hey can I tour your apartment?’ And I said yeah let’s do this. I hope he doesn’t murder me.” 

The two stopped by Rolling Stone to talk about how they found their respective niches, their favorite door-opening celebrity collaborations, their dreams of starring in a romantic comedy, and what they think the future of the creator space will be.

Most Popular

Alex Murdaugh Murder Convictions Overturned Due to ‘Jury Interference’
(Sub) Culture

Alex Murdaugh Murder Convictions Overturned Due to ‘Jury Interference’

Foo Fighters Bring Massive Hits to Their First-Ever Tiny Desk
Music

Foo Fighters Bring Massive Hits to Their First-Ever Tiny Desk

Karol G Is Rumored to Be on Drake’s ‘Iceman.’ Let’s Look at His Past Latin Music Collaborations
Music Features

Karol G Is Rumored to Be on Drake’s ‘Iceman.’ Let’s Look at His Past Latin Music Collaborations

Watch U2 Film a Video for Upcoming Single ‘Street of Dreams’ Off Their Next Album
Music

Watch U2 Film a Video for Upcoming Single ‘Street of Dreams’ Off Their Next Album

More Stories

I Grew Up With Jeffrey Epstein. Our Neighborhood Held Dark Secrets

Sea Gate, Brooklyn

Griffin Lotz

I Grew Up With Jeffrey Epstein. Our Neighborhood Held Dark Secrets

There was danger outside the gate, we understood that. You could see it.

Precariously balanced on the very tip of Coney Island, Sea Gate, where I was raised, is surrounded by water on three sides and divided from the rest of the world by a two-story chain link fence. The fence, broken up only by two actual gates manned by guards, stretches three-quarters of a mile along 37th Street, from New York Harbor on the north side to the Atlantic Ocean on the south.

Keep ReadingShow less
MrBeast Production Companies Sued Over Alleged Sexual Harassment, Emotional Distress

MrBeast on Sept. 13, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Chris Unger/TKO Worldwide LLC/Getty Images

MrBeast Production Companies Sued Over Alleged Sexual Harassment, Emotional Distress

MrBeastYouTube and GameChanger 24/7, two production companies owned by YouTube star MrBeast, have been sued by a former employee, Lorrayne Mavromatis, who alleges having experienced sexual harassment, emotional distress, and pregnancy discrimination.

A federal complaint filed in North Carolina details the work culture under MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, in which Mavromatis claims she was “treated differently than her male counterparts,” including being dismissed from otherwise entirely male meetings. The documents suggest that this extended to the executive level and alleges that male employees exhibited “demeaning treatment towards women.” In one instance, the complaint alleges “male executives laughed and made jokes at the office about female contestants of BeastGames who complained they did not have access to feminine hygiene products and clean underwear while participating in the show.”

Keep ReadingShow less
How Ibogaine Became the Darling of the Psychedelic Right
Illustration by DEBORA CAMPORESI

How Ibogaine Became the Darling of the Psychedelic Right

On a crisp November day in Aspen, Colorado, Rick Perry is stumping for iboga, a psychedelic shrub native to the Congo Basin rainforest in Central Africa known for producing powerful waking dreams. It is the heart of Bwiti, a centuries-old spiritual discipline primarily practiced in Gabon, and recently, the darling of the American psychedelic right. “ Take on the mantle of being the Johnny Appleseed of iboga, every one of you,” the former governor of Texas tells the audience while a delegation from Gabon watches impassively. “The medicine clearly showed me things that I’d never seen before,” Perry later tells me. “In the presence of God, I knew it — he loves me with great intensity. Pure white light.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Clavicular Says He’s Quitting ‘Substances’ ‘Hopefully Forever’ After Suspected Overdose
Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

Clavicular Says He’s Quitting ‘Substances’ ‘Hopefully Forever’ After Suspected Overdose

Controversial “looksmaxxing” influencer Clavicular says he’s quitting drugs, maybe permanently, after being hospitalized for a suspected overdose earlier this week.

The 20-year-old, whose real name is Braden Peters, cut a Kick stream short on Tuesday after he appeared to be out of it while at a bar with friends. His friends appeared visibly concerned before the stream was eventually turned off, and Peters was taken to a hospital.

Keep ReadingShow less
Clavicular Stable Following Suspected Overdose: ‘That Was Brutal’
Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

Clavicular Stable Following Suspected Overdose: ‘That Was Brutal’

The “looksmaxxing” streamer Clavicular is recovering at home in Miami, Florida after being hospitalized for a suspected overdose. Braden Peters, 20, was streaming on the platform Kick while at a bar in the city when his friends grew concerned about his condition in the moment. The stream was abruptly cut short.

“Just got home, that was brutal,” Peters wrote on X in the early hours of April 15. “All of the substances are just a cope trying to feel neurotypical while being in public, but obviously that isn’t a real solution. The worst part of tonight was my face descending from the life support mask.” The caption accompanied a photo of Peters with blood smeared across his face.

Keep ReadingShow less