Year of the Hater

Hey honeys and hustlers,

Good morning, and welcome to our last newsletter of the year. “Alexa, play a sad song.” 🥲 Thank you so much for reading and making this newsletter community a part of your weekly routine for all things creativity, entrepreneurship, and storytelling in 2024. I’m so excited about what’s to come in 2025 — big stories, big ideas, unique experiences, and even better products!

For this year’s final issue, I thought it was fitting to make it about you — the creators who make up the creator economy. Read on, and I’ll see you again on January 2nd. 🤙🏾✨

What theme defined the creator economy in 2024?

Haters aren't obstacles - they're unwitting participants in our success stories. The more they watch, the more we grow. The more they doubt, the more we create. In this ecosystem, the best revenge isn't just success - it's using your energy to fuel unprecedented achievements. 2024 has become the year where successful creators aren't just surviving hate, they're thriving because of it.

Kendrick Lamar transformed rap beef into Grammy-nominated music and a Super Bowl performance. His diss track "Like That" became the fastest hip-hop song to reach 100 million streams on Spotify, achieving this milestone in just 6 days. The music video garnered over 50 million views in its first week on YouTube, setting a new record for hip-hop videos in 2024. His Juneteenth 2024 concert performance on Amazon Music, featuring songs from his latest album, shattered streaming records with over 2 million concurrent viewers. The performance, which included both new tracks and classic hits, became Amazon Music's most-watched live concert event to date, demonstrating how Lamar turned controversy into a cultural moment that united his fanbase.

Beyoncé's NFL halftime show drew massive viewership despite critics, aka people who doubted Netflix’s ability to stream the performance without delays. The NFL Christmas halftime show attracted over 50 million viewers across platforms, more than five times the viewership of the 2024 CMA Awards, which drew approximately 9.5 million viewers. This demonstrates how Beyoncé's crossover into traditionally non-R&B spaces continues to draw massive audiences and challenge the perception of what it means to make “Black music.”

Tanner Adell's breakthrough performance alongside Beyoncé at the NFL Christmas halftime show was the cherry on top. This beautiful clapback was in response to a random person on Twitter criticizing her efforts to market her music earlier in the year ahead of her appearance on Beyonce’s album, Cowboy Carter. Tanner was one of many Black country artists who made a surprise appearance on the album whose careers have skyrocketed as a result.

If someone like Beyonce can be snubbed at not one, but two major award shows, please know that haters spare no one. At the 2024 Grammy Awards, Jay-Z used his acceptance speech for the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award to address the Recording Academy's historical oversight of Beyoncé. Despite being the most Grammy-awarded artist in history with 32 wins, Beyoncé has never won Album of the Year. Jay-Z pointed out this paradox, questioning how an artist could be the most decorated in Grammy history yet never win its top prize. His speech highlighted ongoing discussions about recognition, representation, and institutional barriers in the music industry (but we can just call this systemic hateration).

Hate-watching doesn’t discriminate. You can do it like an elite; Draymond Green flew all the way to Paris to hate-watch someone participating in the Olympics. Or you can do it like a troll on the internet, angrily commenting about someone’s every move or post. Every view, every angry comment, and every heated discussion only amplifies their platform. Hate-watching still translates to engagement, and in today's digital economy, engagement equals influence and opportunity.

For many creators (you know, those of us who aren’t celebrities or famous), negative comments can feel like a crushing weight. The constant stream of criticism, which often ranges from general disinterest to unwarranted hostility, can lead to creative paralysis, self-doubt, and burnout. Some creators find themselves second-guessing every post, video, or piece of content, wondering if it will attract more negativity. Sound familiar?

Let’s reframe this dynamic. Instead of viewing hate watchers as purely destructive forces, which is technically a fair assessment, let’s see them for what they are. Hate-watching is often driven by fascination, envy, or a desire to be part of the conversation - even if that participation comes in the form of negativity. The viewers who claim to despise content but can't stop watching are still helping us.

The way to beat hate-watching? Give your haters something to be mad about. Public figures like Doug Emhoff and Hunter Woodhall demonstrated how openly celebrating their partners' success creates a ripple effect. In the creator economy, this doesn’t necessarily mean your spouse, but celebrating other creators whose work you love. When influential people proudly support their partners and communities, we normalize celebration over criticism and create spaces where others feel empowered to do the same.

I’ve seen more creators support each other than ever this year. We’re coming up with new ways to collaborate and pleasantly surprise our audiences. More film crews are forming. More cross-promos are happening among podcasters and newsletter writers. More photographers are supporting the work and copyrights of other photographers. This is the year I saw creators turn hate into a powerful force for creativity and community. When hate and negativity spread across online platforms and public discourse like wildfire, we increasingly chose joy and unity on our own terms.

They're going to talk either way. Make sure you give them something worth talking (or suing) about, this year and every year after.

See you all in 2025! 🎉 Please Hustle Responsibly,

🤙🏾✨

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