Drama, arrests, and break-ins are growing pains for some of the biggest TikTok collab houses
- The landscape of elite TikTok collab houses has shifted significantly in recent months.
- At the Hype House, new members and a change of scenery are breathing new life into an established brand.
- Likewise, a couple of rocky months for Sway LA has ultimately led the group to more stable ground.
- The Clubhouse is vying for "rookie of the year" status as its creator roster and real estate footprint continue to grow.
- Mansion life isn't always sweet for the young creators who live in these houses. Often, it means sacrificing their privacy and learning to live with unexpected (sometimes downright creepy) fan drop-ins.
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At three of TikTok's most popular and influential collab houses, change seems to be the only constant. Some of those changes have been happening quietly in the background, while others have been incredibly public and tumultuous. Given how much news they've generated, it's hard to believe all of these groups are less than a year old. The Hype House, led by Chase Lil Huddy Hudson and Thomas Petrou, is only about six months in. Sway, or Sway LA, formed shortly thereafter in January. The Clubhouse is even newer to the scene, although it's certainly made up for lost time.
Now, we're starting to see three rollercoaster months of drama smooth out. Old friends-turned-rivals are reuniting. Popular creators are leaving and joining established houses, while new houses pop up elsewhere. And as these collab houses continue to grow their followings by thousands every week, the effects of viral internet fame are starting to impact members' real lives.
Sway LA is rolling with the punches.
The Sway House, also known as Sway LA, is Los Angeles TikTok collab house that has a reputation for controversial personalities. An unwavering commitment to sparking and embracing controversy has, up to this point, been the group's defining trait. For the uninitiated, the "Sway boys" are shade-room regulars, known for engaging in Twitter spats, sparking minor feuds, dropping diss tracks, and, occasionally, flashing fans on Instagram Live.
In May, while vacationing in Texas, two of Sway's most recognizable faces, Bryce Hall and Jaden Hossler, were arrested on drug-related charges. In the aftermath, Hossler and fellow Sway boy Josh Richards announced they'd be taking an indefinite hiatus from the group. In an interview with Insider, Richards cited his own "recklessness" and penchant for "the LA partying lifestyle" as his personal reasons for the planned break.
The controversy triggered a flood of unexpected fan drop-ins at the house. The visits were likely meant to be a show of support for Sway amid the chaos, but on Twitter, member Anthony Reeves had to repeatedly ask fans to stop pulling up to the house, knocking on the door, peering through the windows, and trying to record videos of the group at home. Hopefully, Sway's newest member, Blake Gray, is prepared to deal with the scrutiny.
Fresh faces are moving in and filling vacancies at the Hype House, as the group grapples with ongoing privacy issues.
The Hype House is a Los Angeles-based Generation Z content creator collective that originally included twenty of Tik Tok's rising and established stars.
Following an internal legal dispute and power struggle, the Hype House lost a few members this year, including sisters Charli and Dixie D'Amelio and Daisy Keech, who subsequently went on to found the Clubhouse. Now, the group is introducing new members, including Tayler Holder and Olivia Ponton, the current girlfriend of 'Sway boy' Kio Cyr.
To make room for new entrants (and allow more of the group's existing affiliates to live on-site), the Hype House relocated at the end of May and moved into an even larger mansion formerly known as the Clout House, which was vacated earlier this year by gamer collective FaZe Clan. But the multi-million dollar upgrade has come with a problem — a line of cars filled with fans and their parents has been forming outside their new digs every night, according to Petrou. Phone harassment has been an issue for member Tony Lopez, too.
Not long after moving out, the group learned of a break-in at the old Hype House — the Los Angeles mansion that, until recently, was their home. It remains unclear how and when the breach occurred, but multiple members who lived in the house reported missing possessions (include Kouvr Annon's pet fish) and extensive damage to the home's interior. The house, on which the group still pays rent, had been "deep-cleaned" by maids before move-out last month. For now, Hype House management has "turned the full investigation over to law enforcement."
Amid a storm of controversy that's followed both houses, rumors swirled that they could be merging, but they don't appear to be true.
The whispers were helped along by content the houses have been making together recently. Last week, when Richards sported a hoodie from Hudson's merch line on Instagram, fans went wild. Hudson seems to have followed Richards and Hall on Instagram again after the pair dropped a diss track about him in March. Hall, meanwhile, has been popping up in Hype House cofounder Thomas Petrou's content a lot lately. According to Michael Gruen of TalentX Entertainment, Sway's parent company, a Sway-Hype merger is not underway. But the two groups are consciously focusing on "building each other up instead of competing."
"It's all just a rumor," Gruen told Insider via email. "We're using the term swype to show the support between the two teams."
The Clubhouse family is growing with two more houses, including an "OG" creator house, in the works.
The Clubhouse Beverly Hills, the TikTok collab house Daisy Keech founded after leaving the Hype House earlier this year, is expanding to create a small network of affiliated collab houses, including Clubhouse Next, a group of five influencers that appeal to a slightly younger, edgier crowd, and a third house that fans have speculatively nicknamed "the OG muser house." This house, according to management, will include ten creators "people used to know and love together" on Musical.ly, the app that has since become TikTok. (For Gen Z, the app's Musical.ly era represents a simpler, happier time, much the way millennials feel about Vine). The first confirmed members of the new house? Musical.ly crossover stars Baby Ariel and Mario Selman.
Most of the creators involved with Clubhouse Beverly Hills and Clubhouse Next are in Tulum right now to shoot content for Clubhouse Explore, a new project the brand will be formally introducing soon. Explore is intended to be a roaming "travel house" that will pop up in eye-catching locales, such as French Polynesia, Hawaii, Bali, or Tulum, for three to four months at a time.
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