Everything
Black baseball cap, black t-shirt and a few pieces of jewellery – Noah Beck looks like your average, healthy and handsome 21-year-old man. Which is exactly, perhaps, the reason he has become such a global sensation. With more than 34 million followers and over 2 billion ‘likes’, the Arizona-native has become one of TikTok’s biggest stars. Catching the social media platform’s wave early on, Beck’s content is both humble and sincere – a 15 second video dancing in a half-furnished room (he’s just bought a new house in LA) to Beyoncé’s song ‘Cuff It’ can garner over 11 million likes from fans.
After years of viewers becoming increasingly jaded with the pretences and manufacturing of image that has plagued other platforms like Instagram, TikTok felt a breath of fresh air – less filters, less production and more “in the moment” access. And Beck’s affable relatability is making bank. For him, and for the brands that he works with.
As we begin to chat over Zoom, it’s quickly made clear that the Beck who grew up wanting to be a soccer star, enjoys hanging with his sisters and family is the same Beck that is casually getting VIP front row seat at a Louis Vuitton fashion show; is the same Beck busting out a goofy dance move in his socks and is the same Beck who sometimes wishes that he could visit a cafe and simply blend into the crowd. But would he change anything? Not for a second, he tells ICON.
EXPLORE THE FULL ICON FASHION SHOOT WITH NOAH BECK HERE.
ICON: So you’ve just moved into your new house in LA, and I can see there is an empty bookshelf behind you. How is the settling in going?
NOAH BECK: I mean, if I took you on a house tour, it’d be an empty house tour right now! I just bought the place, so it’s a project. I plan on being here for a few years. I’m working with an interior designer and we’ve got this whole plan going. I sent her my Pinterest board – I love Pinterest – I put it together. I have a very clear vision of what I want. At first, I wanted to snap my fingers and be like, ‘okay, dream house right here.’ But no. I understand that it takes work. I ordered my couch, literally something like a couch, and it’s already been like two months. It arrives around mid-November, so I’m looking forward to just chilling on my couch.
ICON: Taking it back to that very first post that you made on TikTok, did you ever imagine that this is where making short videos on social media would take you?
BECK: No, not in the slightest! I don’t clearly recall what my thoughts were when I pressed post on that first one… I don’t think I was thinking at all. I literally just was like, ‘eh, I’m going to have fun with it.’ I had a little bet going on with my older sister, who already had TikTok at the time, who could gain more followers in a short amount of time. It was that fun sibling rivalry that we had. But no, never in a million years had I thought it would take me to where I am now. I won, by the way.
ICON: Do you ever get self-conscious about what you’re doing?
BECK: Of course! How do I word this? I think from an outside perspective, I feel like I come off as a very confident man. For the most part, my self-talk is usually pretty good. I like to do all the little things that help me become a more confident version of myself, but just like any human, I have my insecurities. I have things that I’m not always super comfortable with. But I have a type of content where I let my viewers and consumers look into just about everything I’m doing. Hopefully it can inspire, influence or just put a smile on your face.
ICON: It’s not just TikTok – you’re also across Snapchat and Instagram. Do you ever get the urge to just log off for a day or two?
BECK: Or three? Yes. Well, yes and no. I feel like it’s so situational and it’s so time dependent. Honestly, I am so used to it by now and I’ve been doing it not even nearly as long as some of the people that I’m in this industry with. That first TikTok I posted was just over two years ago and it’s crazy to think that it’s led me to this point. But 100 percent, because of the concept that I do that kind of lets people in on everything that I do, it’s just become a part of my life and it’s controlled a lot of my life as well.
Even though there are days where I completely want to log off and just have a day that I can disconnect from my phone and everything, that doesn’t mean that I can just go out and just go to the mall with my friends without forgetting that I’ll probably be stopped a few times. I could be tired, but I will put on that smile when I meet fans. Because the last thing I want in the world is for someone to meet me and be let down in any kind of way. I want to leave them with a good first impression.
ICON: Do you ever miss being anonymous?
BECK: Yes. Yes and no. No. Yeah, I do. But at the same time, I can’t lie. I do love what I do, even the hardships of it, and it has all these amazing benefits. Being anonymous…That’s a weird way to put it, isn’t it? But that’s kind of what I was. To people who knew me I wasn’t, obviously. But to the world, on a more bigger scale, I was pretty anonymous. But now it doesn’t seem that way and there are days where it does become a lot and it does make me think ‘man, I really wish I could just disappear for a little bit.’
EXPLORE THE FULL ICON FASHION SHOOT WITH NOAH BECK HERE.
ICON: What has it been like to work with French label AMI to create the cover shoot? How did that partnership come about?
BECK: The shoot was very special. We did it in Wyoming Wyoming which was just beautiful and it exceeded every expectation of mine. I was so happy I got to do it with AMI because we put together some great looks.
AMI is the first ever high fashion brand that took a chance on me and without me knowing. I didn’t know what I wanted to do at the time. And they were just like, ‘Well, Noah’s got a cool look. Does he want to do fashion?’
My team asked me if I wanted to work with this French fashion designer and I was like, yeah, let’s do this! And I just fell in love with it immediately. The way you feel when you put on a good outfit is just always so fun to me. Somehow, I feel like AMI clothes just feel tailored to me. When I first started working with them, I posted a few Instagram photos that blew up. It was me wearing these sweaters that they have [with the red heart on the chest]. But I was wearing an off white turtleneck with that AMI heart, and I was in a coffee shop. I still have that in my closet of course, and I think that would be my favourite AMI piece, to be honest.
ICON: Was there a particular look that you remember from the day that was your favourite?
BECK: There was this one look, it was a white t-shirt with sleeves rolled up, and jeans. Very classic, almost a greaser-esque look with this amazing classic car behind me with horns on the front and just a beautiful field behind me. And I don’t know if the camera was able to catch it, but there were deer and behind me pretty far off in the distance.
ICON: You actually wanted to be a soccer player before your TikTok career blew up. How often do you still get out to play the sport given your current schedule?
BECK: Definitely not as much as I would like. But yeah, that was my dream. That was the plan my whole life. Then when COVID hit, my life did a complete 180. In a good way.
I’ll sometimes go to a local park just for the sake of it and go kick the ball around. But then I recently found this soccer league here in LA. A friend of mine introduced me to the owner of the league, who she is friends with. It’s amazing. It’s called Tiki-Taka Soccer League here in LA and it’s literally the perfect thing for what I need right now.
Amongst all of my crazy schedule and all my travelling, this is something that I can look forward to.
ICON: Speaking of schedules, what does your average day look like? I once read in an interview that you have a really strict no calls before 9:00 AM routine. Is that still in place?
BECK: Every day is different. Well, actually every day’s the same, until it hits about that 9.00 or 10.00 AM mark, because then things begin to get a little hectic. It’s been so tricky with travelling and stuff, it’s hard to stay on a schedule. I actually only just moved [to LA], and have been living at my new place for about two months but it feels like I’ve only been here for a week because of all the travelling.
But when I’m in LA, I’ll wake up and I’ll go to the gym. I usually try to go to the gym at 7:00 AM, and so that means a 6:30 AM alarm. I’ll come back and then get on top of a few things before the calls start coming at around like 9:30, 10:00 AM. And then whatever it is from there. Some days I have acting class, other days I have interviews, calls. And then in the middle of all that filming things when I can, whether it’s TikToks, whether it’s editing Instagram reels and stuff like that. There’s a lot that goes into it, but it’s fun and it keeps me motivated for sure.
ICON: It’s interesting how social media moves in waves. For example, with the rise of TikTok people were talking about it as the slow decline of Instagram. Do you ever think about what comes next, a life after TikTok?
BECK: Yeah, all the time. I think about it too much, to be honest. I don’t think it’s fair to myself and my mental health right now, due to the fact that I find it hard sometimes to just live in the moment and enjoy the now because I’m just always thinking about the future and what I can do to one up what I’ve already done, in a sense. How do I continue to evolve my brand, my career?
It’s a blessing and a curse because I’ve achieved so many amazing things at a young age, so now it’s a bit hard at times finding something that excites me. Because you kind of hit this point and it’s like, well, I’ve shot for every magazine I’ve ever wanted to shoot for and I’ve guest starred on this. Now what? And you kind of hit these points where it’s like, you got to keep getting creative. I’ve been focusing more on literally just living more in the moment. But that being said, I have a lot of exciting things coming in the future.
EXPLORE THE FULL ICON FASHION SHOOT WITH NOAH BECK HERE.
ICON: There is actually a film in the works, isn’t there, The QB Bad Boy and Me?
BECK: There is, yes!
ICON: What was it like to prepare for that role?
BECK: Well, I’m currently in the process, actually. Due to Hollywood being showbiz and all that, the filming has been pushed two times now. It’s kind of a blessing in disguise because I’ve been preparing now for over a year, and so it’s allowed me to have more time to know the script. I know the script like the back of my hand now, which is good. I’m very eager to start shooting, but there’s still things that we have to figure out cast-wise. There’s still things that we have to figure out location shooting-wise. But I’m very excited. It’s going to be my first lead in a movie, it’s going to be my first time in a movie. It’s very exciting.
ICON: What was the weirdest thing you tried on your series, Noah Beck Tries Things?
BECK: That is a great question. Let’s see… I think the first thing that popped into my head, I wouldn’t say it was the weirdest thing, it was just the one I think that took me out of my comfort zone the most, in a good way. It was the runway, the walking the runway episode. That one was definitely something that can kind of loosely apply to what I’m doing now in fashion. And maybe one day walk a show or something like that. But that one was definitely fun to film.
And the other one that was really fun was the cowboy episode that I did. I learned how to be a cowboy and that one was really fun because it wasn’t the glamorised cowboy, it was the shovelling shit and doing the hay barrels cowboy!
ICON: Fitness, fashion or funny? Which one of those is your favourite thing to make?
BECK: I think you got to catch me at different times of the day. I feel like there are times when I’m in the mood to make a fashion video. And I love fashion, I love everything that fashion represents in a way. I really love the creativity of it.
But personally – this is where I hit this mental block – because I love working out and I love fitness and that’s a huge part of my life, but I don’t really share it a whole lot.
I work out every day. I barely have rest days. I just love working out for many reasons. It’s not just to look good, it’s definitely more of a mental thing as well. I feel like I need to work out. That being said, I don’t necessarily love making content around fitness because it is that one thing that’s an outlet for me and not worry about social media.
So that leaves us with funny, and I love making funny, relatable content. I’m always in the mood for that. I love a good laugh and that’s the stuff that I enjoy a lot as well. I’ll see videos on my TikTok For You Page and sometimes it’ll just be ‘other people think this?’ It’s like my intrusive thoughts on another person’s video and I’m like, that’s so funny. You have no choice but to like it. It’s just so funny to see how these social media platforms have brought humankind together, and made us realise how much we’re really similar in a lot of ways.
EXPLORE THE FULL ICON FASHION SHOOT WITH NOAH BECK HERE.
Photography: Michael Schwartz
Fashion Styling: Aryeh Lappin
Grooming: Candice Birns
Photography Assistant: Fred Mitchell
Digital Technician: Maxwell Tiggas
Producer: Danielle Gruberger / Seduko Productions
Production Assistants: Alison Schwartz & Sarah Edge
Shot at: Split Creek Ranch, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Special thanks to: Cecily Aquila & Larissa Saenz
TOP BANNER IMAGE: CABLE KNIT CREWNECK SWEATER, SHOP SIMILAR, TAPERED FIT JEANS, SHOP NOW, MID-HEIGHT BOOTS, SHOP SIMILAR, AMI
