How Kenzie Ziegler Rebranded Herself Through Social Media!

Mackenzie Ziegler released her newest single, "mutual destruction", late last month, but she hasn’t always been known as the vulnerable singer-songwriter she is today. She was first put in the spotlight at just 6 years old on Lifetime’s reality TV show "Dance Moms", where she was a cast member from 2011-2016. During her time on the show, Ziegler released music under the name "Mack Z", including her first studio album, which she released at just 9 years old. However, being that she was so young, none of those songs were written by her. Here’s how she used social media to rebrand herself towards making music that reflects who she actually is!

Ziegler was first officially recognized for her social media presence in 2016, when she was nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Muser, which she later won in 2018. She also began her professional transition to "Kenzie" in 2018, which she used in both the title of her self-help book, Kenzie’s Rules for Life: How to be Happy, Healthy, and Dance to Your Own Beat, and in the name of her cosmetics line, Love, Kenzie. Ziegler’s social media presence highlights her fashion and sense of humor while also giving her followers a behind-the-scenes look into her creative process and day-to-day life.  

From 2021-2022, Kenzie co-hosted a podcast with her older sister Maddie Ziegler called "Take 20 with Maddie and Kenzie Ziegler", where the two of them would spend 20 minutes discussing all kinds of topics, from their insecurities and dating to moving out and their parents’ divorce. Opening up like this helped further the more relatable and grown-up image Kenzie was aiming for. Her large social media following also let her fans from "Dance Moms" to grow up with her while simultaneously introducing her to people who’d never even seen the show, allowing her to use her various platforms to rebrand herself from a child reality TV star to a more mature artist. 

2024 was a big year for Ziegler, as it marked the release of her first studio album under the name "kenzie": biting my tongue. The album showcased a much more mature and vulnerable side of her, particularly in the song "anatomy", which is the most streamed from the album, with over 58 million streams on Spotify. Although Ziegler also co-wrote most of the songs on her 2018 album Phases, her writing on biting my tongue was even more personal and emotional than ever before. 

However, music isn’t the only thing Ziegler’s been working on! She also plays Kat in the movie She Dances, which is set for a U.S. theatrical release on March 27, and she has her own jewelry brand, Lucky June, which launched earlier this year! She has also accumulated an even larger following on social media, with over 14 million followers on Instagram, over 23 million on TikTok, and over 3 million subscribers on YouTube, all at just 21 years old! With so much going on, we think it’s pretty safe to say that Kenzie Ziegler has successfully used social media to create an authentic brand for herself outside of her original child star image.