Meet Aoife Mcmorrow: The University of Lincoln’s Tik Tok star

‘I have no filter and have a lot to say, so I’m pretty much an open book’


Even with deadlines approaching, we all love to watch a good Tik Tok video… or 10. Whether it’s foodie videos, dance trends, or small businesses showing their newest products, the app rode waves of excitement in the UK’s first lockdown.

Now, we may still venture to Tik Tok from time to time, and what’s more exciting to see than your own uni mates using the app. One of these that we saw, in particular, was University of Lincoln student Aoife Mcmorrow.

via @_aoifex on Instagram

The 20-year-old Luton bred Tik Toker has been on the app since her first year at university and has since risen to fame with a 204.4K following and 1 million likes on her videos.

We had a chat with her about her day-to-day life online and off.

Just in a sentence or two, describe your TikTok account?

My Tik Tok account has no specific theme, I post funny videos, storytimes, fashion, makeup, even karaoke videos. Just things I do every day and it’s really nice people just enjoy me chatting away about absolutely nothing. I’ve also reverently started posting videos with other Tik Tok creators I’ve made friends with too!

And about you?

I’m a friendly, sarcastic, laid-back person and I really love just chatting to a camera as if it’s my private story on Snapchat. I love talking to new people every day and just taking every day as it comes in all areas of life. I also love learning new things and working on myself, and in the process helping others to make the progress I have made with advice and answering questions.

When did you start making these videos?

I started making TikToks in my first year. They were awful. I was doing a really bad job at a few TikTok dances but in lockdown, I started posting videos of me talking and I think that’s what drew people in the most. I have no filter and have a lot to say, so I’m pretty much an open book!

How did you rise to fame, and was there a particular video that was popular with your audiences?

On April 7th, 2020, I posted a video of me dying my hair on my bedroom floor in pavs (Pavilions) and it got 200,000 views and genuinely thought I was famous after gaining a few hundred followers.

But I didn’t know how much I would start growing after that! People started to lean more towards my storytimes, a video of me submitting my uni video assignment in 360 view, my “haunted uni house”, my boyfriend sending a pineapple to my uni house, someone’s girlfriend dming me on Instagram thinking he was flirting with me when in fact he was sending me hate messages – all gathered millions of views overnight.

I guess people like it when weird things happened to me, but it would only happen to me, wouldn’t it?

Have you be recognised in and around Lincoln, or at university?

I have been recognised around the University of Lincoln a few times to my surprise! That’s about it, they’re the only places I really go given the current lockdown restrictions.

I’m so excited to meet new people when things open up! I get a lot of messages saying people have seen me and were too scared to say hi which makes me so sad because it makes my day more than anything.

How do you handle your education and Tik Tok?

I find it quite difficult to balance university work and my social media. Posting every day isn’t the problem, it’s the opportunities that come with the platform that sometimes don’t fit around university timetables.

It definitely took its toll on my mental health on a few occasions because I didn’t feel like I was having any downtime but I started putting myself first and remembered no amount of views and no assignment was worth my sacrificing my well-being. Overall I do my best to balance it! But university comes before social media.

Will it change once the UK settles down from lockdown restrictions? Or when deadlines get closer?

I will definitely be a lot busier when lockdown settles down, but I’ll never stop posting on social media because I genuinely enjoy it! Not to mention after lockdown I will be able to go to TokFest to meet all the friends I’ve made on Tik Tok, and a lot of opportunities from my Tik Tok that were postponed will be able to go ahead!

When I have university deadlines I will post much less because that’s my priority, but because of the style of my Tik Tok, I would probably just post videos of me complaining about deadlines! I will never stop posting though, it just depends on what’s going on at that point in time. But when it’s over, I’ll always be back to posting as normal.

What do you find most enjoyable about doing Tik Tok?

What I enjoy most about TikTok is meeting new people and talking to new people. Whether that’s other Tik Tokers, people that follow me, even people that don’t follow me that have seen my face on their for you page. I just like meeting new people it makes me happy. Definitely worth the possibility of a future employer finding videos of me screaming on the internet.

Should more people in Lincoln, especially university students, consider doing Tik Tok themselves?

I think people in Lincoln and university students should definitely start posting on Tik Tok! If you are completely yourself and engage with your followers like they’re your friends swiping up to your Snapchat stories, you’ll do well! When your completely yourself people view you more as a friend rather than a video creator which I think is really nice.

Are there any Lincoln clubs/bars/pubs you are excited to go to once lockdown is over? Or something else you can do once lockdowns over?

You’ll catch me in Trebles, Walkabout, and Home nightclub at every given opportunity! With vodka and something (whatever they’ve got to be honest). But at the moment I’m just happy going on walks, it’s easier on my bank account.

Catch more of Aofie on her TikTok and Instagram accounts.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

Meet the Lincoln uni student who graduated last year and is now a TikTok star

• ‘I downed a whole bottle of Absolut in freshers’: YouTuber Luke Birch on uni life in Lincoln

‘We were followed by a guy in a clown suit’: YouTuber Charlotte Emily on uni life at Lincoln