THE CROESBROS WERE THERE WHEN MUSICAL.LY BECAME TIKTOK

Long before TikTok became TikTok, two brothers from Aruba were already figuring out how to make people stop scrolling.

Gil and Jayden Croes, known together as the CroesBros, started more than a decade ago, creating funny videos in Papiamento, their native language in Aruba, for audiences on their home island. The videos began going viral locally, so they kept creating, often almost every day.

Then came Musical.ly.

The brothers took the physical comedy and exaggerated facial expressions that had made them recognizable in Aruba and adapted them for a new kind of audience. Their lip-sync videos began reaching millions around the world, with viewers comparing their expressive style to comedians like Jim Carrey and Mr. Bean.

What started as local comedy had suddenly travelled far beyond the island.

Today, Gil and Jayden have more than 60 million combined followers across their individual social media accounts tracked by FAMA. But perhaps the most interesting part of the CroesBros story isn't simply how big that audience became.

It's how many times they've been willing to change what they create in order to keep moving forward.

Learning when to reinvent yourself

Over more than 10 years, the CroesBros have created comedy, dance videos, character-driven entertainment and, more recently, horror.

That evolution has been deliberate.

“I think what makes us unique is that we’re never afraid to reinvent ourselves.”

In the beginning, reinvention meant pushing their facial expressions and physical comedy further, constantly searching for ways to make their work stand out.

But the brothers say they have never been interested in repeating something simply because it worked.

“Once we feel like we’ve mastered something or it no longer excites us creatively, we challenge ourselves to evolve.”

Today, that challenge looks very different from the videos that first made them known.

Their main creative focus is now horror, particularly through a pair of original characters known as the Uncanny Brothers.

The ambition is to make something audiences don't normally expect to encounter while scrolling through social media.

“With our horror content, we’re trying to create things that people normally wouldn’t expect to see on social media... almost like little pieces of cinema.”

It's a dramatic shift from the comedy and lip-sync videos of their early years, but the brothers don't see it as abandoning what made them successful.

Comedy, they say, will always be part of who they are.

What changes is the form.

“Our style is really about constantly being reborn creatively while still keeping that CroesBros DNA.”

There when Musical.ly became TikTok

Few moments capture just how long the CroesBros have been part of the social media era better than one they experienced in Los Angeles.

By then, Musical.ly had already transformed their reach, taking two brothers creating from Aruba and introducing their work to millions of people around the world.

Then they were invited onstage for the platform's transition into TikTok.

The brothers recall being part of the moment marking the end of the Musical.ly era and the beginning of TikTok, including pressing a button onstage as the platform made the transition.

For creators whose international rise had been so closely tied to Musical.ly, it became a particularly meaningful moment.

“We had already experienced so much because of Musical.ly, so being there for the beginning of what would become TikTok was a really special full-circle moment for us.”

TikTok would go on to become one of the defining platforms of the creator era.

The CroesBros had already spent years learning many of the things that would become essential to succeeding on it: capture attention quickly, develop a recognizable style and keep finding new ways to surprise an audience.

Their own evolution didn't stop with the platform change.

From social media characters to a feature film

Now, the CroesBros are working toward what they describe as their biggest creative goal yet.

They want to turn the Uncanny Brothers into a feature film.

The characters began on social media, but the brothers say they have watched the idea develop into something much larger than they originally imagined.

“We created these characters on social media and watched them grow into something much bigger than we originally imagined.”

Moving them to the big screen would also represent a new test of everything the CroesBros have spent the past decade learning.

Short-form content taught them how to build characters, tell visual stories, perform for the camera and capture an audience's attention in seconds.

Now they want to see what happens when that creativity is given a much larger canvas.

“We want to take that next step and bring their world to the big screen.”

For creators who have repeatedly moved on once something begins to feel mastered, a feature film represents another opportunity to enter unfamiliar territory.

And perhaps that's exactly why it appeals to them.

From a tiny island to a worldwide audience

When asked which Caribbean creator inspires them most, the CroesBros couldn't point to one person.

Their answer instead went back to the beginning of their own journey.

When they started creating, they say they weren't aware of many Caribbean creators who had already used social media to reach worldwide audiences.

So today, they hope their own path can become part of the example for whoever comes next.

“Coming from a tiny island like Aruba and reaching people all over the world showed us that where you come from doesn’t have to limit how far your creativity can travel.”

That journey started with two brothers making funny videos in Papiamento for people at home.

Those videos travelled.

Musical.ly took them farther. TikTok opened another chapter. Their willingness to reinvent themselves carried them from physical comedy into character-driven horror.

And now they're trying to take characters born on a phone screen all the way to a cinema screen.

For the CroesBros, reaching a global audience isn't where the story ends.

They hope their success makes the possibility of doing the same feel a little more attainable for Caribbean creators coming after them.

“We hope we can help create that path so the next Caribbean creator can take it even further.”

More than a decade after they first started creating in Aruba, the CroesBros are still testing how far an idea from a small Caribbean island can travel.

This time, they're aiming for the big screen.