LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — The deadpan expression and dance moves thrust a Lawrenceville teen on everyone's radar.
Russell Horning, known to many as The Backpack Kid, created the dance The Floss.
“I still see myself as a normal kid with a lot of followers. Like I do normal stuff, but with a lot of followers,” he laughed.
His floss dance exploded online in 2017. He went viral after performing on Saturday Night Live with Katy Perry.
“There were 13 million people watching live. You cannot be nervous at that,” Horning said.
Since then, the 17-year-old has gained millions of Instagram followers and has caught the attention of stars like Kevin Hart, Lil Yachty and Rihanna.
He recently made another appearance on the orange carpet at the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards.
Horning continues to make appearances at events, basketball games and music videos and says he's working on new music.
His “Drip on Boat” has climbed up to more than one million views since it was posted in December.
“You just got to branch out. Like once you do one thing that goes big you don't want to be a tree with no branches. You want to be a tree with a lot of branches,” he said.
“I can't do the floss forever right,” Horning stated.
He said his next goal is to star in movies.
May 25th he will be hosting The Backpack Kid and friends’ event in Atlanta.