Dad Writes Song and Helps Daughter, 6, Record Epic Music Video. 16 Years Later, It Goes Viral (Exclusive) Hannah SacksThu, March 26, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC 0 McKenzie WaddellCredit: McKenzie Waddell/TikTok When she was 6 years old, McKenzie Waddell's dad wrote and directed a music video with her as the star The video, "Party with My Girls 2Nite," featured McKenzie and her friends performing choreographed dances and singing — and it recently went viral on TikTok McKenzie, now 22, graduated from NYU Tisch Drama and shares with PEOPLE how she still collaborates with her dad When McKenzie Waddell an...
Dad Writes Song and Helps Daughter, 6, Record Epic Music Video. 16 Years Later, It Goes Viral (Exclusive)
Hannah SacksThu, March 26, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC
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McKenzie WaddellCredit: McKenzie Waddell/TikTok -
When she was 6 years old, McKenzie Waddell's dad wrote and directed a music video with her as the star
The video, "Party with My Girls 2Nite," featured McKenzie and her friends performing choreographed dances and singing — and it recently went viral on TikTok
McKenzie, now 22, graduated from NYU Tisch Drama and shares with PEOPLE how she still collaborates with her dad
When McKenzie Waddell and her dad recorded a music video together, they had no idea it would go viral nearly 16 years later.
"I've honestly always been into music since before I can remember," McKenzie tells PEOPLE. "My parents put me into voice and piano lessons after I expressed wanting to be in musicals when I was around 6 years old."
The now 22-year-old says she was a "huge" Disney Channel fan and found inspiration from early 2000s stars like Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato.
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Around the same time, McKenzie and her best friend had been doing a web series together titled "iMcKenzie" — a spoof on the 2000s Nickelodeon series iCarly. It was those videos that inspired McKenzie's dad, Kenneth Waddell, to write a song and direct a music video for her.
In a video shared to her TikTok, a much-younger McKenzie can be seen singing a song, titled "Party with My Girls 2Nite," that her dad wrote for her. McKenzie dances around in coordinated routines with some of her friends in the music video before the clip cuts to shots of the little one singing by herself.
"My dad wrote the song and recorded it with me in our little home recording studio we had in our attic," says McKenzie, who explains that her dad Kenneth went to NYU for filmmaking and worked in the industry while she was growing up.
"I don't have much memory of the process, but I do know that he wrote the entire song and created all the parts and then taught it to me and had me sing it on the track," she explains. "He asked if I wanted to shoot a music video, and I was into it, so he recruited all my best friends at the time and some girls who went to my dance studio to be in it."
McKenzie Waddell and her dad.Credit: Courtesy of McKenzie Waddell
McKenzie says her mom and one of her best friends choreographed all the dances and taught them to her friends on the day of the shoot.
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"It took a few hours to do the party scene at my dance studio, who agreed to let us film there," she says. "And then on another day, we shot the greenscreen videos of me singing, doing homework, etc. My dad edited the entire thing together, even down to the little stick drawings!"
When it was finished, the video went up on YouTube and initially got around 12,000 views.
"I thought that was SO cool," says McKenzie. "It was something I showed friends...as I got older in elementary school, it started to be something that I was a little embarrassed of."
"I remember one time they played the song on the morning announcements when I was in third grade, and I genuinely cried! But obviously, once I was a little older, it became a fun memory and some lore for me to tell my friends," she shares.
McKenzie Waddell and her dad.Credit: Courtesy of McKenzie Waddell
Although McKenzie and her dad didn't end up making any more music videos together, they have collaborated on a few other projects together.
"As I got older, I got more into acting and filmmaking (just like my dad), and we worked on a lot of those projects together and continue to!" she says. "I totally still sing and play music. I don't release anything professionally, but my dad and I produced some stuff with my friends for fun over the years."
McKenzie Waddell and her parents.Credit: Courtesy of McKenzie Waddell
McKenzie recently graduated from NYU Tisch Drama and is now "laser focused" on her acting career.
"My dad and I have lots of collabs planned — I've been working on a television series titled Moment to Moment with my two best friends," she says. "He helped produce and edit our short film this summer and has been editing our scripts for the past few years."
"He's my biggest cheerleader and the first person I ask to collab on my projects!" adds McKenzie.
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Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: March 26, 2026 at 06:09AM on Source: PRIME TIME
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