Internet star Davis Burleson has spent his entire life performing.
As a child, he would spend hours pretending to host “American Idol” in his backyard in Texas, interviewing imaginary contestants. After moving to New York City in 2020, Burleson continued his interviews, this time with real people scattered across Washington Square Park, asking them about anything and everything, from their style and pop culture takes to their personal lives. Armed with a microphone and a sunny disposition, Burleson quickly went viral on TikTok for his quippy, man-on-the-street style interviews, amassing over two million followers. Six years since he began social media, the 23-year-old internet personality is now the host of two SiriusXM shows, dedicated to the same subject matter he’s spent his life consuming.
Launched on March 10, his two radio shows, “Verified With Davis Burleson” and “Pop Culture Picks With Davis Burleson,” are deep-dives into the current pop culture scene, with a special focus on music and a playlist hand-picked by the host.
“Working in radio has definitely helped people, especially my parents and their friends, understand what I do,” jokes Burleson. While his father may be a little confused by his son’s official job title, Burleson, in a way, has him to thank. Studying culture and media at the New School’s Eugene Lang College, Burleson received a call from his dad ahead of his sophomore year of college. His vertical interview TikTok page, “What’s Poppin?,” had just hit a million followers, and while Burleson was trying his best to balance college and work, his father saw his career path a little clearer than he did.
“You need to focus on this. You need to strike while the iron is hot, because you can always go back to school,” Burleson remembers his father saying. He lasted two weeks into his sophomore year before deciding to pursue entertainment full-time.
One of the perks of his newfound career path was a deal with SiriusXM. In the fall of 2022, the company was building its roster of hosts for a TikTok Radio channel, which had launched in August 2021.
“There was just an email in my inbox, stating TikTok Radio x Davis Burleson,” says Burleson, who was tapped to appear on the show by TikTok, with whom he’d previously collaborated. “I was screaming, because I never would have thought that I would do radio, although it was something I was always very interested in.”
When his contract wrapped up in November 2025, with TikTok Radio shifting to iHeart Radio instead, Burleson was asked back by SiriusXM, who wanted him to host his own shows this time around.
“’Verified With Davis Burleson’ is different from the previous show, because this is a full dedicated hour and I have songs that I am picking throughout,” explains Burleson, who describes the segment as “being with your best friend on FaceTime.” “With TikTok Radio, the only thing that I was doing was these 40-second soundbites. There really was no dedicated time for the listener to tune in.”
“When I first started recording [for radio], it was horrible. It was so hard, it took me over eight hours to record something that should have taken me an hour,” says Burleson. “I’m used to being on camera, using my face to show emphasis, whereas with radio, all you have is your voice.”
The disadvantage of audio media turned out to be Burleson’s favorite thing about working in radio. He credits the staff at SiriusXM in particular for their coaching, as they dissected his airtime each week, pointing out places where he said “um” or “like” too many times.
“I became obsessed with using your voice to your advantage when no one can see your face,” says Burleson. “That is what I love so much about radio, that there are so many different ways of fluctuating the voice.”
Burleson’s radio offer also came at a convenient time for the creator, who was looking to expand beyond his social media work and the man-on-the-street-style interviews that have become exceedingly popular in the past few years.
“We call Washington Square Park the newsroom now, because the entire fountain is filled with people doing interviews,” says Burleson. “My friend was like, ‘This is what you did, Davis!’” For the record, Burleson does not credit himself with popularizing the format, citing Chris Klemens and Billy Eichner as pioneers.
“It’s been really cool to watch the genre rise. It’s kind of lit something in me too, to be like, ‘Okay, if everyone’s doing this now, like, what can I do instead? What can I do to zig instead of zag?’” says Burleson. “I love talking to people, and I think that is why my show has been able to live on for five years now.”
The line between influencer and late-night talk show host has become an increasingly blurry one, and Burleson’s “What’s Poppin?” has no shortage of celebrity guests, from “People We Meet on Vacation” stars Tom Blyth and Emily Bader to Walker Scobell, who plays the titular “Percy Jackson” on Disney+.
“I feel as though I can confidently say that the influencer industry these days is very much focused on the creative and what is going to happen next. You have your following, you have your platform, what are you going to do with it?” says Burleson, who’s currently taking acting classes and hopes to someday write a memoir-esque tell-all about his life. “Benito Skinner took his following and comedy skills and made his show, ‘Overcompensating.’ Dylan Mulvaney posted her videos, and now she’s on Broadway.”
“It’s not just about building your platform and making videos on the internet, but creating something outside of that as well; a TV show, Broadway, creating a brand or being a consultant, it’s possible now, and it’s exciting. And that is where we are headed now.”
Leave a Reply