When 20-year-old musician Zoe Wynns shared a video about not wanting to work a 9-to-5 in October, she had no idea it would go on to be viewed by millions of people.
Her video, in which she encouraged people to stream her music so she wouldn’t have to work a traditional job, went viral on X after her clip was reposted by an account called “End Wokeness,” which often reshares right-wing talking points.
“Get ready. This is our new workforce,” read part of the caption on the account’s post, which received 2.1 million views.
It is common for larger accounts to reshare smaller creators’ posts, causing them to go viral. In this case, “End Wokeness” has 2 million X followers, compared to Wynns’ relatively small Instagram following of under 2,900 people.
Wynns received a largely negative response from X users, some of whom shared their thoughts about her generation and their attitude towards work, a topic that has gained a lot of attention in recent months as many Gen Zers have posted about struggling with the reality of corporate life.
Wynns, a Music and English student, told Business Insider she believes her generation is actually very hardworking — and she is keen to prove the haters wrong.
Wynns understands why some viewers interpreted her comments as ‘spoiled,’ but says she was misunderstood
Wynns, who is currently studying at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told BI she was inspired to make the video because of her experience coming towards the end of her time at college.
She said many of her friends are being pushed into taking the “safe route” by getting a job instead of pursuing creative opportunities, and added that she “wanted to make a video talking about how I had so much creative passion and I really didn’t want to do this thing that the system says that we should do — the 40 hours a week.”
Reflecting on her video’s virality, she said she does work very hard on her passions, but acknowledged she didn’t make that clear in her original video. She also said she wished to apologize to anyone she offended with her comments.
She told BI that her typical week involves posting every day on social media, working to get her music out into the world, and trying to get good grades at college, among other things. In a previous statement given to BI, she said she spends “80+ hours” a week on “music and other pursuits.”
Some viewers who watched Wynns’ video referred to her as “spoiled” for not wanting to work a 9-to-5, and she told BI she can understand how her comments could have come across that way, particularly if people weren’t aware of the hard work she does.
At the same time, she said she does wish that people had more “sympathy and empathy” towards her.
“I could have phrased things differently but I’m a 20-year-old in college trying to chase my dreams, and I just kind of wish that that was a little more understood,” she told BI.
Wynns said Gen Z is a hardworking generation that is breaking out of work-culture norms
While Wynns said she thinks there are pros and cons to working a 9-to-5, she isn’t personally drawn to this style of work because she thinks it places limits on achievement.
“You can rise through the ranks of a company but there is more of a ceiling. When you’re working for yourself, in theory, there’s no ceiling. You could become the next Billie Eilish tomorrow,” she said.
She also said that she thinks many Gen Zers are finding “these sometimes very creative and very interesting ways to break out of the system in their own ways.”
Wynns believes that the kind of work she does, “like posting every day on social media,” isn’t taken seriously by everyone, but she thinks Gen Z is a very creative and very hardworking generation.
She told BI she is excited to see Gen Z take the lead in society in the future. “I think there could be a lot of really positive change for the world with us.”
Her post may have garnered a lot of negativity, but Wynns said she plans to disprove her critics by continuing to work hard: “If anything, I’m even more steeled now, because I’ve got to prove thousands of people wrong,” she said.
