Torrell Tafa's Steady Rise

In today's algorithm-driven world, personalities and trends are lucky if their online popularity has a life span of a few weeks. But it hasn't always been like this. Internet culture in the 2010s was a completely different landscape. Much like elsewhere, in Australia and New Zealand there was only a handful of creators dominating the online space—and they often did so for years at a time. Part of this group was the Cougar Boys, and few could boast having the same impact they had on Kiwi and Australian youth culture in the 2010s.

Though now disbanded, the group was comprised of Uoka Falefa, Alexo Afamasaga, Shivneel Chauhan and Torrell Tafa. For years they pioneered influential trends and slang—shaping the lives and high school experiences of millions of kids—before they stopped making content together a few years ago.

A large part of the group’s success, and a fan favourite, was Torrell Tafa. Before the Cougar Boys’ mega-success, Torrell studied commerce at university while working retail on the side.

Like many, Torrell’s university journey began because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do career-wise. When he started his degree, doing what he does now wasn’t even a consideration. But at some point in his studies his focus shifted, the Cougar Boys YouTube channel was taking off. The time and effort required to sustain the channel’s virality was eating heavily into the time he could put into uni—though despite this, Torrell still managed to finish his bachelor’s degree.

The Cougar Boys experienced years of success as a group, but as they grew older, life caught up with them. Some of the boys moved over the ditch to Australia, and travelling trans-tasman to film content became increasingly harder. When COVID hit, it became impossible. The group has since remained close friends, but the videos came to a halt.

It was then that Torrell branched out began focusing on taking his own brand to new heights, and this he did. While numbers aren’t the only the benchmark for success, he’s got a lot of them, boasting a wide fan-base with millions of followers across TikTok and Instagram, and a face that most people in New Zealand under 30 would recognize.

More importantly, though—he’s just the same old Torrell. Speaking to Complex Australia, he talks about a potential Cougar Boys return, compares content creation today to a decade ago, and the struggles that come with being an ‘influencer.'

Taking it back to your time at uni, what was your experience at university like?

I went to uni because I had no clue what I wanted to do, and then by the end I still didn’t know. I did a bachelor of commerce. At the same time as uni, I was juggling the Cougar Boys' YouTube channel. So I'd go to lectures and I’d just be editing all our videos. I would always think of those people who have their passion, and they’re always doing it. I've always just done YouTube. Straight after uni, I thought I wanted to get into advertising and marketing, but I didn't really know how, so I just pretty much focused on YouTube.

When Cougar Boys started popping off, we were in the earlier days of social media. The internet and social media has come a long way since then—what are the main differences when it comes to creating content now compared to back then?

I’d say that these days it’s way more acceptable for anyone and everyone to be a content creator. If you see someone vlogging you're not like, “Oh, that's weird”—it’s not as cringey. From a content perspective, back then you could drop a video a month and the video could be semi-lame but everyone would be happy. Whereas now, you gotta drop content every day because people’s attention spans are short, and people only need three seconds to decide whether the video is good or not.

Yeah, videos can’t be too long these days, it’s tricky.

I think back then you’d have a few favourite creators and you’d watch everything they put out, whereas now everyone has heaps of favourite creators, and they'll just watch bits of everyone’s stuff. I think that's a big part of what’s changed.

How has your approach to making content changed in light of that?

There’s a new language for creating content. Before, [the content] could be whatever, but now it has to be a specific thing—specific trends—and if you don't like following those kinds of things, then you're not going to do well. Not saying people should copy, but it’s good to get inspiration and then make it your own and make it better. That’s what it comes down to these days. But to be honest, a lot of people just straight up copy.

How do you keep your ideas fresh? I’m sure being a content creator is fun, but it must get so stressful?

Sometimes it’s [stressful], but then you have to think about the wider context—it’s super cool to do this all the time. This is my job, and all I really have to do is put my camera on a tripod and make a video. Sometimes you overthink things and you’re just like, “Oh my God, I can’t do this properly”—so yeah, it can be stressful. I think doing it alone was the hardest, because I was doing everything. When you can spend a little money and have other people help, it gets way easier.

When Cougar Boys stopped making content, what was the hardest part about moving into a full-time solo career as a content creator?

The biggest challenge was trying to not compete with the old group. I'd always tried to keep comedy and lifestyle as two completely different brands. What I did with Cougar Boys was comedy, and when it came to my own content, it was just lifestyle stuff.

For about a year and a half after we stopped making videos together I didn't do any comedy, I was doing lifestyle and travel. Then I started doing it again, and in terms of the old group, no one saw what I was doing as competing. But that was probably the hardest thing—trying not to compete—because there was no bad blood between the boys, there’s no issues. I just would never want to disrespect them in any way.

Will we ever get the Cougar Boys reunion?

Yeah I reckon. We’ve all talked about it, it’s just that some of the boys live in Australia, and flying back and forth isn’t cheap. We were doing that for a good six months, where the boys that were living in Aus were flying back, but then COVID happened, so yeah.

You’ve been creating content for about ten years now. What’s the key to longevity in your opinion?

I reckon staying on top of trends has helped me the most, to be honest. I’ve always known that, and then thought, “Okay, what’s my creative angle?” Usually those are the pieces of content that pop off and do the numbers. But there’s not always something trending, so when that happens I just post original content that I wanna do.

With all the personal success you've had, what’s the biggest difference in your approach to life these days compared to five years ago?

Back then, I was just thinking, “Oh cool, I can make videos in my room” and whatever. To be honest, back then I was limited to my room. But now I’m like, “The world's our oyster.” I think about where I want to go, and then think about how I can get there—what does it take? Whereas back then I’d think, “Yeah, I don’t think I could ever do that.” Now I think the possibilities are limitless—we can do anything.

You can watch Torrell's GOAT Showdown here, presented by JD Sports.