The small 1950’s house nestled near midtown Palo Alto hums with quiet life. Its faded wallpapers and narrow hallways carry the calm of another era, broken only by the sharp rhythm of Palo Alto High School sophomore Trevor Vaughan’s guitar echoing through the home.

At his desk, Vaughan sits poised over his guitar, — a lime-green Fender Stratocaster — fingers playing a riff as sunlight cuts across the strings.

As of May 2024, the melodies that once filled Vaughan’s narrow hallways now echo across millions of screens. Online, Vaughan has struck gold.

In the last six months, Vaughan has amassed over 10 million views on Instagram. In his videos, Vaughan performs covers of pop songs and his own original pieces using electric guitars, acoustic guitars and an electronic keyboard.

Vaughan has loved music his whole life. He started writing music for the first time in sixth grade after gaining inspiration from pop artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Jason Derulo, leading to the release of his first song, “Flames,” at the end of eighth grade,

Known as Trevor V on Spotify, the aspiring singer has three songs uploaded: “Flames,” “Lonely” and “Drop Dead.” His songs are a hybrid of synth and indie pop.

“Olivia Rodrigo inspired me to write music,” Vaughan said. “I was listening to her music and then also watching YouTube videos of how she made songs, so then I was like, I want to do something like that. I think it’s really cool.”

With his rise to popularity, Vaughan continues to post his content on social media because of his passion for musical production.

“Well,  the reason I do it [post content] is just because  I love music,” Vaughan said. “That’s kind of … my main inspiration, my main reason, I’m doing all of it.”

Vaughan’s grandmother Barbara Little has seen his musical development and observed his passion grow.

“He loves it so much and enjoys it so that it gets some recognition, I’d think he would like to learn every instrument there is,” Little said.

With his passion for music, Vaughan has aspirations to become a professional musician.

“In the future, I hope to make it my career, which is a really hard goal, but I want to try it anyway,” Vaughan said.

Little also sees Vaughan going far with music.

“I can see him doing it for life really,” Little said. “I think he’ll even choose his college according to their college programs.”

Through his virality, Vaughan has received both supportive and hateful comments on his videos. On a video of a Justin Bieber cover, he received close to 12,000 comments which ranged from compliments to mockery.

A comment by user “@hamm_mma” received 321 likes and reads “please god give it up homie.”

Others were much more supportive, like “@haleyeritter,” who wrote, “This song fits your voice!! Keep it up!!!” on his performance of “Night Changes” by One Direction.

As a result, Vaughan said that dealing with negativity can be difficult at times.

“They [negative comments] do hold some weight for me, even though there are so many nice and positive comments,” Vaughan said. “I’m a pretty positive person … but when I look at them, I do care.”

Vaughan, even with negative comments on his videos, says he will continue to upload his videos because of his love for music.

“I feel like a lot of people, especially the ones that say mean things on my Instagram, they just see the output and criticize that, but they don’t see what goes behind it, like how much effort I put into it, or how much passion I have for it,”  Vaughan said. “So I feel like I just wish they could see all that, and then they might understand a little more.”

Little says she has watched him grow through the experience with pride.

“Oh, he’s always just really enjoying what he’s doing,” Little said. “It [the popularity] made it even more fun. He’s getting some recognition.”

Despite online recognition, Vaughan’s passion for music is what keeps him posting.

“When I make music or post something online,” Vaughan said. “I don’t care as much … about it being good, as how I feel about it or how much I love doing it. That’s my main reason for doing it. I just love music.”   v