June Bug has won over America with his viral cavorting. As we’re on the cusp of returning to a sense of normalcy with the world slowly beginning to open back up, Imani Carrier, who goes by the handle @juneelite, is unifying the world through dance. Always passionate about performing arts, June Bug started taking his craft seriously after casting aside his hoop dreams. “I dedicated my whole life to basketball, but the whole dancing thing was completely new,” he admits. “I started dancing six months prior to going viral,” June Bug continues.

Naturally, June Bug’s bubbly personality is what makes him unique: he always looks happy. His name stems from an appreciation of New York dance culture, something intrinsic to his success story. On December 5th (2016) the California-bred phenom shared a video on Twitter that would turn his passion into profit. With some assistance from a high-energy remix to Evelyn “Champagne” King’s “Love Come Down” melody – created by Kid The Wiz – June Bug made his formal introduction to internet culture, turning a parking garage into a dance floor with his improvisational dance moves.

Since then, it has been one triumphant feat after another: bookings on top of bookings, prompting June Bug to go on a statewide Tour de Dance. City to city, he comes bearing joy and a gleeful smile. Much of the 24-year-old’s positive mindset is a byproduct of his whimsical sense of humor, creating a variation of skits that support his claim to the viral lifestyle.

While much of June Bug’s success is best attributed to breaking the internet through dance, he has so much more to offer. “This moment is just the tip of the iceberg, that’s the great thing.” He’s stepping into a new light as his artistic and personal evolution continues. And he’s inviting the world to come along for the ride and bare witness.

How did you get the name June Bug? 

Well, my original account name was @airjunebug, but my friends call me Junebug. I couldn’t get the Instagram account five years ago but I ended up getting that account disabled. @airjunebug was me morphing June Bug, who’s like a dancer, into Air. Air was like Air Jordan, I used to really be into basketball. Well, I still am into basketball –  I used to collect Jordan’s and what not. I got that name taken away and had to come up with another name and that ended up being June Elite. 

Where does the Elite part come from? I imagine you could’ve chosen anything else.

There’s certain tiers in New York dance culture where you have certain teams and what not. You have the lower level, mid tiers and the elite ones. So, I figured to put that in my name. Not in the aspect of me being a great dancer, but with me being elite in anything that I do. 

Where are you originally from? 

I’m from Richmond, California, the Bay Area. 

From my understanding, this isn’t your first time going viral?

Numerous times. I’ve been viral over the course of five years. 

With a background in dancing and basketball, I think it’s fair to say that you’re relatively athletic. 

I dedicated my whole life to basketball, but the whole dancing thing was completely new. I started dancing six months prior to going viral. I realized that the writing was on the wall with basketball for me in high school. I was in college trying to play basketball, I was going against guys in practice and it’s like dude, I can’t handle this. Plus I had a big anxiety problem. That’s what really made me deter from basketball. 

How do you manage to be in these close-knit spaces and get past that natural fear of being anxious? You look so happy and carefree when you’re dancing. 

The only time I’ve ever had anxiety was with basketball, it’s the weirdest thing. I was never able to perform on the court, but the fact that it’s me performing in front of people, there’s none there. It’s really weird to think about (laughs). I just see it as fun really. Just me being myself. 

You being yourself has brought so much joy to the world amidst a global pandemic. How does that make you feel?

I think it’s humbling to be able to affect people in such a positive way. It leaves me with a responsibility, because everyone doesn’t have this platform. I have to be real intentional with everything that I do. It’s a blessing to say the least, to be able to touch so many people amidst a pandemic. I just wanna show people that you can still live your life, even if people think you shouldn’t. 

Speaking of intentionality, you initially went viral by dancing to SpotemGotem’s “Beatbox” single. Now, you’re buggin’ out to your own song. What prompted you to make this change? 

Initially, the sound I was using got copyrighted, so that muted all of my videos. I was using the same sound for over a month at the time and they muted every single video. My manager pitched to me that it was time for my own song. That was never my intention to get into music, it’s just what made sense, to have something that’s lucrative for me and get paid for it. Plus the song is a lot more positive and there aren’t many deterrents in the song, so it just made sense. 

To offer perspective, what exactly does it mean to “Bug Out” ? 

Bug Out is being yourself and not caring what anyone else thinks. Having a good time. 

With the whole Reebok situation, it’s crazy that your first video to go viral for the #beatboxchallenge featured you wearing the pair of sneakers that are mentioned in the actual song. Is this a mere coincidence or was that intentional? 

That was all coincidence. I bought the original pumps two weeks before the challenge. I’ve always wanted some Pumps. A lot of my shoe collection is Nike and Jordan’s, so I decided to get some Pumps. I was wearing those for two weeks and then the challenge came about. I decided to wear that fit that day. I heard the song for the first time at like 5 o’clock in the evening, so I didn’t know anything about the song. I made the video five minutes later and it blew up. I realized a week later that people started to think I was trying to get a Reebok deal etc., this guys a marketing genius, but it’s like bro – I didn’t think of that at all. I’m very superstitious with certain things, it just felt like destiny ya know. With certain things that’s been happening over the course of this moment, but that was not intentional at all.

What’s next for June Bug? 

I wanna get into acting. This moment is just the tip of the iceberg, that’s the great thing. That’s just one of the facets of myself: I love dancing. I enjoy directing, acting, I’m into fashion as well. I have a lot of different things in store, this is not the end for me.