Ariel Fitz-Patrick is a Christian TikTok creator and singer. Known for her Christian comedy videos and heartfelt music, Ariel’s mission is to create a “safe place for those who love God, music, and laughter.” In 2024, she released a short film on YouTube for her debut single, “God Love.”

PEER: How did you come to know Jesus? Did you always grow up in the church?

ARIEL FITZ-PATRICK: Yes, so that was actually my introduction to Jesus, because my parents were pastors, and even before they became the ministers of their own church, they were also ministers in the previous church where they served at. I was born, like my dad always says, technically on the pew, just always there. I was at church more than I was at home. I was introduced to Jesus at a young age. But obviously, as we know, there’s a difference between being introduced to Jesus and going to church and going through the motions and also having that relationship with Jesus and actually getting to know Him. I would say that was an awesome open door for me to meet Him and to get good values since babyhood. It was like the perfect guide for me when I got older, when I actually wanted to know, who is Jesus? Then around, I would say, 12 years old is when I really started seeking Him out to get to know Him.

P: What inspired you to start creating Christian comedy content to TikTok?

AF: I always tell people it was never on purpose. It was not an intentional thing. I accidentally stumbled upon it. But I do believe it was God’s purpose for my life. Getting on TikTok, I really had no idea what I was going to do. I didn’t know what type of content I was going to create. All I know is that I really wanted to get into that online space, and I loved creating videos. I prayed about it. Like, honestly, I told God, it’s a long story. But I was like, God, I’m putting this fully in your hands. I’m going to get on this new thing that I heard about called TikTok. This was late, late 2020, almost 2021. I was like, “God, I just want that whatever happens, whatever I do, that you get the glory from it.” I didn’t even know what that meant. All I knew was I wanted God to get the glory. I started creating all kinds of content. My first video was a room tour. I did those comedy jump scare type videos. I did makeup. Then one day, I did a video with God and one of his angels. That video, I really enjoyed doing it. It did very well. For me, it did very well in the beginning stages when you have zero followers. From there, I kept on making that type of content. Because for one, it was something that I truly enjoyed making and I could relate with. Two, my audience, I didn’t even know there was an audience out there that loved that type of content because it was very new. Then from there, I grew to recreating Bible stories. I’ve always loved Bible stories and day-to-day life situations. So, I do videos that are basically my everyday life or other people’s everyday life. 

P: On your YouTube channel, your mission statement says, “a safe place for those who love God, music, and laughter.” Can you elaborate on what this mission means to you and your audience?

AF: Yes. So again, because I accidentally stumbled into this category, into this niche, I didn’t really have a mission, and I didn’t really have this goal. All I knew is that I wanted to create content, and I wanted whatever content I created to be helpful and not hurtful to society. So when it eventually grew to this space where I’m creating comedy content and it’s obviously around God and Christianity, I realized that I did become that, based off of my community and based off of comments and emails I was getting, my page became this safe space for people who love God or are searching for God, even if they haven’t gotten to that relationship yet, but love a good laugh without being criticized for laughing. We don’t believe in disrespecting God in any type of way, but it’s just a safe place for you to be like, I want this down-to-earth type of thing that I can relate to, I can laugh with. But even with the music that I create—that’s why I added music in that as well. It’s not a place where you feel like you have to listen to one specific type of music in order to be on the right track. No, the content of the music is extremely important, but you’re also allowed to bop, you’re also allowed to dance, you’re also allowed to sing along and be yourself. I wanted to create a space on any one of my pages, whether it’s YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, that people who love God or are searching for God can really feel like, this is real. I don’t have to pretend to be someone else, like I could be who God made me to be but also conform to who he intended for me to be as well. 

P: What inspired you to pursue music? Have you always had this dream to be a musician?

AF: It’s always been my dream. It was my first dream as a child to be a singer. I always used to say when I was younger: I want to be a singer and a dancer. But then as you get older, people start telling you that you need to get a job that’s going to bring in a lot of money. So, then I kind of shifted to like, okay, then I’ll be a doctor, and a singer and a dancer. I kept putting this thing up. But then the older and older I got, the more adults can try to push down your dreams, your childhood dreams. But even as I started focusing more on academics and not abandoning it completely, but just not focusing on it as much as I should have. It always was inside of me. I always wanted to sing. I always wanted to do music. In terms of Christian music, it was the only option. It was not one day where I was like, should I do that? It was never that. It was always, well, this is my life. I don’t know anything outside of Christian music. I was taught from a young age that God is the one who gives you all your gifts. If you’re going to use your gifts, better use it to glorify His name. I’ve never had a desire to do anything outside of gospel music.

P: You released a short film music video. Tell me the inspiration behind that. How do you how did you approach like the scriptwriting process behind that? 

AF: That was my short film for “God Love.” I had never done anything like that before. I just wanted to bring across the message of what God Love is to me, like what the song actually means. Because you could listen to the song, and it could apply to so many different situations. All I wanted to do in that video was bring out a few situations that I could think of where God’s love has shown brightly. It was about three scenarios. It was from a place of experiencing hurt from trusting the love of people. God’s love coming in and like fixing my brokenness, fixing the unforgiveness, fixing the bitterness, fixing the shattered pieces and bringing it all back together. That to me is God’s love, even when every other love fails. So that’s the way I would express the song is when every other love fails, God’s love always prevails. I just wanted to bring that out the best way I could with the tools that I had in that video.

P: What influences your songwriting? If your personal relationship with God influences it, how does your personal relationship with God influence your songwriting?

AF: I’m a person that I really, really like my songs to reflect something about who I truly am. Like I never want to write or never want to sing something that I cannot relate to, even if it may be true. I need it to link somehow with me personally. So that way it could be a part of my testimony. In the writing process or creating process, when I’m releasing music, I always think of whether I’m the one writing it or someone else wrote it. Is this something that I can testify to? Is this something that I have experienced? If I’m telling somebody to do this, I’m telling somebody about this story. Do I have the proof that that is true? It’s fully influenced by my relationship with God, especially like anytime I sit down to write. I’m usually writing a story and then I have to push it into a song because I love to write. I love writing stories and retelling things. It’s really me just telling a story of what happened to me and what God has done for me. The point of each song for me to always, always show the light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t want it to end in just despair. I want hope to be shown because God is our hope. I never want people to go away feeling like, well, my life just sucks. I just have to accept that. 

P: How do you hope your content, whether it’s on TikTok or YouTube, and your music impacts your audience? 

AF: I really hope that it impacts them in a way where they are not ashamed. Like I don’t want people to be ashamed of their faith and I don’t want them to be ashamed of their journey. I don’t want them to be ashamed of the pursuits. Like there’s nothing about Christ or God that we should be ashamed of. I think especially growing up going to high school, going to college, you can see this sadness when it comes to sharing Christ. You have this fear of not fitting in or you have this fear of coming off too strong or the spirit is like, “Maybe I’ll offend people.” I want people to strip all that away because it doesn’t matter. All that stuff does not matter. If you’re pursuing truth, the Holy Spirit will tell you how to talk to people. The Holy Spirit will tell you, will guide you when you’re looking for truth. 

I want people to take away from my content that you personally can speak to God. “I don’t have to wait for a pastor or an evangelist to come and tell me about it.” It’s great. So, yes, sit under these people and listen to the Word. That scripture where the Word says to acknowledge God in all your ways. That’s what I want people to take away from the videos as well. In every situation, no matter what it is, the Bible says in all your ways, even the smallest, tiniest situations, acknowledge God in it. He’s there and He will help you through it all. I really want people to just be loud about their faith. I don’t mean to be obnoxious. Be shameless, be bold, because people actually need this truth and there’s no point in us hiding it.

P: What advice do you have for young, aspiring musicians who either want to pursue Christian music or secular music? 

AF: I would say don’t wait for somebody to come and give you the opportunity. Nine times out of ten, that’s not going to happen. You have to be bold. You have to be ready to put out whatever God has put inside of you, because whatever talent you have, it was put inside of you from birth by your Creator. I know a lot of times we sit around waiting for ourselves to get well, like I have to wait until I get better with my singing. I have to wait until I become a master of the guitar. All of this is great aspiration. But I don’t believe that you should just sit around and wait for some kind of opportunity to come your way for a record label to come at knocking at your front door and be like, “We want to sign you.” Like, no, the Internet is here. Thank God this is a great time for us to be able to release whatever we can. I would say practice a lot and perfect your gifts. But during that perfection process, it never ends. It’s no point in being like, I’m going to wait until I perfect it. You’re never going to get to that point. You’re always going to get better and better and better. I would say just go for it. People always ask me: “How do I start X, Y, Z?” You have to start. That’s the only way you can do it. I know it’s not the advice people want to hear, but if you want to start something, you have to start it. You just have to start moving. When you start moving and once you have faith, you commit your plans into God’s hands. He starts moving with you.

P: How do you practice self-care?

AF: I have my little routine. My skin is very important to me. I have my night routine and morning routine. That’s like something that is important to my self-care. I also like to put on my pedicure every now and then. I like to chill. I like to relax, and I like to be in silence. I like to be by myself. For me, self-care is sometimes just being away from everybody and everything and just being on my couch and chilling. 

P: Is there anything that you’re currently listening to?

AF: What am I currently listening to? I guess it’s kind of funny because like coming out at the end of the year, I notice I tune out of everything. It’s kind of like a natural detox. I know early in the year, I was really listening to Pastor Mike Jr.’s music, but now I’m not really listening to that much. 

P: What’s a Bible verse that’s been on your heart recently?

AF: It’s been two. The scripture that’s always on my heart is Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” A constant reminder to not worry, not worry about my life, not worry about what I’ll eat, not worry about what I’ll wear. God is going to take care of it all. I have to seek first the kingdom. Because there’s so much, like more and more responsibilities, more and more things happening—it’s hard to focus on what’s most important. 

To stay up to date with her music, follow Ariel Fitz-Patrick on Instagram @arielfitz.patrick. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.