Q&A: Savannah Solo Awakens the Meme Force

There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?

Red lightsabers are extending to their fullest pulsating lengths, ignited by the Force Lightning that crackles from Savannah Solo.

Her wealth of premium social media content rivals the commercial might of the Hutt Cartel, Muunilinst bankers and Coruscant economy combined.

Her sexual Midi-chlorian count is so high, that the kyber crystals in every Jedi Master’s loins are hit with enough passionate heat to eclipse a Twi’lek dancer sweltering beneath the twin suns of Tattooine.

Hoth’s snowy landscape steams like the lava lakes of Mustafar when the blaster fire of her carnal cosplaying outmatches a Starkiller Base superweapon.

And her galactic legion of fans hum with more pleasure-inducing vibes than a buzz droid wielding a vibro-blade, melting through even the coldest carbonite-frozen spice smuggler and getting harder than the Mandalorian beskar of Bo-Katan Kryze.

With ambitions that dwarf Emperor Palpatine balanced against a sense of humility that renders Yoda an arrogant Moff in comparison, Solo can unite even the staunchest Reylo fanatic and cruelest member of the Fandom Menace in adoring worshipfulness.

Suffice to say, if you’re the kind of bona fide comics/sci-fi geek that drives all those Criterion Collection film snob curmudgeons insane, the kind of diehard gamer who would sooner tap into the streaming entertainment paradise of Twitch than wax philosophical with literati killjoys about the virtues of analog, you’ve come (and will come a great many times) to the right damn place.

Because Solo is smart, but she’s fun as hell. She’s a do-gooder, but she’s not a fearmonger. And she doesn’t take herself too seriously, when push comes to shove. Plus, if you like anime, she’s got you more than covered, my friend.

So, come and unlock the lessons of Darth Plagueis the Wise, in this Clip Star of the Month holocron interview. The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be … unnaturally horny.

XBIZ: What inspired you to leap into the adult industry (and what was life like before the biz)?

SOLO: Would you believe me if I said God told me to do porn? (That’s a joke, but I did actually pray about it. “Dear, God. Should I do porn? Thunder for yes, lightning for no. I appreciate it, my guy.”) Before I started doing sex work, I was just your average burnt-out college graduate.

I had gone for a degree in business instead of acting because I had been told I would never get a job with my theater degree. That turned out to be the biggest load of bullshit, because I couldn’t get a job with the business degree either. I was scraping by okay, though. I wasn’t in more than a few thousands of debt from college because I had gotten an academic scholarship that footed the bill for all my classes.

I was in a long-term relationship with a guy who introduced me to OnlyFans and encouraged me to try my luck at it. He was showing me girls’ earning statements and I was losing my mind at the concept of making life-changing money off selling nudes. I started to let myself dream about what it would be like if that happened to me, and I ended up giving it a shot.

XBIZ: And now you’ve made quite the splash, very quickly; to what do you attribute the virality of your posts and epic clout?

SOLO: I have epic clout? You think I have epic clout? God, I’m honored! Well, I can’t pretend that being a white cisgender gal with big anime titties and mediocre comedic timing didn’t have a hand in my online presence growing fast. Other than those things, I think I would honestly say that it was mostly the support of other performers.

I would make little Twitter videos about how bizarre and funny day-to-day life can be as an internet sex worker, and the other performers would share my posts with their friends or followers, which put me on the map the way no spicy lewd pic ever could for me. It was like I blinked and all of a sudden everyone knew my Twitter. That was certainly not my intention when I started making those videos. They were just a self-indulgent outlet that ended up totally changing my life.

XBIZ: Discuss the many geeky interests you share with your fan base, from “Star Wars” to anime shows. What seems to drive the most engagement and sales?

SOLO: See, this is a dangerous question to ask me. You ask one question about “Star Wars” and before you know it, I’ll have you balls deep in lightsaber schematics. Which, as I’m sure you’re not surprised to find, is definitely what sells the best for me. I think a lot of my subscribers like the idea that everyone on my page is probably jerkin’ it to the same NSFW “Star Wars” fanart. Myself absolutely included.

Though recently, I have been reverting back to my middle school anime phase. Anime cosplay content doesn’t sell half as well as my “Star Wars” content, but I’m pretty sure that’s just because I’ve cultivated a “Star Wars” audience.

A couple months ago, I totally re-submerged myself into the nightmare that is “Attack on Titan” and started cosplaying all the characters just for my own pleasure. The response wasn’t amazing, but I just couldn’t get the cosplays out of my head.

I probably take loving fictional characters much too seriously. But it is really nice to able to use that for work to make good in-character roleplay/cosplay content! And it makes interesting sessions for my poor therapist. I’m sure she appreciated me using my whole hour to talk about why Kylo Ren deserved better.

XBIZ: How do you approach cosplaying, from setting the scene to crafting costumes, in a budget-friendly but effective way?

SOLO: Cosplay is such a fun hobby. I love that it’s exceedingly accommodating to different budgets and levels of expertise. There are some costumes that are simple enough that I can sew them myself out of cheap Walmart material and thrift store clothes, and then there are some that turn out to be such a pain in the ass that I end up just biting the bullet and dropping cash on the pre-made costume. Lately I’ve been doing much more of the latter than the former, just because my attention span and patience have worn down to particularly atrocious levels.

As far as scene-setting goes, my best friend Cay is the gal I go to for that. She does all my best cosplay photoshoots, and she has a wonderful eye for scenery. We love to go to the local thrift stores and raid the junk shelves for props. We have fun rummaging through knick-knacks, we barely spend $30 and then we have stuff we can often use for multiple shoots. Between that and backdrops I find for cheap on Amazon, I like to think we’ve had some decent little setups!

Savannah Solo

XBIZ: When Joanna Angel gushed about you during the XBIZ Awards red-carpet in January, it was clear you’d attained widespread recognition. Which long-time adult stars, cam models and content creators do you look up to, and which ones have reached out to express their support?

SOLO: Oh my god, that was such a wild moment for me. I was absolutely shocked that she knew who I was. I got so flustered! Before I started sex work, I really had a short list of adult stars that I frequented, usually just ending up on either Mia Malkova or Manuel Ferrara’s Pornhub page any given day. When I started getting into recon for my OnlyFans page, I ended up following a lot of cosplay performers. I was obsessed with the way girls like PeachJars and OMGcosplay were running their Onlyfans pages: solo, low-stress and high-fun. They were the first two accounts that I followed when I started sex work and now I’m mutuals with both of them, so that’s something I scream into my pillow about at night.

Alana Evans is probably the person who I look up to who has shown me the most genuine kindness and support. I absolutely love her. Every time I have ever been worried about something or didn’t know who to turn to, she has been there for me. She works so hard to improve the experience of adult performers, and I don’t think she gets thanked half as much as she should. She’s such a sweetheart who has done so much to help me. She’s like my porn fairy godmother!

XBIZ: With an increasingly fanatical audience on OnlyFans, how do you juggle all the various DMs, feed postings and more as far as project management scalability?

SOLO: I had been making it work by myself until a couple months ago. I was already working way too much when my TikTok account took off and I suddenly found myself with double the subscribers – not a complaint in the slightest – and it really solidified my decision to hire my BFF to help me out with my OnlyFans inbox and some of my other social media responsibilities.

She also does all the work of recording and editing our “Star Wars” podcast, “Sithsters.” She’s my hero. I don’t know how I would survive without her. Now I can focus on making and editing fun videos and I have way more creative energy. I’m kicking myself for not asking for help before this.

XBIZ: Tell us a few particularly popular clips that have been wildly lucrative for you. Why do you think they succeeded?

SOLO: It’s definitely a toss-up between my clip named “Butt Stuff,” which I feel is pretty self-explanatory, and my “Star Wars” roleplay clips. Turns out putting stuff in your butt apparently just never loses its novelty! And the “Star Wars” clips are made with a lot of love. I map out the scene and then I improv it with the impressions until I get it just how I want it. I think the more casual viewers dive for whatever they think will be dirtiest, which is totally fine, but my nerds love the porn that plays like a fanfiction. And I love making it.

XBIZ: How do you balance finances, either reinvesting in yourself and business or seeking out opportunities like real estate, stocks, etc.?

SOLO: I’m a terrible person to ask about finances. I just dump everything I can into my savings account for when taxes roll around, and then the rest of it goes to paying off what’s left of my mortgage as quickly as possible and business expenses. I do donate 10% of my income or more each month to Freedom Network USA, Lysistrata and other sex worker organizations, which is super fun and fulfilling. But I’ve never had money like this before in my life, so I’m constantly resisting both the awful and conflicting urges to spend it all or hoard it all!

XBIZ: Which as-yet-unexplored content genres or cosplay characters are you looking forward to showcasing?

SOLO: I haven’t tapped into the superhero cosplays near as much as I need and want to. I have a Black Widow cosplay coming up to celebrate the release of the new film and I am vibrating with excitement to do that cosplay. I’ve been kicking around a ton of superhero cosplays for years and I don’t know why I haven’t done them yet, when I know for sure that they would be not only self-indulgent but quite lucrative! My sights are currently locked on Peggy Carter, Captain Marvel, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn for this upcoming year. And whoever the hell Florence Pugh’s character is in the new “Black Widow” movie. I don’t know a thing about her, but I want to be her so bad I can’t stand it.

XBIZ: As a bona fide premium social media expert, where do you see the creator economy going next, especially given the parallel growth in mainstream an adult around talent-centric revenues?

SOLO: I don’t think I’ve been around long enough to be able to predict anything like that. I do think it’s really exciting that at least online sex work is becoming a little more culturally acceptable. I’ve seen less demonization in the media since OnlyFans became such a cultural phenomenon, and that’s really nice. But you still can’t mention OnlyFans on places like Instagram and TikTok. I would love to see there be less of a stink around advertising on sites that generate great organic traffic like those. But I don’t think that will ever come to pass.

XBIZ: Any spicy collabs on the horizon with other stars?

I recently did my first big collab with the love of my life, Emily Cheree, and that was absolutely heavenly. I’ve never met an online friend like that before and she was so sweet and magical! I’ll hopefully have another collab coming soon with my friends Lizbeth Eden and QTsnack, two creators who also do really fun solo content. They’re big “Star Trek” fans so I think the plan is to play up the Trek vs. Wars rivalry. It’s going to be a blast, I know it!

XBIZ: How do you seek to achieve work/life balance, whether that’s taking care of mental/physical health or maintaining some semblance of a social life?

SOLO: Oh, I’m awful at work/life balance. I recently started seeing a therapist and that has really helped me a ton with managing the expectations I put on myself. But I still feel so miserably guilty and anxious taking a day off to spend with friends/ family it’s nuts. When your life revolves around social media it’s hard to even scroll on your phone without trying to look for something else to monetize.

It’s a double-edged sword, because on the one hand I feel like I have the most amazing job in the world where I get to have fun and entertain people for a living, but on the other hand, I never ever feel like I’m off. Of course, that’s a trade-off I would take a thousand times in a row, and I’m so unbelievably grateful, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t exhausting.

I used OnlyFans and social media to distract me from a long-term breakup, a global pandemic, massive changes in my life and family and near constant attacks on my appearance, so it isn’t any wonder that I’ve become entirely codependent on work. I’ve never been good at not letting things consume me when I invest myself into them and this has been absolutely no different. I think a lot of online creators feel the same way. It’s easy to get addicted to “the grind” because when you get the ball rolling you’re so loathe to stop it. But the ball eventually rolls to a stop on its own and I’m trying to learn how to use that time to take care of myself and take time off instead of panicking about why I can’t get it to move.

XBIZ: What are your grand ambitions for the coming year and beyond?

SOLO: My grandest ambition for this year is to kiss some freakin’ girls. Lesbian Summer 2021, baby. I haven’t been smooched since before Corona, and that sounds like a crime if I’ve ever heard one.

I want to up my cosplay game with location shoots now that I’m vaccinated, and I’m really excited with the growth rate I’ve got going on my page right now, so I’m pumped to see where that’s leading me. I would love to one day get involved in something more mainstream since that was my dream before sex work, but that may be flying too close to the sun.

I’m just trying really hard to not plan my life too far in advance since it seems to change course very quickly for me. I have no idea what God’s plan is but until he says it’s time to move, you can just catch me vibin’ right here! opportunities like real estate, stocks, etc.?