Meet Kylie Cantrall, the teen TikTok star ruling Disney's 'Descendants'

Kylie Cantrall remembers well where she was when Disney’s musical movie “Descendants” premiered in 2015, because it was the sort of huge deal that necessitated a watch party with her next-door best friend and much tween-girl bonding.

“It was all the rage in fourth grade,” Cantrall recalls. “The minute that ‘Rotten to the Core’ came on, I was in. I want to be a VK. They're so cool.”

Nine years, two seasons of a Disney Channel sitcom and 6.5 million TikTok followers later, Cantrall, 19, is living that Villain Kid dream as Red, the Queen of Hearts’ daughter, in “Descendants: The Rise of Red” (streaming now on Disney+).

Join our Watch Party!Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox

In the fourth installment in the franchise, the rebellious Red receives an invite to Auradon Prep, a much nicer place than her Wonderland home and where all the coolest Disney fairy-tale characters matriculate. But when the Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora) pulls a dastardly coup, Red goes back in time with Cinderella’s daughter Chloe (Malia Baker) to stop the prank that turned her then-positive mom (Ruby Rose Turner) evil.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Cantrall gets to strut her stuff early in the opening song “Red,” and she even gets to be an action hero. “They have my number, I'm ready for my Marvel movie,” says the actress, who starred as an alien-babysitting teen on the Disney series “Gabby Duran & The Unsittables” and played a singing cheerleader in “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.”

If you’re not already a Cantrall fan, here’s what you need to know:

Kylie Cantrall sees her ‘Descendants’ character as a role model

“She doesn't have to be a villain like her mom; just because she was born into it doesn't mean she has to follow that path," Cantrall says of Red, the first Disney princess rocking a nose ring. “We should be empowering girls to create their own futures and own destinies and not wait around for anybody to tell them what they should or shouldn't be."

The “Descendants” world has a fantastical, “Barbie”-like vibe but Cantrall didn’t feel completely like Red until she put on the leather jacket and the bright wig. “It's so camp. We're all dressed as highlighters, so bright and so crazy,” says Cantrall, whose nose isn't pierced in real life. “I don't know if I as Kylie can pull that off as much as Red can.”

Music and dance have played large roles throughout Kylie Cantrall’s life

Cantrall’s mom is a dancer/choreographer and her dad is a producer/songwriter, so performing was “in the blood from the beginning,” says the actress, who has been dancing she was 2. “Literally the day after I got potty trained, my parents were like, ‘Put her in dance class.’” It took her a while to get good, though: “I’m sure my balance wasn't that great. I'm sure I was a bit clumsy. I'm sure I was distracted. But I definitely had a love for it even then.”

Music came shortly after that, as she would write songs at age 5 and 6 and spend time in her dad’s studio. “I would be watching him in the booth, and I was like, ‘Oh, I want you to record me next,' ” Cantrall says.

Brandy is Kylie Cantrall’s ‘Descendants’ co-star and a musical hero

Cantrall would listen to Brandy CDs in her dad’s car on the way to elementary school, so “I really do think I manifested working with her,” she says of her “Rise of Red” co-star. Brandy reprises her title role from the 1997 Disney movie “Cinderella,” and Cantrall found her to be “just incredible and such a nice human. She exceeded my expectations.”

Brandy, Janet Jackson and Aaliyah are all major influences on her own music. “They definitely inspire who I want to be as an artist and that kind of flavor that I want to bring,” says Cantrall, who’s prepping a debut album full of “danceable” pop/R&B tracks. “I’m just excited for people to hear it.”

Like most teens, Kylie Cantrall is working on her online/offline balance

For much of her life, Cantrall has had a significant Internet presence: When she was 8, she started her own “Hello Kylie” YouTube show and more recently started doing her “10 Minute Song” challenges on social media, where she turns three words from a fan into a tune. “I’ve grown so much as a songwriter over the past year pushing myself in that way,” she says. “I mean, it doesn't always work. I only post the ones that I think turn out OK, but I have a whole batch of ones that suck and are terrible and I didn't even finish. It's hit-or-miss.”

She’s been especially busy online lately with “Rise of Red” coming out. “I’m getting tagged in these beautiful fan edits and videos of people reacting to the songs,” Cantrall says. “Then you get the other side that's like the negative comments and the scrutiny of it.

“I’m trying to work on setting that boundary of, OK, I've been on Instagram too long, I’ve seen too much of myself lately on TikTok. It's all about balance and I'm still trying to figure out when to put the phone down. It's easy to get wrapped up in it and to go on a deep dive.”