The music duo “Just Take the Stairs” has been rising in the music and social media world on TikTok. The two musicians, Jacob Levenstien and Connor “CJ” Dale, have been going viral by covering popular songs around the FAU Boca Raton campus.
Their most popular video, a cover of “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles, performed while they stood on the FAU school seal in front of the Student Union, has 135k views.
It all started with their cover of “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston; the video gained a lot of attention, including comments from people asking for serenades, and so that’s what they did to get their name out.
Beyond the reach of social media, they would give out flyers, sliding them under as many dorm room doors as possible. The duo credits their popular “Sign of the Times” cover “blowing up” in likes due to their filming location, right on top of the seal widely recognized by FAU students.
They currently have over 5,000 followers and 152.6k likes across their account. Their rise to virality wasn’t intentional, though; they met randomly at FAU and just started making music together.
“To us, Just Take The Stairs represents putting in the hard work to accomplish hard goals instead of waiting around for something easier,” Levenstien said about the band.
When asked if this was a hobby or if they were actively pursuing music as a career, Levenstien said, “It’s kind of a hybrid. Neither of us is majoring in music in college, but … we’d definitely be open to pursuing it more seriously.”
Levenstien and Dale are both freshmen at FAU, but contrary to the musical nature of the account, Levenstien is majoring in business, and Dale is majoring in communications. To help with the recording, they have a designated cameraman: Tyler Gany. On their account, they cover songs like “Babydoll” by Dominic Fike, “Animal” by Neon Trees, and many more, using just a piano, drums, and their vocals. Levenstien sings and plays piano, while Dale typically sticks to drums.
“We both started playing music at a young age. CJ grew up playing drums, producing music, and experimenting with other instruments. I began singing in elementary school after [my] parents signed [me] up for lessons,” said Levenstien.
When asked how this whole account started, they recalled how they first met and how FAU actually brought them together. “We actually met at college orientation,” Dale said, “after introducing ourselves, there was about 45 minutes of complete silence – until we both laughed at the same joke. That moment made it clear we had a lot in common.”
From there, they became best friends, connecting through music and other interests and topics. They began playing together on their own almost every day, which eventually led them to record covers and share them with friends. At the time, they didn’t even have a band name, but their friends encouraged them to start posting, and so they did. The only thing left was to figure out what to call themselves.
Every night, they would practice in the Dorothy F. Schmidt building, talking about what their band name should be while waiting for the elevator, never quite landing on the perfect one.
“Almost every time, the elevator wouldn’t come down, and one of us would say, ‘Let’s just take the stairs to the practice room.’ After about two weeks of this routine, it finally clicked,” Dale said. They said that over time, this name grew beyond its origin; it came to represent hard work rather than waiting for something easier.
“We think it’s really cool … we’re just happy that people genuinely enjoy watching them,” Dale said.
Parker Yontz, in year three of his Master of Fine Arts in fiction writing, says he appreciates their initiative in music and the arts.
“You know, they’re out in the breezeway where people can see them; they’re just out on campus. So I think it’s cool that something like this does exist at FAU,” said Yontz.
While the duo started the band purely for fun, it has grown into something more, and they’re excited for what’s next.
They have an extended play (EP) scheduled for release by the end of the semester. Their music is available on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Angelina Paries Babich is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this story, email Babich at [email protected].
