If you spend any time scrolling on TikTok, you’ve likely come across videos of a four-year-old Black girl line dancing to “Boots on the Ground” without missing a beat. The young girl, who is known online as Miss Shirley, has garnered a massive following of fans who love her moves and the facial expressions she serves along with them.
“Aaahhhh I love the attitude!! The face!! Everything!!!” wrote someone in the comments of one of her videos dancing at a trail ride.
But while Miss Shirley has found plenty of followers who find her adorable (including her more than 85,000 TikTok followers), there are just as many people who believe the twerking is a little too much for a young child who should be watching “Sesame Street” instead of dropping it like it’s hot. And the comments coming from her adopted online aunties and uncles who are concerned for her safety do not hold back.
“Why is that man recording her like that? Why are adults having her perform at parties that have alcohol and adults?” wrote one concerned commenter who thinks having a four-year-old dance suggestively for adults makes her a target for predators.
Others want to know why we’re calling a preschooler, whose real name is Mariah, “Miss Shirley” in 2025.
“She’s a child not Ms Shirley. Where are [her] parents?” someone else asked.
TikTok user Nina Daniel734 was equally disturbed by the young girl’s stage name and asked why she’s not focused on finger painting and snack time instead of being forced to perform for adults.
“Wrap it up, mama, ‘cause she is tired. She ready to go to daycare,” she said.
“THEM LIL BOOTS NEED TO BE ON THE PLAYGROUND HOW BOUT THAT!!!!,” someone cosigned in the comment section of her post.
Women aren’t the only ones who have a problem with little Miss Shirley’s moves. TikTok user Terrance Allen joined the conversation to say he’s had enough.
“Get me out the group chat. I don’t wanna see nothing about Miss Shirley,” he said. “I’m thinking she 96-years-old up here praising the Lord and she got her boots on the ground.”
But while some are trying to make sense of what’s happening to this young girl, TikTok user Synetra Jones says Miss Shirley’s mom knows exactly what she’s doing and sees her daughter’s rising popularity as a source of income.
“No matter what your opinion is, it does not matter because all her mom can see is the bag,” she suspected in a post. “The way this mom has her little girl in music videos, doing trail rides, she is very aware of the exposure she is giving her child. Everything you guys are saying, I’m sure she already thought of. I don’t ‘think that woman cares.”
Although Miss Shirley is riding high on her popularity now, some people are predicting the long-term outcome will be far worse than the short-term success.
“Her mother is going to regret making this little girl think she is grown,” wrote someone in the comments. “She will be partaking in other adult activities way too soon and will refuse to be parented.”