Meet Frankie To-ong, aka H-Town Frankie. A light show creator and proud University of Houston alum, he turns his home into a glow-show sing-along every holiday season, syncing bright lights with festive tunes and iconic tracks from hip-hop megawatt stars like Biggie, Tupac and Jay-Z — his “secret sauce,” he says.

Originally a way to make his young daughters light up, Frankie’s shows, which began in 2014, have gone from humble holiday tradition to must-see main event. He says he pulls inspiration from his days deejaying in the Commons and leading the Filipino Students Association’s Spirit Dance team to competition wins.

Little did he know his annual displays would soon go viral.

Frankie posted “the video that changed everything” in 2017. An homage to the Houston Astros’ World Series win, it landed on the feed of H-Town rapper Paul Wall, whose reshare helped rack up the streams. Since then, unofficial mayor Bun B, news networks and even daytime talk shows have reached out.

Today, Frankie’s leveled-up productions use pixel lights for better synching, a garage matrix for throwing lyrics and oversized snowflakes for matching drum beats. He says it takes months to program a single show, but for 50 million views a year, the effort seems worth it.

Of all the fandom, though, he says there’s one admirer who takes the tinsel.

“When UH reached out asking me to choreograph something for the 2024 holiday card, I dropped everything I was doing,” he says. “That was a proud moment. That made me feel really special.”