It’s been nearly a decade since Cruz Beckham, 20, kicked off his music career with a novelty Christmas record in 2016. Now, nine years later, the son of David and Victoria Beckham is on a quest to assert himself as a serious musician – and had some choice words for TikTok users questioning his talent and rock credentials.

After months of teasing his guitar skills on social media, Cruz posted another snippet to his 700,000 TikTok followers on Sunday (22 June). In the clip, Cruz could be seen dressed in a baggy white t-shirt and light coloured trousers as he jammed out on his electric guitar with his band. The video was set to his unreleased song “For Ya Love”, a rocky ballad which has previously soundtracked other social media posts by Cruz and the other Beckhams.

The Beckham offspring often being criticised for their “nepo baby” status – not all that surprising given they’re the children of two of the UK’s biggest celebrities – it didn’t take long for the video to be met with comments from trolls. But rather than simply roll over, Cruz refused to take it lying down, and fired back suitably “sassy” responses that left fans impressed. “Are you going to stick with this job or going to become a race car driver next or something?” one commenter wrote, seemingly wrongly referencing the memes about Cruz’s brother Brooklyn and his multiple career paths. Seemingly unimpressed, Cruz replied: “Wrong brother mate.”

It didn’t end there. When another commenter wrote that Cruz had “the talent of an average teenage boy that just recently started learning guitar”, the influencer commented back: “It’s easy to comment on TikTok isn’t it [cry-laugh emoji] u think I care what you think darling.” And in response to another comment telling him to stick to football like his dad, Cruz wrote: “Julie mate have u seen what u look like, maybe sort it out.” And that fan luckily saw the funny side, writing back: “Good one [cry-laugh emoji] sorry Cruz.”

Fans were delighted to see the Beckham kid responding to his haters. “Cruz clapping back at some of these comments was NOT what I was expecting to see,” one fan cheered. “I’m loving the Cruz replies… at last someone standing up to the hate/jealousy. Go for it mate,” a person said, while another wrote: “The hate a young lad gets for putting effort and dedication into something is crazy! Keyboard warriors everywhere.”

Cruz previously followed a career in football and modelling before moving into music, and has been seen in the studio with rock royalty in his recent bid to launch his own career. He’s recorded with The Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard, who said in an interview earlier this year that Cruz had “really good taste in music”. He revealed: “We chat about early Bee Gees – there aren’t many people I can do that with. We started writing songs together and we’ve become mates.”

Pritchard also hinted that Cruz didn’t take all the nepotism accusers too seriously. “He’s naturally going to come under criticism because of who his parents are. He’s aware of that,” Pritchard said. “It was great when he said, ‘Jesus was a nepo baby too.’ I thought that was quite a funny response.” Cruz made this comment towards the end of last year, dividing the internet with his tongue-in-cheek response to nepotism allegations.

As the third oldest child of David and Victoria Beckham, Cruz has been called a “nepo baby” since the term first sprung up online. So too have his siblings: Brooklyn, 26, Romeo, 22, and Harper, 13. While the only Beckham daughter has largely been kept out of the spotlight, the boys have faced much criticism throughout their careers – and been forced to comment on the label more than once.

Speaking to Grazia last year, chef Brooklyn was asked whether he understood the public’s frustration with the children of the rich and famous rising to the top seemingly due to connections. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “Obviously I am one. But I couldn’t help how I was born, at all. There’s always going to be people that say rubbish. But as long as you do something that makes you happy and you’re kind to people, that’s all that matters.” Brooklyn said that he had grown to accept hat he was “always gonna get [that comment], no matter what I do. And I’m fine with that. It makes me work harder, because I’m like, I’m gonna prove these people wrong.”