What finally helped your channel get its first real momentum?

I keep seeing people say “just stay consistent,” but I feel like there must be something more that finally makes the algorithm pay attention.
For creators who have been posting for a while, was there one thing that suddenly made views go up like a better thumbnail, a certain topic, a new editing style, or something else entirely? I would love to hear what changed things for you personally. It might help a lot of us who are still waiting for that first real push.