This article is from the October issue of Breezes. Pick up a copy and read it today!

YouTube has taken the world by storm. Kids no longer come home from school and swap their backpacks for a remote control with the intentions of watching their favorite after-school special. Instead, they pop open their laptops and pull up YouTube. This video-sharing platform inspires creativity and global connectedness. YouTubers have gained such a following that the word celebrity no longer means a Hollywood star. A celebrity could be a fourteen year old kid filming, editing, and posting gaming videos in his Midwestern basement. These kind of celebrities are your average boy/girl-next-door. They are more relatable and able to connect to their viewers than the biggest Hollywood name ever could.

Miranda Sings

Oh Miranda Sings: the ever-charming, ever-ignorant, ever-arrogant YouTube celebrity. Miranda Sings is a satirical character created and personified by Colleen Evans (née Ballinger). Colleen’s aim is to poke fun at all the people that set out to be “YouTube famous”, especially the ones who post singing videos. Colleen, a classically trained vocalist, sings terribly off-key, yet in the arrogant eyes of  Miranda, it is considered “bootiful”.

With an obsessive following of over five million subscribers who call themselves “Mirfandas”, Miranda has her viewers in a trance with her signature red “lisstick” and channel dotted with voice and dance lessons, music videos, tutorials, discussions, and collaborations with other YouTubers. She has many personas, including being a: “senger, ater, danzar, model, and majikan” [translation: singer, actor, dancer, model, and magician] and juggling conservative “relacionchips” with her many “baes” in the midst of it all.

Her quirky personality has carried her far, leading to world tours, merchandise, a New York Times #1 Best-Selling book, awards, and stints on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Miranda is virtually queen of the internet. To quote Miranda, “Sence i’m famuse, susribe or els your a hatre!! Haterez back off!”

Jim Chapman

He’s the virtual bestie you never knew you were tragically suffering without. Jim Chapman is a British YouTuber, model, and one-half of YouTube power couple, Janya (Jim Chapman and Tanya Burr). From men’s fashion to collaborations with other YouTubers to his #bakingwithjim videos, Jim’s channel is the definition of fun and inviting. Between his two channels (his second one is called EveryDay Jim), Jim shows his dedication to the video website by posting up to  six videos a week. While many YouTubers are entering the world of book publishing, Jim Chapman broke from the crowd. He recently released a quirky stationery collection called James & Friends. If you’re new to the world of YouTubers, check out Jim Chapman. You’ll be hooked as soon as you hear “Hello best friends!”