YouTube Stars!

Have you ever watched a video that really made you think? Here are 3 videos with messages. Watch and take some time to think about what the person in the video is saying. Some videos give a few minutes of laughter, others cheer you with a nice song; these will inspire you to think about the topics these awesome vloggers are talking about.

But first, The News!

This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is an interesting video from Piper Reese (PipersPicksTV) - in which this young tween interviews the often outrageous YouTube Star comedian Shane Dawson. Piper asks Shane Dawson some very good questions and Shane gives fun and intelligent answers. Piper points out that Shane's videos sometimes help people out, and Shane responds that his videos are outrageous but contain some moral. Also hear Shane Dawson talk about cats and dogs, YouTube and TV, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus. Watch it!

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week!


Pop and Jazz singer Steffi Ledbetter (singingfool14) is in the Finals of Cree Ingles Idol Search Season 10. We love her voice and her style! Here is Steffi singing a Parody that she wrote herself, of Katy Perry's "California Girls" which she calls "Alabama Girls"


Loren Ann Martin is doing very well in the Ark Star contest that we recently wrote about. Loren is just 14 but her original pop song, "All Figured Out" is catchy and well written. The video is well made too! Vote for Loren, here. Good Luck, Loren!


Now, watch Vlogs to think about!


Emilythebravee is an intelligent and interesting vlogger who is beginning to get noticed on YouTube. Emily Lynne Carson is from California and is just beginning her freshman year at college, where she lives in a dorm with one roommate. I first heard of her from YouTube musician Mike Lombardo, last Fall. He noticed what a talented vlogger she is. Mike should know; he is in a relationship with One of the great YouTube vloggers, HayleyGHoover.

In this video titled "Not Brave", Emily talks about her video image versus how she is in real life. She lists minor and major things about herself that she says are "flaws." Emily's point is, don't be fooled by who you see in a video, they are not perfect, no one is, we all have flaws. Don't aspire to be someone else, be who you are and realize that "we are all awesome in our own way." Think about what you would like to improve about yourself, and which things aren't flaws at all but simply characteristics that make you who you are.






In this insightful call for action, Emily talks about the YouTube Community. She mentions that there are watchers and makers. Based on her experience at YouTube and visits to the last 2 VidCons, she talks about ways for the watchers and makers of videos to better connect with each other. Start a conversation with people you find to be interesting on YouTube. Comment, do video replies and even blog like we do here! Keep the Community alive! This is YouTube, it is not TV. We have two-way communication here and we have to work to keep that going. Think about what you can do to improve the YouTube Community.






HannahDoesVlogs is a 15 year old "crazy, nerdy" vlogger from the UK. She has 13 vlogs that I find to be intelligent and interesting. Hannah Hunter gives her analysis of a few songs produced by the Ark Music Factory (who also produced Rebecca Black's "Friday") in a few of her vlogs in a smart and respectful manner. Watch them to get a nicely presented assessment of Ark Music Factory from a person who is in the target demographics for their songs and videos. Here are Hannah's opinion videos on Ark: click here and here.

In the following video, Hannah gives her opinion about certain types of behavior by people her age. She says that people her age are starting to grow up really fast, acting like they are 19 or 20. She has heard of them drinking, smoking and "doing sexual things" - Hannah says she doesn't get what the rush is. At 15, people are just beginning to be at an age when they can do more things, but they don't yet know who they are and often get pressured into doing things they are not yet ready to do. Hannah observes that teens will rebel from their parents and the law, but she manages to have fun with her friends without doing these things which may be harmful. She thinks it is lame to do things like this just to show off. Watch and listen to Hannah's own words. Then think about who you want to be, how you want to behave, and how you might handle it if people try to pressure you to do things you do not want to do.

Labels: ARK Music Factory, creeingles, EmilyTheBravee, HannahDoesVlogs, LorenAnnMartin, PipersPicksTV, shanedawsontv, singingfool14

posted by KennyCrane at 8/31/2011 05:14:00 AM 1 Comments

Summer is finally here! School is out; time to sleep late, hang out with friends and watch a lot of videos! Here are two very popular music videos for songs you are hearing on the radio, along with covers from members of the YouTube community.

Thanks to everyone who emailed Kenny about the YouTubeStars Guest Blogger openings! We found a few people that we may work with, but we are still looking for others. WE PAY WRITERS to Guest Blog for YouTubeStars! If you are interested in GETTING PAID to write some Guest Blogs about interesting videos and videomakers, please email Kenny and be sure to include a LINK to your YouTube channel in the email.






Today we will watch music videos from Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, as well as cover versions of their songs, made by talented YouTube members.

But first, The News!

This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a really well made pop music video of an original song written by a young lady from Utah. Austin Wolfe is just 14 but she writes catchy pop tunes with good lyrics. She also plays keyboards and sings very well! Austin's YouTube channel is utahwolfe and it has videos of Austin on local TV and performing live. Watch the Featured Video of her original song "Goodbye" right here; click on it!

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week!


Now, enjoy these original hits and covers!


I have to admit, when I first heard the lyrics in Katy Perry's new hit "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" I wondered if she was advocating living a life of utter chaos! Clearly, if you are waking up with strangers in your bed, smelling like a mini-bar, with the chandelier on the floor and your dress ripped; and you have maxed out your credit cards and have warrants out for your arrest - you are headed for disaster!

The other thing that struck me was the vague similarity to that other song about Friday - "Friday" by Rebecca Black. We covered that phenomenon in great detail back in March and April; here, here and here. I also knew that Katy Perry sang part of "Friday" at one or more of her concerts recently. So it was not a huge shock when I saw the preview for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I F.)" with Rebecca Black in the Katy Perry video! Now many people think that "Last Friday Night (T.G.I F.)" is a new song by Katy Perry and may think it is cashing in on "Friday"'s fame. But this is not the case - "Last Friday Night (T.G.I F.)" was track 2 on Katy Perry's CD "Teenage Dream" which was released August 24, 2010. So was ARK inspired to write "Friday" by Katy's tune? We do not know!

Recent news about Rebecca Black, since Ryan Seacrest got her a billboard celebrating her 100 Millionth video view of Friday, had been sparse. We heard she hired a management team, was making a new song, and turned 14 a few days ago on June 21st. The full version of "Last Friday Night (T.G.I F.)" hit YouTube on June 12th and there, in a very major starring role, was Ms. Rebecca Black herself! Quite a birthday present to see her second appearance on video hitting nearly 30 million views.

Meanwhile, over at ARK Music, we hear that there is a legal dispute over the "Friday" video. Also, ARK had planned and announced a singing contest between 18 of their top site members who would be eliminated one each week by member votes, leaving a winner who would be flown to L.A. and given the ARK treatment. However, the announcement has been removed and the contest has not begun. It was supposed to be timed to finish in the last weeks of summer vacation, but the timing would be off now, should it finally get underway. Still, ARK runs a very nice fan site with quite a good amount of people, mostly kids, in their chat room at any given time.

Back to the "Last Friday Night (T.G.I F.)" video. It is said that the idea was to parody the teen movies of the 80s. Teen stars Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson are in the video, playing the parents of Katy's character - Kathy Beth Terry. But there is texting, social networks, game consoles and other current technology in the 8 minute mini-movie. Rebecca Black has a starring role as herself - a girl who lives next to the Terry family and is hosting a wild party. She gets nerdy Kathy to loosen up - gives her cool clothes and removes her "headgear" braces with pliers!

Now that I have seen the video (and really enjoyed it!), I am still a bit concerned about the message it, and the song, send to fans, especially the younger ones. If you have nerdish tendencies - interests in modeling the solar system and other scientific endeavors - do you really have to drink excessively, dress and look the same as everyone else in order to be accepted? Maybe in the 80s, but these days, people join the Nerd Fighters and other social movements and proudly claim the nerd name. Bill Gates was a nerd and he did just fine for himself! Also, RB Rebecca Black was just 13 when this was filmed. Yes, she is said to be a "good girl" and I think she probably is. But did they corrupt that image with this video? 13 is a little young for some of the things going on at this party, and even in the 80s, they rarely showed characters this young getting this crazy. This video is very different than her "Friday" video. People like Miley Cyrus usually wait until they are 17 or so before they begin to go for that more adult image. Watch the video; what do YOU think?






As I said above, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I F.)" came out last summer. By September, YouTube Star Shane Dawson put out a parody of "Last Friday Night (T.G.I F.)" that he made with several other top YouTube Stars such as OlgaKay and TayZonday. Have a look at this video from Shane's YouTube channel and see if you think that maybe, just maybe, Katy Perry's people watched this and were inspired by it in the making of their own video for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I F.)" Warning: language!






Before I ever heard Taylor Swift's hit song "The Story Of Us" - I saw a cover of it on YouTube! A talented young man originally from Libya named Bahjat is a huge Taylor Swift fan and a musician himself. I had subscribed to his original channel last year so I could hear the interesting covers that he makes by singing and accompanying himself on guitar. I liked his cover of "The Story Of Us" even though I had never heard the original.

Now, Taylor Swift's "The Story Of Us" is on the radio all the time, and I really like it! Last month, we got to see the Official Video for Taylor Swift's hit "The Story Of Us" and it's great! The video is set in a school library and we see the interaction between the man and woman in the song who had a relationship that is turning into a tragedy now. Next Chapter! The End! Have a look at this video and let me know if you notice that the beautiful Taylor Swift looks a little like our own guest blogger, CelestialSam (pic at the top ot this post)!






Late last year, we interviewed YouTube Star Krista Nicole (KristaHeartzuz). One of the people who won a Krista Nicole CD in our contest was YouTube singer Stephanie Bullock from Canada. I checked out her channel during the contest and found some fun videos of cover songs. Stephanie really gets into it and that makes her nice singing even more enjoyable! Watch talented Stephanie sing Taylor Swift's "The Story Of Us" - complete with a cute "Next Chapter" and "The End!"

Labels: anitsirhcmarie, Celestialsam, katy perry, katyperryVEVO, shanedawsontv, StephanieOnline101, Taylor swift

posted by KennyCrane at 6/23/2011 01:29:00 AM 2 Comments

Here are 4 NON-music videos that were just uploaded to YouTube this month, April 2010. I tend to mention a lot of music videos here, so this time I'll leave the music genre and show you a vlogger, an artist, an uncomfortable yet funny human and a non-supine feline.

But first, The News!

I like many kinds of music, including Goth. Sadly, this week we lost the frontman singer for the legendary Goth band, Type O Negatvie, Peter Steele. Read an MTV news story here, and then watch Black Number 1 by clicking the pic at the left. RIP Peter!


In happier music news, YouTube featured 4 music videos last week as part of their "Musicians Wanted" program and one was an original song by acoustickatie24. Katie posted the song last summer and it did okay, getting several thousand views. Thanks to being featured, it now has 1.2 Million views! Congrats, Katie! Click the pic to see this nice guitar ballad.


Our Welsh friend Angharad John, known here as Darahgna, is back after a long absence to tell us about her participation in a great event, the Race for Life, which raises money for Cancer research. Donate if you can; I did! Click the pic for details and see this video for an update on Angharad's fundraising. Also watch this video by KelseyOfficial about another cause called "A Day Without Shoes" - check it out too!

Thanks to everyone who regularly visits our YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart! Now we expanded it into a Top 200 Chart. You'll be able to see who fell off the bottom of the Top 100 and who is climbing their way up to soon debut on the Top 100. Check it out; click the pic. You'll see that ShaneDawsonTV moved up to #3 while Smosh slipped to #4. Realannoyingorange is up 2 to #34. Daneboe is up 5 to #53. Hotforwords dropped 3 spots to #58 but she did hit 300 Million Total Video Views this week, congrats Marina! New on the chart this week is TheFineBros at #97 - and that sexy Minxy punk rock woman who speaks Japanese and wears a cat ears headband, MissHannahMinx at #193. Click her pic to watch "How To Make Minxy Choices" - its cute and funny!

Okay, now let's watch some NON-Music Videos!


Hayley G Hoover has always been one of the best vloggers on YouTube. Lately, Hayley has morphed from a quicky teen to a young lady aglow with love for her boyfriend and fellow YouTuber, Mike Lombardo ("Your soon-to-be favorite geeky piano rocker"). The high quality vlogs continue to flow almost as impressively as the words appealingly appear on Hayley's blog. If you watch Hayley, you're only getting half the insight and entertainment. You simply must also read her blog! This creative young lady is wonderful in front of the camera but she really shines behind a quill; I will emplore you one more time, read her blog, now! Or at least after you watch this satirical guide to How To Be a Great YouTuber!





You enjoy paintings with your eyes, yes? Generally true, but watch artist Alice from AlicesPalette and experience her psychedelic art with all your senses! The colors are groovy and remind me of a 60s light show. The textures of her thick brush strokes invite you to reach out and feel the paint, as thick and thin layers lie one upon another, or flow together and apart. Rich shades of color evoke tastes and fragrances of fresh fruit, the kind of mouth watering images used by produce marketers in the Spring. The orchestrated soundtrack Alice chose is fanciful and fits the visuals, especially in the middle as the pace becomes frantic. But being a huge 60s music fan, if I was the sound engineer on this project, I may have been inclined to use something like "Journey to the Center of the Mind" as backing track. But that's just me. Watch this wash of chromaticity, then see the other 5 videos by talented artist AlicesPalette.





Goofy, uncomfortable and hilarious! Exactly what one would expect from a motion picture conceived of, produced, directed and starring YouTubeStar DaxFlame. DaxFlame heads out "Wheast" to capture an outlaw with a partner when tragedy strikes. "Oh my Gosh! Killed him. I was just beginning to like you, partner!" But Dax struggles on, revealing that "Some men are measured by the size of their heart, others by size of their fist. I am of the latter group!" You crack me up, Mister Patrello!





I happen to like cats; I think they're cool. They really don't need you, unless they're hungry. Then they'll annoy the heck out of you in the middle of the night until you get up and add kibbles to their bowl. If they could stand upright like us humans, they might be able to use their front legs and fore paws to open the bag and pour out their own food. Check out this feline, I bet HE could do that!

Highest Rated Comment: fatherprime - some cats seem to think they are human. i bet he plays GTA also. 22 Thumbs UP.

Labels: AlicesPalette, cat, Darahgna, Daxflame, hayleyghoover, hotforwords, KelseyOfficial, MissHannahMinx, shanedawsontv

posted by KennyCrane at 4/19/2010 03:04:00 AM 0 Comments

We all know that YouTube has its share of self-serving attention whores and obnoxious rude haters, but there are plenty of good people there too! Let's have a look at some of the good things happening on YouTube. Here is just a small sample of people helping people.

But first, The News! We've been writing about current and future YouTubeStars for Three Years now! A lot has changed. Many of the popular people from YouTube's early days aren't even on the site anymore. But there are always new and interesting people coming along to keep us intrigued and entertained. We have written about many of the up and coming musicians on YouTube, and there is a channel that has been interviewing many of the people that we have written about. I'm referring to YouTraxTV. Michael Boyce does a great job of regularly interviewing YouTube musicians and puts the resulting videos on his website, youtrax.tv. These are in depth interviews often lasting 10 minutes and more! He has interviewed people we have written about, like TiffanyJoAllen, AngelicaV1, KristaHeartzuz and SavannahSings.
YouTraxTV supports and promotes YouTube Musicians just like us. Support YouTraxTV by Subscribing to their channel!

Angelica Vasilcov, AngelicaV1 (5,270,911 Video Views), is doing very well in the MusicMogul contest! Her "Superwoman by Alicia Keys" Is in the 4 Top Rated videos. The top 4 highest rated performers get to compete on the world-famous Sunset Strip in front of a live panel of experts from all areas of the music industry, including Grammy-winning producer, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. The winner of the live competition will receive a demo deal with Darkchild Productions. Register at MusicMogul and vote for Angelica! For more info, watch this video.

Celeste Kellogg, CelesteMusic5 (136,997 Video Views), is in the upcoming movie - "Much Ado About Middle School." Watch the trailer on her MySpace page. Celeste tells me, "There were two lead roles and I had one of them and their are about 6 musical numbers in the movie. I also recorded 5 songs on the soundtrack --- I had a blast --- For more information you can go to http://www.elevatingentertainment.com/. They will release updates on the movie." Now in post-production, the movie also has its own website. Looks like a pretty cool movie, congrats Celeste!

And now, watch these videos!

ShaneDawsonTV (17,746,076 Video Views), who moved up 5 positions to number 42 last week on our Top 100 Chart, has a vlog channel where he posts "behind the scenes videos and some special extras." This rising YouTubeStar is using his popularity to help other talented but lesser known YouTubers become the next YouTubeStar! Shane made this video showing some of the people he likes on YouTube, and asked for commenters to suggest their favorite lesser known YouTubers. He has received about 10 Thousand comments so far. Even better, he requested video responses, asking people to showcase their best stuff. So far, he as about 5000 video responses. Check some of them out!




SamProof is taking over the Battle of the YouTube NonStars, originally produced by JenLuv37. Nominations for Season 3 are closed after Sam got loads of response to the contest following this video being Featured on YouTube. Check it out and vote when the Battle begins. For more info, visit Sam's Failpire site.




Julia, thefalsetruths, is shaving her head for a children's cancer charity. She has already surpassed her goal of raising $1000 with the help of SxePhil who mentioned her on one of his videos, at 2:30. She her original video and her update video on this charity event. Now here is Julia doing a fun video in which she sings into a hairbrush, enjoy!!!




Here's an update from Cara/Crystal on the CaraOfficialpage channel. She helped us by mentioning our Top 100 Chart and now I'm helping her by showing this video! Be sure to check out her excellent and very catchy music video for her Original Song, Frozen Heart, I love it!

Labels: caraofficialpage, celestemusic5, KristaHeartzuz, samproof, savannahsings, shanedawsontv, sxephil, thefalsetruths, TiffanyJoAllen, youtraxtv

posted by KennyCrane at 5/15/2009 12:35:00 PM 0 Comments