The power of social media never ceases to amaze me. Ever since Bestpi wrote his article, entitled YouTube – The Largest Casting Call in History, things have been happening that confirm his writings. Nowadays, you sing a song, upload it to the web and, with a bit of luck, before you know it you are an internationally known star. The media notices you, people send messages on Twitter about your songs, various blogs do an article on you calling you a promising young star, and TV and Radio hosts are inviting you to their shows. It has happened before – Justin Biber, Jordan Jansen , Brendan MacFarlane , Noa Johannesson – to name but a few.
Now it has happened again. This time the spotlight is on 12- year-old Greyson Michael Chance who recently performed Lady Gaga’s song Paparazzi at a local school festival:
Greyson Michael Chance – Paparazzi.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7YV5is
The video quickly became viral on YouTube. Just yesterday, when I found out about Greyson for the very first time, the video had 2,000,000 views. Today, when I decided to do an article on him, the view count exceeds 8,000,000. That is truly astonishing!
Of course, the fact that he was invited to be a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show I’m sure influenced that tremendous increase of views, based on his performance on Ellen. I was impressed with his piano skills and liked the fact that he writes his own songs. That’s very important for every young singer — as a cover of a famous singer may get him noticed, but it’s his own creativity and talent that is going to send him on a journey to true stardom. I am not personally that fond of Lady Gaga, but he really added his own style to her song – and that is what made his performance so special.
And Greyson recognizes that. In his interview with Ellen, he talks about how he admires Lady Gaga for her individuality and how he’s tried to emulate her in that regard.
Greyson Michael Chance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show
I was also impressed with his apparent comfort and interview skills while appearing on a big, nationally syndicated TV show. At one point during the interview, Ellen poked fun at Greyson showing a still photo of a couple of young ladies sort of rolling their eyes in that school audience as he was performing Paparazzi. Greyson, joking right back said something to the effect that he didn’t know about them, but he “got a couple of phone numbers” out of that performance. Ellen said that after his appearance on her show, she suspected he may get a few more numbers.
And a few more views on his youtube channel. Watch out for this young man. With his talent, he’s definitely on his journey to stardom.
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