Upload Tour 3 and YouTube/Celebrity Culture

The Upload Tour returned last week and I went to the Cardiff date (Wednesday) with a few of my friends like last year. This year seemed different which is why I thought instead of doing a review like I did last year I'd try and contribute to the discussion that seems to be going around the internet at the moment regarding YouTube Culture in the context of how it affects events like this. This is a pretty long post because I have a lot of opinions on this subject so I'd suggest grabbing a cup of tea and getting comfortable. (I also will not judge if you skim read or skip sections).

The discussion on YouTube Culture, which started when Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter posted this video, is one that seems to have snowballed very quickly. Although I was tempted to write a response I wasn't planning to due to the huge amount of video responses and the insightful and interesting points they raised which made me feel that I had nothing original to contribute, however, after going to the Upload Tour 3, I feel the difference I noticed between last year's Cardiff YouTube gigs, both Upload 2 and the Summer In The City Warm Up Tour, and this tour was huge and I believe that was down to this 'YouTube Culture'.

Last year I went to Upload 2 with 2 of my friends and we went purely because we wanted to see eddplant and bribry perform live. We were there for the music and nothing else. We had no idea that there would even be a possibility of meeting the musicians afterwards and because of that we were over the moon when we were able to. The same goes for the Summer Warm Up Tour. Although we'd been to Upload 2 so knew the possibility of meeting the musicians was there, we went to see Dave Giles, doddleoddle, Tom Law and musical Bethan sing and were pleasantly surprised when they came out before hand to meet those of us who were waiting before the gig and have a little chat and then again when they did a meet and greet afterwards. For my friends and I, that was the same with Upload 3. We went for the music not for a meet and greet. It would appear that other people, not just at the Cardiff date from what I've read on the Facebook event, went purely because they wanted to meet Dave, Luke, Emma and Bribry, which is why they then seem to have been rude when they weren't able to.

Obviously I only know what happened at the particular date of the tour that I went to and can only speak from what I've read online, mainly from Emma Blackery's post on the Facebook event about people being disrespectful in lines and at meet and greets and then from her tweeting about some people who were rude when told they wouldn't be able to do a meet and greet. All I know first hand is that in Cardiff on Wednesday, Dave Giles told the audience that he was ill and loosing his voice and him, Emma, Luke and Bribry all seemed as though they were a little bit fed up. Whether this was due to the fact Dave was ill or that, as she told us, Emma had suffered from anxiety earlier in the day or not, they were very open about the fact that people on previous tour dates hadn't been respectful during the meet and greets and I think it's fair to assume that that impacted their moods.

Although I don't know it as fact, I'm fairly sure this lack of respect comes back to the same element of YouTube culture that Louise talks about in her video. In the video Louise talks about the way certain viewers at meet and greets and similar events overwhelm her and how she doesn't agree with people idolising her because, as she puts it, 'we all started as the same'. It definitely seems that people at these kind of events forget that the people they are meeting/watching perform are people too and I've seen multiple video responses to Louise's video talking about how we, as viewers and creators alike, need to imagine the other complexly. Essentially, both viewers and content creators are complex human beings with individual lives and, despite how hard it may be at times, we really need to remember that. 

Personally, I feel that it's such a shame that some people miss out on things like meet and greets due to some people being disrespectful, rude, or just, let's be honest here, overreacting when meeting someone. I'm not saying that when meeting someone you admire you shouldn't be excited or happy or any of the other emotions you might be feeling, I'm just saying you need to remember you're meeting a person and try and keep the fangirling to a minimum, at least while with them. You can go home and fangirl with your friends as much as you like, just don't do it infront of who you're meeting.

It seems as though I'm not the kind of person who 'fangirls' when meeting people I watch on YouTube or who's music I listen to or anything similar but I honestly believe that's because I make a conscious effort not to. As a musician myself, I know that if I want to get anywhere in the industry I need to remain professional, especially around people I admire which is why I make this effort. For example, during the Upload 3 gig Dave Giles asked if I was there because he wanted to say hi and then afterwards, while I was buying merch, came and gave me a hug. For those of you who haven't read the posts I wrote about the Upload 2 or Summer Warm Up gigs, despite only knowing of Dave and his music for little over a year I'm a massive fan of his and I think he's an absolutely fantastic musician, so much so I covered a song of his recently on my YouTube channel. Knowing that he not only recognised me and remembered my name but also went out of his way to say hello to me whilst he was on stage was amazing and I don't think he'll ever know how much it meant to me. But I didn't 'fangirl' or 'freak-out'. 

At the time I was confused as to why I didn't but after having some time to think about it and let it sit in my brain I think it's a combination of the recent discussion on YouTube culture making me realise that it's important not to think of people in the public eye as something they're not and the fact that, ultimately, I respect Dave too much. Although I was surprised by the fact he remembered me I realised that, as I've met him twice before, covered a song of his on YouTube and spoken to him online asking his advice on a few things before, there was no reason for him to not remember me. I realised that just because he's a much more successful musician than I am and he makes videos on the internet, doesn't mean he's any different to anyone else, he just has different talents and a different job. 

Although the discussion at the moment is very much about YouTube culture rather than celebrity culture in general, all the points raised from this discussion got me thinking about, how as Louise said, everyone starts out the same. It can be really weird to imagine your favourite celebrities doing day to day things like going to bed at night or having a lazy day at home, but we, as fans, need to ask ourselves why that's weird. They're just as human as everyone else.

Ultimately, although it can be difficult to remember at times, at the end of the day, all people are the same. They may be incredibly talented in a certain area and they may have a different job to what the majority of people have, but that doesn't mean they should be treated differently. Although YouTube is definitely evolving and the gap between viewer and creator is growing constantly, it's important to remember that, regardless of subscriber count, someone who runs a channel with 3 million subscribers is exactly the same as someone who runs a channel with 3 subscribers. 

Even the fact that the process of creators and viewers meeting used to be called 'meet ups' and is now referred to as 'meet and greets' shows that the YouTube community has shifted from a mutual relationship to a very one-sided, celebrity-like scenario. It's probably too late to reverse this but it's never too late to change attitudes, which is why we need to constantly try to remind ourselves that we are exactly the same as these 'famous' people. Who knows, maybe one day we will be able to change attitudes towards those in the public eye.

If you've made it to the end of this post, first of all congratulations for reading all of that but secondly, please leave me a comment letting me know what your opinion is on this issue. It's something I've been thinking about a lot and would love to discuss!

Lucy x

On a related note, I recently watched this video from Candice (aka CandySomething) on people saying they wish the YouTube community could be like it used to be and it's definitely worth a watch. It fits well with the theme of thinking of people/things as something they're not.

Downfall (Film Discussion)

As I didn't feel like doing much revision but need to prepare for the exam I have in a few days time on Nazi Germany I thought I'd watch the film 'Downfall' and I felt like I needed to share my thoughts on it because oh my goodness is it a good film.

Downfall is a German language film that focuses on the last few days of the Second World War and Hitler's time in the bunker where he committed suicide. From my knowledge of the events historically (which is admittedly, limited) this film seemed incredibly historically accurate. I am honestly amazed at how the writers managed to write a film that not only acts as a fair and accurate representation of the events but is also so thought-provoking and emotional. I also thought the actors did a fantastic job at portraying each individual character, particularly those playing the roles of the characters we know now to have committed horrific acts. For example, I found that the actor playing Hitler managed to portray the character as a complex human being rather than simply a mass murderer. With historical events it is very easy to forget that behind what happened, each individual had a life and I think that is why I found the film to be so powerful as it showed this individuality of each person in ways that a history book or documentary cannot.

Although I found it quite slow at first (I actually ended up watching it in two sittings just over a week apart) it was definitely worth persevering with it. I cannot recommend this film enough. If you are worried you won't enjoy it because of the subtitles, don't be. You forget they're there very quickly. If, like me, you have a fair knowledge of the German language anyway you probably won't even need the subtitles.

It may be due to my interest in German history or Germany in general but I honestly enjoyed this film to the point I felt I needed to immediately share it with you reading this. If you're thinking about watching it, please do. I'm sure you won't regret it. And when you do, come back here and leave me a comment telling me what you thought and we can have a little discussion about it.

Have you watched any other films that focus on German history/either of the world wars that impacted you and you think I should watch? Let me know below! I watched Schindler's List last year and you can see my thoughts about that here.

Lucy x

Days Like These by Dave Giles - A Ukulele Cover

If you've not watched my latest YouTube video yet I thought I'd do a quick little post updating you!

My latest video is a cover of 'Days Like These', a truly lovely song that never fails to make me smile by a wonderful musician, Dave Giles. I've wanted to cover a song of Dave's ever since I became a fan of his after seeing him perform live on the Upload 2 Tour last year (since which I've seen him live another time) but decided to take a while to decide on the right one and I thought this was it!

I love this song and I thought the sweet, summery tone to it would sound lovely with a ukulele, so that's what I did! I'm going to see Dave Giles perform live in a few weeks at the Cardiff date of the Upload 3 Tour which he is doing alongside his friends Bribry, Luke Cutforth and Emma Blackery. If you've not got tickets yet you really should, the last time I saw these guys live they definitely did not disappoint and I'm definitely excited to see how it's different with Emma Blackery in the mix!

Let me know what you think of my cover and if you like it, don't be afraid to tell me or share it! It means the world.

Lucy x

Songwriting Bootcamp

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I was offered the incredible opportunity to go to Muni Arts Center in Pontypridd to work with some other local musicians and a few industry professionals as part of a songwriting masterclass. The three days were run by Amy Wadge, an incredibly talented professional singer/songwriter who has worked with the likes of Ed Sheeran and it was honestly such an incredible few days.

I've been writing songs for a good few years now but I've never experienced co-writing beyond writing with a few friends for a bit of a laugh. I had no idea what to expect from my first experience of it but it was amazing. Seeing the way other musicians approach songwriting and being pushed to write the best songs we could in a limited time was definitely a challenge but I already feel like it's changed the way I write. Over the 3 days I wrote with around 7 different people in various groups ranging from a group of 5 to a group of 2. Through working with so many people we were really able to see the different ways of approaching things and everyone definitely had their own techniques of doing so.

I left the course on Wednesday after showcasing every song we had written together over the few days feeling incredibly inspired, not only to write more songs and take more risks with my song writing but also to work hard to be the best musician I can be. Every single person I worked with was incredibly talented but at a different stage with music which made me realise that, if I work hard, there is a possibility that becoming a professional singer/songwriter could become more of a reality than just a dream of mine. And even if I don't pursue it as a career, I know now that I will never stop writing.

The masterclass made me want to try co-writing a lot more and after meeting so many incredible people, and exchanging follows on twitter, I'd like to think that is a definite possibility for the future.

Thank you so much to Amy Wadge and SONIG for running the course and Young Promoters Network for contacting me about it. It was an incredible experience that I feel incredibly lucky to have been involved in and I hope to be able to do it again!

Lucy x

Click here to go to the playlist of the songs that we wrote!

Perfect Alibi - My Latest Musical Creation

Hello lovely people of the blogosphere,

If you don't follow me on any of my social media sites you probably haven't seen the latest YouTube video I uploaded, or you might not even know that I post YouTube videos at all! It's my latest song called Perfect Alibi and you can watch it here if you're interested.

If you liked it and want to be super lovely, you can also buy it on bandcamp by clicking here. I'd also really appreciate it if you could possibly subscribe to my YouTube channel/follow me on twitter/all the other social media links that can be found in the 'A Bit About Me' page on here (warning, there's quite a lot of them!). I'd also really love it if you could leave me a little comment somewhere on the internet letting me know what you think of my music and how you found it!

Thank you for being wonderful and reading all of this, sorry to ask you to do so much but it really does help more than I can say.

Lucy x

2013

I know this is a little late but it's something that is important to me so I still wanted to post it. 2013 was quite possibly my best year so far. I did my first 'big' exams that actually count and got good grades, I met some musicians that really inspired me, I started a new school where I found people that make me so happy and my music 'career' seems to be growing by the second.

One of the main things that started happening toward the end of the year was that my music 'career' started growing. The reason I add the quotation marks is because I've still not really got my head around the fact that there are people in the world who are paying to hear me play my music to them, it's absolutely mind blowing. My online audience is growing too as I hit 50 subscribers on YouTube at the beginning of 2013 and then hit 100 at the beginning of November. I also set up a Facebook page for my music and if everything goes to plan, 2014 will bring with it a website to go alongside this Facebook page, both of which serve the purpose of getting my music heard by as many people as possible, so please head over and like my page to help me out! It seems as though every time I play live I get another 3 offers for more opportunities so I am so excited to see what 2014 will bring for me in terms of music!

A massive life change that happened for me in 2013 was leaving the school I've been at for the last 5 years in order to start sixth form in a new one. I won't say too much about it because I've written a full post that you can read here but I felt it was important to mention because I can already tell that the next 2 years at this school will be far better than anything I've known. I've gone from completely dreading going to school to actually looking forward to it. Although A Levels are REALLY hard work, I'm surrounded by incredible, talented and lovely people who make it worth while.

The summer of 2013 for me was amazing. I had about 12 weeks off school due to finishing my GCSE exams fairly early and the majority of that time was spent with friends. I am incredibly lucky in that I live within walking distance of a beach (even if it is a long walk!). My friends and I took full advantage of this and for about 2/3 weeks it is not an exaggeration to say we were there constantly. We would meet around 10/11am and wouldn't get home until about 9.30pm and would then do it all again the next day. The people I did this with were friends that I'd made in school but had never really been that close to so it was really lovely to get the opportunity to really get to know them and properly spend time with them before we all went our separate ways. I also got the chance to spend a lot of time with my cousins who came over to the UK from New Zealand for 6 weeks which was really lovely.

All in all, 2013 was a really incredible year for me, so much so that I was a little sad to say goodbye to it. Let's just hope 2014 matches it! Thank you for sticking with me through 2013! If you want to, share some of your favourite memories from 2013 in the comments below!

Lucy x

I don't normally post links at the end of a post but here are a few links to blog posts I've written over the last 12 months that have documented my year. Just click on one to take you to the page, I hope you enjoy reading them!

Other things that I've written/created about time passing:
Dear Future Me (blog post)
Remember Me (song with video)

Memorable moments of the year that I documented:
Prom
Summer in the City Warm-Up Tour (Cardiff)
Upload Tour 2
100 Subscribers
50 Subscribers
A Trip To London With My Best Friend
My Last Day of Secondary School
Starting Sixth Form/College

Weight

An issue I've always felt rather passionate about is weight. There's no particular reason I'm so passionate about it, I just am. It seems that in the last few weeks it's one that's been brought up in a few different ways in different environments from YouTube, to TV, to friends talking about it and I wanted to share my opinion on the topic.

Although I know the topic of weight is a very sensitive issue and I need to be careful about how I say what I plan to say, that doesn't mean I'm going to be any less honest than I would be if I were writing about something that's not controversial at all. I do want to say before I fully get into it though that this is all my opinion, although it's what I think is right (naturally; it's my opinion) if you think differently that's perfectly okay.

I have never been the kind of girl who is naturally 'thin' but I have also never been 'fat'. Although when I was younger (until I was about 11 I think) I was a little bigger than all of my friends it never really particularly bothered me and as I grew everything seemed to sort of balance out (not that I've grown all that much since I was about 12!). I'm what I like to call happily in the middle. I'm not thin, but I am far from fat and, most importantly, I'm happy with myself.

I will happily admit, sometimes it's difficult to say you're happy with the way you look, I'm sure that's the same for most people if not everyone. Everyone has days where they think they look fat or their hair won't go right or whatever it might be just doesn't look good. That's okay. That's normal. Having days when you're not feeling completely confident is fine but the main thing is being able to move on from it the following day. Your hair doesn't look right? Put it up that day and hope it sorts itself out tomorrow! If you have these days a lot (like I do, especially if I'm tired) the only thing I can suggest is really try to ignore it, as difficult as that may be. I've found that if you're having a bad hair day or you didn't have time to do your makeup that morning and you feel like you look like a zombie, walking into school (or work/college/whatever it might be) with a genuine smile on your face means no one notices. It's hard to believe but it's true. If you're being happy, positive and friendly people won't notice if your hair's a bit frizzy or under your eyes is a bit darker than it normally is.

I'm a big believer in confidence being very important. I realise that's easy for me to say as it's something I've never particularly struggled with but having the confidence to say 'although I'd like to be a little thinner sometimes, I'm healthy and that's the most important thing'. As well as it being okay to have bad days, it's also okay to have things about yourself you maybe don't like all that much. My main tip for that is learn what style clothes suit you most and use it to your advantage. If you feel like the clothes you are wearing fit you nicely you'll feel more confident in them which will help you be happy and positive on those bad hair days!

Another quick little note I'd like to add, for those of you not in the UK or who aren't watching 'I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!' there was a conversation a while ago between Amy (a model/beauty pageant contestant) and Rebecca Addllington (Olympic swimmer) and Rebecca commented on how she gets tweets almost every day from people saying she's fat or commenting on her appearance. To me, that is totally ridiculous. I don't understand how people could call an athlete fat and I personally think that Rebecca is an amazing role model for girls as she proves that you can be beautiful even though you're not a size 6 or smaller.

It really upsets me that so many girls feel like they need to be a certain shape in order to be beautiful. It also upsets me that posts like these and videos like the ones I've linked here even exist because it means that although people are trying to make it less of an issue, it's not working. Carrie Hope Fletcher summed up how I feel about the 'weight issue' pretty well in her video 'Happy and Healthy' and I really suggest you watch it, it's nice to have someone in the public eye who is a healthy role model. Also, I'd just like to quickly mention that Jennifer Lawrence is another amazing role model. She feels strongly about the issue too and isn't afraid of talking about it publicly.

So that's my opinion on the topic. I'd love it if you could share what you think with me in the comments and I hope you check out the videos I've linked if it's a topic you're interested in or feel passionate about. 

Lucy x