It’s pretty hard to justify this as geek culture, but this kid has talent and I want to link her and this is my website so I will:
This is Julia Nunes, a YouTube celebrity musician. Which means many of us have probably never heard of her. Internet fame is so strange because it’s so compartmentalized. What I like about this video is how she messes up the start but keeps going, instead of starting over or editing her mistake. There is a certain self-confidence in that. I suppose in this context we should call it showmanship.
She’s got a lot of videos, most of which are done using the format above: She plays ukulele and does multiple voice tracks so she can harmonize with herself, and sometimes she plays rhythm with her hands.
Also noteworthy is her cover of It’s The End Of The World As We Know It, which is an incredibly challenging song. She and a friend conquer it with skill and a dash of teenage silliness. That song was big when I was 16 and Julia was minus two. It’s nice to know our music is still hip enough for the young people. This is not always the case.
Additional trivia: She sometimes refers to her friend “Shamus” in her videos, (like in this one at the 4:20 mark) and it never fails to freak me the heck out. In my 37 years (I’m not old!) I’ve never heard that name spoken except in reference to me, and it’s really hard to get my brain to not think of it as me. Imagine if you bumped into a stranger on the street who blurted out your first, middle, and last name. That’s what this feels like. I imagine people named “John” and “Dave” get over this really early in life, but it’s just not something I ever encounter.
Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.
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