In 2008, comedienne Colleen Ballinger made her first YouTube debut as Miranda Sings. Within the same year, Ballinger also graduated from APU as a vocal performance major.
Miranda Sings, Ballinger’s alter ego character, is a confident girl who believes she was born famous as a naturally talented dancer and singer. In reality, she remains blissfully unaware of her shortcomings as an artist, while her zany personality leads her to voice coach famous singers like Tori Kelly and Fifth Harmony. Sings often wears smudgy red lipstick, strange outfits and has taken several national tours where she performs for the masses.
“I like that Colleen shows her real self and real person on her channel, and that she never breaks character in her Miranda videos,” said Olivia Connolly, a junior narrative studies major at the University of Southern California (USC).
With over 6 million YouTube subscribers, Ballinger has reached significant Internet fame, yet Oct. 14 will mark a historic day: Miranda Sings will star in her own Netflix show named after her personal motto: “Haters Back Off.”
“Haters Back Off” stars Ballinger as Sings, Angela Kinsey (who previously starred in “The Office”) as Sings’ mother, Steven Little as Sings’ uncle and Erik Stocklin as Sings’ best friend.
The comedy will focus on Sings’ odd family life and the fact that she believes she was born famous but no one knows it yet. Ballinger produced and co-wrote the show with her brother, Christopher Ballinger. Other famous YouTubers are scheduled to guest star throughout the season.
Many loyal fans are eagerly anticipating the series’ release and the new antics Ballinger is sure to bring to her role as Sings.
“I love that Ballinger gets creative with Miranda Sings as a character, always creating new plot lines and silly things for viewers to discover about Miranda,” APU senior liberal arts major Selena Latzke said.
Though fans of Sings are excited for the new show, some remain skeptical of whether “Haters Back Off” will live up to the reputation of Ballinger’s wildly successful YouTube videos.
“I will probably watch at least the first episode, as I’m expecting it to not be as good as her YouTube channel, because it’s scripted and there are other actors in it,” said Nicole Tobias, a University of Redlands alumna who has been a fan of Sings for eight years. “However, I know that Colleen Ballinger, who plays Miranda, had a huge hand in writing the show, so I’m sure she made it good. I’m interested in seeing the characters Miranda always talks about but are never seen on video, for example, her mother and her uncle.”
There are also those who believe that Ballinger’s fame has gotten to her head.
“I used to be a fan of Miranda Sings when I was younger, but now I think Ballinger has gotten snobby,” senior public relations major Annie Syfert said.
No matter your views or opinion on Ballinger in her role as Sings, it is nonetheless momentous for a YouTuber to move from online videos to an international video streaming platform like Netflix.
Such an accomplishment is a testament to self-made YouTubers like Ballinger who are truly making a name for themselves in this generation of social media and television streaming.