Celebrating YouTube sensations

*SCAPE was painted red and white from May 22 to 24 to celebrate the third YouTube FanFest in Singapore. The entire venue buzzed with excitement throughout the three days of fun.

This year’s YouTube FanFest boasted the biggest line-up of YouTubers ever, with 34 creators attending the weekend’s activities. Household names such as Kurt Hugo Schneider, Wong Fu Productions and Tiffany Alvord were among the internationally reclaimed YouTubers who graced the event.

This year’s installment also proudly showcased local YouTubers such as Wah! Banana and The Sam Willows.

Here are the highlights from the weekend’s festivities.

1. From reel life to real life

On May 22, the YouTubers showed Singapore that they were not just talented creators, but also fiercely fashionable on the red carpet. They strutted across the red carpet, looking so glamorous that hosts Dee Kosh and Dominic Lau relentlessly lamented on how underdressed they themselves were for the night’s event.

To show their appreciation towards their Singaporean fans, the YouTubers stopped to take countless selfies with the audience at the red carpet event. The fans even managed to catch a glimpse of some of the stars in action; the highlight for us had to be MunahHirziOfficial performing sassy dance moves on the red carpet.

2. Down-to-earth celebrities

It was heartening to see the genuine interaction between the personable YouTubers and their fans, giving fans a night to remember. At the end of the whole event and as she was heading off to rest, Tiffany Alvord even ensured that all her fans who wanted a picture with her managed to get one before she left the venue. Macy Kate was another extremely friendly YouTuber who made sure that all her fans got a hug.

3. Larger than life

On May 23, the international YouTubers put up a performance to showcase their crafts. It was an amazing experience to witness them doing their thing.

The audience was floored by the stand-up comedy performances by All Indian Bakchod and The Fung Brothers. The latter did not focus too much on the comedy but rather shared their thoughts on Singapore, food and Singlish in particular.

Other highlights of the show include a blindfolded bubzbeauty giving Dee Kosh a makeover, transforming him into a Korean-pop star with make-up.

Wong Fu Productions also made us laugh as they asked the audience to help them create a skit starring Philip Wang as a Korean-pop star and fellow YouTuber Timothy Delaghetto as a sumo wrestling robot. They also premiered a new trailer for their upcoming movie Everything Before Us, which will be released on June 3.

4. Pitch perfect

Kurt Hugo Schneider, one of the bigger names in this year’s FanFest, was welcomed on stage with loud cheers. To the fans’ delight, he performed an acoustic original ‘Where You Are’ for the first time.

Macy Kate joined him on stage shortly after to perform two songs: ‘Tightrope’, and her newest single ‘5 Stages of Lovin You’.

The audience also enjoyed vocal performances by Timothy Delaghetto, Jason Chen and Tiffany Alvord.

5. The power of YouTube

As Gautam Anand, director of content and operations for YouTube Asia-Pacific, said during the press conference on May 21, YouTube content creators are becoming some of the most influential people in the world.

With increasing accessibility to YouTube, people all around the world are starting to embrace the social platform, creating high quality videos as a form of communication and entertainment.

Judging by the platter of performances last weekend, these YouTubers seem all set to take over the world by storm. We cannot wait to see what other stars will emerge in the coming years, thanks to YouTube.

WRITTEN BY YONAS NGATURI AND TAN LI WEN