I once had a viral YouTube video!

I’ve posted about this a few times, but for those of you who don’t know, a few years ago I uploaded a short 42 second YouTube video to my channel that went unexpectedly viral (views have since slowed down). Okay, I wouldn’t exactly say the video was viral, but it was very popular on YouTube for a few weeks.

This is the video if you’re curious:

My sister is a beautiful singer, but suffers from stage fright and only feels safe singing in front of me. I really wanted to share her singing with the world (and I know she does too), so back in 2016 I filmed her singing and playing guitar and then uploaded it to YouTube – without even telling her!

I didn’t tell a soul until the video reached 2,000 views. At that point I decided to admit to Tara what I’d done. She was hesitant initially, but when she came around to the idea, she let me keep the video up. I think she is very thankful she made that decision – as her eyes light up whenever she gets a positive comment and it’s really helped boost her confidence, she can even sing in public now!

We still remember the day the video reached 200,000 views… and never did we think it would ever reach 1 million! We popped some champagne and celebrated when we reached that milestone.

My local newspaper wanted to do a story about both my sister and me, but my sister was too shy about it and unfortunately we had to let that opportunity pass us by.

I’ve uploaded two new videos to the channel if you guys would like to check them out:

Some Christmas singing (but not a christmas song, sorry! It’s Tin Man)

And some Karaoke on New Year’s Eve (Edelweiss):

I was going to use my channel to upload writing related videos for you all, but it looks like it has been commandeered by my sister’s talent! And I don’t mind a bit 🙂 Perhaps my sister and I can collaborate and call the channel ‘Milly & Tara’ lol.

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42 thoughts

  2. She has a lovely voice. I too have a (single) popular youtube video, with about 1.3 million views. It is odd, as I would not say it was “viral”, as I never saw it shared anywhere or anything. It is not a talent though, just me talking about a small operation I was about to have. I suspect I tapped into a very specific corner, most of the comments were anger/frustration that I forget to get the procedure itself filmed.

    I can honestly say that a video with all those views has not affected my life in anyway whatsoever, at all.

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      1. I didn’t make a penny from it, in fact I wouldn’t even know how to. I am glad you made something, and also that your sister got heard. I didn’t even notice the views going up until a couple of years later (it was 2007) a friend told me. Here it is, you’ll notice I was confused about the date; be warned, whilst my video is benign the suggested ones might not be ideal for the squeamish

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  5. Great voice! Hope she doesn’t let her shyness hinder her. I battled shyness (well, and just being neurotic as hell at times). It can rob you of your dreams if you let it.
    My brother was on the opposite end of the spectrum to your sister. He thought he was a fantastic singer and would go out to karaoke and belt out songs in the car and he was awful but he refused to admit it — well, until he gave up drinking and told me one day “You know what, I can’t sing.”

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    1. Hahah thanks! And nice to know it’s considered viral, I wasn’t really sure about that one 🙂 It was the weirdest feeling watching that video get so many views so quickly – especially considering it was just a 42 second, poor quality, vertical video! I suppose you just never which ones will popular.

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      1. What attracted me to this post was because I wanted to read about your success story on YouTube. It’s relevant to me because I recently had a video to do 63K. I wouldn’t have been able to function if I did your numbers. Don’t take this the wrong way but I am curious about what you just said. Your video was viral length. If you notice, most videos that go viral are all under a minute. But the the first few seconds the phone was pointed to the ground and usually viewers will disengage. Did you do any special marketing? Just trying to learn all I can.

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        1. Actually yeah that’s true about the shorter videos being more popular.

          So in regards to the phone being pointed at the ground… I really have no clue why people still continued to watch it, although my sister’s singing starts STRAIGHT away, which helped. I didn’t do any special marketing. Nothing. I just uploaded the video with the current description you’ll see there and it took off.

          Here are the three reasons why I think it did well:

          1) My sister can actually sing and you can hear her voice loud and clear from the very beginning

          2) Another ‘shy singer’ video was going viral at the time, so my best guess is it may have leeched off that video’s success(recommended videos)

          3) My video was slightly contentious. A few people were upset at me for uploading a video of my sister singing without her permission. They felt the need to tell me so by commenting on the video. Their troll-like comments actually made my video more popular!

          So yeah I think that’s about it.

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          1. Regarding number 2: I love that “shy girl” is like her tag. Sort of like “Monk Goes to College, Monk Goes to Disney Land, etc.”

            Number 3 is actually brilliant. Another thing with viral videos I’ve noticed is people want a slice of real life. Nothing staged. So I’m pretty sure the comment section was divided with people on your side and on your sister side as far as having her consent to record.

            I hope y’all collaborate. You can go viral again. From what I saw on the channel you are already a member of the Partner Program. Plenty singers (Justin Beiber) got their start on YouTube. Not only can your sister sing but she can play the guitar. You can write. That’s a dream team.

            Thanks for feedback.

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  10. That was a lovely thing to do. Maybe she should try out for a musical. I find I can muster up the courage to sing easier when I am pretending to be someone else via character.

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  11. Your sister has a beautiful voice. Maybe she can take baby steps? Singing to the camera with her eyes closed? 😀 Hehe. And I think it’s so lovely that you want to share her talent and help her blossom. You’re a beautiful person Milly! ^-^

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    1. Thanks Joy! She often sings with her back to people when she’s nervous. Singing with her eyes closed is a great idea! It’s funny, but her viral video gave her a huge confidence boost and she’s much more confident now – but still, baby steps as you said 🙂

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  20. Now that started off my day on a high note (pardon the pun) I love Edelweiss. and I love the double tracking of the voice. That made it even more special. Not everyone can sing that song….she can! Now if she had a cd out ( even I tiny EP) I’d buy it!

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    1. Hahah thanks Tom! Edelweiss is such a lovely song, this was actually the first time she’d ever sung it! Tara loves country singing so she’s hoping to enter the Star Maker competition this year 🙂

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