Janoskians YouTube Review

The Janoskians are made up of Beau Brookes, Luke Brookes, Jai Brookes, Daniel  Sahyounie and James Yammouni. According to the Janoskians themselves they are just a group of hopeless kids with no future taking on the streets of Melbourne! Well I don’t believe this is entirely true. Having just started their ‘Not a boy band tour’ and being chased by thousand of screaming girls I think they are looking at a very big future! They have 835,750 subscribers on their Janoskians YouTube channel and 285,849 subscribers on their Dare Sundays channel. They have a combined twitter following of 3,611,700 and in their London show some of their fans jumped on stage with them just the get a touch of them.

One of my personal favorite videos is their awkward train situations videos, in which they interact with people they have never met before and perform awkward tasks that make their viewers laugh in hysterics. Their public nuisance videos show them take on the streets and disturb people going about their daily business.  They put themselves out there for everyone to see in what would be embarrassing situations for anyone else, however, they never seem to get embarrassed or back out of any of the challenges. The chemistry between the boys is amazing, you can see that they are genuinely great friends and love spending time together. Their videos make the viewers laugh in hysterics and gasp at the reactions of the public.

Not only do they pull pranks on the public they also carry out dares on their dare Sundays channel. This is where they carry out challenges such as the web sensation cinnamon challenge, however, the Janoskians take this to a whole new level and carry out more dangerous challenges like the BB gun challenge. In this they pick out a body part in which they get shot and pick out a distance from which they get shot. They have also done a pepper spray challenge in which they got sprayed with pepper spray in the face for 2 seconds. Nearly every dare Sundays videos contains Beau and Daniel (sometimes the others) vomiting, which also makes some of the viewers gag along with them. Although these are dangerous challenges you can see the love and support the boys show to each other and how much they care for each other.

Another part of their act are their mockumentaries and although they are meant to be silly sketches, they show off some of the boys real acting talent and creativity to come up with new and funny ideas. They also sing and have released two singles, ‘Set this world on fire’ and ‘Best friends’, when I first heard about these song s I didn’t have very high expectations and although I knew some  members of Janoskians could sing I wasn’t sure how the songs would turn out. However, when I listened to the songs I was blown away, they have good lyrics and great singing. I now have the song on my phone and on repeat.

However like with every great act there comes criticism. The Janoskians have been criticised for their reckless, dangerous and juvenile behaviour, and pushing their boundaries too far, media commentator  Prue MacSween stated that, "Their act - if you can call it that - is so juvenile, and I think really irresponsible. It's astounding the power of the internet now. It just tells you that this global audience can be viral and suddenly nobodies with very little talent can suddenly be known by the world." However I couldn’t disagree more with this comment, the Janoskians make sure everything is alright with their victims afterwards and fully explain why they are doing what they are doing. This, to me, shows maturity and responsibility.

I feel I should show some credit to the making of the videos, the videos are edited amazingly and show the talent of whoever edits the videos.

All in all I believe that these boys are real gentle man and although some people may disagree with me I believe they are great role models. Although they have bad language and regularly make sex jokes, they always have time to spend with their fans and are respectful to each other and their family. They care for each other and are respectful to their managers and others who are trying to help their career.

I really recommend checking the Janoskians out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Janoskians/videos

You can follow the boys on twitter:

Beau Brooks @BrooksBeau

Luke Brooks @luke_brooks

Jai Brooks @JaiBrooks1

James Yammouni @James_Yammouni

Daniel Sahyounie @danielsahyounie

You can follow me on twitter @elliekay96

If you have anything you would like me to review you can email: elliekayreviews@outlook.com

Thank You for taking the time to read this review.

Ellie xx

Purple Mafia Spill the Beans!

1. How was the band first formed?

At Ripon grammar school 4 years ago when Josh and Harry had guitar lessons together and people joined and left to make purple mafia how it is today. 

2. Have you ever got into big fights over your music?

No we just have creative discussions but usually we have the same taste.

3. Who’s the biggest ladies man?

All of us have a strong female following, mainly at gigs and in California! 

4. Do you have girlfriends?

Most of us don’t.

5. How old were you when you had your first kiss?

At the end of primary/ beginning of secondary school for most of us 

6. Who is your celebrity crush?

Kelly Brooke, Mila Kunis, Pixie Lott, Megan Fox, Cara Delevingne

It's hard to choose one! 

7. What’s a Girls fashion look that confuses you? (I don’t care look etc.)

When girls try too hard and over do their look

8. What’s a girly movie that you secretly love?

Mean girls! 

9. Who would play you in a movie of your life?

One direction

10. What’s your dream job if you weren’t musicians?

To own a ski and mountain bike resort in the alps

11.What’s your worst habit?

Nail Biting

Here is a link to Purple Mafia’s YouTube channel so you can check out their stuff! http://www.youtube.com/user/1PurpleMafia?feature=watch

You can follow the boys on twitter: @AlexPurpleMafia, @DanPurpleMafia, @JoshPurpleMafia, @HarryPurpleMafia and @TomPurpleMafia

Make sure you check out my review of Purple Mafia aswell!

Thank You for reading this if you like it please follow me on twitter @elliekay96

Ellie X

Purple Mafia Review

Purple Mafia are five Yorkshire boys from Ripon Grammar school and after performing together for over 4 years they have built up a worldwide fan base. They have a combined twitter following of about 4000 and their very first single ‘She Thinks It’ has over 16000 views. Purple Mafia is made up of singer- Dan Reynard, lead guitarist-Josh Stockdale, rhythm guitarist -Harry Yates, bassist- Tom Stringer and drummer /backing vocals-Alex Boulton. The boys are not only cracking the UK they have also recently been over to LA in order to record some of their original songs and perform a live show in a Hollywood club. This all happened when they were contacted by Mitch Goodman who is the label Manager at Unison Music, an independent record label in Los Angeles. He was impressed by their energy, talent, enthusiasm and love of music.

It is easy to see why these boys have such a big following not only do they have good looks but they also have a fun nature and bags of energy. However it would not be fair to say that their likability is only because of these things as they also have writing ability way above their age.  They have their own music style and stick to it rather than trying to be like other famous bands like One Direction. Their lyrics say it as it is but in a way that is positive and catchy. They manage to change from an upbeat song like ‘Sunburnt Orange’ to a slower sweet song like ‘She thinks it’ in one smooth jump without disappointing their fans or losing their personal style.

                 Purple Mafia. From left to right- Harry Yates, Josh Stockdale, Dan Reynard, Tom Stringer and Alex Boulton.

Having seen Purple Mafia in concert a few times I have seen how they play their instruments, sing and bring their fun energetic personalities onto the stage. However at the same time they also manage to captivate their audience and keep them in the palm of their hands; changing the audiences emotions as they change the song. Ask any well known musician and they will tell you this is something that is very difficult to achieve, ask any ex musician and they will tell you this is something they never quite mastered.

Purple Mafia have been lifelong friends and they have respect for each other both as friends and band mates but are also able to annoy each other without crossing the line and they have the ability to show this through their music videos and concerts which is one reason why I think people enjoy listening to them. They have a special bond together that cannot be faked. 

 

Purple Mafia from left to right. Harry Yates, Josh Stockdale, Alex Boulton, Tom Stringer and Dan Reynard.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t think Purple Mafia will be covering teenage girls’ bedroom walls in a few years. Purple Mafia are not just another band. They play together because they have a love of music and not because they think it’s cool and will make them loads of money!

I think it is clear to see that these boys will go far; Mitch Goodman has already compared them to the young Beatles! But I just hope that when they do finally make it they do not forget their Yorkshire roots and the things that they stand for like so many others before them!

Here is a link to Purple Mafia’s YouTube channel so you can check out their stuff! http://www.youtube.com/user/1PurpleMafia?feature=watch

You can follow the boys on twitter: @AlexPurpleMafia, @DanPurpleMafia, @JoshPurpleMafia, @HarryPurpleMafia and @TomPurpleMafia

Make sure you check out my interview with Purple Mafia aswell!

Thank You for reading this if you like it please follow me on twitter @elliekay96

Ellie

x

To Uni or Not to Uni?

All through my life I’ve thought I’d complete my A Levels, go to university, get a job and have a family. However, this thought is now becoming a reality as I’ve just finished my second term of my As levels and have started first of many weeks of revision.  At school were getting bombarded with talks of all kinds, what uni to go to and what courses to choose, I am starting to wonder if university is the right path for me. I know I want to go into some section of the film industry, and on every piece of work experience I’ve completed in this field I have been told that I don’t need to do a film related course at university and that it wouldn’t help me. My mum still thinks it would be beneficial to get a degree just incase I change my mind. For a while I went along with her and looked for uni degrees that I thought would be interesting, however, I have since realized if I didn’t want to do the degree I probably wouldn’t work for my exams and therefore come out with bad grades AND masses of debts! All of a sudden uni doesn’t sound so good.

Uni is such a common thing now-a-days you feel you have to go in order to get a job but what’s the point in going if it’s not going to help me? Having being brought up in a family of academics and been lucky enough to go to a good school which my parents have had to scrimp and save in order to send me to I know I would feel less intelligent and slightly guilty if I didn’t go to university. But just because you don’t go to uni it doesn’t mean you not clever, university just isn’t for some people, I personally don’t know if I like the idea of going straight from school to more homework, essays and exams. This then opens up even more questions like; do I take a gap year? I think I would love to do this, I would love to travel to America and Canada and see countries I have never been to; there’s just one slight problem… I would never be able to afford this.

I also think university would be an amazing opportunity where I would meet lots of people that I wouldn’t normally get to meet. I would also get to do things I wouldn’t otherwise get to do. I know I would have so much fun making student meals, living with my friends and being more independent.

After all this I still don’t know what to do… all I do know is that if I didn’t go some part of me would always regret it but if I did go I would be thinking how I could be working in film instead of learning something  I don’t really want to learn about.

Please follow me on twitter @elliekay96 and comment if you have anything to say :)

Ellie xxx

'Cyberbully' Film review

Although not based on a true story, Cyberbully is unfortunately based on a very true topic. Cyberbully is the story of Taylor Hillridge (Emily Osment), a teenage girl who falls victim to online bullying, and the cost it takes on her and her family. Taylor is a pretty 17-year-old high school student with an over protecting mother (Kelly Rowan). When her mum gives her a laptop for her birthday, Taylor is excited by the idea of going online without her mother always looking over her shoulder. However, Taylor soon finds herself the victim of betrayal and bullying while social networking, and afraid to face her peers at school, including her best friend Samantha Caldone (Kay Panabaker), she is pushed to a breaking point. Taylor’s mum decides to take on the school and state in order to make sure others don’t go through the same ordeal as her daughter.

In this role Emily Osment if far from her witty comedic acting in Disney Channel’s ‘Hannah Montana’ she plays a serious role and one with raw emotion and I think she carried the film amazingly. At some points she had me in tears (and I’m not a crier) and at other points I was so enthralled that I was screaming at the TV for her not to be doing something.  Kay Panabaker plays Taylor Hillridge’s best friend; Panabaker also shows off her amazing acting ability and, without trying to spoil anything, when the ‘twist’ happened I had to pause the TV just to compose myself from the shock. The whole cast is great and each one brings something different to the film.

The Story is good and although there is some stereotyping amongst the characters (A group of mean girls is suspected to be behind the bullying, and some victims include a gay teen and overweight girl), there are also a few twists in the plot that leave us shocked and surprised. Cyberbully is not a film that you can sit and predict what’s going to happen the whole way through, but it is a film that has you gripped from the very beginning.

Thanks for reading please follow me on twitter @elliekay96

Ellie X

Lennon and Maisy YouTube review

I first stumbled across Lennon and Maisy when they appeared on my YouTube suggestion list, thinking they looked cute I thought I’d give them ago. The song they were singing was their own take on ‘Call your girlfriend’ with their margarine pots what I then found out was that they were a bit of a YouTube sensation, especially for this song. Although my first impression of them was ‘cute’ Lennon’s voice was far from it; with her being the older of the two sisters, but still only 12 years old, she had a voice which made you believe she felt and believed everything she was singing. Maisy added another dimension to the song with her harmonies and backing vocals and the mix of young and slightly older seems to work like a charm.

Although ‘Call your girlfriend’ gave them their first taste of viral stardom, I think my person favourite cover of theirs is ‘I won’t give up’ by Jason Mraz, this song again demonstrates their amazing harmonies but also showcases Lennon’s guitar playing. However, it is not just Lennon who is gifted at the guitar, in Maisy’s solo cover of Missy Higgins’s ‘Secret’ she also shows of her guitar playing and surprises us all with her tuneful yet also mature voice. Their ‘Call your girlfriend’ cover has inspired other YouTubers to also try making music with cups or empty cartons and it has now become a bit of a craze.

Their new Christmas song ‘Christmas coming home’ is an upbeat joyous song that makes you want to sing along, it was written by Lennon and Maisy’s parents and Maisy herself said “I love to sing it because it makes you feel happy.”  They have millions of twitter followers, however perhaps the most exciting of these are One Direction and teen heart-throb Harry Styles even tweeted one of their YouTube videos.

When I was trying to find out more about the two Stella sisters I found out that their parents are also musically gifted, they finished in fourth place CMT’s Can you duet?I also found out that they grew up on a 170-acre farm without Phones or even TV and Internet, which is ironic since they now appear on both the internet and TV being watched by millions of 
viewers.

Not only are they showing the viral world what they can do, they have also booked the roles of Maddie and Daphne Conrad in the ABC hit show Nashville and wowed the world of TV with their great acting and their cover of ‘Telescope’ is one of the best music moments from the season.

Lennon and Maisy are definitely ones to watch and I know they’ll become stars.

Follow me on Twitter @elliekay96

Ellie Kay