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 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

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'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

'Jacks Gap' YouTube channel Review

‘Jacks Gap, Jacks Gap, five minutes of your life that you won’t get back!’ This is certainly true, and like Jack himself says in his first video- “Who would want to listen to five minutes of me?” Well somehow millions of people do, and I can proudly admit that I, myself, am one of those millions of people who log in every week to see if he has uploaded a new video yet. So, who is Jack? Well Jack is Jack Harries, you may have seen him in School of Comedy when he was younger, and in his early videos he films every week of his gap year; however, in his later videos it soon becomes him in front of his camera making the millions of viewers laugh in hysterics.

What’s that I hear you ask? Why does he have so many subscribers? Jack is just a naturally funny guy and when he invites other YouTubers onto his channel it becomes twice as hilarious. In his videos he seems to do the activities all of us wish we could do but for some reason we know it would never work for us, he goes street surfing and even makes the most boring of tasks (like opening mail) hilarious. When you combine this with his amazingly good looks it is hard to resist staring at him instead of doing your homework, and then when you think it can’t get much better he brings his TWIN BROTHER along and anybody who understands girls knows we can’t resist good looking twins. He even manages to make us cry sometimes (he has to say goodbye to his pet lizard.)

Jack has a twitter following of nearly three hundred thousand and is constantly updating his followers with what he is doing that moment in time and I have no doubt that each picture and tweet gets thousands of re-tweets. Although Jack has now gone off to study acting at Bristol, and I’m sure they’ve had an increase of girl applicants this year, he is still posting videos.  It is not just his good looks and charming wit that attracts YouTubers to his channel it is his knack for making each video different, nothing he does is the same and nothing he does is ordinary. So I recommend everyone to go onto youtube and check jacksgap out!

Please can everyone go and follow me on twitter @elliekay96 you can see every time I post a new review I would really appreciate it!

Ellie X