YouTuber Spotlight: Lindsey Stirling, the “Hip Hop Violinist”
It occurs to me that I’ve been talking about a lot of male YouTube stars in my YouTuber Spotlight series, so in this edition I decided to focus on a very talented woman. Her name is Lindsey Stirling, and she’s an American violinist, performance artist and composer running the YouTube channel lindseystomp.
Stirling’s rock-influenced style of playing the violin, combined with her dancing skills, makes for a captivating collection of videos. It helps that she partners with cinematographer Devin Graham for some jaw-dropping camera work, but there’s no question that Stirling’s kinetic style and positive attitude are the real attraction.
I only happened across her channel yesterday, but didn’t take much time to browse through her earlier material and get a sense of where she’s coming from. Online bios explain she’s been studying violin since she was 6, and spent years playing the instrument in the way we all think of it: solo or orchestral classical performance. When she was 16, however, she started exploring how it could be used in hip hop and electronic music, and a unique musical act was born.
Like any current musician worth their salt, Stirling has an EP and some singles available on iTunes. She also competed on America’s Got Talent in 2010. There’s something to be said, however, for Stirling’s YouTube channel, because it allows you to not only queue up her songs, but take in her impressive dance moves. These include Stirling playing the violin while bending over backwards (limbo-style), or fiddling while standing in a ballerina-like pose on one foot.
On her channel, Stirling primarily posts videos for the original music she produces. She supplements these with videos for movie and video game medleys and occasional vlog-style glimpses into her life. It was actually through her most recent video, a Lord of the Rings medley shot in New Zealand (where else?), that I discovered her channel. I found it on one of my go-to movie news blogs, and I immediately had to share it with my followers. Check it out here:
As you can see from the Stirling videos I’ve embedded here, Devin Graham’s cinematography is a major draw. Graham is perhaps better known for the extreme sports videos he posts on the channel Devin Super Tramp, but the vibrant colours and sweeping shots he uses in his own videos are definitely on display in Stirling’s posts. It was interesting to see what Graham did with Stirling’s video “Shadows”, which had a more grounded feel, using light and shadows (and a bit of clever editing) very effectively.
Admittedly, I’m already a fan of violin music, whether it’s in classical or Celtic arrangements. I come from a Canadian province (Newfoundland and Labrador) that’s fairly well-known for its fiddle music. One of the province’s biggest musical exports at the moment, the rock group Hey Rosetta!, uses the fiddle much the way Lindsey Stirling does, so my appreciation of Stirling’s work perhaps came easier than it would for some.
A great bonus is Stirling's collaboration with cinematographer Devin Graham
I doubt, though, that anyone could really find fault with Stirling’s work. After all, her sunny disposition in pretty much every video she posts is kind of infectious – it’s clear she absolutely loves performing, and she transfers that joy to the viewer. I highly recommend checking out Lindsey Stirling’s channel and subscribing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to hear that Lord of the Rings medley again…
-
What do you think of Lindsey Stirling? Does she have a future as a mainstream star? Or is her act too “niche” to do well outside of YouTube? Sound off in the comments section below. If you’re new to my YouTuber Spotlight series, you can catch up on the other stars I’ve profiled by following these links:
-
Rhett and Link | Julien Neel (Trudbol) | EpicMealTime & FPSRussia | Philip DeFranco
Freddie Wong | Toby Turner | Julian Smith | MysteryGuitarMan
-
Posted on February 4, 2012, in YouTuber Spotlight and tagged america's got talent, cinematography, devin graham, fiddle, hip hop, lindsey stirling, rock, violin. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
I came across your review of Lyndsey Stirling, perhaps unsurprisingly seeing as I Googled “Lyndesy Stirling Review”.
I just kind of stumbled across Lyndsey’s ‘Crystallize’ video yesterday. After an initial sense, only because of its (and Lyndsey’s) quirkiness, of “This is a bit odd”, it just blew me away. And you’re absolutely right about her infectious personality (I’m a grumpy old curmudgeon, but for some reason I appreciate the converse qualities in other people). Her whole package of originality; her quite unique — and quirky — dancing and choreography, her gifted musicianship, as well as everything about the excellent production of her videos, just everything about watching her perform is actually quite spiritually uplifting. And she’s not exactly unpleasant to look at either. She almost has a certain, and I mean this in a good way, anime quality to her, which I seem to remember I may have heard her actually acknowledge herself in one of her videos.
After spending far too much time yesterday watching all her videos, when I had lots of stuff I should have been doing, I searched for reviews because I just couldn’t understand why I had never heard of her, and why she isn’t a household name, which is what brought me to your door.
I will say that her appearances on America’s Got Talent were perhaps ill-advised. Whilst there is only a brief extract of her original audition, the later episode where she is criticized by the God of talent, Piers Morgan, and the other judges, for missing a couple of notes, demonstrated that they were kind of missing the point. Lyndsey, by her later appearance, looking, I have to say, horrendously manufactured, and like all other people on that show, stripped of the personality that makes her unique, had to stand there and listen to that pointless criticism, and I actually felt for her. Being an ‘OK’ cornet player myself, who would miss notes if I were nailed to the floor, I can’t think of one single musical instrument that anyone could play whilst performing like Lyndsey does, and not miss the odd note, particularly a violin. I’ve absolutely loved watching all her videos whilst still being aware that she obviously isn’t playing live, but it doesn’t detract at all from the enjoyment watching and listening to her perform in them; it’s still Lyndsey playing the music. In her live performance videos, I can’t say I’ve particularly noticed her missing notes, because unlike Piers, I do get her, and I enjoy her performance as a whole; a performance which makes her so unique, and I doubt very much I would notice even if she had missed the odd note, and it wouldn’t have bothered me in the slightest even if I had.
Actually I have just noticed a comment below her original America’s Got Talent audition Youtube, from someone who says “I’ve just witnessed the talent of this girl tonight and I have to say I’m glad she lost, Hollywood would destroy the beauty and originality in this girl by controlling her”. The comment had 511 thumbs up. It now has 512.
Thank you for the excellent review.
Darrell Burnett
Glad you liked the article, and thanks for your detailed and well-considered comments! Personally, I love stumbling across new talent like Lindsey Stirling, and reminding people of the creative diversity on YouTube. I’m curious to see where her career evolves from here. One thing’s for sure – it’s because of content creators like Stirling that YouTube is on track to really challenge “traditional” entertainment media. Feel free to check out my other articles and let me know what you think!
Pingback: Is ‘SourceFed’ The Future of News? « Professionally Incoherent
Pingback: YouTuber Spotlight: Alex Day « Professionally Incoherent