On Sunday January 15, 2017, at the age of 18, I saw internet phenomenon, Miranda Sings, for the first time in "concert." Miranda Sings is a personality created by Colleen Ballinger in 2008, and made famous on YouTube, now with 7.5 million subscribers and over 1 billion views. Colleen created the character when she was in college and she based it off of all of the people she saw around her as a self proclaimed "musical theatre nerd." Miranda has grown and changed based off of the hate that Colleen has gotten on her videos until she had her first viral video "free voice lesson." The character is an obvious satire and her audience is mainly preteens and younger teenagers.

This is a duet between the creator, Colleen Ballinger, and the character, Miranda Sings.

As 18-year-olds, my friends and I felt a little strange walking into the event, where preteens surrounded us. We very quickly began to wonder if we even should have gone to the show. However, because Colleen makes the show and performs her original songs, her not-so-innocent humor sometimes finds its way into the jokes, with the assumption that those who are too young for raunchy humor, won't understand it anyway. This makes it so much more amusing for the parents who are dragged to the show to watch some girl with red lipstick all over her face because they'll laugh at jokes that go right over their kid's head. One of the most amusing moments of the show wasn't even on stage. There was a small family next to me with a mom and her two daughters. At one point, Colleen brought in her best friend, Kory, and they sang a spoof of "Love is an Open Door," but the Gay Best Friend version with the sassy line "You and I, we both like the 'D'." This got a massive laugh from the audience and the two daughters immediately asked their mom, "What does that mean?!?" So, while her audience is mainly a younger demographic, there are many jokes that they hardly understand that are extremely funny to the college kids and parents in the crowd.

I was lucky enough to have a VIP ticket with a meet and greet and an opportunity to take a photo with Miranda/Colleen. I was so excited and so very nervous for this. I have been watching Miranda's videos since I was a preteen, and Colleen's videos very quickly after that (because she has her own YouTube channel too: PsychoSoprano). I was about to meet someone I had watched online for years. Colleen was so nice and quick to give me a hug and a smile. And look! Cute photo!

So, while I could have every easily too old to see Miranda Sings Live! You're Welcome, Colleen and her crew wrote an excellent show for all ages to enjoy, and I was so happy to have experienced Miranda Sings in real life.