Producing just one video is a long process. First, you decide your song, then you have to figure out the arrangement of the song; will you play it on the guitar? Will you make it a music video? Once you figure that out, you record it and then edit it, which can take two to five days to finish.
Engaging with my fans has helped me grow to more than 3 million followers.
YouTube has changed my life in a huge way. I mean, I wouldn't be able to pursue music and do what I love each day if it wasn't for the YouTube platform and for the people who watch my videos and share them.
Music is just about having fun, being free, being yourself.
I just love ballads. I am obsessed with them, so I've written a lot of those. They just kind of touch on all the different types of emotions. Though, I think poppy, feel - good songs are underrated and not seen as artistic enough.
With my YouTube videos, I used to edit a lot of my own videos, so I've gotten used to seeing myself on camera.
I love hanging out with friends. Honestly, one of my favorite things to do is have game night. Just people coming over and hanging out and laughing and playing games.
Covers are always so fun to do, but there's nothing like telling your own story.
'Use Somebody' I posted - it was the end of 2009, around Christmas. That was my first video.
I always have to have mascara; otherwise, I feel like I don't look awake enough. It's like, 'I have eyes now!'
If you're doing what you love, and people can see that and relate to it, that's the most important thing.
I would come home after school and begin to create videos, because there was people waiting to see new content from me.
I love Audrey Hepburn; I love those silhouettes and T-length skirts and stuff. They're just very classy. I like to mix that look with quirkiness, kind of like how Katy Perry has that quirkiness.
People that have known me for a while tell me how they see me grown as an artist and as a writer. I think that this comes with continuing writing each day. I try to write as often as I can and explore more while I do it. I feel more comfortable with opening up and telling more of my story to everyone.
I think, at the end of the day, it comes down to authenticity and creating what you love.
I grew up listening to pop music with my dad in the car, and we'd just listen to Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Earth Wind & Fire, KC and the Sunshine Band - all that good stuff. So to see it snaking its way back around again is really exciting, and I love listening to the radio.
I started writing probably around when I was 15, because that's when I picked up the guitar. That was also around the same time when I began to create my own music, and everything really just clicked for me, and I knew this was what I was going to do.
Before YouTube, I was playing in restaurants and doing open mics - every once in a while, I'd throw an original in there. And then YouTube kind of just opened doors for me, so once I felt like I had an audience to share music with, I began to share my original music.
I think my biggest fear is trying to communicate in Spanish with someone I don't know and them laughing at me or thinking it's awful, but for the most part, people I've encountered just see that I'm trying, and they're helpful. It's helpful to me to communicate with people.
When you're performing, you just have to keep pushing through. You're human, and you're going to make mistakes. I think even Beyonce has tripped on stage, and she's Beyonce! We're all human beings, and sometimes we trip in our high heels! I barely perform in high heels. I don't know how those girls do it.
