Whether demonised or put on a pedestal, some of the biggest hits of today are internet success (ahem) stories. The constant stream of activity online means there is a whole other way of gaining instant fame and fortune if you are ballsy enough to put yourself 'out there' i.e. potentially make a complete knobhead of yourself for the benefit of others amusement on an everlasting system. It's time to give pause for thought for the vanguard of nobodies who have joined the ranks of celebrity through the aul internet:
1) The High Priestess of internet fame herself, Kim Kardashian must have one hell of a job trying to dwindle her career down into one simple explanation when it comes to job description. With the aid of her soul-selling for a brief chance of a publicity affair mother Kris Jenner, she has risen to the top of all reality TV starlets to become a giant, ultra-modern sensation. Now she has perfume, fashion lines, TV series and anything you can name as part of her deal but what really set her career going was the infamous sex tape that was reportedly leaked and thereafter distributed. One watch of the Kardashian reality TV hit will tell you she is seemingly devoid of any personality so charm-free fame wannabes pay attention- all it takes a ridiculous amount of PR and over-sexualisation of any specific body part and you're in the running to be the next big thing.
2) In keeping with this Kardashian strand, sisters Khloe and Kourtney have managed to make enough money to bathe in gold if they wanted to, simply by piggybacking off of their sister's success as the 'it' sexcam socialite. Before the sex scandal, they may have featured on the reality TV series Keeping up with the Kardashians, but just like Kim the level of fame/notoriety they have gained is founded in the tape, the tape, the tape.
4) All Beliebers will know one thing is for certain; if enough people watch a YouTube video countless times, that lucky video-maker is going to make shit loads of money. In this case, that little video maker was none other than a small Canadian child with a fringe bigger than the rest of his body, and he went by the name of Justin Bieber. Boo urns or applaud all you want, either way Bieber probably spends more on harem pants in a day than the rest of us do on mortgages in a lifetime. And all that success for a nineteen year old who repetitively sings 'baby' and called the Sistine Chapel the Sixteenth Chapel on Letterman. Such is life.
5) Spotting this trend and making her move, Rebecca Black came out with the classic video Friday. Friday captures the very essence of youth, it's vigour, restlessness and undying hope in a poetic elegy to the end of the week with the lyrics 'It’s Friday, Friday/ Gotta get down on Friday/ Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend'. Beautiful stuff, phew. Of course, the minute the video hit the internet (thanks to her parent's money) the piss was ripped out of her with a shockingly strong force. Still, nice to be mentioned isn't it? Following the public outcry against the teen, a wave of sympathy followed and now she has every chance to be a mediocre popstar if she plays her cards right.
6) Remember the high days of Paris Hilton's career? Now regarded as the outdated version of Kim Kardashian, Hilton made it as a famebot when her sex tape One Night in Paris made its debut online. Similar to Kim, many have suggested the videos were released by Paris herself/her entourage. How outrageous, really. So she jumped from nothing other than another rich heir to the most famous young socialite, making crap loads of money from the endless merchandise mercilessly pushed to young teens. That's just economic savvy. Both she and Kardashians havebrought the popular Mean Girls attitude of school to a higher level for young girls to mull over with either envy or fear.
7) Speaking of Hiltons, Perez Hilton is an altogether odd variety of celebrity that exists off the back of all other internet hits. In other words, he is the parasites of parasites.Starting as a blogger, he made his mark on the celebrity scene by doodling over snapshots of IT people. The man is a one-man gossip machine to the extent that if you shout out cheap tabloid,the words Perez Hilton echo back.
8) South-Korean singer Psy went from a blip on the radar to global phenomenon when an inexplicable amount of attention was placed on his funny but relatively unremarkable song Gangnam Style. His bizarre videos clearly struck a note with people who seemed to collectively join for a laugh and keep on clicking on that YouTube video, making him a number one hit.
9) Sharing the same manager as Justin Biebs, fellow Canadian Carly Rae Jepson gained worldwide popularity when her single Call Me Maybe reached 400 million views. It just shows how clever marketing and the right backing can push an unknown as Bieber's one tweet about the singer sent people clicking. Jepson's image also merges nicely into the Bieber type brand of wholesome (well he was) and cute, despite the fact she's actually twenty-seven, not in her teens as her giggly videos suggest.
10) One of the most recognisable memes online must be credited to Laina Walker AKA Overly Attached Girlfriend. Following the internet trend like so many of the other previous examples of feeding off another online craze, she created a satirical video based on-you guessed it- Justin Bieber's hit Boyfriend. Her intense, crazed stare gave new life to the term bunny-boiler, and so ensued many of funny meme of the same nature. This looney you gotta love.