Since web-celeb Chris Crocker pleaded "Leave Britney Alone!" three years ago in a video which has now racked up 37,500,000 views on YouTube, he's been bewigged and wigged out, made out with and made-up, girly, angry, fierce and funny in dozens more unique and bewitching 'just me an my camera' scenes. Now the 23-year-old's turning his talents to music. Haters gonna hate, but will he win new fans with his latest outrageous antics put to music? Does his new song Freak of Nature sum him up? Locals can get up close and find out - he's winging his way to Sydney for special shows at Same Same's Mardi Bar on Oxford Street this Thursday and Friday. As Crocker packs his bags, we asked some probing questions.
Hi Chris! We're looking forward to your Sydney shows! I'm sure we'll roll out the red carpet, it'll be just like Oprah visited us.
Oh my goodness, like Oprah visiting? I don't know if I'm tat popular, but I'm really excited to go down there. I've never been to Australia before. I love your accents. They're really sexy. And I'm newly single so I'm on the lookout. I'll have my whip ready for being a dominatrix! (laughs)
Good to hear! Hows the response been to your single Freak of Nature?
The reception's been really good. I released it as kind of a buzz single just to get my name back out there again and introduce the idea back into people's head of 'Chris Crocker - The Singer'. Because I came out with the song Mind in the Gutter in 2008 and did pretty good. So I just wanted to release Freak of Nature to kind of reintroduce the idea of me as an artist, because I hadn't done music in a long time.
We've followed your video's quite a bit in the last few years after Leaving Britney Alone. but noticed your've had a little bit of a love/hate relationship with YouTube?
I'm now a partner with YouTube but in the beginning I was a little too controversial for them. My videos would get flagged all the time and removed from the site. I have a good relationship with them now but in the past I was young and doing crazy stuff like lifting my leg up on camera and showing a little too much cooty. So I've tamed down a little bit with the videos but the music is getting sexier and sexier.
When you were recording your Leave Britney Alone video, did you have any idea what you were doing and how it would take off?
I had no idea how it would take off. It was just kind of a blog straight from the heart. That same year when Britney was going through all her drug use and her melt down my mum was actually going through a lot of similar situations. And so seeing Britney go through that really hit home with me and stuff going on with my mum. A lot of people don't know that. So when I was defending Britney, it was kind of a way of defending my mum too, it was a personal video. A lot of people thought I was acting in the video but I wasn't.
You had a hard time growing up, didn't you? At school you were bullied, how bad did it get?
It was really bad at school. The reason I started making video's was to kind of escape my small hometown because I was bullied a lot. So videos were kind of a way to take the power back and talk to the haters through the videos. It was hard for me growing up here. It's a small town, it's very religious and there are lots of rednecks. It was hard growing up, but videos definitely helped.
When you're on the internet you start to realise how many people there are out there that are a bit like you. Your unique, sure, but you get the sense of community from people that are perhaps going through the same things and have those same emotions.
The internet definitely made me feel less alone with the discrimination I was facing and it made me realise that there were a lot of people out there cheering me on and that were like me. It also helped me give a voice to people that are being picked on too. I have a lot of gay kids writing me all the time telling me that I make them feel stronger when they're going through those situations at school and stuff. It's kind of a back and forth. I share with them, they share with me, and we feel less alone and more empowered. Youtube's definitely changed my life for the better.
So whats the next step for you now? Where do you see yourself in a few years?
I actually just got sent a part to be in a new show by the creator of Sex & The City and he said that he had me in mind for doing that. I just auditioned for that. And I'm being flown to Australia now, so things randomly come at you that you don't really expect. I can't ever really predict where I'll be, but all I know is that I'm going to keep following my intuition. I didn't think that I'd be making music again and I am. so I'm really happy doing that. Things come out of nowhere and you just go with it.
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