Originially published in the November 2015 issue of LatinTRENDS Magazine
By Luis Vazquez
Social Networks have become a vital source for talent acquisitions. Self-made videos on sites like Facebook, Instagram and Vine have propelled talented unknowns into well-paid Internet celebrities. One such case is musical talent Lauren Giraldo, who says the experience initially was surreal. “Yes, definitely a little weird,” Lauren explained. “It took some time to get used to.”
She’s a teenager who took musical theater classes and found a gift for making popular six-second vignettes on Vine. She hit the jackpot when her videos attracted numbers that got her paychecks in the neighborhood of $5,000. But producing these shorts is not as simple as it appears. “Definitely, I want to say so much, but I package them well,” Lauren admits.
The sudden fame can become unsettling, as the pressure to continue producing high-interest videos threatens to interfere with natural creativity. “It’s the same thing, just having more eyes on my work,” Lauren said. “But I don’t see it like I’m a star. I don’t view it like that.”
Lauren never places great expectations on herself. She is still the girl who describes herself as “Doing my high school thing.” This is something she does for fun and that’s all that matters. “I feel it opened a bunch of doors, but it wasn’t on purpose,” Giraldo shared. “It definitely helped, but I feel I would have been doing this [music] for fun even if nothing happened.”
But something did happen. Two months after becoming an Internet sensation, Lauren seized the opportunity to develop an album to be released in 2016. She’s done covers up until now, but she already has an idea of what she’s looking for in a songwriter on the new album. “It’s going to be alternative pop, not bubble gum pop. Not too radio sounding.”
Lauren is enjoying the ride and is confident that a personal destiny has already been fulfilled. She has simple hopes for her original music project. “I hope people love it, and I get to perform it.”
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