Jessica Frech

What happens when Miley Cyrus gets involved with Shark Week? No, this is not the beginning of a bad joke, and no, she doesn't get eaten. Actually, this parody of Miley's "We Can't Stop" called "Ain't No Party Like A Shark Week Party," is what came of it and it's brilliant.

Watch above. It's our party we can watch and/or eat what we cant to. - Huffington Post

AwesomenessTV — a YouTube channel with its own series, sketches and musicians — is making the jump to television tonight: The formerly online-only channel will premiere a half-hour comedy on Nickelodeon that includes fresh material stirred in with YouTube clips. Daniela Monet (Victorious) will host the show, also called AwesomenessTV, and continue to work for the online outlet, which has garnered more than 1 billion YouTube views.
AwesomenessTV CEO Brian Robbins told Variety that the YouTube channel will continue to be the first priority, but said they’re looking forward to finding more viewers. “The long-term goal is to build audience and own eyeballs over time,” he said. “It might take a little time for ad revenue to catch up. But an eyeball is an eyeball is an eyeball — no matter where it is, on TV or online.”
Nickelodeon is not new to the concept of adopting content from the web: The channel worked with Lucas Cruikshank (better known as Fred on YouTube) on three films. Cartoon Network picked up Annoying Orange, a YouTube channel with more than a billion hits, and created The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange. Those adorable AT&T ads featuring roundtable chats with kids started out as the brainchild of a YouTube star: Beck Bennett was an aspiring actor and comedian with thousands of hits on the video site when he got his big break in the spots.
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So is YouTube just a springboard for bigger and better things?

YouTube star Jessica Frech, who had a viral hit with her “People of Walmart” video, loves the freedom and creative control of YouTube. And her brand works: In 2011, Hyundai sent her an email asking if she’d like to shoot a commercial for the holiday season. “For me, when I got that call, it was like, ‘Okay, this is working — somebody is watching,’” Frech recalled.
She said it wasn’t ever the plan to end up on TV. However, once she had the opportunity, she wanted to go all out. “When I came to them with ideas, they were like, ‘Tone it down. We want you to do what you do on YouTube, not big Hollywood stuff.’ And I was like, ‘We’ve got the budget, let’s go big!’ They even wanted to film it in our house, and since my house wasn’t big enough to fit the production crew in, they rebuilt my house in the studio that we used. They rebuilt the room that we shoot our stuff in, and it looked exactly like my house.”
Frech said many of the people she has worked with who have huge YouTube followings don’t expect much more than that.
“Acting-wise, a lot of the people that I’ve worked with and I’ve met had no intentions of doing anything on commercial TV; they just had fun making a stupid video one day that went viral and then had to continue feeding that need because people want it and they want more.”
And some viral-video stars just get lucky — and they’re showing up on your computer, your TV and everywhere in between. - Entertainment Weekly

After taking over TV with her catchy Hyundai commercial, the independent singer/songwriter makes her debut album a 'Reality.'

Over the winter, Jessica Frech was fairly ubiquitous as the face - and voice - of Hyundai. In two TV commercials, Frech offered original musical odes to the automobile, a placement she earned following exposure of her series of comical songs and parodies on YouTube.

"People of Walmart," in particular, found Frech (which rhymes with check) ribbing the people-watching value of a visit to the superstore. To date, the good-natured song's clip has racked more than 6 million YouTube views.

Auto Tune: Who's The Girl In That Hyundai TV Commercial?

Now, Frech's debut full-length album is a reality. Literally: the self-released "Reality" arrives today (March 20). She's helped promote the set with live dates on the second annual DigiTour, which features a selection of singers who've swelled their audiences through YouTube videos.

The Nashville-based self-described "singer, songwriter, ukulele-ista, slapstick YouTube video creator, (Belmont University) college student (and) coffee house hermit" said in a recent visit to Billboard's New York offices that "Reality" largely eschews observations of big-box retailers (as rich as they are for subject matter) for more personal songwriting.

''Real music, as I call it," says Frech with a laugh. "Not that comedy isn't real music."

Notably, "Reality" includes not only a cover of Melanie (Safka)'s 1971 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 "Brand New key," but also an update of her "I Tried to Die Young." "(Melanie) just happened to be at one of the shows I was playing and I talked to her afterwards and we got to know each other," says Frech.


Impressively, fan support via Kickstarter helped fund "Reality" entirely. "It's amazing, because I've waited a long time to put this album out," Frech says."It's nice having been able to throw singles up on YouTube every once in a while, but (even nicer) to spend the time … and the money that I didn't have (to record and release the set).

"For fans to donate and pledge and to fund my album was just mind-boggling."

Fans that pledged to Kickstarter (billed as "the world's largest funding platform for creative projects") even got access to special treats. "Somebody bought my Les Paul ukulele that I played in the 'Walmart' video," Frech says. "(Fans could even buy) props from the videos that I've shot. It's kind of cool to see people say, 'I want that!' I'm like, it's just a purse that sits in my room …"


Frech considers utilization of social media essential to traversing the inroads that can help lead an independent artist to greater success.

"It's about being persistent, especially with YouTube, Twitter and Facebook," she says. "Talk with your fans, get to know them. Know what kind of music to write for them - but stay true to yourself."

"That's what was great about the Hyundai commercials," says Frech. "(Hyundai executives) were so good to me about helping me still be myself, turning these little homegrown videos on YouTube into commercials. I've had some people say, 'You sold out,' but it was absolutely not like that. I'd come up with these huge, grand ideas and (Hyundai personnel) would say, 'Jessica, remember, we want you to be yourself.' I was the one trying to be commercial.

"I definitely learned: continue to be yourself and opportunities will continue coming."

From Hyundai to a national tour, as well as a new jingle for energy drink Neuro.

And, should "Reality" continue to build her fan base, Frech might even be able to upgrade to a new car of her own, instead of just singing about such a purchase.

For now? "I drive a 2001 (Toyota) Camry. It just hit 200,000 miles." - Billboard

Nashville, if you're looking for living proof that Internet killed the video star, look no further than your own backyard. Not even halfway through college, Jessica Frech has multimillions of views on her YouTube channel, a star turn in a national TV ad campaign and a fan-funded album on the way — all without a record deal or, as recently as last month, so much as an official bio from her publicist. So how did this all start?

"We just got hyper one night," the Belmont sophomore says. Partly out of boredom and partly out of a songwriting itch that never lets up, Frech (rhymes with "Beck") wrote and recorded a song called "The People of Walmart" — a stream-of-ridiculousness soundtrack to the blog of the same name — and got some friends together to make a goofy, slapdash video.

Frech posted the result to YouTube, and then went on with her fairly typical student life. (She's a songwriting major.) The next day, a deluge of email alerts began: People were commenting on the video. A lot of people — it had been picked up by G4's Attack of the Show and gone viral.

Eight million YouTube views later — and counting — Frech has a built a sort of cottage industry out of her knack for penning off-the-cuff songs about pretty much anything — including one apiece for Hyundai's in-car navigation system and their 10-year warranty. The Korean automaker's marketing people liked her self-produced videos so much, they were sold on the idea of featuring her in a commercial before the ad agency had even contacted her. Frech also invites fans to submit challenging subject matter, turning those ideas into a new song and video every week — the results include "No More Shark Week" and "Pee in Traffic."

But while she's Internet-famous for jingles and joke songs — a cover of Ke$ha's "Blow" utilizing cookware as percussion here, a Katy Perry parody titled "Black Friday Night" there — Frech's also a more serious writer at heart. In January, she started a fundraising drive on the microfinance site Kickstarter, hoping to raise enough money to independently release her debut album, Reality. By the time the funding period ended, she had not only met her goal, she'd exceeded it — by $20,000.

"It's been crazy," Frech says. And to give an idea of the fandom she's already inspired: "One person paid $1,200 for the ukulele I play in the 'Walmart' video," she says. "It's, like, a $99 ukulele." Good thing it comes autographed. - Nashville Scene

Meet Jessica Frech, the star of the catchy ad and a YouTube sensation. (video) - ABC News

Live performance - Fox New York