About

Miranda Sings is a fictional YouTube personality created and portrayed by professional singer and comedian Colleen Ballinger. Under her YouTuber handle "mirandasings08," Miranda is portrayed as an awkward, egotistical 20-something living in Tacoma, Washington, who dreams of becoming a viral Internet star by posting poorly sung covers of show tunes and pop songs on her YouTube channel.

History

In an interview with The Times London,^[2] Ballinger revealed that the character Miranda was based on female students she met while attending a private Christian university:

"There were a lot of cocky girls who thought they were really talented, and they weren't. They were so rude and snotty, it drove me nuts. Then I saw all these girls trying to make a career out of putting videos on YouTube for thousands to watch, clueless to the fact that they were terrible."

On January 30th, 2008, Ballinger launched the "Miranda Sings" YouTube channel, the first video featured an early version of the Miranda character performing a choir audition (shown below, left). On January 10th, 2009, a video featuring an updated version of the character wearing what later became her signature red lipstick was uploaded to the Miranda Sings channel, in which she performs a cover of the 1989 pop song "Love Shack" by The B-52's (shown below, right).

On February 16th, Miranda Sings posted a parody version of the "Single Ladies" music video (shown below, left). In the first six years, the video gained over 1.32 million views and 5,700 comments. On June 16th, 2010, Miranda Sings upload a music video parody for the 2010 pop song "California Girls" by Katy Perry, which gathered more than 3.9 million views and 18,300 comments in five years (shown below, right).

On July 17th, 2011, Miranda Sings released a cover of the 2011 rap song "Look at me Now" by Chris Brown (shown below, left). In four years, the video garnered upwards of 1.2 million views and 6,700 comments. On July 9th, 2012, the channel posted a parody of the 2012 dance track "Starships" by Nicki Minaj, which gained over 6.6 million views and 14,500 comments in the next three years.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

On December 1st, 2014, Miranda Sings appeared in character on an episode of comedian Jerry Seinfeld's web show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (shown below, left). That evening, the pair appeared on the Tonight Show, where they played Pictionary as a team against host Jimmy Fallon and comedian Martin Short (shown below, right).

Criticism

Ghostwriter Controversy

The Miranda Sings Ghostwriter Controversy refers to a series of allegations about Colleen Ballinger, who plays the comedic character "Miranda Sings made by Adam Mcintyre, a 17-year-old who claimed to be Ballinger's unpaid ghostwriter in a YouTube video. Additionally, he accused Ballinger of sending him lingerie when he was 13. In response, Ballinger admitted to sending him underwear was part of a live-stream unboxing of unused clothes but expressed regret for having sent the clothes. She also expressed regret for "oversharing" with fans and not properly vetting those fans she worked with.

Search Interest

External References