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The viral British-Norwegian DJ/producer Alan Walker, the artist behind the hits ‘Faded’ and ‘Alone’ recently celebrated the success of his new single ‘All Falls Down’ and reaching 10 million YouTube subscribers with a special performance at the YouTube Space in New York.
Alan Walker in NYC
He was joined at the performance with his collaborators on the track, Noah Cyrus and Juliander. Since the release of ‘All Falls Down’ back in October, the song has garnered over 31 million Spotify streams and the music video has received almost 40 million views. At just 20 years old Walker, who got his own start on YouTube, has quickly become one of the world’s most in-demand DJs. We got the chance to sit down with the artist and discuss his success, and his process creating his newest hit:
How did you celebrate your 10 million subscribers on your own?
Alan Walker: So far this has been the proper celebration, I haven’t really had time to do anything else! I was just home watching the live subscriber count, it was surreal, you can’t understand how big it really is. It’s outstanding and I’m forever thankful to everyone that’s subscribing.
You’ve had such a crazy year, you were on a billboard in Times Square, what was that like?
Alan Walker: It’s crazy! It’s so much you can’t really understand it, there’s so much to take in. I’m forever honored and forever thankful for each and every one that’s been supporting me so far, without them it wouldn’t have been impossible.
Obviously you got your start on YouTube, so what’s it like being back at the YouTube offices performing your hit song?
Alan Walker: It feels like after giving back, at the same time I’m giving to them. I feel like that’s amazing. Just being here at the Youtube space in New York is outstanding, it’s something that I never ever thought would happen. Also performing here with Noah Cyrus and Juliander is amazing.
How would you compare performing here and at a festival?
Alan Walker: Here we’re recording and everything and we’re just performing one song, so that’s kind of different. At the same time we’ve invited a couple fans, flew someone in from Germany, and I feel like it’s really kind of more personal, and the connection between me and my fans, and also with Noah Cyrus and Juliander, off the song, they’re all here to also support and also celebrate the 10 million mark.
What’s been your favorite fan interaction from today?
Alan Walker: I think the craziest experience so far has probably been like every time I’ve gone to China there’s been this same girl, she’s been meeting me all around no matter what city, I actually don’t know where she is from. She can’t speak English but she always greets me with a book, this time she actually gave me a book in Chinese, also along with that she gave me a book kind of like a diary, it was just a bunch of pictures from my social media. And that’s not the first time, it’s like the 3rd or 4th time that she’s done it and she’s including every photo from my Instagram, and some photos from my Snapchat just compiled together in one book, it’s pretty cool. I would say that’s one of the weirdest or coolest examples, it’s indescribable.
How did you collaborate with Noah and Digital Farm Animals on [‘All Falls Down’]
Alan Walker: It all started when Digital Farm Animals sent me the track for vocals, and they asked me ‘Do you want to do the production around it’ and I was like yeah this is sick. Then as I’ve been working on and everything we were like ‘Who do we send this to then we sent it to Noah Cyrus and we got an immediate yes. So she recorded the vocals in her studio and it somehow came together!
The YouTube Space performance is available to watch here:
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A Brit and a Yank is the creation of two good friends (John and James) and their comedic take on life, based in Los Angeles. James, the Brit, is a creative director by day, with very particular tastes and very little time for nonsense. John, the Yank, is a celebrity assistant, who is still learning how to properly become an adult. The two became friends through social media and decided their constant back and forth bantering would provide good comedic fodder. Together, the two take Hollywood by storm and deal with a variety of different topics and scenarios. Read our exclusive interview below:
Can you describe how the friendship between the both of you came about.
We actually met online through Twitter and, when we realized that we lived close to one another, we struck up a friendship. We had a lot in common but our opinions on the things we loved were always at odds which led to a lot of witty back and forth banter. Since that truth may be a bit boring, we may start telling people that we met on a safari and bonded after a near death experience with a wildebeest. That’s believable right?
What prompted you both to create a YouTube channel together and when exactly did the idea come up?
Again, social media played a huge role. Some of our followers started noticing our exchanges and would love when we would get into “arguments.” It would usually end with us calling each other something offensive…sent with love, of course. A few people started to say, “You guys should do a show. You’re so funny together.” That idea stuck in John’s head and when he was looking for a creative outlet outside of his job as a celebrity assistant, John immediately reached out to James and approached him about doing videos together. James came up with the name “A Brit and a Yank” and we were off and running crafting ideas with any free time we had available.
You guys do everything from taste test food to recap celebrity award shows – what’s been your favorite episode to tape so far?
Our TONYs recap was a lot of fun to do because so many different pieces came together for it. We were also in a time crunch to get it online as soon as the show was wrapping up live so we could get as many viewers as we could. It was chaotic but fun. Aside from actually providing commentary of the show, we did a song and dance routine which makes us smile every time we watch it. Speaking of song and dance, another fun short episode we did was our Thanksgiving episode which showed us both in giant turkey outfits on a 90 degree day doing some choreography atop the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles.
You cover manscaping on one of your most widely viewed episodes. Can you give us a sneak peek into some new topics that we can look forward to?
We just finished our first short film, which is a mockumentary on the Spice Girls. In it, we tell the story of how the two of us were founding members of the group and present for all their major moments from Wannabe to Geri’s departure…yet we were constantly being hidden from the world against our will. This video (and our delusions) allowed us to live out our childhood dreams. Who didn’t want to be a Spice Girl? It was a lot of work to put together but we had fun. Coming up, we will also be covering the Rio Olympics once they wrap and the MTV Video Music Awards. Awards shows never let us down because there’s always some element of crazy that we can play off of.
What are some of the craziest comments you’ve received on the channel?
A lot of people who come across our channel think we are dating or married. They are always shocked when we tell them we are 100% just great friends and the idea of anything sexual makes us want to lean against a cold porcelain toilet and violently throw up. Yet, we still get some people asking us to make videos of us kissing…or worse. And while we’d do anything for a video…we won’t do that.
What are your ultimate goals for the channel?
The sky is the limit for us. Right now, we love bringing our ideas to life and we are truly having a blast. We’d love to develop a following large enough that would allow us to not only be successful, but to also transition into a longer format show online or in television. We also want to do more hosting, acting, interviews, write books, screenplays, etc. We love the entertainment industry, we’ve worked hard to become a part of it, and we’re just ready to keep working and collaborating.