Toronto YouTube star Lilly Singh has a new BF: Michelle Obama
Photo, @iisuperwomanii/Instagram
Lilly Singh, 27, started vlogging back in 2010, talking at rapper-fast speeds into a cam from her Scarborough, Ont. bedroom. She spoke candidly about her depression, performed zany sketches and sent a message of self-acceptance that resonated with young women across the Internet. Since then, she’s garnered one of the largest followings in YouTube history, moved to Los Angeles, dabbled in acting and landed a book deal. Oh, and this past weekend, she stopped by the White House to shoot a forthcoming video (details TBA) with Michelle Obama. Yet many Canadians who don't watch YouTube obsessively may not know who she is. So we put together a handy by-the-numbers breakdown of her astral rise.
70: Number of people who watched Singh's first YouTube video back in 2010. She started making them as a way to work through the depression she was experiencing in her early 20s, while studying psychology at York University in Toronto.
20,202,034: Views of her most popular video, “How Girls Get Ready.” It's a great example of her comedic style, which involves keen observations of every day life, like the way girls prep for a night out, plus full makeup and plenty of costumes to help Singh play multiple characters.
2: Number of videos Singh posts every week. She writes, shoots, stars in and edits each video herself and posts them every Monday and Thursday.
2: Number of parents Singh lovingly impersonates on YouTube. Her mom and dad, immigrants from Punjab, India, raised her in Scarborough, Ontario in a traditional Sikh household, which Singh mines for comedy.
9,000,000: Singh's combined followers on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. They call themselves “Team Super” or “The Lillycorns,” and they're cultishly devoted to Singh, who openly discusses her emotional issues with them via daily vlog and frequent #AskSuperwoman live chats.
1,000,000,000: Number of times her YouTube videos have been viewed (That's one billion, for those who lost track of the zeros.)
27: Cities Singh visited on her 2015 world tour, A Trip to Unicorn Island, in which she rapped, performed stand up and delivered motivational wisdom.
3: Number of movies Singh will appear in this year, including a cameo this summer’s Bad Moms, Ice Age: Collision Course and her self-produced documentary, A Trip to Unicorn Island.
7: Months until Singh's first book, a collection of essays and advice called How to Be a Bawse, comes out.
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