Anthony Vincent’s YouTube channel blew up since he uploaded a video of himself singing Katy Perry’s Dark Horse in 20 different styles. The video went viral and since then, he’s been making videos and garnering more success. Anthony’s videos are quite simple, but a lot of talent and hard work are put into them. All of this pays off, of course, as the music is quite incredible. His songs are very well produced to each style he sings in. And his overall performance is extremely entertaining.
This all started when the Set the Charge vocalist was making a video to promote his custom songs business. He had made an account on fiverr.com where he would do a jingle business. He made custom, personalized songs that last 10 seconds for 5 dollars. The client would pick the genre they wanted and provide the lyrics, and he would provide the music himself. He became a top-rated seller on Fiverr, and that gave him a chance to quit his day job and focus on this new venture of his.
“In March, I wanted to take it a step further and bring it to YouTube”, Anthony tells, “and my first idea which I’d come up with in the prior November, was to take a pop song and do it in 20 styles to showcase the different production styles”. This was how Anthony’s 10 Second Songs YouTube account started. The way it has grown was astonishing, but not surprising, “I went from a fresh YouTube account with zero subscribers to 100,000 subscribers in about a week”, Anthony says.
It’s hard to think that Anthony, after the tremendous success he got from 10 Second Songs, didn’t consider putting the custom songs business behind him. In fact, he actually did, “when it happened, it was clear that there’s another purpose for this YouTube channel”, Anthony says, “I still do custom songs but my main focus is growing the channel”.
The internet has grown into the main platform for talent showcase. YouTube, to be more specific, is where many talents get their first chance at stardom. Anthony knows this and plans to take that chance, “I want to make that switch to complete content creation. If I can be where my channel is like an Epic Rap Battle or something like that, where they put out a video and in 24 hours it gets 300 million views”, Anthony elaborates, “that kind of presence on the internet, that’d be awesome, because I can do that for as long as I’m having fun”.
Collaborations between YouTube musicians are as common as the collaborations between pop stars. And with Anthony’s fast rise to web-fame, he has considered it, “of course, that’s something I definitely want. I’ve been in talks with some people and there’s a lot of work already in the pipeline. We just have to take it one step at a time, but they will happen”, he confirms.
Epic Rap Battles, which Anthony mentioned, is a YouTube music channel. The men behind it: Nice Peter and Epic Lloyd, and their team, write rap battles using the audience suggestions as reference. The channel is one of many where artists use the internet to get to a huge audience. Keeping in mind how musicians always speak fondly of memories of performing in front of large crowds, we had to wonder whether or not performing in front of millions online is the same. Anthony doesn’t believe so, “it would be rewarding to be performing in front of a packed, sold out arena”, Anthony Laughs, “it’s awesome to see all the views piling on something you did and get received as well as some of the work I’ve put out has been”, he explains.
Anthony’s biggest performance in front of a live audience was an opening which his band had done for Hatebreed, “it was just 800 people and I can’t forget that, just that roar. I can’t imagine the energy that it would be to have something like 20,000 people. It’s got to be incredible. That’s the end game here”, Anthony says.
When Anthony covered Katy Perry’s Dark Horse, he covered it in very diverse styles and genres. And we were all surprised that many of those styles were pop, mainstream music. We had to know whether he actually enjoyed all those styles. Is Anthony’s taste really that diverse? “I don’t listen to N’Sync, but they have influenced me at some point back when I was 12 years old and boy bands were a thing”, Anthony tells, “I would make fun of them but secretly sing them” he laughs.
Turns out, his taste really is diverse, “I love rap, I love good hip hop, I don’t listen to Opera or Pavarotti like every day, but of course I’m influenced by that stuff too”, Anthony says, “there are some sounds that I wouldn’t touch. I’d feel embarrassed to do it, but that’s it, but some of that emo stuff, I wouldn’t.”
This diverse shift in sounds within the same song cannot be easy to do, production-wise. What Anthony does is not mere impersonation. The man re-produces the song in the style of each artist he covers. It’s a long, complicated process, “I figured I’d show the Acapella side to Boys II Men”, Anthony says, “so I would take a song that was Acapella sounding and I’d break it down. In fact, I researched what a typical recording session would be like with them”.
It takes a lot of paying attention to small elements, “You’ve got to listen to Doors songs and pay very close attention to the drums, that’s how it starts; the kick drum the snare drum. This all turns on what drum patches I use in the program”, Anthony explains, “what’s the tempo, and am I going to make it closer to the song I’m using as a reference, or the original song, or something in between?” At the end of the day, Anthony offers an experience, “it’s not impersonating. I know I don’t sound like these artists”, Anthony tells.
Anthony’s work was not only appreciated by millions, it also caught the attention of some of the very artists he was covering. Type 0 Negative tweeted about his cover of Katy Perry’s Dark Horse in their style. And Linken Park appeared in his video covering their song, In the End. This reaction had its effect on Anthony, “Type 0 Negative, not only did they share Dark Horse in 20 Styles, but when I did a full version of Type 0 Negative because it was such a favorite, I didn’t expect anything to come out of it but they shared it again!” Anthony says.
Linkin Park also shared the video, but in a different way, “And Linkin Park, people have been sending me videos from their tour and I got a video where they were actually playing the 20 styles of In The End as people leave”, Anthony tells, “and that’s pretty awesome. So, see? I’m already to some degree to large crowds”, he laughs.
Anthony is not only armed with his musical skills, but also his great spirit, “I feel very charged, like we can help bring more excitement to the genre again, because everything is a little stale right now”, Anthony explains, “not that there’s not any good artists out there, because there are great artists”.
Talent is definitely getting more exposure thanks to technology. However, it’s not always easy to find talented people online. It’s not always so simple, “it’s amazing, we’re at the age of the internet and you’ve got YouTube, and you would think it’s easy to find great music, but you’ve got to know where to look”, Anthony concludes.
Check out the video interview below. We apologize for the sound quality.
