Welcome to CBC Spotlight, our monthly blog series where we interview members of the Youtaite community! Sign up for your chance to be interviewed. Today, I’m interviewing Nicky.
Tell us about yourself!
Hello! I’m your neighbourhood punny milk tea/boba lover, Nicky! I am a big fan of Love Live (mostly Aqours’ songs bec they vibe with my voice hehe), loves throwing puns and rickroll my dear friends (who either go 😐 or join in the fun~)!
I started singing when I was 13 during the summer. I took 12 sessions of voice lessons and that’s about all the formal(???) training I had HAHAHA! The Christmas break before those lessons though, I had a friend’s mother tell me I had a nice voice when we were carpool karaoke-ing that time, so I decided to try it out! So, thank you auntieeee HAHAHA 💖 I found myself practicing regularly using smule for a few years, then I transitioned to being a Youtaite recently (oOf wait that’s was around 2-3 years ago 😂) because of the first very active group and family I was part of, Magical Angels! We participated in lots of CBs in Smule then a few on YouTube, so upon realizing I could make YouTube covers and learned how to do so, I opened my horizons to being casted for cover groups and YT CBs!
How'd you first become involved with the Youtaite community?
It all started a couple of years back when my first family, Magical Angels, started to enter in YouTube CBs. We were originally a Smule CB group that became a long term cover and CB group, but we (roughly) transitioned into doing a few Youtaite CBs and met and worked with a couple of Youtaites that soon became some of my first friends in the community!
What made you wanna participate in chorus battles?
I loved the idea of friendly competition and making lots of friends and acquaintances back in my early Smuletaite days, so I guess that's what motivates me to join CBs, even until now (though, I am taking a year or 2's break because I am trying to adjust to college life TwT).
What was your first CB?
My first CB was a Smule CB called NLE CB, which was where I first met Magical Angels!
How'd you become interested in being a Vocalist & Translyricist?
It's a veeeeeery long story...we last left off in Ancient Liyu- jk
A lot of my interest to becoming a vocalist started from singing with my friends. There was this one carpool karaoke ride home where my friend's mom told me I had a nice voice, which pushed me try giving singing a chance. Then, my interest in becoming a Smuletaite then eventually a Youtaite stemmed from my love for Love Live, which was introduced to be by my cousin 🥺💖 (BTW, she makes REALLY PRETTY handmade jewelry! She hasn't opened her comms internationally yet, but if you'd like to check her out, her twitter is @/hongjuwelry!
For translyrics, I have always adored Ama Lee, 9 Mermaids, Mathew Sepia Days, and SO MANY MORE out there that wrote lyrics that didn't only translate lyrics from Japanese to English but also told their own stories through the writing process; they inspired me to give writing translyrics a try even if I wasn't so confident in my writing abilities at first!!
Any funny or amusing CB stories?
ah. here we go HAHA.
So there's this one CB called Idol Fest CB (IFCB) that Magical Angels participated in Smule. I was panic writing, singing last minute harmonies or adlibs, and putting the final touches together literally MINUTES before the submission. When Alyaa (the host/judge and a good friend of mine <33) was typing up the bar that would divide the entries that were posted on time and the late ones, I slipped in our entry 0.1 seconds before the bar appeared AHAHHA came in C L U T C H.
Any advice for people interested in CBs?
Please don't forget to take breaks, hydrate, and exercise self-control. 💖 This is your punny milk tea-loving Nicky signing out~!
That’s all for today! If anyone wants to support Nicky, you can follow them via Twitter and/or subscribe to their public YouTube channel.
Credit goes to Riika Riika Rii for the picture in the featured image of this blog post.