For Frederic Chen, YouTube has always been a platform where he could be unapologetically himself. From lighthearted videos about his college experience and painting endeavors, to more serious ones where he sits down and opens up about things on his mind lately, Chen approaches making YouTube videos with an open mind. A South Carolina native now attending New York University, Chen is among a plethora of people who have the privilege of calling themselves content creators. He is also a proud, gay Asian American, as well as the owner of the podcast, “Top and Bottom,” which he runs with his roommate. With more than 650,000 subscribers, I spoke with Chen to discuss what life is like as a college YouTuber.
This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.
What made you want to become a YouTuber?
Ever since third grade, I remember I would watch YouTube back when it was this old logo that was brown and looked like a TV. I watched people like Jenna Marbles, Fred, Ryan Higa, Michelle Phan – it was sort of this escape outlet for me. They eventually became my role models, because I personally didn’t follow celebrity culture, so like you could say that YouTubers were my celebrities or role models instead.
In ninth grade, I had this thing with my parents where we had to move from South Carolina to New Jersey. I was so upset. Then I heard that YouTubers could make money. So I was like, why not try YouTube. Maybe I can become famous in two months and make enough money so that I wouldn't have to move and could pay for a house.
Obviously that didn't work out. I eventually had to move, but I still did YouTube because I just liked video editing. I had this passion for learning how to make your own videos, and content in general, because I wanted to be like my role models and inspire people.
So now I would say I do YouTube for the sake of inspiring others, creating a safe space on my channel. If you feel like you don't have a place in society, or just want to have a place to laugh, smile at someone doing stupid stuff and just living their life, I'm that channel for you.
How do you come up with new videos for your YouTube channel?
At the start, I did look at a lot of YouTubers because obviously you want to be like them. So, I would do “top 10s” and little skits – I would take one person's idea and change it a little bit.
It wasn't until I started painting that I just thought, this is really fun. I don't feel a lot of people have done painting on their channel with comedy or just entertainment. I self taught myself how to paint, so why not show the experience? That just started blowing up my channel, and a lot of people gravitated towards the idea of watching someone fail at something so simple. How hard is it to draw sunflowers on your shoes? Why is it 26 minutes?
That's when I started realizing YouTube is not meant for you to recycle content. It's something that you want to be innovative with.
What’s the time commitment for you as a college YouTuber?
I think it's easier than when I was in high school because I was there from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.. Now I get this freedom of making my own schedule and choosing how many credits are for each semester, and having the option to take a gap semester if I want to maybe focus on YouTube for a little bit.
Personally, I use YouTube as a thing to keep me on my toes, because I know if I'm not doing college work, and not gaming for fun, I'm going to be sleeping and just on YouTube. So I've changed my ways of having fun, which are relaxing and procrastinating, to working on YouTube.
How difficult is it to put yourself out there in front of thousands of people?
Since I was a kid, I wasn’t someone who thought about hiding stuff back. I was always around girls braiding hair, and I didn’t think twice about what people were going to think of me because I just had no idea of what other people’s judgement of me was.
Starting YouTube, it was definitely different because you are open to any criticism in the world. The first hate comment I got was not even a comment, it was “I think your hair isn't as good in this video.” It almost made me cry.
You have to get this thick skin on YouTube or just anywhere online if you are a content creator, because you're going to be subjected to judgment – there's like 1,000 comments that we have in our likely spam that is just a bunch of hate. It's definitely helped me evolve by staying on YouTube to gain this thicker skin, and just always be myself no matter what.
How has COVID-19 impacted your ability to produce college-related content?
Since the pandemic I started, I've always said in my videos I'd be doing this no matter what because throughout my whole entirety of YouTube, I have always filmed in my room. It's always my bedroom, it's always been some room where I'm by myself and just locked up for hours, because painting takes a lot of time. Honestly, it’s done nothing but help, because when I had to quarantine, that forced me to do stuff because you literally couldn’t go out – there's nothing else to do but record.
But I think it became so monotonous because I was just going from my bedroom to my work room to my bedroom every day. That's why I chose to get an apartment here (NYC) with my friends. New York City makes me want to work because this is known as a working city, the city that’s always awake. I guess that idea, that mindset, lets me be productive. So COVID has helped me in a way to produce more content because it forced me to stay at home and use the camera, but I would also say moving has helped me just stay productive.
With nearly 650,000 subscribers, did you ever imagine you would have blown up the way you did these past few years?
I'm gonna be honest, as a kid I was like, I'm definitely going to get to one million. I told myself, “you'll get famous in two months and make enough money,” and that just didn't happen at all. I sucked as a YouTuber back then – it took me a year to get to 100 subscribers, but I didn't care because it was just fun just to make videos, even if two people watched.
The idea of seeing more than 500,000 people just clicking that subscribe button is a little weird when you think about it in terms of like, you're one person, and this entire city could be 500,000 people. Even though I was always hoping I would get to this point, it's still weird to think about how many people can care about one person online, and the idea of one person being able to impact millions.
As an Asian American, how inspiring is it for you to see and contribute to the Asian American representation within the media industry?
For Asian Americans, it's always been stereotypical for us to have an accent in movies, or just be a doctor with glasses or the nerd who makes A's, and I happen to be that same person growing up because my parents chose or they pushed me to go down that route.
Seeing people like Ryan Higa and Michelle Phan, they were the first few Asian YouTubers that I watched and were so different from what I’ve seen. An Asian being comedic, was just one thing in itself, but an Asian pursuing fashion and beauty who dominated that industry on YouTube for years and has now made her own brand – those are the building blocks of what Asian Americans can be in this world.
It was always taboo for any Asian American to pursue a non six-figure job that doesn't require graduate school. So I think representation is one of the most important things for people to be able to expand their mindset of what it is to be an Asian American or to be of a minority descent.
Do you see yourself continuing YouTube post-education? If so, what do you think your content would look like?
I would definitely continue YouTube after college. I don't see myself leaving anytime soon, but obviously I'm going to change – you’re not going to have painting videos for the rest of my life, that’s unrealistic. I want people to see me grow throughout my life. I've documented what it was like for me in high school and transitioning to college, so there's going to be that phase where I go from college to the real world. I don't know what that's going to be like, but I'm always excited to go down that route.
To get to know Frederic Chen even more, check out his social media handles down below:
YouTube: Frederic Chen
Instagram: @fredericchenyt
Podcast: Top and Bottom
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