Top 5 YouTube starlets: Mia Rose, Esmee Denters, Marie Digby and more…

There’s a definite gender difference when it comes to musical YouTube popularity. The men who become hits tend to be the silly ones, miming to the Backstreet Boys or obscure Moldovan pop songs.

Meanwhile, the women who make it big through YouTube tend to be just talented singers uploading home videos of themselves singing cover versions or their own material. Okay, so they’re invariably young and attractive too, although that wouldn’t count for much if they couldn’t sing.

Anyway, recently one of those YouTube starlets, Marie Digby, was in the news after it turned out she’d had a record deal all along, and her YouTube vids were just a clever marketing campaign. What better time to round up some of the recent high flyers? Starting with Marie…

1. Marie Digby. Her with the record deal, as she’s now likely to be known, although before that she was more likely to be referred to as ‘The Umbrella Girl’. Why? Her acoustic cover of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ has received more than 1.2 million plays on YouTube. Now her deal is out in the open, watch for her in the charts. Check her YouTube channel, or watch the ‘Umbrella’ cover below.

2. Mia Rose. Otherwise known as the plucky Brit in this roundup, having been born in Wimbledon. With hundreds of thousands of views for every video, she scored a record deal in April this year, and is a shoe-in for the Grammy award for Best Performance Of ‘Kiss Me’ While Wearing A Big Summer Hat next year. Check her YouTube channel, or watch said video below.

3. Terra Naomi. The inspiration for many a bedroom singer, having gone from YouTube stardom to a major label record deal and slot at the Live Earth concert earlier this year. Her breakthrough vid ‘Say It’s Possible’ has had over 2.6 million views, over 12,000 comments, and 149 video responses including fans’ covers. Crumbs. Check her YouTube channel, or watch the original video below.

4. Esmee Denters. Another YouTube starlet who ended up on big stages – namely a support slot on Justin Timberlake’s Scandinavian tour, having been signed to his own label. The irony is that much of her fame came from a video cover of Justin’s ‘What Goes Around’, which has had a whopping 9.7 million views. Count ’em. Then check her YouTube channel, or watch the vid below.

5. Ysabella Brave. Another singer who went from YouTube success to a major label deal, having described herself as “Mae West, Theda Bara and Bo Peep all rolled into one.” Her cover of the Cole Porter song ‘Let’s Misbehave!’ has had over 729,000 views, although you’ll have to go to her YouTube channel to watch it, as embedding is disabled. In the meantime, watch her performance of ‘Cabaret’ instead below.