Bart Baker

Bartholem Baker (born May 5, 1986), is an American entertainer, web-based comedian, video producer, singer, rapper, former parody artist and in some of his parodies an occasional drag queen .[4][5][6][7] He is best known for making parody videos of notable songs, which he would post on his YouTube channel.[8][9][10][11][12] He was described as one of the most prolific makers of music parodies by Billboard.[13][14]

Bart Baker
Baker portraying Justin Bieber in the music video for Mockstars' "Deadpool Epic Rap"
Personal information
Born (1986-05-05) May 5, 1986
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
ResidenceShanghai, China
Websiteitsbartbaker.com (unregistered)
YouTube information
Also known asMaster of Parodies, King of Music Video Parodies,[1][2][3] Lil Kloroxxx, Ting wa huawei
Channel
Years active2006–2018
Genre
Subscribers10+ million
Total views3+ billion
Network
100,000 subscribers 2011
1,000,000 subscribers 2013
10,000,000 subscribers 2018
Updated June 24, 2020

Besides being active on YouTube, where he has more than 10 million subscribers,[15] Baker is known for his short videos on Vine and also Live.ly, where he was once a top-earning broadcaster.[16] His videos have been described as 'high-quality parodies that keep to the originals very well'. In 2018, Baker was signed to World Star Hip Hop and released a song called "Popper" under the stage name of Lil Kloroxxx and started a life as a rapper.[17]

Early life

Baker was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 5, 1986. He attended high school at New Trier High School and film school at the University of Miami. After realizing the potential of video sharing on the internet, he started filming comedy videos in his backyard on a green screen. Lonely Island was described as a 'big inspiration' to Baker when he first started.[18] He is of English descent.

YouTube career

Baker was encouraged when the first video he posted on YouTube, "Look into My Eyes While I Masturbate", about men masturbating in a future world where robots have replaced all women on Earth, quickly received about 100,000 views. This prompted Baker to decide on making more videos.[18] His second video was a parody. He has said, "I figured if I could do it right, my videos could do amazingly well... people want to subscribe to a channel they know has a certain programming structure. Mine is parody videos, and people love that".[18][19][20] Baker worked with his friend Austin Smith from the channel's launch until early 2011, when the duo mutually decided to part ways. During his time with Smith, they were signed by RKShorts.com, who acted as their sponsor. While with RKShorts, Baker gained popularity on YouTube when he began using old men in his videos. Parodies of "Baby" & "Love the Way You Lie" were released during that year's summer and were major hits for his channel, especially for an adolescent audience. When Baker left RKShorts in 2011, he stopped using these old men.

Not long after leaving RKShorts, Baker signed on with Maker Studios in Los Angeles and began recording with them.

In 2013, Baker's parody of "Royals" by Lorde was taken down by Matt Pincus, CEO of Songs Music Publishing, for alleged copyright infringement.[21] Baker quickly posted a video accusing Songs Music of not understanding US laws governing fair use and encouraging fans to tweet about it. A few days later, Songs Music released their take-down and the parody was restored to Baker's channel.

It was reported on 26 November 2014 that Baker had reached one billion views in total on YouTube.[22]

In 2015, Baker signed with Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency.[23] It was the second time in four months Baker had signed with a major Hollywood talent agency, the first being WME, when he was one of seven people who signed deals at about the same time.[23][24]

As of 12 March 2018, Baker has over 10 million subscribers and 3 billion lifetime views on his YouTube channel.[15][25] Since starting the channel in 2009, he has created over 100 parody videos that have featured guest stars like Joan Rivers and Pitbull.[26] Speaking about YouTube, he said, "YouTube is honestly one of the only platforms that has proven it's not going anywhere".[27] On 23 September 2016, it was announced that Baker would feature in a film titled FM starring fellow internet personalities Jason Nash and Brandon Calvillo.[28][29]

Musical career

In November 2016, Baker released his first non-parody single, titled "Drake".[26] It is also the debut single from his first album, titled Celebritease. He partnered with Music Choice, a multi-platform video and music network, to serve as the exclusive TV distribution partner for his single.[26] The next month, "Kimye", was released as a single from "Celebritease".[30] The album was subsequently released through his own record label alongside indie label 26 Music, a division of 26 Entertainment.[26] The songs featured on the album are all named after celebrities except the final track, "#DWBD (Don't Worry Bout Dat)". On March 18, 2017, the album peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart.[31]

In summer of 2018, Baker created an official rap persona known as Lil Kloroxxx. The video for his song "Popper" was released on the WorldStarHipHop YouTube channel on July 21. He then went on to release two more songs nearly a month later, "4 Xanny" and "Prom Queen". Online sources have said that Lil Kloroxxx is fake and heavily spoofs off of SoundCloud rappers such as 6ix9ine and Lil Pump, but Baker himself has confirmed that this persona is "real".

Post-YouTube career

In 2016, Baker announced he was running for President of the United States by setting up a large billboard in Times Square, dressed in American-flag boxer-shorts.[32] He believed that his presidential candidacy would shed light on the nature of celebrity and how it has influenced the election cycle.[32][33]

On September 6, 2019, Vice News reported that after YouTube's demonetization of several YouTubers to satisfy family-friendly advertisers, Baker shifted his career to the Chinese market. His works consist of translating and singing Chinese songs on the social media app Kwai, and his English covers of Chinese songs have been gaining a following on TikTok.[34] He moved to Shanghai to further develop his career as an internet content creator in China.[35]

Philanthropy

In a 2015 livestream podcast, Baker discussed his involvement with "Fuck Cancer", a nonprofit charity that is dedicated to early detection, prevention, and providing support to those affected by cancer, and an online fundraiser where fans could participate to win an appearance in one of his videos while donating money to the cause. The disease has impacted people in his own life including his mother, who survived breast cancer when he was a child.[36]

Filmography

Movies
Title Year Role
Laid in America[37] 2016 Blindr Spokesperson
FML Swagg

Television
Title Year Role
Remix the Movies 2013 Agent
YouTubers React 2014 Himself
In Bed with Joan
TakePart Live
CrashPad[38][39]
Ear Biscuits 2015
Teens Wanna Know

Music videos
Title Artist Year
"Fireball"[30] Pitbull ft. John Ryan 2014
"Friends with Benefits" KSI 2016

Discography

Studio albums
Title Details
Celebritease[40]

Singles
Title Year Album
"Drake"[25] 2016 Celebritease
"Kimye "[30] 2016
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gollark: Shift-tab unindents, enter continues a list, and backspace deletes list "header" bits in one go.
gollark: Yep.
gollark: The shortcuts are a bit different but the editor deals with them.
gollark: Of course.

References
  1. Miller, Leanne (2015-03-12). "How this YouTube Star makes money". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  2. Robinson, Will (2015-10-30). "Bart Baker teases his 'Hotline Bling' parody video". EW.com. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  3. Sabrina, Danielle (2016-06-30). "From Parodies to Politics: Forbes Announces Second Round Of Speakers For Under 30 Summit". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  4. Newlands, Murray. "Bart Baker, YouTube Star And Entrepreneur, Galvanizes Fans To Engage In Voting". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  5. Lazar, Shira (2015-05-04). "YouTube Parody Star Bart Baker on Offending Celebrities". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  6. News, Blasting. "The three times that Bart Baker parodies came true in real life". Blasting News. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  7. Gutelle, Sam (2016-11-01). "Top Stars On Musical.ly's Live Streaming App Live.ly Reportedy Making $23,000 Per Week - Tubefilter". Tubefilter. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  8. Sputnik. "Hello, It's the Grammys: Ten Parodies and Covers on Adele's Award-Winning Song". sputniknews.com. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  9. Hogan, Kate (2015-10-31). "Bart Baker Hotline Bling, Bart Baker Stream Con". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  10. DeSimone, Evan (2015-08-13). "Interview — Bart Baker On Original Music, a Movie Project and the YouTube Grind". VideoInk. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  11. "Bart Baker's Fans Say Taylor Swift Lifted From Him - New Media Rockstars". New Media Rockstars. 2014-12-09. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  12. Chesler, Josh (2016-08-02). "Weird Al Versus YouTube: Who Does Better Song Parodies?". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  13. Smirke, Richard (September 30, 2014). "U.K. Parody Laws Set to Come Into Effect". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  14. Winkie, Luke (2016-05-23). "The 7 most unnecessary parody songs on the Internet". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  15. "bartbakerofficial YouTube Stats, Channel Statistics - Socialblade.com". socialblade.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  16. Robinson, Melia (2016-12-02). "Move over, Vine — people are raking in thousands of dollars a week on a new video app - Business Insider". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  17. Fears, Niki (4 January 2015). "'All About That Bass' Parody Calls Out Meghan Trainor". The Inquisitr News. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  18. Varrati, Michael (2013-10-21). "YouTube's Parody King: An Interview With Bart Baker". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  19. Lazar, Shira (2013-07-16). "1 Million Sub Star: YouTuber Bart Baker On Creating Successful Music Parodies (WATCH)". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  20. Chew, Cohan (21 December 2015). "Adele's 'Hello' Like You've Never Heard It Before". gigwise.com. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  21. Van, Alan (2013-12-07). "Songs Music CEO Comments on Bart Baker/Lorde Controversy in Heated Twitter Exchange With Fullscreen CEO - New Media Rockstars". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  22. Longfellow, Richard T. (2014-11-26). "Bart Baker Reaches 1 Billion Views on YouTube - CraveOnline". CraveOnline. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  23. Gutelle, Sam (2015-06-30). "YouTube Star Bart Baker Signs With Talent Agency CAA". Tubefilter. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  24. Jarvey, Natalie (17 February 2015). "WME Signs Slew of YouTube Stars, Including Lohanthony, Bart Baker (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  25. Weiss, Geoff (2017-02-24). "Parody Master Bart Baker To Embark On First-Ever Live Tour With Mills Entertainment - Tubefilter". Tubefilter. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  26. Weiss, Geoff (2016-11-11). "YouTube Star Bart Baker Teams With Music Choice To Release First Non-Parody Single, 'Drake' - Tubefilter". Tubefilter. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  27. Inverso, Emily. "21st Century Funny: How Bart Baker, John Shahidi And The Fine Brothers Make It Big". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  28. Gutelle, Sam (2016-09-23). "YouTube Star Bart Baker Introduces New Trailer For Feature Film 'FML,' Due Out October 7th - Tubefilter". Tubefilter. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  29. Hamedy, Saba. "Watch Vine star Jason Nash, YouTube star Bart Baker in new 'FML the Movie' trailer". Mashable. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  30. Paganuzzi, Josefa (9 December 2016). "Renowned Parody and Digital Artist Bart Baker Releases New Song KIMYE From His Upcoming Album Due Out Early 2017". PRWeb. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  31. "Bart Baker Chart History". Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  32. Newlands, Murray. "Bart Baker, YouTube Star And Entrepreneur, Galvanizes Fans To Engage In Voting". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  33. Papadatos, Markos (2016-02-19). "YouTube superstar Bart Baker announces presidential campaign". Digital Journal. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  34. Bart Baker Quit YouTube — Now He’s Trying To Get Big on the Chinese Internet, retrieved 2019-09-06
  35. "Headlines from China: Is Chinese Social Media Becoming A Better Place for YouTubers to Thrive?". China Film Insider. 2019-09-27. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  36. Lazar, Shira (2015-08-17). "The Secret to Ridiculous Humor With YouTube Parody Star Bart Baker". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  37. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4706888/fullcredits
  38. Brouwer, Bree (2014-12-04). "Maker Studios' 'CrashPad' Starring Bart Baker To Launch On December 5". Tubefilter. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  39. Patel, Sahil (2014-12-04). "Maker Studios to Debut Bart Baker-Hosted Clips Show Across Screens". VideoInk. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  40. LaCroix, Emy (2017-03-01). "Bart Baker's 'Celebritease': How He's Going From YouTube Parodies To Pop Stardom". Hollywood Life. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
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