BryanStars

Bryan Odell (born May 22, 1990), better known by his online alias, BryanStars, is an American music interviewer, YouTube personality, musician, and artist manager. He is best known for his BryanStars Interviews series, where he interviews with popular artists in the alternative scene, including Black Veil Brides, Asking Alexandria, and Falling in Reverse.

BryanStars
Odell in 2015
Born
Bryan Odell

(1990-05-22) May 22, 1990
Sendai, Japan
OccupationMusic interviewer, YouTuber, musician
Years active2008–2017
Home townLincoln, Nebraska, US

Odell's YouTube channel holds over 714,000 subscribers and more than 160 million views. He has published more than a 1000 band interviews to his YouTube Channel. In 2018, Odell went on hiatus from YouTube.

Early life

Odell was born on May 22, 1990 in Japan, where he resided until he was eight years old before moving to Dallas, Texas, then as a teen to Nebraska. He attended Lincoln East High School, where he graduated in 2008.[1] In his senior year, his short film Energy Crisis in America, highlighting rising gas prices, won third place in the high school section of the StudentCam competition, hosted by C-SPAN.[2]

He attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for two years and majored in Broadcast Journalism. While in university, he interned at the local television station. However, he dropped out to focus on website and YouTube series, BryanStars Interviews.[3]

YouTube career

Odell is best known for his BryanStars Interviews, series on his YouTube channel, BryanStars. He primarily publishes interviews and music videos from bands of the rock and heavy metal scene.

In 2011, through the YouTube NextUp contest aimed to foster creators on its platform, Odell and 25 other YouTubers received a $35,000 and a multi-day workshop in New York City with professional online bloggers.[1] At the time, he had about 55,000 subscribers and was making $3,000 to $4,000 monthly.[4]

In 2013, BryanStars Interviews was voted by music fans as the "Best Music Blog" in the Alternative Press Reader’s Choice Poll 2013.[5] BryanStars Interviews was nominated for a Shorty Award for “Best Web Show” in 2014 along with Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.[6] In 2014, retailer Journeys produced "This Is My Journey" segment about Odell that played in stores nationwide.[7]

Never Shout Never incident

On June 3, 2012, Never Shout Never was interviewed by BryanStars, in an interview that was being covered by The New York Times. About halfway through the interview, Christofer Drew Ingle cut Bryan off, calling his show "a joke" and his questions "bullshit". As a result, the band ended the interview, and BryanStars was in tears because of it.[8] Ingle was arrested the same day for possession of marijuana.[9]

An outpour of support for BryanStars happened as a result, and many musicians shared their words of support including Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens, Chris Fronzak of Attila, and Andy Biersack of Black Veil Brides.[8] In a Stickam broadcast, Ingle stated that he felt bad that he made BryanStars cry. He later admitted that he had taken acid earlier the day of the interview.[10]

Warped YouTube Program

In 2014, Odell was picked to be one of the “Warped YouTubers” with Damon Fizzy (also calling himself DeeFizzy), Johnnie Guilbert, CYR and Piddleass. The following year, Kevin Lyman (creator of Warped Tour) made Odell the official host of the tour. Odell worked with Warped Tour through 2015 as their official host on all social media, announcing over 100 bands for the tour.[11]

Odell taught a class on the 2015 Vans Warped Tour called "YouTube 101" where he taught aspiring YouTubers how to pursue a career in social media.[12]

My Digital Escape

Odell created "My Digital Escape," a collab YouTube channel which he managed. The channel stopped uploading in May 2016.[13] The channel reached 800,000 subscribers and 100 million views.[14][15] The channel prominently featured Odell, Johnnie Guilbert, HeyThereImShannon, Jeydon Wale, Kyle David Hall, Alex Dorame and Jordan Sweeto.[16] In 2016, My Digital Escape went on tour across the United States and visited 21 cities.[17]

Musical endeavors

In 2016, Odell went into the studio with ZK Studios to record his debut EP. On March 21, 2016, BryanStars announced the release of a 5-track EP entitled "Follow Your Dreams". It was released on April 1, 2016 and charted on Billboard at #22 on the Alternative New Artist Album Chart, #59 on the New Artist Album Chart and #128 on the Indie Albums Chart.[18]

BryanStars also collaborated with Social Repose on a cover of Bring Me The Horizon's "Follow You".[19]

In November 2016, Odell announced that he would be releasing a second EP titled the "Picture Perfect EP". It was released on December 4, 2016.

BryanStars Tour

In 2012, Odell started the "BryanStars Tour", which toured throughout the United States. The tour featured bands like Ghost Town, SayWeCanFly, Modern Day Escape, Her Bright Skies, Snow White's Poison Bite, Farewell, My Love, Late Nite Reading, Rocky Loves Emily and YouTubers like CatchingYourClouds, Johnnie Guilbert, Damon Fizzy and CYR. Odell created three BryanStars Tours from 2012 to 2013.[20][21]

Personal life

Odell publicly came out as gay on his YouTube channel in 2017.[22]

Awards and recognition
  • 2011: YouTube NextUp[1]
  • 2013: Alternative Press Magazine — "Best Music Blog"[5]
  • 2014: Shorty Award for “Best Web Show” — Nominated[6]

Discography

Extended plays
List of extended plays
Title Album details
Follow Your Dreams
  • Released: April 1, 2016
  • Formats: CD, Digital Download
Picture Perfect
  • Released: December 4, 2016
  • Formats: Digital Download

Singles
List of singles
Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Year Album
"Shut Up and Kiss Me" James Tyler Hagen, Bryan Odell Zack Odom, Kenneth Mount 2016 Follow Your Dreams
"Smile" James Tyler Hagen, Bryan Odell Zack Odom, Kenneth Mount 2016 Follow Your Dreams
"Moment Like This" Jason Pagan, Eric Pagan, Max Iantorno, Matt Jacino, Dom Fazzari, Bryan Odell Zack Odom, Kenneth Mount 2016 Picture Perfect
gollark: What building speak you of?
gollark: We'll all live in these things one day!
gollark: Also, the most futuristic is my giant cube.
gollark: "We"
gollark: I meant generally. I only have my phone right now anyway.

References
  1. Mertes, Micah (May 23, 2011). "Lincolnite attends YouTube training, wins $35,000 for his channel". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  2. Hoar, Adrienne (March 9, 2008). "StudentCam Contest Winner Interview". C-Span. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  3. Preston, Jennifer (May 29, 2011). "At YouTube Boot Camp, Future Stars Polish Their Acts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 3, 2011. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  4. Moffitt, Chase (July 3, 2011). "Cashing in on Clicks". WOWT 6 News. Archived from the original on August 30, 2011. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  5. Whitt, Cassie (December 26, 2013). "2013 Readers Poll: Best Music Blog". Alternative Press. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  6. Lee, Ashley (February 24, 2014). "Justin Bieber, Lena Dunham, Jimmy Fallon Among Shorty Awards Finalists (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  7. BryanStars "This Is My Journey" (YouTube video). Journeys. September 17, 2014.
  8. Glennon, Lauren (June 9, 2012). "How to pretend to be a "Rockstar" by Christofer Drew". altsounds.com. Archived from the original on November 24, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  9. Ortiz, Stephanie. "Christofer Drew of Never Shout Never Makes Interviewer Cry, Arrested for Pot Possession". Allmediany. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  10. "Never Shout Never – The Gunz Show – Interview with Christofer ..." idobi.com. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUHW2AKcdow
  12. http://www.thinktei.com/bryanstars/
  13. Saying Goodbye (YouTube video). My Digital Escape. May 14, 2016.
  14. "MyDigitalEscape YouTube Channel Analytics and Report". www.noxinfluencer.com. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  15. "MyDigitalEscape's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) - Social Blade Stats". socialblade.com. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  16. "BryanStars's Instagram post: "Thank you escapers for this amazing journey. Honestly the best year of my life. So many great memories. I hope MDE helped you as much as…"". Instagram. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  17. The My Digital Escape Tour (YouTube video). My Digital Escape. December 26, 2015.
  18. https://twitter.com/bryanstars/status/719997357518163968
  19. Williams, Tom (May 27, 2016). "Bring Me The Horizon's 'Follow You' Gets The A Cappella Cover Treatment - Music Feeds". Music Feeds. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  20. bryanstars.com: The BryanStars Tour is 100% OFFICIAL!!!!
  21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St5n76PeIKA
  22. Corner, Lewis (February 14, 2017). "YouTuber BryanStars comes out as gay in his "most personal video" ever". Gay Times. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
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