Lindsey Stirling The Violinist Dancer Rides YouTube To World Tour

Lindsey Stirling is the violinist dancer who has YouTube to ride a wave of popularity to a world tour. She did all this without a record label. At a recent concert Lindsey Stirling received a painting from a local artist calling himself The Alpha Jan at an Orlando concert. The painting entitled Crystal Bender mixes references to anime and Lindsey’s Stirling’s music, which in turn mimics Lindsey Stirling’s own musical approach..

Lindsey Stirling is a violinist who mixes classical music, dub-step and various cultural references to create a unique genre-bending sound. She’s done covers of well-known songs like “The Phantom of the Opera” and video game themes like “The Legend of Zelda.” She was trained as violinist since the age of six, and taught herself modern dance and ballet moves using YouTube instructional video to accompany her performances.

WFTV.com managed to talk to Lindsey Stirling. She explained how she created some of the songs in her new album:

“My musical style is a reflection of my personality, and through it I hope to share my belief that no one should be afraid to be themselves. All my songs were created to depict specific themes that I pulled from my own life experiences. ‘Spontaneous Me’ is about having the courage to love yourself for who you are.

“‘Crystallize,’ on the other hand, is a much deeper song: the crystallization of water is affected by its surroundings to create either beautiful patterns or meaningless masses. Similarly, I believe that through our thoughts, beliefs and the environments we create, we each possess the power to make a positive change within ourselves and others.

“‘Transcendence’ was one of the first songs I ever wrote and it to depict my own triumph over some significant trials I have faced. I feel that the lack of lyric-driven content makes my music powerful. I have put my own personal experiences into each track, but it’s for the listener to decide what the music means to them.”

Besides being featured on America’s Got Talent, Lindsey Stirling became popular via her YouTube channel and has over 1.5 million subscribers. Lindsey Sterling videos regularly garner millions of hits. Riding this wave of popularity she managed to release an album about six months ago. Mashable gives you an idea of just how popular Lindsey Stirling is becoming:

“Her video for “Crystallize” has now been seen more than 47 million times and was YouTube’s 8th most-watched video of 2012. In terms of musicians, that puts her in pretty exclusive company: PSY, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Walk Off the Earth (for their Gotye cover) are the only other artists with music videos cracking the top 10.”

Yet, oddly enough, Lindsey Stirling does not have a music label yet. When asked for the reason behind this, she replied, “The music labels say my skills are not marketable.” After America’s Got Talent eliminated her Lindsey Stirling seriously began to question herself, thinking she wasn’t good enough to continue, which fed into writing the song Transcendence. She thanks the fans for pushing her to not give up on her dream of being a professional performing musician.

This writer attended one of Lindsey Stirling’s performances in Orlando yesterday. The venue was packed, with standing room only. Lindsey Stirling’s music appeals to an eclectic set of demographics. Where else can you go to a concert and see spike-and-chained goths, gamers dressed like Link, hipsters, and conservatively dressed senior citizens all dancing together in one crowd? Seems like Lindsey Stirling’s skills are plenty marketable.

Earlier, during a VIP event, Lindsey Stirling spoke personally to a smaller group. One of the attendees was an artist named The Alpha Jan. Apparently, he was the first person to ever give the personal gift of portrait to Lindsey Stirling, who responded with a full hug.

I spoke to The Alpha Jan about why he gave such a gift:

“I always support artists striving for their dreams no matter what their medium. I like to give one free painting to support them in their efforts.”

This is how The Alpha Jan described his painting of Lindsey Stirling, which he entitled the Crystal Bender over on DeviantArt:

“The northern and southern tribes bend water. The nation bends fire. The monks bend wind. The kingdom bends earth. But only Lindsey Stirling can bend crystal with her song.”

Did you get the pop culture reference?