14 DAY TRIAL // The Internet – and YouTube in particular – is known to make overnight stars of regular people. Whether they’re overly talented kids acting in a school play based on “Scarface” or the now-infamous Britney Spears campaigner Chris Crocker, the net can make of anyone a star, albeit for only 15 minutes if it’s for the wrong reasons. The latest to get the star treatment is a sixth grade boy who looks very much like Justin Bieber and can sing Gaga’s songs better than Gaga herself.
No one knows all the details on Greyson Michael (username greyson97 on YouTube, where he has his own channel), but the blogosphere is already abuzz with him. That’s because of a video of him performing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” on the piano for a school festival at the end of last month, which he posted online. TMZ and MTV both agree with the teacher heard at the end of the vid: the kid can surely teach even Gaga herself a lesson.
“If I had a crown and a gold medal that said ‘You Win,’ I’d give them both to this sixth-grade boy (YouTube user Greyson97) who performed Lady Gaga’s ‘Paparazzi’ at a school assembly and pretty much blows the roof off the gym while doing it. It’s hard to outdo Gaga herself, but, even in a polo shirt and some Dockers shorts or whatever – less a headdress, police tape, and bondage boots – this kid more than manages,” MTV Buzzworthy says.
The same media outlet also points out the striking resemblance with The Biebs. “He also gets extra credit for looking a lot like Justin Bieber. (Also, can we agree that this is 100 times less creepy than the soldiers who reenacted ‘Telephone’?) Watch this sixth-grader cover ‘Paparazzi’ on the piano […]. We’ve found ourselves the next Tori Amos. (Except he’s a boy.),” MTV gushes.
TMZ is equally unrestrained in talking about the boy, as also is Asthton Kutcher, who took to his Twitter to urge his followers to see the video and note how one girl in the last row realizes she is in the presence of an upcoming superstar. Below is Michael’s take on Gaga’s “Paparazzi.” Enjoy.