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Growing up, I was always creatively inclined, and when YouTube came about, it was like getting the perfect platform to showcase what I wanted. Personally, I was going through a dark phase in my life, and I decided to make videos and basically go by the adage, 'If you want to cheer up yourself, go cheer up someone else.'

One of the biggest things that happened for me was YouTube.

Even if I never registered my YouTube channel with the intention of being a role model, if I am that for somebody, I can't help it. So I need to be conscious of it and realize that influence can be used for good or bad, and just try to do my best.

I hate YouTube sometimes because people put up things of mine that were never meant for consumption and also because of some of the comments people write about my videos.

YouTube is the new TV. I'm the voice of the young people. I feel like kids these days don't watch TV anymore... No, I will never leave YouTube. Never ever ever... If I do, you can do whatever you want to me.

I have this horrible, horrible habit of going on YouTube and checking out comments about what I do.

The thing that has made YouTube so successful is that you can relate to the people you're watching to a much higher degree than to the people you see on TV.

Every day, something new gets thrown at me, and I'm like, 'How did this happen?' I've gone through some of the craziest life experiences because of YouTube.

YouTube was really good for building a kind of core, loyal fanbase. I didn't want to be a YouTube artist as such. I mean, there are people who are able to release albums and live off YouTube, but I felt - and not in an arrogant way - that I could be commercial and credible if I really put my mind to it.

The great thing about YouTube is there are no gatekeepers. No one is waiting to tell you if you're good enough. It's just your audience.