In the past six months, the world has been a social-lacking bubble for many teens. However, some have been taking their dreams and aspirations to new heights with the benefits of the internet and social media. One example of such growth is Reedy High School’s own: junior Aidan Kelley.

Kelley is a student  attending school like every other teen, except she has been creating music and spreading her voice on the internet. Kelley has taken advantage of the widely-known platform, Youtube.

Kelley grew up in what she calls “a very musical family.” She has been singing and playing instruments for as long as she can remember. She is well versed in “playing the piano, the flute, the ukulele, and, recently, the guitar.”

This 2020 quarantine has brought out the songwriter and guitarist in Kelley, and she has talent, as shown by her 3.65 thousand followers on her Youtube Platform. What jump-started Kelley’s career, in the recent months, was the famous Youtube couple, Haley Pham and Ryan Trahan. Both are YouTubers who have millions of followers on social media platforms like Youtube, Tiktok, and Instagram.

Trahan set up and hosted an Instagram Talent Show, where Kelley entered, not expecting the outcome. Kelley thought, “as he doesn’t want it copyrighted, so I’ll throw together a random song, because I was just gonna audition just to sing.”, and amazingly got accepted.

 Kelley was among many other talent performers, but survived a few rounds and made it to the finals. She placed third in the entire online competition.These videos are streaming on Trahan’s Youtube, which pushed Kelley to create and post music on a Youtube channel of her own. 

Slowly, Kelley started posting originals and covers of music on her Youtube channel. Kelley stated, “I actually like posting my own songs more,” Kelly said. “It is more special because it definitely comes from you: the performance part, and how you sing the song, just means so much more than just [like] singing a song someone else wrote.” 

On Kelley’s Youtube channel, she has over ten original songs and a few covers as well. (good transition)

 “The first original song I posted was Too Far;” Kelley said. “ Too Far was the song she debuted on Trahan’s Instagram Live Challenge. In contrast, her “favorite song is 3AM ringtone.”

Kelley’s growing platform has transformed into being so much more than just social media.

“It feels like a little community on Youtube,” , and she has grown very fond of her fans and the platform as a whole. Kelley thinks that “what makes her songs appealing is that… she wrote them by herself… and I guess that’s appealing because [she’s] I’m not the best at it, but the emotions [she] I have are raw.” Kelley creates and gets information for her music by “reflecting on her own experiences, and never writes about things she has no idea about.”

So far, Kelley has been posting weekly, mostly new music and videos, but has her sights on some new goals. In the near future, Kelley expects to record her EP on Spotify and Apple Music, and hopes to continue her career as she grows up in high school and more.