Almost exactly a year ago, someone posted Miles Jai’s video LIKE MAH STATUS on our Facebook page. Instantly we were huge fans. In the past year, we’ve watched his videos religiously, on all three of his channels as well as his part of the collaboration Gays of the Week! Needless to say…we’ve become huge fans! Between his cutting edge humor, his authentic sweet demeanor, his fabulous dancing and his “I don’t care” attitude…we’ve fallen in love! Miles Jai is so absolutely genuine that we were truly honored to chat it up and find out what’s going on under that weave!
1. Define yourself using 6 words.
Unnatural. Artist. Inquisitive. Escapist. Indecisive. Naïve.
2. What motivated you to start making YouTube videos?
By the time I was 12 I had already started filming random videos and parodies of things just around the house. Then about a year later I caught my brother, Johnny, watching something what I thought he called the “You2”, actually called YouTube. He told me it was a place where you can go to upload your videos and people watch them, and I was like “PERFECT!” So I immediately started posting videos. My first original channel is called ‘moviemaker005’ and it has my earliest videos on there from around that time. Sometimes I occasionally check it out when I need to reminisce on how hideously dressed I was.
3. What was the moment you knew you had made it big on YouTube and how long did it take you to get there?
Well, I made this video called “LIKE MAH STATUS” and I didn’t think it’d be that big of a hit, but I knew for a fact no one had ever talked about the “lms issue” like I did. A couple months later Tyler Oakley, a YouTube video blogger, reblogs my video on his Tumblr, so I IMMEDIATELY made a video about how in awe I was that he reblogged it, and I was just fangirling/hyperventilating all over the place, and he kindly commented and reblogged that one as well. Over the course of a week it ended up on the Huffington Post, TheDailyWhat, Buzzfeed, Mashable and on the TV show Attack of the Show. Then, if that wasn’t enough, Ray William Johnson features my video on his channel and even recommended people to go check out some of my other videos. I literally couldn’t eat or sleep properly for like a week because I was just so in shock.
4. You have three separate channels, besides Gays of the Week. How does each channel differ to you?
MilesJaiProductions is a comedy/beauty/vlog channel, but I mainly focus on the comedy aspect. MilesJaiProductions2 is a music video channel where I get into my visually creative artsy side and indulge in my favorite songs and dance to them or create an interpretive video, and MilesJaiVLOG is just for those messy, raw vlogs that no one wants to see on my main channel.
5. What are your three favorite videos you have ever made?
The Det Note, which is a parody of this popular manga/anime called “Death Note”. I remember when my brother and I were editing it, we couldn’t stop cracking up. When we were done we showed it to my mom, who had never seen or even heard of the show, but she still ended up laughing! It’s up on my older channel ‘moviemaker005’. The next video that I absolutely adore is called “Taco Bell Divas” in which a horde of drunken Youtubers and I head to the Taco Bell Drive Thru without a car and expect to order. Of course, we weren’t able to get anything, so we headed to Denny’s. Once we got there, somehow I got them to show me their underwear, and once that happened my work was done for the night. Last, I’d say my favorite video out of all of them would be ‘The Real World: Twilight,’ because on that day my friends and I had just got back from the mall and we were having our first sleepover together. We were all so wild and crazy excited at that time, just acting stupid throughout the whole video, and it is HILARIOUS going back and watching it remembering all the dumb stuff we did.
6. Who are your three favorite YouTubers to watch and what is your favorite video they each made?
Oh my god, I have so many! ONLY THREE THOUGH?! I might have to cheat…Okay, well let’s start with Tyler Oakley. I think the first video I saw on his channel would be “Dolla Store Diva” in which I instantly fell in love and subscribed. The ghetto accent had me floored. Kingsley would be a next with his video, ‘THINGS I HATE’. The words that came out of his mouth were unreal and I loved every bit of it. Next would be Shane Dawson; he is disgustingly hilarious and I always have appreciated that. My favorite from him would be his Twilight New Moon parody. He literally had me laughing in tears when he was drinking Bella’s period blood as Edward. Ryan James Yezak, had captured my heart with his music video for ‘Telephone’, and his newer videos have gotten progressively better. Lastly, CommunityChannel, which I thought was some kind of family channel or something (it’s not) which is filmed and edited by the brilliantly humorous Natalie Tran. My favorite video of hers would probably be all of them. I’m dead serious. I went through all of them and it’s just…I think I’m in love with her.
7. What are three things we wouldn’t know by looking at you?
Well, for starters, I’m a man and I identify as such. That one almost always comes up in conversation whenever I’m meeting someone new. Not too many people know about this next one, but I love to sing, and I have produced songs on my computer, but I never share it because I’m very well aware my singing is horrible. Lastly, I’m always second guessing myself. Even as I’m typing this, I’m wondering “Is this correct grammar? Am I doing this right? Does that sound good? Probably not. Let me try again.” It’s exhausting.
8. If you could only listen to three CD’s for the rest of your life, and they couldn’t be mixed, what would they be?
Definitely “Lights-The Listening”, for all the electro pop beats and relatable songs, “Michelle Branch-The Spirit Room”, I’ve been listening to that album since I was 8 and it still remains relevant in my life and “Perfume-JPN” because I can’t live without my Jpop.
9. What is it like to have a huge following and fan base?
Well….it’s AWESOME! I don’t think it’s that huge, but it definitely feels like we’re a big family in a sense. It’s opened a lot of doors for me and these wonderful people have inadvertently (or purposely, bless you) given me the opportunity to meet so many amazing Youtubers and support myself. Also, it’s great being able to quickly spread word about things that I care about and want to share with other people!
10. Do you receive hate mail or comments and if so how do you respond?
Of course I do! I don’t know anyone on the internet that doesn’t receive that crap. Whenever I get hate mail sometimes I’ll respond with sarcasm, but honestly I’m trying not to respond to it at all and just focus on all the positive comments I get, because the viewers will focus on them too and it’ll encourage them to leave nice things to each other. It’s very easy for the viewers to become all riled up in themselves because of one comment, or a few. Just check out the video I made with Jenna Marbles, the comments are a MESS.
11. Why is blue hair your favorite?
It’s not my favorite, really. It’s just my hair color of choice for now. I’m very fickle when it comes to my hair. So far, when my hair was all pink, that was my top favorite!
12. If you were given $500,000 but had to spend it on yourself in one day and couldn’t give any of it away, what would you spend it on?
Well, I’d immediately spend some on a car and insurance, because I need a car in my life right now. Besides that, I’d definitely spread the wealth. I give some to my mom, dad, brother and some of my friends, and then I’d see if I could give some to a charity. Pay for school, move out, pay rent, buy an awesome camera, lighting, microphone, all that good stuff…and I think that’s it.
13. What do you think is the most important LGBT issue today?
Gay marriage is definitely comes first to my mind. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous how long it’s taking to get it legalized considering the perfectly logical and thought out arguments for it. People keep involving the bible, but whatever happened to “Separation of Church and State”? Get with it America, most of the rest of the world already got the message.
14. What advice would you give a teenager who wants to come out but is afraid?
It depends on the situation that they’re in. Normally, I would tell them, especially if they are living with their parents, to ask themselves if their parents would really be okay with it. If they weren’t, then I’d tell them to just wait. The whole point of coming out is to liberate you and if you don’t think you’ll be liberated after you come out, then you don’t need to. On the other hand, if you think they’ll be okay with it, do whatever makes you feel comfortable to tell them.
15. What do you think the world can learn through androgyny?
Being a woman or having a likeness of one does not make you “weak”. Just because a man may have feminine traits or habits does not mean that he is “weak”. On the contrary, this man is just as strong as any other, but he just prefers to wear heels and a dress. Weakness is that of coward who refuses to be themselves, but picks upon people who they wish to be.
16. How do you define sexy? Who is the sexiest celebrity? Sexiest YouTuber? Sexiest Store? Sexiest place to kiss?
Sexy is when you have a great looking guy, who’s smart, considerate, has an open mind, listens to you and knows how to make you laugh (and who will occasionally feed you). The sexiest celebrity for me would be Dylan O’Brien or Tyler Hoechlin, I love them both…together, mostly. My top 3 sexiest YouTubers are Chris Thompson (supricky06), Tyler Oakley and Ryan James Yezak. Chris has got a great sense of humor, he’s charmingly handsome and he can serenade the shit out me any day. Tyler is extremely hospitable, witty and wild as hell, and his stupidly cute laugh, gorgeous eyes and bright smile are sweet enough to give you diabetes in the best way. The sexiest store for me would be Wal-Mart, in the underwear section. When I was younger I would purposely avoid it because the models on the underwear were ridiculously attractive. I wish I was kidding. Sexiest place to kiss…I mean, on the couch, on an airplane, on the floor, I’m not picky, just as long as all their focus is on me. Now that is sexy, haaaaaaay~
17. What is too personal or too serious to talk about in your videos?
I’m not in a relationship right now, but if I’m ever in one I won’t be announcing it on YouTube anytime soon. I really don’t find the idea of other people I don’t know telling me what I should and shouldn’t do in my relationship very attractive. Also, my relationships with some of my family and friends I like to keep hidden, because I’ve had cases where people have tried to take advantage of them to get close to me. Besides that, if I can make it funny or palatable in my video, then it’s not off limits.
18. What are your 3 favorite books?
I love the series ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ books, ‘The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales’ is a childhood favorite of mine, makes me laugh to this day, and this manga titled ‘Complex’ which follows the whole lives of two childhood friends turned lovers. Least to say, the last one shattered my heart into a million pieces.
19. What would you like to have achieved in the next five years?
I’d have my college degree in Film and Video Production/Communications, move out of this tiny apartment with my dad and own a car and an apartment in Los Angeles, specifically West Hollywood, where all the party/a couple of my fellow YouTubers seem to be at. Work with Shane Dawson (ShaneDawsonTV), Shanna (heyyoshanna), KatSketch, DailyGrace, Kingsley and JPMetz in a video…and any other of my favorite Youtubers that I can get into contact with. This might be reaching a bit high, but I’d love to have done some kind of hosting, acting or something on a TV show. A bigger audience on YouTube would be a really nice achievement as well! I would also very much like to have said that I’ve had at least one actual boyfriend by that time. That would be great.
20. What are your three simple luxuries?
Being able to laugh, enjoy each other’s company and the taste of delicious food.
Thanks buddy!
Be Yourself. Be Fearless. Be Your Own Unexpected Luxury!
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*Image Source: Miles Jai Productions