YouTuber Jessie Paege dishes on her style, music, and life as a 'secret mermaid'

Jessie Paege is most definitely not your average 16-year-old.

With 375K subscribers on YouTube, 39.6K followers on Instagram, and 12.7K Twitter followers, Jessie Paege is the rising YouTube star igniting the rocker fashionista within us all.%shareLinks-quote="There was a point where I had like 6,000 subscribers, and I literally thought I was Beyonce." type="quote" author="Jessie Paege" authordesc="" isquoteoftheday="false"%It's no surprise that Jessie is a fashion and music expert who flawlessly throws together outfits and can rock out on the electric guitar...But, here's something you may be shocked to learn: In real life, Jessie says she is the complete opposite of her larger-than-life Youtube persona, and is pretty shy when you first meet her.

We got the inside scoop on how Jessie got her start on YouTube, where she gets her style inspiration, and of course, what she loves most about his fans. Check it out!

So how did all of this start? Did you one day just decide like "Oh! I'm going to make YouTube videos?"

I watched Bethany Mota and loved her; what really stuck with me was she said she was very shy and YouTube was an outlet for her, and that's me 100%. My mom didn't think when I was younger that I'd be talking to really anyone else.

So it's definitely a shock for all the people at my school that think I don't talk really [to see me on YouTube].

Would you say you take on sort of a "different" persona for your videos?

Like me with my friends, I'm very comfortable...versus me at school and in public, so different. But, I've gotten so comfortable in front of the camera, it's crazy. The rainbow hair, I only wear when I film, it's kind of like a prop. I use this outlet to express myself.

You definitely have a huge presence on social media. Is there one platform that you enjoy posting on the most?

Well, obviously YouTube. But, Instagram is becoming my new favorite.

Speaking of social media, Which one is your new favorite emoji?

The unicorn emoji! Everyone tweeted me that day the emojis came out and were like "oh my gosh Jessie, there is a unicorn emoji now."

Next, we have to make sure there's a mermaid. (Even though I'm not supposed to tell anyone, you know, I'm a mermaid. Keep that on the downlow).

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Do you interact with your fans?

Oh yeah, definitely. All over Twitter, especially, with direct messaging and stuff.

What is your absolute favorite thing about your fans?

One thing that almost everyone has said when they've met me in real life is "I really appreciate how you show how confident you are, and you don't care what other people think." And I mean, obviously sometimes I care about what other people think, but in my videos, I come off like I don't.

So do you read all of the comments on your YouTube videos?

Yeah, mostly. I'm curious! Sometimes [when someone writes a negative comment], my followers will defend me...which is awesome!

Have you ever met your fans in real life?

At concerts, I always seem to run into a few fans. That's my lifestyle. A lot of times, they'll tweet me afterwards, and be like "oh, I saw you but I got scared and didn't say hi."

I'm not a scary person at all, I'm literally scared of spiders. There was a point where I had like 6,000 subscribers, and I literally thought I was Beyonce.

How do you come up with your videos?

At the most random times ever. A lot of times in the shower...like, I have no idea why. I do some super deep thinking in the shower. I try to think of things in my life that I'm genuinely interested in.

So you play electric guitar — do you ever play in your videos?

Oh no, people are so judgemental! But, I love playing rock...like Hotel California, the Black Keys, 21 Pilots.

So obviously you're big into fashion, too. Where do you get your fashion inspiration?

There's this website where you take celebrity outfits and it'll tell you exactly where to find it and alternatives. It's called Celebrity Style Steal, or something like that. I love Halsey, and love her style, so all the time I'll take one thing from her outfit and search the internet for it.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to someone trying to become a YouTube star?

Do your own brand. I used to do videos that everyone else did, and I got nowhere. There are so many other people doing the same things nowadays, you really have to have your own style.

Whether it's a unique editing style, your fashion style...put your own spin on things. And remember to be totally authentic and yourself, that's the way people should be.

Ezra Cooperstein reveals exactly why YouTube stars are so powerful:

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