Fantasiex3 wakes up every morning to more than 14,000 adoring fans eager to shower her with admiring compliments. While some peg her as a “goddess,” others have even tossed out marriage proposals.
“But they’re probably joking,” she says, hesitating. “I hope!”
The girl behind the online persona of Fantasiex3 is Sherry Kim, Northwestern’s very own YouTube star. With more than 52,000 views on her highest rated YouTube video “Final Fantasy 13 — Main Theme (piano cover),” the Bienen freshman has been garnering a solid fan base since the birth of her YouTube channel in June 2006.
By drawing on her foundation as a classical pianist, Kim records piano covers of soundtracks from games like Maple Story and Final Fantasy, techno songs and other pop music. The young starlet chooses songs and soundtracks that are modern, hip and fitting with the current youth culture to feature on her channel. With a uniquely novel style of fusing a classical instrument’s sounds with contemporary tunes, Kim’s ever-expanding subscriber pool is anything but surprising. At present, her total number of her upload views is merely inchesjust short of from reaching five million.
Regarding her online username, Kim attributes its cheesiness to her favorite piano piece back in middle school — “Fantasie Impromptu” by Chopin.
“As for the x3, it forms a heart when you turn it anti-clockwise,” Kim explains. “Mind you, this was back in the days when weird names were normal.”
Growing up in Las Vegas, Kim was only three years old when her interest for piano was piqued. After watching an older girl perform, Kim also aspired to play the instrument. Her parents then provided her with opportunities to groom her interest, arranging piano lessons for her under an array of different teachers.
Throughout her pursuit of music, Sherry holds a singular accomplishment close to her heart — performing at Carnegie Hall. Having been in her school’s orchestra throughout high school, the opportunity to perform was posed when the school’s chamber orchestra was invited to perform in New York.
“My orchestra teacher made sure that I had a part in the piece we were to perform,” says Kim. “It was a dream come true, I was hugging the piano!”
Although the prospect of going to a music conservatory did fleetingly crossed her mind, Kim opted for Northwestern in hopes of experiencing college life and an allwell-rounded liberal arts education. She currently studies under professor Alan Chow, whom she had actually met two years ago at a music camp.
“Musicians generally have a lot of talent. However, they also have to be resilient in setting their own paths to be successful,” Chow says. “I see a lot of that in Sherry.”
Delving straight into college life has certainly not pulled Kim away from maintaining her YouTube channel. Since mid-September, Fantasiex3 has been uploading at least one new video per week in order to keep her fans satisfied. With an mp3 recorder and camera, she records her videos in a practice room at in the Music Administration Building, with her most recent ones including a techno dance song by Sarina Paris, and the soundtrack of a Korean drama by SHINee.
While most of the songs Kim plays played are from downloaded sheet music, her personal favorite is a video in which she plays a personally transcribed version of Dimrain47’s song “Twilight Techno.”
“Since it was techno, it was difficult and frustrating to transcribe,” Kim says. “But for Dimrain47 himself to comment on the video with compliments, it was worth it.”
Kim’s life as Fantasiex3 on YouTube is also not solely limited to her personal channel. The freshman is currently looking at prospects of collaborating with “Beatbox Hitman,” whose number of personal subscribers exceeds 90,000. Like many other collaborations, she intends to send a video to Beatbox Hitman and have him mesh his beatboxing together with her piano playing.
Her most recent video of her playing a classical piano piece had even earned her a comment from one of cyberspace’s most well-known and well-loved trio — WongFuProductions.
“Wow, great job. Thanks for the support. You are extremely talented. Keep it up,” WongFuProductions posted, partly in response to Kim’s Fantasiex3’s outfit in the video.
Kim, a self-proclaimed WongFuProductions fanatic, had gotten her WongFu t-shirt in the mail that day, and could not resist donning it for the video recording. Kim’s fan base does not merely comprise of ordinary everyday YouTube viewers. Having other online “celebrities” like the Beatbox Hitman, Dimrain47 and WongFuProductions giving her feedback on her channel has also been a major encouragement.
In the midst of juggling classes, student groups and dorm life, Kim intends to continue what she started four years ago as a high school freshman in high school. With people constantly thanking her for revitalizing their love and passion for piano, the YouTube starlet draws her strength and perseverance from such adoring fans.
“Some of my fans gradually became like ordinary friends to me,” Kim says. “Sometimes I forget that we’re only online friends,”
Currently, the young starlet, Fantasiex3 is setplans to get the on reaping the most out of her college experience at Northwestern before the four years whiz by. Interestingly enough, Kim does not aspire to be harbor career dreams of being a professional solo pianist after graduation; her heart’s set on becoming a piano accompanist.
“I revel in the connections I have with other musicians when I play with them,” Kim says. “As a soloist, it gets a little boring to be by yourself.”