Tyler Oakley is a pop culture phenomenon, YouTube celebrity and social rights activist with over 7.69 million YouTube subscribers, and 458 million views as of August 2015. Oakley recently released his debut book, ‘Binge’, before indulging on a 21 city book tour across America and the UK. Surprisingly, one of those cities included Cardiff, the capital city of my little country of residence, Wales. And guess who had a ticket to meet the man himself?
The ticket was a birthday present from my beloved older cousin and something I had been highly anticipating for the past two months. Finally, Monday 2nd November had graced us with its presence and I could hardly wait.
Tyler and his book publishers are working with Maximum Pop! at the moment and so this was a perfect opportunity for me to tweet out via the Twitter about the signing. On the way to the venue with my friend, Ellen, and her mother, Tyler tweeted about his arrival in Cardiff, which I took as an excellent opportunity to tweet from the MP account announcing that we were on our way. Moments later, my friend, Alysha, texted me frantically “DID TYLER JUST TWEET YOU?”
I don’t have the notifications from the MP account’s mentions on my phone because quite frankly there are way too many and I’m not usually one of the people to run the account. I checked the account to see our interactions exploding with more mentions than usual. That’s when I saw the followng:
@maximumpop SEE YA SOON QUEEN
— Tyler Oakley / TODAY (@tyleroakley) November 2, 2015
Um, excuse me? Did he just call me Queen? Me?! I may have fangirled. Just a little bit. Or a lotta bit. But I tried to keep it internal.
After a quick two hours of queuing and what seemed like a conga line around a maze, we were minutes away from meeting Tyler. We were in the first barrier and around about number 70 in the queue, so our wait time was pretty minimal. I had previously picked up a Welsh chocoloate lollipop which had the word “cwtch” (meaning hug in Welsh) iced on the front and a Welsh celtic bracelet with a dragon on it, with one for myself to match, to give to Tyler. The security put the presents in the box which would be given to Tyler at the end of the signing and I stood behind Ellen and her mother, who were next in line.
Ellen was bewildered with excitement and asked Tyler for a “cwtch” before explaining what it meant. He gladly obliged before taking a selfie with her. After meeting her mother, it was finally my turn. My heart was pounding.
“Hey!”
“Hey cutie!”
“Thanks for calling me queen, I’m from maximum pop!”
“Oh hey queen!”
“Can I get a cwtch?”
“Sure!”
“Thanks!”
“No problem! Thank you for coming, I’ll talk to you online in like a minute!”
Tyler took multiple photos on my phone but the one above is the best. After quick encounter, I left the store with Ellen, full of excitement after our meeting with the YouTube personality who despite becoming a household name is still rather humble. What a day.
I really enjoyed meeting Tyler and I’m about halfway through reading his book, which I have every intention of reviewing on my blog very soon, so keep your eyes peeled!
Jazz is a Disney, tea and pop culture enthusiast with a passion for blogging. Also a proud introvert.
I’ve never heard of him before, but I’m glad your daughter enjoyed meeting him x
She’s not my daughter, she’s my friend! I’m only 20 x
Sounds like you had a great time! It’s awesome when people you love are just as nice in real life!
Becca
http://www.QueenBeeBecca.com
It was amazing! Out of all the people I have met, he was definitely the most down to Earth
I’ve only ever seen him on other people’s YouTube channel but I’m intrigued so I may have to watch some of his. I’m glad he was a joy to meet and you didn’t have to wait too long to see him!
He is a great person! A pop culture enthusiast, human rights advocate and just a highly amusing personality to watch. I am loving his book and learning so much more about him! It was a great feeling not having to wait long as I did wait a very long time when I went to meet Olly Murs at a CD signing!
[…] After my meeting with Tyler on Monday, I headed straight home from the signing, changed into my pyjamas (because it’s important to be feeling comfortable when reading. It’s an unwritten rule. Or for me, at least) and headed up into my room in which I settled down to indulge in the story of Tyler Oakley (or is he? You’ll learn his birth name in the beginning and I wasn’t even expecting it.) […]
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