Ten Second Songs: A Musical Journey

Music comes in a variety of styles, from pop to rock to punk to jazz. Many people have one genre they personally love above others, rarely leaving that part of the musical spectrum. On the other hand, there are people who have an eclectic music taste, loving all styles.

Anthony Vincent, otherwise known as the face of Ten Second Songs, is a YouTuber with over two million subscribers and a truly eclectic taste in music as demonstrated in his videos. Essentially, he takes one song and sings it in the style of (typically 20) various musicians. For example, in his latest cover of “Give it Away” by Red Hot Chili Peppers, he integrates the styles of musicians as different as ABBA’s disco, Depeche Mode’s new wave, and Nine Inch Nail’s industrial rock.

Vincent has received wide popularity for these videos since his first Ten Second Songs upload, a cover of Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” receiving, as of today, more than 21 million hits.

It is always fun to listen to Vincent’s spot on impressions of these musicians, which only adds to what makes the channel so awesome. I honestly wish I had found this channel sooner than I had because I love everything about its dynamic.

Vincent also has a second channel, AnthonyVincentMusic, where he used to upload behind the scenes videos, and videos of full style covers of a song as voted by users, such as “Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots in the style of Type O Negative. Recently, he has added these features onto the Ten Second Songs channel instead. His other channel also includes miscellaneous videos of him discussing other updates on the channel or his band, Set the Charge (who also have their own YouTube channel), other covers that are not Ten Second Songs related, and Q & A videos.

What I find most appealing about Ten Second Songs’ videos is how it brings so many different music genres into one video. I love music, but I feel many people are close-minded about it. Mixing all of these genres together really helps expand people’s tastes and musical knowledge. In fact, after watching his videos for the first time, I have now been introduced to one of my new favorite bands, Ghost. I hope readers will take the time to listen to some of Vincent’s covers and widen their music taste as well.

I contacted Vincent and had the chance to interview him, so I would like to thank him for taking the time to respond to my questions. It was an absolute pleasure chatting with him and learning more about him from a firsthand account.

THE INTERVIEW:

1) Your channel is very unique. What made you come up with the idea of singing songs in different styles for your channel?

I came up with the concept when I was brainstorming ways to promote my custom songs business on YouTube. I started “ten second songs” as a way to sell myself as an aspiring jingle writer, I made custom songs, 10 seconds in length in any style for 5 bucks on the internet. I thought taking a pop song and performing it in 20 styles would be a great way to show a portfolio to people. It ended up taking on a life of its own when I became a “YouTube sensation” overnight lol.

2) You interact a lot with your fan base by asking them to write songs with you and through polls. How has that helped with the Ten Second Songs experience?

It’s helped a lot because it makes everyone feel a part of the process and I like it better that way because I feed off of the feedback I get. It’s like feeding off the crowd’s energy during a live show, same kind of thing.

A look into Vincent’s interactive process of writing a song with his fans:

The quirky, amazing outcome: 

Vincent and his band, Set the Charge, also took to the stage at Vidcon performing a medley of covers that contained Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Rihanna’s “Work,” Linkin Park’s “In the End,” Eminem’s “Rap God,” and lastly, Adele’s “Hello.”

3) What was it like performing at VidCon?

Vidcon was a great experience, I’d love to do it again. Me and my band had a blast.

4) Do you have a personal favorite Ten Second Songs cover or one that you particularly loved working and performing on? If so, why?

I think my favorite would have to be “In the End” or “Chop Suey,” specifically because those songs strike a chord of nostalgia for me and flood me with memories of my youth. I gotta do more songs like that.

5) Lastly, what do you hope people gain from watching your videos?

I hope that people grow their frame of reference. If they see a style performed they’re not familiar with, I hope they go and look them up and get to know more music. There’s great stuff out there but both new and old that deserve a listen. I try to dig into my own obscure references as much as I can because it’s fun to see people recognize something I didn’t think a lot of people even remembered. I like to keep the memory of artists alive, especially the ones who I feel are underrated.

I’d like to end this article by saying thanks again to Anthony Vincent for taking the time to do this interview with me. I was ecstatic!

Ten Second Songs channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TenSecondSongs/

AnthonyVincentMusic channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/AnthonyVincentMusic/

Set The Charge channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SetTheCharge