The Internet Star: Jessica Frech

Nashville, if you're looking for living proof that Internet killed the video star, look no further than your own backyard. Not even halfway through college, Jessica Frech has multimillions of views on her YouTube channel, a star turn in a national TV ad campaign and a fan-funded album on the way — all without a record deal or, as recently as last month, so much as an official bio from her publicist. So how did this all start?

"We just got hyper one night," the Belmont sophomore says. Partly out of boredom and partly out of a songwriting itch that never lets up, Frech (rhymes with "Beck") wrote and recorded a song called "The People of Walmart" — a stream-of-ridiculousness soundtrack to the blog of the same name — and got some friends together to make a goofy, slapdash video.

Frech posted the result to YouTube, and then went on with her fairly typical student life. (She's a songwriting major.) The next day, a deluge of email alerts began: People were commenting on the video. A lot of people — it had been picked up by G4's Attack of the Show and gone viral.

Eight million YouTube views later — and counting — Frech has a built a sort of cottage industry out of her knack for penning off-the-cuff songs about pretty much anything — including one apiece for Hyundai's in-car navigation system and their 10-year warranty. The Korean automaker's marketing people liked her self-produced videos so much, they were sold on the idea of featuring her in a commercial before the ad agency had even contacted her. Frech also invites fans to submit challenging subject matter, turning those ideas into a new song and video every week — the results include "No More Shark Week" and "Pee in Traffic."

But while she's Internet-famous for jingles and joke songs — a cover of Ke$ha's "Blow" utilizing cookware as percussion here, a Katy Perry parody titled "Black Friday Night" there — Frech's also a more serious writer at heart. In January, she started a fundraising drive on the microfinance site Kickstarter, hoping to raise enough money to independently release her debut album, Reality. By the time the funding period ended, she had not only met her goal, she'd exceeded it — by $20,000.

"It's been crazy," Frech says. And to give an idea of the fandom she's already inspired: "One person paid $1,200 for the ukulele I play in the 'Walmart' video," she says. "It's, like, a $99 ukulele." Good thing it comes autographed.