If you haven’t heard of Malinda Kathleen Reese, then you, my friend, are missing out. Who is she? Well…
Malinda runs two YouTube channels, one of which is MALINDA (hence why the post’s title is in all caps). This channel has a wide range of fantastic music, all of which I’d highly recommend (even the stuff I haven’t heard yet; I’m sure it’s great) but there are a few in particular that stand out as examples. First, there’s how I was introduced to her content: “Don’t Make Me,” a music video with excellent acting and choreography about a newly-wedded princess whose prince betrays her. The prince is played by Thomas Sanders, who’s also awesome and should probably get a post of his own at some point.
A more solemn selection is the song she wrote about quarantine, featuring her likewise talented parents, or, for something light and fun, you could check out “The Song of the Puffin.” In addition to a hilariously random song about puffins, this video includes some of the process of creating the song, which I found fascinating. It was a group effort with her fans, so an unorthodox means of songwriting for sure, but lots of fun to follow along with through the first 5 or 6 minutes of the video. (If you just want to listen to the song part, well, your loss, but the time signature for that is 6:07.)
And then there’s Malinda’s other channel, Twisted Translations (formerly known as Translator Fails), where she runs the script for the video through Google Translate too many times and presents the resulting madness. A good one is the Google Translate Explains How To Vote video from this September. The election may be over, but the translator fails will never cease to be amusing. She also does Google Translate songs, like “You’re Welcome” from Moana, which can lead to some interesting alternate lyrics. You’ll see what I mean.
While those translations are the meat of the channel’s content, what really sells it is her performance, with Google Translate Malinda’s over-the-top confidence in the nonsense being articulated while Real Malinda listens, providing a series of confused and downright exasperated reactions that resonate with my soul.
I could fangirl further about how awesome Malinda is, but, honestly, just– just go watch her videos, people; her work needs no further pitch than that.
