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How Clairo Turned A Viral Bedroom Video Into A Successful Music Career

"When you become something on the internet and not something in real life," Clairo explains, "It's this very strange cognitive dissonance where you're like, 'Well, is something actually happening, or am I dreaming that people know who I am?' "

Clairo wasn't dreaming. She started college shortly after uploading a song called "Pretty Girl" to YouTube — that same week, her bedroom music video reached a million views. Today, it has over 40 million views, and she's launched an entire music career from her viral success. She's appeared on late night television stages, played Coachella and is going on tour with Tame Impala in 2020. Clairo even produced her debut full-length album, Immunity, with a little help from Rostam Batmanglij.

We'll talk about how the former Vampire Weekend member reached out to Clairo on Instagram after hearing her 2017 song, "Flaming Hot Cheetos," how "Sinking" is a sexy song about rheumatoid arthritis ("Which is hilarious," she adds) and how she keeps up with her fans in relation to her rapidly rising profile. Hear the conversation in the player above, starting off with a live in-studio performance of "Bags."

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Raina Douris, an award-winning radio personality from Toronto, Ontario, comes to World Cafe from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), where she was host and writer for the daily live, national morning program Mornings on CBC Music. She was also involved with Canada's highest music honors: hosting the Polaris Music Prize Gala from 2017 to 2019, as well as serving on the jury for both that award and the Juno Awards. Douris has also served as guest host and interviewer for various CBC Music and CBC Radio programs, and red carpet host and interviewer for the Juno Awards and Canadian Country Music Association Awards, as well as a panelist for such renowned CBC programs as Metro Morning, q and CBC News.
Since 2017, John Myers has been the producer of NPR's World Cafe, which is produced by WXPN at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Previously he spent about eight years working on the other side of Philly at WHYY as a producer on the staff of Fresh Air with Terry Gross. John was also a member of the team of public radio veterans recruited to develop original programming for Audible and has worked extensively as a freelance producer. His portfolio includes work for the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, The Association for Public Art and the radio documentary, Going Black: The Legacy of Philly Soul Radio. He's taught radio production to preschoolers and college students and, in the late 90's, spent a couple of years traveling around the country as a roadie for the rock band Huffamoose.