GIRL, UNINTERRUPTED

We’ve all learned the hard way what a wonderful time-waster YouTube is. But, can the site also take credit for launching a respectable music career?

Last year, college student Julia Nunes became an Internet darling when her homemade videos developed a devoted following. The clips were lo-fi and charming—generally featuring nothing more than the adorable Nunes, a messy dorm room and her ukulele—as she sang covers of Kanye West, Weezer, Destiny’s Child and the Beatles. Now Nunes, 20, has gone global: She’s opened for Ben Folds, is currently on tour in England and recently released her second album, I Wrote These (which, yes, she did). Songs like “Into the Sunshine,” “The Debt” and “Pen to Paper” are melodic, sweet and utterly catchy, and the more melancholy, like “Stairwell,” show her emotional depth. We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: Thank you, Internet!

Very Short List, June 2009