Chances are you’ve heard of him or seen his Vines but didn’t realize he’s a UTC student. The week before finals, I was given the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Christian Guerra, better known by his Internet personality name Chrish. He’s originally from Paris, Tennessee, and grew up in the Sevierville area near Gatlinburg. It doesn’t take seeing many of his Vines to know that he is hilarious and is a jaw-dropping singer. He currently has around 2.2 million followers on Vine and counting. I discussed withChrish his experience being a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and being an Internet sensation.
On a daily basis, what’s it like to be a Vine star?
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Crish: It’s kind of strange, especially when it just happens initially. You’re getting those people who you see across the street, maybe not even in Chattanooga, in different parts of the country, and even in different countries, saying, “Hey, are you that Vine guy?” “Hey, are you Chrish?” And it’s just like, “Oh my gosh, wow.” Then over time I think you might get used to it a little bit.
So do you have random people just come up to you on campus and freak out?
C: Yeah, it’s really weird -- almost every day I’d say. I don’t want that to sound arrogant, but for some reason, this is the hub where a lot of my people are, or, at least, a lot of people who know me are. It’s a word of mouth kind of thing, like, “Oh yeah, did you hear that somebody’s famous on social media that goes to UTC?”
That’s how I heard about you actually. Last year, I think I was looking at my timeline on Twitter and someone had retweeted something you posted about UTC, and I was like, “Is that the guy on Vine? He goes to UTC, what?”
C:(laughs.) Yeah, I feel like that’s how a lot of people are, not even if they religiously watch my Vines, they usually, at least, know who I am, which is kind of cool.
What’s the weirdest encounter you’ve had with one of your fans?
C: Well there are two things. One is when people want me to do all of my Vines right then and there, and we’re in an intimate, quiet area, and I’m like, “Honey, a lot of my Vines are me screaming at the top of my lungs sounding like an idiot.” So I don’t really know what to say and I don’t want to be rude and shoot them down, but I don’t want to scream in the middle of public right know, you know? And then there was this one instance at Nightfall, [one girl was] almost insulting [me], everything she said was kind of like a backhanded insult. Like what? This is really weird.
Hmm. I feel like when you start getting famous, people think they have the right to talk about what you are doing and your personal life, so it’s crazy to think that these people don’t know you as a person, but they are still saying crazy stuff.
C: That’s another thing I’ve noticed too. The more people know you, the more people are going to like you but also more people aren’t going to like you. The more people are going to pass judgments on you. The more people are going to assume things about you that aren’t true. That’s one of the frustrating things. I really wish I could voice my opinion, you know, like, “This is not who I am. This is how some people think I am.” But they’re just trolls who have nothing better to do than critique other peoples stuff, and they’re not happy inside.
So with all that being said, do you ever regret anything with being famous on the Internet?
C: I think maybe some things that I’ve said, like, you know when you say something stupid and you don’t mean it, and then it’s taken in the wrong context, and people attack you for it. It’s like, “Well, this is not how I meant it at all.” When you have that platform, people are looking at you for what you say and you really have to say the right things, and you have to be the best example that you can be.
That’s a lot of pressure, especially for a college student.
C: Yeah, exactly. And especially since I’m 22, I’m not the most mature yet, so I still make mistakes. I don’t know if I regret anything… well, sometimes, I’m not dressed the best and I get tagged in some pretty trifling Instagram pictures and my hair’s this way, and I’m a little tired or busy, or my mind is somewhere else, and I’m not really thinking, “Oh, I’m Chrish, and people might know me if I walk out of my house,” So I look horrible. I would walk out in pajamas on the rise of my “Chrishdom,” or whatever you would call it. People would be like “Hey, are you Chrish?” and here I am with my hair greasy as heck and I look like a mess. Ever since that whole thing I’ve realized I need to look at least a little bit better.
So how do you balance school and dealing with Vine?
C: Not as well, I feel like, as some other people I know who are also Vine famous, YouTube famous, Twitter famous, or whatever, who have these platforms. But at the end of the day, I realize that this is my last semester and I do have to graduate so I have to get the [school] work done. It’s really difficult to balance it because it’s two completely different worlds. I’m taking my biology classes with people who are preparing to go to med school, dental school, nursing school, and all this stuff, and here I am, trying to entertain after graduation.
Do you ever feel like you would give up Vine should it affect your career? Like, if you chose to be a doctor, do you think you could balance Vine and being a doctor?
C: I don’t know because I feel like doctors have way more responsibilities.
That’s true. What do you want to do with your major?
C: I don’t know if I want to use my major, that’s the problem. I’ve always been performing. I’ve never had a job where I’m not singing. I did this barber shop thing with my friends in high school and then I worked at the Station House restaurant as a singing server. The only time I’ve been paid for something in my life is through my voice or through my entertainment. I want to continue with it. I feel like I reach people in that way.
So that would definitely take priority over using your major for something?
C: At the moment, yeah. I still have it [my degree] on the back burner just in case.
On Vine you come off as this carefree, funny guy. Is this how you are outside of Vine or is this an image you strive to be like?
C: Overall, yeah, I’m pretty carefree, almost to the point where it’s damaging to myself that I’m so carefree. But as I’ve developed into this social media personality, the things that I say I want to regulate and have them not be offensive to any subgroup of people. But besides that, I’d say yeah, overall, I’m a pretty carefree person. That’s how I am probably 95 percent of the time.
What’s your favorite opportunity you’ve gotten because of Vine fame?
C: Meghan Trainor, I got to meet her back in March for her concert in Nashville. She invited me and my friend J. Cyrus, who is another Viner. We got to see her and hung out at “Play” which is the huge gay club in Nashville. We were up in the VIP section, and I was like, “This is the coolest thing in the world,” you know? There was another instance where I traveled to Orlando to go to this event called Playlist Live where I met fans. There were VIP parties like every day of the week, which is crazy because I’ve never been in that environment where so many people know me from the Vine thing. You’re at a resort, and they’re [Viners and fans] all staying in the same place, and the fans know that everybody is in the same resort, so they’re there all day waiting for somebody they know.
So would you consider doing more of that type of events in the future?
C: Yeah, for sure, but I’m so tied down with school, that it’s so difficult to be that other personality to the full extent. I’m hoping after the holidays I’m going to hit it hard and be like, “What exactly are you looking for? How exactly do you want to impact people?” Those are the kind of questions I’ve been asking myself.
So how did your family take it when they found out that you were this famous guy on the Internet?
C: They didn’t really think anything of it until Chicago in January. I had my first meet-up in Chicago. I didn’t go to Chicago just for the meet-up. My parents were traveling, and they were like, “Hey, let’s go on vacation for a week.” So I was like, “Okay, whatever,” just following my parents. Then, I put out on my Vine something like, “Hey, I’m going to have a disorganized meet-up. It’s not really official, you don’t have to pay for it -- I just want to meet some people.” Then, around a hundred people showed up, and this was back when I had like 200,000 followers. I was like, “Mom, I’m gaining thousands of followers, isn’t this funny? This is crazy,” and they were like, “That’s great, honey,” until they saw the people asking for autographs and pictures. That’s when they were like “Oh okay, this is actually a thing. People actually know my son as this funny Internet person.” My dad was taking pictures, and it was bulking up to the point where we had to move because it was blocking entrances to some of the shops around.
That sounds pretty fun. I’ve noticed a lot of Viners that started out very original and creative are moving towards Vines that look like they’ve been staged, and your Vines seem so against that. Would you ever go forward with staging Vines?
C: For business purposes and to put my brand out there, I think that it would be healthy to collab and to immerse myself with a lot of different Viners, but I don’t want to ever solely put out those staged, really meticulous Vines that are made. I don’t even know how to do that with my phone, nor will I probably ever give the time to learn how to. I feel like sometimes they [Viners who stage Vines] need to collab to gain followers and to get ahead. My people know me for what I do. It is weird to see people who begin with this organic content shift to this over-relatable kind of Vine.
You can tell when someone plans it out too much. Honestly, it’s one of those things where you just keep strolling.
C: Yeah, it’s stuff that you’ll forget. It’s never like, “I remember that one Vine, oh that was so funny!” If you have the followers, I feel like the goal is to produce as much organic content because you want people to know you for you, not for relatable, “when-the-teacher-does-this-in-class” kind of thing. To be honest, to me, it’s not really funny. It’s tailored to a lot of younger kids who just laugh at anything.
T: I feel like that’s something your fans really admire -- you’re originality, not seeming too over-planned. Like the ones of you walking through campus talking, those are my favorite.
C:(laughs.) I really appreciate that. That’s what I strive to continue doing. If I ever do move to L.A., I don’t ever want to be one of those [Viners who stage Vines], and people comment, “Oh, why is Chrish with all these people?”
Do you even take the time to read comments on your stuff?
C: On Vine, I used to when I was gaining [followers] because I wasn’t used to all the comments. Now that I’m really used to the comments, I don’t really read the Vine comments too much. Twitter and Instagram are where I actually look at what people say, and Twitter is where I really get to connect with people and interact. My Twitter’s not as active, so when I tweet, I’ll get three or four people who say something back and I’ll definitely be able to see it.
Chrish made me laugh throughout the whole interview, showing me that his Vine personality is truly who he is as a person. It’s not often you meet a UTC student who is already on the fast track to the entertainment industry, but Chrish is definitely going places with his humor and music. If you haven’t seen his Vines, go check him out: @mistachrish at https://vine.co/.
