Luke Alexander, 19, a Youtuber living in Brisbane, Australia, is known for his commentary videos. Whether he’s commenting on Tana Mongeau’s online reality show “Tana Turns 21” or talking about how social media is negatively impacting people’s mental health, he knows how to create content that entertains and informs his audience.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Alexander about his journey thus far on the platform as well as how he hopes to impact his audience in the future.
Every YouTuber has their own style of videos, why did you choose to be a commentary YouTuber?
“I didn’t start my channel with the intentions of becoming a commentary channel. I started off wanted to do the generic videos like polls, what I eat in a day and just random stuff and vlogging. Nothing ever stuck and then one time I was very passionate about this topic that which was my video that blew up which was “The Rise of Romanticizing Mental Illnesses.” I was really passionate about that topic and really wanted to share my opinion on it and I previously shared my opinion on others stuff, not as serious. Like giving my opinion on Shane Dawson’s series or unpopular opinions. This time I was passionate about a serious topic and it was very nervous to do it, but then I did it and the response was really great. So I was like I have a lot more that I want to talk about, so why don’t I just try. And it just stuck.”
Your videos range in topic from serious to very comedic like yourself reacting to Tana Turns 21, why do you find it important to have variety in tone for your content?
“The way I look at it there are various types of content and there are 4-5 videos on my channel that are my prized videos and those are usually the more serious ones. Like my video on Diversity, Social Media’s Effects on mental health or Instagram and Facetune. Like all of those videos I spend a lot of time doing research for and even write scripts for some of them and those are more like my critical analysis videos but I can’t do those videos all the time because I’m not always passionate about a new topic every week and those videos are a lot of work. I need to be able to do those videos while also maintaining a consistent upload schedule. And I also like to have some fun because serious stuff all the time can be draining.”
What Youtubers do you admire with their content and how they go about their career as a YouTuber?
“Comedic Youtubers I really like are Kurtis Conner, Drew Gooden, Danny Gonzales and Cody Ko. On the more serious side I really like Tiffany Fergusun and other YouTubers who do video essays. I was very inspired by Lindsay Ellis, she does more video essays on film and stuff but I just really like that structure. I just like giving my own opinion and bringing a bigger picture to it. Those are the YouTubers I’m inspired by, and Shane Dawson, of course, because Shane is very inspiring.”
How do you manage being a YouTube personality, a student, an actor and working all at the same time?
When talking about how he balances being a YouTuber on top of a college student, an actor and working at the same time Alexander talked about the struggles of finding a balance with late nights editing:
“Like I have some videos that I consider time sensitive. Some videos I can put up whenever, but like the “Tana Turns 21” videos I had to get those up as soon as possible. If it’s about a relevant topic I need to get it up. So there has been a few times when I’ve had to stay up to 3 am editing and stuff like that to get a video up.”
After taking a gap year and trying to regroup, when it comes to school he wants to keep a focus on his grades:
“It was really difficult for me last semester to get into the groove of things since it’s been a year since I’d been in school and I got my grades and they weren’t bad but they also weren’t great so I really want to try and focus on my grades, but that’s hard because there’s only 24 hours in a day and I need to figure out how I want to split them up.”
Some of the things he likes to keep a good balance in his life is getting 6 hours of sleep minimum, seeing his friends and family at least once a week, and try and go to the gym so that his whole life isn’t “sucked up by social media.”
How does having a large American following affect your video schedule?
“So I’m more aware of what is happening in America than what is happening in Australia and that’s really funny.” He continued talking about how he keeps up with American news and politics because it affects his audience and he wants to stay up to date and informed.
Not only does it impact the information he retains, but he adjusted his posting schedule so his videos go live 7am his time to have his videos go live at 2pm Pacific Standard Time, which is around the same time American Youtuber’s post their videos.
Would you want to live in America?
“If you asked me this question 5 years ago I would have been like “oh my gosh yes,” but now to be completely honest I’m from South Africa and that’s like it’s own host of struggles as well. So I’m a very paranoid person because I lived in an areas with high crime rates and a huge homeless population and stuff like that. And I’m starting to see some of those elements happen in America. That’s why I came to Australia was to get away from that stuff and now that in America the crime rate is rising and the homeless population is rising it would be like going to what I got away from.”
Alexander went on about how America also has a lot of opportunities not only for YouTubers but in his acting career as well. He came to the conclusion that, “ I would move to America, but I would only move there if I was very stable, and even then I would still come back here a lot. I love Australia as a country, I just wish it had the opportunities America has.”
Being an out bisexual man why is it important for you to talk about stigmas as well as informing people of the struggles bisexual people go through on a consistent basis?
“Something like this affects me personally so I understand it and can bring light to it. That’s why it thinks it’s important to have diversity in terms of gender, race, and sexuality so that people can speak on issues and then somebody else can relate. Because if i make that video on “the Struggles of being Bisexual” than other bisexual people can relate to me and people who aren’t bisexual can be educated or informed or realize something that they didn’t realize before.”
He also mentioned a quote along the lines of “monsters aren’t born, they’re made.” Reading to the point that people aren’t born, racist, homophobic, sexist, etc. and a way to combat what people are taught their whole life is to educate them.
Before our interview concluded Alexander told us that he wanted his audience to know that …
“I want people to know that while I am making these videos about these really important issues. I think it’s easy for people to connect with a person and feel as though that person is talking directly to them. I’ve had a lot of instances of people message me talking about how they are suicidal, speaking to me about their issues and I get really nervous about how to respond, because I’m not a therapist and I’m not qualified to help people in these situations. So while I think I am bringing light to these issues, if people have an issue that I speak about in my videos I don’t think I’m the person to speak about that issue I think it would be more so a therapist, if its a very serious issue.”
Outside of giving advice regarding potentially serious situations, Alexander loves engaging with his viewers. Whether it’s feedback on a recent video or just relating to similar struggles.
With his evident passion for the work he produces, there’s no wonder that his channel continues to grow. Having over 120 thousand subscribers, it’s apparent that his voice is being heard.
For more content from Luke Alexander, you can check out the links below: