Singing for Progress: Performing Couple Takes Equality to YouTube and Beyond

by Diana Denza

Atlanta couple Bria Airb and Chrissy Chambers hit YouTube this past summer with humorous, equality-themed duets. Today, their videos collectively boast over 325,000 views –and with good reason. Tackling hot-button themes like Chick-Fil-A’s anti-gay stance and the Republican Party’s rape gaffes, they’ll manage to make any feminist chuckle (instead of pulling out her hair).

We chatted with the singing, song-writing, and dress-up loving duo about the 2012 election, their message for LGBT youth, and how they’ll make us laugh next.

 

What inspired you to start writing songs and uploading them onto YouTube?

We put out our first video, ‘Money in the Caymans‘ (a spoof on Romney’s hidden money), on August 1st: it was on a whim. We didn’t think it would receive a buzz, but a few days later the Chick-Fil-A drama took place, and we knew it would be the perfect time to let our voices be heard. We wanted to do it in a peaceful, silly way. We went and protested at the Decatur Chick-Fil-A, but we knew that that was only a one-time event. With YouTube videos we really have the ability to reach the masses.

What is it about the 2012 climate in particular that inspired you to start this project?

It has been so inspiring to watch what Obama has done for the LGBT community–more than any other president in the history of the United States–from repealing ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’, coming out as the first president to speak out in favor of same-sex marriage, to making multiple acts that benefit the LGBT community. We wanted to do our part to speak our political views and we realized how critical this upcoming election is for the LGBT community, and that same-sex marriage is within reach. This was a lot of the fuel for our fire.

Were you political before?

Bria has done her fair share of performing with and for the LGBT causes, but not anywhere close to the extent that we are involved in today.

How do you connect to your audience using humor?

We just try to be ourselves. In ‘The Republican Convention‘ song, which I think is our funniest video, the last bit was 100% improvised. We just hope for the best and never really know what our viewers are going to think.

What have the reactions to your videos been like?

It’s so bizarre to us that these videos we make at home, people not only watch, but enjoy.  Like I was saying in the last response, we are always surprised by what people’s responses are. We put our ‘Anti Bullying‘ video out, but had no idea people would respond the way they did. We went to our neighbor’s right after finishing it and played it for them. To our surprise, I turned and saw tears. It’s pretty amazing when you can touch others with your music.

Did you ever expect them to receive so much attention?  

We put out ‘Dear Chick-Fil-A‘ as our second video, and with no following it got shared over 1,000 times and has more than 55,000 views to date. We had no idea any of our videos would receive this kind of attention.

Who puts together the costumes/props for the videos?

This is one of the more fun parts for us, we love to go to costume shops together and try on a bunch of different costumes and make ridiculous jokes about how we could use a prop.  Of course half of our ideas and props we ditch because they end up being to inappropriate or off-topic. There are a lot of wigs in our closet.

How long does it usually take to come up with lyrics? What’s the creative process like?

We tend to work pretty quickly. Bria can put a song together pretty fast, and the lyrics normally fall into place. We have a couple of people we run our lyrics by who might tweak them here and there. After we practice 20-ish times or so, we record. The real process begins after the recording is finished, where Chrissy begins the editing and the audio tweaking, which takes a long and tedious amount of time.

What message do you have for LGBT youth?

We want the LGBT youth to know that there are those out there fighting on behalf of them and that they are not alone, as scary as it may seem there is always someone out there. We only have one life to live, so live it for yourself and not for others’ approval and don’t allow others to define you by your sexuality. Most importantly, always remember to appreciate your support system. And spread the idea of love: it’s infectious.

What can we expect from you next?

Well currently, Chrissy is sitting beside me working on audio for our upcoming video, ‘I’ll Never Let You Go’. It’s about being in love, and we don’t want to spoil anything yet but we will be having a special guest couple in this video, some other fellow YouTube personalities.

 

Keep up to date with Bria and Chrissy’s work on YouTube, Tumblr, and Twitter

 

Images via briaandchrissy.tumblr.com

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