LIFE UPDATE! where the heck i've been.

Hello, it's Tilly and welcome back to my YouTube channel. Oh my god, that feels so weird to say. It's been so long. Not gonna lie, guys, today I am like really ill. Like, you could probably hear it in my voice. I was worse yesterday. I really wanted to film this video yesterday. I really want to get back into YouTube and just get started, but yesterday my throat was just not even functional, to be honest. And I woke up this morning and my throat doesn't hurt as bad. I'm kind of in phase 2 where like I feel like I need to throw up. Every 10 minutes. Um, but I mean, we'd rather be in phase 2 than phase 1, right? Either way, I really wanted to film this video today because I realized it's been a really long time, and I feel like I need to give everybody a proper update on what's been going on. So 7 months ago today when I'm filming this would have been March, and now we're in October, so it's been a while. In March— March was probably the busiest month of the year that I've had so far, so I kind of understand why that's the time where I kind of went AWOL. If you've follow me and subscribe to me on YouTube for a while, or any other social medias, you'll know that in 2020 I did a singing competition called Got What It Takes, which I actually went on to win, which is absolutely insane. And because I won, the prize is to perform at Radio 1's Big Weekend. So Radio 1's Big Weekend 2022 happened in March. It was very much intense leading up to that, and all throughout that time I was doing so many, like, singing lessons and trying to get my act together. And we also filmed an entire documentary in time, which you can watch if you haven't already. It's on BBC iPlayer, and I'm pretty sure it's called Got What It Takes: The Winner's Story. But that followed us doing Radio 1's Big Weekend, where I got to sing on stage, the main stage, which was like huge. It was basically like my first gig as well, so that was pretty mental. And we got to open for Ed Sheeran, so if that's something that interests you, definitely go check that out. It was so much fun, and I'm honestly so grateful not only that I got to do it, but the fact that it's all been documented and that's on iPlayer. Like, I can just go back and watch it and reminisce, and it's just so amazing. When I was at Big Weekend as well, I know a lot of people will be pleased to know, or think it's funny or whatever, but I actually took like a spare pair of like white cases, just plain white. And you know when people go around and they get people to like sign the cast of a broken arm? That's basically what I did, but backstage at Big Weekend. So now I've got like a sleeve, a binaural sleeve that's just full of autographs of the people we met backstage. And so I've always got that, like, to be sentimental about. And honestly, I'm gonna get it framed because we met some incredible people, and that's just so cool. Like, sign my arm, you know what I mean? So the last proper YouTube-style video that I posted was actually posted 7 months ago, and that was a couple times. And then ever since that, I've still been uploading, still been posting, but it's all been kind of music related. I And Lord knows, I'm so sorry to anybody subscribed, you'll know that it hasn't been very consistent and it hasn't been like, here's your weekly video, if you know what I mean, like it used to be. And that's been for a couple of reasons. Number one just being I've been so busy, like literally all over the place. I've been on the road so, so much recently. Some of you might already know because you might follow me on Instagram and you know I'm very active on there. Pretty much posting like every single day and on stories showing you where I'm off to and what's happening next. But I realized that people on YouTube don't have a clue, so let me enlighten you and kind of give myself a little bit of an explanation. Also involved with that Big Weekend appearance, I've done a lot of music-related things. So I was a bit— I appeared on Saturday Mashup on CBBC again. Me and Georgie called in to CBBC Saturday Mashup when we were actually there as well at Big Weekend. And I've also been doing a lot of presenting for CBBC. I literally just had a show air like maybe 2 weeks ago now called Wow, That's Amazing. What that is, is it's a science show and I appear in all 30 episodes. I basically play the know-it-all role, and Lord knows I'm not a know-it-all. It was all scripted, but let me pretend to be an absolute like science queen and know all about the future. I mean, I'd say I'm more clued up than average person is, just simply because of the field I'm in. But that aired recently, and you can also watch that on BBC iPlayer. And that was super cool. I got to do that with Owain, who's also a presenter, and he does the radio on BBC, like, early, early mornings. Don't know how he does it. Another thing hasn't been aired yet, so I'm not sure if I can talk about that one, but it was another CBBC show which I was a guest judge on. I think I can say that. Oh, I get told off. Also, in between all this, I had my GCSEs. You will know if you've been subscribed that I sat the majority of my GCSEs last year because I'm homeschooled and that was an option. But I had 3 more subjects that I was doing this year, and they were science— gosh, I can't even remember. They were science, English literature, and psychology. And I was super happy with all of my results. And I told myself when I finished my GCSEs, I was just gonna absolutely go wild and honestly just do like exactly what I wanted to do. So I guess the sort of little school update that I have is, yes, I'm out of GCSEs now. And I've actually made the decision to not go straight into, um, like traditional education. So while people my age, 16, 17, are going to college and sixth form, I'm actually not doing that. And I'm also not staying in at the online homeschool that I'm doing to do A-levels online either. Basically, I've been in touch with the council and I'm being employed and I'm doing a lot. I'm really, really busy right now, and they basically said, sure, it's advised to stay in traditional education, but if you've got a lot going on, and as long as you can prove that you're doing something and you're not just sat at home playing PlayStation, which of course everybody would love to do, then you're like all good. One of the big things I'm doing recently is I started on my own radio show. I do the radio every Tuesday, home time, 3 till 6 at Spark, which is kind of a northeast radio station. And it's actually really, really funny how I got that job. I was having a singing lesson one day at a place called The Bunker in Sunderland, and I was interviewed by one of the guys who works there. And he had like a podcast or his own radio show or something, and he interviewed me for it, like basically the run-up to Big Weekend and things. And when I did that interview for him, he was just like, oh wow, you can talk. That's true, I can indeed talk. I was just rambling on, waffling, and I spoke way more than he thought you would— he thought that I would. He actually put me forward and was like, yo, do you want to like do radio? And I was like, I'm finished school at this point, like I'm looking for stuff to do, uh, okay. And originally it was just gonna be like a summer thing. Obviously now it's October and I'm still doing it. I'm really enjoying it. Um, I did my sort of training there. I'm really enjoying it and it's been a lot of fun, honestly. Like, I'm having a blast. I've going live a couple of times as well. I actually went live the other day and like broke the entire like radio, and I don't know if it aired that way, but like I did something and like everything stopped and I was live. And there was people coming in afterwards like, what happened on that live? I was like, guys, I don't want to talk about it. Usually I'm really good, like that's never happened before. Anyway, so yeah, I'm doing radio and it's honestly just like a dream job for me because obviously I'm really into music and singing and things, and I also love to talk, if you didn't know. It's like the main reason I have a channel, just to talk and engage with an audience and just chat. Like, that's my favorite thing to do ever. But also, on the back of that radio show, which I'm really enjoying, I actually got a DM from a guy at Global. Global do like all the radio stations like Capital, Heart. They'd actually come across my show, literally the third time I was doing it, and the first time I was doing it completely on my own, like without the producer or anything. And I got a DM after that show saying that like they wanted to train me up. Capital have a studio in Newcastle now, and so I went to visit there and met everybody. It was super cool, super fun, and I'm gonna be starting there very, very soon, like training me up and getting me capital level, which is sick. So I guess you can sort of call that like a radio apprenticeship. That's kind of what it is. That's what I'm doing now. I'm out of school. I'm basically working and doing a radio apprenticeship. I'm also really working on music right now, so I've been in touch with producers and things, and I'm in sort of the songwriting process. I want to get into the studio with recording things. And honestly, that's been so exciting right now, and any support on that I greatly appreciate, like, because it's just the thing that's calling my name right now that I really, really want to do. And alongside that, like, music stuff, songwriting and things like that, I've also started an online music production course which I do every Thursday with the We Are The Unheard Academy. And that's kind of run by the producer I've been talking to, and she's teaching us all how to basically produce I wrote music, which is something that I see people doing and I'm like, that is sick and also looks so complicated. But she's really breaking that down, doing that course where hopefully I'll be able to learn how to produce my own stuff, which will be absolutely insane. Or even if I'm not like producing my own stuff, I'm at the point where I understand all the terms. But ultimately I'm just really working on myself, investing into myself, doing what I want to do, but also like still keeping up with that education. I'm just educating myself on things that are like directly going to impact my future and what I want to do. So I'm in a really good headspace right now. Also, I've been back and forth to Belfast a lot. Um, I was filming a show called Nova Jones on CBBC, and they filmed that over in Belfast. It's basically a super sick show about like aliens and glitter. She's like an alien pop star floating through space. Um, and the producers were just like Tilly, you'd fit right in here. So I went over there and I did a bit of acting. Who is she? And that hasn't aired yet, so again, I don't know how much I can talk about that. We also filmed a song and even a music video, so if anybody wants to see my dancing, you've got that to look forward to. Don't have high hopes though, please. I'm still really, really busy with things. Like, it's literally just at the point where you're just like, I just get an email through and they're like, do you want to do this? I'm like, sure. I'm actually going to Prague like next month to moderate and host an event, which will be super cool. Um, but I just I just realized, you know, how much I've missed filming and talking to myself, talking to a camera, um, talking to you guys basically. And I put it on my Instagram story, like, would people be bothered, would people like it if I came back to YouTube? But I can't really promise that I'll be here and there'll be a video for you every single week like there was previously because things are really busy. But at the end of the day, that's what I want to do. I want to have a video available every week and I want to be here for you, for people to like switch on and that be really reliable. So I'm gonna try my best to do that, but I also did say like, just in case, is it worth making a comeback even if you don't get that every Sunday? And like pretty much like 100% people were like, yeah, come back to YouTube. And that made me so happy because that's what I want to do. I'm gonna be using and working with YouTube in kind of a different way to how I used to be. Of course I'm still gonna do like the fun, really planned, really edited videos, but I also want to approach it in a really like real authentic way. Because I realized, yeah, I'm doing like a heck of a lot right now and it's super busy. And I used to stress myself out with like trying to fit like idea, fun, like a lot of effort content in between those times. But also I can just take people along my life and anything that I'm doing which has got me really busy that day, I can take a camera along with me and I can vlog it and let everybody like stay in touch and stay in the loop of everything that's going on, who want to of course. I love YouTube as a platform, and I love the sort of audience that I have on here and the dynamic. So I'm super excited to be back. I hope you are too. Turn the notifications on. I am gonna plan to upload every Sunday, but again, I'll try my best with that and I'll keep you updated. Either way, I'm happy to be back. I'm happy to have you, and I'm gonna try my absolute best and take everybody along on this crazy little life that's happening right now. I appreciate all the support from people being so patient with me as well. We're gonna try our best and revive the YouTube channel. I'm so here for it. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you next time. Bye!