Malinda Kathleen Reese (born June 27, 1994) is an American Internet personality, singer-songwriter and stage actress. She is best known for her Irish music covers on Tiktok (2 Million+ Followers), as well as Twisted Translations on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, in which she previously created songs and performances from song lyrics and other texts that have been translated through multiple languages and back into English using

Google Translate Google Translate is a multilingual neural machine translation service developed by Google to translate text, documents and websites from one language into another. It offers a website interface, a mobile app for Android and iOS, and an API t ...

; in that guise, she has over one million subscribers. Currently, she releases original music and vlogs on her main channel, MALINDA. Her debut is a 2018 EP, ''Love Letter''. In addition, she has performed in numerous theatre plays in the

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area, including playing Girl in the musical ''

Once Once means a one-time occurrence. Once may refer to: Music * ''Once'' (Pearl Jam song), a 1991 song from the album ''Ten'' * ''Once'' (Roy Harper album), a 1990 album by Roy Harper * ''Once'' (The Tyde album), a 2001 debut album by The Tyd ...

'', for which she won a

Helen Hayes Award The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They ar ...

in 2020.

Early life and education

Reese was born and raised in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

She is the only child of

Mary Hall Surface Mary Hall Surface (born June 15, 1958) is an American playwright and director of theater, working primarily in the Washington, D.C. area. Surface's work has focused primarily on youth and family content. Surface has received accolades from critic ...

, a teacher and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and Kevin Reese, an actor. She recalls spending much of her youth

backstage Backstage most commonly refers to backstage (theatre), also in motion picture and television production. Backstage may also refer to: Film and television * ''Back Stage'' (1969 film), a silent film starring Oliver Hardy * ''Back Stage'' (1942 fil ...

during theater performances, and spending time in costume shops. As a teenager, she went to Interlochen Arts Camp in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

Artists Alliance in New York City. She learned to play the

Irish flute The Irish flute is a conical-bore, simple-system wooden flute of the type favoured by classical flautists of the early 19th century, or to a flute of modern manufacture derived from this design (often with modifications to optimize its use in Ir ...

at the age of thirteen, having been "drawn" to the instrument from a young age. She is also able to play

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

cajón A cajón (; "box", "crate" or "drawer") is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front or rear faces (generally thin plywood) with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements such as brushes, mallets, ...

and classical flute. Reese attended

Sidwell Friends School Sidwell Friends School is a Quaker school located in Bethesda, Maryland and Washington, D.C., offering pre-kindergarten through high school classes. Founded in 1883 by Thomas W. Sidwell, its motto is ' ( en, Let the light shine out from all), al ...

in Washington D.C. and attended at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

; she initially studied cognitive science, before switching to Drama, in which she

majored An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''conce ...

, and Religion, in which she minored. She also studied

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 2014.

Career

YouTube

Twisted Translations

Twisted Translations (formerly Google Translate Sings and Translator Fails) is Reese's initial YouTube channel, in which she translates song lyrics and other texts through

, through other languages and back into English, to create a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

of the song or text. She came up with the idea of Twisted Translations while she was a student at Vassar College. After watching a video of "

Let It Go "Let It Go" is a song from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 2013 computer-animated feature film ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'', whose music and lyrics were composed by husband-and-wife songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert L ...

" sung in various languages, she noticed that the Spanish translation wasn't exact. Her college friends began using Google Translate to create humorous alternatives to famous works of literature, inspiring Reese to do the same with song lyrics. Her first translation video was uploaded on February 10, 2014, and quickly went viral, amassing one million views within a week. On February 14, she announced on YouTube that she would create more translation videos. Other Twisted Translations songs include songs from

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history. According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...

, "

One Day I'll Fly Away "One Day I'll Fly Away" is a song performed by American jazz singer Randy Crawford, from her fourth studio album, '' Now We May Begin'' (1980). The song was written by Joe Sample and Will Jennings and produced by Sample, Wilton Felder and Stix H ...

" from

Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows a young English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and cour ...

and "

Hello ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the ''Norwich C ...

" by

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...

. In her Twisted Translations song videos, she often dresses as the character or singer of the song. In 2022, via Instagram Stories, Malinda revealed she was done doing Google Translate Sings as she “doesn’t find the time” to do them anymore, due to her focus on her more successful tiktok.

MALINDA channel

In 2018, she launched another YouTube channel, MALINDA, which contains

vlog A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in ...

s, song covers, and comedic songs, as well as her original songs. In March 2019, the channel surpassed 100,000 subscribers.

Music

In 2018, Reese launched her singing career. Her debut EP, ''Love Letter'', was released on September 14, 2018. On May 15, 2020, she released the single "More With You", which involved a collaboration of more than 50 musicians from 17 countries. In 2021, she produced a cover of ''

Wellerman "Soon May the Wellerman Come", also known as "Wellerman" or "The Wellerman", is a sea ballad from New Zealand first documented in the 1960s. The song refers to the "wellermen", pointing to supply ships owned by the Weller brothers, who were amon ...

'' as part of the ‘ShantyTok’ trend on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

. She had previously created a shanty-style song about

puffins Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

on her YouTube channel, featuring user-submitted lyrics. On July 16, 2021, she released her second EP, ''The Folks I Love'', a collection of Folk-style cover versions. In early 2022, she embarked on a Folks I Love Tour. In a video in October 2022, she announced her debut album would be released in spring of 2023.

Singing in empty churches

In 2018, during a trip to Montefrío,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, she sang " O Come, O Come Emmanuel" impromptu in Iglesia de la Incarnación when it was empty, so the sound resonated. Footage of the singing was uploaded to YouTube and went viral, to Reese's surprise. It was shared by Spanish news outlets and artists, including

Alejandro Sanz Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro, better known as Alejandro Sanz (; born 18 December 1968), is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. Sanz has won 22 Latin Grammy Awards and four Grammy Awards. He has received the Latin Grammy for Latin Grammy Awar ...

. In 2019, she sang "

How Can I Keep from Singing? "How Can I Keep From Singing?" (also known by its first line "My Life Flows On in Endless Song") is an American folksong originating as a Christian hymn. The author of the lyrics was known only as 'Pauline T', and the original tune was composed ...

" in

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...

while empty.

Acting

Reese frequently performed as a child actor at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in Washington, D.C. In 2017, Reese played the titular character in ''Ella Enchanted'', a stage musical adapted from the book of the same name. The play was directed by her mother,

. ''DC Theatre Scene'' praised Reese's performance, calling it "truly enchanting". In 2019, she starred as "Girl" in the stage production ''

'' at the

Olney Theatre Center Located in Olney, Maryland, the Olney Theatre Center offers a diverse array of professional productions year-round that enrich, nurture, and challenge a broad range of artists, audiences and students. One of two state theaters of Maryland, Olney ...

. She received positive reviews. ''DC Metro Theatre Arts'' called her and Gregory Maheu, who portrayed "Guy", "standouts" and commented they "bring depth to both their solos and duets" while ''Washington Post'' said she was "effectively direct". Her performance won her a

for Best Actress in a Musical and a

BroadwayWorld BroadwayWorld is a theatre news website based in New York City covering Broadway, Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres ...

Washington, DC Awards for Best Actress in a Musical - Large Professional Theatre.

Personal life

In October 2022, Reese

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

in a video entitled "I have some things to tell you". She said she was inspired to come out publicly, after having previously been a "quiet

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

", through her involvement with

Irish music Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland. The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th and into the 21st century, despite globalis ...

, which she saw as "music of the oppressed".

Theatre

Discography

EPs

* ''Love Letter'' (2018) * ''The Folks I Love'' (2021) * ''Sea to Sky'' (2021)

References

External links

* *
Translator Fails
on

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reese, Malinda Kathleen 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Actresses from Washington, D.C. American multi-instrumentalists American musical theatre actresses American people of Irish descent American stage actresses American YouTubers Comedy YouTubers American female YouTubers Music-related YouTube channels Music YouTubers Singers from Washington, D.C. YouTube channels launched in 2014 YouTube channels launched in 2018 YouTube vloggers 1994 births Living people Bisexual entertainers Bisexual women LGBT YouTubers