JAI Waetford couldn’t believe it when the Norwegian girls booked into the same hotel and bought plane tickets so they could follow Australian singer through security to the gate.
The London girls assembled in an orderly “kissing queue” at a park to meet him and there were excited fans waiting at the airports on the Asian leg of his global jaunt.
It’s a crazy life being a teen idol.
Waetford is conquering young girls’ hearts all over the world via his YouTube channel, his latest EP Heart Miles and his recurring role on Neighbours.
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The confident 17-year-old has reinvented himself as a YouTuber — a bona fide entertainment gig in the digital age — and actor since being discovered on the X Factor three years ago.
And those profile-boosting sidelines have helped him connect with fans across the globe as he found when he embarked on a meet-and-greet tour through Europe and Asia earlier this month to promote Heart Miles.
Waetford said the time spent “hanging out” with fans who had discovered him via his weekly YouTube show or now on the long-running Australian soap had already translated into sales for Heart Miles.
“YouTube has been the main channel to spread my name throughout Europe but I am airing in the UK now on Neighbours,” he says.
“It’s crazy to land somewhere like Norway and 150 girls just show up to hang out with an Australian artist.
“And in London we had about 300 girls turn up and turned it into a massive hide and seek game and it went off, they loved it.”
Waetford’s local fans remain loyal as witnessed during his opening performances on the tour by British girl group Little Mix in May.
His all-singing, all-dancing performances during the brief but important sets were rewarded with the deafening screams and brightly lit screens of 8000 young girls..
The teen entertainer returns to the Neighbours set to reprise his role as Angus Beaumont-Hannay next month after another songwriting trip to Los Angeles where he will be paired with Mike “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” Posner.
And get some face time with his American girlfriend of 10 months, fellow YouTuber Carrington Durham.
“I head over there now a fair bit but yeah, it can be super tough being away a lot. It has it’s ups and downs,” he said.