Todrick Hall made it out to perform for American International College’s students in mid-October. His ability to sing and dance really grabbed the students’ attention.

Hall is an American singer and actor out of a small town in Arlington, Texas. His big break came out when he auditioned for season 9 of American Idol. He made it all the way to the semi finals with his singing abilities.

He then began creating YouTube videos, song mash ups, and flash-mobs. As of October 1st, 2015, Hall has exceeded 1.7 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. Also videos on his channel have been played 243.4 million times as of that same date.

Recently he singed with Music Television (MTV) with a new show called ‘Todrick’. He and his crew create performances and new videos. This show shows his versatility in all forms of preforming arts.

By all accounts, his visit to the AIC campus was a hit.

Freshman Jayda Gilmore said after the performance, “it was inspiring seeing someone come from nothing and create it into something great.”

At first Hall said he was creating videos and things to help better express himself. He was once in the closet about his sexuality. Being able to be himself not only helped himself be more comfortable, but also others who were struggling with the same issues.

Hall started going on tour and speaking about his sexuality and talking to transgenders about being confident in who you are.

“I love showing kids it’s okay to be different,” said Hall.

One way he connected with the entire audience was having other celebrities send in videos of them talking about expressing themselves and how important it is to be comfortable with yourself. It was cool to hear other people’s opinions and see the support they gave. It also shows how much Todrick has grown and gotten respect from other people.

“I didn’t know who Todrick was before he came to our school, but after listening to him I loved him. He has a great personality. Even though he used humor to get his message across they were very powerful messages. I’m so glad he came and I got to see him. He really inspired me to be myself,” said Heather Brouillard, senior here at AIC.

According to Hall, there are seven key elements to becoming successful that spell out one very important word.

First we have Believe. You cannot do anything in life unless you believe in yourself. Who else will believe in you if you struggle with believing in yourself.

Next we have Entrepreneurship. With this you need to come up with an idea or a focus and be active in what you plan on doing. Most people just wait for someone to come contact them. You need to be aggressive and go after what you want!

Then comes Yaaasss. This should be the reaction after everything you complete. You should be proud of the work you do.

Own your brand. This comes back to being happy with who you are what you are capable of doing

Networking naturally comes next. This is important because it’s also about who you know and how to make the right connections with important people.

Challenge. We’ve always got to challenge ourselves to do better. We can never settle for anything less than great.

Lastly we have Evolve. We as a whole need to keep growing in a positive direction to succeed our personal goals, and to continue to grow.

At the end of the show Hall made us recite the seven key points back to him. The audience answered with:

B-Believe

E-Entrepreneurship

Y-Yaaassss

O-Own your Brand

N-Networking

C-Challenge yourself

E-Evolve

What does all of first letters spell? BEYONCE, who happens to be one of Hall’s favorite people in the industry.

Having Hall come to AIC and really make a connection with all the students really hit home to all. If you had to take one thing from Todrick Hall coming, it would be to be comfortable within yourself and chase after your dreams.