OTTAWA'S LOCAL TIKTOKER ON THE RISE

As a local TikTok creator, Gabriel Yorke showcases Ottawa in all its quirks and quibbles in his unique comedic style. If you’ve ever fallen down the Tik Tok rabbit hole you might be familiar with Gabriel’s videos set to scenic views of our city.

You’re currently a student at Carleton University, what are you studying, and why did you choose this path?

I began my ‘academic career’ as a student in Environmental Engineering, and I actually hold the record in my family for the longest time in an engineering program…. One week! (Laughs) I realized that I wasn’t as interested in the field as I had thought, so I switched to the Business program because it was much broader. Once I switched, I was so much happier and more engaged in what I was learning. I think that is partially due to the fact that I can apply what I’m learning to my everday life. I’m glad I made the switch, and as a bonus, the program has a much less intense schedule than engineering, which gives me more time to make TikToks!

When did you start getting into content creation? What was a defining moment for you when you really decided to go for it?

I’ve been making videos since I was a wee lad! I, like many other kids at the age of 8 years old, went through the whole ‘making Minecraft videos for YouTube’ phase. Eventually, the content transitioned to a workout and fitness focus and I would post exercise and training videos. This transition happened when I was about 14 or 15 years old, because I was trying to get noticed by scouts for hockey. Long story short, the videos did not do that well. I think my only viewers were my mom, my dad, and my dog. It was my mom who suggested that I switch to TikTok to post my videos, and on January 1st, 2021, I created my TikTok account and posted my first TikTok. Now, this was not the first time I had downloaded the app. About a year earlier, I had found that I’d been spending way too much time on TikTok and subsequently deleted it, swearing to never open it again.

I have actually kept that promise to this day. When I redownloaded TikTok and decided to post my first video, I swore to myself that I wouldn’t fall down the rabbit hole of spending 5 hours + a day scrolling through content. I would simply be a creator, not a consumer.

A defining moment in my ‘career’ as a creator came when I posted my first video about Ottawa in July of 2021. Looking back on it, I have absolutely no idea what possessed me to make this video. But legend has it I mentioned something about “5 reasons why Ottawa was rated the most boring city in Canada” and it got a million views in 2 days. I decided to see where I could go with that.

Growing up, were there any people who inspired you (that you know personally or only through media/ internet) that influenced you?

I tend to get a lot of my comical inspiration from my idols, like Ryan Reynolds or Dave Chappelle, who I think have nailed the art of comedy. Alternatively, I find great inspiration from my mother. She has an incredible work ethic, one that I try to recreate every day. She’s routinely up at 5–sometimes 4–in the morning doing the stuff she needs to get done but she never ever says she’s tired. She is also the most helpful and loving person I have ever encountered. She could have just pulled a 10-hour work day after being up at 4 in the morning, and would still come out with me to the frigid winter streets of Ottawa late at night to hold the camera while I try to convince her that the stuff I’m saying is funny. She, like my dad and my sister, is very supportive and understands what I’m trying to do. She will help me come up with ideas for videos or help me work on the script of what I’m going to say. On top of being an absolute machine when it comes to work, she is also the most motivating person I know. How many other people have heard their mother say “I’m disappointed you didn’t make a TikTok today son” at 8pm on a Tuesday night?

What do you like the most about TikTok as a platform? What is one of the most surprising challenges about making content?

I really enjoy the fact that what I post to the internet can be shared by millions of people who can all enjoy and laugh at it the same way I do. I also love it when people come up to me in the street or at school and tell me how much they enjoy watching my content and that I made them laugh. I was never a popular kid in high school, so this kind of popularity is new to me. One of the most surprising challenges is trying to come up with ideas for my videos… that, or trying to combat Ottawa’s cold in the dead of winter. Seriously…a pair of thin gloves may be okay if you’re waiting at the bus stop, but when you’re standing outside for hours trying to wait for the perfect moment to say lines? That requires something a little more insulated.

What are your goals for your channel and for your career?

I hope I can take this all the way. God willing, I can make a career out of this and make people laugh for my entire life. Getting into the acting world would also be a dream come true and is also what inspires me to make these videos. I like to think of my TikTok account as a 21st century resume for anyone to see. My short-term goals, however, include getting to 100,000 followers and posting twice a week. Posting twice a week doesn’t seem like that daunting of a task, but when you’re also in university being plagued with assignments and midterms it can become quite a struggle.

What advice do you have for anyone aspiring to start their own channel?

Just start. Start today. You can think about how you will go about it for days/for months/for years but it doesn’t matter if you never actually begin. Perhaps the most important aspect of creating content for me has been trying to figure out who I am and staying true to that person online. Being yourself behind the camera will make the entire process exponentially more enjoyable.

Is it hard to put yourself out there in public?

It was at first. It did, and still does, take a lot of convincing and self-motivation for me to film these public videos. But overtime, I’ve gotten more comfortable with putting myself out there and being myself. Thankfully, I have never been camera shy which has helped me be more comfortable making these videos.

What do you like most about Ottawa? Any favourite spots or recommendations?

I like the scenery. At its heart it is a very pretty city. It's filled with colour and great architecture and not-so-crowded streets.

You recently hosted the 2023 Ottawa Awards Red Carpet on February 18th at the Shaw Centre. What was it like?

It was so much fun! One of the things I enjoy most about interviewing people is getting to hear the stories of people who I wouldn’t normally get the chance to speak to. And I spoke to a lot of people while hosting the red carpet. I spoke so much that the next day I did not have a voice. Picture me going up to customers in the footwear department at SportChek with a voice that sounds like I had been coughing for 16 hours straight asking them if they needed help finding shoes. Yes…this happened… for 8 hours…the day after hosting the red carpet.

Lastly, what’s next for you?

To be honest, I’m not sure. If you were to have told me five years ago that I’d be posting TikToks instead of playing hockey in the NHL, I would have probably broken down and cried. Also, for the longest time I thought I would go through university studying to be an engineer, but I quickly changed my mind once I got there. All this to say I have no idea what tomorrow may bring. I hope I can keep making these videos, making people laugh and ideally making people’s days just a little bit better because it is what I enjoy doing!

@gabrielyorke08

The study of handwriting, known as Graphology, has been around for 1000s of years. A Graphologist study for two years at a recognized school, and can build a career working with police and investigators.

They help to analyze ransom notes from kidnappers and identify criminals by their handwriting. Expert graphologists say that there are over 5,000 different personality traits that can be seen in handwriting. While the general rules of graphology are more suggestive and may not apply to everyone, here’s a crash course in analyzing your own writing in the name of self-awareness. We suggest taking a sample of writing along for the read.

Slant

How big is your writing?

Does it stay within the confines of a standard line, or does it jump out at every opportunity, printing much larger than normal? If your writing is larger than normal writing on a lined piece of paper, this means you’re a generally outgoing person who likes to be noticed. If your writing is smaller than normal, you’re more withdrawn.

How big is your writing?

Does it stay within the confines of a standard line, or does it jump out at every opportunity, printing much larger than normal?

If your writing is larger than normal writing on a lined piece of paper, this means you’re a generally outgoing person who likes to be noticed. If your writing is smaller than normal, you’re more withdrawn.

How big is your writing? Does it stay within the confines of a standard line, or does it jump out at every opportunity, printing much larger than normal? If your writing is larger than normal writing on a lined piece of paper, this means you’re a generally outgoing person who likes to be noticed. If your writing is smaller than normal, you’re more withdrawn.

Now look at your Y’s, J’s, G’s, and writing in the ‘lower zone’. If your loops are bigger, you may be more outgoing and have a big circle of friends. If they are smaller, the opposite may be true. If the length of your ‘tails’ in the lower zone is shorter, you may be more of a homebody than someone whose tails are longer. These people, according to graphologists, like to travel and explore.

As a multi genre singer, songwriter and artist with hits topping 74k streams on Spotify, Shubz brings an upbeat lyrical style that is helping shed a light on Ottawa’s music scene. We sat down with this gifted freestylist to discuss his passion, determination and the process he uses for expressing his musical talents

I grew up in Orleans, Ottawa for the majority of my childhood. I was really into sports since a young age playing football and basketball for competitive teams such as the Cumberland Panthers and Ottawa Pheonix respectively. I had my eyes set on becoming a professional athlete but due to severe lower back injury, I chose to take a step back from sports at the end of high school.

I started listening to music as a source of motivation for my workouts and sports around seven years old and would primarily listen to Hip-Hop & Rap music.

I started writing music during high school however, never took the initial step of recording a song until one year after I graduated. There was a lot of judgement in high school and at that time I let it get to me never really spoke about the music I would write to my classmates. I found myself in a better headspace afterwards and once I recorded my first two-three songs, I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Although I did not know one thing about the music industry, I was determined to make it work no matter how long it took.

How would you describe your current mood? I have a song for it all! My music is not tailored to one specific lane at all. I have Pop songs, I have Rap songs, I even have some Country and House-Party music up my sleeve. I believe the art of music is limitless and we should not set boundaries on what we can and/ or should create. The only thing I would say I like to incorporate into all my music is positivity. I love to create outlets for people to come and feel like their in a good place when they are listening to my music. With so much negative situations and issues in our world today, it is important to me to separate that for my listeners.

My favorite project so far has definitely been Don’t Let Me Go. It was the first song I decided I was going to shoot the music video outside of Canada and the entire process of creating the song and video is something I will never forget. I remember hearing the beat for the first time at a local hookah bar cafe and recording the song in Toronto while I was there shooting a music video for Gone, my first single I released. As I was recording the song, I already envisioned Morocco being the location for the music video as I stated in the first episode of my vlog series on my Youtube channel. Although the music video looked well organized, I can say that while in Morocco, the process to shoot the music video was far from easy. From location, to storyline, we had to cater everything on-site. There were very strict filming laws in Morocco, making it difficult to really record anywhere unless we had a permit from the government. But to see the final product makes it all worth it.

I am not sure exactly on why I was so determined to shoot this music video in Morocco. The last time I had travelled outside Canada was when I was 6 years old to go to India with my family. It struck me while I was recording the song in Toronto. I wasn’t even done the song and I was announcing to my friends that I would be shooting this music video in Morocco. We had no plan on anything but when I speak on something I want to do, I make sure I do it. I met Ashton (SIP Entertainement) for the first time the same day we were taking a flight to Africa. I’ve always been a person to step outside the comfort zone and I wanted to do just that with that project.

I would love to perform in India! Although I have not been back in many years, its my roots. The people, the culture, the food is all amazing to say the least. It is also one of the top countries that listens to my music at the current moment. From what I have experienced, many indians back home love and cheer on their brothers and sisters who are in different parts of the world chasing their dreams. The people of India have shown me a ton of support and love in the past year and soon enough I will make it back to perform!

50 Cent and Akon have been the biggest musical influences in my life. Those were the first two artists I remember searching up on Youtube when the platform was new. I still to this day don’t think there are any artists that I listen to more than those two. The way Akon was able to hop on hooks and verses with ease with his melodic approach was way ahead of his time and he killed each one. As I previously mentioned about my athletic career growing up, there is no better artist to listen to pre-game and during workouts than 50 Cent. He will get you pushing weights in the gym you didn’t know you can lift. Although I wouldn’t compare my artistic abilities to either of these icon artists, I do see myself following Akon’s footsteps in his musical approach when it comes to creating records. I envision myself to be a modern version of Akon just like Pop Smoke was to 50 Cent.

I hope for my music and brand to empower people. I want people to listen to my music and get inspired to do great things and to chase their goals and dreams.There does not have to be set rules on how to create art, how to take art in and even how to let it affect you. I am a person just like everyone else who was set to go to school and get a normal job but took a leap of faith into this world and I could not be more happier with my decision. The amount of messages I receive from people telling me how my music has helped them makes everything worth it.

I wish to master the ability to sing! Although I am not the best, I can guarantee I am way better than I was several years ago. Since a young age I would listen to artists such as Chris Brown, T-Pain and other well known singers in the music industry hoping to be able to sing like them in the future and throughout the past several years I have been learning to the best of my abilities. I feel like one of my greatest skills as an artist at the current moment is how to structure an engaging song however, if I am able to master the skill of singing then I feel that I will unlock a new level in music creation.

UNDERATED!!! The music and hip-hop scene in Ottawa is extremely underrated in my opinion. There is so much talent within the city that gets overlooked. Although we have been getting more exposure over the past several years, my goal is to help shed more light on our city to the world as I truly believe there is industry level talent that needs to be discovered.

If I could collaborate with any artist, it would have to be Akon. As I previously mentioned, he has been one of my greatest music influences and although he is not releasing as much music as he use to, it would be an honour to work with someone who has inspired me to create music like he did. I also feel like our styles of music would work hand-inhand.

I see my sound evolving into a very mainstream sound. I feel like I already have a mainstream/commerical sound however, I still feel like I have a long way to go on mastering that sound. My next project I have releasing is called Gold Roses and the music video was shot in both Morocco and Spain. In my opinion, it is one of my favorite music videos. It’s just good vibes and great scenery. I take pride in the videos I work to make as unlike many of the other hip-hop artists within the inidusty, I do not include cash, jewlery, cars, models to try and make the visuals appealing. I feel like if I can capture scenery that matches the vibe of the song, that alone is strong enough to keep viewers entertained. Gold roses is a record in which I freestyled the entire song and gives uplifting energy.

@therealshubz