The Youtube Stars Festival returned with a bang this year on Jun 28 with an entirely different name.

Under The Stars: The Youtube Sensations saw YouTubers such as The 38 Years Ago, Madilyn Bailey and Zendee from Asia and beyond convening at The Coliseum at Hard Rock Hotel Sentosa, where it began last year, for a night of pure music.

Kicking off the lineup was Miguel Antonio. Showing amazing vocal discipline and prowess for someone just 13, he endeared the crowd with original material as well as covers like Adele’s “Someone Like You”. With this much immense talent in one deceptively petite body, he may one day rival the likes of male vocal powerhouse, the late, great Freddie Mercury.

Heartthrob Tanner Patrick, who clearly was one of the biggest stars that night, took to the stage after Antonio, to the delight of the throngs of fan girls there obviously to “bask in the beauty that is Tanner Patrick” (as 1 teenaged girl put it). That seemed to be the sentiment shared with at least a hundred others, judging by the sharp increase in the decibels of screams and cheering that would follow after a mere smile bestowed upon the audience.

Performing a couple of covers, most notably Rihanna’s “Stay”, and Zedd’s “Clarity” as well as his singles, namely “Sideways Figure Eights” and “Merry Go Round”.

With plenty of experience at live performing under his belt, he remained one of the crowd favourites that night, with invitations to sing along while showering fans and sceptics alike with his attention, even to the point of interacting with the fans that were at the front.

Tanner got a tad too sweaty, which, resulted in someone handing him a towel, that he spontaneously threw into the crowd, resulting in a mini scuffle right there in the audience.

Singapore representatives The Sam Willows were definitely one of the other acts that captured the full attention of the fickle crowd, performing hit after hit like the well-oiled machine they are. Aside from covering hits like Imagine Dragon’s “It’s Time”, the quartet entertained the crowd with their original numbers as well, notably “Crimson”.

The band also took the opportunity to introduce The Sam Willows tee shirt, throwing 2 of them into the eager arms of the audience. That, turned into a competition between Jon and Sandra, to see who could throw the shirt farthest (Sandra won. Girl power!).

As per The Sam Willows’ tradition of taking photos of themselves on stage, they did their very first instagram video on stage, encouraging the audience to cheer along with them as Sandra enthusiastically recorded it.

Fan-favourite, Madilyn Bailey came on stage to much anticipation after the set from Thai duo, The 38 Years Ago, who brought a taste of Thai music to the crowd. The humble duo remained extremely appreciative and grateful for the experience, constantly showering the crowd with “thank you”s and “kob khun ka/krap”s (“thank you” in Thai).

Madilyn, more affectionately known as “Maddy”, showed up in a sparkly dress, not unlike the one she donned for the press conference. Guys in the crowd, most of whom were seated on The Coliseum’s floor after standing for over 2 hours, rushed forward, whipping out their phones to document her appearance on stage.

“Hello Singapore, wo ai ni [“I love you” in Mandarin]” Madilyn said shyly into the mic, showing off a new phrase she learnt while on our island. Like many others before her, she performed a medley of covers as well as original music from her EP, “Bad Habits”.

Nate Tao, who is energy personified, had the crowd raring from the get-go.

“This is the best crowd I’ve seen in ages,” he shouted into the mike with a wide smile on his face. Tao also shared his thoughts on our local cuisine, raving about our iconic dishes, chicken rice, laksa (a local dish with rice noodles in a broth made of primarily coconut milk and chilli paste) and pork rib soup. However, he did apologise profusely while admitting his inability to appreciate the infamous Durian, even in the form of dessert.

A contestant in the latest season of American Idol (he unfortunately did not make it past Hollywood week), Nate left the stage after performing the song that got him through the audition, Stevie Wonder’s hit, “For Once in My Life”.

The concert truly ended when all the acts of Under The Stars: YouTube Sensations took to the stage for a final performance of Fun’s “We Are Young” with Filipina Zendee taking the lead, leaving the crowd screaming themselves hoarse alongside the acts – for the last time that night.