After restarting my phone three times and waiting for it to stop having a nervous breakdown, I finally managed to open Wetube again.
This time, I went straight to the comments section of my video.
And… wow.
There were a lot.
I started scrolling, my eyes scanning the words, my heart doing strange somersaults in my chest.
---
@MusicJunkie_47: Who the hell is Cass Echo and why am I CRYING at 3 AM??? This voice is unreal. 😭
@LunaStarlight: Just discovered my new favorite artist. This song hit me different. Like, really different.
@TommyBMusic: Professional-level production. Raw emotion. Insane vocal talent. And only 0 subscribers?? Wetube is SLEEPING on this girl.
@ChillVibesOnly: Added this to all my crying playlists. Thanks for ruining my makeup, Cass. 💔
@RyanTheSkeptic: Okay not really into ballads but this got me. The sincerity in her voice is undeniable.
---
I was smiling so widely my cheeks hurt.
But then, because the internet was the internet, I started finding… other kinds of comments.
---
@TruthTeller2024: Overrated. Literally just another generic singer trying to sound deep. 🙄
@SkepticalSam: Auto-tuned to death probably. No one sounds THAT good naturally.
@HaterGonnaHate: She's clearly crying on purpose for views. Emotional manipulation at its best. Pathetic.
@RandomDude87: Kind of boring? Don't know, couldn't finish watching. Too slow for me.
@MusicCritic2000: Technically competent but soulless. She's trying WAY too hard to sell the emotion. Prefer something more authentic.
---
I felt my stomach tighten reading those.
Not because they hurt me—well, okay, they hurt a little—but more because it was… surreal? Seeing complete strangers having strong opinions about something that had come from such a vulnerable place inside me.
"Okay," I murmured, scrolling past the negative comments. "Haters gonna hate, as a wise philosopher once said."
The overwhelming majority of comments were positive. For every hater, there were like twenty people saying incredibly kind things. But still, those few negative ones stood out, poking that little insecure part of my brain.
I scrolled further, finding more positivity:
---
@SophieSings: My 7-year-old daughter asked if she could learn this song. Now we're both crying together. Thank you for the beautiful music. ❤️
@JazzHandsJerry: I'm a music teacher of 20 years. This? This is REAL talent. Can't wait to see where this girl goes.
@IndieMusicLover: Finally something that isn't manufactured or overproduced. Just pure, raw emotion. More of this, please.
@CryingAt2AM: Don't know who needs to hear this, but you're not alone. This song made me feel less alone. Thank you, Cass.
---
That last one got me in a strange way.
Because that was it, wasn't it? The reason I had done this. To make people feel something. To connect.
And it was working.
But now… now what?
I looked at my phone, the view counter still climbing (132,891 now), and felt completely lost.
Marcus. Marcus would know what to do.
I called him, and he picked up before the first ring even finished.
"CASS!" We both yelled at the same time.
And then we both burst into hysterical laughter.
"ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THOUSAND!" I screamed.
"I KNOW!" Marcus screamed back. "I'M LITERALLY VIBRATING WITH EXCITEMENT! Like, I haven't slept. Not at all. I've been refreshing your video every five minutes like a maniac!"
"You're ridiculous," I said, but I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe.
"I'm PROUD," Marcus corrected. "Do you have any idea how many projects I've worked on that never got anywhere near this? And you—you blow up in one day!"
We laughed for a few more minutes, the sheer absurdity and excitement of it all eventually calming down into occasional giggles.
"Okay," I finally said, wiping my eyes. "Okay, but seriously. Now what? Like, what do I do? I've never—I have no idea how to be an… internet person? A creator? Whatever this is?"
"Ah!" Marcus said, and I could hear him perking up on the other end. "Ok, first thing: you thank your fans. Like, publicly. People LOVE it when artists acknowledge them. It makes them feel seen, you know?"
"Thank them how?" I asked. "Like, a video?"
"You can do a video eventually, but for now? Just write something genuine in the Wetube community section. Or post something on InstaLife. Just… acknowledge them. Let them know you've seen the support and appreciate it."
He paused, and then his voice got slightly dramatic. "Like, if Stellar Nova—you know Stellar Nova, the pop singer?—if she noticed me? If she replied to one of my comments? I would literally die. Like, could bury me immediately because my life would have peaked."
I laughed. "You're a fan of Stellar Nova?"
"She's ICONIC," Marcus said unashamedly. "But that's not the point! The point is: your fans—yes, you have fans now—will love you even more if you acknowledge them. Especially now, while you're still new and accessible."
"Okay," I said, nodding even though he couldn't see me. "Thank the fans. I can do that."
"And also," Marcus continued, switching into planner mode, "you should definitely set up your social media accounts properly. InstaLife, mainly. Put your stage name, a good profile picture, link back to your Wetube. Build your brand."
"Brand," I repeated. "That sounds so… corporate."
"It's strategic," Marcus corrected. "You're an artist, yes. But you're also a product you're marketing. Doesn't have to be fake—just needs to be professional."
We talked for another twenty minutes, Marcus giving me advice after advice about social media engagement, posting frequency, authenticity versus curation. It was overwhelming, but also… exciting?
"Okay," he finally said, yawning audibly. "I really, really need to sleep now. I've been running on coffee and adrenaline for forty-eight hours straight."
"Go sleep," I ordered. "And Marcus? Seriously. Thank you. For everything."
"Always," he said warmly. "Now go make the world fall in love with you even more than it already is."
He hung up, and I sat there for a moment, just holding the phone, still processing everything.
And then, because I had apparently become someone who actually did things now instead of just infinitely procrastinating, I opened Wetube and navigated to the community section of my channel.
There was a text box: "Share something with your community…"
I looked at it for a long moment, my fingers hovering over the keyboard.
What would I even say?
Finally, I started typing:
---
Hello everyone! 💕
I… don't even know where to start. I woke up today expecting maybe a few more views (honestly, I thought the first six were a lot 😅) and instead found… all of this.
Over 130 thousand of you have watched "Someone Like You."
130 thousand people heard my voice, felt what I was feeling when I sang, and decided to stay.
I read all the comments. ALL OF THEM. Even the not-so-nice ones (hey, constructive criticism, I'll take it! 😊). But mostly the incredibly kind ones that made me cry (again… seems I cry a lot now. It's like my brand, I guess?).
To the person who said they played this for their daughter: you made me cry for an hour. In the best possible way.
To the music teacher who said nice things: THANK YOU. That means the world coming from someone who actually understands music.
To everyone who added this to your playlists, shared it with friends, or just left a sweet comment: I see you. I really see you. And I am grateful beyond words.
This song came from a very vulnerable place. Singing it was scary. Posting it was terrifying. But seeing how it resonated with so many of you? That makes it all worth it.
Not sure what comes next, but I promise to keep creating music that's honest and real and full of emotion. Because apparently that's what I'm good at. (That and crying. Definitely good at crying.)
Thank you for giving me a chance. Thank you for listening.
Can't wait to share more with you. ❤️
With love (and many tissues),
Cass
P.S. - You can find me on InstaLife too! @CassEcho
I'll be posting over there soon! 💫
---
I reread it three times, made small tweaks, and then—before I could talk myself out of it—pressed "POST".
Immediately, comments started appearing:
"SHE'S SO CUTE I CAN'T"
"'I'm good at crying' SAME GIRL"
"Already following you on InstaLife! ❤️"
"The way she's so genuine… this is so refreshing"
"Queen acknowledging her fans, we love her"
I smiled, feeling that warm squeeze in my chest again.
Okay. Next step: InstaLife.
I opened the app, which I had basically abandoned after deleting all the photos from my life as a Whitmore except for that one from the orphanage.
My account was still under my old name: @CassandraWhitmore
Time to change that.
I went to settings and changed the username to @CassEcho. Simple. Clean. Consistent with my Wetube brand.
For the profile picture, I had a few options. I could use one of Cassandra's old photos, but… no. Those belonged to a different life.
Then I remembered—Marcus had taken some photos on the day of the recording. "For promotional materials," he had said. At the time, I thought it was odd, but now…
I found the photos in our chat. There were like twenty of them, taken at different angles and moments while I waited between takes.
One in particular caught my eye.
I was sitting in the chair, the lighting still set up, looking slightly off-camera with a thoughtful expression. My eyes were bright, my lips curved in the smallest smile. The whole composition was artistic without trying too hard—I looked… confident. But also vulnerable. Real.
It was perfect.
I downloaded it, cropped it square, and set it as my profile picture.
For the bio, I kept it simple:
---
Cass Echo 🎵
Singer • Songwriter
"Someone Like You" — on Wetube 💙
Just trying to make you feel something ✨
---
I looked at the updated profile, and something about seeing it all together—the stage name, the professional photo, the bio that actually represented me—made it all feel… real.
This was real.
I was Cass Echo now. Not just Cassandra, the rejected ex-adopted daughter.
But Cass Echo. Singer. Artist.
Someone who mattered.
I was about to close the app when I noticed the message requests. There were… a lot.
Curious, I opened them.
Most were from fans saying sweet things. Some were from other small music accounts wanting to collaborate. A few were… well, weird. (Why did people send random feet pictures? The internet was a bizarre place.)
But one message caught my attention.
It was from an account called @MediaBuzzDaily—apparently some kind of entertainment news page with 2.3 million followers.
---
@MediaBuzzDaily: Hi Cass! We'd love to do a feature on you and your meteoric rise on Wetube. Would you be interested in a mini-interview? Nothing too formal—just a few questions about your music and journey. Let us know! 📰✨
---
I stared at the message.
An interview. A real entertainment news site wanting to interview me.
My first instinct was to panic.
My second instinct was to call Marcus.
My third instinct was to realize Marcus had literally just gone to sleep and I probably shouldn't wake him up.
So instead, I just marked the message as unread and decided to deal with it later.
One thing at a time.
I got up from the bed, finally, and went to the small window of my apartment, looking down at the street below.
People walking. Cars passing. The world continuing as always.
But for me?
For me, everything had changed in less than twenty-four hours.
And something told me this was just the beginning.
I picked up my phone one more time, opening Wetube to check the views one last time.
145,293 views
One hundred and forty-five thousand people.
And the number was still growing.
"Okay, universe," I whispered, smiling at my reflection in the window. "Let's see where this goes."