Vlogger, singer, songwriter – Ricky Dillon is our multitalented fave.
He’s obviously shared a lot about himself with us on his massive YouTube channel (397 million views and counting!), and in other projects like his 2016 memoir Follow Me.
But we felt like there were some important pieces of the puzzle missing – like his favourite flower, musical note, and Teletubby. So when we got to meet Ricky at Summer in the City this year, there were some questions we just had to ask.
Hi Ricky. What do you think when you look at trees?
RICKY: “They’re pretty, I guess. I don’t think much about trees. Which is bad, because if we didn’t have them, we’d be screwed. Maybe I should think more about them.”
Are there any plants that you do think about?
RICKY: “I like flowers. Love a good flower.”
Do you have a favourite?
RICKY: “I don’t know. Am I wearing…? No. Yesterday I had a flower shirt on. Maybe, like, a nice rose. I like roses.”
How do you feel about Pitbull?
RICKY: “The dog, or the artist?”
The artist.
RICKY: “He’s got some bops. I love Timber with Kesha – I love Kesha. The one with Christina Aguilera is good. He does good collabs. Like, Pitbull is the collab king in the music world. I love Britney Spears, and him and Britney want to do one – it’s in the works, I think. So Pitbull’s great.”
If you were a Bond villain, what would your plan be?
RICKY: “Banish onions from everything. I hate onions so much. They make me nauseous. And they’re in, like, everything, so I have to ask for no onions everywhere. And sometimes they keep it in still, so I would just make it illegal to put onions in stuff. That’s my villainous plan. I would take over the world and do that – I would make onions illegal.”
It feels like the “take over the world” step is not very detailed. How are you going to do that?
RICKY: “I don’t know. Gotta think about it. But I can’t tell you – then you’ll stop me!”
Fair point. If the human race ran out of conventional food, but discovered a way of transforming YouTube content into edible pellets and had to eat them in order to survive, what would your channel taste like and how nutritious would it be?
RICKY: “I think mine would be nutritious, because I am family-friendly, so I feel like that translates to healthiness, you know? So I feel like it would be nutritious, and it would taste fun.”
Do you prefer the way to an exciting event or the way back?
RICKY: “The way to. I get sad when I have to leave – like, I’m sad to leave tomorrow. So yeah, the way to – I love the anticipation and the build-up.”
You can have any animal you like as a new pet, on the condition that it’s dressed up as a different animal. What do you choose, and what is it dressed as?
RICKY: “Oh, that’s cute. Hmm. It would have to be something that it’s illegal to have as a pet so you could, like, sneak it in. Let me think. Are penguins legal to have? Well, they can’t live where I live – it’s too hot – so never mind. What’s illegal to own? There’s cute animals I know I can’t own, so I would dress it up as, like, a dog. So that’s my answer – something cute that’s illegal to own, but I would make it look like a dog.”
Who’s your favourite Teletubby and why?
RICKY: “Tinky Winky. I had a giant one – a giant, stuffed Tinky Winky.”
What was it about him that you liked?
RICKY: “Just the colour – I liked purple. They were all really fine, but Tinky Winky was the best. We stan Tinky Winky.”
They all had a favourite object, and his was a skirt. We stan a gender-nonconforming fashion icon.
RICKY: “Oh, you’re right! And he had the triangle on the head. One of them had a blanket – I think it was Dipsy.”
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
RICKY: “I think just to keep doing what I’m doing. I got bullied in high school for my videos, and I almost stopped, and then good teachers told me to just keep doing what I like to do. So I think it would be that.”
Finally, what’s your favourite musical note?
RICKY: “Ooh, I play trumpet, and high G – like, G, but an octave up in the normal scale – is so fun to play. It’s the easiest high note, because there’s no buttons. So a nice, solid G – a high one.”
Photos by Emma Pamplin.
Want more?
Visit our Summer in the City section for all our coverage, or check out the previous instalments of Infrequently Asked Questions:
- Riyadh Khalaf: “I am obsessed with trees”
- Dean Dobbs: “Cry into a flannel and smell your tears”
- Jon Cozart: “Teletubbies seemed almost sacrilegious”
- Elle Mills: “I thought humping made babies”
And come back tomorrow for our interview with The Midnight Beast!
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