LEXINGTON, Ohio–To most of the world the Heichel sisters, 14-year-old Madison and 12-year-old Juliana, are normal seventh and eighth grade students who attend Lexington Junior High School. But to more than 42,000 people on the social media app Vine, they are Madi and Ana Heichel: singing sensations.
What started as a simple way to share their music with the world has propelled Madi and Ana to virtual stardom, with 42,979 followers/fans to date hailing from all different parts of the country and the world. It’s a fact that’s sometimes still hard to fathom.
“It makes you feel good inside,” said Madi. “I don’t even know how to explain it, that feeling is just so amazing to know that you’re impacting someone’s life.”
Madi and Ana are only 20 months apart in age – in Vine time that’s about 8,640,000 loops, or views. Which is, in fact, less than the number of loops their page has acquired thanks to their fans – currently Madi and Ana’s Vine account has more than 11 million loops.
The duo never expected those numbers when they posted their very first Vine six months prior, a funny video of their dog. Their first singing Vine on Sept. 5, 2014 was to the song “Dynamite” by China Anne McClain, which was also the song they used in auditioning for “America’s Got Talent.”
“Little by little we started getting followers and they would revine, and the followers would just keep increasing and the numbers would just keep rolling,” said Madi. “The first day we put it up it was kind of low, but the second day we looked and there were all these loops and it was amazing. I love to watch all the loops and all the comments coming in to see what the fans are going to say.”
Madi and Ana have posted 342 Vines to date, sometimes posting two or three per day, and mostly filmed by in-house camerawoman (and mother) Candace Heichel.
“I film because they’re so creative, I feel like they put on a show in six seconds,” said Candace Heichel. “They kind of give you an experience, which could probably come from the 15 theater productions they’ve been in. I think what has made them so popular is they take you somewhere in six seconds, which is magical.”
Madi stated she and Ana try to choose songs that are popular now, songs that a lot of kids can sing along to and continue to watch. Watching YouTube videos over and over again helps the sisters choose the songs they record.
But fitting an entire performance into only six seconds – the amount of video time allotted by the app – has proven to be a challenge.
“We have to cut out a lot of stuff,” said Ana.
“I thought it was hard on Instagram with 15 seconds; but when it became six seconds I was like,’ whoa, impossible,’” added Madi.
Thinking of arrangements for their six-second shows is a constant thought process in the Heichel household. Candace Heichel noted her home is rarely quiet.
“Their feet hit the ground in the morning and they’re humming as they’re putting their makeup on,” she said. “Ana will be in her room upstairs and Madi will be in the shower and she’ll be singing, and Ana…I don’t even think it’s intentional, but they play off of each other and they’ll be singing together, separately.”
Both Madi and Ana also make a point to acknowledge and appreciate as many of their fans as they can, walking in the footsteps of their role model Taylor Swift. From ages seven to 20 their fans have rewarded them with loyalty and enthusiasm, giving Madi and Ana a small taste of the celebrity life.
“They’ll send us stuff saying that we’re their role models and they look up to us every day,” said Madi. “One girl from a school in Los Angeles actually wrote a report on us for her class.”
“We have some neighbors who were having a party and her friends were like, ‘Is that where Madi and Ana live?’ And they took a picture of our house. I was like, oh my god,” said Ana with a laugh.
“We’ve gone to Bob Evans in Columbus and these people came up to us saying, ‘Oh my gosh we love your Vines, you guys are amazing!’ When they walked away my dad was like well, ‘You’re famous,’” added Madi.
Currently the sisters work on covers and original songs with Vaughan Music Studios in Upper Arlington, and eventually they hope to capitalize on their six-second fame with an album within the next few years and a move to the Los Angeles area. Major players in the music industry have already started to take notice, from Meghan Trainor to the NBC show “The Voice” to Bianca Ryan, the first-ever winner of “America’s Got Talent,” who actually contacted the Heichel sisters through Vine wanting to collaborate someday.
“I feel like if we’re really serious about our singing career, it’s the right move to go to L.A. and to be able to experience it and work with our music,” said Madi.
Wherever they end up, one thing is certain: Madi and Ana will be doing what they love together. The sisters acknowledge how lucky they are to have a built-in singing partner, basically since birth.
“Everyone says our voices mix perfectly together,” said Ana. “When we’re not singing together we sound really good, but when we’re together it’s just…magic.”
