In my day, a teen idol was really an idol, beloved by millions, splashed over every centerfold, with songs hitting #1 on the radio. Today, it's whoever post a picture of himself with his shirt off on instagram.
For instance, here's the top teen idol in the wrold today: Jared Gilmore
Who, you may inquire, is Jared Gilmore?
He was the kid in
Once Upon a Time (2011-2018), who discovered that his town was actually inhabited by fairy tale creatures with amnesia. Turns out that he is the grandson of Snow White, who works as the local grade school teacher; his therapist is Jiminy Cricket; and his adopted mother is the Evil Queen who orchestrated all of this (she gradually gets redeemed) Oh, and he ends up marrying Cinderella.
But Jared did not appear in the last season, and the show went off the air in 2018. What has he been up to lately?
Well...er...no tv or movies except one voice role, in an anime called
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection (the semi-colon is part of the title). HE plays Shalio, King of Zilkistan and Shamna's younger brother. He is a fierce opponent in a knightmare. Want to know who Shamna is
And, under the handle CowboyBeBANF, he has joined the Atlanta Reign team of the Overwatch League Atlanta Reign as a streamer.
The Overwatch League is a professional esports team playing the video game Overwatch
There are professional video game playing teams?
Yep. It's a very big deal. There are conventions, conferences, journals. Here the team captain, BabyBae, is being interviewed about some point of strategy.
Here are Jared's goals for 2020:
Get Twitch Partner
Get sub badges xD
Be a top level player in my game of choice
I’m ready, let’s go beyond!
But is this reallyenough to make Jared the top teen idol in the world?
Only if he takes off his shirt, too.
