Rewind to the fall of 2011 and Cleveland-area native Bailee Moore was merely your average college student. A junior at Ohio University, she was pursuing a career in retail merchandising and bartending to supplement her income. Six short months later, she has become a viral video sensation after a gig as a stylist for a music video shoot led her discover a talent she never knew she had: rapping.

“I first realized I could rap after [fellow amateur rapper and writer] Erik Paul asked me to and wrote me a song”, says Bailee. “I memorized it in less than an hour and rapped it pretty fast.” It was that very rap that launched Moore into the limelight, stirring up media attention from big-wigs like Yahoo!, E! News, and The Washington Post. With views of her You Tube videos currently tipping the scale at a whopping 750,000 and a social media following of nearly 27,000, I think it’s safe to say that our hometown girl could very well be on her way to superstardom. Her much anticipated first single, “Halo at Home”, dropped late last week, as did the official music video. The catchy tune showcases Moore as the classic “good girl gone bad”, and yes, that’s really her singing on the track!

So what’s next for the 2009 graduate of Amherst Steele High School? “A year from now I would love to have an album out and a tour completed,” the pint-sized, blonde rapper explains. “I am opening for The Cool Kids August 24th, and from there I will be working on an EP and writing and recording as much as I possibly can.”

In reference to the past 6 months, Bailee claims that it’s “been a lot of fun”. While she has enjoyed all of the traveling, recording, writing, and filming, she credits “the rush of adrenaline” she gets during live performances as being her “new love”. But when she steps off stage, she’s just an average twenty-something who takes pride in her Cleveland roots. “My perfect day in Cleveland would be on a boat and jet skis with my friends all day,” Bailee exclaims.

But if the past 6 months can attest to her future in the music industry, Bailee Moore will surely find success on a much larger platform.

- Michelle Rosario/CBS Cleveland