An 18-year-old Austin High School student is getting a lot of attention for her musical talents.

Molly Kate Kestner’s original song, “His Daughter,” has been viewed more than 245,000 times on Youtube since it was posted on April 20. The song, a gospel-like tune and a haunting story, has captured attention from across the globe since Kestner decided to share it on her Youtube page.

“When it’s happening to you, you don’t really realize it,” Kestner said with a laugh.

Kestner had put up videos for friends and family for the past few years using nothing but a busted iPhone, but she had waited to post “His Daughter” on the advice of her choir teacher, Brian Johnson.

“He said ‘You need to save this song for a year and then perform it at the Austinaires show. It’ll bring the house down,’” Kestner said.

After this year’s show, she decided to post the song on her account for friends and family to see. Yet the likes kept climbing.

After a few days, her video had hit 50,000 likes, then 100,000, and it kept climbing. Kestner started to get phone calls from media outlets and record companies a few days ago, and now her song has been shared by groups like CNN and the Huffington Post.

“It’s really amazing,” she said.

Kestner is talking to several record companies over the next few weeks and hopes to record “His Daughter” in a studio, to potentially sell on iTunes. She hopes the song may help her pay for college and help her realize her dream job as a motivational speaker who also uses music to help others.

“Some people want to make music to be famous, and that’s totally OK,” she said. “I just want to help people with my music. I want to lift them up and make them feel better about things.”

Read a full feature on Molly Kate Kestner in the May 4 Spotlight section.