Ballinger created the comically talentless, egotistical and eccentric character to satirize the many YouTube videos featuring people singing badly in hopes of breaking into show business but who appear unaware of their lack of talent.

[13] In New York in 2011, she played Lynda Bird Johnson in a staged reading of First Kids[14] and created the role of Circe in the American Theatre of Actors Off-Broadway production Odyssey – The Epic Musical.

[24] The same year, she was interviewed on the podcast RuPaul: What's the Tee?,[25] starred in a Todrick Hall video, "Beauty and the Beat Boots",[26] and appeared in the Season 2 finale of the Condé Nast Entertainment webseries #HeyUSA, with host Mamrie Hart.

[32] In 2018, she appeared as The Disco Dancer in season 3 of the web series Escape the Night,[33] in a cameo role in the animated film Ralph Breaks the Internet,[34] and in the Ariana Grande music video "Thank U, Next".

[38] On Halloween 2020, Ballinger played Janet in a livestream reading of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring original cast members Tim Curry, Nell Campbell and Barry Bostwick.

[49] In 2014, Backstage magazine identified Ballinger as a performer who has "taken great advantage of producing their own content [online] and gathering large fan bases to promote their work".

[65][66] The character is a satire of the many YouTube videos featuring bad, but egotistical, performers who film themselves singing as a form of self-promotion, despite receiving the realistic or cruel comments of "haters".

[67][68] "Miranda" is supposedly a home-schooled young woman who still lives with her mother and uncle; she is eccentric and infantilized, narcissistically believes that she was born famous and is obsessed with show business fame.

[69][70] In the videos, Miranda sings in a comically off-key, yet plausible, voice and covers mostly pop music hits; rants about internet haters; gives "tutorials"; and sometimes discusses the character's backstory or current events, which she usually misunderstands.

[69] She wears bright red lipstick drawn beyond the borders of her lips, dresses in mismatched out-of-style clothing, and often dances stiffly to the music she is performing.

[8][69] Miranda's videos drew predictably sharp criticism on YouTube, and as they became popular, Ballinger modified the character in response to the negative comments.

[89] Beginning in April 2009,[90] Ballinger performed a one-woman comedy act, as Miranda Sings, at first in cabaret spaces and later in theatres in New York, London and other cities in the US, UK, Australia, Europe, Canada and elsewhere.

[94] In live comedy acts, Miranda sang pop hits and some musical theatre songs in her signature off-key style.

[99] In her 2014 "Selp Helf" tour, she instructed her (mostly young, female) audience on how to get a boyfriend by being more Miranda-like,[100][101] and could be seen, "improvising [with volunteers] and creating punchlines on the spot. ...

Ballinger, the genius behind Miranda, is so convincing in the role, you ... will likely forget that there is a normal person behind the red lips", according to The Badger Herald.

... Bridging both personas, the moment she transforms into Miranda, on-stage and mid-song, is an absolute joy – I'd struggle to recall hearing an audience erupt to such an extent, and I couldn't help but join in.

[109] Reviewing Ballinger's second engagement as Miranda at the LaughFest festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2016,[110] a critic noted that the material "resonated with parents as well as the younger set".

[112] During the second half of 2016, she toured Miranda shows in the US, England, Ireland, Germany and Denmark, around her Haters Back Off production and promotion schedule.

[114] Sara Aridi of The New York Times wrote: "Her peculiar sense of humor is the kind that simultaneously draws laughs and cringes – and it works.

[13] In 2012, the character appeared in a comedy film, Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads,[132] and in an episode of the television show Victorious, titled "Tori Goes Platinum", on the Nickelodeon channel.

[138] Mediaite agreed, writing: "In its fifth season, Jerry Seinfeld's web series continued to be one of the most enjoyable weekly events on the internet.

[140] In December 2014, Ballinger appeared as Miranda on The Tonight Show playing Pictionary with Jimmy Fallon, Martin Short and Jerry Seinfeld.

[144] In 2015, Ballinger appeared as Miranda on The Grace Helbig Show, together with Jim Parsons,[145] and she released a book, Selp-Helf, published by Simon & Schuster, which calls it a "decidedly unhelpful, candid, hilarious 'how-to' guide".

[154] Ballinger appeared as a guest star, as Miranda, speed dating unsuspecting men on the 2016 YouTube Premium series Prank Academy.

[95][182] Newsweek's review of Miranda's YouTube satire of the 2019 James Charles/Tati Westbrook feud noted that although the character "rarely humanizes herself", she has the surprising ability to "make our heart hurt".

[197] In April 2020, 17-year-old fan and YouTuber Adam McIntyre accused Ballinger of "[enlisting] his unpaid help" for content he had suggested for her Miranda Sings social media accounts and of sending him lingerie when he was 13 years old.

[198] Ballinger responded that McIntyre had asked for the lingerie after it was offered in one of her livestreams as one of several joke gifts for fans; she said it had been poor judgment to send the underwear to him.

[198][199] Ballinger also addressed criticism of some of her older videos satirizing Latina and overweight women, agreeing that they were insensitive and apologizing for having posted them.

[202] Dahl's video led to renewed accusations by McIntyre and allegations by other former fans and employees, including of racial insensitivity on the set of Haters Back Off.

[126][207] Andrew Quintana wrote in Vanity Fair: "The substance of Ballinger's alleged grooming [...] has not been interrogated by media outlets reporting on the controversy. [...]