Most people’s lock screens hold some sort of meaning: family, friends, nature or something sentimental. What’s mine you (did not) ask? It was Emma Chamberlain.
Last year, tired of my boring purple stock background, I found a collage of Chamberlain circa 2019 with a picture of a blue pond, coffee and books. It reminded me of her early days, when she was one of the most popular YouTubers and a favorite among my friends and I.
But on Saturday, maybe because of the football game’s atrocious number of flags, a friend forced me to change my lock screen.
“You don’t even know her,” my best friend and Opinion copyeditor Mia Drake said.
I smiled in agreement. Fair. Although I will always be a fan, her influence has waned on me and others. Plus, the switch to a temple in Bangkok, Thailand is simple, natural and definitely not as weird. As I searched through my camera roll for the ideal photo, I began to think of my many years consuming her content.
The parasocial relationship started when I was in middle school. With my adolescent mind avidly consuming social media and YouTube videos, her editing had my attention constantly hooked. She was an authentic teen in Los Angeles, and sometimes San Francisco, with a vlog camera documenting her and her friends’ shenanigans. It felt simple and attainable to achieve that. Her collaborations with other influencers and mystery relationships also kept fans like me tuned in.
In these ways, she has pioneered how influencers shape their careers, no matter what stage they may be in. She started with a flurry of short videos with unadulterated concepts, later turning to TikTok as it was up-and-coming. As years elapsed, she opened her own coffee company, Chamberlain Coffee, started a podcast now named “Anything Goes” and has become a B-list celebrity through affiliations with Vogue, Cartier and Louis Vuitton – B-list meaning respected and acknowledged in her field, but my grandma doesn’t quite know her.
Throughout all of these endeavors, she has leveraged her platforms as a means to meet the public where they’re at. Specifically, she has shown how influencers can breach into more traditional spaces of fame. Notably, she has attended many high-profile fashion shows and been a Met Gala red carpet correspondent multiple times.
Similar trends are happening with other influencers that our generation is consuming more rampantly: Alix Earle on “Dancing with the Stars,” Addison Rae’s debut album blowing up, Logan Paul becoming a well-known professional wrestler and Mr. Beast diving into multiple business ventures.
The reason why Chamberlain trailblazed? Her unapologetic character met her audience at a time when they needed it most. For years, her primary demographic has come of age with her. But now, as she has breached into these mainstream events, she has found a different, perhaps more mature, identity.
For one, her videos are usually long-form, cinematic shots of travels abroad, not the once 10-or-so minute vlogs of “trying every coffee shop in LA.” Chamberlain now talks gently to her vintage camcorder, leaving the days of yelling in the early 2020s. Sherpas have been exchanged for mature dresses, and a controversial platinum pixie cut has replaced scrunchies.
Even as we continue to age with Chamberlain, her content is seen but not with the same weight as once had. Some of her 2019-era fanbase has parted ways and questioned her relevance and tuned in less to her lifestyle.
“She looks like Ellen,” my best friend and Opinion columnist Zora Rodgers said.
Her recent YouTube videos receive 1 to 2 million views. Her travel vlogs garner nearly 5 million views on average. Her videos from 2020 and before hold 6 to 10 million views each. Others from that era reach well above 10 million views.
Chamberlain’s rebrand has come at a time when nearly every celebrity and influencer is trying to be authentic. This time? Her ability to relate and humor are disconnected from her demographic, who long for her candid chaos of the past.