Lately, there have been several influencers as well as average social media users discussing Miss Chamberlain’s podcast. If you don’t know what’s going on, basically Emma Chamberlain— social media personality, YouTuber, businesswoman, and model— has also taken on the role of podcaster in 2020 with Anything Goes. From what I have seen recently, there has been discourse regarding her credibility, her lack of content associated with the topics, the false advertising of this endeavor, and the lack of entertainment she provides. Overall, I see so many creators entertaining the idea of if this could have all been avoided and begging the question: “Should Emma Chamberlain have just gone to college?”
I wanted to dissect this argument and also provide claims as to why people are feeling these ways towards her podcast. I am going to try and be as unbiased as possible, but I must admit I have been a fan of Emma’s since 2019, as I still go back and rewatch her old YouTube videos. I also have bought and enjoyed Chamberlain Coffee, and I own two adorable tote bags!
At first, I will not lie, I sort of agreed with what everyone was saying- how a basic intro to philosophy course would be life-changing to her at most and eye-opening at least. I then realized after listening to other arguments that saying that is a bit pretentious and elitist. The statement is typically coming from those who currently attend or have graduated from college. However, while college is a privilege to attend, just from a financial aspect, we must consider it is also a mental privilege as well. Several times, Emma has mentioned how school was never for her. She discussed how she rushed to graduate high school a year early because of the mental toll it took on her. She’s open about how she lost motivation, experienced serious burnout, and also suffered from anxiety and depression. It’s not that Emma couldn’t go to college if she wanted to. I’m confident she’d have no problem getting accepted to most places or affording any. But that’s just the thing, she doesn’t want to.
Some say Emma doesn’t have the credibility to speak on some of the topics she does, and while that is sort of true in the sense that she doesn’t have any college degree or doctorate in the fields of psychology or philosophy, she mostly states her opinions on the matter. I think some of her opinions and beliefs simply reflect those of a young adult who is having these revelations and doesn’t have very many friends of the same status or background to discuss them with. One episode I think heavily reflects this is titled, “is romantic love an illusion?” posted right after her breakup with Role Model was announced. This is evident in what she says when she discusses her perception of love and how none of it is real. Numerous people have discussed this episode and have issues with it because of how difficult it may be for teenagers and other young adults to hear if they have little experience with romantic love. Her depiction of the honeymoon phase really irked me. She briefly discussed the science behind falling in love and the honeymoon phase in terms of increased dopamine levels- and at 14:31, she states, “… the feelings are so strong that you can convince yourself that you’ve met your soulmate when in reality you’re just experiencing the normal high that comes with falling in love.” This can be crushing to hear as a teenager or young person falling in love for the first time.
She later stated at 16:34, “Honestly, I think the honeymoon phase is a whole lot of pretending, and I don’t think that we do it on purpose, but we have the energy to dress up and pretend like we’re in the perfect romantic loving situation. But it’s not real, and it always comes to an end. And so I think it’s safe to say that the honeymoon phase of the relationship, the first few months to a year, is an illusion. It is rooted in delusion.” Fortunately, I haven’t gone through a serious breakup since my junior year of high school- but I know if I had listened to this episode back then, I’d probably have related to most of it. While it’s totally okay and normal for her to have these thoughts and feelings post-breakup, I don’t think that it’s appropriate to frame it as factual information online when she has such an impressionable audience.
Something else people mention when discussing Anything Goes is the lack of content within each episode. I heard one TikTok user mention how there is a pause every three or so words, and now I cannot unhear it. I do agree there are a lot of pauses, empty statements, and definitions of words or phrases that are simply unnecessary. In her episode “am i burnt out or lazy?” I think the definitions of these terms enhanced what she was saying- at other times, I feel that the definitions aren’t needed as the terms or phrases are generally simple and easy to understand. The general consensus is that she speaks so much but says so little.
Another thing I recently looked into was the advertising for Anything Goes. The podcast promo featured her in this elaborate bedroom with expensive-looking props, and overall, it was very aesthetically pleasing and excited viewers for this seemingly new direction Emma was taking away from YouTube. Besides, if her podcast videos were anything like her beautifully, meticulously edited YouTube videos, they’d be worth the watch. However, the podcast videos are not like that at all. Instead, it comes off as sort of lazy and careless. She sits on a couch or bed, and maybe it’s to make it seem more chill or relatable to viewers, but it isn’t, and honestly shouldn’t be. The claim that Emma Chamberlain is out of touch has been circulating for quite some time, and this really just furthers that argument. I think if she wanted to have a more relaxed style, she could’ve used a studio set of a bedroom or sitting room or at least put a little more effort or money into it to give her viewers the best experience- especially since the video format is exclusive to Spotify, she should provide higher quality exclusive content for those viewers.
Finally, people say her videos are just downright boring. I’ve read a few comments that mention how they listen to her podcasts to fall asleep at night because of how unentertaining it is. While I don’t think Emma should stop podcasting completely, I do feel that a rebrand could be beneficial. For example, perhaps she could increase the studio budget to make it more elaborate. She could also drop the attempt to be relatable to her audience and embrace the fact that she can’t relate to them. What I mean by this is to use this to her advantage by discussing subjects she does have more credibility than the average social media user on, like fashion, modeling, traveling, or the trials and tribulations of starting her own business at such a young age. Taking it in this direction or even discussing her current topics with guests would be much more entertaining to her audience and more than just the echo chamber to these generic subjects every other podcaster currently discusses in way more depth.
Overall, I think Emma’s podcast could use some work to better entertain her audience. While I don’t necessarily believe that her going to college is the solution, I do believe she has a lot of potential as a podcaster and should play to her strengths and embrace her differences from her audience. There are so many other relatable podcasters out there, and she can fill a role that has not yet been done before. She is having the same thoughts and feelings as many of us once did, but just sharing them on the internet instead of discussing them with her friends or journaling about them as many of us may have.