When you think about YouTube your brain probably conjures up various youtubers who have made a living from vlogs, pranks, and unboxings. You are also probably thinking about Emma Chamberlain, the 21-year-old YouTube star who has millions of followers, a podcast, and her own coffee company. But what is it about Chamberlain’s content that’s so appealing? Is it her casual video style, her connection to her community, or her openness about anxiety? All of these factors have contributed to Emma Chamberlain’s success on an unprecedented scale. Over the pandemic I started watching Emma’s videos and they made me laugh and feel less lonely while our world was in shambles. I want to share why I feel she’s so relatable and how her content speaks to the experience of Gen Z in a way that no other influencer or celebrity is able to capture.
- Her Editing Style is Casual
When you watch one of Emma’s videos you feel like you’re just hanging out with a friend. Her conversation style allows for her to connect to her viewers in a way that other influencers fail too. She talks to her viewers and not at them. Throughout her career Emma has changed editing styles; her early videos from when she first started have more sound effects and zooming in and out of frame. Her current style models like a short film. The videos are typically fifteen to twenty minutes long, and they are broken up by shots of Emma talking and pointing things out, and then montages of what she’s doing or where she is. Her past four videos have been showing her recent travels through Europe and are incredibly aesthetically pleasing. This is not to say that Emma’s older videos are lesser quality or immature, her editing style matches her age at the time. Her ability to evolve her content to match her maturity is what has allowed her to maintain a following with her own age group because we are growing and maturing with her.
2. She’s Open and Honest
Emma has created a reputation of being extremely open on the internet. Whether it was filming a video with no makeup or talking about her struggles with anxiety and depression, Emma has allowed the internet to see her truest self. Particularly in her podcast, Anything Goes, Emma has whole episodes where she discusses her mental state and how her life on the internet can affect it. She also never tries to fake liking a product for an ad. All Chamberlain’s sponsorships are things that she genuinely shows interest in online. For example, when Emma has a sponsorship with a company like Levi’s or Macy’s, she is working with the brand to promote pieces that she likes and would recommend to someone in her personal life. She also is upfront and honest about her own self promo with her coffee company, Chamberlain Coffee. Emma opened up about running a business on an episode of her podcast where she talked about the success of the company but also where she and her team made mistakes and said that owning up to critiques helped her to improve the company.
3. She Actually Gives Good Advice
Emma genuinely gives great advice, particularly to people in her own age group. As an incredibly successful twenty-something, she has the perspective to understand how the internet has both helped and hindered our generation. There’s something about getting advice from someone your own age who’s “made it” and isn’t demeaning that is incredibly gratifying. Instead of promoting hustle culture, Emma advocates for the conservation of your own personal energy and following your passions.
Overall. Emma Chamberlain has found a way to create a loving community on an internet that is often hostile and draining.