Before March of 2020, I could honestly say that I had never heard about YouTube channel Sinjin Drowning. However, once lockdown began, a switch had flipped; I went from being unaware of their existence, to being unable to escape them. From Twitter to TikTok, people from every corner of the internet could not stop raving about this brother-sister duo. It felt like the universe was using every ounce of its energy to get me on the bandwagon, so I finally caved. I watched one video. And then another. And another. And…needless to say, the universe (or, perhaps just the all-knowing TikTok algorithm) got this one right. I was instantly hooked.
Sinjin Drowning is composed of two siblings – 19-year-old Weston Koury and 20-year-old Kalynn Koury – who are best known for their oddball humor and limitless mental rolodex of internet references. Their more popular uploads include them playing nostalgic computer games (e.g. MovieStarPlanet, Roblox, and Minecraft) and vlog-style videos of them getting Starbucks (endearingly titled “Coffee Cams”).
Though they started posting content in November of 2018, they truly grew in popularity in the beginning of the COVID lockdown. According to Noxinfluencer.com, their channel has over quadrupled in exposure since early quarantine: they grew from around ten million total views in March of 2020 to just under 45 million total views in February of 2021. Finally, after almost a year of keeping up with their channel, I’ve developed a theory as to just what made Sinjin Drowning so successful (and thus, the perfect channel to binge) during quarantine.
Their Videos Feel Like Hanging Out With Friends
Almost all young adults would agree that quarantine has been physically and emotionally isolating. Being prohibited from in-person socialization has led us to see the small things – like laughing over nonsense at a sleepover with your best friends – as far-fetched fantasies.
Yet, since Weston and Kalynn make their videos feel authentic and personal, watching Sinjin Drowning has become a way to almost simulate a sleepover for their viewers. They do so by talking about their lifelong inside jokes (e.g., sharing stories of their old neighbors and memories from elementary school), by playing childhood sleepover faves like Girls Go Games and Sims, and by never compromising their extremely specific humor to be palatable for a wider audience. This way, when you watch them, you feel like you’re part of something and not just a passive observer. With uploads like “A Sleepover With Us,” “Trying Not to Laugh on Photobooth,” and “Playing Wii Tenni,” you watch their videos feeling like you’ve known them forever and are just on FaceTime, doing things that friends do.
Weston and Kalynn are funny, but not in a clever, sophisticatedly, or witty way. They’re like the kids at a slumber party who say nonsensical things just as everyone is falling asleep, and manage to wake everyone up with laughter anyways. They’re never scripted and always juvenile, which makes them feel more human than celebrity. Though it’s only a bandaid for a bullet wound, watching Sinjin Drowning has been a great quarantine remedy for people who just miss being around other people.
They Feel Staunchly Un-Youtuber
When I think of the “YouTuber” label, my mind immediately goes to the Jake Pauls and Tana Mongeaus of the universe: this blinged-out, 2017-esque image of clout chasing, pulling ridiculous stunts for views, and having dollar signs for eyes. What is so refreshing about Sinjin Drowning is the way in which they subvert this expectation. At first glance, their repertoire of videos seems boring or mundane: getting frozen yogurt, going to the dollar store, playing Grand Theft Auto in their living room, taking Buzzfeed quizzes, rating coffee shops in their North Carolina hometown, and so on. Though all of these feel random and noncohesive, this is actually one of their strengths: they aren’t limited by what is popular or trending, they just do what they want to do as if unaffected by the outside world. What connects each of their videos to the other is this sense of spontaneity, and what’s so addicting about their content is not what they do, but how they do it. Weston and Kalynn’s humor and personalities, not their clickbait or stunt-pulling, carries their videos.
It’s rare and exciting to find internet personalities that can make the simplest tasks seem funny and engaging, and this brings viewers back for more. This sense of authenticity is incredibly important to viewers – and does not go unnoticed. In a way, it’s also cathartic during quarantine to watch entertaining people do simple things like go to GameStop or go to a concert – activities that I had once taken for granted, but now would honestly do anything to experience again. Thus, their content may be mundane, but it never manages to be stale.
Their Use of Universally Known Nostalgic References
Nearly everything about Weston and Kalynn’s humor is drenched in nostalgia and irony. Starting right off the bat, the title of their channel is a very specific callback to a Victorious episode in which Sinjin Van Cleef almost drowns in a kiddie pool – thus, Sinjin Drowning was born. Some of their most recurring on-camera jokes are about YouTubers such as Smosh, Tyler Oakley, and Zoella, who were incredibly popular and influential in the early 2010s. The introduction music for their gaming videos is “Socks and Sandals” from Disney Channel’s 2011 sketch-comedy So Random.
This list goes on… and on… and on. In fact, there are entire fan-made compilations of what is affectionately called “Sinjin Drowning humor,” which are mostly random clips from shows like Big Time Rush, Total Drama Island, and iCarly. Weston and Kalynn are so incredibly committed to this nostalgia-oriented lifestyle, they even named their cats Beck and Jade – yet another Victorious reference – and Weston has a massive Spongebob tattoo. This devotion to an immature sense of humor is fun to viewers, because it reminds them of the universal aspects of a Gen Z childhood. Sinjin Drowning is comforting and rewarding to be a fan of, as their humor is a light-hearted reminder that even in the age of a pandemic, the world isn’t all scary.
You can find Weston and Kalynn’s channel here.