Emma Chamberlain

About

Emma Chamberlain is an influencer, podcaster and model who originally gained fame on YouTube. Known for her distinctive and widely-imitated editing style, she is often seen as one of the most influential influencers on the platform. In recent years, Chamberlain has branched out into modeling and podcasting.

Career

YouTube Beginnings

Chamberlain began posting videos in 2018, while she was still in high school. By 2019, she had over 8 million followers and was profiled in the New York Times as the person who "invented the way people talk on YouTube now."^[1] Her early style was defined by rapid cuts and abrupt zooms used to punctuate action and draw attention. She would sometimes edit a single video for upwards of 20 to 30 hours. For example, the widely viewed video "Trip to Las Vegas," which Chamberlain made with her YouTube supergroup Sister Squad, begins with a discussion of Chamberlain's editing technique and her love of close zooms. The video, below, received over 37 million views and 1 million likes.^[2]

Her vlogging usually followed her reacting to the events of her day, completing tasks and speaking to her audience in a casual way. Her early videos utilized a fast-paced style that she pioneered, seen in her collab with Jojo Siwa in 2019, which earned over 13 million views (below, left). Her videos then evolved to more contemplative day-in-the-life videos such as "Haircut," (seen below) which received over 5.8 million views 335,000 likes in two years on YouTube.^[5][6]

'Anything Goes' Podcast

In February 2020, Chamberlain launched her podcast Anything Goes. Purportedly recorded from her bed, the podcast features Chamberlain monologuing about a variety of topics, many of which have to do with her life, mental illness, and society in general.^[3] In late 2022, Chamberlain signed an exclusive multiyear deal with Spotify that included adding video content to her podcast.^[4]

Leaving YouTube

Chamberlain first left YouTube in 2021, after going four years posting roughly a video a week, and averaging five million views per video. She cited "burnout as her reason for leaving the platform.^[7] She took an indefinite hiatus in January of 2022, returning later that summer to post occasionally. In early 2023, she attributed her leaving YouTube to mental health issues brought about by her internet celebrity and anxiety about her safety.^[8]

Emma Chamberlain and Jack Harlow

Emma Chamberlain was hired as a red carpet interviewer for the Met Gala in 2022. An exchange between Chamberlain and rapper Jack Harlow in which they jokingly said they loved each other gained online interest.^[9] The clip was shared and investigated on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which was uploaded to the show's official YouTube^[9] channel on June 23, 2023. It gained over 5.7 million views and 214,000 likes in nine months (seen below).

$10,000 DM Hoax

In March 2023, fans discovered a post on Chamberlain's official merchandise site which advertised a $10,000 DM from the influencer herself (screenshot seen below). After significant online backlash, the company behind the promotion said it was an internal test for an "outrageous" reward level that was accidentally published online.^[10]

Online History

Chamberlain has maintained her YouTube channel since 2016, and has almost 1.6 billion total views across 288 videos with 12 million subscribers as of March 2023.^[11]

Her Instagram has over 16 million followers as of March 2023.^[12]

External References