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- [00:00]
Emma Chamberlain
Listen, I'm not a scientist, okay? I'm not a biologist. I'm not a chemist. I'm not a physiologist. I don't even know if a physiologist is a real thing. I have no idea, okay? But that doesn't mean that I don't get to have a hypothesis every once in a while. And recently I found myself obsessing with over a hypothesis that I have, as though I am a scientist, but again, not a biologist, not a chemist, not a physiologist, if that's even real. Rather a new kind of scientist, rather a pop culture scientist. What is my hypothesis, you may ask? Well, let me share with you. My hypothesis is that right now, today, people hate famous people more than they ever have before in history. And that's saying something, because I do believe that famous people have always been our communal punching bags. We've always hated famous people, whether it was politicians or controversial celebrities or even just annoying celebrities. I feel like we've always hated famous people. And I say famous people instead of celebrities because I am sort of talking about any type of famous person that could be a mainstream celebrity, an actor, a singer, whatever, a politician nowadays, an influencer, a podcaster, an entrepreneur. Like, there are so many different types of famous people these days that, I don't know, I feel like the word celebrity just makes everyone think of actor, singer, entertainer. And the industry of fame is so much broader, I would say now more than ever, because I don't know anyone can be famous with the Internet, of course. I briefly paused this episode of Anything Goes to let you know that this episode of Anything Goes is presented by. By Amazon. Getting sick is horrible enough. The getting better part shouldn't be horrible too. Waiting on hold for an appointment, sitting in crowded waiting rooms, standing in line at the pharmacy. That's almost as bad as the sickness itself. Amazon One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy removed these painful parts of getting better with things like 247 virtual visits and prescriptions delivered to your door. Thanks to Amazon One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy for sponsoring today's episode. Now, let's get back to the episode. So that's my hypothesis, okay? And it's a hypothesis, because I don't know that for sure. Here's the deal. Let me share with you what I've observed in the world. Okay? What got me to this hypothesis number one on social media, okay? Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, X. I still call it Twitter even though it's. I don't know, okay, Reddit, which isn't really social media. But is sort of a pop culture conversational platform. I just feel like there's more hate than ever. Okay, there's always been hate, But I'm noticing a lot of celebrities turning off their comments, limiting their comments. When it comes to engagement, I'm noticing engagement on the biggest celebrities in the world is on average, from what I've noticed going down, it seems that people are hating on celebrities more than ever and engaging with celebrities less than ever on social media. That's what I'm noticing. Okay. And I find it really fascinating because, you know, five years ago, the love, the excitement, the likes, like, it was massive. Like, you know, I'm talking about for the top celebrities in the world, right? It just felt huge. And I feel like even the most famous people in the entire world are getting less likes, less comments than they ever have before. And, you know, as somebody who's in this industry, I find that fascinating. I'm talking about every single celebrity for the most part, with maybe like two or three exceptions. It's very fascinating to me. I've also noticed people just don't seem to care as much about what's going on with celebrities. And by that I mean I feel like people don't really care about if a celebrity is on a vacation or if it was a celebrity's birthday or if a celebrity, you know, made a new project. I feel like. Like, I can't explain it, but I just feel like the excitement is down. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, people just don't seem to care as much. What people seem to care more about is when there's drama. Like, when there's drama, be sure that the numbers will be up. But if your favorite celebrity is on vacation and posting photos like, no one cares anymore. But that used to be like, a big deal. Like, oh, my God, so and so. Look at them. They're in Paris. Like, I don't know. It just. Everything that celebrities did used to be exciting. And I feel like even the most exciting celebrities are not maintaining that. That interest as much anymore. That's just something that I'm feeling. Okay, again, this is a hypothesis. Okay? These are observations I've made. I have not done the scientific testing. I'm just observing. Okay, I feel like this next point is sort of a combination of the first two, but just like a general fatigue around celebrities. I feel like everybody is tired of hearing celebrities talk, tired of finding out that their favorite celebrity is not the most morally perfect human being in the world. And I'm not talking about, like, actually Like a genuinely bad person, like a criminal or something. I'm just saying, like, you know, a celebrity yelled at a waitress or something, and you find this out, and now, you know, it's like, well, there's another one who has failed me. I feel like that's the general tone of people about celebrities fatigue. That's really palpable to me. To me. Okay, moving on to a lot of really unfavorable news stories about a lot of celebrities. I'm not in the mood to get into that right now, but that definitely doesn't help celebrity culture as a whole. Right. It's just not looking good on the news. Okay. We're finding out some stuff that's not so good. We're finding out things that are a little bit not good, and that that doesn't help anything. I'm also noticing a lot of, you know, video essayists on YouTube, pop culture commentators on tick tock or reels or whatever, talking about the downfall of celebrity culture, the death of Hollywood, why everybody hates influencers, et cetera, et cetera. Like, you know, just lots of content in discourse among sort of influential commentators and opinion voicers, as well as, you know, viewers commenting, agreeing with the video. It's starting to feel like everybody agrees. And last but not least, I. I was doing research for a podcast episode. Not even research. I was actually brainstorming podcast episode ideas. And I have sort of random ways that I come up with ideas. Like, I'll just go on Reddit and, like, click on random recommended threads and just see what people are talking about. And sometimes that'll give me ideas. Or I'll Google search random things. Like, you know, top moments of 2023. You know what I mean? Like, I was like, we'll Google random things and just try to read random stuff and see. It's a very weird method, okay? Like, I honestly shouldn't explain it because it doesn't make me look good. But one thing that I randomly Googled, okay, was. I'm not even kidding, overrated things. Or, like, the most overrated stuff. That was something that I googled to spark some ideas. And Google's been doing this thing where, like, AI generates an answer for you. And so it AI generated a list of the most overrated things, and celebrities and influencers were both on that list. That was AI generated for me. Thank you, Google.
- [09:12]
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- [09:18]
Emma Chamberlain
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- [09:21]
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- [10:16]
Emma Chamberlain
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- [10:18]
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- [10:37]
Emma Chamberlain
Visit the website for full terms and conditions. To me, I feel like people just really are over famous people and celebrity culture, like people really are. Are absolutely sick of it. So those are the observations I've made in the world, right? But I've also been feeling some complicated feelings on a personal level because I'm also in a really weird position in relation to this particular topic, right? Because on one hand, some people would consider me to be a famous person. It depends on what your definition of true fame is. I'm not a traditional celebrity, obviously. I'm. I'm not an actor. I'm not a singer. You know, I'm not. I'm not a politician, you know. Some people would consider me to be an influencer. Other people would consider me to be a YouTuber. Other people would consider me to be an ex YouTuber, which I do not think is true, because I do not. I'm not that. But some people would consider me to be that because I'm not consistent on YouTube anymore, even though that was how I built my career, which is something I'd like to change. But I'm clearly, I clearly have a hard time with it for whatever reason. That's a topic for another day. But some people would consider me to be a podcaster because that is something I do do very consistently. Some people would consider me to Be somebody who goes to Fashion Week for God knows what reason. Like, to some people I'm famous, to other people I'm not. But I'm definitely a public figure in one way or another. Okay? So why my relationship to this is so complicated is because I built my career on being a normal girl. The reason why I believe that I have a career today is because I filmed my normal life as a teenager. And I did so in a way that was unusually realistic and honest for the time. And it worked. And people liked watching it, and people liked me for whatever reason. But then it worked so well that the industry got involved. I signed with an agent, you know, and I got publicists and I got lawyers and. And. And, you know, I started making money and I started doing brand deals, and all these things started to happen. And I was able to buy a house, and then I was able to buy a nicer car, and then I was able to buy nicer clothes. And now all of a sudden, I'm not a normal girl anymore to the public. To me, I still feel like a normal girl because I will always feel that way for the rest of my life. Whether you like it or not, whether you think that I am that or not, that is how I'm always going to feel to myself for the rest of my life. That is just how I perceive myself, and that is what it is. However, now other people perceive me as a famous person who has a nice home and a nice car and all these things, and yet I still feel like a normal girl. So I perceive celebrity culture as though I'm a normal girl, even though I'm involved in it. But weirdly, I feel disconnected from the whole thing, even though I'm involved in it and I'm around other famous people and I'm involved. Like, it's so bizarre. But as much as I'm in it and I'm aware of it, and I'm not trying to say, like, that I'm not involved in it. And I'm. I'm. Even though you see me at the events and I'm photographed there, like, I. I'm like, just different. Like, I'm not like other girls. I'm different in there. I'm different in there. I'm telling you that I genuinely, in my heart of hearts, just don't feel like I match the label or the identity of, like, a famous person. Because for majority of my life, I was not. I was a very normal kid. I didn't have famous parents. I didn't have wealthy parents. Like, I Just had a normal childhood. So, like, and that's majority of my life and how I grew up. So I still do feel that way. And again, people can tell me that that's not like me anymore and whatever, all good. But I still feel like the same child that I was when I grew up. Because I. I really do think that, like, you know, during the first, let's say, 15 years of your life, like, that is so foundational. What happens then? And for the first 15 years of my life, I was a completely normal. Living a normal life with a normal family, young woman. Okay? All of this to say I perceive fame in celebrity culture from two polar opposite perspectives at the same time. On one hand, this is the industry that I work in. This is my job to be involved in this. So in some ways it's like, oh, shit, this is not good. You know what I mean? Like, should I be worried about this? Like, the culture around celebrity is really negative. Like, as somebody who's in this industry, like, what do I do to protect myself? What do I do? How do I handle this? That's one side, and then the other side is me being like, wait a minute. I'm also a consumer of pop culture and celebrity culture and entertainment and all of these things. And weirdly, I'm also feeling fatigue in a way. I'm also feeling frustrated. I'm also feeling sort of disappointed. Not by everyone, by any means, but, like, I sort of understand where everyone's coming from. And it's. It's very confusing for me, you know what I'm saying? Because I'm on both sides of the coin. Like, I'm experiencing both. Both sort of perspectives, both worlds at the exact same time. And it manifests in a very odd way in my life and career. I'm fearful a lot, I think, as a result, you know, fearful to just speak my mind or say anything because I'm like, well, I don't feel like people really want to hear what celebrities have to say right now or famous people have to say right now. I'm frightened of things being taken out of context or, you know, seeming out of touch because there's. Probably. Because there's things I say that are out of touch sometimes because I do have a really unusual sort of circumstance. So I absolutely say things that are out of touch sometimes. But, yeah, like, I. I have a hard time. I'm like, why am I. Why would I put myself out there when I feel like people don't want to see celebrity right now? They don't want to see Famous people. They don't want to hear from famous people. But then at the same time, there are always people who. And so it's like, wait, Emma, who fucking cares? Like, just. This is your job, and it's your job to keep doing it regardless. Like, culturally, you know, regardless of how things are going, this is still your job. And. And it's an incredible job at that.
- [17:52]
Sponsor
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- [17:54]
Emma Chamberlain
Right? But then on the other hand, I'm, like, fatigued with myself. It's so confusing. Like, I. I see folk like. Like, I see photos of myself or I see video of myself, and I'm like, oh, my God. I. I cannot see another minute of this woman. I. I actually cannot perceive this woman for another. For another instant because I'm exhausted. I. I don't need to see this woman anymore. It's me. But, you know, I'm. I'm exhausted by myself in a way. I'm fatigued by myself in this sort of, like, inner conflict where it's like I have a split sort of identity in a way, like Hannah Montana. Oh, my God. See, I. I'm already, like, preparing myself to get just fucking ripped apart for this. But I'm. I'm talking about my experience. You can rip me apart all you want. I'm fucking used to it at this point. As a result of this sort of dual identity where it's like, on one hand, I. I resonate with my life for the first 15 years of my life. And then on the other hand, you know, my current reality is very, very different, and I also, you know, have a connection to that sort of reality. That confusion has led me to have many existential crises about my career. You know, I've thought a lot about things like red carpet events or fashion week, or. I'm like. I've spent a lot of time, you know, attending these things that I enjoy attending, and I actually benefit from, you know, in. In. In a way. But I've spent so much time doing that that I haven't spent as much time doing things like figuring out how to make. Making YouTube videos something that I can do consistently that, like, mentally is also sustainable, right? Like, where my brain doesn't explode. Because filming my everyday life like I used to when I was younger is something that was unsustainable for me mentally. And I would have mental breakdowns all the time. So I was like, okay, well, even though this should be the easiest job in the world, for whatever reason, for me, it's not, so I need to figure out something else. But anyway, I Feel like I've just been doing all this stuff that people do when they're famous. Go to red carpet events, you know, go to fashion weeks, do all this stuff. I'm still going to do stuff like that sometimes, but I need to be more intentional with my time. And I don't know, I just. I feel like, this craving to sort of return to self because this sort of existential crisis about fame in. In the industry of fame. I'm like, I. I just want to go back to, like, doing what I always did, you know, talking to a camera like I'm doing right now, and while talking to a camera and into a microphone like I'm doing right now, or, you know, making YouTube videos or whatever. Like, I just want to do that. But this is honestly not the point of this episode at all. I totally went off on a tangent about what I've been personally feeling, but I do think it's relevant because my feelings towards the elements of my career that are directly related to celebrity culture, I think reflect how everyone's feeling about celebrity culture. It's just a little bit different because I'm, like, involved in it in a very, you know, in a very intimate way. So, you know, in the same way that people are like, I don't care about what people wear to red carpet events anymore. I don't care, you know, about watching award shows anymore. I don't care about this or about that. I'm also kind of like, wait, do I care about that? I don't think that. For me, I'm like, I'm never going to do that again. I love going to a red carpet and getting dolled up and. And, you know, being social. You know, for me, there's a lot to benefit from that. And same goes for, you know, a fashion week. I love fashion. I like the art of it. I love, you know, going to the shows and getting to go is incredible. However, I think for many years, it was a priority for me to, you know, go to these sorts of things, because in my head I was like, if I'm invited to this type of stuff, like, of course I'm going to go. And now I'm reevaluating and I'm like, I think moving forward, I'll go to this stuff when it feels right intuitively, by the way, like, it's my career and no one's telling me this or whatever. This is just the conclusion I've come to. I'm ready to go back to my roots a little bit. You know, I'm feeling Kind of fatigued by that whole situation and with everyone else. Right. And that leads me to why does everyone hate famous people so much right now? Why? What could potentially be the reason? And I've done a lot of thinking about it, and I have some potential ideas on how we got here. Starting with traditional celebrities and influencers swapping roles. And it not working. Okay, let's discuss. I briefly paused this episode to let you know that this episode is brought to you by Skims. I know you all know how hard it is to find the perfect bra and underwear. If there is a little seam that doesn't feel right, if the material doesn't feel right, if there's a tag that doesn't feel right, we feel it all.
- [23:29]
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- [23:30]
Emma Chamberlain
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- [24:18]
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- [24:23]
Emma Chamberlain
Gift for your valentine or for yourself, Skims just launched their best Valentine's shop ever. You gotta check it out. And without further ado, let's go back to the episode. The allure of the traditional celebrity, I would say, is a mixture between talent, musical talent, acting talent, directing talent, whatever, and mystery. I think the combination between extraordinary talent and a bit of mystery is what makes celebrity, traditional celebrity, feel so exciting. It automatically puts the celebrity on a pedestal, which benefits both the celebrity and the audience. The celebrity gets the work life balance. You know, they're not constantly giving themselves to the world. They give themselves in controlled spurts, right? They're, you know, working on a project and then doing a press run, and then they disappear and they're completely removed from, you know, the public. And then the audience gets to look at someone who's inspirational in a way that's almost godlike. I think both the celebrity and the audience benefit from the celebrity being on a pedestal and the celebrity Being this sort of perfect role model, right? Obviously the celebrity is not a perfect role model, but it's fine for the celebrity because everybody loves them. So that's a positive thing. And it's fine for the audience because even if that person is not really as great as the audience thinks that they are, to try to strive to be great like this, you know, celebrity, that's not a bad thing. I mean, I think, you know, these types of situations are not black and white. But I would say for the most part, that structure works pretty well. And it has worked really well in the past. I mean, again, celebrities have always been our punching bags to an extent. But I think it used to be better. The celebrity audience relationship used to have more of a sort of homeostasis, you know what I'm saying? It used to be more balanced and functional. So what happens when the celebrity ruins the mystery by becoming sort of an influencer? You know, showing their real Life, making a YouTube channel, becoming an influencer, what happens then? For better or for worse, the illusion dies. And I think that that can sometimes be a good thing for some, you know, traditional celebrities. And I think sometimes it can be a bad thing. It just depends on the personality of the celebrity. It depends on how the audience reacts, which is completely uncontrollable and unpredictable. I feel like mainstream celebrities in the past, their role has been sort of more of a fantasy. And I'm not saying that, like that is the only way to do it right, But I think that it's worked really well in the past. And I'm just. Listen, I'm just presenting a potential idea. Celebrities becoming influencers might sort of ruin the fantasy. And I think a lot of people like the fantasy. They like the feeling that, you know, mainstream celebrities are these sort of like godlike, talented, extraordinary, mysterious, hot, gorgeous, incredible, timeless beings. You know, there's something fun about that. And if you start to see their everyday life, you're like, wait a minute, what? You know, you see them as a normal person and it sort of ruins the, the excitement. But then, you know, on the other hand, it works for influencers, right? That's influencers entire job is to just talk to the camera and be a friend to the audience. So, you know, you might be asking, well, if it works for influencers, why doesn't it work for celebrities? I think it's because traditional celebrities do not live normal lives, right? They are having really unusual experiences. They have a lot of money, they have a lot of resources, they have a very unusual lifestyle. And I think the Average person is like, I don't want to hear about that. You see what I'm saying? So it is perhaps better for mainstream celebrities to sort of keep their lives a bit more mysterious because maybe people don't really want to see the real lives of celebrities because it seems a little bit too easy or too glamorous or whatever. I don't know. Again, I'm just hypothesizing here. On the other hand, the allure of influencers is that they're real people. They're human, they're relatable, they feel like a friend to the audience. This is how I started my career on YouTube, being a normal high school girl. Influencers are usually just random people who happen to have some sort of charm or some sort of differentiating factor that makes them famous unexpectedly. Not really because they're good at any particular thing, but just because for whatever reason there's something about them that makes them fun to hang out with virtually, you know. Now this is incredible for the influencer because they get to be themselves as their top easy, right? Well, what happens when an influencer becomes rich and famous? The audience feels betrayed. They're like, that's my friend. And now they're famous and they're going to red carpet events and they're hanging out with people that I perceive to be as like mysterious godlike creatures. And now my favorite influencer is over there with them. I don't even recognize this person anymore. I don't feel close to this person anymore. And then, you know, the influencer is like, well, I can't share my day to day life anymore because I've gotten to a point where I'm, you know, a public figure and I don't feel safe showing the grocery store that I go to every day. I don't feel safe showing the coffee shop I go to every day. I don't feel safe sharing my day to day life. I don't even feel safe videoing myself in my house. Now I have stalkers and there's people sending me weird letters and there's all these things happening and you know, people are taking photos of me when I'm at the store. And, and now I don't, I, I, I don't feel as safe to be as open on online and all of this happening at the same time makes the audience angry at the influencer. So I guess to sort of wrap up this whole point, right, I think celebrities are trying to be influencers and influencers are trying to be celebrities. And I think that there's A chance that it's not working. And I'm fully an example of an influencer going and doing celebrity stuff, you know what I'm saying? And I've experienced the feeling of betrayal. Like people feel at times betrayed by me and I get it. But I also understand that like from my perspective, you know, in my defense, I'm like, but these are cool opportunities and like, I want to take advantage of them. And I think, you know, more recently I'm sort of figuring out, okay, what can be a healthy balance? Because I think, you know, I swung a little bit too far in one direction and extremes are not, are never good, right? And so I think I'm coming back home, but it's taking a bit of time to recalibrate and that's something I have to be patient with myself about because, you know, I'm doing my best, but it's confusing. So, you know, I'm guilty of this. I'm not blaming myself for it necessarily, but I'm aware now, like, oh, I don't think that that's working. Or at least I don't think it is. Another reason why I think people are hating famous people is because the wealth in lifestyle that famous people tend to show off is not aspirational anymore. It's annoying. A lot of people are really annoyed. They're like, I don't want to see your private jet, I don't want to see your vacation house, I don't want to see your expensive clothes. I don't want to see, you know, the fucking like 10 course meal you just ate. I don't want to see the two thousand dollar bottle of champagne that you're drinking. Like, I don't want to fucking see that anymore. I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted and I'm, you know, working really hard and I don't, and I don't get to have what you're having and it doesn't feel fair and I don't want to fucking see it anymore. And I completely understand that. Like, that makes complete sense to me. I think as the, the state of the economy changes, people's feelings towards aspirational living changes. Right? When the economy is in a really comfortable, I mean, I guess maybe the economy is never in a comfortable place. I'm not an economist, so don't ask me. But like when the economy is in a, in a solid place, I think people are probably more excited about seeing something aspirational because they feel empowered and they feel, you know, the general population feels more comfortable financially so they can look at these things in. In maybe even see themselves in it. Like, I could. I could work up to that one day. But when the economy is maybe in a rough patch, people don't want to see flexing, okay? They don't want to see the private jet. They don't want to see the vacation. They don't want to see the closet tour. They don't want to see it. And again, you know, that makes total sense to me. Another issue I think is overexposure. Because of the Internet, we see famous people all day long, okay? It's not just like, oh, it's the end of the day. You know, let's crack open a magazine and like, read an interview in the Rolling Stone, or like, it's the end of the day, let's turn on MTV and watch some music videos. Me, like, being born in 2001, I have no clue, like, if people even did that. I. I think so. We see what famous people are doing all day long. We go to the bathroom in the middle of the workday, for example. We open the phone, we're scrolling. We're seeing. We're seeing who's on vacation. We're seeing, you know, what somebody just bought at the store. Like, we're seeing constantly. And I think overexposure causes fatigue and annoyance and frustration. Like, if I hang out with someone too much, I start to absolutely fucking hate them. And then. And they probably start to hate me too, by the way. And then, you know, I maybe go a week without seeing this person that I'm fatigued by, and then suddenly I just can't get enough of this person again. Like, it's so normal, so human to have a little bit too much of someone. And I think nowadays we see celebrities way too much to a point where we're starting to hate them. Overexposure, in addition to that, there's too many famous people. The Internet has made it possible for absolutely anyone to become famous, which is how I became famous, by the way. I am absolutely a product of that, okay? And I'm eternally grateful for that opportunity. And I think it's absolutely incredible. And so I'm not trying to on it, but at the same time, because everyone has access to fame now, there's no gatekeeper anymore, because the gatekeeper used to be industry, you know, like you have to audition for movies, you have to try to get signed to a label, otherwise you're not going to be famous, right? Like, there's no way other way to go viral. But now you can, as we know and so everyone has access, which means a lot more people are becoming famous, right? Like, there are a lot of famous people nowadays. There are a lot of people on social media who have millions and millions and millions of followers. There's a lot of people who have hundreds of thousands of followers. That is a lot of people. That is a lot of followers. There are a lot of famous people. And I think in a lot of ways, I think that that's a great thing. It's an incredible opportunity for a lot of people. It's a job for a lot of people. It's a job for me. Like, listen, I'm happy about it. It benefits me. However, I think there used to be this sort of magic around fame, around celebrity, where it was this thing that was rare, few experienced it, and now there are so many celebrities that the industry is oversaturated. And I think the concept of fame has lost its power in a way, because anyone can become famous. And it's just. It's not this thing that feels mystical anymore. It's actually like we can grasp it, which I think brings it down to more of a human level, which sort of takes it off of the pedestal that we used to put it on, which then makes us a bit more harsh and critical of it, you know, which then makes celebrity culture and fame not have the same magic anymore, potentially. And to sort of build on that, I think too, the turnaround for celebrities and famous people has shortened greatly, right? I think it used to be if you became famous, you know, you're probably going to be famous for a long time. Why? Because it took a lot more to become famous. You had to have. You had to be better than 99.9999% of people in the world at something, right? Whereas now it's a bit more abstract, it's a bit more random. You, you know, people don't just become famous for their talent. People become famous because they're funny or because they're likable. Like, for me, I, I don't sing, I don't act, I'm, I, I'm here because people like to hang out with me. That's what even is that, that's abstract. You know, people become famous nowadays because they're hated. They're famous for being hated. People on TikTok go viral all the time and get millions of followers for being hated. People became famous for doing TikTok dances. There's like, the list goes on, you know, it's a very different landscape, you know, And I'm not again, I'm not saying it's wrong, but I think because it's maybe less of a meritocracy now than it used to be, the requirements don't even exist anymore. There's, like, no requirements. It's just random. I think it's harder than ever to, like, find a celebrity that you love and. And to really grow attached to them because I think we're constantly circulating through people, or at least that's how it sort of feels.
- [39:40]
Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by Companion.
- [39:43]
Emma Chamberlain
On January 31st.
- [39:44]
Sponsor
Get ready for a twisted psychological thriller.
- [39:47]
Emma Chamberlain
From the creators of Barbarian and the studio that brought us the Notebook. It's called Companion. And let me tell you, it's a very different kind of love story, okay? It's about this seemingly perfect couple who, after a nightmare of a weekend getaway, experience a different side of their modern romance. Get ready to taste the sweet satisfaction of revenge.
- [40:11]
Sponsor
Companion Only in theaters January 31st.
- [40:14]
Emma Chamberlain
Rated R under 17. Not admitted without parent.
- [40:17]
Sponsor
This episode is presented by Sephora.
- [40:20]
Emma Chamberlain
So you know when you see something.
- [40:22]
Sponsor
Blowing up on your socials, like a new makeup trend or a. A beauty tutorial, that hot new look.
- [40:28]
Emma Chamberlain
Of course you want to try it for yourself.
- [40:30]
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And that's when you head to Sephora. They've got all the hottest names in beauty. You can't miss brands like Kayali and K18, the ones that everyone is talking about. The next big thing is only at Sephora. Shop now@sephora.com this episode is brought to you by Paramount.
- [40:51]
Emma Chamberlain
The new season of the Paramount original.
- [40:53]
Sponsor
Series, School Spirits is here, but the.
- [40:56]
Emma Chamberlain
Mystery has only just begun. Maddie is still trapped in the afterlife and time is running out. Now she must work together with her friends in the spirit and living worlds.
- [41:06]
Sponsor
To find a way back before it's too late.
- [41:09]
Emma Chamberlain
Stream the new season of School Spirits now on Paramount. Plus head to paramountplus.com to get started next. And I'm guilty of this. I'm totally guilty of this. Famous people are always selling something. Always. I have a company, okay? Chamberlain Coffee. I do brand deals with companies. I. I've done brand deals with a lot of companies in my life. The brand deals with companies. You know, collaborating with companies and promoting brands and stuff is how I make my living, right? Like that is how I monetize my public figureness, right? Like that is sort of the job. And I think people are really exhausted by that, to be honest, which I understand. Like, listen, it is my job, you know, it's also my job to be selective with the brands that I talk about and not talk about stuff that I don't like. But even, even though I, you know, do brand collaborations with brands that I genuinely love and I'm like, stoked to be working with, that doesn't mean people always want to be sold to, right? Like the sort of celebrity endorsement, influencer endorsement industry has exploded in the last few years to the point where I think the audience is just tired of being sold to. And I completely understand it. And I. And it's hard for me because, you know, in a lot of ways I'm like, damn, that is my job. I don't know, it's complicated, right? But I do think that, that at this point, the audience is so fatigued by it and so hyper aware of it that something is probably gonna have to change. I would say at this point, the audience sees right through a brand deal, right? Like, everyone knows the fucking deal at this point. It's like, I've even done it. Like, I've done it where, you know, brands have very specific rules for, like, what a caption should look like, right? Like, okay, you know, we want your caption to sort of follow along with these guidelines. Like, I think the average, you know, Instagram user could riff and come up with, with like an influencer brand deal caption. It's always something like, I don't even know. I don't even know. I. I can't even make fun of myself right now. I'm not in the mood. But you, you get the idea. And everybody, celebrity in famous person is also starting a company. If they weren't famous for being an entrepreneur in the first place. But, you know, I have Chamberlain coffee. You name a famous person, they probably have a company. And I think that's annoying. You know, I think people are annoyed by it. They're like, yeah, I get it though. I get it. Even though I'm doing it. Okay, I also understand it. And then last but not least, I think more than ever, we're chronically online and that actually leads to personal issues for the audience that then translates to hatred towards celebrities. Let me explain and don't. I'm not insulting you. I'm not insulting anyone as a person who is a member of the audience as well. Yes, I'm a public figure, but I also am. And the audience. I've dealt with social media addiction. I know, I know how this works. But I think the audience is having personal issues as well as a result of being chronically online. In my experience, when I'm online too much, my self esteem plummets. My depression and anxiety goes up, I become jealous of other people, I start hating other people. My mindset turns completely sour. My brain just turns source. And so I think because we're all chronically online, I think we're all chronically experiencing low self esteem and anxiety and depression all at once. And we're taking it out on the people that we see and interact with the most celebrities on the Internet. That's the problem. And it doesn't help that celebrities are the spitting image of confidence and happiness and fulfillment, which is even more upsetting when you're feeling the opposite from being online too much. It's really tough. So what's going to happen? What is going to happen? I have a few ideas. I wrote down four scenarios that I think could happen in the next five to 10 years. With celebrity culture and in fame and all that. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm not even necessarily leaning towards any one of these potential scenarios. What might happen might be something far off from what I listed here. But here's what I think. Okay, scenario number one. Celebrities and influencers go back to their respective careers, me included. Okay, so this return to self for celebrities and for influencers is sort of out of desperation because as much as we think that famous people do not feel pain, do not read comments, do not care, I can tell you famous people absolutely care. And they're reading fucking comments just as much like they're reading comments the most, I can guarantee you that. But I can tell you famous people are not immune. And I think the hate is potentially going to be too hard to bear for for many. I also think that this will become easier as being famous for, you know, your personality and influence will become more of a respectable career path. And traditional celebrities will learn to respect the balance between showing personality and having mystique. They won't feel like, oh, should I be tapping into the influencer market? Nah, I actually don't need to. Like, I'm actually happy over here and I like this balance and I like the privacy and, and this feels comfortable. This may take a few years, but I think there's a possibility that it will restore positive feelings towards both types of public figures. And this period of time is simply just a growing pain caused by the introduction of the Internet. The Internet has changed the celebrity fame landscape immensely and this is just a growing pain. So that's scenario number one. Okay, this may or may not be true, by the way. I'm not saying that like, celebrities should stay in their lane and influencers should stay in their lane. I was literally just saying there are still some celebrity activities that I still kind of want to participate in. Just maybe less or, you know, it's less of a focus. This is just sort of a guess, a potential scenario that may come to fruition in the future. With that being said, let's move to scenario number two. I think that there's a chance that the number of celebrities and influencers will drop drastically as many public figures will struggle to keep up with what it means to be famous today. It's harder than ever to remain famous because the audience is constantly being bombarded with more entertainment from more people. It's incredibly saturated, and the job insecurity of a public figure is worse than ever. And in addition to existing public figures dropping out, I think less people are going to try to become famous. It's not going to be seen as a dream job anymore. And the celebrity pool this way becomes exclusive again, allowing the excitement and the lore of celebrity to rebuild itself in sort of a new way, where maybe back in the day, right, it was one extreme where there were really strict gatekeepers, which was the industry. If you wanted to be famous, you had to go through the gatekeepers. Then in the age of the Internet, anyone can become famous, and anyone was becoming famous, but maybe an equilibrium will sort of be found right where we end up somewhere in the middle, where, you know, it is maybe more of a meritocracy, but not to the point that there are these sorts of gatekeepers. Rather, the audience, society as a whole stops making people famous for the wrong reasons. Actually, that'll probably never happen, but. Okay, moving on. Scenario number three. Celebrity culture is permanently dead. The glitz and the glamour of Hollywood's past will never return, and celebrity obsession and adornment will never reach the levels that it once did. It is impossible. The Internet has ruined the mystery of the traditional celebrity and turned the average person into a mysterious celebrity. And this is a huge problem that is unfortunately impossible to fix. It doesn't work, right? We're going to be in this clunky cycle for the remainder of time where we make somebody a traditional celebrity, and then we find out too much about them and tear them down and exile them, and we find a likable, charming, normal person, turn them into an influencer until they have a big house in la, and then we tear them down to the ground, too. And this process continues over and over and over and over and over again for the remainder of time, leaving celebrity culture and fame to be sort of this Terrifying hamster wheel. For the remainder of time, there will always be celebrities. But I think in this scenario, it's not going to hold the same weight, you know, it'll never hold the same weight again. The magic of Hollywood will never recover. We will still have musical albums, movies, maybe even certain personalities that we return to time and time again. But our obsession will be contained more to the individual projects rather than the celebrity as a whole, because perhaps our trust in famous people will be gone. Just an idea. Just. I'm just like. I'm. I'm literally just. I'm. I have no idea. I'm hypothesizing. Okay, last but not least, scenario four. Okay, this is all an illusion. Celebrities are always hated, and they've always been hated. It just feels different now because the media landscape has changed so much. But if you were to step back and look at the last hundred years of celebrity, perhaps they've always been absolutely despised. Perhaps we're just romanticizing the past because that's what we do as humans. We remember fondly. There's a chance that nothing has drastically changed. And rather, this is just a normal cycle in pop culture that will eventually become less severe. Maybe we're having a little bump in hatred, but we've been having little bumps of hatred and little bumps of love, you know, teetering back and forth for the last. How many hundreds of years since famous people have existed? Which I think famous people have existed for a long time. Very, very long. Perhaps this is just a normal cycle that seems extreme because, number one, I'm living through it, and number two, because the landscape has changed so much because of the Internet. Perhaps everything I just said was completely inaccurate. But isn't that the beauty of a hypothesis? I think it is. With all that being said, I think that this is sort of a fascination for me in the same way that, like, they say that women are obsessed with watching crime documentaries because it makes them feel more prepared for if they get in a situation where they're about to be a victim of a crime. I feel like that's why I'm so fascinated by celebrity culture and pop culture and all of this stuff. Because maybe I don't want to be a victim of it, and maybe if I analyze it to this extent, I'll be more prepared and I won't be. But I think it's up to you. Well, in the case of being a victim of celebrity culture and pop culture, I think that's up to me. For the most part, being a victim of a senseless crime is a little bit different. I don't know. I'm so curious. I'm curious about what you all think. So let me know on social media nthing goes you can find. Anything goes anywhere on social media nthingthing goes and let me know what you think. That's all I have for today. I hope you all enjoyed this episode. If you did tune in Thursdays and Sundays, Anything Goes is anywhere you stream podcasts. Also on YouTube, also on social media at Anything goes. Find me pretty much everywhere. Machamberlain and find. Yep, here we go. My coffee company, chamberlain coffee@chamberlaincoffee.com and amberlincoffee on social media. If you're wondering what I was drinking today while I was recording, I was drinking a matcha sample that's unreleased. And I'm actually really sad about it because it's really good. It's a flavored matcha, like an infused matcha. So it's like normal green matcha powder, but it's infused with oils or something to make it, you know, and it's so good. But I don't. I don't know when it comes out. So. You know what? I'm not fucking selling you anything, okay? Because this isn't even a product that we're selling. It's just a sample that I like. Okay? That's all I got. I love you all. I appreciate you all. It's always so much fun just really shooting the shit with you all. And I'll talk to you soon and goodbye.