The Views: Slime, Inclusive Beauty, and Relatability
The trending page on YouTube too often becomes clouded with bad Instagram comedy-esque sketches made by ex-viners who cater to an audience of ten year olds and feel no obligation to produce anything original or meaningful. Every now and then, YouTube will promote a creator who strays away from the norm. YouTube has the amazing ability to promote content creators on their trending page to widen their audience and give them the promotion and recognition they deserve. Yet, time and time again, the YouTube algorithm supports the same people and themes over and over. That being said, a few important videos and creators have been sprinkled throughout the homepages and trending pages that are worth your ten minute watch time.
Jackie Aina has been changing the face of the beauty community since she joined YouTube in 2006. In such a white-dominated community, Aina has been a breath of fresh air for young girls and boys of color to learn how to blend eyeshadow that doesn’t change color against their complexion or how to color match their foundation in a world of all light foundation colors. In her newest video, she shares her groundbreaking collaboration palette with Anastasia Beverly Hills- a brand known for making amazingly creamy eye shadows every time. She talks about how she beautifully crafted each individual shadow color so that they won’t appear ashy on her brown skin, like so many palettes designed just for white skin so often do. ABH shows an amazing example of supporting makeup artists of color in such a public and widespread way. More beauty bloggers of color working with these large brands leads to more diversity in the makeup industry so that every makeup wearer has the options and the products they need to look and feel beautiful always. The video continues to push 500k views and climb the trending page as we near the release of the ABH x Jackie Aina eyeshadow palette, launching everywhere on August 15th.
Not all former Vine stars are making cringey Instagram content. Others found their new homes on TikTok or started creating long-form content on platforms like YouTube. One example, CalebCity, who racked up over 46,000 followers on the beloved app now has a new audience of 1.7 million subscribers on his YouTube channel of the same name where he continues his short comedic videos. Caleb’s knack for humor translates well into this platform with the opportunity to expand six-second jokes that might appear on his Vine profile into SNL-Esque skits where he plays every character. Most videos reaching millions of views, Caleb confirms the place comedy has on YouTube. In his newest installment, Caleb talks to us about the frustration of pouring yourself a bowl of cereal just to forget it in the other room in a minute or so clip you can watch between episodes of Queer Eye you’re binging on Netflix right now.
Mike Chen aka Strictly Dumpling’s latest video will have you craving the sweltering heat of the South just for the chance to try a bite of BBQ in Austin, Texas. If you can’t go yourself, watching this video is a close second. Chen takes you through the motions of ordering meat, sides, and desserts at a shack on the side of the road that just so happens to have the best brisket south of the Mason Dixon Line. The close-ups and commentary will have you drooling as ribs fall off the bone and green beans crunch in a very ASMR-Esque way. Mike Chen has a way of making the viewer feel like they are sitting down and sharing a meal with him: all 2.6 million subscribers and 300k viewers.
Whoever says the slime trend is over, don’t tell Karina Garcia, whose nine million subscribers still bow down to her slime religion weekly. Also, tell Garcia’s Target line of slime supplies that flies off the shelves and into the hands of curious children and disgruntled mothers. Despite the juvenile topic, her titles remain intriguing to viewers of all ages, especially the newest “unboxing a 1-year-old slime package.” It leaves too many questions to remain unclicked: what is a slime package, how does time affect slime and why do I keep watching unboxing videos at 3 am? The rulebook of online content would tell you to constantly evolve and relinquish to trends to remain popular, yet Garcia continues to grow her slime empire and gain new followers every passing minute. With upwards of one million views per video, some things just stick, besides slime.
Alex Wassabi is no stranger to the trending page. From his early days making “Songs in Real Life” sketches to more recent surprises videos and original songs, Wassabi Productions has had a steadily growing fanbase. Straying from his usual lighthearted and high-energy content, his latest videos dives deep into more personal topics: his love life. Now, fans have a whole new reason to click on his videos. Drama channels search for their next story. Devoted fans pray for his singleness. Curious new viewers looking for something juicy to tie them over until Trisha Paytas’ next crying on her kitchen floor video. No matter the reason, Alex’s wide range of videos tackle a large demographic shown by his eleven million subscribers and equally impressive view counts per video. He continues to adapt to the changing online environment and receives success because of it.