[video available on spotify] recently, i've found myself obsessing over a hypothesis i have. i hypothesize that people hate famous people now more than ever in history. let me share with you what i've observed in the world, and what brought me here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the hypothesis about fame in today's society?
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 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 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.
Chapter 2: Why do people hate famous individuals more than ever?
That could be a mainstream celebrity, an actor, a singer, whatever, a politician. Nowadays, an influencer, a podcaster, an entrepreneur. 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 these
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 Amazon. Getting sick is horrible enough. The getting better part shouldn't be horrible too.
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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?
Chapter 3: How has social media changed our perception of celebrities?
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. And I find it really fascinating because 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 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 photo, 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 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.
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Chapter 4: What signs indicate a shift in celebrity culture?
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. OK. 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 doesn't help anything.
I'm also noticing a lot of, you know, video essayists on YouTube, pop culture commentators on TikTok 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 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 just like will Google random things and just try to read them.
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 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. To me, I feel like people just really are over famous people and celebrity culture. Like people really 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 not an actor. I'm not a singer. You know, I'm not a politician.
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'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.
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Chapter 5: How does Emma Chamberlain relate to the concept of fame?
I'm frightened of things being taken out of context or seeming out of touch 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 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, who do. 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, and it's an incredible job at that. So just do it. Right. But then on the other hand, I'm like fatigued with myself. It's so confusing. Like I, I see, like, like I see photos of myself Or I see video of myself and I'm like, oh my God, I cannot see another minute of this woman.
I actually cannot perceive this woman for another instant because I'm exhausted. I don't need to see this woman anymore. It's me. But, you know, 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'm already like preparing myself to get just fucking ripped apart for this. But 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 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.
I'm like, I've spent a lot of time attending these things that I enjoy attending and I actually benefit from 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, 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 feel like this craving to sort of return to self because... this sort of existential crisis about fame in the industry of fame.
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Chapter 6: What are the conflicting feelings about celebrity culture?
Chapter 7: How does the rise of influencers affect traditional celebrities?
Like culturally, you know, regardless of how things are going, this is still your job. And, and, and it's an incredible job at that. So just do it. Right. But then on the other hand, I'm like fatigued with myself. It's so confusing. Like I, I see, like, like I see photos of myself Or I see video of myself and I'm like, oh my God, I cannot see another minute of this woman.
I actually cannot perceive this woman for another instant because I'm exhausted. I don't need to see this woman anymore. It's me. But, you know, 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'm already like preparing myself to get just fucking ripped apart for this. But 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 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.
I'm like, I've spent a lot of time attending these things that I enjoy attending and I actually benefit from 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, 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 feel like this craving to sort of return to self because... this sort of existential crisis about fame in the industry of fame.
I'm like, 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 involved in it in a very intimate way.
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Chapter 8: What is the future of celebrity culture?
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, OK, what can be a good healthy balance because I think, you know, I swung a little bit too far in one direction and, 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, and that's something I have to be patient with myself about because I, 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 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 $2,000 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 working really hard 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. That makes complete sense to me. I think as 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 when the economy is in a solid place, I think people are probably more excited about seeing something aspirational because they feel empowered and they feel... the general population feels more comfortable financially. So they can look at these things and maybe even see themselves in it. 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. 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, that makes total sense to me. Another issue I think is overexposure. Because of the internet, we see famous people all day long.
It's not just like, oh, it's the end of the day. Let's crack open a magazine and... 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 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.
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