James Charles as a YouTube Sensation
With 25.5 million YouTube subscribers and over 500 million video views annually as of April 2021, James Charles embodies the definition of social media stardom. Charles gained momentum in the mainstream world of “vlogging'' after being the first male to sign a contract as a brand ambassador with CoverGirl in 2016. His videos have been viewed 3.4 billion times since he began posting on YouTube in 2015. Charles has maintained a steady following by fostering “personal relationships” with his fanbase and expanding beyond YouTube to achieve stardom on other social media platforms. Charles’ rose to fame from posting videos flaunting his passion for beauty as well as his makeup expertise. From there, he has hosted, directed, and co-produced the YouTube originals reality competition series Instant Influencer, launched several makeup products, and received a multitude of awards for his work in social media including two People’s Choice Awards.
Charles’ YouTube channel flaunts videos with enticing titles such as “My Friends Pick My CRAZY Nail Designs!” The theme of his content focuses on beauty tips, tricks, and fails. Charles also hosts celebrity guests on his channel and does their makeup. He has hosted guests such as Doja Cat and Kim Kardashian. Therefore, the perceived intended audience is adolescent females. Additionally, Charles is open about his sexuality as a homosexual male thus expanding his audience towards the LGBTQ+ community.
Many of Charles’ videos follow him doing silly trends that can have embarrassing results such as “Baking a Cake WITHOUT A RECIPE! *DISASTER.* He also has more serious videos that discuss internet drama and negativity surrounding his name. By creating an image that paints him as relatable (even he can mess up a cake or say something he regrets!), Charles effectively bolsters his fanbase through achieving “perceived interconnectedness,” the process in which influencers interact with followers to give the impression of intimacy (Abidin, 2018).
In her piece “Communicative Intimacies ❤: Influencers and Perceived Interconnectedness,” Crystal Abidin discusses how social media allows for influencers, such as Charles, to have constant presence in followers' lives. For example, Charles fervent updates and posts allows for the constant flow of communication between influencer and follower on various platforms. With thousands of videos on his YouTube channel and daily Instagram updates, Charles is constantly in “communication” with his followers to keep them invested in his life and brand. Charles successfully fosters a sense of intimacy with his followers by cultivating an extensive knowledge of his brand without any actual reciprocity involved (Abidin, 2018). Additionally, Charles has coined the term “sisters” when referring to his fanbase. Abidin contends that “the allure of influencers is premised on the ways they engage with their followers to give the impression of exclusive, intimate exchange.” Charles doesn't call his followers “fans” and instead refers to his following and himself as the “sister squad.” By creating a “we,” Charles is able to provide a sense of belonging and intimacy with his followers, despite the fact that he has no personalized connection with his individual fans.
On October 15, 2021, Charles posted a YouTube video titled “Answering Questions I’ve Been Avoiding…” Charles starts off the video with his classic opening “hey sisters!” before describing how the video will consist of him answering questions asked by fans (he includes their names) through direct message and commenting platforms all while putting together a “cute makeup look.” Before the video starts, Charles tells his viewers to grab a drink and snack as a Coca Cola image pops up on the screen as he is a brand ambassador for Coke. He also reminds viewers to like and subscribe to his channel. As the video progresses, Charles puts on more makeup products. He drops the names and brands of each product he uses and includes buying information on the screen. He uses his own products as well such as a blush that he is coming out with which segued into a conversation about his new makeup line that he is launching “sometime in 2022.”
In her piece “You May Know Me From YouTube,” Alice Marwick discusses the inextricable link between media and celebrity in contemporary analyses. Marwick argues that the concept of celebrity and microcelebrity hinge on social media practices and influencer trends. A key point of this reading is that celebrities change with the media. Therefore, through embracing social media and creating direct unmediated relationships with fans, the illusion of a close relationship is fostered (Marwick, 2015). This idea expands on Abidin’s arguments that influencers intentionally create an illusion of a narrowed space between celebrity and viewer/fan. Charles encourages fans to leave beauty tips for him in the comments to help him with his haircut dilemma, making viewers feel involved and valued in the relationship. He also speaks candidly about his failures in the past and things that he regrets in this video, conveying the message that he trusts his viewership and wants to confide in them.
Marwick also argues that branding is central to celebrity and capitalism. The commodification of celebrity interactions comes down to us through the culture industry. Charles's video encapsulates this idea as he commits several of the 16 minutes to branding his products as well as brands that he works for such as Coke. Charles effectively embeds his product branding into the video in a conversational and informal way that adheres to Abidin’s conversation of perceived intimacy.
Through fostering a sense of authenticity by describing products in a personal way as Charles does through explaining that he “loves these products” and “can’t wait for you to see” his new launch, he effectively commodifies the viewing experience in a way that is made less obvious through seemingly personalized anecdotes. Never before have celebrities themselves had this much control over how they present themselves as demonstrated through Charles’ capacity to manage his brand (specifically his makeup launch) directly (Marwick, 2015). Ultimately, the inclusion of this information serves to generate revenue for him and his partners, making viewers a critical component in his capitalist agenda.
References
Abidin, C. (2018, February 28). Communicative ❤ intimacies: Influencers and
perceived interconnectedness. Ada New Media. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://adanewmedia.org/2015/11/issue8-abidin/.
Marwick, A. E. (2015). You may know me from YouTube: (Micro-)celebrity in social media.
A Companion to Celebrity, 333–350. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118475089.ch18
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