The Power of Relatability: How Emma Chamberlain Redefined Influencer Authenticity
By Grace Trippitt
ENTERTAINMENT
Edited by Abby Lawrence
5/21/20262 min read
©Fashionista.com
“You’re so relatable” was a phrase I never believed I’d utter whilst engaging with an influencer's content. Yet, Emma Chamberlain, Youtube personality and podcaster, has built her entire career on being ‘relatable’ for younger women. It shouldn’t have worked, but it did, and she is admired by her audience for her refreshing takes and transparency on her daily routine, mental health and relationship struggles.
Rejecting perfection, Emma began filming Youtube videos in 2017 – rather than high quality curated content, her videos were awkward, humorous and somewhat normal. She’d film herself thrifting, driving, or aimlessly speaking openly on her thoughts. In an age of social media where perfection was demanded, her raw editing style and openness was accepted by the masses, who were desperate for someone to relate to. She was one of the first influencers to make ‘imperfection’ a trend, and that powerful branding has led her to red carpets, to start her own business and led to the rise of her podcast. For me, her influence extended into my reality. Emma became associated with coffee, which then led her to build her brand, ‘Chamberlain Coffee.’ For a young teenager watching someone I admired so much, I was influenced immediately. Now, coffee is the root of all of my social dates, and in a way, Emma’s influence has created something wholesome and introduced a practice into my life.
In 2019, she extended her voice further, when beginning her podcast now named, ‘Anything Goes’. Emma releases weekly episodes in a Q&A style, answering audience questions with the same honesty and openness from 2019. The podcast feels like a more intimate extension of her Youtube videos, and her answers make listeners feel that they are part of the conversation. The refreshing fact is she admits her position of being an influencer who is simply offering an opinion based on her own experience. Throughout the years, Emma has grown with her audience. She opens up in her episodes about the pressure of her fame and her struggles with mental health. In doing so, she has remained authentic, consumable and an embodiment of relatability for her audience. In a current modern day where the ‘Clean Girl’ aesthetic rules social media, it is refreshing to indulge in content like Emma that challenges this demand.
Although she is now hitting red carpets and being invited to the most prestigious of events, her podcast particularly has not lost its authenticity. You still feel like you’re on FaceTime with Emma despite her rise to fame. Ultimately, I think that’s what makes her particularly admirable, in a world where influencers become less relatable by the day.
Being relatable and realistic is what kickstarted her career, and arguably over the span of her 9 years ruling Youtube and spotify, this has become her marketing technique – her brand. This does lead us to question: how much of her content is still true authenticity, and not performative branding anymore?
There is no doubt that for many her content has grown with her, authentic in representing her rise to popularity and the struggles that come with this.
We want more influencers like Emma. Raw, open, honest – normal. Relatability has become the new trend, thanks to Emma setting that tone nearly a decade ago in her Youtube debut. Her name has not only built a brand, but a cultural shift.
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