Hello and welcome back to picsandportraits. This video is very special, Sleepcore is turning
four this month. I think it is important to celebrate milestones, achievements.
I would wager most of you are here for Sleepcore. This channel has done many things but the
one constant has always been Sleepcore.
Last year I made a video called what is Sleepcore, obviously breaking down the concept, at least
how I see it. This year, I’d like to look at why Sleepcore is, why it resonates, why
I continue to do it, week after week, year after year.
On a recent stream, we revisited the first five episodes and it’s so interesting to
see how well they held up in how much of what Sleepcore still is was there from the very
beginning.
I know this platform is centred around niches and creators are encouraged to make uniform
content on a certain theme or genre, subculture, but my goal for this channel has always been
to create my own network and curate my own TV station basically.
Sleepcore is but a show on that network, just like any other.
But people see Sleepcore in different ways. To some, it’s cringey old media to be riffed
on. Others may have grown up with some of the clips, so they have their own memories
associated with them, so they may feel nostalgic.
By framing it like television, it’s dated. I grew up straddling television and the internet
but I feel like what I do appeals more to those older than me, because of the format
or the content, Gen Xers, boomers.
People who never lived in these times also may feel nostalgic. That’s the vaporwave
influence.
It helps some people fall asleep, it’s cozy and comfy, but that’s not always everyone’s
experience with sleep, myself included.
Suffering from nightmares or anxiety, sleep has never come easy to me, and I put that
into Sleepcore. Our annual Halloween season Nightmarecore episodes are a highlight of
my year.
The rhythm of media, how to disrupt peoples’ sensory.
I’m sure some of you find them alienating, but I absolutely love the hypnagogia episodes.
We had three of them, this fall, ‘80s, ‘90s and Christmas.
To be able to just let loose and find things based on their dreamlike qualities is a lot
of fun, or finding stuff, nothing too upsetting, nothing too edgy, but it may be uncomfortable
to watch, but this can also be a problem if someone who is here to relax and chill out,
unwind, and they click on the 9/11 episode.
The attacks aren’t shown. It’s the weeks leading up to them which creates a vibe that’s
unlike anything else.
However, if you are here for warm, cozy nostalgia, that can be really off-putting. I try to label
the videos that do have disturbing content, including this one.
I think responsibility comes with any platform but if you market yourself as anything sleep,
or insomnia, people are going to consume late at night, when they’re tired, or sleepy,
or sleeping.
The time we spend together. It’s a very weird time. It can comfortable. It can sometimes
be distressing, if you struggle with sleep. It’s time the past comes back, hauntings,
ghosts, anxieties, worry and I’m here for that.
It’s weird thinking about being the voice people wake up to, or hear in their head while
they’re dreaming, you’re watching Sleepcore, or that the content I’ve curated is guiding
or influencing their dreams in some way.
The retrofuturism episodes are the most popular by. I think retrofuturism really resonates
with people, future nostalgia, for many life isn’t great. Seeing the hope and optimism,
and knowing what is, creates ennui.
I also feel like fretting about the future, and how things aren’t the way they we hoped
they would be, is a pretty common bedtime ritual, so it gels well with Sleepcore.
There are episodes I think that get way more views than they should. On the flip side,
there are some that don’t get as much as they deserve. Sports Night is one of the most
visually interesting Sleepcore. If it seems like a duller subject, to me, I generally
try to make more visually exciting.
That one is awesome.
Four years is a long time. I never saw this growing as it has. I do this because I like
it. None of my goals have been number based. I don’t want to be a huge YouTuber. I think
it’s amazing that this resonates with people, enough to support me financially. Thank you
to all patrons, past and present.
Some people still think I should be bigger than I am. To be producing content, for as
many years as I have, and to have people still discovering this and feeling like it’s something
new and cutting edge, to be making stuff that’s still fresh, is very flattering.
Sleepcore is always the next big thing. It has been described as liminal. I prefer to
think of it more like a shared metaphysical space. An idea we all understand, we feel
and recognise it, like a memory or a projection, a headspace we tap into from time to time,
when we’re tired or on the verge of sleep.
I’ve been told Sleepcore has been a part of many people’s memories and lives. Viewers
have told me they’ve spent the first nights with their child watching it. It’s helped
people through the lost of loved ones.
It’s been a thing long enough that people have nostalgia for it. No real amount of time
needs to pass before you miss or long for something but I love the idea that someone
has fallen in love with what I do, and then grew out of it, and moved on, and it’s a
memory or a phase, something they were really into the summer of 2019.
I myself have grown out of Sleepcore, or fell out of love with it many times. I never wanted
it to be gimmicky, and that’s a gimmick, and obviously I have phoned some in. But as
many times as I have lost interest, I’ve also fell back in love with it.
It’s so relaxing finding these clips and rhythms and people love it.
I used to say Sleepcore was an aesthetic I contextualised. As far as I know, I was the
first to do express it this way.
If it previously existed I hope my work here has further contributed to people’s understanding
of it.
I am not an archivist. I am curator and I am nothing without the people who have taken
time and found and uploaded this footage.
I post links to every clip used. Follow them. There are so many great media archives online.
I know we are living in very upsetting and very trying times. I blew up during the pandemic
and to be able to make things easier on people or to give them an hour or two of comfort,
entertainment, as life as we knew i t continues to fall apart, is an honour.
I’m so grateful for your interest. It’s not always easy. Picsandportraits is one person,
who has a life outside of the channel, but your interest has made the last four years
extremely rewarding.
So thank you. Hopefully, you found something of value in this little ramble here. Feel
free to chime in with what it means to you. Let me know what you think.
If you enjoyed this video, give us a thumbs up, subscribe if you haven’t and if you
have the means, please, consider supporting us on Patreon.
We have a ton of exclusive content over there, different videos and series, Futurefilm, Century
of Schlock, different media mixes. You can get access to those, and help these videos
and Sleepcore come out more regularly. That’s patreon.com/picsnportraits.
Thank you all so much for four amazing years of Sleepcore. Here’s to the future.