(mouse clicks)
♪ (dramatic chord) ♪
- (Finebros) For this episode of YouTubers React,
we actually need you to put something on. - Christ, what is this?
- Oh god. Oh god.
Oh, headphones. Okay.
- Oh. (chuckles)
This is not the worst thing two men in a room
have made me put on.
(silence)
- (whispering) Hi.
- Hi.
- (whisperer) Thank you so much for joining me.
- It's my pleasure.
- (gasps) I love her! - Oh my god!
- Oh my god! ASMR?
- I know what this is. I love this.
- (whisperer) I want to provide you with some simple sounds.
- This is nice.
- (whisperer) I hope that they help to relax you.
- (perplexed) What is this?
- (whisperer) I love the smell of these cleansing wipes.
- "The smell of these cleansing wipes"?
Okay, I can imagine some cleansing wipes here.
- Uh-oh. What if I'm really into this
and I just never knew until this moment?
- I'm getting scalp tingles already.
- (whisperer) Then I'm going to start with the first object.
(lightly rapping object) - That's torture in some countries.
(rapping continues) - I'm sorry.
Like, I know that this will relax a lot of people,
but this is just someone hitting a jar.
- (whisperer) Beeswax. - Oh, the classic beeswax that we all own.
(pellets rattling) - I have so many chills right now.
- I can't tell if this is a parody or if this is the real deal,
because it's working.
(pellets rattling) - Oh my god,
I am tingling so hard right now. - (laughs)
- Yep, this is working on me. It works.
I'm one of the people, you guys.
- (whisperer) Have a wonderful, restful...
- I don't like the mouth smacking. You can hear the (smacking)
- (whisperer) And I hope that you'll join me again sometime soon.
- Nah.
- (whisperer) Bye.
- I gotta go to the bathroom real quick.
- I don't know how to feel about that one.
- I love it. I never watch it with headphones.
- Really? You should. That was intense.
I felt like she was this close to me.
- (whispering) Welcome.
Just... - I've never seen a guy do it before.
- (whisperer) ...moving...
- I don't like a dude whispering in my ear.
(whispering) How about you?
(rustling in background)
- (whisperer) ...very... - (strained voice) Oh no.
- (whisperer) ...slowly.
...to experience this hand like this.
(brushing left speaker) - Oh, that is so weird.
That's actually kinda cool.
(audible brushing) - Oh. Like, I hear the painting.
Like, he's painting around me.
- He's so creepy too. He's so focused on just brushing me.
- (whisperer) Here we can use all of our fingers.
[Inaudible].
- It sounds like Dr. Claw's on a date with me.
(brushing right speaker)
- (whisperer) That's it.
We're gonna massage both ears. - Aah!
- Oh my god, it's so... vivid.
(brushing both speakers) I can taste the sound.
- (whisperer) Okay. Thank you.
- I didn't like that one.
- Is that it? No, of course not.
Thank god. Give me more of this!
- (timid voice) Hello, everyone.
- What is that?! - (whisperer) It's me.
- Who made that?!
- (whisperer) It's me, Heather Feather. - I love Heather Feather.
- (Heather) And today I'm going to be doing
an ear-brushing video.
- She kinda sounds like Marcel the Shell. - (Heather) I'm going
to show you the ears when I brush them. - Yeah, that's nice.
I like that.
(brushing)
- It is kinda relaxing. - Yeah, no, it's--
- This is definitely-- - When it's done well, it's pretty good.
(brushing) - It's kinda cool,
like, gives me the chills.
- I've got so many thoughts and feelings.
But most of them are confused.
- (Heather) All right, let's do the other side.
(brushing)
- Wow. Yeah, it really works with the right one.
- (Heather) Next I have this little zen garden brush.
(brushing)
- Is this like a weird fetish thing? Like, this is so creepy.
- Oh my god, I really like this one.
- Yeah? - Uh-huh.
I'm tingling the most in this one.
- Oh. All the tingles.
- This is bizarre. I have never seen anything--
er, heard-- anything like this.
- (gasps sharply)
What is that?!
- Hoh my god.
Thank you for a lovely experience.
- O-kay. - Wow.
That was definitely the most interesting video
you guys have ever showed me.
- This is the perfect one, the perfect episode, for us,
'cause you ASMR all the time. - I do.
- Oh, Jesus.
Does anybody got a cigarette?
♪ (dramatic chord) ♪
- (Finebros) Okay. So what does it feel like
when you listen to these types of videos?
- Do you ever wonder what, um, hell feels like?
- It was weird.
- It was kind of a boner machine. - Wow.
- It feels so crazy! Like, my--
I just tingle all over, and I get goosebumps.
- I thought I knew myself, and then I feel like
there's a whole new side of myself that I have yet to explore.
- That was the first time I've done it, and it totally worked.
I immediately got the scalp tingles.
- I'm still feeling it actually.
It's like a tingly, like, almost like a tickle kind of
right here and in the crown of my head.
- (Finebros) Do you have any idea what these videos are?
- I didn't know there was a style of ear-caressing videos.
- I know there's a term for it and there's a whole genre of this.
I don't know what it's called.
- It seems related to ASMR.
- I know it's called ASMR.
- It's that tingly feeling that you feel in your head,
but it's caused by "triggers," which are like tapping sounds
and smacking and whispers.
- (Finebros) All these videos are made by people
that are into something called ASMR. - Oh god.
Am I gonna have to start making videos like this?
- (Finebros) So it stands for
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. - Okay.
- (Finebros) We have a video to show you
from one of the top ASMR creators on YouTube
that briefly describes to you the feelings
it's supposed to give you. - Is it more whispering?
- (Finebros) A little bit, yes. - Ugh.
- This tingly sensation...
- Maria. (both chuckle)
- (Maria) It starts in the back of your head...
- (whispering) No, it doesn't. - (Maria) ...travels down
through your spine... - (whispering) Down through my spine.
- (Maria) ...relaxing you,
giving you a feeling of well-being. - She's positively glowing.
- (Maria) It's simply a matter of finding the trigger
that speaks to you. - Yeah.
- (Maria) Thankfully, in the ASMR world,
the choices are endless.
- Okay. To me, that seemed a little cult-ish.
- (Finebros) So it is defined as a euphoric experience
with tingling sensations of the skin
triggered by specific acoustic and visual stimuli.
Did you experience any of it? - No.
- No, not at all.
- No, but given more time, I absolutely would have.
- I mean, it was euphoric.
- Soft talking like that and kind of like telling me what to do
and what's happening, you know, relaxes me.
- I did. It was pleasant.
It was so pleasant that I was a little bit uncomfortable
having other people in the room.
- (Finebros) Despite the community's best efforts,
many have associated ASMR with sexual arousal.
Why do you think it's perceived that way?
- Well, I guess because no one talks that close to your ear
unless you're intimate in some way with that person.
- 'Cause it's weird, and the first thing you go to
when something's weird is like, "Oh, that's a sex thing."
It's like furries. Like, not all furries are sex.
But it's like, okay, but it's weird though, so it's a sex thing.
- Sex in and of itself is supposed to be euphoric.
So anything that has that association can easily be sexualized.
- I think they think that
because it's so up close and personal and intimate.
- Anything can be sexual these days.
I feel like there's definitely people out there
who find that very sexual. - Totally.
- Because they're talking really softly.
- Just because something is making you feel something,
it doesn't mean it's necessarily dirty.
- It's a very Western-Eurocentric idea that close human contact
equals sexuality and sexual fetish.
- (Finebros) So this content is starting to rise on YouTube.
There is quite a large ASMR community now,
some of which have hundreds of thousands of subscribers
on YouTube. - Wow.
- (Finebros) What do you think about YouTube as a platform
that continues to show that there's an audience for things
that people never would've thought there was an audience for?
- I think it's really cool.
I mean, that's what's awesome about YouTube,
is you go on it, and you discover things
and worlds that you never knew existed.
- I think we're gonna see a lot of people
start making these videos to stay relevant,
you know what I'm saying? (laughs)
Myself maybe included.
- Nowhere else, you're able to find so many things
and so many huge groups of people that enjoy different things.
- It is the polar opposite of the way content tends to go viral
in this day and age, which is very literal, "in your face,"
quick delivery.
- I love comedy, and I've found a comedy community on YouTube.
Beauty gurus have found a community. Musicians have a community.
People that enjoy the euphoria of a zen garden brush
touching their ears have a community, and that's wonderful,
because you feel connected. You don't feel alone.
- We did not reach out to any ASMR people for VidCon this year,
and I feel bad about it.
[Bleep] VidCon.
We're gonna start a whole new con just for ASMR.
It's just gonna be QuietCon.
- (whispering) I think that it's a beautiful new thing
that's happening, and there's nothing wrong with it.
- YEAH, IT'S LIKE THE SAME THING!!!
- (Finebros) So with ASMR, people make videos like we showed you,
with tapping and whispering. Some use mouth noises.
But others are doing more elaborate things like role-plays
of getting a makeover or a doctor's exam. - What?
- Okay, see, that sounds like a fetish thing.
- Whatever tickles your pickle, man, literally and figuratively.
- It's cool to see how people can get creative
with that sort of thing and use special effects.
- Say someone's the biggest Star Trek fan ever,
and there was a Star Trek-themed ASMR.
Like, it's gonna trigger them like crazy.
- I feel like there's a role-play for everyone.
- (Finebros) So finally, now that you have been exposed
to the ASMR community and some content,
would you say you get the appeal or don't get the appeal?
- I get the appeal.
I'm on board. Who knew?
- Yeah, I totally get the appeal.
- I get it. - I get the appeal.
- 100% get the appeal.
- I totally get the appeal.
- I'm on Team ASMR.
- I can understand it, I guess.
- (whispering) Absolutely. - Yes.
- There were some sounds that was like,
"Wow, that's really, like-- that sounds awesome
that it's that vivid."
But I don't get it in the sense of,
I couldn't listen to that for an hour.
- I get the appeal, and I also get why people think it's weird.
- I just don't understand it.
Whenever I see a video, just, no, no, no, close it, close it.
I don't want to hear the whole (smacking)
- I get the appeal.
I mean, yeah, there's something for everyone on the internet.
And that just constantly proves itself true
again and again and again and again.
- (whispering) Thank you guys for watching
this super-soft episode of YouTubers (smacking) React.
- (whispering) Make sure that you guys subscribe
to everyone that you've seen in this video today.
- (whispering) Let us know in the comments
what video we should react to next.
- (whispering) See you later.
- (tenderly) Thanks for watching. (raps phone)
♪ (end music) ♪