Beauty guru Michelle Phan surprises fans with return to YouTubeA

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After a two-year absence, Michelle Phan returns to her Youtube roots.

ASAM NEWS

When she decided to quit YouTube after a decade on the platform, Michelle Phan wrote in a description box that she’d return when she was “inspired to share new ideas again.”
After two years, it seems like she might finally be ready.

On Sunday night, the beauty guru uploaded a new video that includes footage of herself, her cat and a photoshoot for her makeup line EM Cosmetics. The video description for “Hello :)” simply reads “I miss you.”

“I wasn’t even planning on dropping a new video, but yesterday moon was in Aries and I was feeling spontaneous as hell,” Phan wrote later on Twitter. “Anyways. Hi!”

Phan started her YouTube channel in 2006 and became the first person to do makeup tutorials for a living, according to Entity Mag. She is widely acknowledged as a pioneer of the YouTube beauty community.

According to Elle, Phan trended worldwide on Twitter after “Hello :)” was posted. Many people expressed excitement and nostalgia in response to her surprise return.

When Phan left YouTube suddenly in 2016, she was at the height of her power, CNN reports.

A year later, she uploaded a ‘Why I Left’ video explaining that she had become unhappy after getting caught up in money and success. She also mentioned several copyright infringement lawsuits she was involved in for her use of popular music on her channel.

According to CNN, Phan kept busy on her hiatus by relaunching her beauty brand, EM Cosmetics.

Some fans seem to look to Phan as a reminder of a simpler time for beauty YouTubers. Earlier this year, Insider called the YouTube beauty community “one of the most turbulent and drama-filled places on the internet.”

The video description simply reads “I miss you.”

Beauty YouTubers James Charles and Tati Westbrook famously feuded this year, and in 2018 so many gurus fell from grace that the time period was nicknamed “Dramageddon.” According to Insider, the audiences of beauty YouTubers seem to be “particularly prone to mob mentality, which can be shown in the dramatic losses and gains of subscribers in the midst of drama.”

For now, it’s not clear if Phan’s upload is a sign she will be back in the community for good. She hasn’t shared specific plans for her YouTube channel moving forward.

But her subscribers, 8.86 million and counting, may have reason to hope.

The final shot of her surprise return video leaves viewers with a promising message: “See you later :).”

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Asian/Americans using Youtube as a stage for their talent

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Ryan Higa

By Brittany Le
ASAM NEWS

IN the past several years, there has been a noticeable rise in the popularity of Asian/Americans on YouTube, as people of color turn to this community in order to find creative outlets they aren’t given in mainstream media. As Hollywood continues to face its many issues of lack of representation of POC, we see an explosion of diversity on smaller platforms like YouTube.

The 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Hollywood & Entertainment features Ryan Higa, Asian/American actor and YouTube comedian with over 18 million subscribers on his channel, nigahiga. 

Despite its briefness, his bio on the Forbes website speaks volumes for the Asian/American and YouTube communities. A prominent figure also on the Forbes list is fellow YouTuber Tyler Oakley, who uses his fame to advocate for LGBT rights.

Mark Fischbach, also known as Markiplier, does not fall far behind Higa; MarkiplierGAME has over 15 million subscribers. Born in Hawaii of Korean descent, he is currently based in Los Angeles, creating videos that follow the popular “Let’s Play” format, where he records himself playing and reacting to video games. He often does livestreams to raise money for various charities and collaborates with other videogamers on YouTube.

While Ryan Higa and Markiplier are the only two Asian/Americans to break into the top 20 most subscribed YouTubers, and Higa and Oakley are the only YouTubers featured on Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2017, there are many other YouTubers who have proven they deserve time under the spotlight as well. 

Wong Fu Productions, with over 2.5 million subscribers, has recently released a video titled “Why is Santa Asian? ft. Randall Park.” One of the video’s top comments by Maksil Lorenzo said, “I [expletive] love Wong Fu, and how they give a place for Asian /American entertainers to perform their craft.”

Jenn Im, Korean/American fashion vlogger, has over 1.5 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, ClothesEncounters. While Asian/Americans are celebrated in the fashion world, with top-dog designers like Vera Wang and Alexander Wang, Im and her channel represent the more affordable and day-to-day lifestyles that resemble high fashion and can cater to the youth of today. Im models the outfits she picks out herself, when we don’t get to see many Asian/American bodies in the actual modeling industry.

Asian/Americans have also successfully branched off of the YouTube platform. Michelle Phan’s channel has over 8 million subscribers, but she has not recently posted videos to the site; she now has her own line of beauty products as an extremely successful make-up artist and entrepreneur – however, her original growth in popularity can be attributed to YouTube.

RELATED: Michelle Phan starting over

While YouTube continues to grow, so does the visibility of people of color who use it. With popular YouTubers expanding their influence on viewers across the nation and worldwide, let’s hope 2017 will be a good year for increased Asian American representation.

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