The history of iJustine

This week we discuss YouTuber Justine Ezarik aka iJustine. Her content ranges across Apple fandom, tech commentary, music parodies and public dance videos. We discuss her continued success, mainstream media opportunities and collaborations with other creators and celebrities. We also highlight her professionalism and the challenges of being a female creator in a male-dominated space.

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
In 1955, Steve Jobs was born in 1976.
Apple was founded in 1984.
Justine Izak was born inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In 2004, Justine graduated fromthe Pittsburgh Technical Institute
starting her YouTube channel in 2006.
In 2007, the first iPhonewas released to the public.

(00:23):
Welcome to Rewind Time.
This episode, we'regoing to think different.
This episode is about I, Justine,
oh,
insert the theme here.
Yo,
yo, yo.
Welcome to episode four of Rewind time.
I am your host, max.
I'm here with Lucy.
Lucy, how are you?

(00:44):
I'm well, thank you, max.
How are you?
I'm doing well today we are, incase you haven't clocked it from
the intro, discussing, I, Justine,Lucy, are you and I Justine head?
Not really, no.
Uh, no.
That's not like with everythingwe kind of cover on this podcast.
Like with most YouTubers I'm aware of.

(01:04):
I, Justine I was cognizant ofI Justine, but I personally
was not subscribed, not a fan.
Um, which we'll, I guesscover off in the episode.
Yeah.
I'm not sure if I have ever seen, I,Justine, I didn't know who she was
when you said we were doing her forthe episode, but as we've seen, she

(01:25):
does have quite a number of viralvideos, so I can't say that I've never
seen the content, but certainly I wascompletely head empty when you put
the playlist together for this week.
Well, when I asked you.
When I say I, Justine, what do you think?
I, Justine is like, what doyou think her content is?
Mm. Like we like to do Before we kindof start out, what did you think?
I, Justine, was it her content was about,

(01:46):
I did say tech reviewer.
Okay.
So I was probably 25% Correct.
25%. Yeah.
And obviously I, Carly Springs to mind,
well, yes,
but that's not to say that I,Justine invented doing the, the apple
style, small eye, uppercase, rest ofword, rest of world, rest of noun.

(02:08):
Like, uh, many people did that touh, try and ride the Apple bandwagon.
But,
but were any of them as successfulas I, Justine, like, has, has anyone?
Rode the apple, um, you know, trademark.
Trademark, yeah, definitely.
I would say,
uh, and I'm sure you rememberthis fondly, my brother's shirt,

(02:29):
which just says I pooed Oh yeah.
As a man on the toilet that
he wore on Christmas Day.
At Christmas lunch.
The I Pooed t-shirt, thatwas certainly, it's Stone
Strong in 2025.
Yeah.
But
to give some context, if you don'tknow who I, Justine is, she begins her
career as a. Justin TV life caster.

(02:53):
Yeah.
I had to double check what Justin TV was.
But you knew actually this wasa case where I was like, oh,
she's a Justin TV life caster.
And you were like Justin tv.
Yeah.
So Justin TV is what essentially becameTwitch, the live streaming platform.
Crazy.
And it was originally namedafter the founder, Justin.
And he did what was referred to thenas life casting, which is where you

(03:16):
basically film your entire life.
Was it live streamed orwas it just like watched?
It was live
streamed.
Oh
yeah.
So Twitch has beenaround for kind of Yonks?
Yes.
Not in its present gaming focused form.
No, it's a, yeah.
Yeah.
It's iteration.
But,
but it did have, 'cause I think she likereferences in some of her early content,
her time on Justin tv where peoplewould like pay you to do certain things.

(03:39):
Yes.
Other Twitch donation.
Not that you, when people do Twitchdonations, you have to do what they say,
but I didn't know that that kind of.
Format of audience interaction and livestreaming had been around for that long.
And I, Justine was, what's the word?
A pioneer?
No.
You know, when you're, uh,like, uh, patient zero?

(03:59):
Not quite.
No.
I think she was the secondperson on Justin tv.
She was
the first person who wasn't Justin.
Yes.
Which is crazy, crazy work.
Like honestly, like many things, thetech for paying people to do things
while live streaming, I think wasgot it started in the adult industry.
Mm. And then it took a while forthat to be put into a version that

(04:24):
was corporate friendly, right?
Yes.
And that's kind of wherewe ended up with Twitch.
Yeah.
But this is not.
A Twitcher Rewind podcast?
No, it's YouTube.
No.
TCH is off limits.
Yeah, no, just like
Nhe.
We don't talk about that.
Um, but she basically gets herstart on Justin tv, but eventually
we do see her move to YouTube.
Mm-hmm.

(04:44):
And she starts doing some very, uh, offthe Times sketch comedy videos with, it
looks like her coworker in an office.
Very unremarkable.
But she is someone who, unlike some ofthe other people we will cover, has kept
up all her early videos on her channel.
You have to respect it.

(05:04):
I love it.
Yeah.
Out of personal interest,we need these early videos
for actual, like if we're talkingfrom a, from a historical perspective,
like we do it, it's so important tostill have those early videos up.
There are some people that we are aimingto cover on the podcast, but it's actually
kind of challenging because a lot of theirearly videos, for one reason or another.
Are just completelyscrubbed from the internet.

(05:27):
Not completely.
Well, primarily
the reason I would say is thatthe content within them has, uh,
aged really poorly aged
in it's been very poor taste.
Yeah.
Given today's, uh, acceptablemedia, you know, acceptable
or it's expression in media.
Yeah.
Or
I think it's the kind of thing where maybein that time people didn't think that they
would gain certain levels of popularityor that internet footprint would exist.

(05:49):
'cause it's like the two thousands.
Um, and obviously we've come tolearn that it does totally exist.
So maybe that's why.
But um, yeah, I just need toher credit all her early con,
actually no, that's not true.
Some content has been removed, which we'lltalk about, but a lot of her early content
on her main channel is all still there.
I think we first up address.

(06:13):
The elephant in the room in terms of IJustine's place in the tech review sphere.
'cause per her name, she does doa lot of content about not just
Apple, but technology in general.
Yes.
She does
tech reviews.
Yes.
It's a big part of herchannel even from the start.
Yes.
She's always covered mainlyApple products, but she does go
on to do other products as well.

(06:34):
She is a, a blonde at the beginning of hercareer, 20 something white American woman.
Mm-hmm.
And as we even see from videos of her atconferences and other mainstream events,
tech media does not look like this at all.
No.
Like your average technologyjournalist is like a 40-year-old

(06:54):
man with a goatee wearing a shortsleeve button down and cargo shorts.
Yeah.
No, totally.
So, so she's, she stands out.
Yes.
I think it calls to mind for both of us.
Both of us have an interest in.
Video games, surprisingly, we have otherinterests outside of, um, YouTube history.
Me and I, Justine, we are so
alike.

(07:15):
Me and I, Justine girlreal recognizes real.
But I think for both of us, it kind ofreminded us of that era of, not that
we're gonna talk about Gamergate on thepodcast, but like games journalism and how
women were treated in the games industry.
And often I would say malignedand treated quite poorly, um, and

(07:37):
sexualized and treated a certain way.
And you couldn't, we can't, we couldn'treally like see a lot of it as we were
going through the playlist, but I couldsee it in the comments of her early videos
in how it's a lot of male commenters.
It's a lot of people not reallyacknowledging the content of the video,
but just saying that she's really pretty.
Mm-hmm.
And things like that.
So.

(07:57):
I guess it was just somethingthat we saw, like over the course
of her channel, but we wanted toaddress upfront because I think it,
it will be a consistent theme.
It's a consistent
theme.
Yeah.
Um, something that I think at times,and like, I don't, I don't know, I'm
not Justine, but like, I, I think attimes she sort of plays into that and at
times she kind of steers away from it.

(08:17):
It's, it's an interesting, I guess,element of her career and I think
something we need to acknowledgethat affects how her con, like
how her content is perceived.
Um, especially like publicly, there'ssome stuff, but we'll touch on
that as we kind of go through it.
Yeah.
Well, after this early phase of generalskip based playing around on YouTube

(08:41):
with my camera sort of vibe, which
can I just say Yeah.
To our listeners, all of, a lot ofearly YouTubers do kind of just do.
Sketch comedy, like littleshort comedy videos.
And Max was asking like, canwe do an early YouTuber who
isn't like a comedy YouTuber?
Like can we have a quickbreak from the comedy?
'cause it's been obviously a lotof like similar kind of content.

(09:02):
And I was like, yeah, sure.
So I picked I Justine knowing kindof the trajectory of her channel.
Um, but it was funny in thoseearly videos because you were like,
wait, is this just the same again?
Which yeah, I don't know.
Speaks to maybe.
Yeah.
Well I was kind of grateful when she didstart introducing the tech content, which
is very Apple focused at the beginning.
Well, we're talking like earlyiPhone actually the first iPhone.

(09:26):
Yeah.
There's a video where she sees
the first iPhone in person
and she is, uh, very excitedabout the Apple products to a
degree where I'm not sure whatjournalistic value I Justine has.
And it's a bit like, are we,uh, just an Apple fan or.

(09:47):
Are we a, a tech reviewer?
Because her bio and the positioningof the channel is that she is,
uh, a reviewer, quote unquote.
But I would struggle to, um, suggest yougo watch her videos if you want an actual
honest opinion of what the new iPhone is.
She Okay.
I think I'm familiar with the differencebetween an unboxing versus a review, but

(10:12):
in my mind, and you know, again, there'sa lot of videos on I Justine's channel,
probably some of the most so far thatwe've been through maybe Bath Smosh.
Um, but unboxing contentis a valid kind of content.
It's like meant to be more,I think, fun, exciting.
It's less critical.
It's just the fun of unboxing something.

(10:33):
You know, the unwrapping presentson Christmas Day kind of vibe that.
Sort of thing, but yeah, there'snot a lot of, there's not a lot of
reviewing going on in those videos.
No.
They're pretty unc No, she's soy
facing at the iPhone.
She's making like, love style videos,worshiping Steve Jobs, which will Yes.
End very poorly.
Well,
only a few years later.

(10:54):
But she's broadly, um, coming across as,uh, an enthusiast for Apple Products.
, . She's not coming across like CNET Woodwhen they cover the iPhone launch.
Yeah.
She's very much just beinglike, oh my gosh, it's here.
I'm so excited.
Oh my gosh.
You know, like, open the box.
Oh my gosh, here it is.
It's very like, like that kind of vibe.

(11:15):
Yeah.
I Justine's first brush withvirality is a YouTube video
called My 300 page iPhone bill.
Yes, and it is relating to at thetime of the initial iPhone launch.
At and t still build everyone accordingto say you use like one kilobyte of

(11:36):
data, that's a line on your phone bill.
Mm. And so at the time, once everyonegot iPhones and had, you know, access
to their emails and their web browseron their phone, for the first time
people got these iPhone bills, whichwere literally hundreds of pages with
every single piece of data used, logged.
Mm-hmm.
So I, Justine did a video where it'sbasically her opening this bill from

(11:59):
at and t, which is 300 pages long.
And this video sort of went viral at thetime, given many people were reporting
something similar, but she was presumablythe first person to put that into video.
Yeah.
And then it's like newsoutlets can run with it.
Mm-hmm.
You can email it to your friends.
It sort of, she became a catchallfor this thing that everyone was

(12:20):
experiencing with the iPhone andit even got its own Wikipedia page.
Yes.
And led to in part at and t some dayslater being like, uh, guys, we are
revisiting how we do paper billing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But she got invited on likelocal news shows at the time.
Yeah.
Like doing interviews.
So I think this was her first,maybe, maybe not her first brush.

(12:42):
'cause she was, you know, on TVand doing other sort of traditional
media esque things at the time.
But I think it was Justine's firstmaybe moment where she was in
her capacity as a tech YouTuber.
Yes.
Talking to like as, asa subject matter expert.
Yeah, it's actuallyreally quite impressive.
Mm-hmm.
To have a YouTube videowith a Wikipedia article.

(13:05):
Yeah.
That isn't for a negativereason, essentially.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, for sure.
Do you wanna talk abouther presentation style,
like how she presents hervideos or what in particular?
No.
How she
personally otes.
Oh, her delivery.
Yeah.
So the way she presents herself isvery overexcited to the point where

(13:27):
me not being super familiar withher content or only familiar with
like certain videos, which we'lltalk about later in collaborations.
I kind of thought it wasmaybe like a character.
It's very like heightened, which is veryearly YouTube, I would say, like think
of the people we've looked at so far.
No one's really playinglike a normal person.
But it's weird in the contextof like, I guess unboxing or

(13:48):
review content because you don't.
Like she's doing like a real unboxing,but she's not acting super normal.
No.
I would say the thing that she most bringsto mind for me is d from the TV show.
It's always sunny in Philadelphia.
No, really?
Yes.

(14:08):
No.
In terms of the exaggerated, uh,physical element of her presentation, she
No.
Really?
Yeah.
What?
Just blonde woman from Pennsylvania.
It's more, we will get into it, but thecr, it's Philadelphia cringe different,
the cringe element, which is presentfor a lot of this channel's duration.

(14:30):
Yeah.
Through time.
I would say it reminds me moreof like early, like Tumblr vibes.
I dunno how to put it.
There's like a level of justlike I've seen other early
YouTubers who act like this, but.
Not in this context, if that makes sense.
Like if, if they're doing it moreof like a, as like a sketch or

(14:51):
as a bit I'm used to it, but notin this like unboxing an iPhone.
That's why it's con a little confusingto me as a viewer because it feels
like a character, but she's tryingto match, I would say, what the,
the vibe of YouTube was at the time.
But it's just a different kind of content.
So it's a bit of a mix.
I think it
also, it's the applicationof it to like tech reviews.

(15:13):
Mm. Where when you see this type ofexaggeration in a, like a comedy video.
Mm. Like the previous creators,your like spectrum of normal
expression is a lot wider.
Yeah.
'cause you are aware that likethey're playing a character.
Yeah, totally.
But when you see someone doing thislike in real life in the Apple store,
that's where the disconnect comes in.

(15:33):
It's a very overexcited, I would say.
Persona.
I don't know how else wecan really describe it.
It's just, and like I think thesoy facing was probably a good, I
feel it feels mean to say that, butit, it is very like, oh my gosh.
It's kind of, I don't know.
You don't wanna be like, chill girl.
It's just an iPhone.
But as an Android user,that is maybe how I feel

(15:54):
i, Justine does mix the techreview content with some of the
traditional comedy style videos that.
The channel sort of started with,but also is very much the in vogue
style of YouTube video at the time.
Very much reminiscent of the twocreators, Niger and Mosh that we

(16:15):
covered in that she does a series ofmusic parodies, which do you have a
favorite music parody of I Justine.
Ooh.
Um, what's the one where she's like,oh, the, the Black Eye Peas one, where
she's like, tonight's gonna be a profilepic night or something like that.
I'll in, I'll insert a clip of the, Igot a feeling parody just so that when

(16:38):
we talk about it, you guys have, uh, sortof an understanding of how bad it is.

(17:07):
So that was, uh, the, I gota feeling parody love and
that's diva.
I honestly, the series oforiginal music parodies that.
She does on this channel.
I think was until this point, the newlow for the bar in terms of quality
of video we've watched in this series.
I, there's something about the early iJustine content, which correct me if I'm

(17:30):
wrong, but I do think I remember turningto you and being like, is this rage pate?
Like, because it's just so, there'sthe combination of all the things and
I think, you know, maybe it is justlike the combination as well of like,
I think how I, Justine was sort ofbeing perceived at the time, but I
was a bit like, is she doing this tolike, cause people to like be mad at
her because it's like literally makingcontent, being like me when I'm a woman.

(17:54):
Love my iPhone, love my Starbucks, lovemy taking picture of my like, like love
taking selfie of meself at the club.
Like, do you know what I mean?
Like it felt very like, but I waslike, but I, Justine, you're not.
I think having now watched 15years of her, we can safely say
I, Justine is not a character.
Yeah.
Because there has been discussionabout whether it is a character crazy.

(18:14):
Yes.
But she's remained doing it for so longand it has gotten more chill over time.
Mm-hmm.
But I do sincerely think thatNo, this is obviously she's
exaggerated because she's on camera.
Yeah.
But I do think this is a fair record.
Sorry.
This is a fair reflection of how sheactually is in day-to-day life and
she's doing these things sincerely.

(18:36):
It is a parody video,so she is having fun.
Yeah, no, of course.
But
yeah, it it, but you
don't think she was like makingthe video being like, people
are gonna think this is bad.
You think she was making it being like,
it's funny.
I'm, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hmm.
But yeah, it is painful.
And these comedy videos broadly,um, they are incredibly cringe.

(19:01):
I think they've come backaround now to be in camp.
They,
they're definitely the, now
they're camp the
music videos.
Yes.
Yes.
'cause they.
Have like the autotune aestheticthat's sort of invoked now.
Oh yeah.
We
talked about the production value.
Like they're really,like, they sound empty.
Like, 'cause its like she's just, it is so
like the, the, the resolution of the audioand like where they get like the fake Well

(19:22):
production, we know, like, they get likethe, the, they get the karaoke version
of the instrumental of the Kesher song.
We
know, we know that she's an Applequeen, we know she's got garage band.
She is recording three audio tracks.
And I know because I've done this for, forlike ironic music stuff in my own videos.
She's recording three versions ofherself, maybe one or two takes

(19:43):
and she's like, yep, that's it.
And that's the how she's done it and Ikind of respect it like the She Wolf one.
Mm-hmm.
The audio on that was so cursedand horrendous that it, I think
it has come back around to beingcamped doing the green screen of her
like dancing quite like awkwardly.
Do you not think it's, I thinkit's come round to being, but

(20:04):
I definitely agree and it,I wanted to watch them all.
But there are the ones that I'mgonna read to you like how to
eat a burger and I want a pizza.
Yeah.
Oh
yeah.
The comedy videos, yeah.
Yeah.
I think
are so unfunny.
There's like the argument that it'santi humor, but that is absolutely not
the intent of I Justine at the time.

(20:25):
Part of me wants to believe that sheknew that they weren't funny when
she made them and was like, by makingthis unfunny video, I will attract
attention to my channel, just becauseI feel like at this point she's
already had a taste of that like.
Internet backlash, like peoplehating on her that maybe I, I think I
admire you.
This is a very charitable interpretationthough, as we've seen from I Justine, when

(20:48):
she talks on some more serious topics.
I don't think that level of depth Oh yeah.
Is present yet.
We'll
get there.
We'll get there.
I wanted to
shout out, and this meanssomething to you, that she is
also included in the Carls Jr.
Portobello Mushroom Portella Mushroomburger campaign, and she has her own
version on the Portobello mushroom ad.
Yes.
Viewers who listened to our RyanHager episode would note that I

(21:12):
think we briefly talked about,did we talk about in that episode?
I feel like we did, or at least Ryantalked about it, that he got backlash
for doing a Carls Jr PortobelloMushroom campaign, because that
was like maybe one of the firstiterations of YouTube advertising.
Mm-hmm.
And all of the creators all had to makea video about the Portobello mushroom
burger at Carls Jr. I don't know,there's something so funny about it.

(21:33):
This kind of stuff tickles me.
It's giving advertisingmajor at, uh, university.
Haha.
I love advertising.
Don.
I, they
got usage rights to that fora significant period of time.
They kind of got in early onsome of the biggest creators.
But the, the controversy wasthat all of these YouTubers
all said yes to this campaign.
But then for some reason, and advertisersstill do this today, and it boggles me why

(21:55):
they do this, but they were like, everyoneneeds to upload it on the same day.
So suddenly imagine 2007, 2008, you'llsubscribe to all these top YouTubers
and your subscription box just getsflooded with like 10 videos about the
Colors JR. And Portello Mushroom Burger.
That's
advertising baby.
It's crazy work.
And everyone was like mad because.
Why are all my videos this weekabout the Porto Be Mushroom Burger?

(22:18):
And also I think that was prelike advertising disclosure,
so it's like not clear.
So it just seems like they'reall randomly making videos about
the Porto Be Mushroom Burger.
You can only say it, its full name.
It's only funny if you say theCarl Jr. Porto Mushroom Burger.
Anyway,
it's not all cringe, althoughwe'll certainly return to it
because there are some seriesthat Justine sets up, like Ask ij.

(22:40):
Oh, which I'll play the theme songnow 'cause we both agree that it
a banger, it's actually a banger.

(23:04):
but ask IJ for all the setupoften only involves her answering
one question from a viewer.
Again, this is camp.
Yeah, I don't, you know, it's givingCarly Kloss, spoiler, Carly Kloss
looking Camp Ryan in the eye vibes.
Like at the time she doesn't knowthat this is about to be camp
and that's what makes it camp.
So good.
And also we have Tech Tuesday,which is still running.

(23:27):
Wow.
Present day spoilers.
Hi, Justine.
Still active where she'll dolike a summation of like what
the tech news of the day is.
Hmm.
Good for, we love a, we love a segment,we love a long running segment.
It shows longevity and it showsthe pillars of the channel.
Yeah.
But at this point, she is uploadingand she's a very prolific uploader.
So we go back and forth betweenthis tech review stuff and the more

(23:49):
planned to go viral skit comedy stuff.
Mm. So I wanted to discuss theseries of where it's, I'll call
it dancing in Public Places.
Wow.
Uh, at the beginning it's primarilydancing in the Apple store, and
the first one we saw of this.
And we'll include an image, but I,I physically was recoiling on the

(24:12):
sofa because it was so cringe-worthy.
Yeah.
This kind of content is, Ithink, tough for you to watch.
This is like your least, I think this isthe most cringe-worthy type of content
to you is like doing stuff in public.
I'll
set it up.
She goes into the Apple store,doesn't appear she has any sort of
permissions releases with anyone there.
Mm. And she goes up to one of thecomputer, I'm assuming s sorry,

(24:36):
one of the Macs, she's recording onthe Mac store, I'm assuming it's one of
the laptops they have set up on the sortof, you know, the Apple tables and she
goes into eye photo or whatever it wascalled, and hits record and then backs up.
She's also playing music from iTunes, youknow, loud blaring in the Apple store.
Mm. And she starts dancing in the store.

(24:56):
And all of the customers aroundher, all the Apple staff are
looking at her and I believe she'swearing some sort of costume, right.
Or like a onesie or something.
I think in later ones she's wearing aonesie, but I think in earlier video
she's just wearing, wearing like avery of the time girly pop outfit.
Yeah.
I don't if, but she's
dancing and playing the music and they'relooking at her and it's like the, the

(25:18):
video goes for four minutes, but atsome point the song ends and so she
has to go back in, push play again onthe song, and then go back to dancing.
And it is, it's a real tough watch.
Yeah.
The, I further reference, this is where Ithink I became aware of I, Justine, like
when someone said to me, I, Justine atthe time when I was like 15 years old,

(25:40):
whatever, as a YouTube watcher, if youtold me about I, Justine, I'd be like
the girl who dances in the Apple store.
Mm. That's how I knew of her think this
probably did a lot of damage to theperception of YouTubers as creators.
Aw.
Outside of YouTube, because.
It's like when you think of someone beingannoying vlogging in a public place.
Mm. There's probably no moreannoying place to do that than a

(26:01):
full airplane, which is one of thevideos in this series where I, Justine
starts at the front of the planeand dances the entire length of it.
Where while all of the passengers inthe plane are just sitting there and
you wonder like, did she tell the flightattendants to she was gonna do this?
Did the airline agree to it?

(26:22):
Yeah.
Did all the passengers get toldyou can't leave your seats?
'cause we have this woman dancing.
Did they sign releases?
Yeah, just, it raises so many questions.
I
think this is the first video that wehave come across in this podcast journey
where the question of like filming inpublic and consent comes into play,
which is something I have pretty,pretty strong feelings about actually.

(26:45):
I personally think it'sreally uncomfortable.
As a YouTuber to film in public.
Um, especially filming in a publicplace where like other people are
around you because it's like theydidn't they, it to me it's giving,
they didn't consent to that video.
Maybe they did, but can youimagine just being on it?
Like, I don't even, like whenI'm in the gym and someone's

(27:07):
like recording themselves in thegym and I'm in the background.
'cause I'm like, I didn't consent to this.
Yeah.
This is like not,
and the plane is not actuallyreally a public space.
Everyone's paying it forthe ticket to be there.
Yeah, everyone's, yeah.
Same as the gym.
You're paying a membership.
Yeah.
Like if you're on thestreet, I think it's a lot.
Uh, yeah.
If you are, it's quite different.
Maybe if
you're at, like, for example, if you arelike vlogging at Disneyland and people
are like in the background, I think.

(27:29):
Okay.
This is just my personal view.
I think if you are vlogging and someoneis in the video in the background,
but if they're in indistinguishable,like you couldn't tell who that
person is, I think it's okay.
But when you see YouTubers, and we'll seethis going forward, when you see people
vlogging and it's like them filmingthemselves in public and there's someone
right behind them who's like maybe notaware that they're being filmed or even

(27:49):
worse is a way that they're being filmedand looks clearly uncomfortable or
annoyed about it, I think you should blurthem or you should not use that clip.
That's just me.
Maybe I'm a bit too strict or like that.
That's just my personal policy, butI it, sorry, I, it's an ick for me,
I think this plane video especiallybecause you, everyone identifies

(28:10):
with being the person in the plane.
Sitting in the plane after it's landedand you're waiting to stand up and
imagining worst case scenario, youget told you cannot disembark because
I think it's mid flight.
You reckon?
Yeah, because it's like, it'slike they've said we tend this,
but this is the whole thing.
We, we don't know
this.
So context, like worst case scenario,I'm stuck while this lady dances down

(28:33):
the length of the plane and I can'tsee my family 'cause of I Justine.
Like it would be so rage and juicing.
The
concept of just beinglike you're traveling.
I also feel like traveling is, when youlook the most shit, you're the most tired.
You are probably the mostlikely to be a bit grumpy.
And then you're just like, oh, can youimagine just being like, oh, I just
can't wait to get home and see my family.
It's been a really long week.
Like the flight's been delayed andthey're like, excuse me everyone.

(28:57):
We have famous YouTuber I,Justine, who's going to perform.
And then they're all sittingthere and you can tell also so
many of them look so begrudged.
Yep.
It's painful.
Painful.
And you, I actually have footage ofthis, I don't know, full inserted
or not, but you actually have tearsin your eyes watching this video
because I think it caused you suchpsychic damage and secondhand cringe.

(29:18):
Um.
Yeah, it was, it was a tough, wouldyou say this is the toughest watch?
This was the toughest watch.
Mm. So not your favorite video?
No, definitely not.
There is a series of videos sortof along this line at very much
like, uh, reaching for virality.
Mm. The planking Mockumentary.
Yeah.
The Har Shake, uh, effort.

(29:40):
She does a wisdom tooth vlog,which is something that you have
said is a common YouTube trope.
I think.
Yeah.
I would say if you could do likea YouTube tropes website, the
Wisdom Tooth vlog is a trope.
Um, I think there are lots of things,'cause it's like, I feel like most people
have to get their wisdom teeth out atone point or another in their lives.
And so you're gonna be, you know, alittle, a little zonked out afterwards.

(30:03):
Um, are you aware ofDavid after the dentist?
No.
Crazy.
Who's
David?
A child.
Okay.
It's a famous, not, not a creator.
No's just a kid.
It's just a child.
Okay.
It's this famous viral videocalled David After the Dentist.
Yes.
Where it's a kid.
Like Charlie
bit my finger kind of, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Where it's like a kid afterthe dentist and he's like

(30:23):
zonked out and he's like, rah.
And he's like talking ab, he's sayingweird things 'cause he's zonked.
Um, so it's, a lot of YouTubers wouldthen record after their wisdom teeth
also because I think it's like asurgery you get when you are in your
late teens, early twenties typically.
So YouTuber age, I think.
Yeah.
It's a trope.
Um, but yeah, I justmean she loves a trend.

(30:43):
She loves to hop on a little viral moment.
Harlem Shake.
Did we mention that?
Yep.
Yeah.
So not always successfully theHarlem Shake one, she just does
alone, which is crazy work.
Um, I guess a fun take on the trend.
But yeah, she, she traces a viral moment,which I think is, it just shows that
she does have like a business sense.
Mm-hmm.
Like she knows what she's doing, which iswhy I, that's, which is why I'm partially

(31:07):
convinced that she did it for rage bait.
Some of those earlier videos,
I don't wanna go too far intoit, but there is a perception
even among the YouTube communityat the time that she is cringe.
And this came up in her Reddit, aMA, where someone asked her about
the Shane Dawson iJustine game.

(31:27):
And I didn't know what this was,so we both did some digging.
Yeah.
And the game, you
saw your first Shane Dawson clip.
Yeah.
He seems to have deletedeverything relating to this.
And you kind of understand why.
'cause the game is basically, youtake one of the I Justine like parody
videos and you mute that audio.
Mm. And then you play think like someincredibly explicit hip hop song.

(31:49):
Yeah.
And you play that and it's almostlike you, you just laugh 'cause you're
like, oh, she's like, you know, she'sso hot, but she's dancing like a
stripper to this promiscuous song.
Well, she's dancing oftenquite goof and silly.
Like she's not dancingseriously, she's doing parody.
Like, you know.
Yeah.
Fake club dancing.
So yeah, it does feel a bit, um.
It feels a bit mean it, I think it

(32:10):
kind of,
it's like of the time, yeah,humor where it's like, ha ha.
It's funny because she's dancing to asong that she's not dancing to and I think
it's important to acknowledge, even inan early video, which we didn't touch on
'cause it's like nothing really happens.
But she vlogs meeting up withPhilip DeFranco, who, you don't
know who that is, but at thetime his username was sexy Phil.
And they meet up and he referencesthat sheet like that he swears or

(32:34):
he goes to swear or something andhe's like, oh, but I can't because
you are pg, you're family friendly.
So she's very much considered to belike a pg, family friendly, commercially
friendly creator, which I think isvery much her brand a hundred percent
from the inception to really, like evenin doing like a parody music video,
she's never doing anything really that.

(32:56):
Non brand friendly or like No.
Potentially controversial comparedto maybe some of the other
creators we've talked about.
Look, it pays off
for her in a big way.
Yeah.
'cause later on the commercialopportunities that she gets, mm-hmm.
It definitely is a case wherethey're like, well we can't
partner with a YouTuber who haslike skeletons in their closet.
And you could look at I Justine'scloset and you're like, I don't think
girl ever did anything, blah blah.
Yeah.
The most

(33:16):
thing she, the, the most problematicthing that she did was like,
be a bit cringe on an airplane.
And that's like, not really.
Yeah.
No one's getting canceled that no,no one's getting canceled over that.
So she gets some crazy opportunities.
I really delighted in putting someof those, uh, videos on the playlist
for, to pop up to surprise you with.
So those opportunities that she gets.

(33:37):
And believe me, like it's not like we'retalking, she was doing some backyard
events at the time with celebrities.
I don't know, it's literally like,oh, here I am meeting Justin Bieber.
Crazy work.
I think it really does speak to ifyou are one of the first YouTubers who
is, you know, being successful and isbrand friendly, of which I think she

(33:59):
probably was one of like three Yes.
At the time.
Uh, you are gonna get to do a bunchof stuff 'cause they're doing the
press junket and they're like,should we include one of those
YouTubers and who are you gonna pick?
I just did.
Yeah.
And obviously like the producerslook at her and they're like
25 something blonde girl.
Like we are gonna have no dramas here.
Yeah.
Like, she is not gonna be,uh, disrupting the media.

(34:22):
Uh, event with like anysort of wild behavior.
Yeah.
Like this is the safest pick if wewanna have some YouTube representation.
And
I actually really wanna give Justinecredit here because I think it's here
where I started to notice, because shedoes this persona in her videos, which
is very like, oh my gosh, the iPhone.
Like, it's very like over the top.
But as soon as she is like ina professional capacity, like

(34:42):
she's at an industry event,she's interviewing Justin Bieber.
She is so media trained down.
Mm. Like she's a media professional.
Yes.
She gets in there and she'sjust like, thank you so much
for meeting with me, Justin.
I really, you know, congrat it,it's so professional and it, I
don't wanna be like, she's, I don'twanna say she's acting her age.
'cause I don't think that'slike a really appropriate,
like she code switches.
She code
switches.

(35:02):
Yeah.
According to
what context she's in.
Yeah.
And you can see it even in like.
When she's vlogging versus when she's,I just steaming, like we were talking
about how, oh, this video is so mucheasier to watch because she is coming
at it such a, being like a normal
person.
Yeah.
Such a
conversational way rather than the likeI'm sawing out because of iPhone five.

(35:23):
Yeah, no, so she meets Justin Bieber.
She meets Joel Mikhale.
Oh, she goes to a filming
I some context.
I used to watch The Soup, which waslike a Joel McHale E show where he would
comment on the reality TV of the time.
This is probably like 2008, 2011.

(35:44):
Is it
pre or post Tosh.
Point.
Oh.
Post Tosh Point.
Oh, right.
I,
I'm not a Tosh fan, so I can't really say
Daniel Tosh tm.
No, I, I didn't reallyever watch Tosh Point.
Oh.
But I know it's like important to,you know, bringing the internet
culture into the mainstream, right?
Yeah.
But yeah, it's like that.
But she talks to John McHale, whoyou would assume would roast her as a

(36:04):
YouTuber, but even he is like literallywon over by her earnestness and is
kind of like on his best behavior.
Yeah.
Um, and I thought thatwas quite endearing.
But I, Justine goes on to do a whole bunchof work with mainstream media events.
She is commonly like apresenter at award shows.

(36:26):
Yeah.
Can you remind me, what'sthe YouTuber award show?
The Streamy.
The Streamy?
Yeah.
Yeah.
What, what's the deal with the Streamy
Look?
The streamy are, I think I wasexplaining it to you before because I
was like, it's important for YouTubersbecause it's the only YouTube.
Awards.
What's the Webbys then?

(36:46):
That is like internet.
I don't know.
I, I've never heard.
Yeah, okay.
Of a YouTuber being like,guys, I'm going to the Webbys.
I mean, maybe they do, but likethe Streamy were, especially in
like the 2010s were very much likeif you're a YouTuber and you're
gonna win an award, it's streams.
But also like people criticize thestreamy for not being particularly
serious or for being a bit, I don'twanna say rigged, but like why did, there

(37:08):
are certain times where people win andyou're like, why did that person win
a streamy when like this other personis exists and is way more popular?
So I think it's a bit like the GoldenGlobes in that regard, in that it's.
Important.
Yeah.
But it's not that serious.
Well, yeah.
Ultimately, like it's nice towin, but if I have 5 million views
and you have 1 million views,I'm the real winner, I think.

(37:31):
Yeah.
But I think it is, it's a usefulreference for me in putting these
videos together in terms of like whowas popular at the time or who was in
like, I guess the commercial zeitgeist.
Well, she loses to Jenna Marbles forthe lifestyle first person content.
No, this is first person.
Okay.
Is this when
she's nominated for like the first time?
It's actually such a confusing categoryname, like first person creator, because

(37:53):
it makes me think like she's filming infirst person rather than she is a first
person, as in I am filming myself, whichwe would basically call a, a vlogger.
Right.
Well,
basically now I think when we talkabout who a successful YouTubers or
like who, like most YouTubers wouldfall under that category if they're

(38:13):
like a, A personality creator.
Yeah.
But.
Because at the time I thinkthey were separating into like
YouTubers who made like a show.
Mm. So like a tech YouTuber or afood YouTuber or like whatever.
This is how they categorized it.
But yeah, it's a weird categoryand they do away with it
like only a year or so later.
Yeah.
And it's kind of interesting 'causewe do, she does position herself

(38:34):
as a, a tech creator, but thestreamers were like, no, no, girl.
Your, your
lifestyle.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, a hundred percent.
Which she does go on to winfor Lifestyle Creator in 2015.
But yeah, I, Justine alsooften presents at these awards.
Again, she's just a consummateprofessional and you can see it when
she's paired up with other creatorswho just don't know how to, not

(38:55):
like how to do something in personas opposed to like filming a video
and cutting it together like she's.
A professional woman on live tv.
But my personal favorite I Justinepresentation is when she's, is it
E three or is it the Game Awards?
She honestly goes to both.
I think she goes
to both and presents at both.
She, so she's doing like, she's onthe show floor at E three, which is,

(39:18):
it used to be sort of the annual.
Press conference slash industryshowcase for the games industry mm-hmm.
That they held in America.
RIP, but then she also presentsat the Game Awards, which is sort
of the successor event to E three.
Mm-hmm.
Organized by Jeff Keeley.
Yeah.
Commonly referred to as our key three.

(39:38):
Yeah.
Big fans in this household.
Um, where Big Jeff, Jeff Keeley stands?
Yeah, a hundred percent.
We should do a, a JeffKeeley episode at some point.
I
don't know.
Does is he a
YouTuber?
He's involved in like G four and that.
Yeah.
We'll see.
We'll see.
But she, we can, can't shoehorn
him in
all this to say that shegets so much red carpet work.
I was like, is she like theAmelia Dims of the 2010s?

(40:00):
Yeah.
Where she has a successfulYouTube like, uh, presence.
But she parlays that into assumedly.
She really enjoys doing this typeof like, she's really good at it.
Yeah, she's
really good at it.
She's so like a consummate professional.
Um, it does come with a bit of a jumpscare with one of them because she
co-present an award with Boogie 2 9 8 8who you don't know anything about Boogie?

(40:23):
No.
That'll be an episode.
When I saw him, I thought he was a guycalled Boogie, but when I asked myself
how I knew that I, I'm completely blank.
Like I dunno anything about him.
Yeah.
I think it's becauseyou've told me about him.
Yeah.
I have, but I haven't.
But you've not retained anythat, but I've chosen not to
remember what the whole deal is.
That's a
good choice.
But she also goes on all of these.

(40:45):
Real scripted televisionshows in guest roles.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm talking Law and OrderSV Leigh, which she does play a
16-year-old, which is kind of crazy.
But anyway, also CriminalMinds, vampire Diaries.
She's like guest starring Yeah.
In commercial television.
Mm-hmm.
And I think that does speak to herappearance in that she is a pretty,

(41:09):
you know, at this, she's reallypretty 20 to 30 something woman.
And if you can get someone likethat and they have a huge internet
following, it's like the castingagents are like, this is like
a no brainer.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Like we are winning on promotion.
We are winning on, we don't haveto pay an actress presumably.
So it's a great thing for themto include her for exposure.

(41:30):
Yes.
And she's speaking of TV shows thatshe's on, she's also on a YouTube TV
show called Escape the Night, which Iknow quite a bit about, but you do not.
No, I, we watched the, like a,a bit of the first episode, the
first step I actually was basicallylike, is this the traders?
Yeah.
It actually kind of is like proto traders.
Yeah.

(41:50):
In terms of the aesthetic and the vibe.
'cause it's very, like, it'svery styled in a particular
way to have a bit of like a
spooky cludo Mao.
So the Traders for Reference guys isa, is a reality TV show where there's
a UK and US version, but it's basicallya group of contestants play mafia.
Which is the game where someone issecretly the maa, they're trying to

(42:11):
eliminate other players while the playersvote to try and eliminate the mafia.
Yeah.
And
there's some like mini games inbetween where they do things.
So Escape The Night is basically likethat it is created and hosted by Joey gfa.
Do you know?
Nope.
No.
Uh, and so I, Justine is a characteror a player in season one of that show,
but YouTube original Is that, didYouTube put money towards this stuff?

(42:34):
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
So this was like YouTube, Brett?
Yes.
And then it became YouTube originals.
Okay.
On YouTube Red and then they killed,which then became YouTube premium.
Yeah.
So they killed it.
Um, so that YouTube would put like,would work with creators again,
other brand friendly safe creators.
Yeah.
To make TV shows.
Um, do you know about any of theother shows that YouTube read made?
Uh, yes.

(42:55):
Cobra Kai.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cobra Kai.
Do you, do you, do you want meto spoil other YouTubers who,
no, no, no, no, no.
Alright.
Honestly, I think the fact that Iknow about Cobra Kai is because it was
good enough that Netflix bought it.
Yeah.
And I think it's pretty telling that.
It seems the other showsdidn't have a similar f
Yeah.
You can tell that the thinningdidn't get picked up by Netflix.

(43:17):
And listeners who know will know.
But we'll get to that eventually.
I, Justine is doingcollaborations at this point.
Mm-hmm.
She's in the YouTube read shows.
Mm-hmm.
But there's also some notable YouTubersand celebrities that appear in her videos.
Yes.
I have a note here about Rosanna Panino.
Mm-hmm.
Who I'm aware of given her publicfeud with Mr. Beat in the present day.

(43:42):
But when she.
Appeared in these videos.
I, I hadn't seen her stuffbefore and I was like, oh, okay.
This is the baking lady.
Yeah.
Nerdy Mies.
I don't think that's a spoiler.
'cause that was the name of her channel.
But I, as a teenager, like middleschooler, whenever it was, I was a big
Rosanna Panino, nerdy Mies watcher.
I was subscribed.
And that was actually probably myprimary, uh, time that I would watch.

(44:07):
I, Justine was in theircollaboration videos.
'cause I'd wanna watch more of Rosanna.
Yeah.
And then I, Justine was also there.
That sounds so mean, but it's true.
Like, I was watching for Sannaand she was like, guys, today
I, Justine is in the video.
And I was like, I guess Sure.
I
Justine also did her own baking content.
Yeah.
Which we watched some of.
And honestly it's not, it was horrific.
It's not my type of cooking contentbecause, and again, again, I'm like

(44:30):
convinced that she knows that it's bad.
Mm.
Like it the peanut butter and jellyvideo where she's like making a peanut
butter jelly sandwich in a blender.
And it's like she just dumpsstuff into a blender and it like,
then she puts it inside like abread that she's hollowed out.
Yeah.
And it's like sopping everywhereand it's like disgusting.
I know.
That was like kind of a thing atthe time is like making, like doing

(44:53):
stupid stuff, but it just felt reallylike, like why are we doing this?
It's just so
the, it's so weird to pivot fromlike, here's the newest iPhone, why
you buy to like that stuff, whichis a whole different sec of YouTube.
Yeah.
She really, but she, yeah,
switches between content.
Well
like we said, also appearing on the redcarpet and interviewing Hollywood actors.

(45:18):
This David contains multitudes.
We can't say that she's onedimensional 'cause she makes so
much different kinds of content.
Um, I don't know if it's like acase, but it's weird because we
were like, this content is worse, orlike, this content is not very good.
But there was a period whereher, like baking content or her
cooking content was getting likethe most views on her channel.
So she's sort of like following.
Success.
The YouTube trends?

(45:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or just like, this is what'sdoing well for me right now.
I should keep making it.
Which it's pretty.
Did that reflect broaderinterest in baking on YouTube?
There was an interest in bakingon YouTube and I think that's also
why she and Rosanna collaborated.
'cause Rosanna was like the baking queen.
Is that why you liked baking?
Uh, no.
I liked baking prior to that, butit was kind of like around the time.

(45:58):
Alright, just checking.
Yeah.
Well it's around the time wherebaking content, like cupcake
wars and like all those TV showslike Cake Boss were popular.
So Yeah.
So
I've actually seen afair bit of Cake Boss.
Yeah, because it was on in my house.
Yes.
I have a lot of affinityfor the Cake boss.
Oh, you do?
So I think he maybe Buddy Vetro.
So let's, did he get
canceled?
I think his fact check out.

(46:18):
Think did his hand getcrushed in like a mixer?
Um, anyway, honestly adifferent topic, but,
but baking was in thezeitgeist, I would say.
I liked baking.
And then Sanna, and we're not gonnago in depth 'cause we'll do an episode
on her, but her content was like.
Baking content, but itwas like nerd themed.

(46:39):
So, and it does, so it does make sensefor the crossover between the two.
It's not like a weird collaboration.
Justine makes tech and like nerd quoteunquote nerd content and does baking,
Rosanna makes nerd themed baking content.
Yep.
Natural crossover.
And those videos, I think are some ofJustine's highest viewed on her channel.
So she really does benefitfrom that collaboration.

(47:01):
I wanted to talk briefly about I,Justine and her political videos.
Yeah.
Which there are not many.
No, but it does showcase, Ithink her growth over time.
Actually, funnily enough, soin 2012 she posts a video.
About the, then Obama, theRomney election in the US mm-hmm.

(47:24):
And she does it before the election,so we thought perhaps this would
be like an endorsement video orshe'd talk about her viewpoints.
But she very much instead iscoming at it from a, politics is
so annoying guys, why does everyoneget so caught up in politics?
I just don't get it.
It's, well, I think, and then
she does a straw poll beinglike, who are you voting for?

(47:46):
I'll do a video follow up
in her defense.
A super mild defense.
'cause I was watching this video withmy mouth slightly aga because I was a
bit like, to this point, and a lot ofYouTubers who are family friendly and
brand friendly choose to not engagewith political content of any kind.
Mm. To which at this point,I, Justine had never done it.
A lot of other YouTubers, like we've seenthem make like political ish content or

(48:09):
like comment on politics at this point.
I, Justine had like never done it.
She'd never made like a, a Hillaryparody music video or whatever.
Yeah.
She'd never done it.
And this video was herbasically just being like.
I think it's annoying when peopleon Facebook argue about politics.
I think that was the thing.
She was like, we shouldn't be fighting.
We should just all be nice to each other.
She
also expressly was like, I think it'sreally annoying when people complain

(48:32):
about politics, but don't vote.
Yeah.
Fair.
Just to close off the straw pollit actually, quite interestingly,
her audience was, I believe57% female and 43% male.
Mm-hmm.
Which is a pretty close gender split.
I, Justine has, I said, I think she'sgone and said her audience was primarily

(48:53):
12 to 18-year-old women at this point.
Mm-hmm.
So.
There is a substantial maleaudience there as well.
Maybe it's 'cause it's a politicalvideo, not her normal content, but
her audience voted, I believe 75%for Obama and 25% for Mitt Romney.
Something like that.
Yeah.
That was a split.
Yeah.
Interesting to get a little peekat her, not her analytics, but her

(49:15):
audience breakdown at that time.
A good insight.
Yeah.
But she, that's not the end ofher political journey on YouTube.
No, because by 2016 she posted avideo where she, this video is crazy.
She said that she had just voted for thefirst time, which is very interesting.

(49:37):
And we pray like, like slaygirl go give us growth.
But she only four years ago wasgoing, how annoying is it when
people, uh, don't vote to becoming,I'm a first time voter in 2016.
Well, to be
fair, her criticism was that shethinks that it's annoying when people.
Like complain about politics butdon't like, but also don't vote.

(49:59):
Yeah.
So they can't, you're not allowedto complain if you don't vote.
Which to be fair, she's not complainingbecause as, as it is revealed.
Yeah.
She didn't vote in that election.
She didn't vote for Obamaor Mitt Romney, which
Yeah.
She wasn't complaining about politics.
She was complaining about peoplecomplaining about politics.
Yeah.
So she had to get outta jail free.
Yeah.
Fair.
But so then in this, is it the 2016 video?

(50:20):
Yeah.
She reveals that she isgoing to vote for Hillary.
Yes.
Uh, which obviously it'sthe Hillary Trump election.
Uh, so it's her first time votingever and she's, it's, it's quite,
I think it's a bit endearing.
There is a part of me that's like, okay,so you made like money off political slash
election themed content and then, but likeyou yourself are actually not political.

(50:45):
Um, it's giving, you know what it'sgiving, it's giving Taylor Swift Go vote.
I, Justine is a big swifty.
Yeah.
That's revealed and that does make sense.
Yeah.
She loves it, does make sense.
Loves Taylor Swift and Call of Judy,which is, if she wasn't, look, I
think you could be like, she's beinginsincere by liking the most popular

(51:05):
thing amongst her male fans and the mostpopular thing amongst her female fans.
But I think what we know of Justine, I dothink she sincerely just likes this stuff.
I mean, it's hard to say shelikes the things that most
people like, but her favorite
movie, transformers?

(51:25):
Uh, no,
but she, but literally like she'llsay, there was a video where she was
like, here are all my favorite things.
And she was like, Starbucks.
Lululemon Taylor Swift.
I was like, this is cr, thisis giving like marketing 1 0 1.
Make a consumer, make a misogynisticconsumer profile of a woman.
Um, and I don't, no, but it's like a white20, white, 30 something American coastal.

(51:46):
It's literally
those memes.
And you wouldn't have seen them 'causethey were like, on Tumblr, but it was
like, I'm not like the other girls.
And it's like the other girl's likememe template would be like, I, Justine
and her interests, which is crazy work.
I think like her basicness,quote unquote, is actually one
of the pillars of her popularity.
Mm. Because much like we talked about withRyan's episode, when you come across as

(52:10):
something that is appropriate to like thishuge demographic of people, that is like a
pathway to get millions of YouTube views.
Yeah.
Because everyone can relate toyou and no one is put off by what
you are creating, essentially.
Yeah.
But it does, I guess, make me have someempathy for her because you can kind of

(52:32):
see it in her comments and you can kindof see it through like the Reddit a MA
stuff where she is very much like madefun of, where I do think because of this
aspect of her, which is like completelyvalid and completely fine and completely
normal, that it made it easy for herto be misogynistically like maligned.
Yes.
Like people would just be like,she's a basic, you know, woman.

(52:54):
I
think we are both in agreement that ifyou are not a political creator, that
it is not necessarily required for youto make political content because you
are not maybe equipped to have thosediscussions and you open yourself up.
Especially now, especially in America,like the climate around discussing

(53:17):
these things is so hostile andwhen she already feels all of this
abuse for basically being a woman.
A woman in tech and gaming space.
Yeah.
Who just like thatreally likes her coffee.
Like from 15 years ago it was at likezero up votes, which means it was
more heavily down voted than upvoted.
Basically, most of her responses were downvoted, and I believe the top response was

(53:40):
something like, your videos used to get500,000 views and now they get 200,000.
You haven't had a viralvideo in 18 months.
Why does everyone hate you?
Mm. Which is like,
and also some of the comments didsuggest that she should just like
give up and do like adult content.
Yeah, there is, yeah.
If you go on the, our cringesubreddit, I think she has quite a

(54:01):
few videos on there, which fairlyposted as we've discussed there.
Cringe.
Mm. But it's, I think pretty tellinghow the cultural commentary around like
the way people create her creative Yeah.
Yeah.
Is different to just,oh, this video is cringe.
'cause it's cringe.
Yeah.
There's a lot of people being like,she should stop making this cringe
content and start making adult content.

(54:23):
Yeah.
Or she should just not wear clothesin these videos and they wouldn't
be like one of, actually, sorry.
One of the
top comments on the ama, which sheresponded to, she responded to a lot.
Like, it's actually crazyhow thick skin she is.
She was
so like polite in thoseresponses, but they're
like, what YouTuber doyou wanna have sex with?
And she's like, Jenna Marbles.
And everyone's like, oh, I wouldpay so much money for this.

(54:46):
Yeah.
Ooh.
Uh, yeah.
So it's, it's quite icky andI'm glad that, I don't think
people have to do that anymore.
Yeah.
But anyway, she post 2016, and I think wesee this from her content holistically.
There is a toning down of the earlier IJustine iss Mm. She approaches everything

(55:07):
with a, a slightly more serious tone.
Yeah.
Albeit she's still avery engaging presenter.
Mm-hmm.
And she is not ascautious with her opinion.
Mm-hmm.
And she is a bit more comfortable,I think, given she's now been
a creator for like, 15 years.
Yeah.
With being, uh, a bit more candid.
And I think we both actually, afterstruggling with those early year

(55:29):
videos, it actually is almost likewe didn't become Stockholm Syndrome,
but we generally were like actuallyquite enjoying the back half of stuff.
And we're like, I, Justine iskind of like just kind of an icon.
Yeah, there was, I think, Idon't know which video it was,
but there was like a vlog.
She did, I can't remember which oneit was, but there's a vlog and I

(55:51):
was like, this is a good, oh, it wasthe lining up for the Apple store.
Yeah.
To be the first in linefor the iPhone video.
Yeah, iPhone five.
iPhone five, yeah.
Something like that.
Something around
there.
And she is just, it'sjust a really good vlog.
It has like a nice narrativerunning through it.
It's like her being pretty normal, likestill obviously engaging and charismatic,
like as you do need to be if you area YouTuber and making content about

(56:14):
like sitting in a line for three days.
But she's very like, yeah, theearnestness and she's very optimistic
and I think that her positivity issomething that people really speak
to about what they like about her.
So she's always very upbeat, whichI think speaks also to why she
was, uh, hesitant to speak aboutpolitics or anything more serious.
She doesn't actually do it that often.

(56:35):
I think she's only done itlike a couple of times over the
course of like her whole channel.
But I think those little bits ofseriousness and genuine maybe moments
that are a bit more down, uh, workwell for her because she's not.
Yeah.
Well we both caught onto, unlike someother creators we watched, I, Justine
doesn't seem to ever come on and say,guys, I'm so burnt out of YouTube.

(57:00):
Yeah.
Guys, I can't do it anymore.
Like, guys, this is just my job.
There is no suggestion.
And given she's still active today, Idon't think there has been any suggestion
that she is like taking on being aYouTuber as some great creative burden.
Mm. It seems like she doesactually enjoy being a YouTuber.
She probably has things in placeto manage her workload so she

(57:22):
doesn't burn out like that.
Yeah.
But it's at, it's kind of a downer.
I imagine if you are a fan of acreator and they're posting videos
where they're expressly like.
Your fandom and demand for me tomake content make my life worse.
Yeah.
She never does that.
I think she always expressed like,and I think it's really tough

(57:43):
because I don't think it's totallyunfair for YouTubers to be like, I
don't love doing this all the time.
Or like, I'm struggling with comingon this channel and turning up like
I always have, like I think there'sfairness in that, but there is also
an element of like, you don't have to,and I think an audience that really
does respect and love a creator,although it can be really sad when a

(58:05):
creator chooses to stop making content.
I think most audiences, if they dofeel like that genuine parasocial
relationship with YouTube would ratherthem stop or pursue a different interest.
If that means not having content,which they know they don't like
making, 'cause that there's a kindof a yucky taste in everyone's mouth.
I think,
yeah, it's a case where I thinkthat I, Justine has the ability to.

(58:30):
Like we said, she has a thick skin,but she also recognizes that, and
we see this in the series whereshe'll watch her old videos.
Mm. And also watch thosevideos be MeMed on TikTok.
Mm-hmm.
Where people are like ironicallybeing like, slay I, Justine,
queen of rap to her parody videos.

(58:50):
And I think a lot of peoplecouldn't handle that level of, yeah.
Not criticism, but thatengagement with their content.
But she is just so like,haha, this is funny.
Yeah.
Like, haha.
Wow.
This is like so embarrassing.
Yeah.
Even she, there is a I Justine,and you'll be better at place
to describe this than me.
Her makeup style in the two thousands Oh

(59:13):
yeah.
Is, yeah.
Just give us some contextof, so what she looks like.
Well,
We can cut this if you want, but whenI was showing you some of the earlier
videos, I was sort of talking about.
I, Justine is really pretty.
That's just my opinion.
I think she's a veryconventionally attractive woman.
I sound like such a redpill in saying that she's a
conventionally attractive female.

(59:34):
Uh, but in the earlier videos, shedoes have like tadpole eyebrows.
She does the full around the eye eyeliner.
It's very like two thousands esque makeup.
Uh, and I think I was sortof like, she's really pretty.
And you were like, but the, the, Ithink you were maybe like not connecting
with that sentiment maybe as far the

(59:55):
tadpole eyebrows.
I think I like they'retruly a relic of that era.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, and I think that I was a bit like,I, I think it was like, well, it's more
like she is the, the hottest teacherat school vibes because she's like
the only, oh my god, woman doing thistype of YouTube content at that time.

(01:00:16):
Mm. But I think therewas a period around, say.
When she's doing these sort ofmainstream red carpet roles,
it's giving a makeup artist was like,can I do your eyebrows differently
for this v like for this event?
And she was like, sure.
And then suddenly you were like, wow.
We were, yeah.
It like
clicked where I, wewere watching so silly.
And she had like normaleyebrows and normal eye makeup.

(01:00:38):
Like she also, her hair, even hersister comments on watching the old
videos, she's like, oh, your hairis like so much nicer now girl.
She has like seen
kids like hair, which is very like choppy.
And then it changes to just beinglike, I don't know, a nice, your
classic cup with some nice long layers.
And she looks stunning.
Yeah, she definitely, it's a case whereshe, I think gets to sort of moving to la

(01:01:04):
working with these professionals, beingsomeone who's on camera all the time.
Yeah.
She becomes a lot more comfortable with.
What looks work best for her.
Mm. And we don't see a lotof change through the back
half of her video catalog.
But yeah, I was fully like, wow.
She is actually very pretty.
Like that Apple I toldyou from the beginning.

(01:01:25):
Yeah.
Where she's wearing likevery minimal makeup.
I was like, wow, this is like, and Ithink it was the, the full eye makeup.
Yeah.
Previously, which just scared me.
You, you were trying to pinpoint what it
was that like prevented you.
I think it's giving likeface blindness vibes.
'cause I was like, she's, youwere like, has she had work done?
She looks so different.
And I was like, no, she'salways looked like that.
She just used to have different makeup

(01:01:47):
and also now the power of makeup.
Yeah.
Now she's 40 but shestill looks like so good.
Yeah.
And
not
that I feel like now we are giving thepeople on Reddi being like, she's so hot.
You should just make it like,not that it's the most important.
I think we can, we're allowed toboth acknowledge that she is very
pretty and that is part of thereason she has been a success.

(01:02:10):
Yeah, I think, well, yeah, it, andwe've already talked about it, but it
does play into the, um, we were kind ofcommenting that she sort of reminds us a
bit of like the, the IGN Daily Fix Girls.
Yes.
Like that having like a reallyconventionally attractive woman talk
about tech and like gaming news.
And those women are qualified,are smart, are capable.

(01:02:33):
I'm a big Alana Pierce fan, um, who wasan IG n Deli fix girl, but is also so
much more than just a ig n Deli fix girls.
But those types of like the, when theyget like pigeonholed is that type of
creator, that type of person personality.
They do just become the subject ofhate and criticism and misogyny.

(01:02:53):
And so a hundred percent.
Yeah.
So I think to try and summarize whywe are commenting on this, 'cause it's
not like we've really talked about theappearance of a lot of other YouTubers.
I mean, I think we touched on it a bitthat, you know, a lot of YouTubers are
conventionally attractive to a degree.
It's kind of telling that she does acollaboration with Carly Kloss mm-hmm.
And is on screen with her.

(01:03:14):
And it is not a case of where you'relike, wow, this woman is so out of
place with this other worldly beauty.
Like
with a Victoria's Secret model.
Exactly.
Yeah.
No,
admittedly, Kylie Kloss,I'd learned this watching.
This is six foot two.
She's a giant Tess.
I, I didn't really know, I'd never reallyseen her outside of, I think next to
Taylor Swift, who's also quite tall.

(01:03:36):
Yeah.
So I didn't put it together.
But yeah, she is very tall.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but I a hundred percent like onthe point about women in these spaces
and the criticism that they endure.
I'm thinking of like Olivia Mu whocame up a similar time on G four
and now married to John Malini.
Good for her.
Mm. But you also have people like JessicaChobot, something similar, like they all,

(01:04:01):
I think, come from the historical useof things like Booth Babes at E three.
Yeah.
Where you have women who arescantily clad, giving out your game.
Yeah.
Because that's what they thoughtwould attract the male audience.
People can't conceptualize thatthese women could genuinely be,
have an interest in video gamesor technology and understand it.

(01:04:22):
Like, I mean, hey and not to say that Iam on the level of I, Justine, because.
Face card never declines.
I, Justine, we love her.
But being someone who also in likethe mid two thousands or like early
2010s, I was into video games.
I was into like, quoteunquote nerdy interests.
Um, like I used to go to magic, thegathering card tournaments and people

(01:04:44):
would be like, oh, I'll teach you howto play, even though I'd already been
playing at tournaments for like a while.
Like, so I'm not, and I've also playedonline video games and quit playing
online video games with voice chat.
Remember our Overwatch era?
So like being someone like I Justinehaving millions of views and being
invited to industry events withNintendo and Apple, and then people,

(01:05:04):
you know, saying she's like a fakegamer or she doesn't know what she's
talking about or like whatever it,I have so much respect for her.
Like that would be sodisheartening and really difficult.
And she has persisted.
She's still making techcontent to this day.
So shout out to I Justine.
'cause it's not, it's not easy.
I think she would've had a hardertime than some of the other

(01:05:26):
creators we've talked about so far
to bring I Justine to a close.
I did wanna talk about what wethink her primary legacy is.
Do you think it is the sort of.
Parody slash original contentthat made her one of the biggest

(01:05:47):
YouTube stars of that time?
Or do you think in hindsight she was sortof a pioneer for women in niche interests,
like hobbyist creators on YouTube?
Or do you think it'sa combination of both?
That is a tough one.
I think that her legacy is very much tiedto her iconic username in that she is

(01:06:13):
someone who went from being a big fan ofa company and then through the commercial
success of her YouTube channel and herhard work and perseverance over the
years, she's a consummate professional.
She's now welcomed into the foldat Apple and was moderating a
panel with Tim Cook, Tim Apple.
Tim Apple, Mr. Apple.

(01:06:34):
So I think it more so says something abouthow, I don't know, believe in your dreams.
Yeah.
I'm curious if you talk to someonewho is YouTube literate and said,
I, Justine, what do you think?
What do you think they would refer to?
The Apple girl.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think so.

(01:06:54):
That's how I, I mean, I'm YouTubeliterate and I was not a big I Justine
watcher, like I was seeing a lotof this content for the first time.
But I had seen some of it,like I'd seen the dancing in
the Apple store, I'd seen the.
Like I was aware of what she did.
I would say, yeah, she's the,she's the girl who really likes
Apple products and is very brandsafe, brand commercially friendly.
I think that's maybe why she didn'tmake a massive impact on me personally

(01:07:17):
at the time that she was really popularbecause it's just, I spoilers everyone.
I'm not an Apple user.
I'm a Samsung slash Android user,so I didn't, I didn't have that same
cult-like interest in the products.
I think there's probably a time,uh, when I was in middle school
where I actually thought it wasincredibly cringe to be an Apple user.
I wasn't like me when I'm an Androiduser, but we were getting there.

(01:07:40):
I think we both on board with itbeing very cr You have an iPhone
to be a product Stan, like neitherof us are going to stand a company.
No, probably not.
And make
that the, one of the, like thepillars of our online presence.
But I mean, Samsung,
But what was yourfavorite I Justine Video.

(01:08:01):
Do you have one?
That is a great question.
I would have to say I think the Applevlog because it represented for us
sort of the embrace of the late eraI, Justine, and we appreciated, she
was actually bringing some vlogginginsight to the process of lining

(01:08:21):
up for an an iPhone, which I don'tthink people do anymore by the way.
I think you just pre-order online.
No.
Yeah.
Like she camped out for two days in anopen air mall in la which I, the climate
is not that bad, but I was like, girl,where are you going to the bathroom?
Why are you doing that?
I actually would agree.
I think that was my favorite video.
Um, and I think what.

(01:08:42):
Makes it my favorite.
And our favorite is that ittakes, I think, the best parts
of her early content, which wefound a bit of a tough watch.
Like she just genuinely lovesand is excited by the concept of
a new iPhone, which couldn't beme, but I, I have to respect it.
And that, I think vlog is like thebest execution of balancing that

(01:09:04):
earlier true passion, but minus alot of the, a lot of the cringe.
I know, I know.
We have these peoplecomplaining about burnout.
Imagine having to beexcited by like iPhone 18.
Like you've literally seen them releasethe phone 18 times and you're still
there being like, I love you Tim Apple.
I love this phone.
Yeah.

(01:09:25):
She definitely tones down theexcitement in even like recent reviews.
She's still reviewing iPhones, she's stillreviewing tech stuff, but it's definitely
just a lot more, I would say, measured.
Um, and less.
One noteworthy thing I did want totouch on is that even though she had
all this opportunity in mainstream mediathrough her career, mm. And I think

(01:09:47):
she would've been so well positionedto leave her YouTube behind her Mm.
A La Troy Sivan, who we saw at that,
the stream streaming award.
Yeah.
And giving the speech whereshe seemed so much more
composed and put togetherthan he did at the time.
She still, I think, isprimarily a YouTube creator.

(01:10:09):
Mm-hmm.
Like I know she has a podcast.
Mm-hmm.
But it does seem that.
Her main source of income and creativepassion is making YouTube videos.
Yeah.
Have to respect.
Maybe she should becalled YouTube Justine.
Anyway, um, with that, Lucy, whatare you subscribing to this week?

(01:10:31):
I am subscribing to nice dinners.
Paid for you by other people?
Mm. You wanna give some insight?
Yeah.
Some context
insight into that.
Yeah.
So we recently went to a very nicedinner at a very nice restaurant
here in Sydney called Altar.
Um, and it was a gift fromMax's parents slash family.
For shout out.

(01:10:52):
Shout out.
Shout out to my family.
Shout out.
Shout out to my family.
It was a gift from your familyto us for Christmas slash
would you say our anniversary?
Would you say it's like acombined No, I don't think it was.
No, just Christmas.
I think it was primarily Christmas.
Yeah.
Okay.
Sorry, I'll take it back.
Um, but we went and did that this, uh,last Friday night and it was very nice.
We don't go for nice meals very often.

(01:11:12):
Um, and it's so much nicer whenyou don't pay for it as well.
Yeah.
For some context it waslike a digger station.
So it was 15 courses.
Yes.
Um, we do eat out on
occasions.
Some,
you know,
a few times a month I would say.
Yeah.
But this is, yeah, it's on a
different level.

(01:11:32):
Way better, on a way bigger and moreformal level than we would frequent.
This
is easily the fanciestmeal we've ever had.
Yes.
Together.
So it was a really lovely experienceand the food was really good and yeah.
Do you see more finedining in your future?
Lemme just say it's not forlack of enthusiasm that I am

(01:11:53):
not doing more fine dining.
It is more, uh, out offiscal responsibility.
Agreed.
But it's something that Ithink it was just really lovely
experience and it's something Iwould do again, but not too often.
'cause otherwise it takesthe, the magical away.
But yeah, a
hundred percent,
that was my thing.
And it was just a nice,a nice date with you.

(01:12:14):
Spoiler alert to anyone.
People who don't know we're dating.
Max, what are yousubscribing to this week?
This week I am subscribingto Summer House.
No, on Bravo.
Summer House is a reality TV showwhere I. A group of New Yorkers.

(01:12:36):
Mm-hmm.
Each weekend for the summer drive toa house in the Hamptons and party,
which is a very low key premise.
And I was recommended this showowing to an interview with one of
the new cast members West Wilson.
And it was something way outside mywheelhouse when I suggested we watch it.

(01:12:58):
You've seen a few Bravo shows.
Yeah.
I watched some Real Housewivesand things like that.
Um, and I'd tried to get you to watchpreviously or to join me on the couch,
but you had no interest, so I was shockedwhen you suggested we watch Summer House.
A Bravo show.
Yeah.
I think the Real Housewives franchise,it seems very conflict oriented.

(01:13:20):
There's a lot of fighting and Ifind it quite a stressful watch
Uhhuh,
but I think Summer House iscomparatively much more low key.
Are you
serious?
There's so much fighting in Summer House,
but there's never really any stakes to it.
Like it doesn't ever feel likethey're fighting about, like
things that matter or they're likemaking a scene in a restaurant
because they're just at the house.

(01:13:42):
Like, there's no
babe.
Are you, I just stain theReal Housewives right now.
What does that mean?
Are you, are you treating them differentlybecause it's all, it's all women.
What if it was the real househusbands of Beverly Hills?
Would you say that it'ssuper conflict driven?
I think that if you rated everythingaccording to Conflict Housewives does.
Yeah.
Okay.
To be fair.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because there's people onSummer House who are not really

(01:14:03):
involved in conflict at all.
I suppose there's like OnHousewives, look, honestly,
the show is a lot more low key.
Um, but it is a good hangout show andit is just, maybe, maybe it's the edit.
I don't know.
It has some special sourcewhere I, it's crazy.
Have gonna get into it.
Unlike other reality TV shows,

(01:14:23):
you get more excited about a new episodeof Summer House coming out than I do.
Like you are like.
Lucy Summer House is out.
Like, let's go and youget the couch all ready.
Uh, and I find it, I mean, for me,you know, I could equally subscribe
to Summer House this week becauseI like having little date nights
with you, watching Summer House.
I think it's very cute how excitedyou get about Summer House.

(01:14:45):
I think it's, it's like a
throwback to earlier reality TVshows where there's not like this
huge, um, production and likeintricate elaborate activities
that the people are doing on it.
They're literally just at the house.
It's not a scripted, andthey might go scripted, I
think maybe is what you are, becauseHousewives does have like, I would

(01:15:05):
say very scripted storylines.
Like there's a lot of it where you'relike, this has been preplanned, but Summer
House doesn't really feel like that.
I'm sure it is to a degree.
But yeah, it's very, very good.
So if you haven't seen Summer Houseand you like other reality tv or
even if you don't, 'cause clearly youweren't a big fan, maybe give it a try.

(01:15:27):
All right.
That concludes episodefour of rewind time.
I, Justine, Lucy, thankyou for joining me.
That's okay.
If you have any thoughts or feelingsabout I, Justine, please email them
to us at rewind time [e-mail] orleave a comment on the YouTube video.

(01:15:51):
Because I wanna say thank you again.
This is the second episode we're recordingafter the podcast has officially come out.
So for everyone who has beenwatching and subscribing and
commenting, we really appreciate it.
If you are enjoying the podcast so far,it would really help support the pod.
If you did leave a review on thepodcast platform of your choice,

(01:16:11):
uh, or obviously like the video.
Et cetera, et cetera.
You, you all know what to do, okay?
You all know what to do to give us a hand.
Um, but, so if you do wanna support thepod, that is the best way to do it other
than obviously viewing and listening,which you have been doing so big.
Thank you to you for that.
And with that, thank you forlistening, and we'll see you next week.
Bye.