Chatting About... | Valentines' Day + YouTube Lover and Some Straight Out Preaching

"It’s Valentines’ Day a day to be happy when you have a bae / a day to feel crappy when you have no bae."

          Merrell Twins (2016)


It’s Valentines Day - that time of year you either have a ‘bae’ (I hate that I’m using that term), don’t and don’t care, don’t and celebrating some other way, don’t and pissed off, do and don’t wanna celebrate and my current state - DON’T HAVE A BAE, BUT MY EXCESSIVE SHIPPING REAL-LIFE AND TV COUPLES IS COMING OUT IN A FRANTIC SCREAMING MESS. I’m not like this. Well, I’m not anymore. Well, that’s what I thought. But it’s Valentines Day right now - and my wild shipping is rearing its ugly head right now. 

So, I should probably back up a little bit right? If you don’t know this about me, I am obsessed with these YouTubers called the Merrell Twins - Veronica and Vanessa Merrell. I discovered them through Jane The Virgin, and they are the primary reason I haven’t completely given up watching Youtubers.  It took me awhile, and some shedding of predispositions and assumptions, but eventually I’ve made it back and pretty much watched every single video on their main channel (plus a majority of any videos that include them). To date, they are probably the only YouTubers I’ve done this for.
I fell In love with them because they’re funny - sometimes intentionally, other times by accident, because I love the relationship between the twins, because they are consistent - in terms of posting, in terms of being kind always, being open and honest, sometimes giving us insight that we as viewers are not necessarily entitled to but they will share anyway because they view their viewers as their friends.

I love that they’re college students while balancing full-time work commitments, and I love that I’m almost the same age as me, because they give me goalposts in terms of knowing what I want and trying to do things to achieve it. Sometimes, I’m not nearly as motivated, and it’s become clear to me how hard they worked when they talked about how hard it would be for them to find time to watch all of Friends, because they’ve literally been productive in so many ways that they actually have to carve time out to binge some tv. 

I love that I know so much about them, but it’s fuelled a fire in my desire to know more especially when it comes to their relationships and it all came to a head watching their new series “Where is my Romeo?” on Valentines’ Day.

Recently, I left this comment on Lazyronstudio’s YouTube video about his friendship with Roni:

I'm proud of what I said. I love living vicariously through people’s vlogs, but I want to be respectful.

I don’t want to be one of those people who pushes YouTubers to reveal relationships before they’re ready. I don’t want to leave unnecessary shipping comments - because I loved the Merrell Twins well before their relationships - but well, I’ve lost sight of that control a little bit this Valentines day. Perhaps because of all the categories of people living on valentines day - I sit in the one where I don’t ‘have a Bae’ (hate the phrase, but gotta get that reference to Valentine’s Day Song amiright??) who’s always been a little too invested in the relationships of people I know through the internet, or television. 

This is not an indictment of the people who have already left masses of comments on the videos about impending relationships. It’s my own reminder to myself to remember that while I do ship, this relationship is not mine and the announcements that so many desperately want is not something we are entitled to. It’s a choice, a choice of YouTubers to share. Please let’s never forget that. it's also important that if you happen to have an opinion which may be viewed as disrespectful, have the understanding to say it in a way that doesn't sound like an indictment of people's real life choices. Lilly Singh made an excellent video awhile back how people treat celebrities like they're fair game in terms of gossip - when it's not something you would do about someone you know. Now, more than ever, YouTubers are becoming more intertwined in that celebrity spectrum - which is why sites like GuruGossip thrive. So, I'm not going to remind you that youtubers aren't celebrities. I'm gonna remind you we're all people. Some people have large followings which creates a culture where people start to bond over mutual interests and needs to learn more about said 'celebrity'. Sometimes, that means they can do more than us - but when it comes to their private relationships - they owe us nothing. They can choose to share it - but we need to remind ourselves this information is not something we're entitled to .

Anyways, thanks for reading this super random and incoherent post!

Catch ya soon :)

Emily