Among the comments on ASMR videos, some users suggest role-play scenarios, others invite the YouTubers to undress, but there are also those who admit they genuinely fell asleep wearing their headphones.
Anything that isn't chemical is welcome when it comes to relaxing and sleeping — even if, as in these videos, it edges into fetishism. Between sighs, caresses and the clicking of scissors, ASMR is spreading across YouTube. There are conventions. Role-play scenarios with no sexual undertones. Close-up shots and POV (point of view). Soft-spoken, whispered words. No background music, not even relaxing music. Videos lasting more than twenty minutes. Particularly appreciated is generally the quality of the audio recording, considered fundamental by fans of these videos: it must be stereo (binaural), muffled, and block out external ambient noise. The video titles carefully list the sounds you will hear: the rustle of paper sheets, key clicks, lip smacks, mortar pestles…
The aim is to give you goosebumps by recalling tingling sounds and settings, suavely replicating gentle noises, gestures and titillating situations. Combs and brushes, make-up brushes, spritzers, even the tinkling of hairdressers' scissors are used with slow, suggestive movements. The focus lingers almost fetishistically on details: the sound of a bottle cap being unscrewed, the gurgle of a bottle of Coca-Cola poured into a glass with ice cubes, the tapping of fingernails on cosmetic packaging.
ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. It refers to the pleasant sensation of a gentle shiver, a tingling along the back or shoulders that occurs when one is in a state of complete mental relaxation and is witness to or the object of altruistic attention, experiencing tactile stimuli or, as in these videos, visual and auditory ones. A study published in the journal PeerJ has finally probed the science behind these videos. If you want to try it, headphones are ideal.
Californian performer Nicole Skye, known online as DrPhill Asmr, is undeniably appealing. She whispers even while uncapping and tasting beers, and her manner and look are so gentle that she attracts a female audience; indeed, in many videos she simulates make-up sessions and beauty salon scenarios. There used to be an even more convincing video online in which she addressed the listener with friendly words and hugs, but she has since removed it. In her videos, her dog Cali — a rescue pitbull with uncropped ears — occasionally makes an appearance.
One of the few male ASMR performers, Australian MassageASMR. Here he is in a lengthy session replicating cranial and facial massages, haircuts and various brushing sounds.
This video, in which YouTuber Springbok pretends to be a receptionist and simulates a hotel check-in — typing on a computer keyboard and discussing local amenities in a sweet, accommodating tone — has one and a half million views… and runs for 40 minutes.
Fairy Char (190,000 subscribers) has equipped herself with a very expensive binaural microphone fitted with silicone ears (3Dio Free Space, $500) to record the tapping of her fingers and her gentle sighs.
GentleWhispering is one of the most professional ASMR YouTubers, and here she records a long video that virtually immerses us in facial steaming, with several changes of lighting throughout.
YouTuber Asmrrequests has recently turned to nature, with videos in which she makes soap, tea and gingerbread cakes, and has also recorded videos featuring the clinking of poker chips. Here she pretends to be in a herbalist's shop: role play with mortar and pestle, the rustling of herb bags, blending, crumbling.
WhispersUnicorn (108,000 subscribers) also simulates spa treatments, hairdresser and beautician sessions, records the reading of fairy tales and colouring-in, but goes further still — by attempting ASMR with her own dog, Riley. The first attempt didn't go well, but this time she has pulled it off, without any fuss.
Young Jellibean (110,000 subscribers) has just moved to California but hasn't stopped producing videos. Her most-viewed is actually an audio-only track (400,000 views), but the most beautiful is this one, in which she records every creak of a pencil, every sigh, as she colours in the silhouette of a horse's head. It takes her an hour.
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well," wrote Virginia Woolf. But when is a dish truly "good" — for the Planet that produces it and for the palate of whoever bites into it? You already know our answer: here, on the pages of LifeGate, we have been passionately sharing our natural recipes since 2000. They are simple to make, beautiful to look at and delicious to taste, prepared with organic and seasonal ingredients. Sustainable, as highlighted by our sustainability index, which features in every recipe.