{"id":566662,"date":"2026-03-27T00:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566662\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T00:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:18:08","slug":"the-internet-has-seen-me-at-my-best-and-my-worst-meet-jojo-australias-asmr-superstar-podcasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566662\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The internet has seen me at my best and my worst\u2019: meet Jojo, Australia\u2019s ASMR superstar | Podcasts"},"content":{"rendered":"

It would be crass for Jonah Singer to reveal what he makes from being a YouTube content creator, but he will show Guardian Australia his new $100,000 mic. The 5128-C is a head and torso simulator<\/a> (a half-manikin fitted with ear mics, capable of binaural recording); he\u2019s named it Alex, after a Minecraft character. It lives in his beautiful studio (part of his larger studio and office complex) in Sydney\u2019s inner west. Yes, the 27-year-old is doing all right.<\/p>\n

As \u201cJojo<\/a>\u201d, Singer specialises in ASMR: autonomous sensory meridian response. It\u2019s the tingly, relaxed sensation that some people get when exposed to \u201ctriggers\u201d such as whispering, rustling and mouth noises.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to estimate how many creators exist, but according to YouTube, in 2022 alone, ASMR generated 90bn views<\/a>. Going by comment sections, the content is particularly popular with people suffering insomnia and anxiety. With the creators talking directly to camera, the effect is of receiving gentle personal attention \u2013 without any of the usual fears of intimacy kicking in.<\/p>\n

Singer started watching ASMR content at a young age, and making his own as a teen. \u201cI got flak when I started making it \u2026 My friends would play my videos in class and that was so embarrassing,\u201d he says. He hid his hobby from his parents \u2013 until he started making money. \u201cI was like, \u2018Dad, I got $1,000 from YouTube<\/a>.\u2019 \u2018For what?\u2019 \u2018OK, hear me out, there\u2019s this thing called ASMR.\u2019 He was like, \u2018Are you doing drugs?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I got flak when I started making it \u2026 My friends would play my videos in class and that was so embarrassing.\u2019 Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The earliest ASMR channels appeared on YouTube in 2009. Singer was inspired by Russian-American Maria Viktorovna, who launched Gentlewhispering ASMR<\/a> in 2011. Since then, creators \u2013 or \u201cASMRtists\u201d \u2013 have mined their imaginations for where to take the phenomenon. Role play can be extremely inventive (some content makers are clearly aspiring actors), such as that of American creator Jaden Aliana and her very specific scenarios (see: The sister that landed you in jail comes to visit you<\/a>); and the sets are sometimes surprisingly extravagant \u2013 like the period designs of French creator Diane, AKA Moonlight Cottage<\/a>. But you\u2019ll also find well-appreciated lo-fi options, such as someone doing a walk-through of their village in South Africa<\/a>, or filming tribal hair binding in India<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Singer\u2019s ASMR videos are aimed at relaxation, utilising his huge collection of props kept in drawers \u2013 pet toys, stress toys, whirly tubes and wooden odds and ends that he uses to make wood soup<\/a>. By piggy-backing on popular social media search terms, he generates staggering figures \u2013 as with his video Do You Have ADHD?<\/a>, which has had 12.7m views. (Apparently if you see one particular prop five times in the video, you do.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

His work is also characterised by its playfulness. In one Instagram reel, titled I Will Guess Your Name<\/a> (also 12.7m views), Singer says the viewer owes him $5 if theirs is one of the names he whispers \u2013 guaranteeing interaction in the comments. He\u2019s taken cues from the stunt style of YouTube megastar MrBeast, including making a video of himself donating money to smaller creators<\/a>. He also utilised the platform Cameo to pay celebrities to make ASMR, such as Hank from Breaking Bad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His forensic understanding of what makes a video take off has made him an ASMR superstar; in fact, he may well be the biggest ASMRtist in the world \u2013 at the time of writing he has 5.17 million YouTube subscribers to American creator Gibi\u2019s 5.2 million, but outdoes her by 4 million on TikTok. (The water becomes muddier if you include the South Korean trend of mukbang, the preparation and very audible eating of food, the star of which is Zach Choi<\/a>, with 33.5 million subscribers on YouTube.)<\/p>\n

Singer makes his money from AdSense, merchandise, brand deals and now an agency, White Noise, for other creators. His latest move is podcasting: this month, he launches ASMR Garden, in which he\u2019ll combine his usual content with interviews with non-ASMR guests (Canadian rapper bbno$ is on the lineup).<\/p>\n

He avoids the burnout that social media creators experience by not putting out the same kind of content every day, which suits his ADHD brain\u2019s need for novelty. \u201cThe creative sandbox is limitless,\u201d he says. \u201cUnless I\u2019m interested in something, I just can\u2019t retain or absorb the information, and I had that trouble in school. I\u2019m an all-in person, which has contributed a lot to our success \u2013 by taking these huge risks and putting some skin in the game and creating a company.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The creative sandbox is limitless.\u2019 Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever seen Singer\u2019s videos you might mistake his accent as American. He grew up in Sydney\u2019s eastern suburbs to a Japanese mother and an Australian father (the actor Ritchie Singer) \u2013 but was practically raised by American YouTubers. Or, as he says, \u201cYouToobers\u201d.<\/p>\n

While his mother hoped he\u2019d become a concert pianist or music teacher \u2013 Singer attended the Sydney Conservatorium of Music high school \u2013 he moved straight into content creation. First was a YouTube channel about Super Mario, when he was seven. Then, at the age of 12, the channel The Magic Weenies with his friend Ronan Collins (now the creative head of White Noise), which specialised in card trick tutorials. Next, a gaming channel focusing on Minecraft, followed by a somewhat dark era, when he joined the commentary genre, making videos dissing other creators.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the consequences of growing up on the internet is that your digital footprint is there for ever, and so the internet has seen me at my best and frankly at my worst,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was toxic for my mind and soul. If you make videos about other people, you\u2019re setting yourself up for failure because what goes around comes around and it\u2019s bad PR for the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2016 he decided to kill off that persona and move into ASMR \u2013 a radical 180 that copped him some flak on Twitter and at school. He didn\u2019t tell his girlfriend, Joanne, what he was doing for the first six months. Now she is his business partner. In fact, his five-strong staff are all from his school days. And yet, if Australia\u2019s social media ban had been in place when he was in his teens \u2013 and this blows his mind \u2013 \u201cI would never have existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

ASMR Garden with Jojo<\/a> is out on YouTube on 27 March, produced by MIK Studio<\/p>\n