Sometimes it’s a whisper. Sometimes it’s a Cosplay with a personal touch. Content Creator ASMR Shanny is known for creating unique videos that will trigger tingles and help you relax. We talk ASMR, Cosplay, Personal Attention Videos and growing a channel online. Then, we countdown the Top 5 Worst Sounds.
ASMR Shanny: 01:45ish
Pointless: 24:03
Top 5: 37:56ish
http://www.youtube.com/asmrshanny (ASMR Shanny YouTube)
https://www.twitch.tv/asmrshanny (ASMR Shanny Twitch)
https://www.instagram.com/asmrshanny (ASMR Shanny Instagram)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQtEjFgulYY&t=351s (ASMR Shanny: Vi Makes You Her Cupcake)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svnik9tIhXg&t=41s (ASMR Shanny: Trinity Runs Diagnostics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAjCnHUJA0U&t=836s (ASMR Shanny: Vanessa Captures You)
Interview with ASMR Shanny
Nick VinZant 0:11
Hey everybody, welcome to Profoundly Pointless. My name is Nick VinZant. Coming up in this episode, we go inside the world of ASMR and count down the worst sounds.
ASMR Shanny 0:24
And it gives people like a tingling feeling down the back of their head and their neck and stuff. And it's almost like euphoric, and it calms you down, relaxes you helps you sleep, we all kind of have our own little niche, but I have fallen into cosplays. So I typically will do a popular character and take it in an ASMR twist, like, my new video coming out is Trinity from the matrix. And I'm doing like diagnostics when they're stuck in the construct. So like, my, my only regret is that I waited like a year because I was nervous. I didn't get the right equipment and think I'd be good at it. No, there's always going to be someone out there who likes it. And there's always going to be someone out there who doesn't. You can't let the people hold you back.
Nick VinZant 1:05
I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, like download, subscribe, share, leave a review, we really appreciate it really helps us out. So our first guest is a content creator, who specializes in ASMR roleplay videos. Looks like there's some waves.
This is ASMR content creator ASMR. Shani, what is ASMR
ASMR Shanny 1:47
ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. And as far as we know, right now, like half the world's population gets this tingling sensation. And a lot of people just don't, they don't understand it, but they can still find relaxation from it. And it's basically just sounds or visuals or some in some cases, like my channel role plays like someone pretending to cut your hair. And it gives people like a tingling feeling down the back of their head and their neck and stuff. And it's almost like euphoric, and it calms you down relaxes you helps you sleep. A lot of people who watch it have like insomnia, anxiety, depression, PTSD, or some something else is kind of like, weighing on them mentally. And this can help relax you.
Nick VinZant 2:33
How did you get into it?
ASMR Shanny 2:35
It's really cool. Because a lot of people who have it don't realize they've had it like their whole life. Like my earliest memory I have of like getting this feeling. I was in like, second or third grade. And my friend was just like, putting makeup on me. And I thought it was like a normal thing. Like people just were like, oh, yeah, this is a cool feeling. But then I remember when I found it, I was in my basement at my dad's house. I was like 18 years old. And I was watching YouTube. And there was this channel that I don't even think was meant to be an ASMR channel, but it was called Food surgeon. And it was just like this hands like you didn't see the person it was his hands. And he would set up like a whole like, like surgery, like an operating table. And then he would do like little surgery to food. And he returned like an Oreo into a receipt and stuff like that. And it was just it was giving me that feeling. And then from there, I was getting recommended channels. And these recommended channels were ASMR channels. And that's kind of how I found it and realized, Oh, this is like a thing.
Nick VinZant 3:33
Is it something where like you either get it? Or you don't get it? Or do people get into it later? Like, I've got to watch 20 videos, and then I'm going to really understand what's going on?
ASMR Shanny 3:43
That's a good question. I think it's kind of like, that's what they're researching right now. Because a lot of people um, I think it's something that we've had, like I said, our whole lives, we didn't realize it, and then we find it and you kind of get into it right away because you see it and you get the feeling. I think for some people I know there are even some ASMR artists, people who like make content, who don't get the tingling feeling, but they do find relaxation in it. And so for those kinds of people, it'd be like watching it over time. I know that someone commented on one of my videos today that they don't get the feeling but they like watching ASMR because it's a way to interact with like their favorite fictional characters like my channel. I like do role plays based off like characters and animes or shows and stuff. So they like just kind of having that interaction fake interaction. So,
Nick VinZant 4:28
so okay, I'll be really direct about this. And this this I don't want this to come off as judgment of anybody who likes it or anything like that. But I watched it in for me. I was like, Oh, I can't like it. I couldn't handle it. Do you get that responses? Like I can't I can't watch this. I can't watch this.
ASMR Shanny 4:44
Oh, yeah, for sure. So I'm married and my husband is like the same way like he thinks that's super cringy I mean, like, everyone's got their own thing. Like for me, you just because you like ASMR you're not gonna like every video. Like certain people. There's certain we call them triggers. certain triggers you like and certain triggers you don't like my favorite sounds or water sounds. Um, one thing I can't stand is I hate eating sounds. So if someone is eating in a video can't do it, can't do it. But that doesn't mean it doesn't work for somebody else. You just got to find what works for you.
Nick VinZant 5:17
Now, most of the ones that I've seen are on on YouTube, does it something that people have to see at the same time? Or is it just auditory?
ASMR Shanny 5:26
No, it can be auditory or visual. Some people prefer visual some people for auditory, I have a lot of my audios, like my, my video audios on, like what's called Spotify, so people can just listen to it and go to bed. For me, personally, I like role plays, which is like, the only way I can get the feeling is if it's like personal. So it's like, like I said someone cutting my hair or like a doctor examining you. So um, I would need to see the visual, I can't really do just audio, but some people are fine with just sounds, that's the ones you see online or people are like, are like scratching the mic. So it's either or.
Nick VinZant 6:05
That. Yeah, even that it's like Fascinating, right? Yeah. Cuz you don't really listen to things that much like really listened to it?
ASMR Shanny 6:14
Oh, yeah. It's like, you're really just listening to it to zone out when you're doing like the audio stuff. And that's kind of nice when I'm trying to go to bed. And I don't want to focus on like a story or a person. So the audio is kind of nice. And like, like you said, you're not necessarily like really focused on it. It's kind of in the background to relax you.
Nick VinZant 6:30
Me watching it from a complete outsider perspective, right? Is it simply kind of a relaxing thing? Because when I looked at I was like, Okay, this is either something that is relaxing, or is there? Is there a sexual side of it?
ASMR Shanny 6:45
Now, so that is a big question, or like a thing that a lot of us get all the time. So that is, you know, a normal question. But um, no, ASMR is not inherently sexual. Like, it's not meant for, you know, sexual pleasure or anything like that. It's meant to relax people or give people that feeling and make them happy. It's like a euphoric type feeling. It's like anything, anyone anywhere is going to turn something sexual, like, you go to Halloween stores now. And there's like a sexy clown costume or like a sexy ketchup bottle. That's not inherently sexual, but somebody did it. So it's the same thing. There's people out there who are doing NSFW ASMR content. But no, it's not. It's not meant for that. But I mean, you can I guess someone did it. But
Nick VinZant 7:29
right. Yeah, I mean, we've had some adult film stars on this podcast before and one of it like, a guy wanted to watch me eating cheese. Like nobody would think that cheese is a sexual thing. But right how, however you get down, what up,
ASMR Shanny 7:42
and I don't want to diss those people because I have friends who do NSFW ASMR content. So you know, whatever makes anyone happy. But no, yeah, if you ask anyone who does it like on YouTube, it's not meant to be sexual.
Nick VinZant 7:54
There. Is there a lot of people who are into this who are doing it, like how big of an audience are we talking about?
ASMR Shanny 8:02
It's crazy. There's so many more now than what it was when I started. So I found it. Like I said, when I was like 18. And at that point, there wasn't that many people doing it on YouTube. I had like three channels I watched and that was it and shout out to them. It was like GB, ASMR glow, and ASMR magic. And there was a few others like Corona and stuff like that, that I found later. But they're like the real Oh, geez, they've been doing it for years. But when I joined, we call them waves. I was like the third wave of people to start creating on YouTube. And still, there wasn't that many. And now there's so many. There's so many that I find new channels every day
Nick VinZant 8:40
Do do you get pushback? Like do people look at it? who maybe have a different mindset? Like for me, I'm like, Whatever, whatever you want to do, I don't care. Right? Like you're not hurting somebody. Do what makes you happy. But do you get pushback from other people all
ASMR Shanny 8:55
the time, like, I mean, like but just like I like I like I say just like any community out there, there's always pushback about everything. Someone doesn't understand something. And their instinct is to just make fun of or bash people and like you guys are weird. And just let everyone do what they want to do and be happy as long as they're not hurting anybody. Like we're here to help people relax. Like we're helping people with, you know, mental issues such as, like anxiety, we're helping people calm down and sleep. We're not out here to try to make you uncomfortable. So if you don't like it, you know, you don't have to watch it. But you know, there's people out there dissing other communities, you know, people who like anime, so on and so forth. Just let people enjoy. You know,
Nick VinZant 9:30
so like, when you're making one of your videos, are there specific things that like, okay, the ASMR audience wants to hear this. I need to do this.
ASMR Shanny 9:39
Yeah, so um, mine are mainly like roleplay is which is kind of like a situation or like a movie of someone doing something to the viewer. So I have to try to remind myself that it's not always cinematic like I have to include things to make it ASMR such as, like, you know, face touching or like, you know, scratching their head or like anything or like examining them, I have to remember to include those like specific triggers to actually make it an ASMR video
Nick VinZant 10:06
that kind of reminds me of like animal grooming, right? Like,
ASMR Shanny 10:10
there are videos like that where people pretend the viewers like an animal and they groom them, you can find something of everything.
Nick VinZant 10:17
So for like a roleplay video, like what will you do for one of your videos? Like what will you generally do? Do you dress up a certain way? Do you like how does this work?
ASMR Shanny 10:28
So I'm known for my cosplayers. We all kind of have our own little niche, but I have fallen into cosplay, so I typically will do a popular character and take it in an ASMR twist. Like my most recent video that went up. I don't know if you know anything about anime. I don't always do anime, but it just so happens. My last few videos have been like that. So I did Cowboy Bebop, and I did a character named Faye Valentine. And I spun it like because she's a bounty hunter. So the viewer was getting taken in for the bounty and I was like, playing with like coins and stuff like that and making like, you know, relaxing noises that would involve that scenario, as well as my new video coming out is Trinity from the matrix. And I'm doing like diagnostics when they're stuck in the construct.
Nick VinZant 11:13
And real quick, just to give you an idea of what an ASMR roleplay video sounds like, here's a clip from that matrix video. Hello. Good to see you. Oh, well. This this is the construct. Wait a minute, Cowboy Bebop is all that Netflix show wasn't very good. No.
ASMR Shanny 11:44
Anime. Really? Yes, exactly.
Nick VinZant 11:48
They screw that up? Like how did they screw that up so badly?
ASMR Shanny 11:52
Oh, you know, I only researched it a tiny bit about the show. But they were saying that they were trying to take like a daring like, twist or take on it and make it like refreshing and new, I guess. But um, I don't know. I personally liked the old Fe Valentine's character. And that's the one I did.
Nick VinZant 12:09
Well, you get like, for example, like now, when we talk about these videos, like are they? How long are they usually? Are you making just some kind of short form stuff? Are you really kind of stretching this? Like I'm putting this on for? You see those YouTube videos, 10 hours of relaxing music and like who the hell is
ASMR Shanny 12:26
I have no idea who watches those. But it would come in handy if you were sleeping. But know that I think the most I've ever done is an hour and that's stretching it like I never do it that long. My Videos typically average like 20 minutes
Nick VinZant 12:37
for yourself. Would you say that? You're I know, this is a hard question to answer, right? Like, are you pretty typical of an ASMR? Content Creator? Or do you feel like wow, I push this a little bit more. I'm a little bit different in this regard.
ASMR Shanny 12:49
I'd say we're all pretty much in this in the same boat. where I differ is I have a lot of I love horror movies and stuff like that. And like science fiction. So I typically border like the horror genre and like sci fi genre, which is a little bit I think different than a lot of people where they kind of do like the typical just like a hair salon or like a normal medical exam. And I always have like a weird little twist on mine.
Nick VinZant 13:16
Are you ready for some harder slash listener submitted questions?
ASMR Shanny 13:20
Oh, yeah, let's go. Oh, that sounds fun.
Nick VinZant 13:23
What is your favorite sound
ASMR Shanny 13:25
water sounds. So like one of my favorite ASMR artists back in the day. ASMR magic, she has this video where she just set up an umbrella with like a microphone underneath it. And she just did like a bunch of drippy water sounds on it fell asleep instantly. I love that video,
Nick VinZant 13:42
is that mainly what a lot of people are doing like they're just putting it on next to them while they're trying to go to sleep or relax
ASMR Shanny 13:49
that or when I used to get anxiety attacks a lot. I would put it on to call me and distract me,
Nick VinZant 13:54
does it? I mean, could you how like, I don't know, this is overly personal, feel free to skip it. But like, like how quickly would it have an effect on you? We have a feeling an attack coming on. And like I have family members that have a personal history about it. So yeah, you know, seeing those experiences, but like,
ASMR Shanny 14:11
I'd say maybe like five to 10 minutes and after they like get immersed in like a role play or something and then it'll distract me enough and calm me down.
Nick VinZant 14:19
I mean, that's pretty good.
ASMR Shanny 14:20
No, it's for especially for me because I can get really bad ones. So
Nick VinZant 14:26
do you. Is there any concern though, that maybe like, because people have this outlet? That maybe someone with an issue isn't getting? Like isn't going to a perfect? A like a professional medical help or a therapist or something like that?
ASMR Shanny 14:43
I do understand. That is a very good question. No, um, we saw a lot of people. I like to think of us as a way to help people get in the door of that because a lot of people think there's like a taboo about therapy, and we don't a lot of ASM artist highly recommend, you know, going to talk to someone it's helpful. So they, a lot of them see us as like a friend or like someone they can go to. And we all have like discords in our own communities and stuff. And I'll have people come in and they feel comfortable enough to open up to me, and I'll talk to them everything but I remind them, I'm not a professional like that. I'm just you know, I'm someone here that cares about them, willing to listen, and then I always recommend people go find someone to talk to. So we always anyone you can ask anyone does ASMR always recommend people going and finding someone that can help them?
Nick VinZant 15:29
What is your least favorite sound? Eating sounds,
ASMR Shanny 15:32
though, I will say even though I don't like eating sounds, I am a foodie. And I will try anything in the whole world. There's not one food I won't try. So I will occasionally go to one of those eating videos just to watch them eat something weird. And I'll just have to like maybe turn down the sound so I don't hear it.
Nick VinZant 15:51
Like an eating. What did they call that a muck?
ASMR Shanny 15:53
Yeah. So you said it. You don't even do it. And you said it way better than I can ever say it. So I'm very impressed.
Nick VinZant 16:01
We had a professional eater who does them. That's the only reason that I know as Katina eats kilos. And she like that's one of her biggest videos. What is something that you have found that is? That is an unexpected sound like that doesn't make the sound you think it does when you really listen to it?
ASMR Shanny 16:18
Oh, gosh, that's a good question. Something that makes an unexpected sound. You know this thing. It's sitting next to me. I didn't know it was gonna make this sound. So this is a nice glow. It's like meant for like massaging your face. But I don't know if it'll do it in this mic right now. You can't hear it. It's
Nick VinZant 16:38
a little bit it sounded like kind of watery.
ASMR Shanny 16:41
Yeah, it's like a Blub blub Blub blub and you would think but it's like a really cool thing. Like when I do it with a reverb on stream. It sounds like a like some kind of science fiction Mad Doctor like, you know, like medical blub, blub Blub sound. And it's pretty cool. And I didn't know it was gonna do that when I got it. So we were all for it.
Nick VinZant 16:59
That was actually a pretty cool sound. That was kind of Yeah. Oh, yeah. What is your favorite movie? Affect sound?
ASMR Shanny 17:06
Okay, I don't know about movie effects sound but my first time that I ever really got ASMR well, two, there's two. And they were both animated movies when I was like really little. And so it's scenes because I'm not necessarily a sound person. Like I said, I'm more of like a roleplay visual person. But in Toy Story, when the old man is like repainting Woody? And like Dude, I'm talking about when he's like retouching of Woody's paint and like, he's stitching them and stuff in and backup. That was a big one for me that gave me ASMR and then a Nightmare Before Christmas. When Jack Skellington is like testing all the Christmas stuff and his like lab and he's like crushing the ornaments and like doing like tests on them. Hmm, that was another one. Yeah.
Nick VinZant 17:49
I have not seen Nightmare Before Christmas is too scary for me. I can't watch scary movies. Oh, it's that bad.
ASMR Shanny 17:58
Oh, you would never want to watch movies with me. I'm so sorry. I
Nick VinZant 18:00
can't stand it at all. Like, King Kong. The movie King cause like this is too scary. I'm leaving. Oh, I can only handle it. I cannot handle it. Um, oh my gosh. Have you ever heard the Star Wars like concussion? Grenade? That's the sound that always that's like a bone.
ASMR Shanny 18:20
Oh, okay. Yes. Now I know it. Isn't that weird? You did it. And I was like, I think I know what you're talking about. Yeah,
Nick VinZant 18:25
that sound is Yeah, yeah. That's cool. This one says do you watch go to video? I don't know what that means. Is it? Just me? Oh, what video I go to video. Yeah. What's what for you? What's your go to video
ASMR Shanny 18:46
I will share. So. It's so funny because I say that my favorite videos are like roleplay videos, but actually, they are like, I prefer roleplay videos. But my two favorite videos are from the same person. And they're not really roleplay videos. They're more of like a trigger video interlaced with it. It's kind of hard to explain. But her name is Rami. See if I say it correctly, because I think she's Korean. So I don't want to butcher the name here. Hold on. Rep. So it's rappeler.
Nick VinZant 19:13
As we put a link, we can put a link to in the description.
ASMR Shanny 19:16
Yeah, I'll give you it's our a PP E L er ASMR. And she has two videos that I love. And she must have spent months making this. It's like a book. And she does like an exam but she like Drew ears and stuff in the book and put microphones in the book. And like, it's so good and so cool and interesting. And then she made her own book of Coraline like the movie, but it's in like a pop up book form so she can like it's really cool. Those are my two favorite videos.
Nick VinZant 19:48
So how long does it take you to make a video you put out like what one a week or so
ASMR Shanny 19:53
I put out two a week and it takes me like three days on each one she that had to have been like should have put a month into each Have those videos like That's insane? Like they are so good?
Nick VinZant 20:03
What is your most frequent look? Most frequent request?
ASMR Shanny 20:09
Um, so I guess there's a bunch of them. There's similar like as I typically border like the horror stuff. And so I don't know if you ever heard of the SPS SCP Foundation? Have you ever heard of that? No. Okay. It's like a wiki. Like it was like a basically like a internet story. That like is like a wiki website. And it's like, fake, but it's like a sci fi website that has all these different monsters. And like, since then it's become video games. And it's like this huge thing. And there's all it's basically like a foundation, kind of like area 51, where they keep all these different, like monsters and creatures and aliens and stuff around the world trapped in this place. And they all have different numbers like SCP 191, or SCP 099. And so I'll do different videos, like the viewer is a different monster each time and I'm a doctor, or a scientist examining them, I get a lot of requests for that.
Nick VinZant 21:07
What is your most interesting request?
ASMR Shanny 21:11
Oh, well, not interesting. The most annoying one that we get all the time is that everyone always wants to see like feet. Because you know, people try to turn things sexual all the time when they shouldn't.
Nick VinZant 21:21
I will give this to the feet people. They are persistent.
ASMR Shanny 21:24
They are persistent. And like I said, everyone has their thing. So I don't want to diss them. But I wish they would stop putting it in the comments on like people's pages who clearly aren't doing feet content.
Nick VinZant 21:34
For somebody who is looking to get into this. As a content creator. I think they mean, what advice would you give them
ASMR Shanny 21:42
just to do it. So like, my, my only regret is that I waited like a year because I was nervous. I didn't get the right equipment and think I'd be good at it. No, there's always gonna be someone out there who likes it. And there's always gonna be someone out there who doesn't. You can't let the people hold you back. You don't need expensive equipment. I have friends who have 400,000 subscribers get like 200,000 video views a day and all they uses an iPhone. So like, Just do it. Just start right now. Just go do it. Also join Twitter because the ASMR community is so nice. And we will all support you.
Nick VinZant 22:15
So now you have the YouTube channel. What else do you have?
ASMR Shanny 22:18
I have my YouTube channel and then I have my Twitch, which is you know, like live streaming where I play video games or do ASMR and that's also ASMR Shani,
Nick VinZant 22:27
cool. Um, where do you I guess? Where do you think this goes? Like, ASMR? Yeah, I think the next thing is,
ASMR Shanny 22:34
I think it's gonna keep growing, I would love to see it more in like out in the public more in the world more actually being used to help people like, you know, if we can learn more about it in this study that they're doing right now, over in the UK, it would be really cool to see it start being incorporated, like maybe in therapy or like with, you know, psychologists and stuff like that, because it really is a benefit. And you know, I'd like to see it less taboo and more like people actually learning about it and seeing that, you know, it can help people
Nick VinZant 23:01
do you know, is there a typical age range for your audience?
ASMR Shanny 23:04
There is no i Because I It ranges from like, you know, 13 or lower, you know, to I've had it says on YouTube, I've had people like in their 70s
Nick VinZant 23:14
So like, Gee, is there anything else you think that we missed, or what's kind of coming up next for you?
ASMR Shanny 23:20
There's not really much that you missed. I mean, we're, we're all just working really hard I have. We all always work on collabs and stuff like that. I'm trying to you know, just work on Twitch and grow that pretty, you know, pretty much that's all there is to it. I just make two videos a week. You can catch that out on my channel and I stream on Twitch four days a week.