Maria Viktorovna

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Maria Viktorovna
Personal information
BornMaria Viktorovna
(1986-07-22) July 22, 1986 (age 35)
Lipetsk, Lipetsk Oblast, Soviet Union[1]
NationalityRussian-American
OccupationYouTuber
YouTube information
Also known asGentle Whispering
Channel
Years active2011–present
GenreAutonomous sensory meridian response
Subscribers2.0 million[2]
Total views867 million[2]
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg 100,000 subscribers
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg 1,000,000 subscribers 2017
Updated: 10 April 2021

Maria Viktorovna, ("Viktorovna" is a patronym; her surname is not known) (born July 22, 1986), known professionally as Gentle Whispering ASMR, is a Russian-American ASMR performer and YouTube personality. Her YouTube videos are considered among the most well-known and popular in the ASMR genre.

Career[]

Maria recalls her first ASMR experiences taking place while in kindergarten in central Russia, and says she felt similar relaxing and "ticklish" sensations throughout her life.[3][4][5] In 2009, Maria had depression and anxiety during a divorce from her husband. While watching massage and meditation videos to relax, she clicked on a video of a woman whispering that was recommended by YouTube's suggestion algorithm.[3][6][7] This video triggered the same relaxed feeling she had experienced in her youth, and she continued watching similar videos to relax.[6] Maria recorded her own whisper video in February 2011, deleting it soon after. However, she continued recording and publishing new content; by the year's end she had amassed 30,000 subscribers.[3]

In 2014, Maria was working as an administrative assistant in a medical office, but by 2015 she was earning enough to treat her content as a full-time job.[3][6][7][8] Her channel reached one million subscribers in 2017, the first ASMR channel to do so.[9]

One of Maria's videos was sampled in the 2014 song, "Terrors in My Head," by Canadian electronic musician Deadmau5.[3]

Reception and style[]

Maria's ASMR videos are recognized as among the best and most popular on YouTube. In separate articles for The Washington Post, feature writer Caitlin Gibson called Maria "the premier celebrity of a controversial but increasingly recognized phenomenon" in 2014 and "YouTube’s preeminent ASMRtist" in 2019.[3][10] Maria has additionally been described as "queen of the ASMR genre,"[8] and "widely known as the grande dame of ASMR."[5] Her videos have been recommended by Irish Independent[11] and Thrillist.[12]

Maria, herself, has said that she tries "to protrude a motherly, comforting atmosphere in my videos," and make her audience feel "safe and protected."[13] She describes receiving thank-you messages from viewers with anxiety, stress, or sleep disorders.[3]

Personal life[]

Maria was born on July 22, 1986, in Russia.[11][14] She gave birth to her first child in 2019, and as of February 2020 resides in El Dorado County, California.[3][10][13] She is a certified massage therapist and formerly lived in Baltimore, Maryland.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ "Draw My Life :) ASMR". YouTube. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "About Gentle Whispering ASMR". YouTube.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Gibson, Caitlin (December 15, 2014). "A whisper, then tingles, then 87 million YouTube views: Meet the star of ASMR". The Washington Post.
  4. ^ Lopez, German (2015-07-15). "ASMR, explained: why millions of people are watching YouTube videos of someone whispering". Vox. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Dickson, E. J. (2020-02-20). "An Oral History of ASMR". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Miller, Jenni (2015-06-08). "Whispering on The Internet Is Paying This Woman's Rent". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Meet This Maryland Woman Who Makes A Living By Whispering". WAMU. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Castillo, Michelle (2017-02-19). "Inside the bizarre world of YouTube ASMR videos". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  9. ^ CBC Radio (August 1, 2017). "ASMR community, devoted to whispers and soft sounds, celebrates YouTube milestone". CBC News. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Gibson, Caitlin (Feb 7, 2019). "Why stressed-out pregnant women are turning to ASMR videos for relief". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b White, Sophie (November 23, 2017). "'It's a kind of orgasm of the brain' - the new relaxation phenomenon". Irish Independent. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
  12. ^ Downs, Ella. "Where to Find the Best ASMR Videos on YouTube". Thrillist. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "El Dorado County woman whispers the world into relaxation with ASMR". abc10.com. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  14. ^ Gibson, Caitlin (2014-12-16). "GentleWhispering and ASMR: The voice that triggers euphoria and seven". The Independent. Retrieved 2019-01-28.

External links[]

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