Maria Viktorovna
Maria Viktorovna | ||||
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Personal information | ||||
Born | Maria Viktorovna July 22, 1986 | |||
Nationality | Russian-American | |||
Occupation | YouTuber | |||
YouTube information | ||||
Also known as | Gentle Whispering | |||
Channel | ||||
Years active | 2011–present | |||
Genre | Autonomous sensory meridian response | |||
Subscribers | 2.0 million[2] | |||
Total views | 867 million[2] | |||
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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[]
- ^ "Draw My Life :) ASMR". YouTube. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "About Gentle Whispering ASMR". YouTube.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Lopez, German (2015-07-15). "ASMR, explained: why millions of people are watching YouTube videos of someone whispering". Vox. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Dickson, E. J. (2020-02-20). "An Oral History of ASMR". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Meet This Maryland Woman Who Makes A Living By Whispering". WAMU. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Castillo, Michelle (2017-02-19). "Inside the bizarre world of YouTube ASMR videos". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ^ CBC Radio (August 1, 2017). "ASMR community, devoted to whispers and soft sounds, celebrates YouTube milestone". CBC News. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Downs, Ella. "Where to Find the Best ASMR Videos on YouTube". Thrillist. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "El Dorado County woman whispers the world into relaxation with ASMR". abc10.com. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
- ^ Gibson, Caitlin (2014-12-16). "GentleWhispering and ASMR: The voice that triggers euphoria and seven". The Independent. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
External links[]
- Living people
- 1986 births
- Russian YouTubers
- Female YouTubers
- Russian emigrants to the United States
- American YouTubers
- 21st-century Russian women
- Practitioners of autonomous sensory meridian response