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The Sister Squad & Parasocial Nostalgia For This Iconic YouTube Era · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  On November 7th, 2024, Emma Chamberlain released an episode
• 0:04
  of her podcast Anything Goes that would shake her longtime
• 0:08
  fandom. 3 minutes into the episode titled What My Meltdowns
• 0:12
  Have Shown Me, Emma opened up about her first romantic
• 0:15
  relationship at 17 years old and what this experience taught her.
• 0:19
  She didn't name who she was in a relationship with, but longtime
• 0:23
  Emma fans immediately knew that she was more than likely
• 0:26
  referring to then YouTube Ethan Dolan.
• 0:30
  Let me take you back to when I was 17 years old and I got into
• 0:33
  my first romantic relationship. It was very exciting for me.
• 0:37
  It was also something that I never thought would work out for
• 0:40
  me. I was always really insecure
• 0:43
  about what I provide as a woman. Not to get so deep with it all
• 0:47
  of a sudden, but I've always been somebody who maybe was a
• 0:50
  bit more humorous. Like, I think my dominant
• 0:52
  personality trait growing up was humor and silliness, not
• 0:55
  femininity. I didn't have a super
• 0:58
  stereotypically feminine body. I went through puberty late, so
• 1:01
  I didn't have curves, I didn't have boobs, I didn't have butt.
• 1:03
  That came later. And so I was always very
• 1:04
  insecure about myself as a woman and.
• 1:07
  So it was a. Huge accomplishment for me to be
• 1:10
  accepted by a boy. And not just any boy.
• 1:12
  This was a boy that I had a crush on for a very long time
• 1:14
  and he did not like me at first but eventually he did and we
• 1:17
  dated and it was this magical thing.
• 1:19
  It was like doing the impossible times too.
• 1:21
  Dating this guy that I liked for a really long time and
• 1:23
  disproving the idea that I was not attractive to guys because I
• 1:26
  didn't have a feminine enough personality and body and
• 1:28
  whatever. So this was really good for me
• 1:30
  in the beginning. And, you know, the relationship
• 1:32
  lasted for about nine months. I won't get into the details.
• 1:35
  It had its highs. It had its lows.
• 1:37
  It was not all sunshine and rainbows, but it also wasn't all
• 1:38
  negative. There were some really great
• 1:39
  moments there. We ultimately ended up breaking
• 1:41
  up after nine months. Now, I know what you're
• 1:42
  thinking. That's a very short
• 1:43
  relationship. Yeah.
• 1:44
  No, that relationship seemed like a lifetime to me because
• 1:47
  everything was so new. When things are new
• 1:48
  psychologically, time moves slower.
• 1:50
  And when I tell you I thought I was going morning, I'm about to
• 1:53
  get a big rap here, I thought when we broke up I was going to
• 1:55
  die. This segment of Emma's podcast
• 1:58
  sent a wave of nostalgia through her fandom, drumming up hundreds
• 2:02
  of articles, videos, and commentary dissecting Emma and
• 2:06
  Ethan, or Isma as they were affectionately dubbed, and their
• 2:10
  alleged relationship six years later.
• 2:13
  But it wasn't just Isma lore that saw a resurgence upon
• 2:17
  Emma's podcast release. The episode also opened
• 2:20
  discussion about the pair's origins within the sister squad.
• 2:25
  This is an exploration into the rise and fall of 1 of Gen.
• 2:29
  Zed's favorite YouTube collective, The Sister Squad,
• 2:32
  from its formation to its impact to the parasocial relationship
• 2:37
  fans still have for the group to this very day.
• 2:41
  From Centennial World. I'm Lauren Meissner and this is
• 2:44
  Infinite Scroll, a podcast about Internet culture, the creator
• 2:48
  economy, and how social media is shaping Gen.
• 2:50
  Zed. Welcome back to Infinite Scroll
• 2:52
  everyone. I am so excited to be bringing
• 2:55
  you guys this deep. This was an episode that
• 2:59
  Annabelle conceptualized months and months ago.
• 3:02
  And then we started to see other commentary creators and podcasts
• 3:07
  popping up doing their own deep dives.
• 3:09
  So we said, OK, let's like pause this.
• 3:11
  Let's not consume this content and let's like let it die down a
• 3:15
  bit so it doesn't look like we're, I don't know, like
• 3:16
  copying or something. And then we will bring it back.
• 3:19
  So this was Annabelle's personal labor of love.
• 3:22
  She was a sister Squad Stan, so you guys can thank her for this
• 3:27
  episode. As always, Please remember to
• 3:30
  rate, review, and subscribe. It helps us so much.
• 3:32
  It helps us grow. We're trying to reach 1000
• 3:34
  Spotify reviews. And please sign up to our
• 3:36
  newsletter, which is also called Infinite Scroll.
• 3:39
  On Fridays, we round up the five biggest thing pieces from the
• 3:42
  Internet that week. There are so many moments from
• 3:50
  the 2018 to 2019 influencer era that still live on in Internet
• 3:55
  culture, whether it was the viral egg photo or the college
• 3:58
  admissions scandal that had everyone invested.
• 4:01
  But one thing people can't seem to let go of is the sister
• 4:04
  squad. If you were online at the time,
• 4:06
  you definitely remember them, but just in case, let's do a
• 4:09
  little rewind. The sister squad was made-up of
• 4:12
  some of the biggest creators of that era, Ethan and Grayson
• 4:15
  Dolan. Together the Dolan twins, James,
• 4:18
  Charles and of course Emma Chamberlain.
• 4:20
  These days Emma is obviously the biggest name of that group, but
• 4:24
  back then she was only just starting out.
• 4:26
  Emma started her YouTube channel in June 2016, but the oldest
• 4:30
  video still available is a try on Thrift Haul from June 2017.
• 4:34
  She has deleted her earliest content, likely as her content
• 4:38
  evolved and she became more aware of her brand.
• 4:40
  Something that many of us end up doing as we get older, whether
• 4:43
  we become a famous influencer or not.
• 4:46
  Though she only officially started uploading in 2016, she
• 4:49
  had been a long time fan of YouTube, saying in various
• 4:52
  interviews that she had grown up watching creators and making
• 4:55
  videos with her friends. Her decision to start posting
• 4:58
  publicly was influenced by her dad, who encouraged her to find
• 5:02
  an outlet outside of school. In a 2019 interview with the New
• 5:05
  York Times, she explained that she was struggling to find
• 5:08
  something she genuinely enjoyed, and YouTube became that creative
• 5:12
  escape. But her first real breakthrough
• 5:14
  came in 2017 with a dollar store haul video, Which expectedly
• 5:19
  went viral. From there, the growth was
• 5:21
  explosive. Just two years after launching
• 5:23
  her channel, she had already amassed 8 million subscribers.
• 5:27
  Today, that number sits at 12.1 million.
• 5:31
  We have discussed what differentiated Emma before, but
• 5:34
  there were a couple of key factors.
• 5:36
  First, it was her editing style. At a time when most Youtubers
• 5:40
  followed a very professional format, Emma's videos felt
• 5:43
  fresh. She relied on rapid jump cuts,
• 5:46
  Zoom insurance, awkward silences and real time footage of herself
• 5:49
  editing while lounging in bed. This fast-paced, self aware
• 5:53
  approach resonated with viewers and has since been widely
• 5:56
  imitated by other creators. Second, her relatability.
• 6:00
  Unlike the polished, aspirational influencers
• 6:03
  dominating YouTube at the time, Emma leaned into being
• 6:05
  unfiltered and even self deprecating.
• 6:08
  She made videos about everyday activities, thrifting, getting
• 6:12
  coffee, chatting to the camera, turning mundane moments into
• 6:15
  entertainment, and finally, her collaboration, particularly with
• 6:20
  the sister squad. By the time she moved to LA in
• 6:23
  2018, just a year after going super viral, she was already one
• 6:27
  of the fastest growing creators on the platform.
• 6:30
  But teaming up with James Charles and the Dolan Twins only
• 6:33
  solidified her status in the space, exposing her to an even
• 6:37
  wider audience. Now, James is another creator
• 6:40
  we've covered extensively on this podcast.
• 6:43
  Of course, the Sister Squad era was before James faced numerous
• 6:46
  scandals, so keep that in mind as we recap all of this.
• 6:50
  I'm sure we all remember how James went viral, but his rise
• 6:53
  to fame was also relatively quick.
• 6:55
  His journey started in 2015 when he began posting makeup content
• 6:59
  online. While he was steadily gaining a
• 7:01
  following, his real breakthrough came in late 2016 when a photo
• 7:05
  of him retaking his senior portrait with a ring light went
• 7:08
  viral. From there, he leveraged his
• 7:10
  viral moment into a full-fledged influencing career.
• 7:13
  He became cover girls, first ever male brand ambassador,
• 7:16
  appeared on the Ellen Show, and soon cemented himself as one of
• 7:20
  the biggest beauty YouTube creators on the platform.
• 7:23
  He, of course, became known for his colorful makeup tutorials
• 7:26
  and his constant use of the word sister.
• 7:30
  Hi, sister. James clearly had a knack for
• 7:33
  creating, or perhaps capitalizing on viral moments.
• 7:37
  From the flashback Mary picture to the sister squad, James
• 7:40
  wasn't just a beauty guru, he was a defining figure for this
• 7:44
  era of YouTube. And finally, we have the Dolan
• 7:47
  Twins. Grayson and Ethan Dolan actually
• 7:50
  gained popularity online before either James or Emma as twins.
• 7:54
  They started posting content on Vine around 2013, sharing
• 7:58
  exactly what you would expect for two teenage boys at the
• 8:01
  time. Some videos were comedic and
• 8:03
  others were of course, thirst traps.
• 8:05
  While the Dolan Twins were not exactly a part of the Vine
• 8:09
  creator collective Mag Con, they were associated with some of the
• 8:12
  members, namely Cameron Dallas. The twins soon pivoted to
• 8:15
  YouTube, making their channel on March 10th, 2014.
• 8:19
  The first video available on their channel today is titled
• 8:22
  The Blender Challenge and was uploaded July 13th of that year.
• 8:26
  The two blended various ingredients together and had to
• 8:28
  take a sip at the end. A video that feels very of it's
• 8:33
  time. Nevertheless, the twins
• 8:35
  developed a very loyal fan base, with much of their following
• 8:38
  being teenage girls. Ethan and Grayson also ended up
• 8:41
  moving to LA from their home in New Jersey when they were 15
• 8:44
  years old, which allowed them to really lean into content
• 8:47
  creation while also going to school online.
• 8:50
  Now that brings us to the beginning of the infamous Sister
• 8:53
  Squad, the informal creator collective that Emma, James, and
• 8:57
  the Twins were a part of. The group's first collaboration
• 9:00
  was posted in June 2018 with three videos posted across Emma,
• 9:04
  James and the Twins YouTube channel.
• 9:06
  On Emma's channel, the Dolan Twins and James Charles
• 9:09
  essentially gave her an LA makeover.
• 9:12
  In the video titled Turning Me into an LA Girl featuring James
• 9:15
  Charles and the Dolan Twins, James did Emma's makeup, they
• 9:18
  picked out what they deemed an LA appropriate outfit, and they
• 9:22
  gave her a crash course on the so-called LA attitude.
• 9:26
  While the four definitely had great on screen chemistry and
• 9:30
  seemed friendly, there was an interesting dynamic at play
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  beneath the surface. Emma was still new to the
• 9:36
  YouTube scene, whereas James and the Dolan Twins had already
• 9:39
  established themselves as major creators.
• 9:42
  This often LED them to poking fun at Emma, especially for her
• 9:45
  outfits and the way she presented herself.
• 9:47
  Looking back, it's ironic considering Emma has since
• 9:51
  solidified herself as a Gen. Z fashion icon.
• 9:54
  Meanwhile, the four filmed an IHOP mukbang for the Dolan Twins
• 9:58
  channel, while James taught Emma and the twins how to do make up
• 10:01
  on his own channel. All three videos were massive,
• 10:04
  with James's video currently sitting at 31 million, the
• 10:07
  Dolans at 23 million, and Emma's at 25,000,000.
• 10:11
  During the mukbang, they reminisced about how they first
• 10:14
  met and became friends. Ethan originally DM James after
• 10:18
  noticing him commenting on his content, while Grayson
• 10:21
  discovered Emma's videos on YouTube and reached out to her.
• 10:24
  They all became friends, and Emma, who was already a fan of
• 10:27
  the Dolan twins, became part of their circle after they went
• 10:30
  bowling together faithfully. In James's makeup video, he
• 10:34
  introduced the group as his Sister Squad and that would go
• 10:37
  on to be forever associated with the group.
• 10:40
  It stemmed from James's constant use of the word sister during
• 10:44
  this era. Now, there were no shortage of
• 10:46
  iconic moments throughout the Sister Squad era.
• 10:49
  With this in mind, we won't be able to cover all of them, but
• 10:52
  we have included a few notable ones.
• 10:54
  One video that many social media users consider to be the peak of
• 10:58
  Sister Squad is their road trip to Las Vegas.
• 11:01
  Posted on Emma's channel, this vlog is arguably their most
• 11:05
  iconic and one of their most viewed videos.
• 11:07
  Sitting at 40 million views, the 20 minute long video follows the
• 11:12
  group as they drive to Vegas and document their trip, which
• 11:15
  included ziplining, shopping, and splurging on designer items.
• 11:19
  This was the height of flex culture on YouTube, where
• 11:22
  creators regularly showcased their wealth through luxury
• 11:24
  halls and over the top purchases.
• 11:27
  And while The Sister Squad leaned into a more casual,
• 11:30
  relatable style of content, they still fed off this culture,
• 11:33
  incorporating elements of flex culture even in their seemingly
• 11:36
  careful free videos. Part of what made this video so
• 11:39
  iconic was how much it felt like a Teenage Dream come to life.
• 11:43
  For many viewers who were around the same age as the Sister
• 11:46
  Squad, watching a group of teens Rd. tripping to Las Vegas,
• 11:50
  shopping for designer items, and just having fun was pure
• 11:53
  escapism, especially for those stuck in high school.
• 11:57
  Beyond that, the group just had an undeniable chemistry.
• 12:00
  They seemed like the kind of friends everyone wanted to have,
• 12:03
  and Emma's vlogging style only amplified that feeling.
• 12:07
  While all of them let viewers into their world, Emma's
• 12:10
  willingness to record anything and everything made her videos
• 12:14
  feel the most immersive. Aside from the Las Vegas trip,
• 12:17
  the Sister Squads gift exchange video became one of their most
• 12:20
  iconic videos. This video, uploaded in December
• 12:24
  2018, was a major moment for fans, but it wasn't the first
• 12:28
  time the group had surprised each other with extravagant
• 12:30
  gifts. Back in August 2018, for
• 12:33
  example, James posted a video titled Best Friends Buy Each
• 12:36
  Other Outfits, where they paired up and picked out outfits for
• 12:39
  one another. In the video's description,
• 12:41
  James even noted that their makeovers totaled over $10,000
• 12:45
  at the time of recording. This is actually the most viewed
• 12:48
  Sister Squad video, sitting at 41 million views.
• 12:52
  But this video was just a prelude for what was to come.
• 12:55
  For Christmas that year, the Dolan twins posted gift exchange
• 12:58
  videos to their channel. While Emma's contribution to the
• 13:01
  collaboration was more vlog style content where they took a
• 13:04
  family photo with Santa, this became an iconic video in its
• 13:08
  own right. Mostly because there was a clip
• 13:10
  of James dramatically wiping out in the middle of the shopping
• 13:13
  center after picking up Christmas sweaters for the
• 13:15
  group. On top of this, James posted a
• 13:17
  video where the group made gingerbread houses, but more on
• 13:20
  that later. In the video, the twins spliced
• 13:23
  together footage of them shopping for gifts.
• 13:25
  With each person's reaction to receiving them.
• 13:27
  It was clear that everyone in the Sisters Squad went all out,
• 13:32
  turning the gift exchange into something bigger than just a
• 13:35
  casual holiday tradition. Some of the most memorable gifts
• 13:39
  included Grayson building a skate park for Ethan, Ethan
• 13:42
  giving James a customized sister bench, and Grayson gifting James
• 13:47
  a personalized sister piano. The extravagance of it all made
• 13:51
  the video feel like a mix of heartwarming and over the top, a
• 13:56
  perfect reflection of Sister Squad content.
• 13:58
  By the end of 2018, it was clear that the Sister Squad had
• 14:02
  cemented their influence on YouTube.
• 14:04
  Their popularity was undeniable to the point that they were
• 14:07
  featured together in YouTube Rewind 2018, appearing in a
• 14:10
  scene where they sat in a car floating through space.
• 14:14
  Aside from just making engaging content, part of the reason
• 14:17
  people were so obsessed with the sister squad was speculation
• 14:21
  around Ethan and Emma, or should I say ETH Ma.
• 14:24
  Now, I won't go too deep into all the speculation because at
• 14:28
  the time, Ethan and Emma were both really young, but it's
• 14:31
  worth talking about how viewers reacted to their alleged
• 14:34
  relationship because Ethan and Emma fans were locked in with
• 14:38
  the Next Level detective work taking place.
• 14:40
  Obviously, this would have been really overwhelming for both
• 14:43
  Emma and Ethan, especially if they were navigating their first
• 14:46
  serious relationship. But a few key moments gay fans
• 14:50
  just enough to work with, and they ran wild.
• 14:54
  It all started in May 2018 when Emma collaborated with Tana Mojo
• 14:58
  at Playlist Live. The video has since been
• 15:01
  deleted, but in it Emma admitted that she had been a long time
• 15:05
  Dolan Twin Stan and that Ethan was her favorite.
• 15:08
  I was a huge Dolan Stan, You know, it's not that I grew out
• 15:11
  of it. I just realized that they're too
• 15:12
  hot for me. And then?
• 15:13
  At that point. They became unattainable,
• 15:15
  honestly. So like for the whole time it
• 15:17
  was Grayson, right? And like once I only stopped
• 15:19
  just like looking at pictures of them and I watched the videos.
• 15:21
  I was like, maybe I'm Ethan. Once the sister squad started
• 15:24
  hanging out, fans were connecting the dots.
• 15:27
  YouTube was quickly flooded with somewhat invasive compilations
• 15:31
  of the group, with people pointing out subtle moments
• 15:34
  where Ethan and Emma felt like they were in a relationship.
• 15:37
  One of the earliest cues was from a July 4th jet ski photo
• 15:41
  that Emma and Ethan posted together.
• 15:43
  In hindsight, fans of male celebrities and influencers
• 15:46
  always spiral when they're seen with a woman, so this wasn't
• 15:49
  exactly new. But the real moment that sent
• 15:52
  fans into a craze happened later that year when YouTube Tom Ward
• 15:56
  interviewed Emma at her house. In the background of the video,
• 15:59
  fans spotted Polaroids of Emma and Ethan together.
• 16:02
  Then suddenly the video was deleted and re uploaded with the
• 16:06
  background blurred. Later came the Dolan Twins lie
• 16:10
  detector test video where Ethan was almost forced to admit he
• 16:13
  was dating someone, and of course the Sister Squad haunted
• 16:17
  house video where Grayson seemed to reveal Emma was Ethan's
• 16:20
  girlfriend but bleeped out the label in editing.
• 16:23
  We love when Grayson exposes Emma and Ethan's relationship. 1
• 16:26
  user commented. There was also the crusty lips
• 16:30
  tweet in early 2019. At some point Emma got dragged
• 16:33
  online for having quote UN quote crusty lips and Ethan came to
• 16:37
  her defense. Quote, her lips definitely
• 16:40
  aren't crusty. He tweeted in response.
• 16:43
  He later tried to play it off, saying it was just because Emma
• 16:46
  was always talking about Chapstick, but fans did not buy
• 16:50
  it. There were plenty of other
• 16:51
  moments that kept these series alive, but those were some of
• 16:54
  the big ones. And while Emma and Ethan may
• 16:57
  have played into it at the time, there's no denying that the
• 17:00
  pressure must have been insane. This was likely their first
• 17:03
  serious relationship, and they were constantly being watched
• 17:06
  and scrutinized. It's something worth remembering
• 17:09
  when it comes to influencers. So many of them are young and
• 17:12
  trying to figure things out. And this this kind of intense
• 17:14
  observation isn't healthy. With all that said, it's pretty
• 17:18
  safe to assume that all of this took a toll on the friend group.
• 17:22
  While we don't know exactly what led to the sister squad's
• 17:24
  breakdown, fans definitely picked up on a weird vibe
• 17:28
  between the four toward the end of 2018.
• 17:31
  One of the biggest red flags came during the same collab
• 17:34
  cycle as the gift exchange video, but it was the video
• 17:37
  posted to James's channel titled Best Friends Build a Gingerbread
• 17:41
  Dream House, featuring Emma Chamberlain and Dolan and twins.
• 17:44
  James actually admitted at the start of this video that this
• 17:47
  wasn't their first attempt at filming it.
• 17:49
  Fun fact for you, we've actually already filmed this video once
• 17:52
  last week, and it was probably the worst video we've ever
• 17:56
  filmed. Fans noticed the tension, but at
• 17:58
  the time, most of the blame fell on the audience.
• 18:01
  People argued that the pressure from fans, especially the
• 18:04
  obsession with Ethan and Emma, made it impossible for the group
• 18:07
  to act normally. And while that was probably part
• 18:10
  of it in hindsight, many believe there was more going on behind
• 18:14
  in the scenes. This is especially because this
• 18:16
  Christmas collapse cycle ended up being the last time the group
• 18:19
  made content altogether, as one user commented two years after
• 18:24
  the video was posted. The energy in this video makes
• 18:26
  me so uncomfortable. Like with Emma and Ethan
• 18:29
  obviously being in a fight and with James making all these
• 18:32
  sexual jokes towards Grayson. It legit seems like the only
• 18:35
  people being nice to each other are Grayson and Emma.
• 18:38
  No wonder why they stopped hanging out.
• 18:40
  There was some concern around the dynamic between James and
• 18:43
  Grayson at the at the time. For instance, at the end of
• 18:45
  2018, James tweeted. I wish people would stop
• 18:48
  overanalyzing popular influencer friendships on social media.
• 18:52
  Just enjoy it for what it is. Some of the rumors are beyond
• 18:55
  crazy. It's toxic, frustrating, and can
• 18:57
  really start to affect us in private.
• 19:00
  While it remains unclear who exactly James was referring to,
• 19:03
  many fans took it as a reference to his friendship with Grayson
• 19:07
  and the way James would play up having a crush on him.
• 19:09
  Though of course, this tweet could have also been about Ethan
• 19:12
  and Emma. That being said, but many fans
• 19:14
  would go on to defend James saying that it was all for
• 19:17
  entertainment purposes. But after the Bye Sister
• 19:20
  scandal, people started looking back at their interactions a
• 19:24
  little differently. Whether it was just for cameras
• 19:26
  or not, the whole thing left viewers feeling somewhat
• 19:30
  uncomfortable. Now, Bye Sister is essential
• 19:33
  knowledge for this podcast and if you are listening, you
• 19:36
  probably know what went down. But to make a very Long story
• 19:40
  short, on May 11th, 2019, James's career came crashing
• 19:44
  down overnight. While on tour in Australia, the
• 19:47
  beauty goober woke up to a 43 minute video posted by his
• 19:52
  friend and mentor Tati Westbrook, titled by Sister.
• 19:55
  In the video, Tati made several accusations, including claims
• 19:59
  that James was disloyal and money hungry, which came about
• 20:03
  after James posted an Instagram story promoting Sugar Bear Hair
• 20:06
  after attending Coachella with the brand.
• 20:09
  For context, Sugar Bear Hair was a direct competitor to Tati
• 20:12
  Westbrook's Halo Beauty. Aside from these claims of
• 20:15
  betrayal, Tati also accused the then teenager of using his fame
• 20:20
  to manipulate straight men into sexual relationships.
• 20:23
  Almost immediately, James lost millions of followers.
• 20:27
  Around this time, many fans also noticed that Emma, Grayson, and
• 20:31
  Ethan were no longer following James.
• 20:34
  This was seemingly the nail in the coffin for the sister squad.
• 20:38
  As we all know, James later posted two response videos.
• 20:42
  The first title? Tati It didn't go over well,
• 20:45
  with many people finding it inauthentic, leading him to
• 20:48
  eventually delete it. His second video, No More Lies,
• 20:51
  changed the course of the scandal.
• 20:53
  To date, it is still the most viewed video on his channel,
• 20:56
  currently sitting at 57 million views.
• 20:59
  In the video, James sets the record straight, providing
• 21:02
  receipts and saying that Tati's accusations hurt him deeply.
• 21:06
  Soon, the narrative had shifted entirely, with the Internet back
• 21:10
  on his side. Even so, these allegations,
• 21:13
  along with the imposed weirdness between him and Grayson, have
• 21:16
  lingered in conversations about James and his reputation.
• 21:20
  This has only been compounded by other scandals he's faced,
• 21:24
  particularly those involving allegations of inappropriate
• 21:27
  relationships with minors. With that being said, it's clear
• 21:31
  a lot has happened between the group since the ill-fated
• 21:34
  Gingerbread House video. At the time, most fans didn't
• 21:37
  realize it would be the last time the sister squad would
• 21:40
  collaborate. After that, there were a few
• 21:42
  instances where Emma works with the Dolan Twins and James
• 21:45
  separately, but never as a group again.
• 21:47
  Initially, many assumed the split was due to the Dolan Twins
• 21:51
  coping with the tragic loss of their father, who passed away
• 21:54
  from cancer at the beginning of 2019.
• 21:56
  The twins understandably stepped back from the Internet for a
• 21:59
  time, which was widely supported by their fans.
• 22:02
  However, the reaction from some corners of the Internet was
• 22:05
  intense, with certain fans trying to find ways to attend
• 22:09
  their father's funeral or wake, adding even more pressure to an
• 22:13
  already devastating time. Later that year, Emma did
• 22:16
  reunite with the twins for a YouTube video.
• 22:18
  In one video, the Dolan twins, quote UN quote, became Emma
• 22:22
  Chamberlain. While on Emma's channel, they
• 22:24
  attempted to take high school finals.
• 22:26
  One of the last times Emma was publicly seen with Ethan Dolan
• 22:30
  was on July 12th, 2019, when Hollywood Fix caught them
• 22:34
  outside a Soul Cycle class. When asked if they were
• 22:36
  officially dating, Ethan and Emma responded with.
• 22:39
  Set in stone. That's that's what everybody's
• 22:42
  saying, yeah. But we.
• 22:43
  Say it but but I mean. In 2020, Emma re followed James
• 22:47
  on Instagram and on September 2nd they collaborated again on
• 22:51
  two videos, Emma Chamberlain Picks My Outfit for a Week and
• 22:54
  Doing James Charles's Makeup. They lightly acknowledged past
• 22:58
  tensions with James even hinting at it in a TikTok where he and
• 23:02
  Emma play fought, captioning it an accurate depiction of the
• 23:06
  last two years. However, Emma has since taken
• 23:08
  down her collapse with James, with fans speculating that it
• 23:12
  was due to the allegations that later surfaced about James's
• 23:15
  relationships with minors. Since then, the former sister
• 23:19
  squad members have reflected on that era without being too
• 23:22
  direct, of course. In July 2020, for example, the
• 23:26
  Dolan twins made a video addressing assumptions about us
• 23:29
  or they they addressed the sister squad.
• 23:31
  While they didn't go into specifics, they made it clear
• 23:34
  they hadn't kept in touch. We actually haven't talked to
• 23:36
  them in a while. Reinforcing that whatever
• 23:39
  happened behind the scenes wasn't just about growing apart,
• 23:43
  it was some kind of legitimate split.
• 23:45
  James has made similarly vague comments about the sister squad.
• 23:48
  In December 2020, he did a career ranking video where he
• 23:52
  placed the group in the probably not again but happy for the
• 23:55
  experience tear. He explained that they were all
• 23:59
  at different points in their lives and careers and needed to
• 24:01
  go in different directions. When I think back at the sister
• 24:04
  squad, this is a big, big part of my career.
• 24:07
  It lasted for like an entire year.
• 24:08
  So there's definitely a lot of different moments that would be
• 24:10
  ranked, you know, in different places throughout this list.
• 24:12
  There's no denying that the sister squad was a huge, huge
• 24:15
  part of my career and was honestly, as much as I hate the
• 24:17
  word iconic, it was really, really cool to film these crazy
• 24:20
  over the top videos with, at the time, my best friends in the
• 24:22
  entire world. Then on May 28th 2022, James
• 24:26
  Charles released a video titled Reacting to My Most Iconic
• 24:29
  Videos where he revisited a sister squad video of them
• 24:33
  buying outfits for each other. While watching, he reflected on
• 24:36
  that period. Watching a video back like this
• 24:38
  really does make me emotional. This was such a beautiful time
• 24:41
  in my life. I just loved being with this
• 24:44
  group of people so much. While James and the Dolan Twins
• 24:46
  have made occasional comments about the sister squad, Emma has
• 24:49
  arguably alluded to it the most. This is likely because she
• 24:53
  remains the most active in media and continues to create personal
• 24:56
  content through her podcast. In August 2020, during a
• 25:00
  Hollywood Fix paparazzi interview, Emma was asked if a
• 25:03
  reunion with the Dolan Twins was possible.
• 25:06
  She responded with a comment that many fans took as
• 25:10
  confirmation that their alleged relationship was over.
• 25:13
  Two years later, on Call Her Daddy, Emma opened up about
• 25:17
  feeling used by certain friends and the transactional nature of
• 25:20
  friendships and LA. She said she felt taken
• 25:23
  advantage of, especially when it came to YouTube collaborations.
• 25:27
  While she enjoyed doing collaborations, she often felt
• 25:30
  pressured to participate because certain creators were more
• 25:33
  successful than her at the time. Though she didn't name names,
• 25:36
  many fans speculated that she was referring to the sister
• 25:39
  squad. Aside from that comment, Emma
• 25:42
  hasn't really discussed specific friendships that frequently, but
• 25:46
  she has spoken about her previous relationships, which
• 25:49
  sleuths often connect to Ethan. For instance, in another episode
• 25:53
  of the Anything Goes podcast, Emma revealed her nicotine an
• 25:57
  addiction, and spoke about how a previous partner shamed her for
• 26:00
  vaping. Listeners associated this to
• 26:02
  Ethan partially because of the timelines, but also because the
• 26:06
  Dolan twins were very public about being sober.
• 26:09
  But last year was when Emma seemingly started opening up
• 26:11
  about the relationship more. In a podcast episode with Owen
• 26:15
  Thiel from August of last year, Owen asked Emma if she had ever
• 26:18
  been cheated on, and she said. That is a great question.
• 26:21
  I would say technically like no. However, for a long time, I, I
• 26:25
  felt like I did because one of the guys I dated, we broke up
• 26:29
  and then we got back together, but it was like not really
• 26:31
  official. And I kept being like, we can't
• 26:32
  hook up unless like, you know, you're only talking to me.
• 26:35
  And then the communication there was so spotty that he was.
• 26:38
  Fucking everyone. And of course, most recently in
• 26:41
  her What My Meltdowns Have Shown Me episode posted November 2024.
• 26:45
  As mentioned in the intro, Emma revealed more details about her
• 26:48
  first breakup with, seemingly, Ethan Dolan.
• 26:51
  Emma shared that this breakup was particularly difficult and
• 26:54
  that despite the separation, they can continued to hook up.
• 26:58
  This ambiguity left Emma in a painful situation where she was
• 27:01
  still emotionally invested despite his lack of commitment.
• 27:05
  At a certain point I was like, you know what, I need to try to
• 27:08
  get him back and so I did, started talking to him again, we
• 27:12
  started hanging out his friends again and it was not a super
• 27:16
  healthy situation because he did not want to date me again.
• 27:21
  You know he was. Pretty clear.
• 27:23
  Like, yeah, you know, like I still would hook up or whatever,
• 27:26
  but I'm not dating to anyone right now.
• 27:27
  I don't want to date anyone right now.
• 27:29
  I'm not going to be exclusive with anyone right now.
• 27:31
  And that did not work for me. I was like, well, OK, I guess we
• 27:35
  just have to be friends then because I cannot emotionally
• 27:38
  hook up with you. Be physical with you, knowing
• 27:40
  that you're with other people. I can't do that.
• 27:43
  I just can't psychologically do that.
• 27:45
  It's too painful for me, but then we'd end up hooking up on
• 27:48
  accident. Ethan has not publicly addressed
• 27:50
  the speculation surrounding his past with Emma and her comments.
• 27:54
  The Dolan twins have largely retreated from the online space,
• 27:58
  staying out of the public eye except for a few notable
• 28:01
  updates. In 2023, the twins shared that
• 28:03
  they had created a short film together, marking one of their
• 28:06
  few public projects since stepping away from social media.
• 28:10
  Additionally, in mid 2024, Ethan shared the news of his marriage
• 28:14
  to Australian model Christina Alice.
• 28:16
  As of 2025, no members of the Sister Squad follow each other
• 28:21
  on Instagram aside from Grayson and Ethan.
• 28:23
  Obviously. Though short lived, the Sister
• 28:26
  Squad era marks an impactful moment in Internet culture
• 28:29
  history. The collective highlighted the
• 28:31
  power of a YouTube friend group both from a career growth
• 28:34
  perspective and also from a parasocial perspective.
• 28:38
  For many young YouTube viewers at the time, the Sister Squad
• 28:41
  was one of their first experiences having a parasocial
• 28:44
  relationship with a group rather than an individual, and
• 28:47
  navigating that parasocial relationship when the group
• 28:50
  dynamic changed has led to an overwhelming amount of nostalgia
• 28:54
  for the time these creators had together.
• 28:57
  Six years after the Sister Squad era seemingly came to an end,
• 29:01
  it's still debated whether the group were really friends
• 29:04
  offline or if their friendship was all for show.
• 29:07
  Many fans believe they played into what the audience wanted,
• 29:10
  including the ISMA rumors, while others are convinced that the
• 29:14
  group's bond was authentic. Ultimately, though, we'll never
• 29:18
  know for sure what was true and what was exaggerated.
• 29:21
  One thing is for certain, the impact that the sister squad had
• 29:25
  on their audience and the trajectory of the respective
• 29:28
  careers of Ethan Dolan, Grayson Dolan, Emma Chamberlain and
• 29:33
  James Charles was real. Infinite Scroll is a podcast
• 29:37
  produced, presented and Co written by me, Lauren Meisner
• 29:41
  for Centennial World. This episode was researched and
• 29:44
  written by Annabelle Ben David. Additional research was
• 29:46
  completed by Emily Griffiths. Editing is by Danny Fennick.
• 29:50
  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys and I will talk
• 29:53
  to you next week. Bye.