“Get ready with me for the first day of classes at U Miami,” a 21-year-old Alix Earle told her 1 million–ish followers in a 2022 TikTok — an introduction that became synonymous with the influencer’s confessional beauty-centered style that contributed to her meteoric rise to content creator fame. (She’s been widely credited with popularizing the “GRWM” format for the TikTok generation.)
In some ways, not much has changed: “Get ready with me to go on Good Morning America to announce that I’m going to be on this season of Dancing With the Stars,” she said in a May video to her now 7.5 million followers.
Same intro. Same format. Except this time, she’d traded a quintessential young adult experience — doing her own makeup in her college bedroom — for an appearance on national TV after getting glammed up by pros. And what could be less relatable than announcing your appearance on a TV show to announce an appearance on — check’s notes — another?
Elsewhere in the influencer-sphere, Charli D’Amelio — one of the OG TikTok-lebrities — could be seen in May propping up her iPhone to record a “Get ready with me to perform on Broadway” video (she’s currently in & Juliet) for her behemoth following, which totals 157 million.
Just like Earle, now 24, D’Amelio, 21, began her career from the humble backdrop of her own bedroom (well, as humble as a wealthy Connecticut suburb can be). And just like Earle, D’Amelio has reached heights most of her audience can only dream of.
“Influencers like Alix and Charli built their followings on relatability: sharing their messy rooms, personal struggles and awkward moments in a way that made people feel seen,” Dr. Stephanie Smith, professor of public relations and strategic communication at Virginia Tech, told Us. “But as their fame grows and their content becomes more polished, branded and expensive, relatability gives way to aspiration. For many followers, that shift isn’t a deal-breaker — it’s the new appeal. The influencer becomes someone to admire rather than someone who feels like a peer.”
Yet sometimes aspiration evolves into resentment. Take Remi Bader: The 30-year-old content creator garnered a following from her honest try-on hauls of popular brands, showcasing fashion realities for a plus-size woman. She took loyal fans along for her journey as she struggled with a binge eating disorder. Then she went silent on the topic for months, and followers noticed that her body was shrinking. They asked for transparency, and in March, after allegedly deleting comments that inquired about her size, she revealed that she’d undergone SADI-S weight-loss surgery in December 2023.
“Her followers connected with her body positivity and vulnerability, but when she underwent a highly exclusive weight loss treatment and then lashed out at those who asked questions, it broke the trust,” Smith says. “It wasn’t the change itself that upset people — it was the defensiveness and lack of acknowledgment that she’d entered a new chapter without bringing them along.”
Don’t get Us wrong: Bader (like everyone) has every right to do what she wants with her body.
“I’m an open freaking book, and in these years, I’ve needed to create boundaries for myself that are healthy for me,” Bader told Us at the June launch of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated Swim.
But it’s her own success that has contributed to a shift in her original fan base’s perception of her.
“Relatability is the hook. But once fame hits, most influencers don’t know how to evolve without losing the very thing that made people care,” media expert Lynn Smith told Us. “It’s a paradox: The more successful you become, the harder it is to keep up the illusion of being just like your audience. Because now you’re flying private.”
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