ASMR Videos
‘Brain Orgasms’: How a Canadian Makes Millions From Chewing Noises
Chewing noises can trigger pleasant feelings in listeners, which are sometimes even referred to as “brain orgasms”.
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Naomi McRae eats so others can relax. The business surrounding her chewing noises has made the Canadian rich. She now earns millions.
She eats edible hairbrushes and bottles of champagne, nibbles on macarons and candy bars – all very close to the microphone. The noises she makes while chewing drive the 27-year-old’s account balance up. Naomi McRae has professionalized noisy eating. Millions of people watch the Canadian’s YouTube videos. There are also millions that she earns with these.
She was a teenager, 16 years old, when she came across a video on the internet. “I immediately got this intense tingling on the top of my head, on my shoulders and on my back,” McRae tells The Mirror. Contrary to what one might assume from these words, it was not an erotic film. A woman was shown whispering while tapping on a mirror. McRae couldn’t get enough of it: “Let’s just say I was hooked from that day.” The Canadian had discovered ASMR for herself. A discovery that would change her life.
ASMR stands for “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”, which translates as independent sensory media reaction. ASMR describes a pleasant feeling that spreads from the head over the body and is also known as “brain orgasm”. The effect is described as initially euphoric and then relaxing. The reaction is triggered by triggers, mostly these are noises, sometimes combined with visual stimuli.
As an ASMR pre-chewer to a millionaire
McRae used the videos to relax, they helped her sleep better. For years, the Canadian was only a consumer of ASMR videos. Five years ago she started her own YouTube channel. In the beginning she only offered classic ASMR like tapping and whispering, then she discovered the market niche “Muk-Bang”. In this video trend from South Korea, oversized portions are eaten in front of the camera. After she switched the focus of her “HunniBee” channel to a combination of muk-bang and ASMR videos, subscriber numbers skyrocketed. Within three months she broke the one million mark, and the 27-year-old is now followed by almost eight million people. Chewing has long since become her main job, according to her own statements she earns around one million dollars a month, which corresponds to around 940,000 euros.
McRae’s videos are also popular because she not only eats run-of-the-mill food, but also repeatedly offers culinary curiosities such as snacks that look like objects but are edible. And the resulting chewing noises are music to the ears of their fans. “I get so many messages from moms telling me how much it helps their kids relax and fall asleep,” she says. However, she also gets “strange, sick” requests. For example, she was asked if she could suck on a cucumber, very close to the microphone, of course. Others want video content that features their feet. But even these negative experiences can’t dent McRae’s desire to chew in advance. She says: “I absolutely love my work. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”