“My life is boring, my life is boring, my life is boring…” No one could have guessed that these simple lyrics would start one of the biggest internet hate trains of 2021.
Even before indie musician Lael released her single “My Life is Boring,” the song was almost unanimously hated — however, not because of the music itself. In fact, many who flocked to the internet to express their hatred for the song had never even listened to it. Instead, people hated the way that Lael promoted the single. Because of her questionable methods of advertising, Lael managed to ruin her song before it was even released.
Who Is Lael?
Lael Hansen is a YouTuber-turned-musician who recently rose to internet infamy after using controversial methods to promote her newest single.
Lael started her YouTube channel in 2016 as a rap music reviewer. As her videos started getting more popular, she racked up over a million subscribers and even made some of her own rap music. Her career was only growing. However, at the beginning of 2020, she suddenly deleted all of her social media posts and went completely silent.
Then, in early 2021, Lael began posting cryptic videos on her TikTok page after more than a year. Fans expected her to explain where she had been for the past year, but they got nothing. Lael’s videos featured creepy situations reminiscent of a horror movie. But despite how strange these posts were, they didn’t get much attention.
Lael’s social media return went under many people’s radars — that is, until she began promoting her single “My Life is Boring.”
Manipulative Marketing
In a TikTok that now has over 15 million views, Lael promoted her song in a way that viewers thought was cheap and manipulative.
https://www.tiktok.com/@lovelael/video/7000531409550986501?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1
At the beginning of the TikTok, Lael stares into the camera and declares, “My life f—ing sucks.” Right off the bat, viewers took issue with her entitled tone. As a rich, white, able-bodied woman, people in the comments were quick to point out that her life probably doesn’t “suck” as much as she would have us believe.
Lael then continues, “I’ve never gotten lucky or had any overnight success because I refuse to sell my soul.” Under the voiceover, she shows pictures of successful artists like Lil Nas X and Billie Eilish. Many people took this as an insult to the artists pictured. The implication is that these artists “sold out” to get famous, and they couldn’t achieve success based on their talent alone.
Later in the video, she boasts about her own talent: “I know my music is special and my videos are going to win a Grammy.” She then explains how she needs her fans to help her get the recognition she deserves.
Unsurprisingly, people did not receive this video well. Comments accused her of being tone-deaf, entitled and manipulative. However, Lael was quick to jump on the internet and defend herself.
Lael’s Response
Lael responded to all of the criticism online by posting another TikTok in the same format as the first one. This video’s reception was perhaps even more negative than the original’s.
The video begins, “My life is f—ing over… The whole world is against me because I’m trying to follow my dreams.” Again, viewers felt like Lael was trying to guilt-trip them into streaming her music. User @grvqia commented, “the world isn’t against u because ur ‘trying to follow your dreams’ it’s bc you act like u didn’t already have over 1 million subs when u started music.”
Lael then thanks her fans for giving “My Life is Boring” “25,000 presaves with no label, no funding, and no connections in just five days.” In response to this statement, user @ssll1120 commented, “You literally have 1 million subscribers on [YouTube]. you have so many possible connections and CURRENT connections girl.”
She refused to apologize or change her marketing strategy; thus, Lael’s video only seemed to fan the flames of hate and cause the internet to distrust her even more.
Influencer Privilege
Lael’s methods of marketing her single led many people online to accuse her of showing her “influencer privilege.” The term refers to the growing phenomenon of people gaining huge numbers of followers online and quickly losing touch with reality.
For example, in one video, Lael shows a screenshot of her video and points to the view count of 100,000 and the timestamp of one week. Through tears, she says, “Thank you so much.” Although the video seems harmless on the surface, viewers were quick to point out that something was wrong.
TikTok user @tiana.707 highlighted the issue with this TikTok when she stitched the video. After Lael points to the views, @tiana.707 zooms in on the subscriber count that is displayed just below the number of views: 1.1 million subscribers.
People accused her of taking her fame for granted, especially since her videos rely heavily on the narrative that she is “an artist from the middle of nowhere” who is just starting her career. The truth is that it’s much easier to start a music career when you already have an established fan base. Lael’s attempts to convince people that she is some kind of starving artist ring false. Ultimately, they have done nothing but discourage people from supporting her music.
Was It Worth It?
People hoped that Lael’s new single would at least be good enough to balance out all of the drama it started online. However, the consensus seems to be that the song is nothing special. People were underwhelmed with the generic lyrics and basic instrumentals, and the comments on the music video for “My Life is Boring” reflect this opinion.
Some criticized the apparent lack of effort and creativity behind the video. One user commented, “‘My music videos will win a Grammy’… it’s just lael sitting and other girls [walking] around her.” Another commented on the superficiality of the song itself: “The lyrics are so simple, like anyone can [write] a song like this.”
Others seemed to enjoy the song but couldn’t ignore the tactics Lael used to promote it. One user commented, “if you werent such a guilt tripper, this wouldnt be that bad.”
It’s hard to have an unbiased opinion on “My Life is Boring” since the single is so closely tied to Lael’s shady promotional methods. However, many online argue that if the song was good enough to stand on its own, these methods wouldn’t have been necessary to make it a success. Either way, Lael’s poor advertising skills seem to have ended her music career before it could even start.
