YouTube Rewind 2019 plays it safe

Last year’s YouTube Rewind is the most disliked video ever. This time it’s far more in tune with what we actually like, but it’s a lazy effort

You have to feel sorry for the editors over at YouTube HQ.

What started off as a fun wrap up of the site’s most memorable content has slowly descended into a cringe-fest of chaos. Rewind 2018 is currently the most disliked online video in history. It spawned the infamous Will Smith ‘that’s hot’ meme and inspired PewDiePie to post his own alternative version.

Last year’s effort was very clear evidence that YouTube itself has become disconnected from its core creators. There was no mention of nearly any top YouTubers (aside from Casey Neistat and ‘Marc-ass’ Brownlee), and it seemed obvious to most that Rewind had become more of a showreel to draw in potential advertisers and brands rather than a homage to the personalities that make the site so well-loved. The backlash was fierce and the pressure was on – how would this year’s Rewind go down?

The answer is disappointingly flat. Rewind 2019 consists of top ten lists that cover most liked songs, games, channels, and creators. No original footage is used – it’s all just mashed up re-edits of previously uploaded videos. While this does technically showcase the actual crème of the crop from this year’s dramas and events, it comes across as a safe and lazy effort that could have been produced by an algorithm. Watch it for yourself below if you don’t want to take my word for it.

Why is YouTube Rewind 2019 so bland?

I can’t really blame YouTube for taking this route. The internet has a tendency to overreact to nearly everything and, more often than not, many of us love to jump on a bandwagon. Almost anything that YouTube churned out this year would be overwhelmingly disliked, but it didn’t need to be this bland.

One major criticism from 2018 was that many cultural touchstones and memorable moments were completely overlooked in favour of mostly unknown names. Yes, Fortnite was a major theme, but so many big names and faces were left without a mention – even PewDiePie. This has been fixed this time around, but it’s so lazily done. There’s no voice overs, no narrative, just a countdown of channel names and stats. Honestly, it’s a little depressing.

It seems that YouTube’s fear of audience hostility held it back from truly being creative this time. The company played it very safe and by trying desperately to avoid controversy, the response so far has fittingly been a universal ‘meh’. The dislike ratio is still massive, too, so really nothing much was achieved here. Big yikes.