There are few people who regularly use YouTube that haven’t stumbled across “lofi hip hop radio – beats to relax/study to” and the iconic Lofi Girl that serves as the channel’s avatar. But who is she?
There’s a great deal of mystery surrounding the character and the March 2021 rebrand of the associated lofi music channel has only made people more curious. Alongside this, the creator of the lofi hip hop radio channel has been front and center for several stories related to the use of music on social media. With that in mind, it’s worth going over the origins and details of the Lofi Girl channel and what’s known about the person behind it.
The current Lofi Girl is a unique character created by Colombian artist Juan Pablo Machado.
Machado’s character was introduced in August 2017. This came after several months using a different character for the visuals of the lofi hop hop channel.
The Lofi Girl of today remains a constant of the channel, though she doesn’t actually remain the same from month to month. Seasonal outfits have been introduced of late and other videos on the channel have seen her moved to new locations while still wearing her iconic outfit.
Regardless, she is an easily identifiable character in internet circles. There’s an abundance of fan art of her as well as parodies and copycat channels.
The original Lofi Girl character was replaced in August 2017 due to a probable copyright infringement claim.
The first six months of the lofi hip hop radio channel’s existence used a clip from the Studio Ghibli film Whispers of the Heart, featuring main character Shizuku Tsukishima sitting at a desk wearing headphones while writing. The use of footage from the film saw the lofi hip hop radio channel taken down for a time, with the current iteration of the character taking her place once it returned.
ChilledCow rebranded to Lofi Girl in March 2021 because the previous name was “no longer reflective of what the channel is about anymore.”
The “lofi hip hop radio – beats to relax/study to” channel was originally attached to an account named ChilledCow, the handle of a French artist known only as Dimitri. In 2021, that changed when the account was renamed to “Lofi Girl.”
This was likely due to how popular and identifiable the character has become. A merch store is currently in the works for the channel, which will likely revolve around Lofi Girl.
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