The history of Lofi Girl, the popular 24/7 livestream—and neverending study session
If you're ever trying to zero in on your work, find the perfect cleaning playlist, or find some music to back your latest creative pursuit, chances are you're familiar with Lofi Girl, also known as Study Girl.
The start of Lofi Girl on YouTube
The YouTube channel that became Lofi Girl started as Chilled Cow. The channel was started by an independent French producer named Dimitri Somoguy in March 2015. The channel featured instrumental-only lo-fi hip-hop beats that people could play as background music to concentrate on a task or just for relaxation.
The music plays on a constant loop, but how? The infinite 24/7 curated live stream can happen without ads because the music is always being played live, as the YouTube channel Answer in Progress detailed in the following video.
Lofi Girl's astronomical growth
The channel's following grew until 2017, when it was briefly taken offline by YouTube between July and August. The use of a copyrighted character—Shizuku Tsukishima from Whisper of the Heart—caused the channel to be taken offline.
Here's an early video from the account:
Shizuku was the channel's original face, using footage from a scene where she's studying as the background for the live stream. The stream ended after 13,000 hours (540+ days) of consecutive streaming, amassing over 218 million views over that time.
When the stream returned in September 2017, the character of Lofi Girl was introduced. Juan Pablo Machado designed the character after answering a call for Studio Ghibli-esque art for the channel by Somoguy. Lofi Girl proved to be the perfect fit for the channel and the following continued to grow.
In February 2020, fans of the channel were outraged when it was taken down without explanation after 548 days of consecutive streaming.
After communicating with YouTube, Somoguy was able to reinstate the channel after two days offline.
The channel's renaming and addition of other characters
A second stream was introduced in February 2020, featuring a variation of Lofi Girl in bed, sleeping. The stream is called lofi hip hop radio - beats to sleep/chill to.
In March 2021, the channel was renamed from Chilled Cow to Lofi Girl in celebration of the popularity of the character, who was now the heart of the channel. To date, the channel has over 14 million subscribers.
These days, Lofi Girl isn't the only streaming option on the channel. In addition to "lofi hip hop radio ???? - beats to relax/study to" and "beats to sleep/chill to," Synthwave boy and "synthwave radio ???? beats to chill/game to" were introduced in April 2023.
The character was introduced as another person in Lofi Girl's neighborhood. One day, she and her cat weren't in their usual spot, and the stream zoomed into a window in the distance, where Synthwave Boy (also known as Lofi Boy) appeared with a similar setup and a dog.
In February 2024, both characters disappeared from their streams to announce two new streams, which were started and initially titled "☀️" and "????."
A few days of keeping fans guessing had people wondering if the new streams would replace the old ones. However, that wasn't the case. The characters made their ways back to their respective streams and "peaceful piano radio ???? - music to focus/study to" and "dark ambient radio ???? - music to escape/dream to" were officially introduced.
Seasonal stations also appear toward the year's end. Currently, "Halloween lofi radio ???? - spooky beats to get chills to" is streaming lofi tunes for the spooky season.
Lofi Records and Lofi Studio
Lofi Records was founded in 2019 by Somoguy to make the music featured on the channel available to audiences at large.
Similarly, Lofi Studio handles the visuals and animations beloved by dedicated YouTubers. Over 300 musicians and illustrators come to tell the stories of Lofi Girl and Synthwave Boy.
More about Lofi Girl's lore
Lofi Girl and Synthwave Boy don't just exist within their respective rooms. Over the years, we've gotten to learn more about the characters as they ventured out into the world.
In the video for "Snowman," Lofi Girl (whose name is revealed to be Jade) reminisces on her younger years in a flashback where she builds a snowman with a man who appears to be her dad. Her mom enters the frame and gifts her the signature scarf she wears.
However, there's no dialogue telling you exactly why it's such an emotional flashback for the character, who wipes away a tear when the viewpoint returns to the present day. While she tearfully walks home, she bumps into none other than Synthwave Boy. While the two don't stop or say anything to each other, there's no doubt that the encounter has meaning.
Fans are eager to see the lore continue to develop as we learn more about the two characters. The mystery, of course, is in when those new little details will appear. With the holidays ahead, fans are hopeful that more about Lofi Girl and Synthwave Boy is soon to be revealed.
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