Lofi Girl

Lofi Girl, formerly known as ChilledCow, is a music label and radio-style channel on YouTube run by Dimitri. Lofi Girl runs 24/7 live streams that play lo-fi hip hop songs accompanied by an animation of an anime girl, Lo-Fi Girl, either studying or relaxing, created by Juan Pablo Machado and modeled on the character Shizuku Tsukishima from the Studio Ghibli film "Whisper of the Heart".
On February 22, 2020, Lofi Girl's channel was mistakenly suspended for copyright infringement, causing many to mourn the channel's loss. YouTube apologized in a tweet and reinstated Lofi Girl's channel the next day.
History.
The YouTube channel was started by Dimitri on March 18, 2015, as ChilledCow. ChilledCow started streaming lo-fi hip hop songs meant for people to listen while studying on February 25, 2017. The live stream was taken down by YouTube between July and August 2017 for using footage of a young woman studying from the film, "Whisper of the Heart". The live stream was reinstated after Dimitri worked with a college student, Juan Pablo Machado, to design a new animation of a girl studying to use for the live stream.
The music used in ChilledCow's live streams were either released through the ChilledCow label or were given permission to use by another artist. YouTube briefly removed the channel without explanation but reinstated it after a public backlash. The original live stream that was stopped by the take down was 13,000 hours long, making it one of the longest videos on YouTube.
On March 18, 2021, 6 years after the creation of the channel, it was announced that the channel would rebrand from 'ChilledCow', to 'Lofi Girl'. The YouTube community posts explained how 'lofi girl' had become the icon of the channel, and that it would fit as the new channel name.
Critical reception.
Lofi Girl's viewership has grown ever since the start of the live stream. Farield El Gafy from Washington Square News praised the live stream about studying, saying "Thanks to this playlist, I’ve cranked out a multitude of essays, study sessions, scripts and rough cuts to the tune of pop culture samples, muted snares and artificial record scratches." Xavier Piedra of Mashable praised it for its relaxing songs that keep the listener focused. He also noted that the playlist is updated frequently and often contains a mixture of old and newly added songs. The live stream was the first live stream listed on Cassidy Quinn of KGW's "Top 10 non-news live channels to watch on YouTube while social distancing". Quinn described the songs in the live stream as "a constant stream of low-key music you play in the background while you get work done, do chores, whatever you're doing at home right now".
Character.
The Lo-Fi Girl (also called the Lo-Fi Study Girl or the "24/7 lofi hip hop beats" girl) is an animated character created by Santo Puppy for the Lofi Girl channel on YouTube and Twitch. ChilledCow began using the Lo-Fi Girl for their streams in March 2018. She quickly went viral, and was established as an Internet meme with over 218 million views. Dimitri chose the character of Shizuku Tsukishima from the Studio Ghibli film "Whisper of the Heart" as the face of the channel, with footage of her studying or writing used in the streams. When the popularity of the streams ultimately led to some getting taken down for copyright violations, Dimitri decided to maintain the Ghibli-esque aesthetic but with an original character and put out a call for artists.
One of the artists who responded was Santo Puppy, otherwise known as Juan Pablo Machado. Originally from Colombia, Machado moved to Lyon in 2013, to study at the Émile-Cohl design school, after a stint at the art school of Bogota. In September 2018, during his last year of his Master's degree, he decided to respond to a call for tenders received by his school. The tender from ChilledCow called for a "student busy revising for her classes, with Miyazaki-esque visuals." Machado, who was not previously familiar with lo-fi aesthetic, decided to send in his sketches. Several positions were tested for the Lo-Fi Girl, including a lying position, at the end of which she would return to her initial position; this did not carry over into the final product because it took too long to animate. The background was also originally just plain black, in order to save animation time. But Machado eventually decided to make La Croix-Rousse appear in the window instead.
In popular culture.
Lo-Fi Girl has been widely referenced in popular culture. An example is contained within Steven Universe, where the character Connie is depicted studying in the same pose and environment as the Girl. In September 2020, a trend started on Reddit whereby the Lo-Fi Girl would be redrawn to match the context of a certain country or place.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, "Dazed Digital" writer Sophia Atkinson referred to Lo-Fi Girl as a "social distancing role model", it seemingly being "crystal clear that the anime girl was always operating in a post-coronavirus reality".
To promote the release of the new expansion "", the official YouTube account for MMORPG "World of Warcraft" posted a "Warcraft"-themed parody of Lofi Girl's 'lo-fi beats to relax/study to' stream.
The game Valorant made a card inspired by Lo-Fi Girl and their character Killjoy, named Chill Joy.
Two months prior to Brexit, the official YouTube account for the Conservative Party published "lo fi boriswave beats to relax/get brexit done to" in which samples of speeches from Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, are played over Lo-fi music.