Girlfriend Reviews’ first video on Red Dead Redemption 2 was a massive hit when it was uploaded in late November. At the time of writing this, it’s at 1.2 million views; the channel itself has over 350,000 subscribers. The rest of their videos average at about 400,000 views, at least. That’s no small feat for a channel that launched just months ago, with a dorky everyday couple behind it.
Since then, Girlfriend Reviews has uploaded a new video every week. Throughout the week, they also stream regularly, as a way to both capture footage needed for the videos and to interact with their fast growing community. Shelby says on average, they have a few hundred people watching their streams. As for now, YouTube is still their primary focus, even if they did recently become a Twitch partner.
The name Girlfriend Reviews brings up a lot of feelings to some about “fake geek girls” and clickbait-y articles headlined with, “Here’s All the Games Your Girlfriend Will Actually Want to Play,” listing games with heavy femme leanings (as if we can’t like shooters?). For the couple, subverting that expectation came basically accidentally. “It’s never really been a thought that we’ve had,” Shelby is quick to tell me. “We’re just making videos based on our experience as a couple. So, you know, we never really felt like we needed to change what we make, because we’re being authentic to ourselves.”
Girlfriend Reviews has already begun to shake up its core formula, with recent videos like “What Co-Op Games Should You Play With Your Girlfriend?” In the future, they hope to do some What Should Your Boyfriend Play divergences, with Shelby recommending games for Matt. (“I’m not as much of a performer as Shelby,” Matt adds sheepishly.) Other ideas include movie reviews and date reviews, such as “Should You Take Your Boyfriend to Disneyland?” For Shelby, that one poses the most potential. “Any excuse for me to go to Disneyland is a win in my book,” she says.
“It’s still so new for us. “But you know we also have other ideas and hopes and dreams for ourselves. So there’s things like that that are big picture dreams we have, but for now we’re just kind of, week by week basis trying to play a game and make a funny video.”
But we love the people that we’ve met
Matt and Shelby say that the success of Girlfriend Reviews has literally changed their lives; morphing something they once did as a hobby into something that viewers can actually resonate with and enjoy. While the future is uncertain, Matt and Shelby hope to start attending events and growing the channel even further. At 500,000 subscribers, they’re even kicking around the idea of maybe doing a face reveal, as they’ve tried to stay as anonymous as possible thus far. Regardless of what the future holds, the by all accounts normal couple are just happy for the experience.
“I mean, all I can really say is how incredible this has been,” says Shelby. “Even if it were over tomorrow, we would be so thankful for this experience so far and everyone that said that our videos have improved their day or something. It’s just really been such a pleasure and so fulfilling for us.”
And we’re still so uncertain of, you know, how long it will last or how far we can take this idea,” says Matt
“My favorite part [of doing Girlfriend Reviews] would probably be working with my favorite person in the whole world,” says Shelby. “And the fact that we get to work together and, like I said, it’s our baby. We both put in a lot to it, and to see people appreciate that and resonate with it is really just so fulfilling, you know? Hearing that people are getting their significant others to start playing video games because of our videos is amazing, and I never expected that.”