In her new podcast, “Hot Mess with Alix Earle,” TikTok star Alix Earle is taking her tried-and-true, relatable content to a new platform.
The 22-year-old creator, known for her “Get Ready With Me” videos, has amassed nearly six million followers since rising to fame during her senior year of college at the University of Miami in 2022. Scrolling through her account, it’s clear that her followers are drawn to her positive mindset, lively personality and, most notably, her relatability.
On Sept. 21, Earle debuted the first episode of her podcast, which was a lengthy 48 minutes long in comparison to the content she typically releases, videos usually no more than 3 minutes long.
In the first episode, “Just Friends?” Earle discusses her dating life, social life, post-grad nostalgia and memorable college experiences in a unique format of four segments.
The first segment, in which she gives all the details of her very public dating life, emulates a conversation with a best friend. The intimate, sometimes embarrassing, details that Earle includes when narrating her experience strip the stories of the glamorous effect that is so often found in influencers’ content.
A notable example of this is in her retelling of a romantic first date with NFL player Braxton Berrios, whom she refers to as “NFL man.”
The date she describes is one straight out of a rom-com. Berrios, whom she met at a star-studded party in Miami, spontaneously took her on a helicopter date for a romantic, sunset view. However, the grand gesture proved to not be as luxurious as it seemed because the night, she said, ended in an emergency trip to CVS for a hairbrush to detangle the mess that ensued from the doorless helicopter.
During this segment, in particular, Earle, who didn’t rise to fame until 2022, offers a very nuanced perspective on the portrayal of public figures in the media and online. Not only does she have an acute awareness of how it feels, especially as a young woman, to read about celebrities’ lives and feel inadequate or jealous, but she’s also experienced firsthand how situations can be very easily exaggerated to seem more lavish than they actually are.
This complex understanding of celebrity culture combined with hilarious storytelling offers a relatable and enjoyable listening experience.
In the second segment of the episode, Earle guest stars 4 of her best friends from college to reminisce on memorable experiences, particularly from their freshman year. In the midst of transitioning into post-grad adulthood, the women reflect on the anxiety, excitement and awkwardness that came along with transitioning into college life.
The individual experiences of each speaker offer comfort to incoming freshmen who feel out of place. The group, which came together their freshman year spoke about the unnatural, awkward process of meeting new people in college.
Maintaining the conversational vibe of the episode, Earle and her friends read through their first Instagram DMs and recollect some of their first college experiences together along with screenshots, Snapchat Memories and lots of laughter.
Wrapping up the group’s conversation, Earle transitions into a segment she calls, “Get Real with Me,” a twist on her “Get Ready with Me” videos.
In the star’s “Get Ready with Me” videos, fans listen to her talk about her experiences, plans or frustrations while she prepares to go to a date, party or any other event.
The concept of “Get Real with Me” is an attempt to bridge the gap between influencers and listeners by speaking about the reality of her experiences in the social scene while taking off her makeup, essentially getting un-ready.
The segment speaks to the awareness of Earle who recognizes that, if influencers are explicitly shown with a full face of makeup, they appear to be perfect to a young, impressionable audience. This pattern has been repeated countless times now to audiences that are bound to develop poor self-esteem around the fact that they’re not perfect.
During this segment, Earle, who was photographed at rapper Drake’s birthday party last year, exposes herself by admitting she wasn’t even able to get into the event.
Once again, her down-to-earth outlook on the portrayal of public figures was clear in her transparency regarding the unfortunate situation.
The last segment of the episode, and definitely the most unorthodox, involves a trip back to her former, senior year house in order to delete some embarrassing pictures off of a smart fridge.
Unsurprisingly, Earle was able to transform this simple task into an adventurous mission by convincing the current residents, a group of frat guys to invite her, a former roommate and Alex Cooper, host of “Call Her Daddy,” for a look around.
Throughout the podcast’s debut episode, it’s clear that Earle aims to empower young women to try new things and make mistakes.
Additionally, although the episode discussed an especially wide range of topics for such a short length, all of them involved or mentioned her friends, who remain a constant priority for Earle.
In fact, the episode, which is accompanied on Spotify with a video of her speaking from her messy bedroom, is structured so that it resembles a Facetime call with friends more than a podcast.
While the informality of the podcast may seem insignificant, in actuality, Earle’s determination to spare no details liberates young women who feel pressured to constantly appear perfect.
New episodes of the series are released every Thursday on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts and more.
This podcast is a must-listen for young women everywhere: by simply being herself, Alix Earle is sending a message to her audience that it’s okay to be imperfect, it’s okay to make mistakes and it’s more than okay to be a ‘Hot Mess.’
