YouTube’s Lofi Girl finally finishes her homework and ‘graduates’ after 8 years

An online personality who has been accompanied by millions across the globe through hours of study, work and chill sessions has finally finished her homework.

Jade, better known as Lofi Girl, the face of the popular French YouTube channel of the same name, announced on X on July 30 that she had finally graduated.

In a video animation, Jade holds up a laptop with the words “The End” on the screen.

Initially appearing in her signature red-and-green outfit and wearing headphones, she is then seen donning a navy-coloured graduation gown and mortar board once the laptop is shut.

“Finally finished with all my homework. I don’t know what I learnt, but I know I’m done learning,” she said with a laugh, recreating the dialogue from a teen sitcom that has become a trend on TikTok.

Since its inception in 2015, the YouTube channel has amassed more than 15 million subscribers, racking up more than a billion views through its videos – the most popular of which is the constantly running “lofi hip-hop radio beats to relax/study to” stream, which features Jade in an animation loop over music.

Fans were quick to congratulate her on her graduation.

“All of that studying paid off! Congrats,” said live-streaming site Twitch.

YouTube user kabirmalek5488 said: “She’s been studying since September 2017. Just to put it into perspective, it’s been:

HARDWORK AND DEDICATION!”

It is unclear what this means for the future of the channel.

So far, despite her graduation, it seems to be business as usual on the popular stream, with Jade still doing what she has done for the past eight years: writing in her notebook and occasionally looking out of the window as her cat lounges beside her, through a never-ending stream of lo-fi music.

Lofi Girl appeared in her first iteration in November 2017 while the channel was still known as ChilledCow. Although the channel’s most famous videos are the 24/7 lo-fi streams, it also features short animation clips.

Lo-fi music, according to Forbes, has roots dating back to the 1960s, but is best known today as a “sub-genre of downtempo electronic music containing hip-hop beats with a relaxed aesthetic”.

The Lofi Girl channel has cemented its place in pop culture with myriad memes inspired by its content.

A multitude of similar streams, including central animation looping as lo-fi music plays, have spawned on YouTube and other video-streaming platforms.

Lofi Girl has even found her way into politics.

In the 2019 general election in Britain, the Conservatives’ YouTube channel released a video featuring then Prime Minister Boris Johnson titled “lo fi boriswave beats to relax/get brexit done to”.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te in 2023 called for the public to submit their lo-fi music for his 2024 Healing Music Submission Project, describing the sub-genre as “an essential healing companion for modern people”.

His channel, called Lofi on Lai, features “healing, vocal-free versions of the Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential campaign songs from 1996 to 2024”.