On December 5, YouTube released its annual Rewind video reminiscing on the website’s most prominent trends of 2019- and within hours, it was struck with extreme backlash. 

Every December, the video-sharing company publishes a video recalling the most notable things that happened on the website that year. In the past, the video usually features a cast consisting of some trending creators and references the year’s most popular songs, Internet trends, etc. Last year’s video confirmed to be a colossal failure, becoming the most disliked video on YouTube history with over 17 million dislikes. Many users complained that it did not include fan favorites like PewDiePie and Minecraft and presented a polished version of the community that was not true to creator culture. 

This year, the company attempted to redeem itself from last year’s downfall, but the video, entitled “YouTube Rewind 2019: For the Record”, is still faced with considerable criticism. 

“In 2018, we made something you didn’t like,” a message at the beginning of the video said. “So in 2019, let’s see what you DID like. Because you’re better at this than we are.” The video then proceeded with lists of the top ten videos across a variety of categories, from the most-liked beauty videos to music videos. 

Nonetheless, YouTube Rewind 2019 was not any more well-received, with a ratio of about 7 million dislikes to only 2.8 million likes within the first five days of being published. It has also already made the top 50 most disliked videos on YouTube, ranking between Justin Bieber’s “Baby” music video and the viral “Baby Shark Dance” as #3 on the list. 

However, most of the response suggests that the audience did not resent this version of Rewind the same way as before. They were instead disappointed by its lack of motivation, as it emphasized a list of statistics rather than uniting YouTube culture as they did in the past. 

“This is the laziest rewind I’ve ever watched in my entire life,” one user wrote. 

“I’ll take this as an improvement but it’s still a sad attempt? This site has become so disconnected from its creators and audience, lost its authentic feeling,” another commented. 

“This makes me so sad… Yeah, creators were highlighted… but their creativeness… maybe not so much,” another disappointed viewer said. “I know it costs a lot of time and energy, but I miss the rewinds of years past, with the YouTubers actually being in the video, rather than their videos in the video.”