Shadowing Practice: The Rise of *Labubu* Dolls, Explained - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
What the f**k is a labubu?
234 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
What the f**k is a labubu?
2
Someone said on that video,
3
that is what a French person calls an injury.
4
Labubu.
5
But seriously, what is a labubu?
6
I mean, have you guys also started seeing these freaky gremlin dolls everywhere?
7
In stores, online, hanging from people's bags?
8
These plush toy monsters that are popping up everywhere are called labubus,
9
and I had no clue what they were until you guys
10
started commenting about them in my recent video on the downfall of Stanley Cups.
11
For some reason, I had read the word labubu in comment sections before,
12
but I thought it was a type of dress that was sold at Lululemon.
13
It wasn't until you guys started telling me to make a video about the rise of labubus
14
that I finally googled them and I saw this.
15
Since then, I have had so many labubu videos pop up on my feed,
16
including this one where people shared how much money they have spent on a single labubu doll.
17
$130, $150 in a three-hour drive, $325.
18
As a reminder, this is how much folks are spending on a single one of these dolls.
19
So what gives?
20
Why are these weird little dolls suddenly everywhere?
21
Especially when so many people who love labubus admit to thinking that they were really creepy at first.
22
I say let's talk about it.
23
Let's talk about what caused the insane rise of labubu dolls,
24
the psychology behind our obsession with collecting trinkets like them,
25
and whether labubus have any chance of really lasting in our culture that is obsessed with microtrends.
26
So let's start with the very rise of LeBooBoo dolls and how it happened.
27
Also, before we even go there, what are these things?
28
For those who don't know,
29
LeBooBoo dolls are small collectible figures made by the Chinese toy company Popmart.
30
They're part of a larger art toy universe and were designed by artist Ka-Sing Lung,
31
whose characters tend to lean into a mischievous,
32
offbeat type, thus the nightmarish toothy smile that these LeBooBoo's have.
33
And despite looking like an Ewok had a child with a Furby in the Smile cinematic universe,
34
labubus have gained a massive following, especially among Gen Z.
35
According to Wikipedia,
36
the frenzy first kicked off after Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink was spotted with a labubu keychain on her bag.
37
The obsession has only grown from there.
38
People are turning into labubu collectors,
39
and like we just saw,
40
people are down to spend hundreds of dollars on these monsters.
41
There's limited edition ones, vintage ones,
42
labubu blind boxes, and those are actually a critical part of the strategy.
43
See, Labuboos have benefited from many of the same marketing tactics that made Stanley Cups go viral last year.
44
Think of the limited edition drops that we saw with Stanley Cups
45
or that we've seen with brands that have been revived like Crocs.
46
We now see the exact same thing happening with Labuboos.
47
Why?
48
Because it creates this feeling of scarcity.
49
Like you have to go out and buy more or you're gonna miss out.
50
If you haven't already, watch my video on how FOMO culture keeps us poor to really dive deeper into that whole topic.
51
And it's the same thing with blind boxes.
52
Not knowing what's inside creates this sense of excitement.
53
There's a psychology concept called variable reward systems.
54
And the idea is that we get hooked to activities that provide us unpredictable rewards.
55
When we don't know if our blind box is going to have that special labubu that we want,
56
we are flooded with anticipation and desire,
57
and when we open the box,
58
we either get disappointment that feeds more into the desire,
59
or we get this rush of pleasure for having the labubu that we want,
60
and then it feeds right back into desire.
61
This leads to many just buying more and more blind boxes
62
so that they don't miss out on the item that they really want.
63
Now we'll dive more into the psychology of collectibles as well,
64
but it's important to realize that what's driving the labubu obsession right now is not new.
65
It's not new, but it's certainly effective.
66
Recently, it was reported that London's fashion retail scene was reselling certain labubus for a thousand dollars.
67
And the labubu rise has led to Popmart beating profit expectations and making 427 million dollars in 2024,
68
which seems like a ridiculous amount of money made by just selling monster dolls.
69
But it's less surprising when you realize how many labubus people are buying.
70
Armies of these expensive gremlins.
71
And while of course people can spend where they want,
72
it does strike me as really crazy to spend
73
so much money on dolls that are likely going to be out of style,
74
out of fashion in just a year.
75
And then what?
76
It's gonna be clutter.
77
It's gonna be trash.
78
There isn't a utility to labubus beyond being a labubu.
79
Oh yeah?
80
Says who?
81
I, for one, love my labubu.
82
Oh, geez, it's my arch nemesis, Hat Cara.
83
It's the version of Cara who is awful at money and spends way too much on hat.
84
And labubus now.
85
I am a labubu gal.
86
Of course you are.
87
But come on, you have to admit that labubus don't have a real functional use.
88
I mean, they're just a status item.
89
Like, when this craze is all done,
90
what are you gonna do with all your labubus?
91
Are you gonna stitch them up and sleep on them?
92
You know what?
93
Maybe I will, okay?
94
Who's to say that 300 labubus all stitched together wouldn't make a very comfortable mattress.
95
I think if you really wanted a comfortable mattress,
96
you would go with something like Birch Living's mattress,
97
which happens to be today's sponsor.
98
Wait a second, did you just set me up for a brand segment?
99
I did, I did.
100
I needed a way to get you to stop talking about La Boo Boo's for a minute.
101
Plus, I wanted to talk about what is literally one of the comfiest mattresses I have ever owned.
102
So I recently switched to Birch Living mattress,
103
and genuinely, it makes me so excited to go to sleep right now because of how comfortable I feel.
104
The mattress is plush and breathable and I feel like I have less back pain now.
105
I specifically used to wake up with this lower back pain
106
when it was around my time of the month and I just accepted that as part of life.
107
I figured that was normal,
108
but I have yet to have any of that back pain since sleeping on a birch mattress.
109
The pillows too are really cozy.
110
They support my neck so that I'm not waking up with neck
111
or shoulder pain and I feel like I'm sleeping better through the night,
112
which gives me a whole lot more energy through the day.
113
The mattresses themselves are made with really good materials,
114
organic cotton, organic wool, natural latex,
115
and the delivery process was such a breeze.
116
They deliver right to your door,
117
and if you don't like setting it up yourself,
118
they even offer an in-home setup and removal.
119
If you guys know my content well,
120
you'll know I'm very much about being intentional with money,
121
and I think that quality is way better than quantity,
122
and so while I might not be on the bandwagon of spending $200 a pop for a Labubu collectible,
123
I definitely am for buying a high quality mattress
124
that can help you sleep better and that you'll use for the next decade of your life.
125
If you have been in the market for a new mattress,
126
typically the advice is to get a new one every eight-ish years.
127
Birch Living is having a Memorial Day sale right now and if you use my exclusive code birchpartner27,
128
you can get 27% off plus two free pillows with your mattress purchase.
129
Use my link down below and code birchpartner27 for 27% off.
130
And thank you so much to Birch Living for sponsoring today's video.
131
All right, so we have a sense of how Libuboos got big in the first place
132
and the psychology behind why their scarcity-driven marketing is so effective.
133
But what about the psychology behind why people are obsessed with collectibles in the first place?
134
I mean, this isn't the first time that we have seen a trend like Libuboos grip the public attention.
135
We have seen Smiskies before,
136
something I covered in my De-Influencing Your Holiday Wishlist video.
137
We've seen Sunny Angels, which I don't like at all,
138
they look really creepy to me.
139
We've seen jelly cats and squishmallows
140
and back in the day we saw beanie baby collections running this world to the point where people were convinced
141
that they were gonna outpace the stock market.
142
People were feral about beanie babies, myself included.
143
I was like five but I did have a lot of beanie babies.
144
I think this history tells us two very important things about the labubu trend.
145
One is that labubu's relevancy is on a countdown.
146
I cannot envision a world where these are a trend that ends up staying.
147
I think that labubus will fall the same way that so many hyper-consumerous microtrends fall,
148
which is eventually becoming clutter and this weird meme that we look back on.
149
And maybe those who spend thousands of dollars on labubus will flinch
150
when they think about what that money could have been worth if they had like invested it instead.
151
So that's one thing that we can learn from history.
152
The other is that humans love collectibles.
153
What is it about us that makes us so into accumulating matching trinkets and displaying them together?
154
When I researched this topic,
155
I came across multiple publications drawing a very clear distinction between collecting and hoarding.
156
Because on the surface, collecting could look something like hoarding,
157
but the two are different.
158
As this paper explains, collecting is a widespread normative human activity.
159
The key difference is how symbolism plays into a collector's mindset.
160
Collectors feel like the items that they are collecting somehow symbolize qualities about them.
161
It might be cuteness, joy,
162
a sense of humor, innocence,
163
playfulness, or it could be ruggedness,
164
cleverness, worldliness, a symbol to show that you're intelligent and you have depth.
165
For labubus, here is my read on what people are subliminally trying to express about themselves when they have one.
166
Looking at a labubu, there's this contrast that's going on, right?
167
Ignore the face and you have this cuddly adorable figure with cute clothes add the face in
168
and now you're looking at something a little more off-putting It's mischievous Surprising it has a slight edge to it
169
So think about what that ends up communicating if you're collecting la boo-boos
170
and therefore they're meant to represent a certain part of who you are What are you trying to message?
171
I think it's that hey,
172
i'm a cute person I can look adorable and fashionable and tiny But I'm not just cute.
173
I've got a surprising side of me that is a little weird,
174
a little rebellious, that doesn't play into all the cutesy norms.
175
If we look back at Lisa from Blackpink who helped kickstart this whole trend,
176
her Vanity Fair video talking about La Boo Boo's shows a lot of this same characterization.
177
She looks glamorous and cute and yet has a unique and quirky side to her.
178
What I'm getting at is that we use trinkets and collectibles as a way to express ourselves to others,
179
and by doing so we can also try to find some sense of community.
180
Something that I found really interesting about the labubu trend is this sense of,
181
if you know, you know,
182
type language used in the community.
183
Like the differences between a labubu and a lafufu,
184
which is the term for a fake labubu,
185
it creates this language within a subculture that,
186
if you know the language,
187
you feel this deeper sense of belonging.
188
I think that's why people also start getting more attached to these monster dolls once they're familiar with the lore.
189
You feel like you're part of a community with its own set of references
190
and inside jokes that no one else can understand.
191
The last force that I think is helping fuel the labubu craze is,
192
interestingly, an economic one.
193
There's this economic idea called the lipstick effect,
194
and this refers to the phenomenon where,
195
during economic downturns or times of financial uncertainty,
196
people spend on small luxuries that make them feel good.
197
Instead of splurging on big ticket items like vacations or designer bags,
198
they'll opt for more affordable indulgences like a $15 lipstick or perhaps a $50 blind box toy.
199
Labuboos hit that sweet spot.
200
They're quirky, collectible, and they feel like a treat,
201
but they don't necessarily break the bank.
202
At least, like, unless you buy,
203
you know, an army of them the way that some people do.
204
Right now, the world is facing a whole lot of economic uncertainty.
205
In my video breaking down the tariffs chaos,
206
I talk about how prices are on the rise and there's a potential recession looming,
207
meaning that many people are looking to cut back on their spending.
208
So during a time when people are looking to cut costs,
209
labubus seem like this accessible way to feel joy,
210
participate in a trend, and express identity through consumption.
211
What I worry about though is that,
212
just like we talked about before,
213
I don't think this trend is going to last.
214
I feel like this moment of the labubu craze is really
215
just one moment amongst many in this larger arc of rotating micro trends and collectibles.
216
Yes, buying yourself a little luxury and expressing yourself through a product,
217
it's not the end of the world by any means.
218
But stretching your budget or over-consuming in the name of something like the labubu trend doesn't ultimately feel worth it.
219
Before we start participating in trends like the rise of labubus,
220
it's worth asking ourselves, what are we trying to communicate through those viral items?
221
And is there perhaps a more productive,
222
more real way we can channel our identity or desire for belonging?
223
But what do you guys think?
224
Are you into the labubu trend or do you know someone who is?
225
And if so, what do you think about this rise of labubus and their potential downfall?
226
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and what topics you wanna see me cover next.
227
If you liked this video,
228
check out my video on the downfall of Stanley Cups that I recently posted.
229
That is where the idea for this video came.
230
And be sure to subscribe for more videos about the intersection of money, media, and culture.
231
Thank you so much to my patrons on Patreon and those on Buy Me A Coffee for supporting this channel.
232
And thank you all so, so much for watching.
233
I will see you next time.
234
Bye.
Download App
AI scoring for every sentence you speak
TRENDING
Popular
Why practice speaking with this video?
Practicing your English speaking skills with this video about the rise of labubu dolls can be highly beneficial. The speaker engages in a lively discussion filled with enthusiasm and real-world references that make the content relatable. Engaging with such cultural phenomena enhances your vocabulary and understanding of current trends, which can be particularly helpful during IELTS speaking practice. By using this video as a resource, you not only practice your speaking skills but can also delve into contemporary topics that might appear in conversations or exams.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
As you watch the video, pay attention to some key structures and expressions used by the speaker:
- Rhetorical Questions: The speaker uses questions like "What the f**k is a labubu?" to engage the audience and provoke curiosity. This technique encourages openness and encourages conversational practice.
- Descriptive Language: Phrases like "freaky gremlin dolls" and "nightmarish toothy smile" provide vivid imagery. Such expressions can be mimicked to enhance your descriptive speaking skills.
- Colloquial Expressions: Words like "frenzy" and "obsession" create a conversational tone that is necessary for natural speech. Learning these can help you sound more fluent during informal conversations.
- Conditional Structures: The speaker often proposes scenarios, such as "What gives?" or "If you haven't already." Practicing these structures can help you form more complex sentences when discussing various topics.
Common Pronunciation Traps
While watching, you may encounter specific pronunciation challenges:
- Labubu: The pronunciation might seem straightforward, but the playful tone makes it trickier. Practice saying it with different inflections.
- Collectible: This word can trip up speakers due to its length and syllable stress. Make sure to emphasize the second syllable: col-LEC-tible.
- Tendency: Watch the speaker’s pronunciation of "tendency," noting the reduced vowel sounds. It often gets slurred in casual speech, so practicing this word can be crucial for speaking fluently.
Utilizing a shadow speech approach can be effective here. Listen and repeat phrases while paying close attention to the speaker's intonation and rhythm. Using a shadowing app can facilitate this practice, allowing you to improve your fluency and comprehension while diving into current cultural conversations surrounding items like labubu dolls.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
☕ Buy us a coffee
ShadowingEnglish remains 100% free thanks to your support. Server and AI costs are high — your coffee keeps us going! 🙏