Bratayley- When Tofu Jumps the Shark Part 15

[lmmomSD]

What I don't get is the level of obsession the stans have. WHY are they so invested in Annie being perfect, and by extension, having the perfect boyfriend? When she was "with" Hayden, they would scour videos looking for proof that "Hannie is real"
And Billy was certainly behind Hannie. There's an article about how he saw a way to make money off the shipping. Katie just cooed over it and bought out every issue of Tiger Beat that mentioned Hannie.
And I absolutely agree that the stans take everything at face value and believe they know this family. When there was another cheating rumor going around about Billy, kids were actually commenting "That's not the Billy I know!" They don't even see that they don't know him, or anyone else in the family.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[Lisatheacrobat]

I honestly asked the same thing about why they are so invested in her. I think a lot of it is that a lot of people seem to know themselves. They are distinct and an individual. Even Kenzie. It’s no secret that she has her own personality. She has her own style and tastes and hobbies. Annie has none of that. She copies the latest fashion trends. She likes the popular shows because they are popular and when you can find a shows merch in Urban Outfitters, it’s a trend. Periodt. What have we seen from Annie that she “likes” that isn’t a trend? FRIENDS show? Trendy. A wardrobe from the most popular apparel store? Trend. Not even the clothes she buys there aren’t something that might be unique or quirky cause I will say that they can definitely cater to unique styles. But she looks just like every other 14 year old. Ripped jeans, graphic tee’s and doc Martens? Trends. Even a desire to play the ukulele is a trend. If she had at least stuck to the piano and genuinely learned it because she liked it it would have at least been a shred of individuality among something like music. It’s not like every other 14 year old is learning the piano. Nope they are playing the ukulele cause it’s an “easy” instrument to learn. So she too learned it. Now she is gonna pick up the guitar? Lol. I just don’t see anything from her that is a shred of unique individuality and so it allows people to inflict their own ideas and images onto her. If she had her own personality that isn’t following every trend on social media, then it would make fans have to like her for those unique reasons. If she stood for something, it’s going to make it harder to inflict your own ideals on her. If she liked something that may not be on trend then it makes kids have to like her for that. It’s easy to like her because she is a blank canvas with an outwardly perfect life. She has everything they want and nothing that is unique or special.

At least that’s how I see it. When I see her, I just see a girl who follows trends, has no real individuality. She is just pretty enough to be envied by girls who may not have an athletic skinny body and clear skin. I think the reason why girls like Ryan Cummings are not as popular as someone like Annie is because she is so involved in her sport and I think of Annie had stuck to gymnastics, she wouldn’t be this obsessed over. Because she wasn’t this obsessed over before Hannie and then the fantasies began.

[youtube_obsessed843]

I read what everyone had to say about how controlling Billy was. I realize, in hindsight, that I forgot these major details Of course I remember Annie explaining how she got into singing but that was long before I was on this thread and at a time when I truly thought they were decent people. During that time back in Maryland I just figured Billy was pushing Annie to do something out of her comfort zone to help her with auditions for getting some kind of show or commercial or whatever in LA. In a good natured kind of way. When I was growing up my dad basically forced me to participate in every activity because it showed I was "well rounded." I was allowed to try all sorts of things, but it ultimately had to be balanced, meaning 1 instrument, 1-2 school sports, 1-3 extracurricular activities like horseback riding, school clubs or the choir, tutors in any subject needed and Hebrew school every Sunday. Plus another tutor later on down the line for SAT prep/college applications. I was kept busy and was well attended to, but I never felt like I mastered any one thing besides riding. I was never comfortable anywhere besides the barn. I think Annie feels the same way. Maybe not specifically "the barn" but she doesn't have anything she's actually good at, besides gymnastics which she gave up.

[Lisatheacrobat]

But I think the difference is that your dad had good intentions of keeping the doors open for you. Allowed you to trying all kinds of things and maybe, ultimately, found something you loved doing. I think that all 3 kids and Caleb and Annie especially, were forced into things that they ultimately ended up loving. I remember that they said that Billy’s dad played baseball and they even joked and said the person in the photo was Billy and not Billy’s dad. Katie was a gymnast as a child and didn’t go very far. I think both of them somewhat lived through their children to do the thing that they didn’t really get to do. Lucky for them, they both liked their sport. I think Annie really enjoyed gymnastics and we often saw her doing it in her own, with Hayley or with friends. She was ALWAYS doing it. They even made a tradition of taking handstand photo’s everywhere they traveled. You could tell she loved it because she never stopped doing it. But with acting and singing, she takes no outside time to practice or play an instrument. We don’t see that same addiction to it like we saw with gymnastics. They go to set, film or record and then go home and do literally anything but music or acting. Whereas someone like me who loves music, I am always listening to music, always singing, always playing my guitar. I just love it and I want to do it all the time. Even after lessons, I work on what I learned.

Also i don’t think your parents said you had to do something that you never did before- that you never wanted to do or showed interest in before- and become a professional in it. Annie showed no interest in music at all until LDYK. It was kind of like “I just quit gymnastics and now I’m going to be a Popstar” it was so out of the blue it was ridiculous. She never talked about singing. She didn’t take lessons (minus that like week when she was six and didn’t really go anywhere with it) she showed no interest in it until it was her career and then all of a sudden it was like “i looooove singing! I’m gonna learn the piano!” Until the piano turned out to be too difficult. So it was I’m gonna play the ukulele. Still have seen nothing from that and now she wants to play the guitar. I’ll be interested to see how long she lasts playing it when she starts finger picking and pull offs hammer ons and if she’s lucky, tap harmonics. Never mind barre chords and how incredibly painful those are when you first learn them. I just think she is trying to make it look like she is interested in something she really isn’t. Music is a tough thing to master if you aren’t interested in it and i imagine most things are like that. I could never master tennis because I have zero interest in learning it. But if my dad forced me to play it and not only that but it be my career, i would want nothing to do with it. She has to go through the motions because she has no other choice. Billy made her do this because he saw money in it. Just like every other social media parent who is behind every tween idol these days, they are managers first and parents later. If they even are parents at all. At this point, I think Katie would rather just be Annie’s friend rather than being her mom and taking the role as a mother seriously. While Billy is seeing dollar signs above Annie’s head and it all may look great now. She may even make you believe that she is having fun and her life is great. But how great can it be when your mom doesn’t care that you aren’t getting proper education and letting you galavant around with 17 year old boys alone in their car or in your apartment and your father is pushing you into a career you didn’t want because it was a quick way to make money off of you? All you are is just a source of income for your family and they truly don’t have your best interest at heart. Eventually, I believe that that will hit Annie one day and it may not be for 15 years. But it will hit her one day and that won’t be good. Her future self is being shaped around all of this and it’s a recipe for disaster later on in life when she realizes the two people who were supposed to protect her, failed her by profiting off of her and giving her more freedom than she was responsible enough to handle.

[ClaireField61]

Agreed with all of this, although I would like to add the fact that apparently Katie and Billy were open to more than Baseball and Gymnastics, because I heard and at one point mentioned that both Caleb and Annie played Soccer. Katie and Billy used to be more loose, but then the LA train came in and it was all $$$$ from then on in.

[Lisatheacrobat]

Does anyone know why they originally decided to have all three kids homeschool? I know that Annie did it for her gymnastics. But what was the point of having Caleb and Hayley homeschool too? Or did they just do it so that they had more footage by having the kids home all day to be filmed?

[youtube_obsessed843]

Does anyone know why they originally decided to have all three kids homeschool? I know that Annie did it for her gymnastics. But what was the point of having Caleb and Hayley homeschool too? Or did they just do it so that they had more footage by having the kids home all day to be filmed?

I think homeschooling stemmed from the idea that Annie was on the fast track to become famous so maybe the other kids would be too. Like maybe something along the lines of "if we give them enough time in the day the other 2 will turn into Annie" I know the opinion that Billy is behind his daughters fame is really popular, and if it's true, then who knows whether Billy had been plotting this for all 3 of them long before Caleb's death. It was no secret that Annie was becoming a gymnastics star and that the channel was taking off. (I know from watching enough videos that Annie was no Simone Biles but you know what I mean.) Maybe it had to do with filming, that's a good point, but personally I always skipped through the parts where they homeschooled. I feel like so many clips from the Glendale apartment were focused on school because someone was always behind. Katie was always trying to emphasize it but her tactics never worked. Even now school is a chore to them. I went through a phase where I thought school wasn't important and dropped out of college after 2 years. I ended up taking classes online at a community college and the curriculum was SO dumbed down. I was taking marketing classes and still getting credit when each assignment automatically gave 100% when you completed it and only required a 10 question quiz. You don't learn anything in online school. It couldn't be easier. I could understand if Annie's mom printed out the tests and have her complete them in a proctored situation, but I'm sure even if that was the case she would still assist Annie with the questions. It really isn't fair. unless you really care about the material, online school only goes through the motions and doesn't teach you much.

[Guest]

Does anyone know why they originally decided to have all three kids homeschool? I know that Annie did it for her gymnastics. But what was the point of having Caleb and Hayley homeschool too? Or did they just do it so that they had more footage by having the kids home all day to be filmed?

I could be wrong, but I feel like they did it when they started to travel more for YouTube type stuff. They weren’t traveling as much as they have in the last couple years, but they were definitely taking trips to promote stuff back then. Maybe they saw that their channel was growing fast and anticipated more opportunities coming that would take the kids out of school. It’s crazy how long ago all of that seems now. I think Billy has always had dollar signs in his eyes and maybe that’s when he started to push the kids into his money makers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

Speaking of Billy, when did he get out of the Navy? Did he ever work or do anything after he got out? Because I don’t think he was in for 20 years to get retirement. Was he still in while they were vlogging and then just never had to do anything else once he got out because of the YouTube money?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lisatheacrobat]

Speaking of Billy, when did he get out of the Navy? Did he ever work or do anything after he got out? Because I don’t think he was in for 20 years to get retirement. Was he still in while they were vlogging and then just never had to do anything else once he got out because of the YouTube money?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think he quit to do youtube full time. To be able to travel and all that stuff. But idk what his actual role was or how that stuff works in the military.

I also don’t think that the channel was wildly popular until after Caleb passed away. They seemed to struggle to get to that first million and they only hit it a few months before he died. They had been on YouTube for years before that ever happened. So I don’t think they knew anyone was going to become wildly famous. They tried for sure. But I think sequence of events is what lead them to where they are now. Caleb’s death brought them a lot of outside media that got them a lot of subscribers. From there they seemed to quietly focus on making Annie a star.

I do think they had intentions for Annie all along and you can tell by the way she was always made front and center in old vlogs. Even when Caleb was still around. But I think after he passed, their fans just gravitated towards Annie because of age really. Hayley was only 6/7 when this happened and so most of their viewers were probably closer to Annie’s age. Plus power of suggestion doesn’t shock me that’s Annie is where she is. But I also think that Carrie from Dance knew someone BTS of RYH because she had other non-Bratayley students who worked with them. She must’ve got them in contact and that’s where RYH came in. Around this time, Annie was still in gym and Hayley was in school/wanting to dance. I don’t think that they ever PLANNED for Annie to become a star. I think they saw the opportunity and ran with it. It doesn’t make sense to enroll Hayley in a school if you had no plans of staying in MD. And if they had been planning this and enrolled her anyways, then they are cruel humans who shouldn’t have kids. Who would do that to a 7 year old?

I genuinely believe that RYH took them further they thought was gonna happen. Mix in Brat and however they are tied into the mix and you have what we have now. I don’t think they ever intended to leave Maryland. They just bought that house. They spent time and money invested in it just to live there full time for a year and then back and forth for another 2 years before deciding to permanently stay in California. I think looking back at the vlogs from that time, it would be hard to suggest that this is what they had planned for all along. I do think they wanted it. They pushed Annie and Hayley into all kinds of commercials and other things. But I think they met RYH and that took them further then they ever planned. Especially because of Hannie.

[Guest]

Them not being that popular before Caleb passed is right. I had no clue who they were until he passed. It pretty much went mainstream for a bit. I remember seeing it being reported on TV somewhere and thought “wow, 13 is REALLY young to suddenly pass”. I was intrigued...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ferriswheel]

They had just reached one million subscribers in May 2015, only a few months prior to Caleb passing.

Sent from my LG-SP200 using Tapatalk

[Lisatheacrobat]

They had just reached one million subscribers in May 2015, only a few months prior to Caleb passing.

Sent from my LG-SP200 using Tapatalk

It took them how many YEARS to get to 1 million and then they got several million (5-6 million) in the last 3-4 years. So in the grand scheme, they were very small youtubers. Obviously big enough to be making a profit and afford that house in Severna Park. But they weren’t big creators by any means. When Caleb passed it was even talked about on E! News and many other big news networks as well as trending on Instagram and Twitter. I remember seeing that at the time they had popular trending hashtags on Instagram and I saw #ripcaleb and was curious. That was how I found their channel. I had seen one episode previously before but didn’t really watch the whole thing.

[Guest]

Uh oh. Annie and Hayley are Coachella inbound. Annie posted on her IG story all dolled up with Hayley, glitter and all...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tialaila05]

Has anybody watched the new vlog yet because to be honest I don't want to deal with 80% Annie and 20% hayley and I can't deal with Katie's annoying voice I've got a bad migraine so I won't be able to sit through it.

[benefactr]

Listening to radio today and the DJ was calling it Cokechella for obvious reasons.

Uh oh. Annie and Hayley are Coachella inbound. Annie posted on her IG story all dolled up with Hayley, glitter and all...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[benefactr]

Hayley did seem to get more airtime then normal. I guess the fans are freaking that Annie and Asher started the video promoting their new songs. One big topic if anyone is interested them getting their new counter tops in kitchen. Remember Billy saying before they closed on the house how they would replace the countertops. Annie was in the studio with that one guy.

Has anybody watched the new vlog yet because to be honest I don't want to deal with 80% Annie and 20% hayley and I can't deal with Katie's annoying voice I've got a bad migraine so I won't be able to sit through it.

[Guest]

Listening to radio today and the DJ was calling it Cokechella for obvious reasons.

Uh oh. Annie and Hayley are Coachella inbound. Annie posted on her IG story all dolled up with Hayley, glitter and all...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I feel like since Hayley’s going, they have to have some guardian with them right? Even if they’re attending the actual festival and not some party a little ways away. I’m just going to assume Katie is going with them, and maybe that manager they’ve had a for a bit now. Still can’t believe they’re letting Annie go, let alone Hayley...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lmmomSD]

Speaking of Billy, when did he get out of the Navy? Did he ever work or do anything after he got out? Because I don’t think he was in for 20 years to get retirement. Was he still in while they were vlogging and then just never had to do anything else once he got out because of the YouTube money?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nope. He didn't do anything but be Mr. YouTube Dad when he got out of the Navy. He retired right before they moved into the bug fancy Maryland house, if memory serves me.

And they started homeschooling Annie and Hayley because of the Gymschool program at the gym they were going to. Mia and Katie D were in it too. I think Caleb was homeschooled just because it was easier than taking one kid to school and homeschooling the others. And we know Katie has always been kinda lazy. There were vlogs in the old Maryland house (the one Katie's sister briefly lived in) where the kids were vlogging and kept saying they had to be quiet because "mommy is napping"
So they are off to Coachella with glitter on their faces. We'll see how long it takes for them to sweat it off.
And I thought Annie "accepted Jesus"-- so why is she going to Coachella on the holiest weekend of the year? Just like everything else, her "Christianity" lasted about a week.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[lmmomSD]

They had just reached one million subscribers in May 2015, only a few months prior to Caleb passing.

Sent from my LG-SP200 using Tapatalk

It took them how many YEARS to get to 1 million and then they got several million (5-6 million) in the last 3-4 years. So in the grand scheme, they were very small youtubers. Obviously big enough to be making a profit and afford that house in Severna Park. But they weren’t big creators by any means. When Caleb passed it was even talked about on E! News and many other big news networks as well as trending on Instagram and Twitter. I remember seeing that at the time they had popular trending hashtags on Instagram and I saw #ripcaleb and was curious. That was how I found their channel. I had seen one episode previously before but didn’t really watch the whole thing.

They filmed that "Bratayley Makes History" thing before Caleb died, and posted it the summer after he passed, and it still flopped. But Billy saw your fan reaction to Annie and Hayden and was all over it. If you haven't seen the article about it yet, it is really worth a read. He comes off like the skeeviest of Svengalis.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-fans- ... upercouple

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk