Thru You Remixes: A Glimpse of What Youtube Could Have Been
I always come back to a series of music videos on youtube by Kutiman titled “Thru-you”. They are made by remixing videos of others on the site. This is one of my favorites from it called “I’m New”:
The entire playlist from this series is here. There’s a sequel called “Thur you Too” here.
It’s all brilliant. Check it out.
The video is old. It was uploaded in 2009. Youtube was a much different place then.
In 2026, youtube is a weird ad-ridden place that screams for your attention at every nook and cranny. It’s personalized with a bizarro-version what you want to watch: long rambling, professionalized content, pretending to be down-to-earth, made by a whole invisible-to-you team, shot from a living room with great set-design and impeccable lighting, in the form of video essays of any subject you can think of, but somehow all with the same format, length, and cadence as every other video. Videos are filled with sponsor-reads that are interrupted by ads. The thumbnails have been thoroughly A/B tested.
Some of modern youtube videos are very good and made by talented people. It’s just all same-y and commercial. The formula of it all is boring. For all the personalization across any subject you can imagine, I paradoxically wish there was more variety. Subject isn’t the only dimension of variety and youtube doesn’t seem to understand this at all. Animations, skits, vlogs/journals, and countless other forms of video expression have been buried.
I don’t know, maybe I’m being unfair. Whoever is in charge of dark-patterns at youtube is good at their job. I probably watch more than I used to, but I enjoy it way less.
The “Thru You” remixes are a glimpse into what youtube could have been; or maybe what youtube used to envision itself as. It used to have the slogan “broadcast yourself”. The Thru You remixes is kind of like a mini-showcase of regular people doing just that. Kutiman took these disparate unrelated clips of people making sound for who knows what reason, and put it in an entirely new context. It beautifully demonstrates the artistry and creativity of remixing. It’s like a celebration of talent and expression.
Sure, the Thru You videos are of potato quality. But its still the best thing on youtube.