A young woman sits cross-legged facing a ring light. She records herself dabbing blush on her cheeks, wiggling a mascara wand through her lashes and outlining her lips with a nude-toned liner. Everything seems normal – the video is not dissimilar from the thousands of makeup tutorials that exist online – except for the context in which this is being filmed: she’s been ordered to evacuate her home due to the deadly wildfires raging nearby in Los Angeles. “So, LA’s burning right now and I’ve got a few hours to pack my life up and get out of here,” she tells the camera in a chatty tone, swiping a shiny gloss across her lips.
The video in question is titled “GRWM to evacuate” – the acronym being short for Get Ready With Me. It’s an online content format that does what it says on the tin: viewers watch as a person does their hair and makeup, and picks an outfit, while they chat through a rolling bulletin of life updates. The content format has been the backbone of influencer vlogging culture since it began. But after the wildfires ignited across southern California more than a week ago, evacuation-themed videos have taken over – and to a mixed response. One onlooker commented on TikTok: “Doing a GRWM to evacuate is crazy… this is a serious situation. Another added: “Girl, why is your GRWM to evacuate you putting makeup on and not packing?” A third was even more direct: “‘GRWM’? There’s people that are dying??”
