Lo-fi music conquered YouTube. Now it’s got a rising religious niche.
Who knew lo-fi mixed with snippets of Gregorian chant could be so good — and profitable?
by Sophia Smith Galer
I needed some sweet baptized beats,” one commenter wrote. “If anyone could say a prayer for the health of my children, I would appreciate it,” wrote another. “I will say a quick prayer for you both, Maggie and Neza,” replied someone called BF. “God bless you, everyone listening!”
Since it first streamed a year ago, a YouTube video of a cartoon man reading a Bible and smoking a cigar on his porch to the sound of piano-dusted beats has been viewed 1.5M times. Its popularity means YouTube’s algorithm easily surfaces it whenever somebody searches for “lo-fi,” or low-fidelity music, the DIY genre notable for its analogue warmth and looped beats — and, in this video’s unusual case, snippets of Gregorian chant.
According to Gitnux, lo-fi has seen about a 50% increase in searches over the past year, with lo-fi hip-hop increasing 200% in streams. The most prominent lo-fi account, Lofi Girl, has over 14M followers, and new accounts are constantly popping up. Like classical music, lo-fi can calm the listener and provide a soothing backdrop for studying or relaxing. But plaintive Latin hymns aren’t historically mixed with lo-fi beats, and that’s exactly why the genre has made the brains behind @catholiclofi thousands of dollars.