The Disappearance of everGirl 🌼 A Deep Dive Into Nickelodeon's Failed Tween Brand

[@gemstuff2645]

I always end up clicking on these kind of videos when I'm really high and end up watching the whole thing on a topic I've never heard about.

[@simonelewis7740]

Literally doing the same thing

[@MaryLoveMew]

lol that's 100% how I discovered some of my favorite youtubers

[@JordanS-ww4eu]

@@MaryLoveMewyou’re my best friend Mary I really like you ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@JordanS-ww4eu]

@@MaryLoveMewyou’re very pretty

[@Cherryluva420_]

Me af

[@orangey229]

I was OBSESSED with EverGirl as a kid!! I was the exact target market and had the clothes, backpacks, PC game, and even the Play CD. I probably would’ve had the dolls if I had known they existed. I remember being devastated when the website was taken down. I was so excited to see this video in my inbox, especially because I sometimes believe I imagined this whole brand.

[@MaryLoveMew]

Aww I'm so glad I was able to connect with some of those memories!!

[@zekewalker1350]

I walked into a Sephora that was completely overrun with tween girls, like I literally thought I had walking into a limited too, there were so few adult women genuinely shopping. It made me sad to realize “tween” identity no longer exists and all the girls tween age feel they need to compete with much older teens as far as looks and makeup.

[@turtlekarth]

the everResearch, the everVisuals, the everOriginality of this video…… really enjoyed the exploration of fantasy/realism working for different demographics!!

[@MaryLoveMew]

[@bluedawnflower]

I remember seeing PeanutButterGamer play the everGirl PC game as part of his "Goodwill Games" series. Other than that I knew nothing about this brand so this was a fun watch!

[@MaryLoveMew]

omg rad! I'll have to check that video out!

[@blur5546]

Me too! As soon as I saw this on my recommended I was like "OMG is that the game PBG played like forever ago!"

[@ceazarsalad4414]

same here! nice to hear the full story

[@joe3378]

Me too 😂. Love that video

[@PurpleDuck86]

I loved everGirl when I was a kid! Especially the games on the website. I remember being so upset when the website went down for "a makeover" and never came back. Truly my roman empire.

[@MaryLoveMew]

Awww :( I can imagine how much it would have hurt as a kiddo who enjoyed it

[@AnnaWatermelonLovesJonghyun]

I felt so validated when you said the soccer mini game was hard 😭 Thank god it wasn't just me! Also it's so cool that you're friends with Snughly! Your senses of humor align perfectly lol

[@MaryLoveMew]

omg I'm so glad we struggled together! And yesss! Snughly and I met via Nancy Drew streams a few years ago :D

[@hannabubser1994]

That ever girl song by play still gets stuck in my head to this day. I adored this brand as a kid! I remember playing the PC game and I know I had a few pieces of clothing too. I recall liking the realistic element to it. This brand definitely has a special place in my heart! Thank you for this deep dive!

[@elizabethwinifred9331]

as someone who was literally 8-12 during the run of evergirl, who lived for limited too, how on earth do I remember absolutely everNone of this and the tie-in doll websites (Polly Pocket, MyScene, Pixel Chix, and obviously Barbie) were *the places* I played online in this era

[@MaryLoveMew]

Right I played so many of the other website games at the time it’s so strange that I never touched EverGirl! But glad I’m not alone aha

[@snughly]

My brain as I go about my day, doing my little tasks, after watching this video: everDreams, everTrue, everCool, everYou, everPower, everProud, just say it everLoud

[@snughly]

Honoured to have had even a small part to play in your everGirl journey! The vibes, costuming, and set dressing in this are unmatched (the little scene at the start of the everGirl PC section is IMMACULATE), such perfect early 2000s tween vibes! Although I never played everGirl, I was immediately thrown back into my days on the Barbie/MyScene/Polly Pocket websites. And absolutely astounding amount of research as ever, I don't want to think about how many photos of Nick Jonas you had to look through to find that everGirl picture! Where's your honourary everPhD??? (Also I can't stop thinking about how WEIRD it is that none of the everGirls officially featured in either of the video games. What a strange decision!)

[@MaryLoveMew]

Hehehe thank you so much! An alarming amount of nick photos had to be observed, but I survived 🫡

[@CosmicSponge2004]

That Viacom split killed so much at Nick. -The EverGirl Brand -Their 90's Sitcom DVDs (Pete & Pete's Final Season and Clarissa Explain's it All's 2nd Season DVD were canned despite being finished) -Paramount Parks -Arguably Season 4 of Jimmy Neutron since Nick claims they couldn't afford to buy out DNA Productions after The Ant Bully flopped in 2006 Mid to Late 2000's Nick in general is a very strange example of things just falling apart

[@50centlovesme]

omg i was obsessed with this but never could remember what it was called omggg this just unlocked a memory

[@RyneMcKinney]

Im glad this was recommended to me. I might be a boy, but I remember seeing previews for this ever girl thing on some of the Nickelodeon DVDs I had growing up and was fascinated

[@GhostHelwig]

I remember the logo for this brand, and I remember the band Play, but I don’t remember anything else about EverGirl. Admittedly, I was too old by that point to be in the target demographic, but I have always paid a little bit of attention to youth oriented media, just because I find the stories and movies comforting when my mental health is bad. Despite that though, I don’t really remember anything about this brand. It was really interesting to see all the things I had no idea even existed. Thanks for putting together such a fun, comprehensive video! 😊 Edit: Also, that song is… Not great. Lol.

[@MaryLoveMew]

Thank you! I feel the same way, I've always enjoyed finding comfort in more "youth" media, nice and cozy for the brain

[@maddy9471]

OMG I loved the EverGirl GBA game and I remember the personality quiz so vividly! Turns out my memory combined "EverGirl" and "EverLife" and I always thought that the GBA game was based on the band that sang the song "Real Wild Child," which was featured on a CD that Lip Smackers made... the 2000s were silly. Thank you so much for this research, this was such a fun nostalgia deep dive.

[@MaryLoveMew]

Ahaha omg only then were we getting CD mixes from Lip Smackers, thats amazing

[@BrandiGordon15]

Omg this lives rent free in my head!! I know the back to school commercial song by heart. I was just telling someone how I think it’s weird what our brain decides to retain because the brand was short lived. So happy other people remember it as well.

[@Valentineatelier]

This brand seemed to be an ambitious idea by some really creative people but then like 20% into the process everyone else on the team didn’t care enough to lift their weight in the group project

[@eatatjoes6751]

The name is catchy and the ads are catchy in a vacuum. You try selling that on an actual album and…well, it sounds corny now because you didn’t factor in - everything else, like grammar.

[@jacquelinealbin7712]

Ok so first off THANK YOU for making a video about this weird little fandom that time forgot! This thing WAS MY CHILDHOOD and was a whole nostalgic feels trip for me! And while I don’t have any recordings or archived posts or anything, I do have a few years of obsessive neurodivergent memories, filtered through a decade and a half of *gestures wildly while screaming* and have THOUGHTS on the journey that the everGirl brand/fandom (brandom?) took. This post is going to be way too long and I legit broke out a Word doc for this, I’m so sorry lmao So, the tie-in with Play was huge. They didn’t have many fans, but I sure was one of them. They were clean and PG-rated enough in terms of lyrics and dance styles that even my overprotective “pokemon cards are animal cruelty” parents approved of them, while Britney’s more PG-13 style was completely banned in my house (yeah that’s kinda dumb, but it was a very weird time in society). And when everGirl was launched, each member of Play kind of had one of the everGirls as her avatar of sorts. They would do clips and commercials about how they sooooo related to their assigned cartoon girl, there was a bit of that funky y2k color-coding going on with accessories for a bit, all that good stuff. And then Faye left and Janet joined, and that just made it all get messy. The characters no longer were clear-tie-ins with our favorite girl group divas. And they had to kind of back away from that whole angle partially because of that, and because Play wanted to go in a more teen direction (their song/video “I Must Not Chase The Boys” is peak girl-puberty angst in ways you really never see in media). And of course, the everGirl song was, even for me, a bit shit compared to literally everything else they made. The website was also full of games and had bios and video “interviews” with the characters, and you really got to see their personalities! In hindsight, it was all very formulaic and flat. 4 girls, 4 classical temperaments, the same formula for a 4-girl group that Golden Girls and Sex and the City had at their core. You had the leader, the laid-back jock, the excited bubbly one, and the soulful artist. But give each one a cute logo and funky color palette and it worked! And the color palette was everything. They saw that gimmick and RAN with it. Especially since you could make an account and create your own page, and pick from I think 2 or 3 different layouts for it for each of the girls! And let me tell you, those layouts were CUTE. Like. Pinnacle of y2k/early 00s design. Every single one was perfect, no notes. Now, the pages. There was never an actual forum, and I think that was a good thing. The pages didn’t let you upload pictures of any sort, you could only pick from an array of profile icons. I think they were very limited about what information your “profile” could have. No place for age or location, but I do remember there being questions about what music you liked, what your favorite sport was, etc. And there was, essentially, a blog feature. It was called a diary or journal, and I’m pretty sure it was private, other people couldn’t see it. I never knew what to write in there lol. It was very limited in terms of character count, that I remember. And I’m preeeeeetty sure that you weren’t able to post custom comments on peoples’ pages, only choose from a few pre-written greetings and compliments for people who you added as friends and added you back. It was kind of boring, and usually I just spent time cycling through the themes because THEY SERIOUSLY WERE ALL SO COOL AND PRETTY OKAY but the limited features definitely made it a lot easier to moderate and a lot less sketchy than most kids websites of that era. I never encountered anything shady or gross on there. Versus the main Nick site, where there was a whole forum just for AtLA fanfic that some poor soul had to moderate to keep kid-friendly, Zutara shippers be damned. Mostly, I used the site for games. They were all realistic enough to be relatable, but in a “living your best life as the coolest middle schooler who could actually exist in the real world” kind of way. I don’t remember much about Joy or Star’s games, unfortunately, I think Joy had a fashion design game that didn’t have that many options? But Skye’s game was FUN. It was this snowboarding game that you had to use your keypad to try and get her to do these funky jumps and flips to get a high score at a competition, and she would celebrate with totally radicool skater slang (or complaints about how she “ate dirt” or whatever if you messed up). Even as somebody very not sporty who had never even stepped on a snowboard, I thought it was super fun. And Hope had a game that was kind of a visual novel? Super interesting format in hindsight. It followed her campaign to become the class president! Things like “I need to do a car wash to raise money for the campaign” and “if I get the word out about Star’s concert, she’ll help me make posters” along with some very low-stakes drama where you had to pick between being smart and responsible or slacking off and going to the mall. Also, as a Latina, having Hope as a Latina character who was nerdy but in a likeable, popular way was actually really important to me. It sounds goofy, but this was when Latina representation in kids media was way more limited. Idk, My EverScope was always like… aggressively Hope-coded as well (in case it wasn’t obvious lmao), which lowkey annoyed me since she had the least fun color palette (Star’s was my favorite for sure, love that purple) but the character meant a lot to me back then! I was bummed when the site went down but was aging out of that target age group anyway. Which is one of the issues with tween-focused media as a whole… the switch to “ew that’s cringey kid shit, I’m a cool teenager who listens to serious rock music like Fall Out Boy now” was very quick, and I admit I never really thought much about everGirl for years, until recently, now that I spend way too much time thinking about the current y2k revival and all of the media that Adobe singlehandedly burnt out of existence when they killed Flash. PS, I think Play also had a collaboration with Lego’s ClickIt line of crafty-décor-ish toys geared towards girls, and a lot of it was verrrrrrry everGirl adjacent. I’m pretty sure they sported some Lego ClickIt accessories in some of their promo materials for everGirl, but could be misremembering and it could just be the color palettes of the era just all being like that. But could be a fun rabbithole if you want another one to poke at, as far as forgotten nostalgic toys go (the ClickIt picture frames live rent free in my head). And also!!! The “dolls that look like you” was something American Girl actually stole from My Twinn doll company! I had a My Twinn that my parents ordered for me, but it didn’t really look like me all that much. Then, a few years later, AG released the Josefina doll, and that one, other than the hair texture, looked a lot more like me than the doll that was supposed to be my “twin” lol. Never remember ever seeing any of the everGirl dolls in person, though, but I remember thinking they were kinda cool (there were some ads on the website and I think in Nick Magazine), but was confused why they didn’t just have the 4 characters instead. But yeah! Thanks for the Big Nostalgia Feels, this got me to really think about something I forgot I loved so much for years

[@Glitteringmoonstone2022]

I was one of thoes 20 million who logged on daily. I remember logging on to the Evergirl website and saying it was closed and it gutted me. As I got older I was trying to figure out what happened and how it was linked to the sweetish girl group Play. I didn't where it came from or why it went away so thank you for this video

[@MaryLoveMew]

Awww amazing! I’m glad I could help attempt to answer what happened!

[@xLadyRaine]

I’m so glad someone else remembers evergirl. I spent so much time on their site.

[@boopmcgoo]

I've been thinking about evergirl recently because i found my play cd. i loved the games on the site and the asthetics of each of the characters

[@3styo997]

OMG GIRL I HAVENT WATCHED YOU IN SO LONG. IM BOUTA REWATCH THE ROYAL CHAOS SERIES LMAO

[@MaryLoveMew]

Lolol omg my lore

[@melissagarrett3168]

I thought that everGirl was something I dreamed up! I was thinking about it recently, but could not remember what this line was. I loved the video, definitely subscribed!!

[@myownbravado]

Oh my god! I was sewing while I had this video on and just so happened to look up while you were playing the gameboy game??? I just got the STRONGEST nostalgia whiplash ever! I thought everGirl sounded a little familiar, but, man, I used to play that game all the time I completely forgot about it, but watching the gameplay is taking me ALL the way back. It's one of those things where like I don't think I have any interest in playing it again, but I'm so happy that you unlocked that memory for me!!

[@MaryLoveMew]

Omg thats so cool!! Also so glad I could be some sewing entertainment!!

[@eatatjoes6751]

It’s fuzzy but this is all comin’ back to me. WAIT. I WAS INTERESTED IN AND TRIED ENTERING THE CONTEST! SHIT, I REMEMBER NOW! Also, wait, I remember the lightning thing too.

[@lily5540]

I love your channel! Your videos are so well produced and interesting!💗💗

[@megh349]

I definitely had the EverGirl PC game as a kid (probably still do somewhere) and used to go on the site a lot! I have no clue how I first found out about it! Maybe my mom and I just stumbled across it at WalMart or something? I used to try and pick different minigames to repeat to get different endings - so my true self remains a mystery 😔

[@eerielakeerie]

oh my god, i got the everGirl pc game at like, Staples as a kid and was obsessed with it but i never realized there was more than that??

[@MaryLoveMew]

That's interesting! Sort of goes to show the marketing wasn't exactly on point

[@brookechaney8610]

The only thing I ever knew about evergirl was the PC game and I LOVED IT. I played it so much. I can’t believe I never realized it was a whole brand.

[@kj317]

What an incredibly well done deep dive! 👏

[@MaryLoveMew]

Thank you so so much!!

[@sunnyjoslynn851]

God I was OBSESSED with the entire everGirl brand as a tween 😭

[@chocochan013]

I remember going to Kohl’s and grabbing the Joy accessory pack that also came with some stickers. I lost the necklace and bracelet pretty quickly but I had the ring until I moved when I was 14. I remember REALLY wanting the Joy backpack but it wasn’t in stock when I went to Kohl’s :/ other than that I remember really liking the game on the website where u could make ur own outfits!

[@BaileeWalsh]

I was so into everGirl! I often shopped at Kohls, the website was one of many in the recesses of my childhood memories, and I was really into Play as a kid and preteen. I still listen to them, that album, and that song. The song honestly makes me so emotional sometimes like when I'm feeling down and just need someone to say positive things to me. I want to correct you on the lyrics, though. They say, "every day" not "ever day" and they do say hope! "Hope brings you joy." I even checked by listening to my CD and that's what the lyric book says. I do think they say "hope" kind of oddly, but English is not their first language so I'm assuming that's why, along with the mixing/production. I won't completely shoot down your Faith theory though because one of the past members of Play was named Faith and she left after their previous album. (oh you mention a former member later.) So it could have been confusing if one of the characters had the same name as a previous member. Anyway, I don't remember the dolls not those video games. I remember videos or clips with the characters, which were probably on the website. I may have had that camera (on the right) and scrapbook set- I was into scrapbooking as a kid. but they also look like everything else that came out around that time, so hard to know for sure.

[@Saiphe_xo]

This slapped and slayed, I now have so much knowledge about Nickelodeon and dolls.

[@MaryLoveMew]

And now you can make a two hour video about it, so the curse will spread

[@Saiphe_xo]

@@MaryLoveMew OH NO

[@mintybunny9055]

The only reason I even vaguely remembered this brand is because that was when I learned Skye could be a name. Completely forgot about this brand til today lol

[@MaryLoveMew]

Oooooo it's so funny what our brains latch onto!

[@FileStorage-dt5gq]

TRy Watching "A better schedule for Nickelodeon's main block" by Evan Rosman.

[@Serithe]

That blond wig honestly looks really good on you!

[@Gamer.Ghoulfriend]

The fits!! The info!! I’m LIVING!!

[@dolls2remember]

omg THANK YOU for sharing this with us!!!

[@MaryLoveMew]

Thank you for watching!!!

[@Hyzentley]

Love learning about stuff I never heard of before

[@VincentMariethe4th]

Oh, I remember everGirl. That song will stay stuck in my brain foreverMore. I was just a bit older than the brand's target demographic when it was first gaining traction, & I was in a really weird transitional period. Me entering my Goth era in high school was like Selina Kyle's Transformation in BATMAN RETURNS, but instead of a terrible advertisement playing on the answering machine it was the everGirl song. At the time I associated what I called the "perky girl" aesthetic with my female peers who bullied me for my autistic traits. That it represented the unjust status quo that treated people like me like garbage. These days I realize how silly it was of me to blame a fashion trend & "girly" things instead of the systematic ableism that put the responsibility of squarely on the victims & not the abusers or the authority figures who do nothing to stop it. Big reason I checked out this video was because I found some of my old CDs & I plan on revisiting "Don't Stop The Music". (I remember "Seven" was always my favorite song from that album. Made me think of CODENAME: KIDS NEXT DOOR.)

[@caro.created]

Evergirl was born basically when I was. I’m turning twenty in 2 weeks. I’m starting to feel old bc these toys remind me of my childhood

[@caro.created]

Also please make an ever girl crop top a thing and accessible to me 💕🥰 you’ve had me sat for an hour and I need a little crop top to represent that

[@tinmanlover1994]

American Girl is definitely a tween space from the books to the dolls along with the website with their games and e cards to send and play. I Colloct American Girl dolls and I loved the games on the website and I still read the books still and love the dolls

[@PurpleDuck86]

I could be wrong, but i'm pretty sure access to the message boards and some of the video content were part of the V.I.P. membership. I don't remember the specific mini-games, but i remember playing them all the time. What i thought for a while were memories of everGirl were actually memories of the DreamLife plug-and-play - so i'm guessing they were similar.

[@MaryLoveMew]

OOOOo that makes sense!! And omg I also LOVED the DreamLife game, my sister and I were FIENDS for it

[@tylerjay1943]

Its funny that I had been obsessed with this brand as a kid and to not had in fact been, ever a girl

[@noootyourbae]

IS THAT A SPEAK NOW TV CARDIGAN or am i delusional and video? loved it- but on another note you are so pretty like just WOW truly stunning 🩷✨

[@MaryLoveMew]

lol YES I LOVE TAYLOR

[@lolyoutoobe]

I never heard of this line but I sat for the whole video, entertained now I want one of the dolls.

[@christinaperry9871]

Once I saw the flower my brain remembered a lost memory I forgot about

[@uniraffesaur]

It’s kind of funny to me that I was exactly the target demographic for EverGirl in 2004-2007, I was a Nickelodeon and TeenNick fan, and yet I never heard of this brand before this video Edit: now that I’ve gotten further through the video, I’m confident that I saw the marketing for this and it just didn’t make enough of an impression on me for me to remember it.

[@MaryLoveMew]

Right? It’s so strange that either people LOVED it or have no clue about it

[@eatatjoes6751]

@@MaryLoveMew I remember the contest (ooof…) and the jingle for the website and shit. Everything else? Nope.

[@Serithe]

That quote near the end of the video was using the word "construed," not constructed. "Construed" means interpreted.

[@andremedeiros2181]

I live for the costume design in this channel

[@MaryLoveMew]

thank you I DO TOO ahaha

[@tinmanlover1994]

I remember seeing the logo and that's it I don't think I had anything from the line.

[@kelseysunsolicitedopinion]

There were also custom barbies available long before this. I remember it being the only website I ever went to back in like 1998. I question the timing of the American Girl branding. 2006 seems way too late for that.

[@kelseysunsolicitedopinion]

I looked through some old catalogs. While the name change didn't happen until later, the branding was definitely "just like you."

[@angeldeactivated]

In the early 2000s There was also a build a bear clone in person store which allowed for kids to customize rag dolls, and the what’s her face dolls were similar to evergirl where they were mostly blank slates with personality themed names and high customization options like wigs and drawing on their faces

[@jacquelinealbin7712]

YOUR EVERSCOPE WAS SKYE?! Hope's website game was NOT about her campaigning to be class president just to have Skye be called the leader-y one! Blasphemy!!!!!

[@maxmosconi4295]

1:00 minute in I can already tell this video is for MEEE

[@sunnixflower4440]

Wait... How did I not know Cinderella was sung by anyone BUT Cheetah Girls????

[@xLadyRaine]

the way i feel like my whole childhood is a lie rn 😂

[@tamkingshorts]

This must have required an insane amount of research ❤

[@britneyspearsstan]

I have no idea what everGirl was but trust Imma watch this whole thing

[@LocalTorchwoodIntern]

I was SUPER young when this came out (2001 kid lmao) but also when it starting to get defunct I think I heard of the brand before. I don't think I owned anything from the brand but the logo and song are very familiar, I may have in the past had like a backpack or something for it. But also the early years of my life are a bit of a blur lol.

[@marysavage5371]

the way i was just trying to hunt down this brand yesterday!!

[@StorybooksInn]

i admire your research! your videos are so well made 🤍

[@KatieMarquez97]

Had the PC game!! The soccer mini game was the hardest thing I ever played

[@MaryLoveMew]

RIGHT WHY IS IT SO HARD??

[@KatieMarquez97]

@@MaryLoveMew Ty for your validation!!!!!

[@leonhoward5741]

Don't forget they're the original singers of #BTR song #FAMOUS

[@bkkersey93]

I was so in love with Play. As a guy, they were my first girlfriends 😄

[@xLadyRaine]

TIL that the song Cinderella was NOT an original song by Disney’s the Cheetah Girls but instead just covered by them lol

[@thisisavivistanaccount7866]

idk anything about ever girl except that song by the girl group play.

[@emilyrose9548]

I love your videos

[@BluffsCastle]

7:01 Wait, did Play make the Cinderella song, or did the Cheetah Girls?

[@MaryLoveMew]

Actually another girl group made the song in 2000, play covered it in 2003, then the cheetah girl’s covered it

[@theresacherco3503]

I remember evergirl and I think I went on the website and signed up and they do you want to go in the woods and punch bears or get saved by elf boy

[@tinmanlover1994]

I had to of seen the ads on tv and mistaken them for Bratz dolls

[@poggersjessie]

u ate that blonde wig UPPPPPPP

[@MaryLoveMew]

I'm just trying to copy your swag

[@poggersjessie]

@@MaryLoveMew 😎

[@Deriedits]

now I need ever girl inspired skins for dbd

[@MaryLoveMew]

Right? DBD GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT

[@popstarprincess123]

Can we bring back strawberry blonde as a hair color

[@theroserundown]

I still have that evergirl game 😂

[@BrittanyDeNee22]

Sports make you a leader here in 'Merica lol

[@mstankard1430]

you KNOW I am sat 📓

[@popstarprincess123]

48:34 hallelujah

[@StorybooksInn]

lego friends feels inspired by evergirl

[@jalapeno1119]

Did you mean Taina? The Nickelodeon star?

[@MaryLoveMew]

The artists name was Tanieya

[@tinmanlover1994]

So it's possible American Girl doll copy ever girl with their JLY Barbie doll size dolls

[@tinmanlover1994]

I like your style from American Girl doll is way better then the ever girl song

[@AlexaSmith]

this is craazy lol

[@k-linnette]

A GAME THEO....... lmao!

[@ArturGlass.C]

Sorry I only know of the logo.