Emoji & Special Characters Not Working/Appearing

So when I try to use the emoji & special characters keyboard/window, it just doesn't show up. If I use the cmd+ctrl+space bar shortcut, it flashes on the "edit" button in the top left, as if it's heard me, but the emoji window never shows up. And when I right click on the cursor and click emoji and special characters button, nothing happens at all.

This has literally just started - it was working yesterday.

I've also tried restarting my macbook and it still doesn't work.

This happens on: Pages, Notes, Safari, and Chrome, on any website. I haven't tried any other app/window/program, but figured these were pretty definitive that it happens everywhere!