- Trends Briefing
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- Developing an Identity and *insert word* Culture
Developing an Identity and *insert word* Culture
Izzy White
May 31, 2024
Hi!!! Welcome!! This is a newsletter that has taken the IRL weekly trends briefing, and transformed into the written word. All this information is a weekly digest of current news, trendy soundbites and sharp insights so that you can quit reading and still sound smart. Gathered from articles, newsletters, reports, and TikTok: It's like Blinkist for culture.
Algorithm References
TikTok has gone back to its roots lately - music.
The first are these lil Irish kids with a silly, catchy and incredibly wholesome song and video. I cannot wait for Marc Jacob’s content with them, hopefully they deck them out in something nice.
@hospitalrecords “I searched for my spark and I found it” 🔥🗣️ 🔉: The Spark by Kabin Crew & Lisdoonvarna Crew #CruinniuNaNog - an initiative of @creativeir... See more
North West was Simba in the Lion King’s 30th Anniversary broadway production and it’s bad. You might think, it’s not that deep, but it is. Her being given this opportunity feels similar to Kendall Jenner’s nepotism in the modelling world, and it’s safe to say she was not very good at it. When you think of who these nepos are taking opportunities from, it’s pretty sad. Here are some of the kids that auditioned…
@ediblethoughtssss Northwest’s debut in a Lion King musical as Simba and past audition tapes of Broadway entries #lionking #musical #lionkingjr #auditions #... See more
More references and internet vibes!!
Admitting weird, embarrassing things on the internet is back again and they’re all so great! The overall ‘trend’ is about posting content that you shared when you liked a guy, all in an attempt to get his attention.
There’s been a few versions of this format on TikTok, and a couple I’ve been loving has been - Find the Imposter content and remove an item content. I admit that this content is best enjoyed with someone during TikTok time.
I love a boasting, show the haters type content because it never gets old! The newest one is using this snippet from Sabrina Carpenters SNL performance.
This sound was mainly used for Prom but I’ve been seeing cute ones with people’s babies - awww
Thanks to Abbey for sharing this cute trend of dogs
Articles
Lots of articles, studies and newsletters this weeeek!!!
I know it’s Winter here in Australia, but Pinterest released their Summer Trend Report and it intrigued me. A lot of things on this list felt old to me, and proves that the echo chamber we work in, is faster paced than actual consumers lives. The key trends mentioned include:
Maximalist summer fashion e.g. searches for "gingham shorts" have increased 770% since last year
Y2K and 90s beauty e.g. searches for "2000s chunky highlights" have increased 5400% since last year
Dopamine home decor e.g. searches for "whimsical decor" have increased 4690% since last year
Elegant tea parties and dazzling dinner soirées e.g. searches for "Bridgerton tea party" have increased 430% since last year
Creative twists on summer foods e.g. searches for "mango float" have increased 3700% since last year
I’d never thought to refer to the things mentioned in the article as ‘merch’ before, but it makes sense. Merch is any commodity that is a symbol of oneself. Merch is a great example of IYKYK culture and has a way of embedding layers of meaning into products. In a marketing world where community and culture are the new buzzwords (soz ‘purpose’ and ‘meaning’), understanding how individuals can represent themselves in different ways is crucial. A nice summary of the article is in this line: Anything can be turned into merch if infused with enough symbolic value and cultural capital
Extra reading/skimming for you
Thank you Andy for sharing the Creative Review Annual Awards - I hadn’t heard of it before and a lot of stuff in there is super interesting!
Is wellness culture fuelling a health anxiety crisis? - I’m a sucker for any ‘wellness’ content - both as a consumer and a viewer.
Running Culture Is the New Streetwear - ppl love running and apparently Gen Z love the gym according to this article.
a deep dive w/ Dj's on the state of creativity, nightlife, social media, + youtube virality
(I hope this paywall remover works) Gary Vaynerchuk On The 'tiktokification' Of Social Media
People are obsessed with understanding Gen Z’s relationship to sport rn e.g. this McKinsey article or this We Are Social report
The Last Kid in Ninth Grade Without an iPhone They’re not in the group chat. But they’re not social pariahs either. - watch this article make the rounds in the next week on TikTok with lots of discourse around it.
Trash metaphors - I enjoy most of what Dirt write
Weekly Question
Thank you for getting this far. I look forward to hanging out with you all next week!