2016 is stealing 2014’s nostalgia nachos

Hi everyone. I thought about writing about the state of cancel culture after last week’s slate of internet drama (which I summarized for Yappers in Thursday’s newsletter), but it will have to wait. 

Why? Because Charli XCX did a Mannequin Challenge that made me fall to my knees.

Naturally, we’re clearing the schedule to talk about 2016 nostalgia which, on my social media feeds, has become the latest year of the 2010s to wax poetic about. 

I’ve been seeing this building over the past year or so. As a result, I’ve been wondering: What is it about 2016 that felt special? With Coachella on the horizon, I thought this week would be the perfect time to talk about it.

Scrolling through TikTok recently, I’ve been confronted with videos of the internet’s it girls recreating the Mannequin Challenge, young Zoomers admiring Anastasia Beverly Hills-powered block brows, and teens are hitting the quan, among other old hip hop dance trends. 

Do you feel it in the air? 2016 is so back. 

There are a lot of similarities in the vibe of 2016 versus now. There is a pervasive aura of imminent doom, but also a sense of joy, fun, and hope despite the horrors. 

People online keep returning to periods of culture that preceded catastrophe, as evidenced by the interest in “recession pop” and the romanticization of the mid-2010s before Donald Trump’s first presidency. It makes sense that people would latch onto the last year of semi-normalcy before we entered an era of fractured realities and constant turmoil. 

When I think about 2016, it feels like one of the last years in recent memory where we had somewhat of a monoculture. There is a definitive look, sound, and energy to the time. No one could escape “Closer” by the Chainsmokers and Halsey. Everyone wanted the perfect Instagram picture in front of the pink Paul Smith wall (and its dupes). Teen girls and young women (me) were wearing black chokers and bodysuits to house parties.

As the 2020s have progressed, it seems like the internet has picked over different parts of the 2010s each year. There have been many tributes to 2014 Tumblr in the last five years as an example, but I’ve seen more nostalgia toward 2016 internet in the past year or so. 

It’s never really about the specific year. That number just serves as a stand-in for the 2010s as a whole. In reality, people are constantly talking about an amalgamation of a bunch of different things that happened over the course of the whole decade.

The internet in the 2010s was not perfect, and as always, nostalgia is adding a rose-colored tint to the time. This was, after all, when we saw the rise of these alt-right and conspiracy-laden corners of the internet that contributed to Trump’s ascendence.  

But it did feel like an era of seemingly boundless creativity online. Social media was still new and novel. Influencers and content creators were getting more attention and inventing new ways to keep it. Their audiences and the general public online mimicked these formats for posting. We were creating foundational texts for internet culture. 

Sometimes it feels like the current internet is just rehashing what was created in the not-so-distant past. People complain a lot about the culture of nostalgia and referencing, but it’s hard to relate to people en-masse these days because of the nichification of the internet. It’s no wonder people lean into 2010s nostalgia so much — it is one of the last time periods that we can reminisce over as a collective. 

Until 2020, viral trends were fast but still lasted months. A lot of people could see and participate in them, in part because they were amplified to wide audiences through more traditional media formats that everyone had access to. 

With the rise of TikTok during the pandemic, which increased the speed and ease of internet stardom, trends are more plentiful but they aren’t as long-lasting or far-reaching. Many are here and gone within days, so it’s easy to miss stuff. The algorithms have also become so good and so specific that the internet of the 2020s is defined by its niche filter bubbles, exacerbating feelings of disconnection from the culture at-large. 

This is not to say that new trends and innovations aren’t happening today, but I always find it fascinating when I see teens today wishing they had come of age during my adolescence. There is a certain feeling of being “born in the wrong generation,” despite the fact that we are technically of the same generation. But society, culture, and the internet have changed so much in a short time that it feels like we are worlds apart. 

It is jarring to me that there is so much nostalgia toward my youth because I’m still young. But I can understand why people keep returning to the last decade because this one has been so bleak. With a global pandemic, a shift in the Overton window to the right, and economic uncertainty coloring the first half of the 2020s, who wants to think about the present or future?

But as many have previously forewarned — such as in this fantastic Dazed piece on “peak nostalgia” — an overreliance on nostalgia can distract from creating new culture. I worry about this sometimes. But ultimately, it’s more likely that cool things are being incubated in corners of the internet/world that I can’t see yet. So I’ll be here, waiting in the wings, for something new and exciting to hit the internet with force again.

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. Keeping with the theme of "Daysia Tolentino’s freshman year of college,” here is a playlist that might remind you of frat parties in 2017.

In this week’s playlist:

• Wild Thoughts - DJ Khaled, Rihanna, and Bryson Tiller

• Mo Bamba - Sheck Wes

• Distraction - Kehlani

• No Problem - Chance The Rapper, Lil Wayne, and 2 Chainz

• Bodak Yellow - Cardi B

• Despacito - Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber

• Slide - Calvin Harris, Frank Ocean, and Migos

• Caroline - Aminé

Other things I want to share with you.

• We’re kicking the can down the road with this TikTok ban once again. 

• Can Brittany Broski parlay a career in internet comedy into pop stardom? Her debut single “The Sun” seems to be getting a warmer reception online than Addison Rae’s “Obsessed” from 2021 — and we all know how successful Addison has been in transforming her public image. What do you think?

• New York magazine’s annual Yesteryear issue is here and it’s all about Broadway legends! I love the Yesteryear issue and I started to build a little collection after the “It Girl” issue a couple years ago. 

• White Lotus, which had its season finale yesterday, has never really called to me. I guess it didn’t really sit with some viewers this year either. I still love looking at fan reactions online though.

• FKA Twigs had to cancel her North American tour dates due to visa issues. I guess I won’t be feeling the pinnacle of human experience AKA Eusexua soon!