Unpacking the new ‘vibe-shift’.
Apparently, we are on the cusp of a new vibe shift – a term coined by Sean Monahan, founder of the once trend forecasting group K-HOLE which operated between 2011-2016. Monahan was recently featured by The Cut who asked “will any of us survive [the shift]?” For MORE the real question is, do we even care what this new vibe is or are we all collectively vibing on our own?
The saying what’s old is new has always rung true. We see it in fashion predominantly – we are currently ignoring you low-rise skinny jeans that are desperately trying to come back. We also see it in culture – in how and where we choose to spend our free time. We go through these cycles of pulling from the past for what’s familiar and then replace it with something just a bit edgier. But do we actually end up better off? Could this new “vibe” we’re in be humanity’s savour? Or is it just another trend, another wave of what’s “cool” right now that will too wash away leaving us all feeling cheugy.
What exactly is a “vibe shift”?
The term ‘vibe shift’ refers to the trends that dominate social culture so fully realized and encompassing then seemingly disappear overnight. Gone so far from the spotlight that it feels dated like a cringy distant memory. According to Monahan, we have seen four great vibe shifts in the 21st century: hipster/indie sleaze music (2003-2009), post-internet/techno revival (2010-2016), Hypebeast/woke (2016-2021), and the one we’re in now.
“I feel like the trajectory of the 2010s has been exhausted in a lot of ways,” Mohan told The Cut. “The culture-war topic no longer seems quite as interesting to people. Social media isn’t a place where you can be as creative anymore; all the angles are figured out. Younger people are less interested in things like quote-unquote cancel culture.
These were kind of, like, the big pillars we used to navigate pop culture in the 2010s. And we had the rise of all these world-spanning, like, Sauron-esque tech platforms that literally have presences on every continent. People want to make things personal again.”
We definitely saw the rise and fall of platforms like Tumblr then Facebook. But with TikTok taking over, have we just swapped one social network for another with the guize of it being more “real” and “personal”? The reaction of wanting to feel closer may be in direct response to the forced isolation we endured during the covid-19 lockdowns. All of a sudden our homes became the centre of our universe and we became our own tastemakers. Who cares about trends if no one can see them? All of a sudden comfort and practicality took over fashion, there was less to flex online when you couldn’t go to the hottest new restaurant opening or travel destination. We all were forced to just chill, be introspective, and find what we individually enjoyed doing to pass the time. This is a critical part of the start of this new vibe shift that has never impacted any of the previous shifts.
So, where’s the vibe heading now?
We’ll start with the disclaimer that defining overarching trends across generations is no small task and there is just no way to speak for everyone. If pre-Pokemon, post-Pogs and the height of Crazy Bones mean anything to you then you may be seeing some of these trends:
Cold showers & Crypto. The pursuit of happiness and an embrace of vibrant colours. Body-ody-ody, Skinamalism & function meets fashion. Disco Revival, Bossa Nova Saturdays and Chill Hop Essential Sundays. Cabs over Uber. Mass Exodus Idolatry. Canvas tote your small business allegiances. Enviro-Dread. Positive transformation along side devastating social injustices. Netflix as the new Hollywood. Drag-domination & thrif-flips.
We’ve all been through a lot – some feeling as if precious developmental years or the ‘good years’ of life have been robbed from them. Here’s just a short list of the traumatic experiences we’ve gone through: a global pandemic, on and off lockdowns, a recession, BLM movement (and the backlash that faced) a casual WW3 with an added bonus of a nuclear war threat as the cherry on top. How could the vibe not change? Perhaps we are all just reacting to this strange “new normal” we’ve been thrust into. The vibe we were in before is unattainable that much is clear. The positives before us are that today it’s trendy to love your body no matter what it looks like, to be informed and political and express those thoughts. To be your authentic self and be loud and proud about it. These were once radical thoughts, and can still be considered dangerous. So do we think this shift can save humanity? Likely not, but what can feel like relatively small day-to-day distinctions of 2022 actually remind us that change is incremental. Our acceptance and openness is what allows the best parts of change to thrive.
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