You look through the crowd of students waiting to enter the school building each morning, or those rushing down the hallway to their next class after the bell rings, or simply a group of teens passing you by on the sidewalk. Everyone is seemingly dressed to the “lounge” aesthetic. You’ve seen it, haven’t you? The Crocs, plaid pajama pants, and oversized hoodies or t-shirts.
Trends are constantly changing, especially in the digital age with social media influencers. What used to take years for a trend to fade out can now take a few months or sometimes weeks. It’s a constant cycle of specific styles, items, or brands being introduced to us. We’re pressured to buy the latest thing, only to discard it a few months down the road as new trends pop up. This constant state of consumerism is driven by trends’ being a source of social acceptance. You fit in when you have what everyone else has. Once those trends change, you follow because you want to belong.
Recently, one of these trends is the Y2K style, which consists of the late 1990s to mid 2000s. The shift from modern skinny jeans and high-rise pants to old low-rise jeans, baggy pants, claw clips, and streetwear shows how fashion styles often go back to a previous decade. As someone who was a teenager in the 1990s growing up in Manhattan, my mom often goes on long tangents about how she used to wear clothes that looked exactly like the ones I have. “Everything comes back. I should have kept all my old clothes for you,” she says.
Among all the social media platforms that promote these various trends, TikTok is one of the most influential. Initially launched in China as Douyin in September 2016 by ByteDance, the app swiftly gained attraction for its captivating 15-second video format enhanced with music and filters. Recognizing its potential, ByteDance introduced Douyin to the global market as TikTok in September 2017. To strengthen ByteDance’s presence in the U.S., the company acquired the popular lip-syncing app Musical.ly for around $1 billion in November 2017 and merged it with TikTok in August 2018, combining user bases and features. This strategic move led to explosive growth from 2018 to 2019, making it one of the most downloaded apps globally.
With 1.56 billion users worldwide, 148.92 million of them from the United States as of 2024, TikTok’s social influence has played a significant role in reviving nostalgia for iconic styles of the past. Through its viral challenges and diverse user base, TikTok has become a hub for community and shared experiences, making it easier for trends from previous decades to resurface and gain popularity among younger generations.
When asked how TikTok has influenced their life, Ruby Moran ’24 said, “I ended up being influenced by it in a way similar to how one would be influenced by the group of friends they surround themselves with. I said I hated pink, I said I hated dresses, and I refused to learn how to do makeup mainly because of the commentary typically thrown around that made more feminine women seem weaker or somehow incompetent in a way. But seeing other women being themselves, choosing to be as feminine or as masculine as they wanted, motivated me to do the same. It turns out pink is one of my favorite colors, it turns out that I want to explore different styles of clothing, including dresses and skirts, and it turns out that I’m actually really curious about makeup and would love to learn more about it.”
With the growing use of technology connecting everyone, different views are more accessible and can influence how we think, feel, and act. An example of such a view is the nostalgia for simpler times, felt when seeing things from the past. Since everything is available online with the click of a button, even the newer generations, who have not remembered nor ever seen the 90s or early 2000s firsthand, have a general idea of the trends and aesthetics of these times.
According to a survey that I conducted with Bronx Science students:
- 43.6% who’ve used TikTok have felt influenced to buy a product from a TikTok video
- 39.9% have wanted to or bought something related to the late 90s or early 2000s because of a TikTok video
Many current high school and college students grew up watching movies such as High School Musical, Camp Rock, and Step Up, which showcased high school as a time of parties, drama, and fun. However, many did not get to have that high school experience due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In stressful and unprecedented times, we long to feel some sense of stability and simplicity. Considering this, it’s no wonder the 90s and 2000s aesthetic reached further popularity because it reflects the pre-internet era, which is somewhat of a wonder to younger generations. Many people believe that the period embodies a carefree, enjoyable period.
One example of the booming popularity of the Y2K aesthetic is the 2000s makeup trend on TikTok. This trend consists mainly of transition videos to the song 10 Minutes by Lee Hyori, taken from her debut studio album Stylish, released on August 13th, 2003. The first few seconds of the TikTok videos feature people in their usual everyday look, which then cuts to a transition on how they interpret the 2000s style and how they would look in the early 2000s.
@aylennpark My mom slayed this look so hard😍🔥#korean #koreanmakeup #2000smakeup #leehyori #leehyorimakeup #kpop #kpopmakeup #koreanmom #kbeauty ♬ 10 Minutes – Lee Hyori
@mishcheu surprisingly this makeup only took 10 minutes too 💫 makeup tut next :3 #2000smakeup ♬ 10 Minutes – Lee Hyori
@chael.dot grwm on this coming tmr 😸 #2000smakeup #leehyori ♬ 10 Minutes – Lee Hyori
@chhloekim spoiler for next youtube video 🫦 #2000s #makeup ♬ 10 Minutes – Lee Hyori
While fashion and makeup are a significant aspect of the ’90s and 2000s aesthetic, they’re not the only factors being influenced by social media trends. Music is another widely changing element that the rise of social media has impacted. “I think TikTok has really influenced the variety of music that I have been exposed to. A lot of songs that become popular on TikTok make their way to mainstream music,” said Daniella Ginsberg ’24. Additionally, Sofia Fernandez ’26 said, “I often find songs that I like because of TikTok trends, and I end up adding it to my playlist sometimes.”
Songs from the 2000s are popular on TikTok because they are an ideal mix between familiarity and newness; older users embrace the provided nostalgia, while newer users are intrigued. The 1960s saw the rise of indie rock, rap rock, and alternative rock until the 2000s, when the computer age and globalization shaped rock music. However, as we get closer to a digital age, dance-pop, electronic dance music, and electropop became more prevalent in the 2010s.
One famous artist who brings back the rock style is Olivia Rodrigo. Her music genres consist of pop, punk, and rock, with songs like obsessed, good 4 u, and brutal. Her popularity comes from a large audience; her music is a blend of the pop that the newer generations know and the rock feel of older decades. Additionally, since Rodrigo is so young, her audience comprises primarily teens and young adults. With most of them being on TikTok, marketing her songs and content through the app is easy.
Along with classic rock, vinyl records became a new fascination as a younger generation of listeners discovered the music of previous decades. Previously, Record Store Day was the only day to purchase vinyl records for discounts after their popularity peaked in the 1980s. Now, vinyl record sales are returning for more than one or two days a year. Since the middle of the 2000s, sales have increased annually. Vinyl records surpassed CD sales in 2023 for the second year. 43 million records were sold in the US last year, bringing in $1.4 billion in income.
This vinyl revival could be the result of a much-needed break from the digital world. You can listen to any song you want worldwide with many streaming sources like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. The thought of everything being at the touch of your fingertips is well known to the newer generations who had not grown up around older sources of music such as vinyl records, cassette tapes, and walkmans. However, these streaming apps take away from the personal aspect of buying and owning a physical item.
Vinyls and CDs give you a sense of ownership that you can’t get anywhere else in this digital age. Instead of intangibly borrowing a song or album from its online library, when you buy a physical copy, you can feel the thought and effort that went into the music, the packaging of the albums, and any extra items you might get, such as a poster.
TikTok helped introduce past eras in a unique way that relates to newer generations. Through the digital shift, we embrace the trends of our past with a new modern spin. As younger generations navigate a digital landscape, they find comfort and identity in styles from the 90s and early 2000s, echoing a pre-internet simplicity that contrasts sharply with today’s fast-paced, interconnected world. This revival, evident in the resurgence of old music and the widespread adoption of Y2K fashion, underscores a collective yearning for authenticity and tangible experiences amidst the ephemeral nature of digital content. Through platforms like TikTok, past eras are reintroduced with a contemporary twist, creating a bridge between generations and fostering a shared appreciation for the timeless elements of style and music.
When asked how TikTok has influenced their life, Ruby Moran ’24 said, “I ended up being influenced by it in a way similar to how one would be influenced by the group of friends they surround themselves with. I said I hated pink, I said I hated dresses, and I refused to learn how to do makeup mainly because of the commentary typically thrown around that made more feminine women seem weaker or somehow incompetent in a way. But seeing other women being themselves, choosing to be as feminine or as masculine as they wanted, motivated me to do the same. It turns out pink is one of my favorite colors, it turns out that I want to explore different styles of clothing, including dresses and skirts, and it turns out that I’m actually really curious about makeup and would love to learn more about it.”