The start of the New Year is well underway as January is almost over. January also brought with it a new trend seen on social media: nostalgia for the year 2016. As we are a decade away from 2016, why do people suddenly want this era to come back?
One big reason for the sudden 2016 comeback is the music. Some of the biggest hits from back then are “Roses” and “Closer” by The Chainsmokers and Halsey, “One Dance” by Drake “Sorry” and “Let Me Love You” by Justin Bieber and “Lush Life” by Zara Larson, which is now in the Top Ten on Spotify Charts. Zara Larsson is having a huge comeback nowadays for her 2016 sounding songs. Her new single “Midnight Sun” and her feature on Pinkpantherness’ track “Stateside” are doing really well on social media right now. My takeaway on why the music is getting popular again is the use of EDM in most of the biggest hits from that era.
The biggest reason for this era making its return is the nostalgia of it all. From the rose-filtered Instagram posts, the dog filter on Snapchat and all of the old trends from back then. Nostalgia for many people brings them back to a time where everything was amazing and it seemed nothing could go wrong. The year 2016 for many people brings them back to a great time where their biggest worry in life was finding Pikachu in Pokemon Go and making their Mannequin Challenge video. The people who want the era to return just want to have the comfort of the trends and the music from back then.
Even though students in high school right now weren’t old enough to experience all of the adult experiences of 2016, some of us do remember the iconic Vine and YouTube videos from back then. Before it was shut down, Vine was similar to TikTok with funny 6 second video clips. Some of the videos are still popular today. YouTube in 2016 had such a different vibe from today. Black Friday hauls were all the rage and back to school videos were very popular as well. Going back to the 2016 era, people are reconnecting with old creators they used to love watching and are starting to tune back into them. Re-watching these old videos helps people find comfort and to feel nostalgic as well.
As this year continues, we will have to wait and see if this 2016 trend remains popular. While we can’t all go back in time and live in that year again, we can bring back some of the things from 2016 and enjoy them like they are new again.