Backflipping Bros and Moody Teens
“imagine dragons millennial radio core”
Alix Earle is the new face of Pantene (an inevitability, really!); Emma Mackey joins Greta Gerwig’s Narnia as the White Witch; and I did not realize that Alex Warren, who’s currently topping the charts for his “Imagine Dragons millennial radio core” song, is a former TikTok Hype House guy.
Each month, I look back at all of the newsletters to spot emerging macro trends and recurring themes. Here’s the latest!
This one’s available for paid subs only. Scroll to the end for the link. 🫶
25 IS THE NEW 21, businessinsider
According to researchers, Gen Z is delaying traditional milestones like full-time work marriage, not out of rebellion, but as part of a broader “slow life strategy” shaped by everything from longer life expectancies to extended education to overparenting. Pew data shows today’s 25-year-olds only now match where 21-year-olds were in 1980 on work and financial independence, and the median age for first marriage has climbed to 30 for men and 29 for women.
WHY YOUR 8-YEAR-OLD IS ACTING LIKE A MOODY TEEN, wsj
According to child psychologist Sheryl Gonzalez Ziegler, children as young as eight are increasingly showing “teen-like” mood swings, due in part to earlier puberty — girls now often begin between ages 8 and 13, a full year younger than in the 1970s. New stressors like active shooter drills and climate anxiety are also amplifying emotional struggles in middle childhood, a period Ziegler calls “the forgotten years.”
GEN ALPHA IS SNUBBING THE CAREERS THAT BOOMERS DREAMED OF, fortune
Gen Alpha's top dream job is now YouTuber (32%), followed by TikTok creator (21%), according to a recent survey of 12-15-year-olds, surpassing traditional career goals like doctors (20%) or teachers (14%). About 23% of Gen Alpha kids have already been contacted for brand sponsorships, and 30% would consider monetizing through YouTube or TikTok. (This study was commissioned by a social commerce platform called Whop, which obviously has a vested interest in the creator economy, but I still found the stats interesting!)
COLUMBIA STUDENT SUSPENDED OVER INTERVIEW CHEATING TOOL RAISES $5.3M TO ‘CHEAT ON EVERYTHING’, techcrunch
Cluely, an AI tool created by 21-year-old Chungin “Roy” Lee to help users “cheat on everything,” just raised $5.3 million in seed funding, despite the founder being suspended from Columbia for…building an AI tool that helped users cheat. Marketed as a kind of AI co-pilot, the tool utilizes screen reading and audio monitoring to provide real-time answers during interviews, tests, and sales calls. “Every time technology makes us smarter, the world panics…then it adapts,” Lee wrote. The tool costs $20/month. (Seed rounds are ultra-competitive and overpriced right now, at least according to a tweet I saw yesterday.)
WHO’S AFRAID OF GEN Z’S SQUEAKY CLEAN, BACKFLIPPING BRO?, theatlantic
Benson Boone, a 22-year-old Mormon pop star and TikTok breakout, has become a polarizing figure for his squeaky-clean image and theatrical glam-rock performances. (Don’t even get me started on those backflips.) As Spencer Kornhaber writes, “The title of his forthcoming album, American Heart, whose cover features him baring his abs while draped in the star-spangled banner, suggests what he’s seeking to do: unite the country in admiration. But in these times of national confusion about masculinity, no happy-go-lucky dude with a mullet and a nice voice can exist for long without controversy.”