Brat Bowl and Hangover Burgers
after school weekend edition
Welcome back to After School Weekend Edition, a not-so-brief trends debrief for paid subscribers. Your support keeps this newsletter going!
In today’s letter:
What I’ll be watching for at the Super Bowl (Carl’s Jr., NYX, Poppi, Hellmann’s, and more!)
The Silver Jeans comeback
RIP to my beloved Roxy boardshorts
Madewell’s latest strategy reboot
What Gen Zers think is the next Samba
The new Ugg that is, to quote one Instagram commenter, “so tea”
Selena Gomez’s big blush launch
Why Fetty Wap is all over TikTok
Girls are making fun of how dumb their boyfriends are with this “emergency contact” trend.
Plus everything else that happened in style, beauty, and culture and what I’m buying, reading, and listening to. But first, my favorite TikTok of the week:
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Happy Super Bowl Sunday to those who celebrate.
I was born in Kansas City and am, therefore, a Chiefs fan, but don’t hold it against me. (I also think the bangs are bad!) Ahead of an evening spent eating wings and eagerly awaiting a Lil Timmy Tim cameo during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show, I’ve compiled a list of everything I’ll be keeping an eye out for during the show.
But first, let’s talk about Charli XCX’s Uber Eats commercials.
I was speechless, and not in a good way, when I saw the first two teasers that featured Charli — with, inexplicably, Martha Stewart — referencing a couple of very five-months-ago TikTok trends, “We Listen and We Don’t Judge” and “This and Yap.” When I logged onto Twitter in a rage (I wasn’t mad, just disappointed), the first thing I saw was
’s similar reaction to yet another Charli x Uber Eats spot:
So I reached out to Kyle to get his thoughts on why the times are indeed so dark and how Uber Eats’ strategy might resonate (or not…) during the Super Bowl tonight.
CASEY: Kyle, do you mind expanding on your tweet a bit for me?
KYLE: Charli seems to have become a sort of strange litmus test for how culture has shifted and sold out in the past year. Via the underground (queer, outsider, the generally "crooked" in culture), she built a career and subsequently the Brat album's success, building a culture, a visual language, and generally a "vibe" that synthesized a late aughts/2010s version of left-leaning culture and care-freedom that is unique to, say, her Millennial og fans.
But that all seemed to shift, by tying the album to Kamala and pivoting to acting: it seemed not only like a sell out move (which...who cares) but a sort of reveal that this is all a show, a check — it's about Capitalism XCX, not actually about culture, which may not have been the original intention but is what it's feeling to be. As, um, issues like income inequality become more pronounced and the oligarchy and generally rich align with right wing expressions of power, this sort of everywhere-all-at-once-ness feels like the opposite of the culture she represents (or: represented). Uber Eats (With Martha Stewart!), WWE, an A24 deal: is she now just advertising to a demographic? At what point does this all result in a pivot to edgelord right wing shit, proving the point that "Mean girls" was about Dasha Nekrasova, that her husband is in a band with (Nazi saluting) Matty Healy? It's feeling like that's super likely! She is a sign of the times — and the times are bad. Is that not the ultimate expression of brattiness?okay...i think that is def my initial thinking haha ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ come on charli baby
CASEY: I’m also curious to know how you feel about the actual script. I found the one you QTed to be cringe, but far less cringe as the one with Martha (“we listen and we don’t judge”), a TikTok trend that peaked in December. That clip was almost unbearable to watch!
KYLE: okay so THAT is a whole other issue that reinforces the problem because, yes, the Martha video was very random and bad, from a playbook that expired in late fall 2024 — but the solo Charli video creates this, say, cognitive dissonance happening: Charli XCX...talking about footballl...in "pop" (gay, digital) terms...for a Super Bowl commercial...that may play on televisions...for Uber Eats. Like...huh?? It makes AI generated ideas seem, um, novel and unique whereas these commercials are a bizarre MadLibs of 2024 leftovers. Is that going to sell UberEats to anyone? During the Super Bowl? Absolutely not but, like the "Kamala IS brat" moment, it'll have people going "Who is this? Why is she here? What is she saying?" which ultimately reinforces a capitalist scaffolding that benefits her. Or something?
Anyway, for someone "so in touch," seeing her parade such out-of-touch things feels like gaslighting, at best. And we've also hit ONE YEAR since the brat era launched: when does this end? It's like Dua Lipa's never ending Future Nostalgia moment in 2020 — but TikTok is dying and people are thinking about guillotines now more than ever. Very weird!
CASEY: Do you think these commercials will resonate with anyone? Will elder millennials, say, think it’s cool? Will boomers be tickled?
KYLE: I feel like it's for the person at the Super Bowl party who is drinking wine: they'll get it, be tickled by it, as they explain what it means to partygoers in the brief space before the new Avatar or Megan or Jurassic Park trailer drops. It's too specific, online antics aside, and is more a play by her, like, CAA team to prime for her the wider public before the Grammy's (where she will actually shine), def before the A24 film(s) drop.
But that's the trap with this sort of (post) digital advertising in this era: it really is by and for an online bubble that doesn't really translate or have a hold of all of culture anymore, hence the Charli XCXSNL being such a flop as far as viewership. It will ultimately get lost in a night of bigger theatrics, which is probably why it dropped so early along with the overly vanilla Budweiser commercial. They should have hired Moo Deng! But...she may have already been booked.
CASEY: My parents will both be watching the Super Bowl, but they won’t understand “this and yap” or “we listen and we don’t judge” (unless they read my newsletter ofc!). But do you think the very young and/or very online people tuning be turned off by this kind of blatant pandering?
KYLE: Same with my parents. Granted...they don't care about football and do watch for the commercials/halftime show and, while my mom is very online, unless this is Puerto Rican TikTok slop, she'll go, "What's this?" and scroll on TikTok instead of watch. I do feel like it's trying to dog whistle TikTok people who are watching, but I'm not quite sure...people will really resonate since it is all dated stuff? And TikTok is so embattled at the moment? It just feels wrong place, wrong time, and — even if it's "about being dated" — it's neither the vibe of the left (who are mad, sulking, etc.) nor the right (who are dancing on graves). Again: for whom?
And this brings up something else: did you see that Greta Gerwig is also doing some sort of commercial as a part of this Uber Eats campaign? That really reinforces the sort of coastal-ness of it all because, while Barbie was a mega hit, Greta isn't Barbie, etc. and I'm not sure an auteur talking about her delivered nacho order is gonna hit. This all feels like something that was planned to happen in a universe where Kamala won? The vibes are so off. Granted: the vibes with EVERYTHING are off.
And to that: in general, I'm sort of curious how much of all the commercials are going to be the same old same rich people parading products, etc. and if that will incense the general public who are broke, tired, and seeing the reality of these times. Greta, Martha, Charli, etc. are cool — but I'm not sure rich people shilling for an already rich tech product is the move right now? Granted: we're in Trump's world of sellout core so, hey, maybe people will get in line and simp. Will anyone, say, do a neo-RESIST commercial? Will the Dems take out an ad??? I def feel like the army, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk are going to
Thank you, Kyle! (Now go subscribe to his excellent newsletter
.)