i think the performance of authenticity and soft clubbing are related! These soft clubbing outings feel like that — meant to be vulnerable, wholesome, intentional events that are in reality highly engineered and often lining the pockets of entrepreneurs. true authenticity will be when people get tired of these sterile events and go back to crazy girl shit
I feel like the performance of authenticity is something people have been discussing since the rise and collapse of BeReal...not a v hot take Eugene lol
I'm not at the age yet where I have much control over my wellness and partying/clubbing or whatever, but I think that the reason gen z has become "lame" is overprotective parents. Or nit necessarily overprotective, but parents that warned us. From a young age my mom has been telling me nit to party or drink or do drugs or sleep around when I get to college and now that I'm older I still hold onto that. I think our gen x parents just don't want us to do what they did and it seems to be working.
Lowkey I'm so tired of gen z/publications inventing terms for things that already exist lol. Day parties and going to bars instead of the club is not new nor is it a trend😭. I also think nightlife is dying in a lot of cities because these "collectives" like AM Radio are just gentrifying the party space instead of working with existing venues and organizers - this is happening more and more in Toronto. We're getting all the corporations throwing raves at 8am, giving out bad coffee while existing party collectives who are actually working to make going out more fun and inclusive are going out of business
I think part of it is simply for traffic purposes. These invented terms make somewhat boring but important societal shifts clickier and more likely to go viral. It’s a tale as old as time!
i think the performance of authenticity and soft clubbing are related! These soft clubbing outings feel like that — meant to be vulnerable, wholesome, intentional events that are in reality highly engineered and often lining the pockets of entrepreneurs. true authenticity will be when people get tired of these sterile events and go back to crazy girl shit
Yusuf Ntahilaja wrote about Soft Clubbing wayyy back in February, and his piece was widely shared: https://yusufntahilaja.substack.com/p/2025-the-year-of-soft-clubbing
Very convenient for The Cut to cut out any mention of this.
whoaaa i missed yusuf's piece, i'm surprised no one mentioned it in the cut's comments! eesh. thank you for sharing!
I feel like the performance of authenticity is something people have been discussing since the rise and collapse of BeReal...not a v hot take Eugene lol
I'm not at the age yet where I have much control over my wellness and partying/clubbing or whatever, but I think that the reason gen z has become "lame" is overprotective parents. Or nit necessarily overprotective, but parents that warned us. From a young age my mom has been telling me nit to party or drink or do drugs or sleep around when I get to college and now that I'm older I still hold onto that. I think our gen x parents just don't want us to do what they did and it seems to be working.
Can’t wait for Lillypad!
Lowkey I'm so tired of gen z/publications inventing terms for things that already exist lol. Day parties and going to bars instead of the club is not new nor is it a trend😭. I also think nightlife is dying in a lot of cities because these "collectives" like AM Radio are just gentrifying the party space instead of working with existing venues and organizers - this is happening more and more in Toronto. We're getting all the corporations throwing raves at 8am, giving out bad coffee while existing party collectives who are actually working to make going out more fun and inclusive are going out of business
I think part of it is simply for traffic purposes. These invented terms make somewhat boring but important societal shifts clickier and more likely to go viral. It’s a tale as old as time!