internet searches for “aesthetic” peaked in September of 2020.
gen z shifted the cultural connotation during quarantine to mean both an adjective for something that is visually appealing and to have what Aesthetics Wiki defines as a “collection of images, colors, objects, music, and writings that creates a specific emotion, purpose, and community.” aesthetics are categorized on the Wiki by suffixes: “-core,” “-wave,” “-goth,” and non-categorized aesthetics, such as “morute.”

there are currently over a thousand aesthetics to explore on the wiki, and their contents act as fantastic examples of internet manufactured micro-individuality. the labels encompass not only fashion styles, but all types of media that identifying individuals associate with.

the unfortunate thing about trends is that corporations are always racing to keep up (because what is a personal brand without brands?) and they’ve caught on to the internet hysteria over labels.
YouTube released a new recap feature this year, a personalized highlight reel of your most-watched channels and genres, as well as an interesting “YouTube award” feature, mine being “most likely to find the coolest vintage find and the creepiest internet story, all in one day.”

media apps like Spotify and YouTube offering personalized rewinds into the past year raises an additional perception into your brand, as users who participate (and, let’s be honest, who doesn’t) will have it in the back of their minds that “this might show up on my Spotify wrapped!” another example of this curious phenomenon is the app Airbuds, which has a similar yet more rigorous thought process. Airbuds connects directly to your music streaming app and airs a live feed to your friends of what you’re listening to at all times (there’s supposed to be a “ghost mode,” but when i tried it, my feed still updated, and I ended up disconnecting my Spotify in fear of people judging my edgy music).