(2025-08-14) I Like Labubus And Dubai Chocolate And Matcha And Lana And Brandy Melville And Tiktok Aesthetics And And And

Default Friend: I LIKE Labubus and Dubai Chocolate and Matcha and Lana and Brandy Melville and TikTok Aesthetics and and and. Today, in his newsletter, W. David Marx (who, as an aside, is a must-read) wrote about an Amanda Mull piece on the disorienting nature of contemporary trends: Labubus and Dubai chocolates and matcha and chamoy and Swedish candy, all things that seem to emerge from nowhere, mean nothing, and disappear just as quickly. (2025-08-14-MarxOnlyFadsACultureandEconomyOfLabubu)

I disagree with their take

If you spend real time on TikTok (and I mean the exhausting work of scrolling for hours a day, which I blame nobody for not doing, that I do it at all is a problem I’m working on), you know these phenomena are neither as random nor as fleeting1 as they appear. They’re rooted in a culture that’s rarely articulated explicitly precisely because it doesn’t need to be. Everyone participating already gets it. The jokey, self-aware nature of how people discuss these trends is not confusion, but a meta-awareness of how goofy it sounds to outsiders. But ultimately, participation itself is the cultural practice.

These trends are less meaningless than they appear, too. Labubus didn’t emerge from nowhere—they’re part of a broader culture of collectible miniatures, riding the same wave that revived Calico Critters and Mini Brands. The Dubai chocolate thing doesn’t only tap into the ongoing fascination with pistachio, with textural contrasts, and over-the-top desserts, but a particular culture of eating on TikTok

I think something slightly different is happening in our culture right now: there’s a kind of meta-adoption occurring.

Last year, I wrote about the never-ending carousel of “aesthetics,” where what I’m about to describe is most obvious. The identity isn’t any individual aesthetic (cottagecore, dark academia, coquette, whatever). The identity is the act of aesthetic curation itself. The ability to navigate between different modes, to know when to deploy which references, to remix and synthesize—that’s what matters now.

These fads are our monoculture.

This shared language of trends creates cultural coherence, even if it’s not as alluring…? deep? as what our culture once was.

it’s worth noting that I’m also not arguing our culture is better than the pre-platform era. But as always, I also don’t think it’s as dire as it seems.

WHY THE HELL WOULD ANYONE WANT TO BE A “CREATOR”?

Is part of the appeal of being a “content creator” that it feels more stable than other career paths? In a conversation with Jeremy Fox on Tuesday night, we talked about the notion that Gen Z and A, overwhelmingly, dream of being YouTubers as opposed to other career paths. Part of me wonders if that’s because content creator has fully shifted from “celebrity with a million adoring fans” to “small business owner.” Further, there’s a predictable playbook for success as a creator, even as the market grows. That path is becoming less clear for other careers, though, if the press is to be believed.