Are We Running Out of Ideas?

"Between a global pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis, unprecedented heatwaves and wildfires, devastating wars, increasingly polarised politics and the rise of AI, it feels like there's been a relentless cycle of bad news. As Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick notes in his Trend Report, previous years have been marked by some standout cultural moments, like Barbenheimer and Brat Summer, but summer 2025 has come and gone without a defining trend or song, unless we count the Jet2 Holiday jingle. It all just felt a bit mid."

"The algorithm certainly has a lot to answer for. Music, movies and fashion all feel safer, flatter, neatly designed and packaged for optimum virality and maximum clicks, all to be consumed without the need to stop scrolling. For Emily Gordon-Smith, content director at Stylus, "the sheer volume and pace of information flooding our feeds means that it's hard for any one thing to dominate in a meaningful way"."

"In a Blueksky discussion regarding the musician sombr, who's had over 2.2 billion streams without really crossing over into the cultural mainstream, one user called out "the enshittification of popular culture". Some people are pegging this to the shift in conservatism while others argue that this soft, flat style of pop music does so well in terms of streaming is optimised for the algorithm."

A sequence of global crises — including a pandemic, cost-of-living pressures, extreme weather, wars, polarised politics and the rise of AI — has contributed to a pervasive sense of bad news. Previous years produced standout cultural moments such as Barbenheimer and Brat Summer, while summer 2025 lacked a defining trend or song beyond a Jet2 Holiday jingle. Algorithms favor content designed for virality and retention, producing safer, flatter music, movies and fashion optimized for streaming playlists and clicks. The pace and volume of information make it difficult for any single phenomenon to dominate. Examples of meme culture and 'brain rot' reflect this saturation.

Read at London On The Inside