Meme Report 1/1/2025
New Year Same Meme Report
Twitter
2025 Predictions
Predictions are my least favorite form of End-Of-Year List. I love a resolution, an In/Out list, and even a best of. Resolutions are a classic and I'm not going to hate on earnest attempts at self-betterment on the internet. We all need to get better, so I won't say our yearly attempts are lame or corny. The other two are what I love about social media. Social Media can be a form of self-published magazine. Some have a better editorial voice and vision than others but I like reading them all nonetheless. They elevate social media and make it a more interesting place. I like to know what everyone is thinking! Predictions however are trying to copy the editorial voice of Azaelia Banks, and I'm sorry but these people are not Azaelia Banks.
A good predictions list requires an understanding of the world and what could happen that these people simply do not have. These lists must walk a difficult line between grounded and imaginative. They require knowledge of what has happened already, what might happen in the future, and an understanding of what would be truly worth commenting on. Most importantly they need to be an impressive call from this moment in the present. The people posting these lists just don't have the foresight to understand how the craziness of the future will manifest. We may have an opening for Oracle but none of you have the qualifications. Try again next year.
TikTok
Robbie Williams
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Most debates on the internet between the British and Americans about our minor differences in culture could use a little more nuance and understanding on both sides. Not this one though. This debate is fun because it’s not a debate. Robbie Williams is a British Singer/Pop Sensation who has no cultural footprint in America. We don’t know who that is. He is the most popular singer in Britain and he might as well be nobody here in America. I enjoy this back-and-forth because it’s not an argument. We simply haven’t heard of him. Britons can get mad but that doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t make a dent here.
The controversy continues when we give him a chance and realize we don’t like him. Most pop music exports from other countries have a mystifying cultural gap but usually, this adds to the appeal. However, most times there is the help of a language barrier. Not this time. Americans also historically have an appreciation for British musicians. Robbie just doesn’t do it for us. It’s almost weird that we don’t like him. My hypothesis on why he doesn’t have an impact here is that that’s not how we like our British boys. I look at him and I can’t make sense of him. He’s too British in all the wrong ways. Every time Americans romanticize England, we leave out the parts that make Robbie Willaims appeal to the general British public. The things we don’t know, understand, or care to learn about all come together to make the male Katy Perry and that’s just not hot or exotic to us.
I Need to Calm Down
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It's nice to know that everyone else has also secretly been watching smosh clips on TikTok all these months. I have no nostalgia for Smosh and all of these people are completely new to me but I have grown to have affection for their antics over these months, as has everyone else. That's the only explanation I have for this sound going viral. Sure it resonates in terms of actual content but why does it really resonate? Because like me, everyone has secretly been watching Smosh and developed an appreciation for Angela Giarratana and her reactions. We love Angela and to reward her, we've made her go viral and gone public with our love. Smosh has officially become a part of the landscape of TikTok.
Raise Your Ya Ya Ya
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It sounds good, doesn't it? Devoid of context it sounds like something we would like. "Raise your ya ya ya." being a trending TikTok phrase is very predictable. It kind of sounds motivational, it kind of sounds like nonsense. The cadence of the original is fun to say. It's like taking candy from a baby sometimes. We're so easy to please. Give us some gibberish and a vocal tick and we're on board. It's not stale but it is predictable.