TikTok is bringing pop-punk back

Y2K’s days are numbered.

At this rate, we’ll be wearing 2020 style in ... 2022? —Kate

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I was sitting in the back of a car recently with one of my friends when we started talking about the resurgence of Y2K style. Technically, yes, I was alive for Y2K style, but I was not quite old enough to wear any of the hallmarks now being paraded around in Williamsburg—which is why my friend and I turned to one another with fear in our eyes. If we’re already at a Y2K resurgence, then we were well aware of what trend was coming next: pop-punk. 

Maybe there’s a better word for it, because I’m not just talking about the music, but also everything around it. I mean the v-neck/double-collar-popped-shirt, tight-low-rise-skinny-jeans/cropped leggings under denim skirt worn while driving with the windows down through your suburban neighborhood on your way to take pictures on MacBook Photo Booth after, of course, straightening your hair to hell. Perhaps a visual aid will help:

The pop-punk era of the aughts was itself a resurgence. Punk, of course, first started in the 1970s, emo emerged in the '80s, and pop-punk got huge in the '90s, giving rise to emo-pop like Fall Out Boy and Paramore. Now, artists like Machine Gun Kelly and even the very '90s Olivia Rodrigo (who borrowed a bit of Paramore's sound), are waking the style from its recent dormancy. But the when and how of pop punk’s return has, inevitably, been driven by TikTok. 

I was waiting for that first hair tutorial for clipped-back bangs. I was waiting for someone to do a thrifted haul featuring a Hollister polo. But it turns out, the first domino was this: making up your own lyrics to the tune of Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar We’re Going Down.” 

The original video, first written about in Ryan Broderick’s Garbage Day, was posted by TikTok user @savageprincessz on October 12. “At Burger King with my Burger Queen,” they sing. “Can I get a large fry? She’s vegan please so don’t put no cheese, with some honey mustard on the side.” The song goes on in that vein.

The trend was then adopted and adapted by users at all kinds of establishments, from Chick-Fil-A (“I’m at Chick-Fil-A with my Chick-Fil-Bae”) to Goodwill (“I’m at the Goodwill store with my Goodwill whores”) to simply West 4th Street (“I’m at West 4th Street tryna get something to eat”). The trend encourages little more than simple wordplay, but I fear it will be responsible for awakening a collective nostalgia. You’ll realize you haven’t listened to All Time Low since you were 14 and decide to blast “Dear Maria Count Me In” while in the shower. You’ll start to think side parts aren’t so bad, as long as they’re really, really extreme. 

If that scares you, then don’t worry. The next style resurgence is already in the works.