they STOLE summer from us 🫥🫥🫥
On summer 2025 being a liminal season and exploring the idea of a "vibe" cancellation.
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This week’s 🦿HIP REPLACEMENT🦿 features Cris of the internet pearl🦪, who joins Ben Dietz and i to talk why people aren’t drinking, generational slang form “lol” to “67,” and if dogs are the new babies (or a gateway drug to babies). Listen now, on Spotify and YouTube!
Denmark summons US envoy
50% tariff on India, Modi urges self-reliance
EU post services suspend shipment of packages to US
Don’t let the three hour television conference or literal totalitarianism charm you too much: some FAFO things are lurking, even if it doesn’t fully pan out into action against this idiot. In other good news, he’s polling quite poorly — and his death hoax brought out the best in us. (If you want to keep the good times coming, please watch videos of rocks being thrown at Javier Milei.)
Dems’ Urged Not to Talk About Trump’s Takeover
A Dark Money Group Is Funding Dem Influencers
The first one is more infuriating than the second, which we’ll get into on Tuesday as it goes beyond Vibe Cancellation™ (more on that concept in a moment). Anyway, Siri, play Charlamagne tha God’s Hakeem Jeffries burn.
Israel bombs Nasser Hospital
Another terrible bombing, which killed many people and journalists. What Adam Friedland said! (Another ongoing strand: dissent within Israel, as the ultra-Orthodox push against being drafted and lengthy essays pushing against Netanyahu’s regime.)
Thousands attend Australia anti-immigration rallies
Another sampling of the very “now” trend of mass anti-immigration mindsets, as the world becomes increasingly nationalistic and territorial.
Grant Thornton cuts bulk of UK secretaries
I understand this is very specific but it definitely feels like a dog whistle given that roles like an assistant are now being slashed for overseas labour that is likely way underpaid or AI.
First human case of flesh-eating screwworm
This made me a bit sweaty and itchy, like seeing RFK Jr. working out in jeans.
In a Hotter World, Some People Age Faster
Speaking of sweaty, this makes me want to scream. Air conditioning does help but…why don’t we reduce our impact instead? Suicidal ass species.
A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend.
What My Daughter Told ChatGPT
At what point is this going to end? This, of course, comes after huge stories similarly from the last year. The American government won’t do anything…but perhaps the EU will clamp down on this?
“We died in 2020 and this is hell” is a popular meme expression, used to reply to posts about things that are too ridiculous or too awful to process, a reflection that something changed in the fabric of society during the Big Awful Year™ of 2020, that living in the time after has been torture. “first in my generation to hear this combination of words” is another example of the same feeling. “this would kill a Victorian child” is another.
It’s unsurprising that all of such expressions have seen an uptick in summer of 2025 — and we all know the reason why: this summer will be remembered as one of the worst, a never-ending, overheated slog of bad news upon bad news upon bad news with no definitive answers and nothing “settled,” instead only a sharp, painful lingering into the unknown. If we are on the way to hell, this season is the hallway en route to the final destination: summer 2025 was the liminal summer, a waiting room where nothing and everything mattered, where everything was so painfully boring and mid yet kept us rapt but waiting, when the world was preoccupied with trying to consume our way out of the mess that we overindexed on shit. We discussed this idea on the first day of June, a post that now feels more like a curse than prophesy.
Let us count the ways this summer was not-great, proof of limbo. The biggest, most obvious signal is the lack of the song of the summer, another subject that had many of us biting nails, listening to the Jet2 commercial jingle hoping it would turn into an actual song. Instead, the supposed “winners” of the title were three bygone bores (Alex Warren, Sombr, Ravyn Lanea), a kinda sorta something (“Shake It To The Max (FLY) (Remix)”), and a rerun of last summer (Sabrina Carpenter). The “biggest conversations” of the season were not only mindless but based in techno schadenfreude (The Astronomer CEO/Coldplay thing! The AI bunnies and kangaroo!), in-fights that proved the point of our being culturally and politically rudderless (Sigh: Sabrina Carpenter’s album art thing.), and constant rage baiting designed to further exploit the aforementioned cultural vulnerabilities (Bezos’ wedding! Sydney has great jeans! Gavin Newsom!). The biggest “moments” were previews of future moments, largely driven by Taylor Swift talking about doing something in the coming months or years: from the news of a forthcoming album to a new business partnership engagement, she sent social media into a frenzy because people needed something to talk about — and brands needed a brand-safe opportunity to shit their products down our throats given a void of television, film, or music capturing culture. There was no defining “summer trend” as far as fashion, which Vogue Business recently described as “a lack of overarching mood” compared to previous summers of brat and Barbie. But are we really surprised, considering the past two summers were brand sponsored ventures? Does that not signal a breaking down, that we have somehow become aimless yet glutted by a lack of a central “product” to guide us through a season of joy? By that metric, we got exactly what we wanted this season, which is why summer 2025 is most likely to be remembered by the overwhelming amount of “things” we bought to comfort ourselves, a head-empty, too-much-of-a-good-thing stew of international soft-powers all based in performativity to make you feel rich even though you are poor: Labubu, Dubai chocolate, matcha, Trader Joe’s totes, Love Island, Kpop Demon Hunters. Perhaps the worst development was the great unlesbianing, where noted wlw queer artists (Betty Who and Fletcher, but more so Jojo Siwa and Billie Eilish) pivoted to men all as the Crumbl CEO came out after the internet laughed at him, which is neither an outing nor a win as he is a proud attendee of the Peter Thiel University for Evil Queers™ and a signal of selling out for a marriage equality loss. We were blue balled all summer, longing for satisfaction only to be left with a leg twitching, hoping for satisfaction but ultimately getting nothing: The Epstein thing! The AI bubble! The Diddy trial! The Trump-Elon breakup! The “Is Trump dead???” thing!! At least we had Weapons? Oh, and forest fires throughout Europe, flooding throughout the states, and heat waves that stepped on many of our necks.
The purgatory of this summer, the liminality, all suggests one thing: nothing ended. Yeah, many things started but nothing finished.(Taylor is a great example, as she demanded celebrations for announcements alone, which feels similar to the Trump “Liberation Day”/tarriff stuff, which we spent all summer watching a certain president go back and forth on.) There was no satisfaction, no come down, no being able to process and feel, reveling in the pleasure of something accomplished. Instead, we were strung along in the tension of the wait: the ICE raid roadshow, the starvation and murder of Palestinians, the ongoing decimation of the job market — and so many other things that stole the future from us in the present, as we’re told to turn that frown upside down and have kids as we wait.
Thus continues our culture recession, further declaring our ongoing mid-ness: the liminal summer encapsules a crisis of confidence. Not only are audiences scared of what-will-happen politically and economically but big and small culture makers are similarly handcuffed, both because they’ve been priced out of participation (by economic forces or AI cutting opportunities) or are too scared to say anything of substance due to bottom lines (every brand ever). This lack of finality has bred intense self-doubt, a crisis of unfulfilling distractions that keep us from latching onto something, to enjoy or to follow something out of the darkness, resulting in a mass restless leg syndrome best expressed by artists dropping countless album art options because they can’t confidently make a decision, instead offering a dizzying buffet so that every single person in the world will be pleased versus being brave enough to make a statement, be it a successful or failure.
“Art must become something that does not make people uncomfortable, so that they will spend money,” Sarah Schulman foretold in 2012 in The Gentrification of the Mind, clarifying these times before they “hit.” “There is a dialogic relationship with the culture — when consumers learn that uncomfortable = bad instead of expansive, they develop an equation of passivity with the art-going experience.” Or, in the words of Nourished by Time’ s Marcus Brown in the song “Max Potential”: “You're not passionate at all — and that's all on you.”
Flamingoes Can Slow Down Aging
An interesting story about how southern European migratory flamingos live longer than their non-migratory peers. Let this be a reminder to 1.) keep an active lifestyle and 2.) get out of your hometown.
YouTube secretly used AI to edit people's videos
This gets at something we chatted about in TR.BIZ: the small screen is sabotaging the world of video, creeping into Hollywood and decaying the basics of film little by little. I feel like I say this every other week but this isn’t just a “digital video” thing but an indication of a predator who is inching closer to ruin the whole industry!
'KPop Demon Hunters' gives Netflix first box-office win
How KPop Demon Hunters Conquered the World
A Turning Point for Cinema
"most watched movie in Netflix history"
As discussed a few weeks back, KPop Demon Hunters will be studied as it poses a viable path forward for tech and entertainment versus all the other shit they keep trying to do. (See directly above.) And, as we discussed in TRL last month, this may seem like some silly “kid movie” but it reflects a quadruple whammy of music, film, tech, and “Korean” soft-power industries coming together for a joint slay. Again: this is a big win — and surprised this nut wasn’t cracked earlier! See also: the Netflix produced rise of Katseye. The algo milkshakes bring the views to the digital yard!
Marko Perković and fans perform Nazi salute
Marko Perkovic’s Salute Evokes a Bloody Time
I know a lot of people that say Croatia is so beautiful — and I’m sure it is! But stories like this (and the history of queerphobia) continue to disinterest me.
Woman charged for racial slur, fundraises $800K
A very gross story to reiterate how many people align with hate.
Falcon sold for 1.2M at Falcon Breeders Auction
A story from Saudi Arabia that definitely made me go woah, as this beautiful white bird sold for more than a quarter of a million USD. The bird was from a US farm and — Hey. — it is gorgeous but…what are they for? Is it just exotic pets for rich people? Is there any way we can get them trained by the Mediterranean whales?
Painting looted by Nazis spotted in Argentinian
How a Rare Portrait of an Enslaved Child
The first is a wild story about spotting looted Nazi painting in a property listing, which reminds of when Architectural Digest had to edit out looted works and got caught. The second is from 2023 and I saw on TikTok via Jaskaran. A great look at art history, American slavery, and the things we hide through time!
A new cancellation is emerging and I’m calling it a Vibe Cancellation™.
These are small cancellations that only matter to people who have a vibe, which will largely go unseen and unheard by the less discerning and the less “cool.” The offenses aren’t traditionally taboo like a racist Tweet resurfacing or punching your boyfriend: these are tiny rips in the cultural fabric, electric jolts signaling that you are off.
You could call (Sigh.) Sabrina Carpenter’s album cover drama from earlier this summer more of a Vibe Cancellation™ than a real cancellation while Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle eugenics fiasco was more of an actual cancellation, that she had gone beyond the shadow of doubt and into the darkness — but even these aren’t quite right given that these arrested the whole of media for weeks: to Vibe Cancel™ is an act by and for the niche. Technically Vibe Cancellations™ aren’t new (as items like “kamala IS brat” and Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa could qualify as such), but the first “real” example of this happened in late July, when people started talking about how cringe and weird the Subway Takes guy has become, bemoaning the selling out of the show and his treatment of women. While there are valid critiques of him (He does treat women weird.), what’s happening isn’t based on solid issues or real character flaws: people are getting the sense that his schtick is out of step with “these times,” that what was maybe more cutesy in the early 2020s is now reading a bit performative male. Thus, not a real cancellation but instead a Vibe Cancellation™, when your aura is fading and people are side-eyeing you for the detour toward the lamestream.
We had a suite of examples of this phenomena this week, which clarify what this idea is: A24 was outed as a tech incubator this week after a New Yorker story revealed that the buzzy production company is trying to make Hollywood AI happen — which has a lot of people really weirded out and grossed out, that they are using AI to outsource creativity and optimize for bigger sales; as we discussed Thursday, J.Crew’s menswear arm was outed for using AI in a recent campaign which had menswear dudes drawing out their pitchforks, disappointed and disgusted that such a swag stronghold would use AI instead of their own brains; Recho Omondi of the Cutting Room Floor’s job posting drama followed a similar path that continues to dog her despite bagging Gwenyth Paltrow as a guest, as this kicks up lots of old models of working that favor the privileged, abuses the young, and is out of step with the reality of being a worker today (none of this excuses the racists piling on though, btw — nor does it excuse the whole of the media industry being the real villain).
These Vibe Cancellations™ are all saying two very specific things that are increasingly uncool in the world of the cool: you didn’t just sell out but you sold us out too, revealing how increasingly disconnected from the real world you are, showing the real people who support you that you cannot be trusted. It speaks to a moment when an entity becomes inauthentic, despite their having been a business or a public property. This is the moment when the mask slips, where we see you for who you really are, and that you happen to be upholding systems that we all hate, from the techno murder of creativity to a corporation that won’t pay artists to another privileged person who doesn’t support the working class: this tension creates a Vibe Cancellation™ as one becomes too bold or dreamt too big as to isolate their audience in favor of the machine, the same machine that is increasingly fascist and is killing the planet.
“Transparency is all part of the relationship between brand and consumer,” Dr. Rebecca Swift, the global head of creative at Getty Images, told Ad Age of the J.Crew fiasco — and that’s the issue here. If you’re going to evolve, if you’re going to do something big, let us know. These are times when so many of us are being left behind and forgotten, going uncared for in a deeply cruel world. “Who was going to apply to that job? Bitch, me,” Mayte Lisbeth cried on a now-viral TikTok, explaining how she has applied to thousands of jobs this year and is scrapping by on SNAP and the graciousness of her brother — and would have humiliated herself to stoop so low to apply and be rejected by the Cutting Room Floor job. “She would be a terrible boss…but I did consider it….This job market is humiliating.” Getting this bold isn’t just about you cutting a corner as you reach for the sky: it also means you are dragging down the many who follow you and are inspired by you, revealing that you are actually stepping on them versus holding their hands. In these aimless times when so many are lost, the worst thing you can do is spit on those who lift you up. Be care out there — as a Vibe Cancellation™ poses real damage on your clout.
“We roll for every part”
“Mustard is back”
“BONUS EPISODE”
My favorite, most chaotic show of the week: Sandwich for Roll, where a guy rolls dice to make a sandwich all while remixing the components in the worst way possible.
“SZA and Joe Biden’s baby”
The best ad for The Sims that you’ll ever see.
“how hard reducing my screen time was”
Me, in heaven, explaining to my Taíno ancestors that I didn’t like it when my socks got wet.
“destroy all djs”
Quite possibly the worst moment from a DJ set you will ever hear in your life and, yes, this is by the DJ who is also a priest.
“August is an emotional month”
The best short film I watched this week. The mother’s relationship to Eddie, the deflated balloons, Jeff’s attempt to save them, the relationship between neighbor to neighbor, all to try to move on from the death of a loved one. 10 out of 10.
“walking thru”
“questline in Elden Ring”
Some great, very real clips inspired by Skyrim and Elden Ring, which are having a TikTok moment.
“it’s just so funny”
Enjoy this skinwalker poodle jumping in a pool :) And this dog shit too!
“TOO WOKE”
“learning sign is cultural appropriation”
A listing of things that are too woke really shows how brain rotted we dip in and out of.
“Don’t tell me”
I am not lying when I say this brings tears of joy and nostalgia to my eyes.
And, finally, what happens if you misbehave in Trend Report™ class.
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Vibe cancellation is so real
Brilliant! As Always! 💘