If popular culture is anything to go by, 2024 is the year we simply gave up | Kirsty Major

Charli xcx covered in red wine, Anna Sorokin in an ankle tag on Dancing with the Stars – it has been 12 months marked by chaos, indulgence and mess

If culture is the mirror that reflects the state of society, right now we’re all looking a little dishevelled – and struggling to find the energy to care. The signs have been there for a while, with rumblings initially picked up by trend forecasters’ finely tuned cultural seismometers. In 2021, Sean Monahan coined the term “the vibe shift” in his Substack to explain the transition from the self-controlled, self-improvement-obsessed worthiness of the 2010s to the messy decadence of the 2020s. Three years later, it feels like that earthquake has finally hit.

The text of the year was, of course, the album Brat by Charli xcx, and the image that summed it all up was from the lead single’s music video: the pop star pouring a glass of red wine while standing on a vibrating power plate, spilling it down her white T-shirt and staring defiantly into the camera. In the background, actor Rachel Sennott scrolls on her phone on an exercise ball and actor and model Julia Fox vapes while curling a dumbbell. If not dancing, this is casually leaning on the grave of wellness culture. The message is: ‘“It’s OK to be a bit messy, physically and mentally, and let’s have a good time while we’re at it.” While accepting a prize at the Wall Street Journal’s Innovator awards, the musician said: “Luckily for me, the pendulum of culture swung in favour of messiness, personality and the niche.”

Kirsty Major is a deputy Opinion editor for the Guardian

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