2024 Trend Predictions

The forecast shows cloudy with a chance of dance music and mid-aughts aesthetics.

2024 marks a pivotal moment for popular culture. As we reach the middle of the decade, the stage that has been set up over the last three years, is ready to establish what the 2020s will be remembered for years from now. Let’s go through a few things we can expect as we enter some of the most formative years that will set the tone for the rest of the decade. 

MUSIC

Musically the 20s have been a mixed bag thus far. A trend that has carried over from the last decade is trap as one of the driving forces in mainstream music. We have also witnessed the growing presence of nostalgia in the sonic landscape of the 2020s, with many late 20th century genres such as disco, synthpop, and pop punk making a comeback. 

While some genres thrive, others subside. It has become very apparent that something has been missing from the mainstream music scene for some time: electronic music. 

While we experienced a resurgence of dance music and its characteristic four-on-the-floor rhythms, with the likes of Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and The Weeknd’s After Hours. Nothing has been as unapologetically ‘electro’ as of late, compared to just a little over a decade ago when the bombastic, electronic sounds of Lady Gaga and The Black Eyed Peas dominated top charts.

Could this tide be turning in 2024? Over the past year we have seen a growing interest in a variety of underground dance music. Artists like Ice Spice, and Lil Uzi Vert scored rap some of the biggest hits this year through taking inspiration from Jersey Club; an electronic dance genre that originated in Newark, New Jersey in the early 2000s; known for its unique blend of house and hip hop rhythms and bouncy 130 BPM. The genre also served as a source of inspiration for reggaeton artists like Bad Bunny, evidenced on his latest hit “Where She Goes.” PinkPantheress, Jungkook, and NewJeans borrowed from other electronic music genres like UK Garage and Drum & Bass to create some of the biggest pop songs of the year. 

These ripples come as no surprise given the  increasing demand for underground raves post pandemic and in the wake of music’s ‘TikTok-ification,’ in which fast-paced, danceable rhythms are more likely to go viral. The groundwork was clearly laid for underground dance music to further invade the music atmosphere. 2024 could be the first year in a long time to be unapologetically influenced by electronic music.

Like a Category 5 tornado, the boom of AI generated media this year has barrelled in and shook up the music industry, specifically with the recent influx of content using AI trained to mimic well-known artists' voices. This has mostly consisted of covers thus far, but occasionally some completely new material is created. 

One recent example is a song created by TikToker; FlowGPT, who used the voice of Bad Bunny to create a brand new song which went viral on the app. The song, which has generated over a hundred thousand posts, is being played in clubs all across Latin America and has even received a greater positive response from the public than the real Bad Bunny’s latest release, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. 

We’ll have to wait and see if this will be as big of a threat to the music industry as Napster was in the late 90s to early 2000s or the streaming revolution in the mid 2010s. Already we’ve witnessed some familiar retaliation, but there is the possibility that the industry could lean in.

 Artists' vocal and physical assets could start being used as intellectual property. Record labels and streaming platforms could let listeners create content with AI as long as it’s within their authorized guidelines, which would make sense as the personalization of the content we consume is becoming a priority in the entertainment industry. 

POP CULTURE

While it’s nearly impossible to predict what will become a pop culture moment this year, it is safe to assume that pop culture will remain almost interchangeable with internet culture, following the same trajectory established in recent years. 

With the prevalence of digital technologies and social media only growing, viral moments online will likely continue to dominate pop culture. However, some in-person landmark events always pack a punch. With the U.S Presidential Election in November of this year, we will be sure to see some election memes further down the line. This will be the first election year where AI will undoubtedly play a role in election discourse. We will likely witness the creation of fabricated memes, which have the potential to unfoundedly sway voters and cause friction between opposing parties. This likelihood emphasizes the importance of being wary of deep fakes and AI generated content. Don’t just believe anything you see online! Do your research and only take election information from credible sources.

FILM & T.V

2023 saw the death of several cinematic phenomenons that were highly successful throughout the 2010s. Superhero films and Disney blockbusters which dominated the previous decade have seen their box office numbers plummet as the 2020s progress. 2024 is left to answer the question of what the latest film craze will be for the current decade? The success of movies like Barbie (2023), suggest that people are yearning for whimsical films with subversive subject matter, but I think otherwise. Overall the attendance of movie theaters has been on the decline. As the monoculture we once experienced ceases to exist due to individualized social media algorithms, Barbie might have been one of the last breaths of the big blockbuster craze that was once so prominent. What I think is more likely to happen, is the success of smaller, lower-budget films that garner attention within niche communities. 

DESIGN & AESTHETICS

It seems once again we have caught the y2k bug, with the onset of the 2020s being very inspired by early 2000s fashion and design. The term ‘Y2K’ has been used to encompass this revived obsession with turn-of-the-millennium iconography, fashion and design motifs.

However, as the twenty year rule (the idea that trends come back every twenty years) moves us into the mid-2000s, there has been a new found curiosity for the ‘Windows Vista’ era of aesthetics—better known now as Frutiger Aero. This design style prevalent from around 2004 to 2013 was seen as the follow-up to the Y2K design aesthetic, categorized by its use of natural landscapes, water motifs, and optimistic outlook on the future.

Frutiger Aero has recently seen an uptick of interest on various social media platforms, which could be as a result of the oversaturation of Y2K styles in the last couple of years. It seems as if Gen Z is starting to seek inspiration from the latter half of the 2000s, which could mark what the next era of aesthetics will look like. Will we be rocking side parts and colorful skinny jeans in 2024? I guess we'll have to wait and see.