New year, new column, new news! Welcome to the first-ever edition of “Hot or Not!” This column is our official unofficial guide to pop culture, the trends we see on campus, around Seattle, and through the screens of our phones. To kick off both the launch of Hot or Not and the new year, here’s a special edition filled with predictions of 2024’s new trends, wishes for long-awaited comebacks, and prayers for the end of everything we hated seeing. With a little help from our poll-responding friends, here’s our 2024 ins & outs. 

IN:

Rom-Coms

• The past few years (especially 2023) have had a resounding lack of rom-coms, likely the cause of everything that has gone wrong since 2019. Bring back movies like “10 Things I Hate About You,” “Notting Hill,” and “Sleepless in Seattle.” Bring back real cinema! 

Holcenberg reaching ’95–96 Chicago Bulls levels of domination #GoGreenOrGoHome

Responding to the “Tatler” poll

TikTok returning to its most organic + natural form

• Although a poll respondent was probably joking about eating tide pods, I agree with the underlying sentiment! TikTok should return to its roots and take itself less seriously. Hopefully 2024 will see less brain rot and hyper-specific aesthetics, and more internet challenges (in the same vein as the ice bucket challenge or the cinnamon challenge).

Fidget spinners & slime

Thinking about “like, the political and economic state of the world right now.” 

• Jaden Smith was onto something …

TikTok Shop & the Chamoy pickle kit

• Despite my best wishes for the return of pre-COVID TikTok, I have to commend TikTok for integrating online shopping. It’s kind of like Costco, but where you can buy anything from Pacsun jeans to the infamous “Chamoy pickle kit.”

Capsule wardrobes 

• It’s just a bunch of clothing staples you can make many outfits out of, but this term is definitely Hot on TikTok. Based on the poll responses, here are some must-haves in your 2024 capsule wardrobe: puffer jackets, baggy pants, Doc Martens, fun colors, athleisure, and librarian glasses (in a “The Devil Wears Prada” way). So basically, whatever you want!

@yassifying (Please come back!!!)

Binging Instagram Reels

• I love Instagram Reels so much. In my opinion, they’re better than TikTok because Reels are more unironic and earnest (although the comment sections are always horrible). My attention span is worse than it was when I was in elementary school, but when I’m watching suburban stay-at-home moms restock their fridges, bathrooms, laundry rooms, it doesn’t matter.

OUT: 

Tardy tickets

• There’s nothing worse than walking into math after class started and coming face to face with that neon slip of paper, asking you why exactly you were late. Was it a bathroom break, frolicking/meandering, or just plain old rotten luck? Once they collect enough data, I pray tardy tickets are shelved in favor of just using Veracross.

“Did I just make the song of the summer???” TikToks

Not using the Oxford comma

Bragging about not sleeping 

• Sent in through the poll, I 100% agree. Sleeping is important, it’s free, and it’s rejuvenating! For eight to ten hours a night, you can forget about everything you have to worry about. And feel good afterward!

Kia Boys (often stylized as Kia Boyz)

Girl math and its offshoots

Waffling and yapping (the actions themselves)

Microtrends

• A few poll respondents weren’t huge fans of Stanley Cups or Uggs (especially big around campus), but I think the biggest crime has been the over-classification of everything, like vanilla girl, soft girl, clean girl, etc. What are we even talking about anymore?

Putting 2_’ in your bio instead of ’2_

Red Flag/Green Flag/Beige Flag 

Gen Alpha

• As a new supreme rises, the old one fades away. Gone are the days of the Orange Justice, Vine, and saying “yeet” unironically. Whether we like it or not, the future is Gen Alpha, looking up the definitions of “skibidi toilet” and “fanum tax,” and, as one poll respondent notes, calling your friends “chat.”

2024 may be the year of the Chamoy pickle kit, capsule wardrobes, slime, and @yassifying, or it might not be. While our trend cycle is becoming increasingly fast-paced and unpredictable, here’s one thing I can confidently predict: 2024 is our year.