Nothing is interesting anymore. Everyone has lost interest. It's just the same old things over and over again. The same old videos. Everyone is all fake and it's all staged and it all just sucks. Even social media sucks in ,2026.
The music is actually pretty good this year. Plus we have hit songs that actually sound futuristic for once. Not to mention Stranger Things is over which is good as well.
This song sounds like it could have came out in 2016:
It's not retro pop or country but it's DnB. It sounds distinct and associated with the 2020s decade that's how you know it's the sound of the decade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIxQe1R5hs0
The shift began in early 2025 once Trump got innagurated. But December 2025 was the major shift during the release of the Epstein Files I really felt it. Plus the Stranger Things series finale on December 31, 2025. It's one of those times where when you lived through it you actually felt the shift happening. Anyone know what I mean regarding feeling atmosphere shift in December 2025?
After 2020, Ellen DeGeneres was a Karen. But before 2020, she was considered one of the most nicest people ever.
The pop culture really sucks now nothing is funny anymore everything is corny. Everything is artificial and everyone walks on egg shells and stuff. And I noticed the pop culture is less laid back and it's less funny. Everything has become so politically correct.
I think the early 20s it was more left wing then in the mid '20s it was more conservative and then in the late '20s it's sort of neither left or right culturally.
I don't like using the term core because I noticed it ends up diminishing the other aspects of the decade that people say aren't part of the core. For example people say the core 2010s began in 2011 or 2013, however I think 2009 for example was just as much 2010s as the year 2017 was. So to me, I think core is just the decade itself. There ends up being too much confusion dividing it up that way.
Another example I can give is how the pandemic clearly is very 2020s but so is the new music we are hearing on the radio now. So that makes 2026 just as much 2020s as 2020 was.
- Conservative pop culture is the main trend
- That weird screwy sound in mainstream music in the likes of DnB I guess, it actually sounds new
- Movies are mainly 2000s throwbacks
- Mainly 2000s throwbacks in TV now too
- AI music is actually a thing now
- The government has a lot more control now over the people unfortunately (all over the world I mean not just the US, people are accepting it globally, for example the internet is more restrictive, etc.)
- Conservative pop culture is the main trend
- That weird screwy sound in mainstream music in the likes of DnB I guess, it actually sounds new
- Movies are mainly 2000s throwbacks
- Mainly 2000s throwbacks in TV now too
- AI music is actually a thing now
- The government has a lot more control now over the people unfortunately (all over the world I mean not just the US, people are accepting it globally, for example the internet is more restrictive, etc.)
December 31, 2025 - Stranger Things Finale Date
We've officially decoded the decadeology puzzle of the shift from mid 2020s culture to late 2020s culture. But I really started to feel it early December to be honest.
I believe we've already passed the 50% threshold in the shift. This means I believe we are technically in the late 2020s already right now. I actually came to this revelation the other day when I was listening to the radio. The songs sound so noticeably different from both the early '20s era and mid '20s era. Here are the mainstream pop songs that I heard on the radio that are noticeably different and part of the new late '20s era:
Midnight Sun - Zara Larsson (this actually came out in 2025 which proves my 2025 shift theory even more)
Stateside - PinkPantheress
Drake - Janice STFU (Drake is the pioneer for late '20s mainstream rap IMO)
Runway - Lady Gaga and Doechii
Olivia Dean songs
Do you guys agree with me? I really feel it's obvious now that we are in late 2020s culture. Especially because of the new music that really solidified my take on that. But Trump 2.0 is what really started the shift in 2025.
So DnB is the new sound for mainstream pop music for the late 2020s I've concluded. Especially considering Midnight Sun and Stateside are both on the radio and the sound actually sounds new and a fresh genre.
I think I know one of the reasons the cinemas are so empty. Because everyone's attention spans got shortened due to social media especially shorts. That's probably one of the reasons it's more empty. That and of course the 2020 shift of the pandemic.
These are the best popular songs of 2026 in my opinion so far in no order:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN0G0Lbj6os
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzKVhhDJE4
I would consider this a mid '20s trend. I don't mean podcasts existing in general and being around. I mean the actual trend that began in 2023 when there were so many podcasts becoming popular. I can see this sticking around but I would still consider it a mid '20s trend. What do you guys think?
Does anyone who is born around the same time as me know what I mean? Like it feels like it's hard to imagine a time like that even existed. I think it's because we have such faint memories of the '90s so that the '80s feel like it's on a completely different planet even though life itself is the same it's just weird how different it feels as if it doesn't exist.
Sorry guys I changed my mind one last time and I have the evidence for it. 2025 is the shift year, not 2026. Here is why 2025 is the shift year:
- Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States
- The trade disputes between the United States and other countries has caused economic issues all over the world. This started in 2025.
- The increase in fascism began in 2025 with the ICE horror stories
- Stranger Things ended in late 2025 (on December 31, 2025)
- The mainstream rise of conservative voices, particularly through podcasts, even though I would still put podcast culture as a mid 2020s trend, the rise of more conservative voices in general and even the podcast culture that seeps through the late 2020s began in 2025
- Olivia Dean was first heard on the radio in late 2025, beginning the neo-soul musical trend for mainstream music in the late 2020s
(Regarding Olivia Dean, I first heard of this chick in March 2026. However this is a fact, that she has first appeared on the radio in late 2025, this is a fact based on Time Magazine).
Having said that, it's not like the shift is finished. We are still in the shift now as we speak. But my point is we know as decadeologists there can only be one shift year not two side by side, the winner has to be 2025 given all of this. All of the things that will escalate and morph into late 2020s culture has started in 2025 and had its roots in 2025. That's when the shift began. So mid 2020s culture was a very short time, a kind of funny time if you think about it with the country music trend and how cool conservative culture looked like at the time. That was really the cool side of conservative culture (2023 - 2025). Now in the late 2020s we're seeing more of the cruel side of conservative culture.
And also keep in mind it's not as if mid 2020s trend fell off the face of the earth. Country is still pretty popular but on a noticeable decline, being replaced by the likes of Olivia Dean. And heck even bits of early 2020s culture may even hang around a bit as dated as it may seem to us now. But when we divide the eras and we take all of these facts into consideration, I think we can come to an agreement to say 2025 is the shift year from mid 2020s culture late 2020s culture. 2026 I would consider overall a more late '20s leaning year by the time we end it (I can already tell given I keep hearing Olivia Dean on the radio), and 2025 is more of a mid 2020s leaning year but the shift year nonetheless.
I can confirm now that the early 2020s is the main definitive part of 2020s culture. The reason being is because retro pop seeped through even the mid 2020s a lot of the main trends began in 2020 when the decade's culture began. TikTok too is another example. (Billie Eilish whisper pop too). Don't get me wrong we are not in the early 2020s anymore since 2023 however since so many 2020s trends began in 2020 and still stuck around today, we can safely say the early 2020s is the most definitive part and when everyone thinks back at the 2020s, they will think of the pandemic era first so that's why I think the early 2020s is the definitive era of the 2020s decade.
Late 2020s might give us hints of the early 2030s as well. But we're already seeing late 2020s culture roll out before our very own eyes.. Neo-soul being the new popular musical trend is an example of this now. Also the new movies kind of remind me of the 2000s I saw some new movie trailers that looked like the 2000s, so 2000s nostalgia is probably a late 2020s popular trend that we're seeing now particularly with movies and how they're changing. They're still bad don't get me wrong I don't really watch movies but you can tell they're bad. But they're different and more aligned with the 2000s it seems.
TV is changing too Stranger Things ended in 2025. So we already have that out of the way, whatever replaces it will probably be revealed to us later on in this shift year of 2026.
I also noticed fashion was changing like more women are wearing these green outfits:
I can finally say with full confidence 2026 is the shift year and we are in the shift as we speak. If I had to say when it began, I would say March 2026. That's when you started hearing Olivia Dean on the radio.
