Before this year, I had never heard the sentence “24k Labubu Dubai Chocolate Matcha.” In fact, the word “Labubu” is currently underlined in red ink on my computer. But somehow, in a weird combination of popular items right now, millions of teenagers would instantly recognize that as a joke blending insane performative and consumer culture. Throughout the summer, people have decided that certain hobbies and interests are “performative.” To give an example, if you were to see someone sitting at a cafe reading, listening to Clairo and drinking a matcha, they would instantly be called out for being performative. But where do the lines blend of real interests and a new Tiktok culture?
As of late, I have been noticing the word “mainstream” on my for-you-page a lot. If a joke exists for more than a week, comments begin to roll in saying “Joke’s over it’s mainstream now,” which I had never understood because to me a joke gets more funny when more people share it. Instead, it’s because of a competition for who can be the most niche.
Some areas like fashion and music have always seemed to be a battleground for who can be more underground, which makes sense because when a song gets overplayed or a pattern gets outworn, people tend to quickly move on. However, with the spread of “niche” into other areas like comedy and even choice of drink, it seems like people are getting too competitive with their personalities.
For someone like me, who somehow enjoys matcha, every time I go to a cafe and order matcha it feels like the baristas think I am a person obsessed with TikTok who got a matcha to be trendy, when in reality I have been a matcha lover for years. This train of thought however proves my main point, which is that all together performative culture has started because everyone cares too much what others think.
Thinking about what the word performative means, it feels like more than ever people are doing things more for others and less for themselves. Yet this combines with another movement happening right now which is the lack of attention spans we have as a society. This combination leads to a global domination when a trend takes off, and a very quick turnaround time for everyone to start hating on it. Dubai Chocolate is a delicious treat in my opinion, but it lasted just for a month or two before it became a total joke.
Another layer within this new trend is specifically the label “performative” being targeted towards men. Speaking with friends, we came across the consensus that the reason the label is aimed at men is because activities like going to cafes and listening to Clairo are usually activities women enjoy. Whereas before, where most men would do anything to avoid being perceived as being womanly, now they are embracing as it seems in an act to impress women. If the label was only aimed at boys trying to impress girls, I wouldn’t be so opposed to the title “performative,” I just didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire for enjoying a cup of matcha.
To sum up all of these thoughts, I saw a Tiktok saying “mainstream is the new niche” and realized this whole epidemic has gone way too far. Everybody needs to take a step back on what they truly enjoy and like, and stop comparing every joke and interest to others.
