The last couple of summers have been characterized by super fun aesthetics that helped shape the entire season. In 2023, it was Barbie summer, characterized by the iconic Barbie pink, bright outfits, and girl power. Then, 2024 took a turn for the grungy with brat summer, characterized by pop music, lime green, and a party girl attitude. Since the start of 2025, people have been wondering what the vibe would be for this summer, with no real moment from pop culture standing out as an option… until now. Thanks to a hilarious TikTok trend, we might finally have our answer: summer 2025 is the Jet2 Holiday summer.
In case you haven’t seen this trend on TikTok yet, users started by taking the audio from a Jet2 Holiday ad, and overlaying it on hilarious videos of things going terribly wrong on their vacations. Since then, the trend has expanded to people using the audio over any kind of mishap, from nasty falls to silly mistakes. (One of my favorites is a video of a girl’s hair lighting on fire while she’s blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.) The common thread in this trend is that the people in these videos are simply not having a good time — which, TBH, fits the bill for the summer many people are having this year.
ICYMI, there have been a bunch of bad things happening all around us. From major earthquakes and tsunami warnings to gun violence across the country, all set against the backdrop of the current political climate in the U.S., it has kind of felt like there’s just been one major incident after another. And what are Gen Zers to do in the face of tragedy or crisis? Make jokes, of course. The general response has been to resort to making light of situations in order to cope, which, TBH, is exactly like how the Jet2 Holiday sound is supposed to make accidents a lot funnier to watch — basically, we’re all trying to make something funny even when the reality might be way more painful or scary than we’re letting on.
Obviously, this is a very different type of vibe than the past two summers. Jet2 Holiday doesn’t have any of the fun outfits, and it certainly doesn’t have an iconic summer color associated with it. (But at least it has a song, I guess? “Hold My Hand” by Jess Glynne has been stuck in my head the past week.)
Maybe this is because this summer feels too heavy for any kind of fun summer aesthetic. Although the internet has still been able to make light of some of these situations, the jokes can’t really change anything in terms of what’s actually happening, just people’s moods when they scroll online. But you know what? I think I’ll take what I can get.