“What do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you see yourself in ten years?”
These are the kinds of questions that have been timelessly used to stir discussion within classroom walls or break the ice between you and the auntie you just met, but poke at the chance that you might have remembered her when she held you when you were 6 weeks old.
While I don’t remember my exact script, if you asked my 9-year-old self for my answer, I probably would have told you that I wanted to be in the process of studying to become a teacher. But, if you could have looked in my brain, you would have known that all I wanted was to be a teenager embodying the definition of “cool” in a bomber jacket, a full-glam look, short shorts with a fishnet underneath, a choker, a perfect messy bun, in pink shades and with a Starbucks in hand with the palm trees of California in the background.
My answer should have been scheduled for this year, 2026. But my answer was wrong. I should have known that where I wanted to be was in the moment I was asked that question, the year everybody is currently yearning for – 2016.
For those of you who have forgotten what it felt like to be in this era, let’s revisit it together. Oh, and if I could put in a little request: listen to the 2015 (but on the Billboard top 100 of 2016) hit that became viral again just recently – Lush Life by Zara Larsson – for the full 2016 experience.
Our Era of Pop Culture
Of course, the term pop culture is not specific to one time. It is defined in Oxford Language as the modern pop culture transmitted via the mass media and aimed particularly at younger people. Pop culture is always a topic of discussion and keeps us all entertained with every generation having its own version, but this was our era. But what made it ours?
Ask anyone who was on Instagram or YouTube during this iconic time about how they could describe 2016. I’m sure most of them would mention the rainbow filter still on Instagram, known as Rio de Janeiro, which singlehandedly created the vibe of the year.
What kept us under this rainbow-colored trance, you wonder?
Full Faces, Beauty Influencers, and Effortless Outfits
2016 was all about the bold face of makeup, contrary to the “no makeup makeup” looks that we are accustomed to now. A true force of this aspect of 2016 was James Charles, whom I used to religiously watch after seeing him on Ellen, where he was recognized as CoverGirl’s first male ambassador after his yearbook photo went viral online.
There is no mention of makeup during this time without Charles, but a magician cannot do tricks without a magic wand. In this case, the magic came from Kylie Jenner’s iconic lip kits that held every teenage girl in a chokehold during this era. Because of Jenner’s preexisting fame, the notable matte finish of the product, which was an essential to makeup looks of this time, and the example of her own iconic lips, her lip kits launched and brought glamour to the teenagers who would go lengths to get it at this time.
Outfits were also inspired by the idea of being bold but effortless, the description of what the whole era aimed to be during this time. As mentioned earlier, a 2016 closet’s dream staples were skinny jeans, tattered jeans, black chokers, and off-the-shoulder tops. A-list celebrities were no exception to these outfits, and you can take a look at them in articles like Seventeen magazine’s 26 Most Popular Fashion Trends of 2016 by Hannah Orenstein.
Pre-doomscroll Era
While doomscrolling existed in its own way but wasn’t coined as a term yet, I would like to argue that, as a society, we have become less connected through the doomscrolling that we know today. Nowadays, while we still share and randomly repeat “six seven” and “wash my belly” (of course, depending on your For You Page), doomscrolling is usually done more for personal entertainment instead of relating with other people. The best example I can think of right now of a 2016 viral moment that connected people was the song, Pen Pineapple Apple Pen, and activated a memorized dance sequence that connected all children my age in an instant.
Another example of modern-day brainwashing through the internet is the well-loved Mannequin Challenge, with my most beloved ones being the ones that involved an entire school community and campus to accomplish, like the one by students at Maple Ridge Secondary School posted by Bailey Fisher.
When on this topic, I also certainly cannot neglect the revolutionary release of Pokémon Go, first released in the US, Australia, and New Zealand on July 6, 2016, and in Japan on July 20 of the same year. While this app had people’s eyes glued to their phones trying to find a Pokemon literally anywhere, at least it encouraged physical activity which Althoff, White, and Horvitz (2016) claimed to have been able to “estimate that Pokémon Go has added a total of 144 billion steps to US physical activity” in their study Influence of Pokémon Go on Physical Activity: Study and Implications published in America’s the National Institute of Health’s official website.
Moving to the Sound of 2016
While we have to accept that times change and that we cannot go back to them, we can always look back at the bits and pieces that have remained from moments in our lives. The best way to remember 2016 is its soundtrack. Here are three of the ones I found most iconic and nostalgic to listen to again while preparing for this article. And if you’ve finished Lush Life by this time, I suggest you listen to one of these!
- Closer by the Chainsmokers and Halsey
This song is one of my best examples of not minding some songs that kids listen to because they truly do not care about the meaning, even if they memorize the lyrics. If Instagram had the music feature for Instagram stories, this would have been an unstoppable combo with the Boomerang effect.
- Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
Again, as a child, I truly had no idea what I was singing about and was going off pure vibes. I loved this song so much, it was the first song I learned how to play on a guitar with a standard strumming pattern and four chords that I struggled to switch along. I know I mentioned only one song, but Stitches and Mercy were also definitely some of my shower soundtracks during that time.
- Sorry by Justin Bieber
This song is what made me picture my future as a professional dancer. In the school I grew up in, they would have this blasting on speakers as we waited for events to start, and it never failed to get everyone from ages 6 to 16 singing in unison. With no dancing experience, I think I created some pretty gnarly dance routines to this in the privacy of my home, and for which I would probably pass out if I found out these were recorded and posted online.
living in the now
If there’s anything I’m excited about when talking about how 2026 is the new 2016, it’s the fact that I am experiencing it as the teenager (and actually transitioning out of it…) I had always wanted to be. Although I probably (definitely) am not as cool as I used to envision in my head, I am happy that I have more freedom to more irresponsibly dive into the trends that 2026 has in store for me to be embarrassed by in the next decade.
To those of you who are still wondering where you’re gonna be in the next 10 years, I suggest you learn from tiny me and realize that where you are right now might be who you yearn to be in the future. I am excited for the comeback of 2016, but I’m giving 2026 the room to unravel what it’s meant to be for me. We never know what time has in store, so living in the now would probably be the best idea. Who knows, in 2036, maybe I’ll write the same article again.