All over my social media, ever since New Year’s Day, people have been talking about this year having “2016 vibes.” This year marks a decade since the 2016 era, which makes 2026 seem special. People have been having a lot of nostalgia about the 2016 era, and it seems like that energy is starting to resurface recently.
On social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest, there has been a resurgence of celebrity photos like those of influencer Kylie Jenner in her “King Kylie” era. Though Jenner is not the only celebrity doing this, many others are dropping photo dumps on their platforms of photos that were taken in 2016. This is all happening because it brings people back to a time when life felt good and fun for all. Since celebs were dropping all of these photos, it had people so thrilled that they were on board with “2026 is the new 2016.”
Another major aspect that has brought back this nostalgia is this year’s Coachella. This year’s performances were some of the best, with Sabrina Carpenter headlining and Karol G being the first Latina woman to headline as well. Singers like Justin Bieber, Camila Cabello, Swae Lee and many other artists played their older songs since nostalgia is the current trend. This year, Justin Bieber performed his older songs like “Beauty and a Beat” and even sang them in his teen voice. Additionally, Swae Lee performed songs that were very popular in 2016, “Come Get Her” and “Black Beatles.” This year’s Coachella was an extravagant performance, and people were raving about the nostalgia it produced.
Also at Coachella, Starbucks brought back the unicorn frappuccino that was trending around 2016. Starbucks did this because many people had a feeling that this year’s Coachella lineup was filled with nostalgic memories of 2016. Starbucks had an exclusive sponsorship with the event. This was a way for people to get together and bond with the music and the drink at the event.
Pop star Selena Gomez recently collaborated on a YouTube video with makeup artist Desi Perkins. This video contained Perkins doing Gomez’s makeup, and they did 2026 clean girl makeup on one side and a 2016 smoky eye makeup look on the other side. In the YouTube video, Gomez talked about being on stage, and when she turned her face, she said, “Imagine me on stage performing.” This made viewers very excited because in 2016, Gomez was active in her singing career, doing a lot of performing and dropping music. Gomez also mentioned that the reason she did this look so often was to appear more mature, since she was a young popstar in 2016. Now that Gomez is older, her reflection on her makeup in 2016 makes her and others feel the nostalgia.
The fashion that was so popular in 2016, like skinny jeans and bomber jackets, is emerging again in 2026. Back in January, Vogue wrote an article about the new fashion trends for this year, and they mentioned how 2016 is making a comeback. Other trends are coming back like slip dresses, ripped denim and tracksuits. At Coachella, podcaster Alix Earle was seen wearing outfits that gave 2016 vibes.
Overall, there have been so many trend comebacks from 2016 this year, and it has been extremely exciting to witness. I love all this nostalgia coming back, and so do many other people. Reminiscing on the good times reminds us how lucky we were back in 2016, which was pre-COVID-19, and how life was filled with dances, music, fashion and beauty trends. Now in 2026, fashion, music and even photo dumps from then are all coming back to life, and I hope to see more trends return throughout the rest of the year.