“Which era would I live in?” is the question being asked here in this issue. Some answers will be quite obvious like the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s. Some will have us travel back into a time machine like the Renaissance era, the years of the French Revolution, heck, even the years of King Henry VIII.
I would like to take us back to simple times, GLORIOUS times, indeed. One that we seem to reminisce on more than any other. One where we associate with “better times” and ride a nostalgic wave. This era, that I would like to reintroduce to you all, is the 2010s.
Some of you may say that I already lived through this time period! Well, I would like to live through it again. That’s why it’s even in this issue. Duhhh!
The 2010s, also known as “The Teens,” was the time period between January 1st, 2010 going on to December 31st, 2019. This era started off strong. Based on research (aka searching “2010s” in Google), this time frame was the start of the economic recovery of the Great Recession, which basically was a time where the economy and its financial state was going downhill. Like, BAD. The evolving times of this era had so many advancements that times previous didn’t.
“It’s the era of the smartphone,” said Mr. Norman. He teaches anatomy here at Selma High. “Smartphones really changed all of society. Like, before then, you literally had to print out directions to go places or you would get lost.”
The early 2010s saw a pick up in the economy but also a whole new switch in music. Most of us younger generations seem to agree that this time frame seems to have the most tasteful, club-worthy music to have ever been released. The 2010s was dominated by the music genre of pop. Big artists now who have made their names known to the world. Artists like Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars. There have been many songs released that are the most iconic pieces of art. Justin Bieber’s “Baby” has a whopping 3.2 billion views along with an insane dislike ratio. We all know the queen herself: “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae coming in with 1.2 billion views and still shocked at the ending (if you don’t know what it is go watch it). Nicki Minaj got us all singing STARSHIPS WERE MEANT TO FLY. Taylor Swift caught us all in a Blank Space. We had Lil Nas X on a horse in a pink suit singing about an Old Town Road.
Ms. Plascencia, English teacher here, states that “emo music” was a really big thing during this time.
“Paramore (rock band) was really big back then,” she says.
There are more smash hits that hit the charts on a new scale like “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)” by Katy Perry, “Love Me Like You Do” by Ellie Goulding, “Black Magic” by Little Mix, “We Found Love” by Rihanna, “Hello” by Adele, “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles, “Location” By Khalid, “Closer” by The Chainsmokers, “Ride” by Twenty One Pilots, and “Give Me Everything” by Mr. Worldwide.
The fashion trends in the span of these 10 years was a wild ride. According to an article by Marie Claire, some of the fashion trends that dominated the 2010s were skinny jeans, mom jeans, those really big and bold statement necklaces, and biker shorts. Another article by WWD pointed out that we had an epidemic of “logomania.” Basically this was (mostly for millennials) entering a phase of buying big brands with their name stamped on the product.
Ms. Carrillo teaches math here at SHS and graduated here in 2011. She experienced so many early 2010s fashion at hand.
“Guys [clothes] were very baggy. Girls would wear a bunch of jewelry and bootcut jeans! For makeup, eyebrows were thinner. Eyeliner was on the top and bottom. Blue eyeshadow! [There was] definitely NO blending.”
Carraillo also states that tanning was IN! Either fake or natural, tanning was it, although the biggest fashion trends that could’ve come from this time were the fashion statements of 2014-2015 and 2019. The years 2014-2015 was a time where society saw the light of galaxy tights, galaxy phone cases, galaxy t-shirts, galaxy galore. This was also a time when Bobby Jack was all over the place on teenagers and kids clothes. Mustaches were worn on shirts with pride and mustaches with the duck lips on selfies was a staple. The year 2019 is a different story. Similar, yet different. This was the birth of the VSCO girl aesthetic. An article by SEVENTEEN states the VSCO girl aesthetic has origins with the photo editing app “VSCO.” Scrunchies, the color yellow, hydroflasks, checkered vans, the kanken backpack. Really the blueprint for most of the aesthetic trends now.
There were so many new trends, and obsessions. During this time. One of the big ones, that still is talked about now, is the dress debate. That ONE picture on the internet of the two dresses where you either see gold or blue. The whole slime debacle. The gooey substance found its way into a lot of people’s hearts. School was the slime headquarters. Slime was everywhere, so badly that it started to get banned. Musically was one of the biggest apps of the decade. It had ninety million registered users by June 2016 and two-hundred million by 2017. Pokemon cards had a weird surge of popularity out of nowhere. Fidget Spinners reached peak popularity in summer of 2017. Unicorn Frappicinos were making headlines as a new StarBucks drink. Anyone else see that one video of that StarBucks employee going insane from how many unicorn fraps they had to make? Ah, good times.
The 2010s was a golden time to be able to experience. It was when the timeline was filled with color and magic in the most 21st century way.
