Alexi Ramirez
Author
Decade-Defining Moments of the 2010s
If someone were to ask you what you were doing ten years ago, what would you say? You might answer that you were busy with school, eating out, or hanging with friends. If you were asked the same question ten years later, however, I can guarantee that you did not expect your answer to be “Staying at home 24/7.” Instead of whiling your time away in front of a computer, why not indulge in a little trip down memory lane?
As we continue to stay at home this 2022, let’s look back at the things that shaped our childhood. Here are five pop culture trends that will take you back to the 2010s:
Film: Avengers
2012 witnessed the rise of Earth’s mightiest heroes with the release of “The Avengers.” We saw how Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, and Hawkeye teamed up to defeat Loki and prevent him from destroying Earth with the Tesseract. It instantly became a hit, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year. This heralded the surge of superhero films and laid the foundation for the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Marvel releasing subsequent films throughout the 2010s.
Music: Call me Maybe
2012 was also a year filled with hit songs, some still popular today, like Somebody That I Used To Know, Payphone, and Starships. But, the song played on repeat on most, if not all, of our radios that summer was Call me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. Originally slated to be released as a country song, this pop song dominated the charts that year, peaking at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100 charts. Its LSS-inducing lyrics “Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy but here’s my number, so call me, maybe” was the line of the summer, eliciting hundreds of videos and parodies that helped make it the best-selling single worldwide in 2012.
Social Media: Musical.ly
Did you know that Tik Tok actually started in 2014? Yes, this very popular social media app was first launched as Musical.ly, an app that lets you lip-sync to songs and create 15-second to 1-minute long videos. The app lets users create their own music videos and also allowed them to connect with other musers (musical.ly users). Other than Facebook, Musical.ly became one of the most popular social media apps, garnering at least 200 million users until March 2017. In 2017, ByteDance Ltd. acquired Musical.ly Inc. and merged it with TikTok, and is now the most downloaded app of 2021.
Artist: Taylor Swift
Unless you have been living under a rock or hibernating in a cave, you probably know Taylor Swift. Her catchy love songs that were mostly inspired by her love interests (and heartbreaks!) started making an impact in 2006. In the 2010s, songs like Blank Space, All too Well, and Style pushed her further into stardom. Taylor Swift was regarded as one of the top artists of the 2010s and was the first woman to win the Artist of the Decade Award in 2019. Recently, she re-released “Red (Taylor’s version)” which featured her smash hits All Too Well, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, and I Knew You Were Trouble, letting listeners fall in love with her music all over again.
Food: Milk Tea
With the emergence of different food trends in the 2010s, it wasn’t long before milk tea became popular in the Philippines. Originating in Taiwan, it was created by Liu Han-Chieh in the 80s when he tried adding ice to tea after he observed that Japanese people liked drinking coffee with ice. The different flavors and toppings of this customizable drink made it an instant hit with the younger generation and soon became popular worldwide in the 2000s. In the Philippines, the first milk tea store opened in 2008 in San Juan CIty, but the milk tea trend became popular only in the 2010s. Milk Tea shops began sprouting one by one and rivaled Starbucks as the usual hangout place after school and work.
The 2010s were filled with trends that will be remembered for years to come. No matter how long ago a decade may seem, this era can only be described in one word: Iconic.