Are we having a Survive 25 Summer?
The vibe is... hanging by a thread
I was knee deep in one of my regular posts about what’s catching fire in culture when I became fixated on something that’s barely alight - the summer of 2025.
Usually by now we would have coalesced around a song, a drink, a book, a vibe. But this season feels strangely undefined.
Even in our post-monoculture world our tradition of naming these things has persisted. Our love of a label is so great that it’s transcended our culture bubbles and given us Brat, Barbie and Hot Vax summers. For the same reason the song Despacito, the Gone Girl novel and Frosé will forever be remembered as symbols of summers past.
The summer of 2025 seems even more unusual when we look at a prevailing trend that’s portraying vacation season as a flop. Sure, I’m seeing lots of celebratory “this and” holiday posts but there’s also a notable uptick in videos showing just how hellish and overrun some of the go-to spots are.
Tourists and locals are posting from New York’s The Hamptons and Italian cities like Florence and Rome venting about crowds, ruined neighbourhoods and rude behaviour. The visuals certainly don’t sell a dream, in fact they seem like a warning…
Other themes that have cut through have a similarly dark tone. Epic fails and vacation nightmares are being shared alongside the jaunty soundtrack of the Jet2 holidays theme song. And then there’s the Coldplay kiss cam couple. Their alleged caught-on-camera affair has united people in a way not seen since the Willy Wonka Experience.
The common thread? Schadenfreude. And while it’s not new for us to revel in someone else’s misfortune, and enjoy some gallows humour, I wonder whether we’re particularly open to it right now because optimism is in such short supply.
2025, with all its tumult and horror, has felt like a test of our collective resilience. Is it that few of us think we’re thriving? Are we all just clinging on the best we can?
On-the-Brink-of-Crashing-Out Summer doesn’t have much of a ring to it but maybe Survive 25 does? If it’s what were all feeling then it might stick.
What do you think the vibe of summer 2025 is? And what’s your theory for why it’s not been clear? I’d love to see your thoughts in the comments.
highly flammable is produced and written by me, Rachel Richardson
I’m a content creator, commentator and a consultant for hire at Beginning, Middle and End
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i think people have forgotten to behave out in the world post pandemic and i’m sure travel is at an all time high ( near to pre pandemic numbers? ) - but we’ve forgotten how to peacefully coexist with each other - almost participating in some frantic main character frenzy that has left little to be desired.
let’s all remember humanity and kindness and the planet is for all of us to share and enjoy together 🫶🏼
Great point.
So much of what defines the summer is that if feels that we are culturally in flux. There is so much open culture war that the assumption of a uniform point of view it’s present enough for a mass cultural trend to catch fire like it had in years past.
Typically, the culture is dominated one way or another, and counter culture is muted. Today everyone is screaming in their respective echo chambers.