the perfection of indie sleaze

 Maybe this is a biased post. It most likely is, and for that, I am going to apologize in advance. But, I feel like there is a small but growing community brewing within the depths of social media about an indie sleaze revival within the next few years. This particular statement is confusing to me because I feel like it hasn't even been that long since we were idolizing figures like Sky Ferreira (who is coincidentally releasing an album this year). However, trends in today's age change so quickly now that it only seems right that we circle back to the monumental late 2000s - early 2010s for pop culture consumption. 

There are tons of reasons why this kind of aesthetic was able to flourish. The economic recession greatly influenced media, especially music and fashion. On top of that, we were entering a new decade, social media was just truly starting to take off and turn into what it is today, and because of this, people started to idolize artists and honestly just random people who fit this mold. 

Tumblr was huge at the time, known for being a real "no filter" social media platform that broadcasted things like eating disorders and borderline (sometimes just flat-out) pornography. At this moment in time, I was still pretty young (I was about 10 or 11 when I first made my Tumblr account in 2015), but figures in the Indie Sleaze space were still prominent. 

By the way, when I talk about this music genre, I immediately think of LCD Soundsystem, MGMT, Justice, Vampire Weekend, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I also feel like this opened the door for loads of independent bands to start publishing their music. I'm not saying that they paved the way for this, but I definitely see some influence. 

We can not talk about the revival without mentioning Charli XCX, who I feel singlehandedly brought back the aesthetic with Brat. We're also all tired of talking about this goddamn album, sure, but I had to mention it. Within her circle, people like The Dare are also working to remind people of this style of music. 

The reason I say that this post is biased is because I am a huge fan of this aesthetic as a whole. I would say this is my favorite kind of mainstream music at the moment, and I hope it sees the light of day again so I can actually live through it!! I also see huge potential for this to make a comeback because everyone is tired of these 'clean girl' aesthetics. Indie Sleaze is messy, imperfect, trashy, whatever you want to call it but that's what makes it so chic, in my opinion. 

Anyway, this practically sums it up-- will Indie Sleaze actually make a comeback or is it going to stay a small subset forever? I guess we will have to check back in at the end of the year and see. That's all I have to offer today, until next time. Cheers!