Latest / Mini Scroll / 2025 Wrapped: The Pop Culture, Aesthetics & Tech Trends That Defined The Year

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2025 Wrapped: The Pop Culture, Aesthetics & Tech Trends That Defined The Year · Mini Scroll

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This episode of Infinite Scroll is brought to you by Afterpay's
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Afterpayed 2025 report, an annual deep dive into
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Australia's shopping snapshot. As Australia's leading Buy Now,
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Pay Later platform, Afterpay unpacks the products and
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services we loved, the trends we embraced, and the items that
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topped our most wanted lists. Afterpayed helps us understand
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what we shopped for this year and how those retail choices
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echoed through culture. Thank you to Afterpay for
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supporting the podcast. Hi everyone.
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Welcome to a special edition of the Infinite Scroll Podcast, a
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podcast about Internet culture, the creator economy and how
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social media is shaping Gen. Z.
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I'm your host, Lauren Meissner, the founder of the youth digital
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media brand Centennial World. And today I'm joined by
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Annabelle, who hosts Mini Tech Scroll and is the deputy editor
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of Centennial World. And I don't know if we have ever
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podcasted. Oh, we've podcasted together
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twice, but I don't know if they're even on the feed
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anymore. One of them is, but one of them
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isn't. And that one wasn't us together.
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That was like we. That was with Alex too.
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It wasn't just us. Yeah.
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Yeah. So for our final episode of last
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year, 2024, it was a video where we sat down.
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It was us and Alex. Miss you, Queen.
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We're seeing her tomorrow. Shared what we were expecting
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for the year to come. In Internet culture, we often
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consider ourselves experts. But today we thought it we would
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put ourselves to the test. So we have compiled all of our
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predictions and expectations from last year to see exactly
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how accurate we were. I really hope we did well
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because at this point I feel like our legitimacy is on the
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line with this episode. I'm worried.
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So OK, for this episode I have actually not reviewed the
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predictions, so we thought it would be funny for Annabelle to
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share them with me and then I can react to them and we can see
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how we did last year. We had predictions over a number
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of categories, relationships, music, Tekken, gaming, beauty
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and fashion, miscellaneous and then also a couple of business
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driven predictions. So we will go in the order that
2:12
we went in. Last year, yes.
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OK, So last year we started off with relationships.
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The first topic of conversation that we covered in this category
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was all about Timothy Chalamet and Kylie Jenner, OK.
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And we noted how some Internet users last year were under the
2:29
impression that 2025 would be the year that they got engaged.
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Obviously that hasn't happened this year.
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But Lauren, you were very engaged and passionate in your
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stance that Timothy and Kylie are APR couple.
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Yes, where you said, and I quote who are they?
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What are they? No, to me, they are not in a
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relationship to me. They're going to break up this
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year because they are in APR couple and it's not real, OK.
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But by the end of the combo, you kind of change your tune, where
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you predicted that Kylie and Timmy would walk a red carpet to
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get out to promote his movie, and that did actually happen.
3:09
Oh my God, has your position changed?
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You know, I don't know if my position has changed.
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Do I think they started as a PR couple?
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Yes. Do I think there's still APR
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couple? I mean are are they even still
3:21
together? I feel like I've seen a lot of
3:23
discourse but how they've been broken up.
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They are still together. So it seems like there were
3:29
reports that the couple spent Thanksgiving break together and
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obviously that was super recent. They are seemingly still
3:35
together, unfortunately for you. Unfortunately.
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Not really. No, unfortunately for Club
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Chalamet, true. Our Queen.
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I don't know how I feel about them.
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I feel like maybe I was a little bit harsh, but I think that's
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just how it works. Like you just start to get used
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to it and then you're like, I guess they're a real couple.
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But yeah, that was our fast prediction and I think we were
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correct. Yeah, it wasn't totally off.
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No, no, we were right. OK Should we move on to the next
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one? Yeah.
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OK. Our next prediction that we made
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also came true, and that was that we expected Taylor Swift
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and Travis Kelsey to get engaged.
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Oh my God. Which I actually don't really
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think was a hot take at the time.
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No. But Lauren, you actually me just
4:13
like getting the receipt. You made a comment that you were
4:16
actually unsure if she would ever get married.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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But then Alex ended up rejecting that from you because she was
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saying that like that is all Taylor talks about in her music.
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I can see why people have said that because now with that
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perspective, I'm like, OK, I see why people say like she
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manifested him, you know, she's such a lover girl, of course she
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was going to get married. But I also still kind of feel
4:39
this way that she is so one track minded about her career.
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She's so driven, she's so successful.
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I could have totally seen her being somebody who was almost
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like too untouchable to ever find a man who I suppose could
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like handle that level of fame and success.
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And I think there's a few examples in pop culture of women
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who are in the music industry or actresses or media personalities
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where they stay essentially there might be like long term
5:06
partnerships where they stay essentially unmarried.
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And I kind of saw that for her. Well, there was also so much
5:12
discourse about like during COVID, so many public figures
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ended up dating normal people. Like you have the Ariana
5:19
Grande's, the Bella Hadids. Oh, I see.
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I don't. I definitely don't think Taylor
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Swift could have ever married a regular person.
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Maybe like an actual billionaire tech CEO or somebody who is like
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on her level. I don't know.
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I could have. Actually sort of seen that,
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don't you think? Taylor and Big Tech, But yeah,
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that was probably the biggest story coming out of the Swifty
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universe in 2025, apart from obviously the life of a
5:44
showgirl, which we discussed on Mini Tech and Mini all episodes
5:47
at some point. And I will say this was
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obviously mostly Alex's prediction because she is such a
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Swifty. Like she was you are a Swifty,
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but she is the Swifty. If you if only you saw her
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Spotify rap like it was crazy. Literally everything was Taylor
6:02
Swift. It's honestly impressive.
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Yeah, I don't know if I'm like a Swifty.
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I wouldn't say I'm like a fan of Taylor Swift, the person, but
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I'm like a fan of her music. Yeah, OK, I'm using it as a
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blanket. Tone I know I'm me getting like
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offended I'm like wait, hold on. Not offended, not in a massage
6:17
and internalized misogyny way, just in a you know, I want to
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make it clear that I very much recognize the problems with
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Taylor Swift and I don't support them.
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Especially recently this. Yeah, but because this was
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Alex's prediction, I did message her to get her forward.
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OK. And she said, and I quote ha ha
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ha ha. I'm actually so smart.
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Me and Taylor sharing how engaged error.
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True. Oh my God.
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For context, as you probably gathered, Alex is engaged.
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Oh my God. OK.
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That brings us to our final prediction that we had in this
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category, and that was about Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande.
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And before we get into this, I need to issue a preface and I
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think I said this last last time, but I'm extremely
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parasocial and delusional about Ariana Grande and I'm aware of
7:04
that. Yeah, you're like, unwell.
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I am unwell. I literally stayed up many
7:08
nights in a row to try and get tickets to the Eternal Sunshine
7:11
Tool, which I did end up getting even though it was a struggle
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and even though they're in London didn't.
7:16
You run in Ariana Grande fan account.
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I mean I had like Stan Twitter so like if that I didn't have
7:22
like a Facebook page for. Like right?
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So I had, like, Stan Twitter that was mainly about Ariana
7:27
Grande and Justin Bieber and also like, Hunger Games, like
7:30
love. So I will say because I'm super
7:33
parasocial about her. Like, I'm delusional.
7:36
Yeah. OK.
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So maybe I can't see things clearly.
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Back to our prediction from last year.
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Lauren, you are convinced that 2025 would be the year that
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Ethan and Ariana broke up, especially after the Wicked for
7:48
Good promotion? Yeah, I'm sure we all know how
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Ethan and Ariana got together. Their relationship reportedly
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began in mid 2023 and quickly sparked controversy because both
7:59
of them were seemingly married when they started getting
8:03
together. Allegedly, I mean and he.
8:04
Had just had a baby. Yes, of course.
8:06
And didn't Ari hold his baby? I read that somewhere.
8:12
I think allegedly, like they had been out together, like as
8:15
couples or maybe Ariana with Ethan and his ex-wife.
8:19
But yeah, the two obviously have gone on to be very private about
8:22
their relationship with Ariana and Ethan really kind of talking
8:25
about each other Occasionally. They see there's been a lot of
8:29
speculation about them, whether they're together, whether
8:31
they're not. At the beginning of the year,
8:33
they seemed very couply, like during award season there were a
8:37
couple of instances where they would be spotted together and
8:40
they would also talk about each other in interviews.
8:43
Later in the year, though, it seems your prediction may have
8:46
came. True, I think it did.
8:48
We'll get that, OK? Because breakup rumors started
8:51
swelling because there was literally like no interactions
8:54
or sightings of the pair together from like April until
8:57
September. And the last sighting of the two
9:00
was at a preview of the Little Shop of Horrors where Liz
9:03
Gillies, who played Jade West in Victorious.
9:06
For those who are fans. And they're she's like besties
9:08
with. Yes, yes.
9:09
So that was the last time they were spotted.
9:11
And then there were headlines that kind of indicated that the
9:15
pair were having a quote UN quote rough patch that was from
9:18
the Daily Mail. Since then, the messaging seems
9:21
to have shifted and partially, I'm sure it's probably because
9:24
of the Wicked for Good Press tool, but they were spotted
9:27
together even though there was less coupling content coming out
9:30
of the first press tour together.
9:32
Yeah, but TMZ published a piece on November 11 with the headline
9:36
quote Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater split rumours are all
9:40
speculations. We're doing great and it read
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quote. Sources close to the couple tell
9:45
us they are still absolutely together romantically, despite
9:47
multiple media reports and online theories that they've
9:50
broken up. I am.
9:51
Curious to your thoughts. I don't think they're together.
9:54
And even if they are, I think it's giving like Alex Earl,
9:57
Braxton Barrios where they're like, we're still together and
9:59
then like a month later they break up.
10:01
Like I feel like they're going to be done Q1 at the latest.
10:06
And I am not predicting because I don't want to wish anything
10:09
badly on my girl. Oh my God, I'm not wishing
10:11
anything badly on her. Just want her to be happy, like,
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OK, OK. Speaking of Ariana Grande, the
10:19
next category we had was like music predictions.
10:22
And I will say our predictions were pretty good here.
10:24
The first one I wanted to talk about was actually one that I
10:27
put forward, and that was that the music industry would start
10:30
pushing a boy pop star, obviously. 2024 year of the pop
10:34
girl I think continued into this year for sure.
10:38
But because we were so much girl pop pop girl vibes, I was
10:44
expecting the industry to lean into a boy pop style similar to
10:47
the likes of like Justin Bieber, One Direction, something from
10:50
that era. I did throw out a couple of
10:52
suggestions or like potentials in our episode last year, which
10:56
included the kid Leroy Troy Sivan, Benson Boone and it was
11:00
so funny. You actually didn't know who
11:01
Benson Boone was at the time, honestly.
11:03
I still don't but like he went. So viral.
11:06
I do know who he is, but like, really.
11:08
Barely. Barely.
11:09
No, Yeah. He's just out there doing his
11:11
backflips for sure. I think the fact that like it
11:14
was Alex. Warren yes, I literally going.
11:17
To say that I was like, yeah, no, Alex Warren, I think is
11:20
someone who look, I don't think he fully fits into that
11:23
category. I don't know other people that I
11:25
think have filled this gap potentially or are working to
11:29
fill this gap is Samba. And then also role model.
11:32
I I think none of them are really doing the like cookie
11:35
cutter a pop vibe and like I don't really think any of them
11:40
have like the same kind of like charisma.
11:43
I don't know, for lack of a better word, it's not Bieber
11:45
fever. We need someone to instigate
11:48
another era of the Bieber fever. I don't know if it's possible.
11:50
I don't know. I don't think that's possible.
11:52
I think that's why Justin Bieber became who he's true.
11:54
It's true, but I think it's a different time, too.
11:56
Like, he started, you know, and social media was so different
12:00
then. Like now it's much harder to
12:02
have like a monocultural, like, pop star like that.
12:06
I agree. I agree.
12:07
So I think there's a few like, contenders for like, major pop
12:11
boy, but also like the pop boys have to just do so much less
12:14
than the pop girls. I mean, yeah.
12:15
They barely even move on stage, like the girls are doing full
12:19
Dancing with the Stars choreography, singing in no
12:23
clothes. Like it's crazy.
12:26
Yeah, no. I do want to add here though
12:28
that I feel like the era of the pop girl is not going away
12:30
anytime soon and I think we can see that with the obsession of
12:33
girl groups over this year. I've I've been talking about
12:36
catsai non-stop. I think that is one example.
12:39
Also girl set has been coming up on my TikTok.
12:41
I mean, I think we've had girl groups for a while like with K
12:44
pop, but I think Catsai is like entering western markets in ways
12:48
that previous K pop groups haven't maybe.
12:51
Blackpink that major major. Major yeah OK, but like they're
12:55
they're also different groups to be no I.
12:57
Know, yeah. But yeah, so I don't think the
12:59
pop girl is going anywhere, Zara.
13:01
Larsson, that's my prediction for next year.
13:03
That's true. She's going to have her Sabrina
13:04
moment. Yeah, it's her espresso moment.
13:06
I feel like she's starting to have it, but I think it will
13:08
really hit again. I'm thinking Q1, it's going to
13:11
be a big Q1 for Pop Girls. We have another 2 predictions in
13:16
the music category, both of which were from Alex.
13:19
The first was that she was convinced that Taylor would
13:22
release reputation like Taylor's version.
13:24
I once again did message Alex for her thoughts on this.
13:28
And obviously that's not what happened, but she did say quote,
13:32
she did buy back her records. So that's kind of the same.
13:36
No, it's. Not.
13:37
It's literally not, but you just can't be wrong.
13:41
That's Taylor Swift but I guess now like cuz I know Alex
13:44
wouldn't stream reputation so now I think she can well now
13:47
she. Can, yeah, yeah.
13:48
But she did say that she was semi right for all of them and
13:51
then described herself as a witch.
13:55
Feel like we're witchier. We've been doing spells on the
13:57
office and like, knock on wood, it was kind of working for a
13:59
little bit. There it is working it.
14:02
Is. Working and yeah, we we love
14:04
evil eyes. I brought an evil eye to the
14:06
office I've been. Doing like that cinnamon spell
14:09
that's like all over TikTok. And actually, I don't know if I
14:12
told you guys this, but we did it in our old office, which was
14:16
like a closet. OK, So I did the cinnamon with
14:21
the coin like spell on TikTok and you can do it with a
14:24
cinnamon stick if you don't have powdered cinnamon.
14:28
And so I did it and I threw the stick in and whatever.
14:31
And then we left it there for like several months until we
14:33
moved offices because like you're supposed to leave it put,
14:35
I think. So we left it put and then we
14:37
were moving everything and knocked the cinnamon stick like
14:41
went to pick it up and a cockroach ran out from inside
14:45
the cinnamon stick. He had a little home.
14:48
He made a home inside the cinnamon.
14:50
Stick. I think the cockroach like the
14:52
office the most out of everyone who frequented it.
14:55
Yeah, I mean for. Sure.
14:56
So I don't know what kind of omen that is, but.
15:00
I mean, I'm going to say it's a good one.
15:02
Cockroaches, like can't be killed.
15:04
So Centennial is maybe the cockroach, the cockroach of the
15:08
media industry. OK, this brings us to our next
15:14
category of predictions, which were tech focus.
15:17
And unfortunately for me, we did talk about the TikTok ban.
15:20
If you guys listen to mini tech scroll every week, basically, I
15:23
feel like I had to bring it up and by the end, I was over it.
15:26
Yeah. And I fear that I will probably
15:28
still come up and I will have to just be brave and cover it.
15:32
But yeah, last year we didn't really know how it would land.
15:34
We did make the claim that TikTok will be banned or
15:37
restricted in some capacity. And that did come true for like
15:41
12 hours in January. Yeah.
15:42
So. I think we're right.
15:46
But of course, since then, Trump has gone on to extend the
15:49
deadline for the ban, so negotiations with by dance slash
15:53
the Chinese government could continue.
15:55
So there would be some kind of resolution.
15:57
And at this point, it's looking like the US will have its own
16:00
version of the app led by a consortium of American
16:03
investors, many of them who lean to the right politically.
16:07
And it's also been reported that the new US based venture will
16:10
operate the recommendation algorithm and content moderation
16:13
behind TikTok after licensing the algorithm from Byte Dance.
16:18
Apart from that, we don't know much more.
16:20
In fact, the Verge recently published a piece with the
16:22
headline quote, even the lawmakers behind the TikTok ban
16:25
have no idea what's going on. So I think that really shows
16:29
where we are about that. Speaking of TikTok, we also saw
16:33
book talk go really mainstream this year.
16:35
It made its way into many scroll in a bit.
16:37
We didn't really talk about this in last year's episode, but I
16:40
thought it was interesting to include here.
16:42
Well, I don't. Know if we even talked about
16:44
book talk at all in last year's mini scroll.
16:46
I feel like that could have just been a 2025 development, but I
16:50
definitely covered it several times this year.
16:52
Yeah, no. Literally I remember you
16:54
covering it. I feel like it was like at least
16:56
once a quarter. The mainstreamification of Book
16:59
Talk is backed by data from Afterpay's Afterpaid report,
17:03
which is the annual deep dive into what Australians are
17:06
spending money on and also the sponsor of today's episode.
17:10
According to Afterpay, there's been a significant uptick in
17:13
purchases of E readers slash Kindle adjacent products.
17:17
As the report reads, quote e-reader sales surge in 2025,
17:21
with purchases of Kindle products increasing by 352%.
17:24
Oh my God, I know. With millennials 67% and Jen
17:28
said 26% powering the e-reader revival.
17:31
I actually feel like book talk is incredibly influential in
17:35
getting people into reading. And obviously an e-reader is
17:38
just like the natural kind of next step once you're like,
17:42
reading a lot more and it's like, well, I might as well just
17:44
buy an e-reader. The books are cheaper.
17:45
You can carry it everywhere. Like that kind of stuff.
17:47
I assume that's why. Yeah, I.
17:49
Agree. Have you been influenced?
17:50
Do you have an e-reader? I don't even have a.
17:52
Kindle and I started a book club this year I mean, I didn't start
17:56
it. I joined well it was started I
17:57
was like a founding member. It sounds like I decided to
18:00
start a book club but like I my friends and I decided to do a
18:03
book club. We've only done two books but
18:06
but it was recent. I feel that it started Yeah,
18:08
yeah, it only. Started we talked about it at my
18:10
friend's birthday party late July, but then we didn't have
18:13
our first actual meeting about the book until late September
18:17
and then it was beginning of December like last week we did
18:20
our second book and so we'll do like late Jan for this book.
18:23
Yeah, I feel like that's. Good.
18:24
You have a reasonable amount of time to get through the book.
18:27
Have you read book talk books? Yeah.
18:29
Like Jordy and I were talking about like reading book talk
18:32
books like a couple years ago we would read some of them and like
18:35
recap them on the pod and like content we were covering and
18:37
stuff. So those are kind of the only
18:39
book talk books I've read was like maybe 2022-2023 books.
18:44
But like I really loved Where the Crawdads saying, I think
18:46
that was a book talk book. I really, I loved Verity.
18:50
I have never read any other Colleen Hoover, but I really
18:52
loved Verity. So I think those are like the
18:54
two main book talk books I've read and they're kind of like,
18:57
oh, geez. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:58
Yeah, yeah, I like have never. Oh, I've read one book, talk
19:02
book. I've read The seven husbands.
19:03
Oh, me too. I've.
19:04
Read that one too. Yes, that's.
19:05
The only one, but I don't like read a lot of fiction.
19:08
I feel like I read a lot of non fiction.
19:09
If I'm reading, I don't know what fiction I like as an adult.
19:12
OK, Our next tech prediction was about how YouTube and longer
19:17
form content will return to the zeitgeist in a meaningful way.
19:20
And to be honest, I once again don't really think that was a
19:23
hot take because people have been saying that.
19:25
Yeah, I actually kind of think we said that last year, but when
19:28
we were discussing this topic in last year's episode, we did
19:31
bring up the phenomenon of brain rot fatigue after we were
19:34
introduced to it from the, in case you missed it, sub stack.
19:37
And this phenomenon basically claims that there is, quote, a
19:41
high likelihood that being overexposed to it will lead us
19:44
to crave more intentional, meaningful and online
19:46
engagement. And I think at the end of 2025,
19:49
we can have some new insights into this phenomenon.
19:52
Like I do agree with the premise, but I don't think
19:55
that's something we saw in 2025. If anything, I think 2025 was
19:59
the year that brain rot went mainstream with the rise of like
20:02
Italian brain rot and like AI generated content on Sora.
20:06
So maybe we're still on the rise or peak of it, but I actually
20:11
feel. Like the last half of the year,
20:12
I don't. The brain rot fatigue has Yes I.
20:15
Feel like I feel like honestly I see a lot less brain rot.
20:17
People are making way less memes out of brain rot.
20:21
It's way less popular. You know, I, I agree.
20:23
I was. I was going.
20:24
To say that as well, like I think we have experienced the
20:26
rise in peak, so maybe now we will experience brain rot
20:30
fatigue, but I don't think that is something that we had until
20:34
maybe the second-half of this year like because I really think
20:37
Brain Rod had its moment. Speaking of the long form
20:40
content though, I actually think there has been a return to
20:44
longer form meaningful content, not in video, but in newsletters
20:48
and like Sub Stack. Yeah, I think this year we
20:51
really saw newsletters going mainstream.
20:53
And I think part of that was Sub Stack trying to preemptively
20:57
filled the gap that a TikTok ban could create.
21:00
And also the other part of that is I think that a lot of people
21:04
who like frequented Twitter are still looking for a place to go.
21:09
And this year actually, we saw sub Stack surge passed 5 million
21:12
paid subscriptions in March of this year.
21:15
So I thought that was crazy. I didn't even know that at all.
21:18
And for context, a year before it was like at 3 million Wow
21:22
subscription, so it like almost doubled the.
21:24
Dream the dream. Literally.
21:26
Please subscribe to our newsletter.
21:28
Keep scrolling for I'm like riding for the newsletter and
21:31
like I need more return. Let's move on to our next
21:35
category, OK? And we had some predictions
21:38
around beauty and fashion. The first trend that we spoke
21:40
about last year was of course, the rise of the fisherman
21:44
aesthetic. I feel like everyone was talking
21:46
about that, yes. And I did not see it as
21:48
prevalently as I think, yeah, as we thought it would be.
21:51
I. Do think it has dripped through
21:52
in more like subtle ways, like it's not as maybe nautical as we
21:55
expected. I mean those fish on the nails
21:59
were pretty popular for a while, it's true.
22:01
I should actually say that neither of us like fashion,
22:03
girl. He's not to say that we don't
22:04
have like, fashion or style, but like, we don't keep up to date
22:06
with, like, runways, like high fashion stuff.
22:09
But I think I kind of think like the obsession with like,
22:13
stripes. I feel like that is kind of
22:15
yeah. No, Yeah, that fisherman.
22:17
Aesthetic even though like polka dots was also super major.
22:20
No, that's not that's not fisherman hate a polka dots.
22:24
Oh really? I like polka dots, no?
22:26
My favorite? Print is obviously leopard
22:28
print. Obviously it's a neutral in my
22:31
eyes. No, you.
22:32
Know what it is? I don't like a pattern OK.
22:35
I love a pattern. When I was researching this
22:37
episode, actually, I found a really interesting TikTok series
22:41
where this creator named Lindsay Louise was deep diving into
22:44
various like aesthetics trends and like cause talking about
22:47
whether they're linked to fascism.
22:49
I know that sounds crazy, but it's also like really on brand
22:51
for me. Yes.
22:52
She made one on fisherman coal and she highlighted how it was
22:56
linked to nostalgia. And like, really tasteful, like
22:58
America almost. Yeah, and I thought.
23:01
That was such an interesting take.
23:02
No, I agree. With that also, I don't think
23:04
that's like crazy to say that fashion could be linked to
23:07
fascism. Oh no.
23:08
Because like, fashion is so political.
23:10
Totally, I 100% agree. But it's just like crazy to be
23:12
like brought up right now. And then she also added that the
23:15
way it's being presented though, that it's not necessarily like a
23:18
blue collar representation of fishermen.
23:21
It's like a classist and elitist one, like kind of feeding into
23:24
like the coastal grammar. No it.
23:26
Definitely gives coastal grandma.
23:28
That's a great comparison, yes. When I was preparing this
23:31
episode, though, and thinking about the various fashion trends
23:34
that took hold this year, one major one that we didn't predict
23:37
was the bag charms. The bag charm epidemic.
23:40
I can't. Believe that was only this year,
23:42
I know. This year was seriously the year
23:44
of cute little bag charms, often coming from a blind box.
23:47
And of course, La Boo boos were the most viral.
23:49
But there were other alternatives, like the crybabies
23:52
or like Wakoo Coos. Have you seen those?
23:54
Yeah, they're really cute. I like them and we even saw
23:57
designer brands introduce their own version of bag charms.
24:00
Like I remember seeing a product Teddy bag Tom that was like 1000
24:06
AUD. That's crazy.
24:07
I was going to say, do you think it's because we're like in hard
24:10
economic times? And so they're easy.
24:12
It's like the lipstick theory. It's like these are easy little
24:14
like consumerism things that can like make us feel good.
24:18
I think that's part of it. I do think we've seen this
24:20
bubbling up though for years. Like for the past, I want to say
24:24
like 3 years, I've been tying stuff onto my bags.
24:26
Yeah, like whether that just be a scarf.
24:28
I think it's just taken a whole new life and I think that could
24:31
easily be part of it. I think also we need that boost
24:36
of energy or like fun that you get from a blind box also.
24:39
Do you remember phone charms? I loved?
24:42
Yes, little bitches. Yes, I would add 1 again on my
24:45
phone but my 1 broke. But according to the Afterpayed
24:48
report, La Boo Boos made the most purchase list for fashion
24:51
accessories and they were also billed as quote 2025 Ultimate
24:55
Collectible, where sales peaked relatively recently on September
24:59
10, which I think was kind of that's.
25:00
Kind of late. I was just going to say I feel
25:02
like loo Boo boos their moment has come and gone, but that
25:04
might. Have been in the Australian
25:05
market. I do think things peak here
25:07
later. Oh, I see.
25:09
I agree with that. Yeah, the.
25:10
Next prediction in the beauty slash fashion category was
25:14
actually one of yours, and it was that we would see the demise
25:17
of baby Botox and filler. And this was kind of, I think
25:21
triggered by the end of last year when we saw various
25:23
influences sharing their journey about returning to a more
25:26
natural look after most of them dissolving their lip filler, I
25:29
would say. And it was also informed by the
25:32
fact that we've seen more and more celebrities looking almost
25:34
identical to how they did in their 20s, with many seemingly
25:37
having invaded plastic surgery done.
25:40
Yeah. Or like facelifts.
25:42
To be honest this isn't my area of expertise, but I feel like at
25:47
least online there has been a renewed interest in facelifts,
25:52
no? I agree with that and I think we
25:54
are going to start to see increasingly because like Botox
25:58
and fillers became so accessible in a way that they weren't even
26:02
just like five years ago. I would say like price wise and
26:05
just as part of the zeitgeist, when you hear that like everyone
26:08
in your friend group is starting to get Botox, it just feels more
26:11
accessible, even if it the price hasn't changed that much or
26:13
whatever. So I feel like that is why now
26:17
those kinds of more invasive, expensive luxury plastic
26:22
surgeries, like a real under the knife plastic surgeries are
26:25
becoming more interesting maybe to celebrities.
26:29
I've seen a lot of discourse in the space now when it comes to
26:32
like plastic surgery, cosmetic injectables, whatever, that the
26:37
people who have like the real money, like the new trend is
26:39
going to be going to like Europe and getting different treatments
26:42
that you can't get here and things like that.
26:44
I also saw a stat that I think. Kind of feeds into what you're
26:47
saying. It was from the business of
26:48
fashion and they found that the number of people in the US
26:52
wanting fillers has plateaued. Quote Between 2019 and 2022, the
26:57
number of patients receiving hyaluronic acid fillers
27:00
increased by 70%, according to the American Society of Plastic
27:04
Surgeons. By 2024, however, the number of
27:07
new procedures has levelled out. Yeah, I see that.
27:10
And also I think we know now that filler lasts so much longer
27:14
than it initially was, I guess sold to us as.
27:18
So part of that is probably people thinking, OK, I probably
27:21
don't need to get filler that often.
27:22
Part of this probably economic times and another part of it is
27:27
now that we have more information on filler, people
27:30
are less interested in getting it because of its longer lasting
27:33
effects and its migration. And I think the more like quote
27:36
UN quote natural look is coming back.
27:38
Like so many people are dissolving their lip fillers
27:41
going back for more natural stuff.
27:42
So I think it's all part of it. Yeah, even like.
27:44
Natural hair colors, true. Couldn't be me, but yes.
27:48
I'm also wondering though if the demise of baby Botox and filler
27:53
that we're seeing may correlate with the growing popularity of
27:57
beauty tools as opposed to products that we've seen over
28:00
the past year. According to the Afterpayed
28:03
report, tools like LED masks, ice rollers and guashas were
28:07
mentioned as some of beauty's biggest buys this year.
28:10
LED masks were all the buzz, up 95% with millennials backing the
28:14
tech more than anyone. Mid-october, the lead up to
28:16
event season saw the most sales. Ice Roll is up 47% and Guasha
28:21
Tools up 80%. Showed that hands on skin care
28:24
is anything but old school. That's.
28:26
Crazy controversial community, don't really believe in any of
28:29
that stuff really. I really want to try an LED
28:32
mask. I don't really know what it
28:33
does, but I want to try it, yeah.
28:35
Like, I don't know, I just think as a former beauty editor, so
28:39
much in beauty is just like fake.
28:41
Like it just is. I feel like that's.
28:43
Fair it's made. Me like cynical, even if you
28:45
were to show me like a before and after of my own face after
28:48
being washed out or whatever, like I still think I would be
28:51
like, it's just not true, even though I'm sure it was.
28:54
Yeah, yeah, no. No, I think that's valid.
28:56
You've seen like behind the veil.
28:57
I've seen too much. I've done some crazy, crazy
29:00
stuff, like one time I got a lymphatic like drainage massage
29:03
and that actually did I feel like.
29:05
That worked that actually. Did work but it only works for
29:07
like 2 hours until you like drink water or like eat or
29:10
something you know what I mean? It doesn't last like the way
29:12
that people get them before vacations and stuff.
29:14
Like I mean, I don't know. At least for me it did not last.
29:17
I did the whole like vagina steaming thing.
29:20
It was that was crazy. That's crazy.
29:22
And that shit is like so not me but I like had to do it for a
29:25
story that was not a Wellness. Crazy, but no.
29:29
Yeah, with the lymphatic drainage massage.
29:31
I remember watching Quinn Blackwell's vlog when she did
29:34
the Victoria's Secret Fashion show and she was like calling
29:37
nonstop to try and find someone who could do it for her.
29:39
Oh my God. Like the morning of or the night
29:41
before? It does.
29:42
Really work like for a few hours yeah I.
29:44
Feel like it makes sense in that context I guess, but it makes
29:47
you. Shit like crazy.
29:48
Really. Yeah.
29:49
Of. Course.
29:50
Oh my. God just doing your.
29:51
Insides I just I. Can safely say I've never
29:54
thought about it that quickly. OK.
29:56
And finally, we have some miscellaneous predictions to
29:59
review. Some of these were more industry
30:02
focused and others were about like specific creators.
30:05
And I will say these were also mostly from you, Lauren.
30:08
OK. The first was that in 2025 we
30:12
expected to see more brands shifting away from influencer
30:15
events to consumer fast ones. I'm curious if you've noticed a
30:19
shift I think. There's definitely a shift maybe
30:23
like away from as many brand events and like influencer
30:27
events and influencer trips and stuff.
30:29
To be honest, I haven't really seen a lot of like consumer
30:32
events, but I'm not sure if those would be.
30:35
So I guess, I guess like pop ups, like we have seen a lot of
30:37
pop ups this year. Yeah, I think it also feeds into
30:41
another trend that I'm seeing constantly among trend
30:44
forecasters and social media experts on TikTok, with so many
30:48
pointing out that quote UN quote, like analogue is coming
30:51
back. I don't know if you have seen
30:53
this but there seems to be discourse around being offline
30:56
as like a status symbol as well as seeing like very niche
31:00
creators go viral, gain popularity for kind of like
31:03
random hobbies. One example that I thought was
31:06
interesting was I don't know if you know cat GPT, no.
31:10
She's like a. Tech Wait, I.
31:11
Do I do? We've covered her, haven't we,
31:13
in the newsletter May. Oh no, we didn't cover her, but
31:16
we covered somewhere. But she hosted a no phone party
31:21
that went pretty viral. That's cool.
31:22
So I think that's kind of related maybe.
31:25
Yeah. But I don't think like 2025
31:27
moved the needle on it necessarily.
31:29
I think it's just a steady trying like that we're seeing if
31:32
we. Hosted a Centennial party, it
31:34
would be like a sit in silence and scroll your freezer page and
31:39
like show the person beside you a funny TikTok every once in a
31:43
while. Like that would literally be the
31:44
party. We are not touching grass at
31:47
that event, no. It's like the anti touching
31:49
grass event. I think we should do that.
31:52
The next industry specific prediction that you had was that
31:56
Road will venture into baby or mommy products.
31:59
I thought that was a great prediction given obviously that
32:02
Haley's like a new mom. Yeah, I guess it.
32:03
Didn't happen. Well, probably for various
32:05
reasons. Me being like, the only reason
32:07
it didn't happen is because they were acquired.
32:08
I didn't have that on my radar at all.
32:11
Yeah. We obviously haven't seen her
32:13
lean into baby slash army products, but the Road Futures
32:18
Foundation, which is like the charitable arm of Rd. pledged
32:22
quote a minimum of 1% of sales and ongoing team efforts to
32:25
support organizations actively dismantling the barriers that
32:28
impede women and that does include various organizations
32:30
catering to mothers like baby to baby.
32:34
I've. Never had baby to baby.
32:37
Yes you have. They all go to the gala.
32:39
Baby to baby to no. You do.
32:42
It's a nonprofit that provides diapers, formula, clothing and
32:45
other basic necessities for children living in poverty
32:48
across the US. And every single celebrity goes
32:52
to their gala. It is like it's literally the
32:54
Met Gala. That's crazy.
32:56
Why have I never heard of that? Now you're.
32:57
Going to you're going to notice it.
32:58
I'll notice. But yeah, so I think that's the
33:00
closest of what we've seen. But yeah, it hasn't really been
33:04
mommy products like in the same way that like, Kylie baby
33:06
existed somebody. Needs to do a deep dive into a
33:09
baby to baby. Somebody could be us, OK and
33:15
otherwise you did have two other random predictions that the
33:18
first one was posting on stories for the sake of posting will be
33:22
dead I. Actually stand by that.
33:24
I don't think it's dead. OK, I actually have two ID.
33:27
I have two thoughts there. I don't think it's dead.
33:30
I definitely have noticed way more people, even just in my
33:34
personal life are just not posting when they're doing
33:37
stuff. So I think that's part of it.
33:39
I think that's. Part of the offline stuff as
33:41
well that we're talking about just before, yes.
33:43
However, I also think there's a bit of like a movement towards
33:48
like, I wouldn't even call it like main character because I
33:52
think that has like come and gone, but it's more just like
33:54
shamelessly self promoting, not being worried about being cringe
33:58
and realizing that that is like what's actually going to move
34:01
the needle for a lot of people in like whatever aspiration they
34:04
have. So I think there's been these
34:05
like 2 conflicting trends kind of.
34:09
I rarely post on Instagram like period and I feel like over the
34:13
years I've just stopped posting. Yeah.
34:15
You literally never repost when I tag you.
34:19
My thing is, I don't, even though I feel like I work in an
34:21
industry where Instagram is for work, I like just don't see it
34:24
like that in my brain. Also, I don't really like
34:26
posting about myself. Yeah, but like it's a.
34:29
Repost I know I. Know I don't know what it is.
34:31
I don't know what it is. And then your second prediction
34:33
that you had was that Dixie Demilio would quit social media.
34:37
Honestly for her sake I wish she did.
34:41
She's not like. Super.
34:42
She's not very. Active.
34:43
Yeah. I feel like unfortunately that
34:45
was a stupid prediction because like, it's her whole income.
34:47
I know it was. Pretty funny when I said that
34:49
the last time I liked it. Like what?
34:50
Else would she do Lauren? And then as far as business
34:53
predictions, I wanted I wanted us to go viral.
34:58
I don't think that, well, we go viral and TikTok a lot, but
35:01
like, it just doesn't translate the problem that Centennial
35:03
World has for those. Who are interested?
35:06
Is that we've never had like a zeitgeist D moment where like we
35:11
publish a piece of content or something.
35:12
We've had one when we did the Gwen quiz like episode slash
35:15
like content around that, that was pretty popular.
35:18
It was like relatively viral. But we've never had a moment in
35:23
time, whether it's a piece of content or just like a strategy
35:27
or anything that really like launched us into the zeitgeist
35:30
And therefore, like our industry now knows us in a way that they
35:33
didn't before. And like, a lot of our peers
35:36
have had moments like that over the years.
35:37
Like new media brands, especially here in Australia,
35:40
have had these kind of like, big break moments that we've just
35:42
never had. So like, we go viral on TikTok
35:44
all the time. We get videos that have millions
35:46
and millions of views all the time.
35:47
And it's like, literally my face in that.
35:49
But people are like, who is that?
35:50
Yeah. YouTube viral or like sub stack
35:54
viral. So guys help us out yeah send to
35:57
your friends. I thought you were going to.
35:58
Say send help also. Send help.
36:01
It's also I think because Centennial, what we cover is
36:04
very global. It's not also like Australians.
36:06
Yes, so. Here locally, it's harder to
36:09
have that moment, yeah. But yeah, that's all of our
36:10
predictions, yeah. Well, thank you guys so much for
36:13
listening. We hope you enjoyed this
36:14
episode. We love you guys.
36:16
And reminder, there is no mini scroll until January 5th, but
36:21
there will be one final episode of Annabelle and I together next
36:25
Friday, our final deep dive of 2025.
36:28
Subscribe to our Patreon if you guys want extra content for our
36:31
break because we will be posting.
36:33
We'll all be posting. I'll be doing mini scrolls.
36:35
It'll be like cottage core vibes again.
36:37
I'll be like away with my parents in the country.
36:39
I'll do at least two if not 3 mini scrolls.
36:43
So yes, I love you guys. Thank you so much for listening
36:46
and we will talk to you next Friday.
36:48
Bye bye.