Is millennial sincerity coming back? Our columnist Kyle Chayka explores what the recent viral resurgence of “Home,” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, says about our relationship to the earnest self-expression of the early 2010s. Read his latest column at the link in our bio. #edwardsharpeandthemagneticzeros #millennials #2010s #nostalgia

We may never escape millennial cringe. I was noticing the total virality of this clip of a band, Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros from 2009. They played at NPR's Tiny Desk concert and they kind of look like cult members. The lead singer has this kind of wild hair, he's dressed in white, the female vocalist is kind of waving her shoulders. It's just this overwhelming display of emotional sincerity that you don't really see right now. And there's been this debate raging online, particularly on X, whether this song, Home, is the worst song ever. And I kind of see why the disgust is happening, like that millennial sincerity and the kind of hipster self-expression doesn't really look relevant in this time when we're confronting AI and global political conflict. But I think there's a little bit of a hint that millennial sincerity is creeping back into fashion. And we're seeing hints of this elsewhere on social media, where people on TikTok are posting collages of photos from Starbucks or heavily filtered Instagram photos with finger mustaches and big sunglasses. And all these things express this kind of desire for that sense of simplicity, even if that time wasn't so simple after all.