The Exhausted Dad: My kids and the great pop culture trends
As a 40-year-old man who only barely knows how to navigate his Spotify account, I am not savvy with the cool new things in popular culture.
I keep up with movies, and even my kids don’t seem to care too much about the filmographies of Timothee Chalamet and Sydney Sweeney.
Instead, they talk about YouTube personalities.
The ballyhooed sorta-Tik Tok ban never risked influencing my content consumption. I can watch videos of cute kitties and doggies on pretty much any platform, thank you very much. My social media consumption largely resembles the stuff I used to see 10 years ago from my grandmother on Facebook. Thankfully, I haven’t yet fallen for any Saudi prince scams.
If I want to check the pulse of what’s popular with today’s youth, I talk to my daughters, ages 13 and 9. My two sons, 7 and 11, provide little help because most of the boys in their classes just talk about football, and neither of them care at all about America’s favorite smashing competition.*
*Exception: Both know the names of all of those smug-faced friends of Mr. Beast, the YouTube megastar that has now crossed over with Amazon’s “Beast Games” competition show. I hate that they like Mr. Beast and his friends, because, to me, I’ve never seen a set of more punchable faces since Eddie Redmayne and Miles Teller met at an award show that one time.
I will admit my daughters aren’t the trendiest kids on the block. My 9-year-old cares exactly 0% about what other kids think about her, and my 13-year-old is a proud “band nerd” (her words).
Still, I can glean some of the hot topics of the youth by listening to their conversations (they share a room and can’t escape each other’s opinions).
A notable sea change of late: My oldest daughter appears to have soured on Taylor Swift, aside from a few of the “older” songs. This opinion offends my 9-year-old, who believes Swift remains at the top of her game. I can see both arguments, personally. Her last album had a few too many forgettable tracks, but “Folklore” rules and I still know all the words to “Trouble” and “Shake It Off.”
Meanwhile my oldest daughter shifted her opinion on Ariana Grande, an artist she claimed to loathe ever since she started middle school. The “Wicked” effect appears to be the main factor here, and, look, Grande and Cynthia Erivo are incredible in that movie, so I get it.
The top artist for my 13-year-old right now is Olivia Rodrigo, and I can’t really argue with the talent. Her close second is Billie Eilish, and I like to take credit for repeatedly insisting over the years that she’s already an all-time great artist (all those Grammys plus TWO Oscars already).
My 9-year-old likes virtually every pop song sung by a female artist, which is totally fine so long as she soon begins to distinguish between the greats and the soon-to-be one-hit wonders. I’m also doing my best to make sure these kids appreciate Lady Gaga and, yes, Miley Cyrus. In my house, there is only one answer to “What’s the greatest song ever made?” The answer is “Wrecking Ball.”
The girls talk about some YouTube people, and I have no idea. I will sample this content just to be a dutiful parent, but I don’t know what makes any of them stand out. I know that the middle school kids now prefer Owala water bottles while the elementary school kids cling to their love of Stanley. They all seem to hold water exactly the same, but apparently, I’m “extremely wrong” about that.
Then comes the clothes conversation, and because my wife and I’s finances insist that we buy all our clothes secondhand, I don’t know much about what brands the kids like other than it’s important that something look “cutesy” or “bussin’.” I asked them if it’s good if my clothes are “sigma” and they both stopped talking to me for a week.
At least I’ve banned any and all mention of “skibidi.” I don’t want to be in the know about that one anyway.
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Tyler Wilson is a freelance writer, full-time student and parent to four kids, ages 7-13. He is tired. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.
