Living Your Y2K Dream
with Janine from Retro Avocado 🥑
Janine shares where she gets the inspo for her nostalgic content, her favorite music videos and 90s movies, and which fashion trends & hairstyles that she loves vs. ones that she’d leave in the past.
Our convo is all about channeling enthusiasm and joy into everything you do, from wearing butterfly clips to watching old music videos to making playlists. You’ll find out what mall store has the most accurate Y2K-era clothing that looks like it was literally stolen from our closets, and remember how sending text messages and the Hairagami were VERY expensive!!
We touch on the compelling journalism that is our elementary school journals (my second grade Tamagotchi Saga™️ is pictured below), what it was like for Janine to style on-set for an emo music video, how I live vicariously through apparently ~everyone~ around me who got to be in an emo music video in the 2000s, and how music was so much more dramatic back then. Important PSA: anyone looking to cast an emo music video, please contact me immediately!!!
Watch/listen: YouTube • Spotify • Apple Podcasts • Website
🛼 Haven’t You Heard?!
My fav things from the internet rn:
At Nicstalgia, every week is emo week, but at The Ringer, it was emo week too lol. There’s even an article about The Rules to Making the Perfect Emo Music Video, which coincidentally, Janine and I talked about on the podcast.
This was fun! Can you trademark a color? T-Mobile thinks so. If I were to trademark my brand colors, I’d name the lime green Slimed™️, after Nickelodeon slime and the purple Jawbreaker™️, after the iconic outfit adorned by Courtney Shayne, the infamous main character of the 1999 dark comedy Jawbreaker.
In this Elle interview, Parade CEO, founder, and creative director Cami Téllez says, “I think a part of me is trying to maybe redeem the category, and redeem an inner child.” If Aerie was the body positivity we needed in the 2010s, Parade is the body neutrality and acceptance we need in the 2020s. Excited to be a Parade Friend! (Use my code nicoletremaglio for 20% off!)
Is it The End of Social Media? I’d say definitely, or at least as we knew it before. This article goes into the recent backlash against Instagram (I have to thank Kylie for speaking up on this one LOL) and what comes next.
⏮ Let’s Go Back….Back to the Beginning
A time capsule of this week:
In 2000, Coyote Ugly was released. I was not allowed to see this movie when I was in elementary school because I would have gotten literally obsessed, watched it over and over, learned all the choreography, and looked up to these provocatively dancing bartenders as the big sisters I never had. I finally watched it for the first time a few months ago, and it was everything I could have hoped for and more. If I had to say I have a regret in life, it would be not visiting the original Coyote Ugly bar in New York City before it closed.
In 2001, The Princess Diaries was released. I liked this movie when it came out, but I rewatched recently and it’s truly one of the best films of all time. Joe is a fashion icon and inspiration. One of my favorite quotes is, “Remember, virtual homework may not be submitted for actual credit.” If only we knew what the future of technology would bring.
In 2003, one of the best TV shows of all time, The OC, premiered. This show made me who I am today, truly. Manifesting being a guest on the rewatch podcast with Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke, Welcome to The OC, Bitches! Enjoy these pieces from iD, In Defense of Marissa Cooper and 7 of Mischa Barton’s most iconic outfits.
💿 Hey Mr. DJ, put a [playlist] on
Playlist of the week:
Middle School Dance is one of my favorite playlists. It has Y2K era GEMS that just remind me of sweaty gymnasiums, grind trains, buying thongs at Weathervane (or DEB or Charlotte Russe or Wet Seal, pick your poision), ‘orange drink’, Bath & Body Works body glitter that gave me hives, and throwing my ugly windbreaker in a giant pile of coats praying that it would get stolen. (It never did).
I find it funny when people say, “I was born in the wrong era,” because I definitely wasn’t. I was in middle school when “Yeah!”, “Get Low”, “Get Busy”, “Crazy In Love”, “Hey Ya!”, and “Milkshake” came out. Like wow. What a time to be alive. Also I cannot believe actual adult humans had to chaperone and watch us be feral!!!
🏆 Nicstalgia Trivia
This hairstyle was the only thing I wanted in 2000, well, other than skinny eyebrows so the boys on the bus would stop bullying me¹. What music video is this iconique flippy masterpiece from??
Find the answer in this week’s episode of Nicstalgia!
¹ Yes we’re sidebarring about eyebrows and my adolescent trauma today. This was 2 years before penciled-on eyebrows’ reemergence, championed by the one, the only Xtina Aguilera in her Stripped era. (A life-changing album, truly!!) Re: removing nearly all of my eyebrows, in the enduring words of the Pussycat Dolls, “Be careful what you wish for 'cause you just might get it. You just might get it. You just might get it.”
Last Week’s Answer
Before the tech-enabled merch of today (i.e. ARMY Bombs, BTS’ fandom’s glowing LED light sticks that can connect with your phone and change colors), how did fandoms show their support for their idol?
They used different colored balloons! Actually, a stadium or concert arena filled with balloons sounds like quite a party. I am still crying real tears over BTS not bringing their recent Permission to Dance tour to NYC, but am waiting on bated breath for BLACKPINK’s upcoming world tour announcement. 👀
Watch last week’s episode, Fandom, Idol Culture, and Authenticity with Kpop Sociology, on YouTube!
🧨 Spice Up Your Life
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