A brief overview of what is currently trending in news, culture, and/or trending hashtags and formats.
#DWTS: Robert Irwin and Witney Carson are crowned the champions of the 34th season of Dancing with the Stars.
#Chelsea: Chelsea beats Barcelona 3-0 in a Champions League Win.
#RushHour: Rush Hour 4 has been greenlit at Paramount.
A deeper dive into a subject that is impacting culture on a macro level, beyond just the social space.
Having a Life Core
What It Is: “Having a life core” might sound like another Gen Z word-salad, but it reflects a real shift in how younger people want to be perceived. It describes a lifestyle and aesthetic built around real-world hobbies, outdoor activities, art, and routines that exist beyond the screen. Your outfit, home, and daily choices become signals. Think running gear at the grocery store or someone dressed like they’re headed to a book club. The point isn’t the activity itself; it’s the message that you have a life off your phone.
This taps into a broader cultural shift where lived experience, niche hobbies, and practical knowledge are becoming new forms of social capital. Jokes about being “too employed” to understand hyper-online references highlight the tension between screen time and real-world identity. “Life core” represents a desire to be seen as someone who spends more time doing than scrolling. It’s a performance of knowledge and individuality that still aims to feel authentic.
The Brand Takeaway: The irony runs deep in this trend. Users want to look like people who have better things to do than curate an image, yet the effort to appear nonchalant becomes its own form of curation. The trend also reflects privilege. With rising costs, access to experiences, classes, and free time is not universal, which turns “having a life” into a soft flex. For brands, the implication is that it’s no longer just about the products themselves but about the access, experiences, and real-world engagement those products signal.
Must-click links that crossed our feeds today.
🎀 Inside Paris’s most lavish debutante ball.
👖 Martha Stewart stars in American Eagle’s new campaign.
🔎 Pinterest on becoming Gen Z’s new search engine.
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