“In the beninging” changed me. This TikTok hopecore edit from late 2024 reawakened the obsessive pattern-noticer in me. A couple of weeks later, I came across a New York event headlined by Chris Smalls, titled Post-doomerism. Then Bjork declared, “It’s time to rise again”. Metalabel began manifesting a new era with their From Doom to Bloom newsletters. Liam Young titled his new Venice Biennale film After the End. 

If we zoom out beyond my demonstrably insignificant algorithmic bubble, we can still point towards the energy of Chappell Roan, Doechii and Zohran Mamdani; or Luigi Mangione’s grassroots legal fund surpassing one million dollars. We didn’t just get a new pope – we got a new Balenciaga creative director.