We've been tracking nostalgia for a while and recently asked Sean Monaham, Dal Chodha and Maya if it was time we broke up with nostalgia (spoiler: no, not yet). Whilst there has been plenty written on the topic, nothing we've seen really gets to cause of why we're still talking about it.

Traditionally, nostalgia was private. It was tied to homesickness or personal memories, often tinged with loss. But in the 21st century, it’s become increasingly collective. Shared nostalgia – or “now-stalgia” – is generational and cultural. Think millennials reminiscing about indie sleaze. It spreads via memes, media and even political messaging.

Then there’s “new-stalgia” – a blend of personal, collective and what media theorist Alison Landsberg calls prosthetic memory: memories acquired not from lived experience but mass media. It’s nostalgia for things never personally lived – a phenomenon known as anemoia. Among Gen Z, for example, 35% feel nostalgic for the 1990s, despite being born in the 2000s.

The evolution of nostalgia

As a little taster, here's some quotes from our SEED CLUB members:

“Nostalgia is my soul’s way of checking its bearings. I hold nostalgia for aspirations of the past that never came to be, and borrowed nostalgia for an era I may have experienced in a previous life” – Jess Jorgensen
“I’ve recently noticed myself experiencing a different kind of nostalgia – not for the past, but for a future that was once imagined. A future envisioned by a past generation and taken for granted. We grew up in the shadow of those beliefs, inheriting a sense of possibility that now feels increasingly out of reach. Only now are we beginning to realise that not everything inevitably changes for the better” – Andrea Conde Pereira
“Every DJ knows that even the most difficult crowd will be won over by a piano hook accompanied by an amen break” – Andy McAllister

The Nostalgia Report will be released on 27th July 2025 for Protein BRAND MEMBERS only, so if you'd like to attend the launch briefing and be the first to receive the report click below:

BECOME A MEMBER
SEED #8330
DATE 26.06.25
PLANTED BY PROTEIN