You might already know about Brat summer, so called thanks to the popularity of Charlie XCX’s recent album.
Its neon green cover became associated with a kind of ratty hedonism, an endlessly reiterated dance, and, er, Kamala Harris.
But if you’ve just caught your breath from the Apple routine, prep yourself for the next trend ― right now, everything on TikTok is “very demure, very mindful.”
What?
I know ― it might sound like a bit of a whiplash.
But it’s hard to believe that the originator of Gen Z’s favourite new phrase meant it straightforwardly.
Jools Lebron, whose account has over a million followers, racked up eight times that amount of views for a single video recently.
“You see how I do my makeup for work?” the creator asked in the viral clip.
“Very demure, very mindful. I don’t come to work with a green cut crease... I don’t do too much. I’m very mindful,” she satirically quipped.
She also advised we be “mindful of why [our employers] hired [us],” very likely a reference to the recent-ish ”be mindful of why you were invited to the section” advice (which had itself spiralled into endless meme-ry).
That’s sort of the joy of the “demure” videos, in my view.
Among straight-faced, quasi-trad wife advice to “enter our feminine energy” by giving up lifting, letting go of “the need to make any money at all,” and sitting with our knees touching, Jools attempts no such misguided seriousness.
“See how I do my hair? A very modest length,” the TikToker said in another video while running her fingers down (and down, and down) her hip-length, honey-blonde tresses.
“I don’t do too long... I keep my hair very demure, very short,” she lied. Very fictional. Very cutesy.
So why is it so popular?
The phrase sticks like a catchy song. It’s spawned thousands of new videos from creators like this one: “see how I take my antidepressants every day?” she asks.
“Very demure. Very mindful... Be mindful of why your doctor prescribed you an antidepressant.”
Part of the appeal is Jools’ hypnotic cadence. Part of it is her satirical angle, turning the endless slew of gendered etiquette videos so far on their neatly-groomed heads that they become a Brattish celebration of our true debauched lives.
Mostly, though, it’s funny, and it’s fun to say.
So, for however long it lasts, stay demure, Gen Z. You’re not like those other trends. You’re more mindful.