- Words Notion Staff
Rated Reads takes a look at the timeless nature of manifesting, the uncertainties of single positivity and when our favourite artists write some distinctly unmemorable songs.
Everything old is new again: TikTok is dominated these days by millions of posts about manifesting all the things we want in life, from material wealth to happiness to (and this one is a little harder) world peace. For VICE, Nana Baah investigates how the manifestation craze mirrors New Age spirituality trends from almost half a century ago, and how it points to universal human desires that religion can’t always satisfy.
Young, fun and… alone? The problems with the ‘single positivity movement’
Being single is easier than it used to be. A growing acceptance of the difficulties of the social expectation for everyone to be in relationships has brought with it a wave of single positivity, a focus on self-love and personal understanding as a way of finding fulfilment instead. James Grieg at Dazed poses that the movement, while well-intentioned, is missing some spots, and erasing the genuine difficulties of singlehood in a quest for total positivity.
12 awful songs by great artists, from Michael Jackson to Justin Bieber
They can’t all be winners. Even the artists we love the most put out a rubbish track every now and then – it’s just the law of averages. I’d be happy to talk your ear off about “Born to Run” and “Dancing in the Dark” (and how good his two latest albums still were), but I am not going to defend “A Real Man” by Bruce Springsteen to you. Roisin O’Connor takes a look at that howler and 11 others of its like, remembering the moment where musical geniuses slipped right up.
Where do influencers go, if not on TikTok or Instagram? It’s a somewhat existential question, but thankfully it has a practical answer. Brat TV is a network that gives influencers who are looking to break into mainstream media a chance to learn the ropes and find a traditional platform, and Vox has the lowdown on am enterprise that will make almost no sense to anyone below the ages of 24. Kids these days.
Inside the ethical beauty boom
The beauty industry can perhaps be easily stereotyped as superficial, but there’s plenty going on beneath the surface on beauty social media these days. Influencers and creatives alike have been working on numerous ways to bring social awareness and sustainable practices, and BBC Culture takes a look at some of them, including mood-enhancing skincare and mental health-themed barbering.