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Dazed Digital •

Lostwave: how the internet became obsessed with lost songs

On Reddit, internet sleuths are desperately searching for the artist behind a mysterious 80s-sounding track, ‘Everyone Knows That’ – the latest in a long line of

It’s late at night and you’re searching. For what exactly, you’re not sure, but perhaps something ASMR-infused – a video equal parts soothing and strange that’ll lull you gently to sleep, while reminding you of the vast expanse of the internet. As you navigate YouTube’s complex warrens of ‘dark’ and ‘unsettling’ video essays, you see a
OFF CHANCE •

You Do It To Yourself: Why We Can’t Stop Social Media Stalking —

Perhaps the most mortifying moment of my online existence happened about a year ago, when I saw on Instagram that someone I’d been interested in had a new girlfriend. We hadn’t been in a relationship or even a situationship—merely a strange, liminal talking stage that transpired over a chain of romantic, long-distance phone calls, and never materialized into anything. Eventually, I got over my yearning, but continued to watch his stories—until one day, she came up on the screen. I clicked on her
OFF CHANCE •

The Traitors is the Perfect Reality TV for our Era of Sleuthing and Performance — OFF CHANCE

On this point—our idea of what constitutes reality TV, and how real it should be, has also changed over the years, and The Traitors knows this, using it expertly to its advantage. While Big Brother was so raw and unfiltered it bordered on unethical, and Love Island occupied a vital mid-way point between real social dynamics and fake plastic filler, The Traitors is so overtly fake that it becomes a performance. The entire show functions as an expertly crafted play—bursting with a colorful cast of
The Daily Beast •

YouTube’s Comments Are an Internet Treasure We Must Protect

At first glance, the video ‘BRODYQUEST’ looks like nothing more than standard YouTube fodder from 2010. The jaunty, electronic track—which features an image of actor Adrien Brody journeying through oceans, famous landmarks, and into space—has all the trimmings of the epic bacon internet it was uploaded onto. It was a viral sensation—even the actor himself has seen it. But it’s not the sort of video you’d imagine, 13 years later, would be hosting anything other than a partially animated graveyard
Mashed •

What's Up With People's Love Of Protein-Packed Everything?

What's Up With People's Love Of Protein-Packed Everything?

Growing up, most of us learned about healthy eating through the "food pyramid" — a diagram that illustrates how much of each food group we should consume as part of a balanced diet, with carbs at the bottom, proteins in the middle, and fats at the top. Although the food pyramid was eventually scrapped, new dietary guidelines in the U.S. called MyPlate continue to identify protein as a key food group. Protein helps our bodies to repair c
Mashed •

TikTok Needs To Chill Out With The Trendy Water Recipes

TikTok Needs To Chill Out With The Trendy Water Recipes Quirky drinks typically go down well on TikTok. Whether it's a viral mocktail that will make you sleepy or a DIY bubble tea you can make with store-bought gummies, users on the app love sharing their tips for creating the zaniest drinks imaginable. There was even a Pepsi milk TikTok trend last year, which, while not particularly aesthetic, didn't taste as bad as you might imagine. However, it's a bit more rare that a beverage frenzy complet
Mashed •

Uniquely Nostalgic Candy On TikTok Is Having A Moment

Uniquely Nostalgic Candy On TikTok Is Having A Moment The colorful, youthful nature of TikTok has always made it a natural home for candy-themed trends — whether that's candy-coated grapes reminiscent of Chinese street food or "candy salad," which is far less green than its name suggests. In the last year, the social media platform's sugar content has truly exploded, with videos tagged #candy now reaching over 48.3 billion views as of April 2023. Major creators include online candy stores, such
Mashed •

Is It Weird To Bring Your Own Ranch Bottle To A Restaurant... On A Date?

Is It Weird To Bring Your Own Ranch Bottle To A Restaurant... On A Date? Ranch is the perfect accompaniment for most savory meals, whether it's slathered over salad, stirred into mashed potatoes, or served as a dip for wings and otherwise inedible pizza crusts. There's a reason why ranch is America's favorite dressing, with 40 percent of people naming it as their favorite in a 2017 study, ahead of its next highest competitor, Italian dressing (via The New York Times). But when you think about dr
Mashed •

The Viral Calming Mocktail That's Putting Us To Sleep

The Viral Calming Mocktail That's Putting Us To Sleep With the rise of people binning alcohol and choosing to go sober, or at least go sober-curious, mocktails have soared in popularity as a way to deliver on all of the fun, and none of the nasty side effects the next morning. But they're also more than just a tired substitute for boozy drinks — they're vibrant and refreshing in their own right, with nutrient-rich mocktails proving a popular choice for anyone wanting to stay hydrated and boost t
Mashed •

The British Chinese Food TikTok Controversy Explained

When you think of Chinese takeout, you might imagine a fold-up paper box overflowing with sweet and spicy kung pao chicken, beef and broccoli, or veggie-packed lo mein noodles. That is, if you're American. If you're British, your meal will look a little different. Your food will usually arrive in Tupperware containers, for starters, which you'll then decant onto your plate. You might have ordered crispy chili beef, fried chicken balls, egg fried rice, and, to the horror of everyone across the po
VICE •

What is a Mommy Kink? How Being Cared for Became a Turn-On

If you’ve kept abreast of pop culture recently, you might have noticed something of a shift in power dynamics. Daddies are on the out, and mommies are If you’ve kept abreast of pop culture recently, you might have noticed something of a shift in power dynamics. Daddies are on the out, and mommies are dominating discourse , whether that’s the rise of shows like MILF Manor , pregnant RiRi’s meteoric return, or Meghan Trainor milking the trend and declaring herself mother to, uh, let’s say, a mixed
VICE •

How to Be a Better Lover: 4 Tips to Keep in Mind

But somewhere underneath the layers of in-jokes, sickeningly sweet nicknames and complex relationship lore, you’ve lost something. What was it again? Oh yes, the warm and loving embrace of another person’s body against yours, on purpose, and not as a byproduct of reaching over to reclaim your half of the duvet. Quite simply, you’ve forgotten how to fuck. But somewhere underneath the layers of in-jokes, sickeningly sweet nicknames and complex relationship lore, you’ve lost something. What was it

5 Relationship Red Flags to Look Out For, According to Experts

My actual therapist, on the other hand, was more realistic. She recognised a string of potentially problematic behaviours in this person that were visible in previous partners – emotionally unavailable, bad at communicating, avoidantly attached. But she never used the term “red flags”. It was more about why me and this particular person wouldn’t chime – my inability to select someone compatible was something that I, equally, needed to work on. We’re only slowly starting to critically reexamine t
Dazed •

What is frutiger aero, the aesthetic taking over from Y2K?

Shiny globules, green fields, tropical fish – memories of an era dominated by glossy, naturalistic design are taking over

It’s 2008 and the sweet smell of plastic fills the air, as you unwrap your first-ever touchscreen phone. You boot it up, and are greeted with a melodic chime, before being lulled into stock images of sunflower-filled fields and oversaturated blue skies. In the next room, your parents are taking their first intrepid steps towards becoming technologically literate by trading t

Ethical Porn: What It Is and Sites to Check Out

“The term ethical porn, unfortunately, brings up the same connotations as corporate social responsibility,” says Cindy Gallop, founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, a user-generated adult video platform that runs on a paid subscription model. (She prefers to use the term “social sex” to describe her platform.) But while the name might sound pretty drab, ethical porn in reality is far more exciting – and all-encompassing – than it sounds, covering everything from BDSM to blockchain-enabled porn. Here’s wha
LADbible •

Salad Fingers creator never meant for the seriously creepy character to be scary

“It's weird to think how primitive the technology was,” David says of that era. “I think you might have had to copy the link from MSN Messenger into your browser. Before the days when you could even have multiple tabs.”

“I don't really think about that as being an appeal,” he says. “I don't think 'people are going to be scared by this', but kids are. It's hard to think like a little kid. Kids are scared, and they'll share something that's scary.”

Eighteen years on, David continues to expand th
Tagg Magazine •

Gay Garden Gnomes: Pandemic Protest Grows Thanks to TikTok

While some of us were baking banana bread or growing sourdough starters during the first quarantine, Maura Bennet-Martins was laying the groundwork for a different kind of hobby: turning straight garden gnomes into queer icons. Two years later, Super Gay Gnomes is a thriving small business selling hand-painted, glitter-coated garden gnomes in a rainbow of colors.

Bennet-Martins, who lives in Boston with her wife, explains that the business started out as a silent protest against a bigoted neigh

How Spit Became a Kink: A History of the Latest Trend

Discovering I was into spit was one of those life-altering realisations, like deciding I didn’t want kids, or that I should probably take out a pension plan. It began innocently, dribbling its way into my most intimate moments — an overdrawn kiss here, a little excess saliva there — before peaking, triumphantly, on the best date of my life, where myself and a vegan chef spent the evening at [redacted pub] in east London, pre-fuck, spitting rum and coke into each other’s mouths like two disgustin
Dazed •

Why you so obsessed? The online safe space for the infatuated

On r/limerence, members gather to share advice on how to manage their overwhelming feelings of obsessive longing – but is it

“It’s a longing. It’s like a pining. The dopamine hit is insane. Nothing else, no substance can give me that same euphoric feeling.” Ashley* isn’t addicted to alcohol, drugs or gambling, though she’s seen people compare her own affliction to these things in the past. Instead, she’s been working hard to overcome a lifelong reliance on something – or rather someone – else.

A Teenager Has Remade Myspace and Everyone Is Loving It

Your best friend had one. Your older sister had one. Most of the bands clogging up your iTunes library had one. Even enduring teen icon Effy Stonem had a Myspace page — her Top 8 placements hinting at a preference for Cook over Freddie (we knew it!). By the end of the 00s, just about everyone you ever met was on Myspace, backcombing and spraying the shit out of their hair for that all-important upside-down profile pic.

Myspace was most closely associated with the alt scene, functioning as a hea

FarmVille Is Closing Forever and Hardcore Fans Are Devasted

In case you’ve forgotten, FarmVille was a browser-based game accessible via Facebook that was hot shit from around 2009 – when it launched – to around 2011. The game had a simple premise: you’d create a farm, plant crops and raise animals. The more products you harvested, the more “Farm Coins” you would earn to once again repeat the dopamine-inducing cycle, this time with an extra cow. Everything happened in real-time, earning FarmVille a reputation for being mindless and repetitive, but also we
WIRED UK •

Bloody crime scene cleanups are going viral on TikTok

Grace*, a 17 year old from Arkansas, has also recently made the jump to TikTok, after following a crime scene cleanup account on Instagram for three years. For her, the appeal of the videos is a mixture of fascination with the macabre, and a genuine desire to learn about the practicalities of the job.

“It’s something I’m drawn to because of the morbidity of it, I guess,” she says. “I’ve always been really obsessed with death and understanding what happens to us physically when we do pass, so it
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