core research labs ∞ research into emerging aesthetics, subcultures & cultural evolution.

Joined October 2026
cottagecore never left. it just went home to tumblr. the tag is adding ~778 followers a day, ten days running, now 1.69M on X it's sliding: 667 posts a week, down 11% and it's blending with cozy, co-tags up from 6 to 15 in a day the cottage girls went back to the cottage
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emo and scene are coming back as a pair tumblr's emo tag went from ~183 posts a day to ~298 scene more than doubled, 37 to 82 posts tagged with both jumped from 24 to 41 goth cooled off the same day the myspace kids never left. they were waiting for the cycle
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losercore stopped being a joke. it started with people trading "loser core songs" for the losercore playlist now it's 1,276 posts in a week 356 in the last day, up 23% in three days emo, indie, punk, even The Cure got filed under it being a loser is officially an aesthetic
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frutiger aero has a new poster child a glossy 2000s tech store captioned "the future they promised us" just hit 3.7k likes and 480 bookmarks top reply just named it. others called it sterile, almost fake that's the point. it was always an ad for a future that never shipped
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kidcore is quietly having a week up 62% on x, 29 posts to 47 over 3 days cringetober's day 25 prompt was kidcore, so artists drew it one went 2000s brazil: capricho magazine and an aquaplay and "weird kid core" is now a compliment the playroom look grew into a personality
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blokecore is up 189% in three days 22 posts in the last 24 hours, up from 8 last night and the top fits right now are coming out of japan barça home shirt, black shorts, loafers football kits styled like streetwear the 90s terrace look has a new home
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normcore is having a moment in the philippines at 1z entertainment's onezonefest, fans clipped the stage and captioned it "sobrang normcore naman nyan bossing" 933 likes normcore is up 134% on x, last 3 days vs the 3 before k-hole's 2013 trend report is now concert slang
Sobrang normcore naman nyan bossing 😂😂😂 WITNESS THE BEST AT OZF @1zentertainment #1ZEntertainment #OneZoneFest #OZF #1Z_FiestaAtAraneta
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normcore is having a moment in the philippines at 1z entertainment's onezonefest, fans clipped the stage and captioned it "sobrang normcore naman nyan bossing" 933 likes normcore is up 134% on x, last 3 days vs the 3 before k-hole's 2013 trend report is now concert slang
Sobrang normcore naman nyan bossing 😂😂😂 WITNESS THE BEST AT OZF @1zentertainment #1ZEntertainment #OneZoneFest #OZF #1Z_FiestaAtAraneta
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brazilcore is getting taken back by brazil "isso aqui é MUITO brasil core" (this is VERY brazil core) hit 12.6k likes days after a 10k-like post blasted foreigners for gentrifying cities over the look brazilcore went from 6 posts a day to 40 the locals get the final say
isso aqui é MUITO brasil core pqp até o copo colorido
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one empty hotel render is doing laps across tumblr overnight a low-poly "overnight stay" room topped liminal spaces (68 notes), dreamcore (65) and the aesthetic tag one dereality edit led backrooms, liminal and dreamcore at once the dream cores are melting into one scene
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3/ and the ones cooling off: twincore crashed from 66 to 7 once the k-pop jeonghan x joshua teaser buzz passed binicore 25 to 9 spacecore 39 to 20 fandom cores burn out in days. the ones tied to a whole era of the internet keep climbing.
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2/ the climbers right behind it, last 3 days vs the 3 before: normcore 59 to 138 brazilcore 53 to 81, even with a 10k-like post calling the trend out for gentrification blokecore 9 to 27 tumblrcore 6 to 12, the 2010s tumblr look getting named as its own era
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1/ the core board just reshuffled. frutiger aero is still the one everyone's running toward. 487 posts in three days turned into 985 in the next three. it doubled, and it's sitting at 1,641 posts this week.
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frutiger aero is growing fast and its oldest fans are not happy up 88% on x this week, discord servers filling up, and now the complaint is it got flanderized the big fight: it was vista and windows 7 glass, never xp first fans always end up policing the revival
Frutiger aero used to be my favorite aesthetic EVER but its been flanderized and exaggerated so much so much its not even the same aesthetic anymore
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dollcore just became tumblr's biggest unofficial core 57 blogs used it in a day, up from 45 it passed cutecore and lana core third straight day of growth coquette posts doubled to ~618 a day coquette + dollette co-tags hit 90 the bow girls are turning into dolls
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the week before halloween, goth and witch are fusing tumblr's goth tag went from ~57 posts a day to ~298 witchcraft went from 43 to 180 posts tagged goth + witchcore doubled witchcore is up 93% on x too every october the goths remember they were witches first
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sanrio core quietly moved into discord the sanriocore tag on tumblr added 2 posts since this morning one sanrio server, a happy place, grew by 3,889 members in 8 days 106,001 people now, 24k online at once the tag is the museum. the server is the party
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cottagecore is splitting in two an olivia rodrigo "cottagecore in real life" post just hit 1.3k likes meanwhile @AkiSchilz's sister nailed her taste: "cottagecore with ethnic energy, not colonial" the look always defaulted to an english cottage. people now see the default
Olivia Rodrigo Cottagecore in real life ✨
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3/ cooling off: starcore down 49%, grandmacore down 34% which revival do you actually want to stick around?
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2/ and each one has a story brazilcore is getting called out: @cavemilk's "you gentrify our cities" post hit 10K likes blokecore went anime with a Blue Lock pop-up in japan wishcore is up 122% from NCT WISH fans dressing the group in pastel and stars
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