Why are we romanticizing 2016??? | Wundervisuals/Getty Images

At the start of this year, it seemed like everybody was reminiscing about the year 2016. In January alone, Spotify saw a 790 percent increase in 2016 themed playlists. People were declaring that the 2026 vibe would match the feel good vibes of the year 2016.

The only problem is that the experience of living through 2016 was far different from what Gen Z in particular remembers.

Daysia Tolentino is the journalist behind the newsletter Yap Year, where she’s been chronicling online affinity for the 2010s for almost a year now. Gen Z tends to blend all of the years together causing them to hype up the fun cultural parts and ignore the international and political turmoil that marked 2016. Tolentino says 2016 nostalgia might actually be a sign that young people are ready to break out of these cycles of nostalgia and reach for something new.

Tolentino spoke with Today, Explained host Astead Herndon about how 2016 has stuck with us and what our nostalgia for that time might reveal.

There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.

Where did this 2016 trend start?

It’s been building up since last year, especially on TikTok. People have been slowly bringing back 2016 trends, whether that’s the mannequin challenge with the Black Beatles song, or pink wall aesthetics, and these really warm hazy Instagram filters. When we entered the New Year in 2026,........

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