The return of the 2014 Tumblr girl

The 2014 Tumblr girl makes a comeback. (Image: annaleah via Spotify)

Trigger warning: eating disorders, body image, and self-harm.

The 1975, Lana del Rey, and the Arctic Monkeys are back—and so are the sleaze core and soft grunge aesthetics. The return, which came just less than a decade since it first became popular, went hand-in-hand with pop culture’s obsession with nostalgia. 

Personally, its re-emergence brings me back to what I would consider a simpler time. Being 14 during the peak of this trend, I had nothing on my mind except my Tumblr blog, “indie” bands I found on the platform, and getting my hands on a choker and a skater skirt.

I looked up to the skinny white girls that often came up on my Tumblr feed. And yes, of course I wanted to emulate their angsty attitudes and rebelliousness that often stemmed from a “quirky,” not-like-other-girls taste in music. 

Pop culture’s renewed interest in the 2014 Tumblr girl is another testament to social media’s power in the life cycle of trends. Prior to the mainstream use of the internet, trends began “organically” through word-of-mouth and traditional media but now, the internet has accelerated the speed at which they emerge (or re-emerge). 

We saw a Y2K comeback earlier this year, but we’re now seeing more and more of soft grunge and sleaze core, à la Tumblr 2014. Perhaps people are rejecting the put-togetherness and fake effortlessness of 2021’s clean girl as they embrace this edgier style. 

Soft grunge? Sleaze core?

According to trend cycle analyst Mandy Lee, sleaze core walked so that soft grunge could run. In a viral TikTok, she stated that the style took off in the early 2000s and is characterized by amateur-style flash photography, nightlife, dramatic texts and quotes, and the use of outdated technology. Back then, people brought typewriters and polaroid cameras back into use, while now people are bringing back wired headphones. 

In an interview with Vogue, she discussed more about sleaze core’s progression into soft grunge. While sleaze core’s flamboyant personality became popular in Myspace around 2005, soft grunge in 2014 grew into a more moody variation of it. While both styles materialized through music and girlish rebellion, the 2014 Tumblr girl was noticeably edgier, prominently used dark colors and simple silhouettes, and was generally “a bit more of a loner.” 

The soft grunge comeback becomes even more interesting when we take a look at how its elements never really obscured in popularity. Only now, however, are we seeing a full-blown resurrection of its whole aesthetic. Marta Langston, a style content creator, said in a TikTok that if you had a phase in 2014, “you probably never really grew out of it.” 

Tumblr soft grunge spoke to me in a way that most styles couldn’t—so maybe I’ll never truly grow out of wearing black Vans or listening to Lana del Rey.

Stepping (back) into the rabbit hole

Despite its fun amount of darkness at first glance, the aesthetic carries with it a history of glorifying issues like disordered eating. Tumblr soft grunge is an easy entry into the rabbit hole of "thinspiration" and content romanticizing eating disorders (among other issues.)

Achieving the soft grunge look often involved internalizing unhealthy beauty standards that emphasized thinness. While Tumblr became a platform for people to share their artistic photos and ideas, it also quickly became one with communities promoting anorexia and/or other forms of self-harm. 

We’re also seeing a resurgence of these “body trends” today. Despite considerable progress in the body positivity movement, TikTok trends in 2022 are evidently returning to favoring skinny bodies. One example is the new trend about eating like supermodel Bella Hadid.

Even in mainstream media, impossibly skinny bodies are becoming more fashionable again. The Kardashians, for example, have been removing their Brazilian Butt Lifts after capitalizing on their curvy bodies. 

Research has already shown that social media use can negatively affect one’s body image. The dangers of promoting eating disorders as lifestyles lie in the content’s widespread reach—social media users with pre-existing concerns about their own bodies may come across potentially triggering content while recovering or may experience amplified insecurities from these trends. One study even found that pro-anorexics expressed “greater negative affect, higher cognitive impairment, and greater feelings of social isolation and self-harm.” 

I’d be lying if I said I never skipped a few meals at school when I was a native of Tumblr. I’m glad to have built a healthier relationship with food, one that isn’t as focused on thinness as 2014 Tumblr me. Still, millions of social media users may fall into the trap just from scrolling through their FYPs. 

Because preaching about body positivity no longer resonates with many, the role of social media platforms, governments, and influencers in challenging content that glorifies eating disorders is becoming more and more urgent. 

Recently, one user found that up to this day, the Tumblr algorithm allegedly recommends pro-eating disorder content. Plus, with TikTok’s new obsession with becoming skinny, the efficiency of content moderation on social media platforms is being called into question.

As the younger Gen Z-ers navigate the hauntingly charming world of soft grunge, the need to be wary of the behaviors it sometimes promotes remains. Individual users may also want to check in on themselves first and make sure they aren’t contributing to the problem.