Our Hearts Beat for the Diehards: A Retrospective on the Capitalization of Emo Nostalgia
Katie Fitzgerald ’26 takes a trip down memory lane, reminiscing on the good ol’ days of the emo 2000s while reflecting on the current emo trend in all its glory. By looking at examples of both pure, nostalgic emo music, as well as more mainstream, clout-chasing artists capitalizing off of a trend, join us as we attempt to discover the cause of this resurgence.
COURTESY IMAGE // ROLLING STONE
Picture this: you’ve recently heard one of your favorite bands — Fall Out Boy — is touring the United States this summer. You frantically head to the library, crossing your fingers as you order tickets for the pit — yes, the pit. You deserve it after such a hard year, and your heart lifts with excitement as the order confirms. Fall Out Boy, here you come! There are three different eras where this could possibly happen: the early 2000s at the peak of the “emo movement,” the mid-2010s when bands like Fall Out Boy and Paramore were returning from long hiatuses, or the early 2020s when emo became a nostalgia trip for millennials. If you guessed the year 2023, you’re right. Fall Out Boy, along with other bands like My Chemical Romance and Paramore, have made swaggering returns to mainstream culture and found a new audience among teens and young people who wish they were around for the early aughts.
“Emo” is a subculture that generally consists of expressing deep feelings through clothes, gender, and music. This movement embraced the outcasts, those exiled by mainstream trends and society, as they pursued self-expression via dark clothes and punk music. Some of the titans of this trend — celebrities such as Gerard Way and Pete Wentz — wore their hearts on their sleeves in the form of witty and slightly misogynistic lyrics that captivated teens in 2000s America. Yet, at the end of the day, the emo movement had a short-lived 15 minutes of fame that faded with the rise of the 2010s four-on-the-floor dance club music. Of course, the bands themselves didn’t die, and many remained active (with plenty of backlash from fans and critics). Fall Out Boy took a hiatus, returned in 2013, and is consistently popular to this day. Paramore has also remained steady, and they’ve found new success on TikTok. To the surprise of many, My Chemical Romance has returned after many thought they had permanently broken up. Other bands like Panic! At The Disco have not been as fortunate, with the band losing all of its founding members besides singer and frontman Brendon Urie who announced the official breakup of the band in January of this year. However, this doesn’t mean he hasn’t found his own success from the resurgence of emo.
It’s common for old trends to be brought back from the dead under the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, and the emo movement is no exception. With the rise in 2000s nostalgia, the emo movement followed along like a younger sibling. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly caused the explosive return of emo culture, but it is happening during a storm of nostalgia-based trends, with a heavier focus on instruments in music and growing interest in Y2K fashion. Social media apps such as TikTok act as a cultural catalyst for every trend under the sun — songs, styles, and trends can be shared and reshared faster than ever before. It’s no surprise that this app helped spur the explosive revival of emo.
Alongside the resurgence of a trend comes those wishing to capitalize on it, and in this sense, emo has nearly been run to the ground. Some fresh faces like Olivia Rodrigo with her breakout album Sour — which partially kickstarted the “emo renaissance” — have good intentions releasing their art, but others don’t. At the end of the day, emo is still a trend, and it is one on which people want to capitalize. In the past year alone, hundreds of bands categorized under the emo moniker have released new singles and albums. I would like to discuss a few of these titans in particular — Paramore, Fall Out Boy, and My Chemical Romance — and compare them to rising “emo” stars.
For Fall Out Boy and Paramore, their most recent releases in 2023 are simultaneously returns to form and breaths of new life for the bands. So Much (For) Stardust and This Is Why incorporate themes of isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety, and romance, alongside sharper sounds from both groups. Fall Out Boy has taken on the form of heavier guitars and drums — a pivot from their previous album — while for Paramore, a smoother and funkier tone is introduced in songs like the title track “C’est Comme Ça.” Although they did not return to their pop-punk roots, both bands have continued to mark their place in mainstream alternative spaces, all while leaving the days of Monster Energy and heavy eyeliner behind. The sounds on both albums are new to fans, but they have been positively received as steps forward. The elusive My Chemical Romance, on the other hand, has only released a single song amidst touring: a five-minute ballad titled “Foundations of Decay.” It is reminiscent of the band’s early, harder work with lyrics inspired by their personal history as well as familiar imagery of death and decay.
When considering more famous recent artists, two controversial examples come to mind — Machine Gun Kelly and YUNGBLUD have utilized the resurgence of emo to their advantage. With their most recent releases, mainstream sellout and YUNGBLUD, respectively, they’ve broken into mainstream culture, selling the emo phase as not just a trend, but as a genre and lifestyle. Unfortunately, their albums feature uninspired lyrics, grating vocals, and a substantial lack of any unique chords or rhythms. What’s even more obscene is how both artists hail from other musical backgrounds, poorly imitating the greats in this emo renaissance. As the trend slowly fades away, artists who have created one-hit wonders under the guise of emo — utilizing simple chord progressions and shallow, elementary lyrics — will either hop onto another trend or fade into obscurity.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t good artists who’ve reinspired the emo movement. Some bands — especially those consisting of women, people of color, and queer people — have created new spaces for themselves, as many grew up on bands like Paramore and My Chemical Romance. Some prime examples with releases in the past year are Meet Me @ The Altar’s recent debut album Past // Present // Future and Pinkshift’s 2022 album, Love Me Forever. While classic artists who hailed from the original rise of emo will continue to stand the test of time, the most crucial part of the movement has been creating a safe haven for new artists and fans alike. If there’s one thing the trend has done, time and time again, it’s creating a space for the outcasts and misfits. For artists like Machine Gun Kelly who struck overnight fame for his shift to pop-punk “emo” music, emo isn’t about embracing anything in particular. Instead, it is only about blending into the mainstream hype. Even past their original prime, bands like Fall Out Boy and Paramore continue to be innovative, experimenting with a plethora of new influences, genres, and instruments to create truly authentic sounds. As we approach the summer, this “emo renaissance” may fade, but I’m thankful for the memories, even though they weren’t always so great.