The Royals Vibe Shift and 2013 Tumblr Aesthetics

I bookmarked believe-and-just-smile.tumblr.com a while back but was waiting for the right time to share it…which happens to be now.  

During the summer of 2013, there was a distinct aesthetic vibe shift that took place.  The bright, saturated images that dominated social media petered out and were replaced by ones that were minimal in tone.  I like to call this change the “Royals Vibe Shift” after the song Royals by Lorde, since it best represents this shift on the most mainstream level.  As Lorde overhauled the pop music landscape overnight with her low-key suburban anthems, the aesthetic denizens of tumblr also moved away from high-def and maximalist imagery of quality blogs to a more muted style dubbed as the “personal/vertical” blog.  

screenshots from the archive of wastery.tumblr.com that clearly illustrate the difference between the quality and vertical/personal aesthetic, taken August 2013 and December 2013

Marina, better known as cuntgradulation on tumblr, was one of the most high-profile quality bloggers to make the switch during August 2013, and many other quality bloggers (myself included), soon followed suit. Within a year, the quality blog was basically dead, and other lofi aesthetics—namely vintage, personal/vertical, and pale blogs—reigned supreme.

And yes there was ~drama~ over the switch.  one day I will talk about how unhinged quality blogs were because they were basically cults. 

I still remember the day I stopped reblogging quality and made the switch to vertical/personal.  I was drawn to its simple imagery, which felt refreshing compared the super saturated materialistic quality photos I had previously consume.  Looking back, however, I can see this shift was basically just the zeitgeist doing its thing and bringing minimalism to the forefront of our culture after a decade of ‘80s-inspired maximalism. 

Anyways, believe-and-just-smile is emblematic of this era of internet aesthetics.  You’ll notice lots of minimal compositions, neutral tones, and natural backdrops.  Victoria’s Secret Pink hoodies were swapped out for Huf knee socks, galaxy painted sneakers were replaced with worn-in Vans, zebra print duvets switched out for plain white sheets—the vibe was less suburban popular kid and more laid-back California skater.  Perfect for the end of summer, in my opinion at least: