Pop culture is notoriously circular, but some eras never quite go out of fashion. The gaudy shimmer of the ‘80s still permeates music and film, while, more recently, nostalgia for all things Y2K has gripped the collective consciousness. The sounds of the early 2000s — from bombastic bubblegum pop to hook-heavy hip-hop — are as alive in 2025 as they were on “Total Request Live” a quarter of a century ago.

You can hear the frothy hedonism of the dawning millennium on Charli XCX’s all-conquering “Brat,” while Addison Rae dutifully pays tribute to the era’s empowering pop princesses on her acclaimed debut album. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With her mini shoulder bags and maxi skirts, U.K. breakout PinkPantheress lives and breathes the Y2K aesthetic, as do a seemingly endless parad

See Full Page