NOT A MUSE, A MIRROR:

The rise of a new need amongst the younger population: creators who reflect, rather than recommend.

I still vividly remember the first internet personalities I started following when I joined Instagram, back in 2014. And more importantly, I remember why.

They were girls just a few years older than me, living on another continent: girls with brightly colored hair and tattooed arms. I remember the carefully crafted photos they posted, and how they made me feel.

One of them, in particular, stayed with me. She had long, lilac-bleached hair that must’ve been fried to the core, but to me, it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I couldn’t believe someone could look that good, with her pale foundation and black choker. She felt like she’d stepped out of a movie, living a fantasy dream somewhere across the Atlantic.

She’d share glimpses of her life: her boyfriend and dogs, the caravan they renovated into a home, her first tattoos, the road trips they took. And there I was, behind my desk, in my tiny adolescent room, lingering for hours, trying to manifest a life like that when I grew up.

I stumbled upon her page again a few months ago, nearly ten years after that first encounter. Her hair had returned to a soft, natural brown. She was still posting glimpses of her life, but now in a more grounded, documented way. But most importantly: the way she made me feel had changed. 

She still embodied the same qualities I admired in her ten years ago, but I no longer saw her as a fantasy. She had become tangible, real. Someone I could potentially meet, message online… or maybe even be. And just like that, my entire perception shifted.

People who once looked up to internet figures for escapism, fantasy, and a break from reality are now searching for the exact opposite: creators who look like them, feel like them. Aesthetics have become overrated, over-polished, over-curated. It’s realness and rawness that now prevail.

Could this shift be linked to the recession we’re living through? Probably. In an internet where everything has become a brand, people are no longer drawn to those who feel expensive - they’re drawn to those who feel possible. Within reach. Relatable.

We’re not dreaming of escape anymore.

 We’re dreaming of better days, not other worlds.

 And we’re looking for tangible ways to improve the lives we’re already living.

We killed the Muses, and created the Mirrors.