It Appears Gen X Has Gone Full Boomer As Trads Do 'Look What They Took From You' To Sixpence None The Richer

The trad phenomenon online appears to have moved from idealizing the 1950s and jumped to 1998 if a recent tweet by @HistoryInMemes is the start of a wider trend.

While the Twitter / X account generally posts old, interesting videos without much commentary, this morning it added the right dollop of trad-speak onto a video of Sixpence None The Richer performing their iconic hit "Kiss Me," writing, "The world you grew up in no longer exists."

The world you grew up in no longer exists pic.twitter.com/7BY6tTsOga

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) May 14, 2024

The phrase is one of many trad-speak catchphrases that have become memes over the years, such as "Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition," "We Have to Go Back," "Remember What They Took From You," etc. The account also sports a Roman bust as its profile picture, which is typical of history accounts on Twitter that go viral for promoting trad ways of thinking.

Such phrases are generally applied to videos of white families from the 1950s, so it came as some surprise to Twitter users to see it applied to a performance of a song that came out a mere quarter-century ago and is still quite popular.

Perhaps as you'd expect, memes about the tweet swiftly followed.

The phrase itself also became a jumping-off point for people to post less fondly remembered tracks from the 1990s.

The world you grew up in no longer exists https://t.co/XfZT14XcjJ pic.twitter.com/dJDuLrl4Ku

— L P 🇦🇨🇦🇸🇧🇦🇧🇸🇧🇹🇨🇫🇨🇻🇨🇽🇫🇯🇮🇴 (@hoytaxtonion) May 14, 2024

https://t.co/3dWpFkpcTJ pic.twitter.com/yrEqUyIuSt

— 🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌 (@immolations) May 14, 2024

Still, while the post's quote-tweeters largely gathered to dunk on "returnposting" about Sixpence None The Richer, folks in the replies seemed eager to agree with the sentiment that the performance constituted the height of global culture, suggesting that Gen X may be adopting for Gen Z the role Boomers played for Millennials.