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Image source: "BL33D4Y0U" album cover, Lil Witchy, 2024.

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The 2000s were unique and special years for those of us who were lucky enough to experience them. Gen Z were taking their first steps and playing the Nintendo DS, the internet was far from what we know today, and one singular video of a random guy on Newgrounds lip-syncing "O-Zone - Dragostea Din Tei" would feed us for months if not years on end (me included, I'd play that song on repeat in 2008).

With the return of everything Y2K in the 2020s, it's no wonder so many things from the beginning of the 21st century are making a comeback. This, of course, includes the scene subculture.

But with the return of the scene subculture, we are also seeing the rise of something new that borrows from it. It's called "scenecore". But what exactly does it mean to be scenecore? And why does its existence annoy so many people? Is it really nothing more than a TikTok trend, as some scene kids would have you believe?

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While scene is a subculture that emerged from the pre-existing emo subculture, scenecore is something that emerged from the scene subculture. Scenecore is a relatively new phenomenon and its style and influence are still evolving. Due to that, "What is scenecore?" has a more complicated answer than you'd expect, and one that will evolve with time, at that. But as someone who is part of both the scene subculture and the scenecore community, I can share what we as scenecore kids have established as a part of our identity thus far (as of 2025).

Scenecore is nostalgia-based for a lot of Gen Zers such as myself. Scenecore is a subgenre of hyperpop music that draws inspiration from the scene subculture and nightcore (however, we scenecore kids listen to a variety of (primarily nostalgia-based) music). Scenecore is a fashion style that draws inspiration from the scene subculture, 2020 alt, and decora/kidcore. Scenecore is an aesthetic that encompasses Blingees/PicMix, bright colors, rainbows, checkers, glitter/sparkles, 2000s and early 2010s memes, webcore, and more.

Image source: "Faster n Harder (w/ asteria & kets4eki)" single cover, 6arelyhuman, 2024.

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A popular phrase associated with scenecore is "cringe culture is dead". Cringe culture is the process of mocking cringeworthy content, which in itself is defined as content that someone deems embarrassing or worthy of being mocked. This term was first coined in 2017 on deviantART.

Often times, this content deemed "embarrassing or worthy of being mocked" is completely harmless and consists of people just being themselves and doing what makes them happy. Examples include but are not limited to furries, bronies, emo/scene kids, e-kids, other alt kids, alterhumans, and LGBTQ+ identities such as nonbinary and xenogender.

This goes beyond being bullied at school or in local groups though. A big part of cringe culture consists of "cringe compilations" on YouTube. These videos are compilations of clips deemed "cringy" which put (often times) innocent people on display, garnering hundreds of thousands of views, all for the purpose of making fun of them.

Many Gen Zers were young during cringe culture's peak in popularity, and it severely limited our self expression. Out of fear that we'd be mocked, we suppressed ourselves. Cringe culture never truly fully died, but the 2020s brought the full-on rejection of cringe culture by the alt community on TikTok. That includes scenecore kids. It is a part of scenecore's core beliefs that cringe culture is and should be dead.

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"Don't care you think it's cringe because it's not your life."

Vylet Pony - ANTONYMPH (2021)

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As with most new or unconventional things from the younger generations, there is quite a bit of distaste from outsiders surrounding scenecore... or rather, distaste from the scene subculture that scenecore drew the most inspiration from.

If you ask someone why they have a distaste for scenecore, you're going to get a different answer depending on who you ask. Some scene kids may say they hate that scenecore is misunderstanding their subculture (and may even claim that scenecore enjoyers are posers). Other scene kids may not mind scenecore in and of itself, but they may hate the way it gets confused with scene. Of course, a lot of scene kids don't care, or even welcome scenecore. These are just a few examples of common stances, but there are likely more.

This has caused a lot of conflict within both the scene and scenecore communities over the years. Some scene and scenecore kids may claim that this is part of the evolution of the scene subculture, while others find this theory to be incorrect. As of right now, it's all a matter of opinion, and we won't know what will really happen for at least a few more years.

The same way not all scene kids are the same and have the same opinions on scenecore, not all scenecore kids are the same either. Some scenecore kids truly are misunderstanding the scene subculture, while others understand that there's a difference between scene and scenecore. Scenecore kids aren't necessarily "posers" as some may claim, but rather, trying to find their identity.

As time goes on, we are seeing more and more acceptance of scenecore's existence by the scene subculture, but we still have a long way to go in fully establishing its identity and what that means for the scene subculture going forward.

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When talking about scenecore, it'd be hard not to mention the various characters associated with it. While some characters associated with scenecore were borrowed from the scene subculture, such as GIR, Gloomy Bear, Hello Kitty, Skelanimals, and Domo... other characters, such as Hatsune Miku, Monster High characters, My Little Pony characters, and other Sanrio characters are uniquely scenecore.

While Hot Topic is still a popular retailer among scene/scenecore kids today, albeit less so than 20 years ago, Spencer's has risen to the generally preferred retailer. As Hot Topic has slowly been flooded with Disney merchandise and Funko Pops, it has less scene/scenecore fashion options than Spencer's. Furthermore, some scene kids claim that Hot Topic's quality has gone down, while Spencer's has remained.

Sparkledogs are partially associated with scenecore. "Sparkledog" is a term for a character (typically within the furry fandom), with unusual hairstyles and fur colors or patterns, including rainbows. "Sparkledog" originated as a derogatory term, however, the usage of the word has grown to be more neutral, with some furries using it in a proud or affectionate context. The timeline of these events lines up with the rise and fall of cringe culture. Furries are not directly associated with scenecore, and not all scenecore kids even care about sparkledogs. Furthermore, not all sparkledogs are scene/scenecore. All of these reasons are why they're only partially associated with scenecore. Even so, I felt like they deserved a mention somewhere in this entry.

Image source: "akechi touma scenecore" PicMix, akechisimp601, 2024.

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There's plenty of information out there about the scene subculture. The Wikipedia page alone has a lot of information. But because scenecore is, again, a relatively new phenomenon, you don't get many results when you put "what is scenecore" into a search engine. I wanted to write this piece to help fill that void, and I hope I at least somewhat succeeded.

So, what is scenecore? The fact is, we haven't quite figured it out yet. Is it an unsatisfying answer? Maybe, but it means that we are still in the beginning stages (and quite possibly the peak) of something new and fun. We should cherish this moment while it lasts and continue to establish our identity as time goes on. By the end of it, we'll have something we can be proud we got to experience. I'm already proud to be scenecore.

Scenecore is what you make of it, what we all make of it. For me, I'm scenecore not just because I love the aesthetic, fashion, and music associated with it... I'm scenecore as part of a movement towards a better future free of cringe culture, and a better internet.

This entry is just a mishmash of my opinion and my personal knowledge about the subject though. What are your thoughts? Do you have anything to contribute? Comment below!

You are allowed to reference or narrate this entry in a YouTube video if you'd like, as long as you link it in a pinned comment.

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This entry was written and published on January 12th, 2025.

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