The Sunday Times magazine id probably of my favourites and is something that I have constantly read for many years. At first when I was younger, I used to just skip to the fashion pages but however as I have gotten older, I cannot put the magazine down till I have read all the articles. Though it keeps the same format eat week of the different columnists, last week they did a Gen Z take over whereby they dedicated that week’s issue to my generation. I found this every interesting as I was able to discover what people my age where actually think and feeling about this very unpredictable time in our life right now. It also included articles from Gen Z’s most happening influencers right now and how they are changing the social media industry.
Basically, if you’ve not been living under a rock for the last few months, you would know that TikTok has taken the world by storm with 800 million active users. With 41 percent of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24, no wonder Gen Z have taken over this app. The Sunday Times Magazine featured an inside look at the Hype House. The Hype House is a Hollywood mansion where TikTok stars go to live, swap ideas and create new videos, that Harriet Walker described as “[a] cool model agency crossed with a sanitised frat house”.
The House which is full of ‘content creators’ was founded by 17-year-old Chase Hudson (also known as LilHuddy), who has a healthy 17 million followers and 19-year-old Youtuber and TikTok personality Alex Warren, who also has a large following of 7.6 million followers. The Hype House is one of LA’s most successful social media collaboratives, collabs are collectives of Gen Z influencers who bunk together in Bel Air mansions, making the most of the natural light, outdoor pools and lavish marble bathrooms to produce 100 or so 15-second viral videos every day. 21-year-old Hype House Thomas Petrou told The New York Times, “This is a house that is designed for productivity – you can’t do that if you’re going out on the weekends.”
Collab houses are the latest method that brands have found to market to this generation, they are too digitally native for break ads and not materialistic enough to be in traditional consumer ads. The New York Times dubbed the new phenomenon “the TikTok mansion gold rush”, as many creators have followed suit to create their own ‘Hype House’, there’s a Melanin Mansion for all black influencers; the LGBT collective Cabin Six and the Council House, an all-British gang. Even Rhianna has jumped on the band wagon as she opened a TikTok house devoted to making content around her Fenty Beauty Product range.
Another article in the magazine that stood out to me was “The Covid Kids Are Alright (Just)”. This article interviewed 5 teens about what its really like to be 18 years old and have your life in lockdown. Each interviewee gave insights on how they feel about the current situation and how it is affecting them. I was nice reading something that I could related too, I like knowing that we’re all in this together (well not all of us sadly). The part that stuck with me the most was from 17-year-old Giselle who exclaimed, “You see, it’s not just the exams that are off- especially for those sitting A-Levels. It’s the last days of school, on the cusp of something new and exciting, that are gone. It’s the group holiday to Ayia Napa, where for one week every teenager gets drunk on cheap booze and gets off with each other. It’s results day; the feeling of fate in your hands as you unseal an envelope with the keys to the next stage of your life. (…) You don’t get your last term at school, your summer before university, again.” It honestly breaks my heart that thousands of people will never experience these ‘rituals’, they aren’t something that can be recreated at a later date because that’s not the same as it is in the moment before you move on to the drastic next stage of their life.
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