The Return of Monoculture in 2026

Illustration by Tessa Lagarez Monoculture was everywhere in the 2010s. People in their early 20s were going out every night for dance pop and EDM music, hip hop and its superstars was becoming the biggest genre in the world and superteams were forming in the NBA and NFL. The peak of it all of it? Arguably found in 2019. The cinema box office was at an all time high with cinematic universes becoming more common after Marvel’s success, we had the longest running #1 song on the Billboard charts ever with “Old Town Road” and we had the first non-American team to win an NBA championship. All of that happened just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world by storm. Instead of going out to experience a uniform “pop” culture, people suddenly found themselves curating a cultural identity solely in the comfort of their own home. Streaming took over everybody’s viewing experiences, whether it was movies, music or sports.

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