Haldane students are no oracles, but they may have successfully predicted the future in a recent Outlook survey of 2025 trends. Throughout the decade, we have seen many new trends rise, fall, or remain consistent. For 2024, “dewy skin” makeup, denim, AI-generated songs, and sustainable housing are only a few of the unique trademarks of the year.
Social media is a major catalyst of rising trends and determines who or what is in vogue. In our 20-person survey, when asked to predict what social media platform will be most popular in 2025, 12 students voted for TikTok. A survey of over 13,000 teens by Piper Sandler, an investment banking company, also reported TikTok as the top social media platform among teens with 39% of the vote. Surpassing over one billion international users, what we see promoted on TikTok may in turn influence our political and social opinions, and ultimately our wallets as more companies use its vast platform to advertise. However, the potential U.S. TikTok ban could significantly change the company’s fortunes.
Haldane students surveyed predicted that Nike would be the most popular clothing brand in 2025 which echoed similar opinions of the teen respondents to the Piper Sandler survey who ranked Nike as the top footwear brand of 2025. Because over half of Haldane students surveyed hoped to see “90s streetwear” come back into style, it makes sense that Nike, a sportswear and streetwear brand, was ranked highly among both students and Piper Sandler survey participants. This correlation between our small sample size at Haldane and 13,515 students surveyed by Piper Sandler suggests our student body is on point with nationwide pop culture trends.
Popular apps and brands command more of a consensus than music at Haldane, with the most popular music genres and artists being very divided among students. Asked to share their expected go-to music genres for the new year, 7 of the 20 students surveyed said they would listen to Hip-Hop/Rap and 5 voted Indie/Alternative. These top genre predictions were reinforced by speculated favorite artists, with students predicting TV Girl, Drake, Billie Eilish, Frank Ocean, SZA, and Playboi Carti to run the 2025 music industry.
Music will not be the only thing students are streaming in the new year! With several sequels, prequels, finales, and live-action remakes, 2025 will be a year of cinematic nostalgia for Haldane. Students disclosed their excitement for The Minecraft Movie, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and Superman in our survey. The Minecraft Movie, which is based on the 2011 game of the same title, earned the majority of the vote at 7 of the 20 students surveyed.
In our ever-changing world, it is hard to predict what will happen tomorrow, let alone next year! Yet, our “pop-culturally informed” students are on the cutting edge of trends, as shown by our poll’s alignment to nationwide surveys. Hopefully, our student body has a shot at foreseeing the future of 2025 and all of its chameleonic vogues.
