the niche epidemic

the term niche is entering a phase where it's losing pretty much all meaning because people pursue it moreso as an aesthetic rather than a concrete interest. 

like, what even is niche anymore? 

people have conflated niche with the value of something and therefore their own worth/taste, which is not a variable; things can be unknown and still fucking awful. you need opinion, personal preference and discernment to, in theory, actually have good taste.

when I was younger if somebody called me "unique" i'd go home and cry, like, hello? WHY would I want to be called different (back then at least)? there was this desire to act the same, dress the same, look the same and we wanted nothing more than to fit in. now, everyone's so obsessed with being quirky, and cool, and a "weirdo" but once you actually are, you're shamed for it. 

there's literally no point in competing in the niche olympics unless you're 1) a fucking degenerate or 2) a try hard at making yourself sound interesting. or both if you're lucky.

you can't call yourself niche and different whilst hating on hazbin hotel or TADC (not necessarily the best example niche but you get my point). 

the word is literally losing its (slang) meaning; niche doesn't mean underground, those are two VERY distinct things.

no Alessia, mojo pin is not niche. neither is your 46 hour long playlist that features radiohead's entire discography.

the even funnier part of all that is everyone's trying to battle for the least known thing, which honestly makes me giggle because 9 times out of 10 they deep down don't even like what they're associating themselves with. it's all about how many people know about it (or more like how many people DONT know about it), which sort of defeats the original meaning overall. 

anyways, niche does not mean unpopular! so, NO Alessia, the artist with 24 monthly listeners you found isn't niche. it's just bullshit. get a grip. i know for a fact you don't like underground screamo whilst being obsessed with Ariana Grande. you're not slick.  

you are not niche for having like 12 followers, youre just unknown, you don't have a niche community, you merely have an underground community. 

I'll accept you calling your page niche when you ACTUALLY have something to offer. like that guy on TikTok who's making an MSI game. THAT's niche. 

what's even funnier to me is when I hear about people DIGGING for "niche" songs from a popular artist. 

no, that 10 second clip of a lana del rey song recorded on a toaster in 2011 is not fucking niche. 

a selective list of things that aren’t niche to me 

hollister, drinking tea, thrifting, having a hobby, micro bangs, not using makeup, matcha, buttons, depop/vinted, unreleased songs, lana del rey, “coquette,” eating disorders (intentional placement), low-rise, converse, posters, performative homosexuality, whimsicalness, yogurt bowls, jeff buckley, pierce the veil, bootcut jeans, black coffee, vinyls, polka dots, the color brown with pink or teal, altoid wallets, scene, wired earbuds, bp, “swag,” candles, intelligence, reading physical books, y2k 

niche is something SPECIFICALLY curated for a SPECIFIC audience. not the least known thing you could discover.

what's funniest to me is when people start calling anything niche because they want their interest to be special. reading manga isn't niche, junk journaling isn't niche, having an analog bag is NOT NICHE!!

I personally think this all started once the online community started faking disorders back in what, 2021. it's sort of in-line with that rapid attention seeking, mostly because everyone wanted to be seen as quirky and "weird," so I guess their solution was the concepts of, like, tourettes and DID. 

being boring or basic isn’t inherently bad, and i don’t know why we’re all scared to be it one way or another. 

be basic, weird, stupid, a goody-two-shoes, ugly, pretty, perverted, whatever you fucking want.

truly expressing ourselves is nearly a lost art, we all constantly try to fit into and miraculously become an aesthetic rather than authentically be labelled into it, and all in all, if you're TRYING to be niche, you're instantly NOT niche. you're just a plain ass poser. 

now i’m not giving myself the slide. i am “niche,” i am performative, i am a poser and i am a loser. 

but if being "weird" is a compliment in a boring world, then so be it.