As the final days of 2025 draw to a close, it's time for a cultural clear-out. A handful of trends, from baffling slang to relentless food crazes, have overstayed their welcome, clinging to our social media feeds and conversations like stubborn glitter. We're officially evicting them from the public consciousness as we step into the new year.
The Slang, Snacks, and Sensations That Need to Scat
This year was soundtracked by the incessant chant of "6-7", a phrase born from rapper Skrilla's lyrics and Charlotte Hornets player LaMelo Ball's height. Accompanied by a juggling hand gesture, its sole purpose seemed to be to irritate adults and confuse the uninitiated. While Gen Alpha and younger Gen Z embraced it, a cringe-inducing contingent of parents tried – and failed – to claim it for themselves. Its peak came when Dictionary.com crowned it the "word" of the year for 2025, a mission of pure confusion now complete.
On the culinary front, our bellies are still full from the Dubai chocolate frenzy. What began as a pregnancy craving for British Egyptian chocolatier Sarah Hamouda in 2022 exploded into a global obsession. Her "Can’t Get Knafeh Of It" bar, filled with pistachio cream and crunchy kataifi pastry, spawned countless imitations. The trend reached stratospheric levels after ASMR TikToker Maria Vehera's crunch-heavy review, viewed over 140 million times, sending brands from Trader Joe's to Costco scrambling for a piece of the action. It was the sourdough starter of 2025 – relentless and, for many, ultimately excessive.
From Toxic Positivity to Divisive Barrel Jeans
Beyond memes and food, more insidious trends took root. The demand for "positive vibes only" reached a fever pitch, often morphing into emotion-shaming. Experts warn that suppressing legitimate feelings in the name of constant optimism is harmful, not helpful. Similarly, societal discourse seemed to harden into taking sides on every issue, from a protracted US government shutdown to debates over a fast-food chain's logo, leaving little room for civil negotiation.
Fashion offered no respite, with the perplexing rise of barrel jeans. Championed by Vogue in 2023 and paraded by Alaïa, the style – wide at the thigh and knee, tapered at the ankle – baffled many. While adored by celebrities like Gigi Hadid, its flattering silhouette seemed reserved for a specific, tall and leggy, body type, leaving the rest of us in a voluminous denim dilemma.
Peak Saturation: Labubu and Protein Overload
The collectible craze reached new heights with Labubu, the pointy-eared monster creation of Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung. Though a decade old, it conquered the US in 2025, dangling from the bags of everyone from Rihanna to David Beckham. With TikTok hashtags generating millions of hits, its market saturation is now absolute.
Meanwhile, supermarkets aisles groaned under the weight of the protein-packing trend. Nutritionists raised eyebrows as protein was added to everything from Starbucks foam to Pop-Tarts and muffins, a move often more about marketing than health. For the average adult, such extreme fortification is largely unnecessary, turning a vital nutrient into a commodified buzzword.
As we bid labu-bye to these 2025 fixtures, the runners-up for retirement include 24/7 availability culture, low-quality "AI slop" content, and sneaky terms of service agreements. Here's hoping 2026 brings trends with a little more substance and a lot less annoyance.
