The year 2025 officially marked one quarter of the way through the century, and the music, trends, fashion, news, and movies were more than notable. Last year, The Crow’s Nest surveyed more than 30 Danville High School students to get a glimpse of what the school’s student body has been interested in. From Y2K fashion trends to “A Minecraft Movie” to the ongoing climate crisis, DHS students have been focusing on many different aspects of pop culture.
Last year, many new albums were released by big names such as Tyler, the Creator’s “Don’t Tap the Glass,” Bad Bunny’s “DeBí TiRAR MáS FOTos,” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Man’s Best Friend.” At Danville High School, however, students were listening to much, much more than what might appear in a “Top Records of 2025” list. While students have loved some of these new releases, such as Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter (with over six mentions of her album “Man’s Best Friend”), there’s much more to this student body’s taste.
Some DHS students have also expressed love of some slower jams, with many mentions of the artists Laufey and Faye Webster. Both of these artists fall into a slower, female indie pop category. On the more alternative side of this female-indie coin is the artist Fiona Apple, with one student mentioning her album “When the Pawn….”
DHS students also loved some Kentucky artists, with multiple mentions of country music star Tyler Childers, along with the artist S.G. Goodman, a Kentucky native who has recently found herself in a blooming spotlight, according to Garden&Gun Music. The respondents to The Crow’s Nest survey also showed love for some other country music stars, with mentions of Noah Khan, Ole 60, Luke Combs, Ty Myers and Bob Dylan (with a specific shoutout to the song “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”). Bob Dylan is not the only classic name to be loved at DHS, as shown by the mention of Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over.”
Alternative music has also seen its popularity in the student population, with multiple shoutouts given to the post-hardcore band Pierce the Veil. Beyond Pierce the Veil, alternative-rock band Garbage has received some DHS love.
One alternative genre especially enjoyed is emo rap, with mentions to Juice WRLD and ThxSoMch. Some other rap and hip-hop music enjoyed at DHS includes the artist LUCKI, who has a more alternative cloud-rap feel, along with some more experimental and genre-defying hip hop, as is seen in Frank Ocean and Tyler, The Creator.
Historically speaking, fashion trends used to take years to change, even longer if you lived in a rural area, but with today’s focus on social media, trends change at a much faster rate. What would’ve taken years to develop can simply become a popular fad in a week due to such high levels of widespread communication, fast fashion, and online shopping. There’s also the 20-year rule with fashion which, simply put, claims that fashion trends resurface every 20 years, according to VICE. This theory is currently applicable with the strong resurgence of Y2K, or 2000s, fashion trends 20 years after they were popular.
When DHS students were asked their favorite fashion trends, there was an overwhelming response of low-rise pants, baggy jeans, jewelry in general, headbands and polka dots. All of these trends had a similar rise in popularity in the 2000s. There were some similarities between people’s favorites in fashion right now and what they think is popular, like baggy clothes, low-rise pants and off-the-shoulder tops. Other fashion choices seen as trendy — but not listed as favorites of DHS students — are leggings, Brandy Melville, Lululemon, matching sets and Uggs. Surprisingly, these trends that weren’t listed as favorites are commonly worn by DHS students. It’s impossible to walk down a hallway without seeing leggings or Uggs; even some teachers have been spotted rocking their Lululemon, but the most widespread trend seems to be baggier clothing.
Baggy clothes began to see their rise in popularity in 2023, at the tail end of the pandemic. With people turning to comfort over fashion, baggy clothes became an easy in-between phase from being at home during lockdown to being back in public. Many celebrities have popularized the look, like Billie Eilish and Hailey Bieber, who are frequently seen wearing oversized pants or jackets.
This baggy style can also be attributed to the growing trend of streetwear, which focuses on larger silhouettes, a laid-back look, sneakers and comfort above all. Streetwear can be traced back to the 1980s and 1990s, where it was popularized by skaters and the hip-hop scene, becoming a prominent part of Black culture. Streetwear is still popularized by rappers and other artists today, like the aforementioned Tyler, The Creator, who is one of the most popular artists at Danville High School, according to the survey.
Comfort continues to be prioritized with the overwhelming popularity of leggings and sweatpants, with a majority of students wearing them more than jeans. Due to the colder weather and chilly temperatures of most teacher’s classrooms, most students also opt for sweatshirts or sweaters.
Y2K fashion, or fashion from the 2000s, has seen extreme growth in 2025. While 2020 had a big focus on the ‘90s, there has been a shift to full-fledged 2000s trends with low-rise jeans, Henley tops, a Hollister and Abercrombie comeback, babydoll tops and Uggs, according to Vogue. Many of these trends, though, have been altered for a more modern feel with mini platform Uggs being more popular than the traditional full boot, jeans staying baggy instead of a skinny or bootcut style, and “low-rise” pants being more of a mid-rise.
Because of the extremely high-rise popularity of 2020, the trending mid-rise seems lower than it actually is, making people think it’s low-rise. Mid-rise pants fall just below the natural waist and belly button, while low-rise pants are at the hips or sometimes even lower. This switch in definition of low-rise shows how even when trends are repurposed, they will still have a modern twist to them.
But not all DHS students are focused on Y2K or streetwear fashion — many reported liking more alternative fashion choices —specifically, scene, punk and goth. While alternative fashion is not as widespread, its growth in popularity is undeniable at DHS. Ripped baggy jeans and Doc Martens — which originated in the ‘90s grunge scene — have become closet staples in recent times, and the culture of sustainability found largely in the punk scene has become popular as people opt to thrift clothes instead of buy new.
Despite being a small town in rural Kentucky, it seems Danville students have been able to keep up with a variety of trends, showing the widespread diversity in personal style of teenagers today.
“DHS gives a good representation of widespread fashion trends because there’s so much diversity in what people wear,” Senior Lucy Evces said.
The silver screen saw many new movies last year, with some of the most popular new releases being “Weapons,” “One Battle After Another,” “Freakier Friday,” “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” and, the number one 2025 release, “A Minecraft Movie.” When DHS students were asked what movie they felt was the most popular of the year, the resounding majority responded “KPop Demon Hunters,” though there were a few mentions of the newest Conjuring movie, “The Conjuring: Last Rites.”
However, Danville’s students’ personal favorite movies had much more variety. Only one student mentioned the movie “KPop Demon Hunters” as their favorite movie, with the most common answer being the “Twilight” movie series. Other series mentioned included the “Harry Potter” series, the “Indiana Jones” series, and the “Hunger Games” series.
DHS seems to love their spooky movies, as the horror/creepy genre was the most commonly mentioned. Beyond the vampire-themed series “Twilight,” students mentioned the movies “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “The Conjuring,” “Corpse Bride,” “Hocus Pocus” and “The Quiet Place.” Romance movies are also a popular genre, with multiple students’ favorite movie being “10 Things I Hate About You.” Musicals are another commonly mentioned genre, with students loving “Hamilton,” “La La Land,” “Mamma Mia!” and “Mulan.”
This group of modern teenagers isn’t unknowledgeable of older movies, either. “Titanic,” and “Goodwill Hunting” are some pre-2000s favorites from this group.
Movies, however, do not take all the glory, as this year has been a very impressive year for TV shows. With over 70 million people tuning in to “The Summer I Turned Pretty” (according to The Hollywood Reporter), streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime are seeing an increase in subscribers (according to Forbes) tuning in for their favorite shows. However, some streaming services, such as Hulu and Disney+, are losing subscribers due largely to the rising prices, according to Quartz.
Netflix, it seems, houses many of Danville High School students’ favorite shows. Some favorites on this platform include “Breaking Bad,” “Wednesday,” “The Good Place,” “Stranger Things” and “Jane the Virgin.”
Some DHS students love their romantic reality TV, with many mentions of the show “Love Island.” Some other well-liked romantic shows include “Bridgerton” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
One widely-favored genre is comedy, with students’ favorites in this genre being “The Big Bang Theory,” “Bojack Horseman,” “Parks and Recreation,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Beavis and Butthead,” “Gravity Falls” and “Kitchen Nightmares.”
On top of trends and pop-culture moments, 2025 proved to be a year of trying times. With the war in Gaza, bombings in Iran and Poland, numerous school shootings and the death of Charlie Kirk, it was hard for students to not pay attention to the news. While Gen Z is less likely to get their news through the typical outlet, nearly 40% of 18-29-year-olds report they get their news from influencers, according to Pew Research Center. When polled, a majority of students said they thought that the war in Palestine, Russia bombing Poland and working out a peace treaty, Charlie Kirk getting shot, mass deportations and the d4vd scandal were the most impactful. At the time of our polling, Charlie Kirk’s death and popular musician d4vd being accused of murder were breaking news; a majority of students asked as a follow-up to the survey report it as being less influential.
This uptick in teenagers tuning into the news can mostly be attributed to a widespread access to news outlets and influencers updating people via social media, making news even more accessible. Currently, students can easily find TikToks of people in Palestine or Sudan and get a firsthand perspective that would not have been as accessible 10 years ago.
Besides breaking news of 2025, other impactful moments of the year according to the DHS students in the survey were Jimmy Kimmel being fired, Taylor Swift getting engaged, a new Pope being elected, and Benson Boone’s “Mystical Magical” being released. When students were asked what they thought were the overall most popular things of 2025, the most resounding answers were matcha, Dubai chocolate, Labubus, 6-7, “Mustard,” and the KATSEYE Gap jeans ad. On top of being the most popular, they were the most hated, with 6-7 tied with skibidi toilet as the most-hated “brainrot” slang.
This shift in opinion is the perfect representation of how trends fizzle out over time. Who knows — maybe 2026 will become the year where baggy jeans are hated and everyone is rocking high-rise skinny jeans.
