#HOTGIRLSUFFER: IS Emo Officially Back?

Move over, Hot Girl Summer. It’s been a year since COVID started and countries are trying to get back to normal, but the fear, angst and moodiness of 2020 still lingers. While some of us are able to travel to different parts of the globe, quarantining is still a standard and vaccines are slowly rolling out in APAC whereas they’re readily available in the States for everyone to party there like it’s 2019. With some of us going through the second wave (yuck!), we’re still confining ourselves to the same four walls of our bedrooms, working from home and blasting Spotify at full volume. Making up for the dearth of concerts, nothing feels more alive than the sound of guitars injecting raw venom into our brains, ready to make us scream and whip our hair back and forth.

Though the 10s were dominated by EDM, pop and hip hop, being stuck in the pandemic gave us no choice but to listen to sad music. By default, it was the sounds of the ’00s calling us back to tap into our teenage angst. Way before MGK, Willow Smith and Olivia Rodrigo invaded our Spotifys, Emo Night was up and running long after the demise of the genre. Heck, *I* went to Emo Night and covered it on Vice Asia. Strangely, the article was out the month COVID was first reported to the world. If there was one thing that helped me to survive the horrors of 2020, it was Spotify, where I bumped my Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, Motion City Soundtrack and as of recently with the second lockdown, Paramore. Convos with friends and sending memes about emo’s revival made me realize that emo was never really dead. It was in hibernation. It was waiting for the next generation to tap into its angst and indeed it did! Now that it’s in full swing again, let’s welcome the season of Hot Girl Suffer.

Coined by my cousin, Hot Girl Suffer is the chaotic twin of Hot Girl Summer. Moodier, saltier and sassier, Hot Girl Suffer is emo to the core. Though moody isn’t the vibe for the summer, you can still be in bikinis and rock your ass out to the entire Tickets to My Downfall at the beach, then cry along to “The Only Exception” in your bedroom while you’re scrolling through Depop for old Paramore merch or rewatching Jennifer’s Body. Weatherproof for the seasons, emo is just as seasonless as your tried and true Chucks. Just as you’re about to go on Spotify to blast pop punk classics, let’s introduce you to the Hot Girl Suffer starter pack: