YouTube has more niches than any video oriented website not named Pornhub and especially now, one specific niche is frequenting the spotlight. There’s no official name but it’s often referred to as “slowed + reverb,” however, before that it was known as vaporwave and at its birth it was known as chopped + screwed. Each of slowed + reverb’s prior monikers deserve an article in it of themselves but today I want to focus on why S+R is important during these times, and vital as a high school senior. S+R is effectively the act of slowing down a song, adding reverb, and then adding an animation loop for a visual. The community exhibited in the comments below each video is vocal and impassioned at a divine level.

It’s worth mentioning that no matter whether you like or don’t like S+R, either now or later, you can’t deny there’s something for everyone…

Finding meaning in anything on the internet is always initially difficult because as soon as anything is found to be meaningful by a large enough group of people, the internet throws it to the dogs. That hasn’t quite happened to S+R yet but a tendency to focus on more trivial matters like the animated loop itself is still present. The instance below pertained to a loop of a gun being cocked back playing over the YNW Melly track, “Murder on my Mind.” A play in three acts:

Once you get past that though we get to the heart of S+R​…

It’s common for folks to generalize the feeling that S+R evokes as sadness or loneliness. This isn’t wrong but it’s far too general to be right. Slowing any action down tends to romanticize it. It’s why slow motion in film is so prevalent, whether that be someone getting kicked down a well (300) or a heartfelt kiss between two star crossed lovers (take your pick). Mix that romanticism with a song that was played incessantly in your past, add a little reverb to make it sound like the sounds are echoing off party walls and you have yourself a deadly potent dose of nostalgia. It’s this dose which leads to the heart of S+D: a deep rooted longing for days gone by. Jay Test describes this in the same way a stereotypical billie eilish (fed to the dogs) fan or tumblr (same fate) user might…

Beterz also describes it here but in a metaphorical sense…

The crux of Spider-Man’s character is that he’s just a kid and yet he has responsibilities beyond even the usual adult bearing down on him. The weight of having to save New York for the umpteenth time has repeatedly seen Peter Parker running back to Mary Jane and a simpler lifestyle. It’s an overwhelming level of both power and responsibility which leads Peter wanting to return to the life of a normal teenager when the balance between power and responsibility was as perfect as it could get. That inevitable stress of oncoming adult life leads many kids in their late teens to reminisce endlessly about that one time you and [insert friend(s)] went to [insert place] and then [insert friend] ended up [insert friend doing something embarrassing] but then it all turned out alright because [insert different friend] saved the day. These nostalgia madlibs are abundant in the comments of S+R videos varying from extremely complex to stunningly simple…

Selena has described the heart of S+R in the most economical way possible. Jesus Christ, is there a food more indicative of younger days than a grilled cheese? Maybe gogurt, maybe. Either way, do not underestimate how serious the effects of S+R are on nostalgic thoughts…

Look, Star Li here either got so nostalgic that they imagined an impossibly nostalgic scenario or… Star has been in a rocking chair on a nondescript porch, roller blades fixed to feet, going over and over this scenario in their head for 37 years. I’m quietly hoping it’s the second. You know what’s weird to think about though? Some student reading this has a parent that definitely went to roller disco, kissed their crush, and had that cherry cola. Ask them. Guarantee you one of your parents is like “ok yes honey it was ‘83 and Johnny Catalanta had just asked me to go roll with him and I was like oh my god oh my god but I went and it was the best time of my life. I was so young back then and didn’t really know how to flirt but then my old friend Star Li slid a cherry coke down the rink bannister to me and Johnny and I mean ok yeah we kissed but don’t tell ya father he still gets jealous.” Our generation on the other hand is focused on more poignant things…

I hope during these troubling times y’all are doing far more of the latter than the former. However, if the former creeps in even a little bit listen to ​this​ (skip to 2:51) and just remember that you still have moments in your future to be nostalgic about in your 80s.
Anyway…