Image via Al Jazeera
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Counties shifted red nationwide this past presidential election, making Donald Trump the first Republican candidate to win the popular vote in 20 years. While a return to more “traditional” values has occurred in ways such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade, politics are not the only thing becoming more conservative. This past year, popular culture has witnessed a celebration of more traditional values, making the Republican shift in the 2024 election unsurprising.
While many aspects of popular culture stand to be analyzed, multiple internet personas have drawn fame and attention from their championing of heterosexual marriage and raising children. Nara Smith, a content creator with almost 11 million followers, has been featured in magazines and red carpets over these past two years. She films her life as a mother and homemaker, demonstrating her cooking and baking skills for the world. She is soft-spoken and feminine, everything a traditional wife and mother “should” be. Her comments praise her life, with one gaining thousands of likes saying, “Imagine being this rich at 23,” revealing her audience knows that her lifestyle is unattainable yet fascinated with it anyway.
Another famous couple in our age, Campbell “Pookie” Puckett and Jett Diamond, are an exorbitantly wealthy, white, southern couple who drew attention with the birth of their first child. They constantly show off their designer clothing, flaunting a desirable lifestyle for their 1.4 million followers. Both of them have a history of posing in front of the Confederate flag, but their audience has continued to grow despite their racist past. Campbell gained fame by documenting her days at home as a homemaker (sound familiar?). They not only promote a gender-normative lifestyle, but also encourage their hundreds of thousands of viewers to adopt the benefits of traditional home ways.
The rise of country music these past two years has also demonstrated a cultural shift to the right. Country music has gone up 0.6% in total U.S. music consumption since 2022. It’s been a hallmark of working-class, traditional conservative patriotism since post-9/11 America. While all can enjoy the music, it should be noted that the artists often promote their political views to their millions of fans through their lyrics. Jason Aldean, for example, had a song at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts entitled “Try That in a Small Town.” The song encapsulates conservative country views with thinly veiled references to lynching; the music video itself was shot at a historical lynching site. Thus, some country songs have found an audience with political conservatives. In addition, these country artists have taken advantage of their influence by promoting right-wing values, such as Kid Rock’s social media posts endorsing Trump.
Lastly, fashion has recently shown a conservative shift. A new focus on “quiet luxury” in the fashion industry has emphasized wearing logo-free, high-quality clothing that the “average” rich person could not attain, reflecting exclusivity and wealth. The Row represents this trend, as it has increased in popularity in the past two years, capitalizing off a style about inaccessibility. In addition, internet personas such as the previously mentioned Nara Smith have popularized the “trad-wife” trend, romanticizing 1950s-style femininity. They push traditional domestic roles and aesthetic purity. These women focus on modest and vintage clothing, such as aprons and pastel colors.
It proves crucial to note that following any of these internet couples, listening to country music, or dressing in a particular fashion does not constitute a conservative or Republican voter. Taken together, however, they act as indicators in popular culture that the country generally favors a shift towards the “traditional” values that their elected officials praise. The long-lasting effects of this shift are still to be seen, but will certainly be interesting to watch unravel.
