The Year 2019 (Or is it?)
Image Courtesy: Strike Tallahassee
The Jonas Brothers are a band.
Aly & AJ are making a big announcement.
Amanda Bynes is back in rehab.
Baby Phat is relaunching.
It’s almost as if the world is traveling back in time. Left and right, we are met with blasts from the past; whether it be reuniting millennial boy bands, rebranding and releasing millennial street wear, or hearing tragic stories of history repeating itself. Our teen idols are planning sold out tours, while some of them retreat into rehabilitation facilities. Wait, what year even is it?!
1. The Jonas Brothers
On February 28th, 2019, Nick, Kevin, and Joe nearly broke the internet with Instagram posts teasing the release of their new song Sucker at midnight. They teased a carpool karaoke trailer with Late Late Show host James Corden. The brothers reunited for their legendary “Oh How the Tables Have Turned” video, finishing off with a bang and a huge poster that read “Hello Again”. Almost instantaneously, every millennials heart started burning up all over again as we saw the reunion of our favorite boy band: The Jonas Brothers.
2. Aly and AJ
On March 1st, 2019, Aly and AJ tweeted out that they had an announcement coming soon. Less than a week later, they had revealed they were going back on the road for tour. They released a new single, With You, and even released a deluxe EP titled Ten Years, presumably to commemorate their hiatus from the music industry. Over the years, Aly and AJ have remained as close as partners as they are sisters- releasing projects here and there, and even making several tour appearances. Until the JoBro’s big announcement, though, many people who were once infatuated with Disney stars forgot about the sister duo- until they decided they had to share the spotlight and release their own big announcement. Like, whoa.
3. Amanda Bynes
Amanda Bynes starred in so many of our formative childhood TV shows and movies. She’s the Man, The Amanda Show, and Hairspray are just a few of her classics. Though she rose to prominence in the late 1990s and 2000s through Nickelodeon appearances, she soon publicly began her struggle with addiction. For years, she was in and out of rehabilitation and mental health facilities. Things began to look up as Bynes celebrated four years of sobriety around November of 2018. She even posed for the cover of PAPER Break the Internet, and took a step back into the spotlight after years away to shed light on her addiction and mental health struggles throughout her past. She was even enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising beginning in 2014 for her Associates of Art degree in Merchandise Product Development, before embarking on a Bachelor’s degree. On March 1st, 2019, it was reported that Amanda Bynes has checked back into a rehabilitation facility after a relapse that followed her return to the public eye. Bynes completely retreated from the public in 2014 after hating her performance in the film Easy A. In 2014, her mom was named conservator over her “person”, which allowed her to make health and medical decisions on behalf of Amanda Bynes. Allegedly, Bynes has been struggling since her appearance in PAPER magazine last year when she attempted to pursue work in Hollywood again. We can only hope for the best for her- Amanda, please!
4. Baby Phat
As if 2019 could not get more eerily similar to 2009, Kimora Lee Simmons Leissner decided to hop on the bandwagon. On International Women’s Day, Simmons Leissner revealed her reacquisition of the label Baby Phat, an urban street wear clothing company the young entrepreneur and model developed herself. Her parent company had acquired the brand in 2004, with Simmons Leissner leaving around 2010 to divulge in other interests. She made the huge announcement while giving a keynote address at a gathering for UN Women and the Gender Innovation Coalition for Change. Baby Phat originally began as a spinoff of husband Russell Simmons’ menswear brand Phat Pharm, but today the brand will see an even greater female-centric spin: Simmons Leissner claims it will be “woman-owned, woman-led, and as always, designed by and for women”. She says we should expect to see new buzz from an exciting collaboration this summer, followed by a signature collection set to debut in Fall 2019. Get ready for cropped puffer jackets, velour tracksuits, and jean pockets- all embroidered with the sinewy, sexy cat that lined all of our 90s and early 2000s outfits.
Overall, it seems as though history is making a comeback- predominantly with trends from the 1990s and early 2000s. Brothers are back together reunited as a band, sisters are going on tour together, an iconic clothing line is making a comeback- what more could we ask for? Usually, people claim that history repeats itself, which holds true for each of these shocking stories. Here’s to hoping that the future will be better than the past, as we can only imagine the limitless possibilities this year has in store. It’s only three months into the new year and the internet has already broken at least seven times… At the end of the day, we’ve been to the year 2019- it’s almost the same as 2009! Not much has changed but it keeps getting better.
Strike Out,
Writer: Saralyn Lerner
Editor: Savannah Tindall
Graphic Designer: Sophie Li
Tallahassee