The seismic shift started the way they all do – casually, with a throwaway TikTok over a Blank Street matcha. This week’s epicentre was the TikTok account of one Martini Feeny, a creator manqué who decided to air her grievances about the dull content on her FYP. She translated this as meaning identikit thin, white, blonde influencers buying Revolve and working out. In short, she said: “I hate all the New York influencers.” Feeny bemoaned the lack of diversity – in all senses of the word – and the lack of creativity in the storytelling, deeming it all “boring AF”.
The fall-out
That was four days ago and since then a volcano has erupted in the New York influencer sphere as content, agreeing and disagreeing, poured through FYPs like hot lava. Feeney has been criticised and abused and “boring” creators have been named and shamed. Entire communities have come out and accused others of racism – and the reasons why NY influencers are boring have been blamed on commercial imperatives and the unconscious (or conscious) bias of the algorithm and the audience itself. Long story short, you get the FYP you deserve.
The creator analysis
Multiple creators have weighed in, see here and here, but none with more impact than photographer Olivia Joan, whose discussion of the trouble with NYC influencers has had more than five million views, here. Joan spoke to a mean girl attitude among the NYC set as well as bias. Mandy Lee, the fashion analyst and trend forecaster also felt moved, during fashion week no less, to comment, here.
Lee’s take pointed out successful lifestyle creators have the greatest monetisation opportunities because they cover so many categories and therefore are under pressure to feed the formula: as a creator it was their job to make money from their content. Lee also said that as part of the audience, she enjoyed the predictability and sameness of this content – essentially boring like a comfort blanket. Other creators rushed to recommend that Feeney diversify her feed by following a range of influencers – and also avoiding “transplants”: people who have recently moved to NYC.
Influencer names tossed around as being part of this identikit trend include Acquired Style – who posted and then deleted a response video, reminiscent of the theatre scene in Euphoria “Wait is this a play about us?” – and another member of her clique, her twin Danielle Pheloung. Creators praised for their “interesting” content included Aiyanna, and myriad posts have been made with people introducing the creators they find interesting and friendly, here.
“Basic” as a response to global uncertainty
So why does this feuding of influencer furies matter? Most significantly, whatever the take, the row has generated hours of content, hundreds of videos, thousands of comments and the tag #nycinfluencers appears on multiple posts. The conversation that this matcha-moment ignited also points to the heart of the biggest dilemmas on the app: the problematic favouring of thin, white creators over POC creators as well as an existential question about what audiences are looking for from their feeds. This last point is equally significant to brands building creator partnership rosters as well as the way trends proliferate. Mandy Lee admits she watches a certain style of content to relax – the other key word from the many discussions this week has been “basic”.
The basic point is actually a signifier of a larger shift in the ether – strategist Eugene Healey recently argued in a post about the death of micro-trends that “basic” was emerging as a key trend for 2025, a reaction to the oversaturation of wild fashion niches, here.
The takeaway
It feels as if we are at an interesting juncture where two things can be true at once. For brands thinking about how to work with creators and how to build out storylines for their products, it is imperative that they commission a balanced and interesting roster rather than relying on a one-note, cookie-cutter-style creator. On the other hand, the unnerving geo-political climate might mean basic and boring is actually safe and comforting. The tension of it all exploded this week on TikTok. Are you not entertained?
By Emilie McMeekan, features director for CORQ.
