The Evolution of the Emo Boy
Since the dawn of time, across sound and screen, girlies have been obsessed with the brooding, the black t-shirt clad, the questionably rude – the emo boy. The phenomena spans Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You to Frank Ocean at Coachella, and confuses even the greatest of scholars, but fear not: we’re here to break it down.
The 80s: OG Emo Boy
We first see the emo boy step onto the scene in the 80s with the rise of the John Hughes film era. Think: JD in Heathers and John Bender in The Breakfast Club. These boys laid the ground work for generations to come. Who doesn’t dream of a moody Lloyd Dobler holding a boombox outside your window? Iconic.
The 90s: Emo Boy Bands
Okay, this is a weird time in our emo boy history. Sure, we still get Patrick in 10 Things I Hate About You, who despite showing no signs of healthy communication skills and is downright mean, still wins Kat over with song (it solves everything, after all). But the emos started to evolve into a slightly new form as boy bands emerged. Between the rebel bad boy and the token sensitive, shy one with bleach blonde hair, boy bands had more than enough emo to go around. As every girl who’s ever gotten bangs after a breakup knows, a drastic hair change is the only way to help yourself deal with the feels.
The Aughts: Give Him Talent
With a dawn of a new millennium, you can’t just have good hair and be mean: you have to have some sort of skill! From hopeless romantic Tom from (500) Days of Summer who dreamed of being an architect to literature-loving bad boy Jess Mariano from Gilmore Girls, this decade saw the rise of the emo artistes who wanted more for themselves – like music aficionado the Other Tucker from John Tucker Must Die and struggling actor Andrew in Garden State. Even sexy football player Austin Ames in A Cinderella Story was a closet poet.
Much like Ken and Barbie, we start to see this emo persona migrate into the ~real world~ with teen heartthrobs. Think the Jonas Brothers with their straightened yet somehow equally swoopy hair and tight jeans, or My Chemical Romance in their all-black. The infinitesimal potential that we could end up with them, even if we lived in the midwest and they were international pop stars, was enough to drive our obsession.
The 2010s: Gloomy Boys
The Gloomy Boy pays homage to our humble media upbringings. These are our Peetas, our Edward Cullens, our Fours. There’s something about these boys that we love: they feel mysterious, dangerous (yet somehow also safe), even though the truth is they’re just bummers who might watch you sleep. We love the idea that we might be able to cure them — to heal them! Remember how we all were so charmed by Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook or loveable curmudgeon Matthew Goode in Leap Year? Me too. Take it from someone who has dated 50 zillion sad boys, ladies: it’s not worth your time.
The 2020s: eBoys
The eBoy is the counterpart to the VSCO Girl. Much like the 2000s emo boy, he still has talent (kind of). You’re looking at LuvAnthony, the king of the eBoys. He has over 13M followers across platforms and feels like Timothee Chalamet’s paler younger brother. Like Anthony, all eBoys power grew with the rise of TikTok —they are fully supported by teen girls double-tapping faster than Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphrey’s marriage. They’re usually seen dancing or staring sadly at the camera because they just feel and love too much. Where we once saw straight swoopy hair parted dramatically to the side, we now often see a curly or wavy mop. Eyes still covered though, of course. This is a good time to be scrawny and sad! The eboy craze has stretched past just TikTok, too. Think about Andy Samberg in Palm Springs. Same energy.
What other emo boys are we missing? Who will emerge as reigning emo boy of the 2020s?