Soft Grunge

Soft Grunge or Pale Grunge is an aesthetic based on simple photos with a color palette primarily consisting of white, grey, black, green, and blue. The aesthetic is believed to have appeared on Tumblr between 2013 and 2015 and lasted until approximately 2018.

Some photos are intended to be sad looking, often of someone suffering for love.

Despite calling themselves grunge, followers of the aesthetic were fairly popular in the mainstream and connected to the rise of the Alternative, emo, pop, and indie music and fashion trends of the time, such as galaxy prints, black and white grids, and fandom merchandise. Because of their close-knit community on Tumblr, they developed a "not-like-other-girls" attitude, especially in contrast with the more mainstream and cheerful bright colors of the time. This style later declined, yet has gained short-term popularity in 2020 due to a desire to escape to the past.^[1]

History[]

Youth subcultures from the 1990s, including Grunge and Skateboarding culture, are some of the primary influences on this aesthetic.

Soft Grunge connects to the MySpace aesthetic Indie Sleaze. The prior aesthetic included American Apparel clothing, was popular amongst older teenagers-mid twenties youth, is depicted by the TV series Skins (UK) and glamorizes smoking. This aesthetic lasted until approximately 2009, when Tumblr became popular and some imagery, such as American Apparel ads and Skins UK GIFs, continued onto there.

This aesthetic also connects to the increased trendiness of Japan. The kanji and fashion components are often related to Japanese youth culture, which became trendy in the mid-2010s, specifically with alternative fashions from Harajuku. (see Fashion below for an explanation)

On Tumblr during the 2010s, aesthetics did not have official names and instead relied on tags, which are often not in alignment or codified to a specific look. The name of this aesthetic came from the fact that the tags #grunge, #soft, and #pale were the most common place to find this aesthetic.

Lorde_-_Tennis_Court — Lorde - Tennis Court

This aesthetic was both born out of and inspired mainstream trends. For example, Lorde was both prominently featured in this aesthetic and was inspired by motifs found within it, like in the music video for "Tennis Court."

This aesthetic's motifs could be later seen in E-Boy and E-Girl. Fashion components such as chokers, tennis skirts, dyed hair, the heart on the cheek (from a Marina and the Diamonds song) and black monochrome clothing are some examples.

Visuals[]

The aesthetic mainly involves the use of black and white, especially in photos of interiors and fashion. Often, pictures and GIFs can be put through a black and white filter, which makes different images fit the color palette. However, accent colors, typically green, blue, and purple are fairly common.

While the aesthetic uses grunge as a label, many images are in sharp contrast with the original musical aesthetic. The aesthetic often has a connection to minimalist aesthetics, with #minimalism being a common tag under these photos. Monochrome photos are an example of this minimalist framing.

Building off this minimalist style are simple line drawings, which can be posted online or made into tattoos. Some subjects of these drawings include:

Sad/smiley faces
Aliens
Stars, planets, and moons
More complex portraits of people with the fashion below

Pale grunge vaporwave — Compare this phone background with the edits found in Vaporwave. Also note the lack of a phone case.

The contemporaneous aesthetic of Vaporwave may also have an influence on the aesthetic. This is most commonly seen in edits, where users often have a grid background with Classical sculpture, Japanese kanji, and digital styles, such as pixel art. Unlike Vaporwave, all edits and gifs in this aesthetic are in black and white, rather than that aesthetic's use of bright colors.

However, the grunge influences are still present, including in fashion (see below). For example, cigarettes and generally rebellious text communicate the same angst as that subculture. Sarcasm, expressions of apathy, and open expressions of sadness commonly appear as simple Arial text against a solid background or in more elaborate edits discussed above.

Also like grunge, the focus is on the urban, rather than suburban or countryside. Concrete buildings, city streets, and storefronts that can be only found in major cities are some common photo subjects.

Punctuating the urban and monochrome pictures are plants, specifically houseplants such as succulents, vines, and small tropical palms.

Technology is also a common visual, likely both because it is a status symbol and a representation of the online-ness of this community. Specifically, Apple products such as iPhones and the Macbook in white, black, and silver match the minimalist aesthetic. During the mid-2010s, having the latest model without a phone case was a status symbol^[2], hence why many photos include users showing their case-less iPhones. The Nintendo DS also makes an appearance in the aesthetic, likely because it has a Japanese connection.

However, older forms of technology also make an appearance. Box TVs, Polaroid cameras, vinyl record players, and cassettes are common, which reflects this era's Hipster belief that older forms of technology are superior ways to enjoy music or take photos.

Music is the most common visual in this aesthetic, as band tees, album CDs, posters, and logos can be both the focus and a background addition to these pictures. The bands and musicians featured can be seen below in the Music section.

Another status symbol is plastic water bottles from prestige brands such as Evian, Voss, Fiji, and Boxed Water. Blk water, which is dyed black, is also commonly featured because of its unusual color. Similar to the case-less iPhone, this is a sign of apathetic prestige, as a person can afford to spend money on "frivolous" water as opposed to more common water bottles.

People also feature heavily in this aesthetic, not only through outfit photos, but with posing and physical attractiveness. In these photos, people cover their faces with their hands, obscure them with cameras/phones/records/etc., or crop them out of the image.

Fashion[]

The style associated with 2014-era Tumblr has a very defined color palette in that it is typically monochrome or pastel, depending on personal preference. Japanese fashion, early 2000s emo, and more authentic grunge influenced the style, which has outfits that were incredibly specific, almost formulaic. Unlike grunge or the DIY ethos of other alternative fashions, these pieces were typically bought brand new at mall stores such as American Apparel and Hot Topic. Despite the term "Tumblr girl" being the most popular term, men can wear the aesthetic too. Soft grunge outfits are now often associated with bisexual people and LGBT fashion.

Tops[]

Tee shirts in general are a very common basic, especially because of the brand American Apparel, which specialized in making high-quality basics. Horizontal-striped and gridded tees are also common. A riff of the common tee shirt are ringer tees, often white with black accents.

Other casual tops are often seen in this aesthetic, as opposed to more formal and "preppy" looks. Tank tops and sweatshirts are some examples, with the same motifs as the tee shirts.

Occassionally, these tops can include logos from sportswear brands such as Nike and Adidas, which, at the time, were status symbols and connected to the rise of Streetwear culture.

As discussed in the visuals section, band and music merchandise is incredibly common in this aesthetic. Hence, tee shirts with these musicians' logos are a very common garment in this aesthetic.

Additionally, there can be some subtle grahics based on the motifs in visuals. For example, alien heads, text with a sardonic tone, or cosmic motifs are common on the upper corner of a shirt.

Bottoms[]

Cuffed jeans

Ripped jeans

Black skinny jeans.

For a more feminine look, pleated tennis skirts are the default skirt in this aesthetic, so much so that it came to be representative of "the Tumblr aesthetic" as a whole^[3]. This garment is extremely connotative of schoolgirl, anime, and preppy aesthetics. However, the typically "clean-cut" tone is contrasted by the other elements of the outfit, which are grungier.

Outerwear[]

Denim jackets are common in this aesthetic, often providing a pop of blue against an all-black outfit.

Similarly, flannel shirts worn as outerwear can be seen, which originates from the grunge subculture.

Shoes[]

Converse sneakers
Creepers
Combat boots
Vans shoes, often the black and white checks

Accessories[]

Fishnet tights
Knee socks
Black plastic chokers and bracelets
Beanies
Flower crowns
studded belts
crystal Necklaces

Layered necklaces are also popular, as this is often seen on the character Effy Stonem from the TV series Skins.

Hair and Makeup[]

Spacebuns — Space buns are two high buns.

Coloured or faded hair is great for this aesthetic, but natural hair also fits very well. Also hairstyles and haircuts like:

Bangs
Space buns
Messy buns
Long bob
Long hair
Short hair
Pigtails
Microbangs

Music[]

A lot of Soft Grunge music tends to fall into the Indie category.

Artists[]

Lana Del Rey
Arctic Monkeys
The XX
The Neighbourhood
The 1975
Hozier
Charli XCX
Troye Sivan
Halsey
Melanie Martinez
Twenty One Pilots
The Smiths
Mac DeMarco
MARINA
Charli XCX
Lykke Li
Lorde
Azealia
Sky Ferreira
Allie X
Cage The Elephant

Albums[]

Pure Heroine by Lorde
The 1975 by The 1975
Ultraviolence by Lana Del Rey
True Romance by Charli XCX
badlands by Halsey
Born to Die by Lana Del Rey
Night Time, My Time by Sky Ferreira
Blue Neighbourhood by Troye Sivan
Cry Baby by Melanie Martinez
Suck It and See by Arctic Monkeys
Wasteland, Baby! by Hozier

Songs[]

"She's Thunderstorms" by Arctic Monkeys
"Mad Hatter" by Melanie Martinez
"for him." by Troye Sivan
"Carmen" by Lana Del Rey
"Lonely Hearts Club" by MARINA
"Bitch" by Allie X
"Cigarette Daydreams" by Cage The Elephant

Resources[]

External links to help get a better understanding of this aesthetic.

Blogs[]

Pinterest Boards[]

Pale Grunge by Picsglam
Grunge//Pale//aesthetic//tumblr by Dailin Michelle
Pale grunge by Iris
Pale Grunge Style by Angelina | Fashion & Style Inspiration

Playlists[]

tumblr/pale/grunge/indie era by carito | Spotify
soft core tumblr whore by (๑>ᴗ<๑) nancy | Spotify
p a l e g r u n g e 2 0 1 4 t u m b l by Morgan Rhys Llewelyn | Spotify

Criticism[]

Some people have cited Tumblr aesthetic culture as the beginning of their eating disorder, especially anorexia^[4]. Because physical appearance plays heavily into the aesthetic, there is social pressure to be thin.

In addition, most of the images in this aesthetic show pale people, with less diversity in skin tone.

Also, like the other aesthetics that include smoking cigarettes as a visual, depicting smoking as "aesthetic" encourages people to take up the practice.