Dictionary

vaporwave en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈveɪ.pɚ.weɪv/ (US)
• /ˈveɪ.pə.weɪv/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *kwapōs Latin vapor Old French vapeurder. Old French vaporbor. Middle English vapour English vapor Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Germanic *samþuz /*samftuz Proto-Indo-European *-yos Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Germanic *-jaz Proto-West Germanic *-ī Proto-West Germanic *samft(ī) Old English sōfte Middle English softe English soft Proto-Germanic *warō Proto-West Germanic *waru Old English waru Middle English ware English -ware English softwarebf. English -ware English vapor(ware) English -wave English vaporwave From vapor(ware) + -wave.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) A genre of electronic music and visual arts style that emerged in the early 2010s. As a musical genre, it evolved from chillwave and seapunk with influences from lounge music, elevator music, smooth jazz, and 1980s dance-pop. As an aesthetic, it is influenced by 1990s web design and digital art, anime, and cyberpunk.
   • The haunting affect of Vaporwave's ghostly music is clearly seductive to a political moment which revels in dystopia, the golden years of the 90s and the sounds of the 90s: financial boom, pedestalled American Dreams and […] 2019, Emile Frankel, Hearing the Cloud: Can Music Help Reimagine The Future?, John Hunt Publishing, →ISBN:
   • Vaporwave arose in reaction to huge economic and social forces that are still very much a part of our lives: globalization, runaway consumerism, and manufactured nostalgia chief among them. 2016 August 18, “How Vaporwave Was Created Then Destroyed by the Internet”, in Esquire, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2019:
   • Recess’s website features the charms of vaporwave internet art and Lisa Frank-style nostalgia, while their Instagram account evokes the combined look of “Endless Summer” with “Floridian retiree” and the summer-camp psychedelia that has replaced “Lifestyle Lumberjack” as the default millennial style choice. 2019 January 8, Kate Carraway, “How to Make a Millennial Feel Cozy in Just One Beverage”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 06 Apr 2022:
   • Largely ignored by the mainstream press, vaporwave has instead flourished on websites such as Bandcamp and SoundCloud and on Reddit […] Because vaporwave exists almost entirely outside the sphere of PR and the music industry at large, it has tremendous “underground” appeal. […] Vaporwave is critical of Western culture's preoccupation with the past, but it is not the only art form to call our collective regression into question. 2016, Grafton Tanner, Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave And The Commodification Of Ghosts, John Hunt Publishing, →ISBN, page 7:

Forms

Deriveds

Trumpwave · fashwave

Relateds

Simpsonwave