What’s the ‘Dreamcore’ TikTok aesthetic?

Spend some time looking through the #dreamcore hashtag on TikTok and you might get the uncomfortable feeling that you’ve seen some of the visuals before. That’s because you … or at least something like her, long ago had a strange memory that you can’t pinpoint.

Welcome to Dreamcore, an aesthetic that has made its way to TikTok from the corners of the internet. Videos using the hashtag have been viewed over 400 million times, with similar offshoots like #dreamcoreaesthetic, #dreamcorecreepy and #feverdreamcore also generating millions of views. But what exactly is it?

What is Dreamcore?

Dreamcore is basically an aesthetic that revolves around strange images and objects that often appeal to nostalgia or things you might have seen in childhood. But instead of being cute or comforting, it’s about creating a sense of discomfort, and the aesthetic often uses surrealism and slowed down music that give the videos a creepy feel.

The whole thing feels a bit like a strange dream that suddenly turns into a nightmare, with pastel colors and glaring brightness unexpectedly merging into moments of tension and horror. A video posted by @unttochable describes Dreamcore as an “aesthetic that can cause a panic attack,” the fear that arises from a series of images that seem to be associated with a feeling or memory that you can’t quite place.

Trigger warnings are common and if you spend too long in Dreamcore TikTok (DreamTok?) You will feel a bit weird, like you’ve just woken up from a dream and it takes a few seconds to realize that everything is you experienced, t real.

One of the greatest creators in this field is someone named Jordan or @jgretznerd, whose trippy videos have garnered over seven million likes. Her videos usually follow a surreal narrative where everything is familiar but at the same time it isn’t – which is really the whole point of Dreamcore.

One of her most popular videos shows a ride on the ‘Dream Train’, a train to nowhere where you have “pink clouds and waterfall trees” as your backdrop and the other passengers are out to steal your eyeballs (I told you it was weird …)

Other common themes include empty or deserted places that you may once have felt connected (e.g. playgrounds or shopping malls) or sketches inspired by unpleasant encounters you may have had long ago (e.g. school).

According to the Urban Dictionary page of Aesthetics, Dreamcore is supposed to create a disturbing mix of “warmth, nostalgia, loneliness, comfort or gray” and “a lot of that aesthetic is based on Liminal Spaces and the unnerving feelings that come with it.”

One explanation for the Dreamcore aesthetic is that it allows people to explore their complicated feelings about childhood and growing up, using the unruly world of dreaming to create an uncomfortable form of nostalgia. Another is that the aesthetic addresses the revival of the Y2k style, using imagery from the ’00s to explore a world you may have visited a long time ago.

Whatever the explanation, you probably don’t want to dive too deep into Dreamcore TikTok late at night or when you’re already feeling anxious … unless your goal is to outsmart yourself.

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