From Y2K to indie sleaze: how hyperspecific, themed club nights took over New York

At Market Hotel’s 2014 Tumblr party.   All photography by Cady Siregar It’s Friday night at Bushwick’s Market Hotel and The Chainsmokers and Halsey’s 2017 hit “Closer” has just set off the club. Around me, an 18+ crowd dressed in graphic crop tops, fishnets, heavy eyeliner, and chunky jewelry have packed the dancefloor so tightly a moshpit threatens to break out. A cloud of digital cameras hover above the crowd, their flashes matching the club’s strobe lighting. When “You’re Not the One” comes on, a girl nearby shouts, “I LOVE SKY FIORI!”, presumably referencing the love child of Guy Fieri and Sky Ferreira. I am at a “Who’s afraid of 2014?” Tumblr party, an event throwing it back to the glory days of 2010s internet nostalgia and the music that soundtracked it: Lorde, The 1975, Crystal Castles. Tonight’s event is just one of many themed club nights that have popped up all over New York City where nostalgia is the drug and the theme. In addition to Market Hotel’s 2014 Tumblr party, the venue also hosts a Y2K party, a Eurodance party, an indie sleaze party titled “Sleaze Market,” and a Bad Bunny-themed rave on Easter weekend. These parties are
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