People often talk about “Two Americas” in an annoying, red-and-blue sort of way. It’s quite dumb.
But if you doubt that different people live in different realities of their own making, compare the past 12 months as framed by YouTube to Google’s new #YearInSearch effort by 72andSunny.
In the latter’s intro, shit falls apart around the globe starting in Orlando, D.C. and the no-longer United Kingdom.
That initial sequence seemed especially jarring coming from an agency whose name describes perfect, endless L.A. weather with no droughts or climate change or the earthquake that will inevitably destroy the entire west coast. It got a lot more positive with an uplifting pop soundtrack (because this is advertising, remember) and ended in a mushy heap as everyone cried about the joys of being alive, but we have to appreciate the hints of darkness.
Now here is the year in YouTube, which will end up getting a lot more clicks anyway because of course it culminates in Carpool Karaoke.
So maybe our headline is a little misleading because we compared a rotten apple to a candied orange. Google is about keeping you informed while YouTube is about keeping you entertained, right? And of course YouTube wants to promote its own performers and influencers, which are thankfully not a thing on the world’s only real working search engine outside of China.
Whatever, we feel old as fuck right now. 2017 is going to be a rough year for a lot of people.