Justin Tomchuk, AKA u m a m i, is one of YouTube’s rising stars. At 252K subscribers and counting, he makes moody, surreal animations that draw on everything from classic advertisements, fine art and sci-fi to Thomas the Tank Engine and Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup. He does the bulk of the art and animation…
Sport
Anti-Social Media: Will a Boycott Help?
The players and staff of Championship side Swansea City are set to boycott social media for one week. This decision was taken following a number of footballers, including several of the club’s players, being racially abused via the platforms in recent weeks. The Welsh club, in announcing their collective social media blackout, released the following…
Sex Survey
Sexual assault is never a joke, even in your group chats
Whilst this issue of Concrete is certainly a fun one to create, write and read it is equally important we discuss the negatives around the “sex” and, importantly, our vocal relationship with “sex” or how “sex” is discussed in our society, and particularly in the University Society. Warwick, Derby, Durham, Coventry and Sheffield universities have…
Music, Venue
Wellerman singer Nathan Evans talks going viral on TikTok and reaching number one over hero Ed Sheeran
If you’ve used TikTok at all during the past two or three weeks, you would have seen the sea shanty craze currently sweeping the platform. Creators on TikTok are currently videoing themselves singing the likes of ‘Leave Her Johnny,’ ‘The Scotsman,’ and ‘The Drunken Sailor,’ with videos reaching hundreds of thousands of views with ease….
Fashion
Performative authenticity: Influencer sponsorships and consumerist culture
Once celebrated for being authentic reviewers of products, influencers have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years with regard to their reliance on paid promotions. More often than not it seems that influencers are promoting items they have little interest in, and it’s easy to understand why when the influencer marketing industry is set to…
Fashion
Instagram’s commercial priorities: what has the app become?
Picture this: it’s 2011. You’ve just downloaded a new app called Instagram. You post a vignette-filtered picture of a sunset and get 7 likes: you are happy. Instagram still is, by and large, a photo and video sharing social network, but a recent update has shown users what Instagram has been slowly integrating for the…
Features
I Lost My Best Friend Over a Text Message
COVID-19 has put a magnifying glass over a lot of relationships during the summer lockdown; people were finding new information about people every day because they had no workplace, school or social activity to depart to in the daily rhythm of life. Social distancing has allowed me to develop a much stronger appreciation for my…
#BLM, Books, Venue
In an age of social media, how useful are books when practising activism?
In his song The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Gil Scott-Heron declares that “you will not be able to stay at home, brother … you will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out”. The recent international focus on Black Lives Matter protests has brought to attention the urgency of issues such…
News
‘Blackout Tuesday’ circles social media in support of protests
Social media came to a halt on Tuesday in memory of George Floyd, murdered on the 25th of May in Minneapolis, USA. Named “Blackout Tuesday”, it was initially kickstarted to show solidarity with the fight against racism and support for the black community, which plays an essential role in the music world. The initiative, created…
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