The world might look a little different than it did in the early 2000s — OK, a lot different — but the music that defined a generation has stood the test of time. While the Bamboozle music festival no longer exists and skinny jeans might be out of style, Warped Tour is alive and well, and the headbanging songs of yore are making our Spotify Wrapped lists cool again. Was 2025 the year that emo came back?

The answer, unequivocally, is yes. Just look at the When We Were Young festival, which became a Las Vegas staple in 2022, for proof: The event actually originated in 2017 as something much different, but it’s since become a scream-filled, two-day reunion for bands and emo fans alike.

“That’s our nostalgia,” Jac Vanek, who you might know as the original scene queen, told Us Weekly about th

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