#DECODED BLOG CW20 2025

⛓️ DECODED: What just happened in culture & marketing? We got you — no scroll required.

🧘 TikTok Introduces Built-in Mental Health Prompts

From doomscrolling to deep breaths.

TikTok just rolled out a new wave of in-app mental health tools, including daily mindfulness prompts, quick meditations, and emotion check-ins. It’s part of the platform’s broader shift toward “emotional UX”—designing features that care how you feel, not just what you click.

The new tools appear during scroll pauses or after extended screen time, nudging users to take a breath, journal a thought, or reflect before diving back into the For You page. It’s like a built-in therapist... if your therapist spoke in trending sounds.

Critics may call it performative wellness, but let’s be real: Gen Z is on TikTok. So meeting them where they are—with tools that normalize emotional literacy—isn’t just smart UX. It’s necessary.

🧱 Berlin’s Newest Landmark: The Billie Eilish Wall

Move over East Side Gallery—Gen Z has a new Berlin pilgrimage site.

Located near the East Side Mall, the Billie Eilish Wall is a 15-meter stretch of urban legend turned fan shrine. What started in 2019 with a single photo of Billie sitting on a nondescript stairway wall has evolved into a living canvas of fan graffiti, quotes, art, and love letters. When Billie visited the spot and signed a commemorative plaque, it cemented the location’s cult status.

Now it’s back in the spotlight: during her recent Berlin concert, Billie spoke emotionally about her special connection to the city and the wall, calling it one of the most meaningful fan tributes she’s ever received. Cue a new wave of TikToks, reposts, and fan pilgrimages.

But it’s more than hype. It’s a place of connection. From “you saved my life” notes to fan-maintained plaques (cleaned with literal nail polish remover to preserve Billie’s signature), the site reflects a shared emotional core. The Billie-Wall isn't just a place; it's a feeling. The resurgence proves how fandoms continue to reimagine public space—not just consuming culture, but embedding it in the real world. Berlin gave Billie a wall. Her fans gave it soul.

🥾 The Return of Blokecore: Total 90s Go Metallic

The Nike Total 90s are back—this time with a gleam.

In a season where Blokecore remains undefeated, Nike is re-releasing the Total 90 III SP in Metallic Silver. First seen on football pitches in the early 2000s, the silhouette now returns as a style statement: bold, nostalgic, unapologetically sporty.

The updated design features silver leather uppers, off-center lacing, and heavy branding with Swooshes and “90” logos from heel to toe. Set on a gray outsole and white midsole, it’s less about functionality and more about fashion’s ongoing obsession with subcultural codes.

Blokecore—a mix of vintage football kits, beer culture, and lad aesthetics—has officially crossed over. From runways to TikTok fits, the line between locker room and lookbook is blurrier than ever.

🚗 MSCHF x Mercedes-AMG – “Not for Automotive Use”

Leave it to MSCHF to take German engineering and turn it into a design flex.

For NYCxDesign 2025, art collective MSCHF teamed up with Mercedes-AMG to create a collection of domestic objects made from car parts. Titled Not for Automotive Use, the drop includes a headlight-studded sofa, a rim-turned-fan, a floor lamp with exhaust-pipe vibes, and even a trash can—each piece crafted from deconstructed AMG components. Think brutalist futurism meets ironic luxury.

This isn’t your typical collab. It’s a tongue-in-cheek critique of hyper-functionality and brand worship. MSCHF channels the Radical Design movement of 1960s Italy while nodding to the absurdity of treating cars (or anything) like sacred objects.

The installation runs until May 17 at MSCHF’s garage in Greenpoint, Brooklyn—part gallery, part showroom, part troll cave. A capsule of matching workwear-style merch is available too. And yes, it’s all made to order. No resale bots allowed.