INFLUENCERS 2021 a Digital Culture Forecast CORQ.CORQ

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CORQ. INFLUENCERS 2021 A digital culture forecast CORQ.CORQ.

Hello… …and welcome to CORQ’s influencer hotlist for 2021! This has been compiled by our journalists and aims to give you a steer on who will be determining and shaping digital culture for the CORQ. year to come. Who should you work with next year and why? Influencers on our hotlists have been chosen due to their ability TRENDS to capture the mood of now and their determination to innovate. So much has changed over the past 12 months and we can see INFLUENCERS a newly defined hierarchy developing when it comes to the influencer landscape. While some creators were able to produce incredible entertainment at home, others floundered due to the INSIGHT absence of exclusive brand-facilitated trips and events. We suspect those who have not adopted video and audio will struggle in 2021. The influencer industry has certainly changed DATA shape, with savvy creators spring-boarding from TikTok to television in a mere 12 months. The blueprint for what it means REPORTING to be an influencer has been ripped up and redrawn. It’s a fascinating time to be working in digital and we hope this report will help you start to navigate the next 12 months. And if you hit a roadblock? We’re always here to help in any way that we can.

Happy reading and merry Christmas!

Sara. Sara McCorquodale, CEO and Founder of CORQ, and author of the critically acclaimed book Inﬂuence: How Social Media Inﬂuencers Are Shaping Our Digital Future. Storytelling themes of 2021 CORQ.CORQ.

“Nothing is off-limits now when it comes to the conversations influencers can start and drive. We’re going to see menopause myth-busting, financial real talk and TikTok step up to truly rival YouTube” - Emilie McMeekan, Features Director of CORQ CORQ. TRENDS INFLUENCERS INSIGHT DATA REPORTING FRIENDSHIP: the power of influencers binding SPIRIT: if 2020 was about adapting and stoicism, 2021 ABANDON: the absence of a wider dominating together to do good in 2020 has changed the way is going to be the year in which people fight to protect the culture in 2020 led to rise of individualism across the many are operating their platforms. This is very communities, businesses and sentiments they hold dear. internet. Influencers became more experimental with different to the “collab culture” of the early Thanks to Brexit and the pandemic, there is a sense of their content and honest with their audiences. A YouTube days, which existed purely to accelerate uncertainty around what the world may look like come sense of open-mindedness overtook a sense of growth rather than address and help solve issues. 2022. Yet people power has proved itself to make change “brand” and for the first time since the Noughties we Off the back of initiatives like Share The Mic, happen in 2020. It made Black Lives Matter global news saw widespread creativity driven by ideas rather influencers are becoming ever more aware that and ejected Donald Trump from the White House. It also than an explicit commercial strategy, hence the rise establishing friendships with more marginalised saw communities care for each other, businesses step up of TikTok. The ability to be spontaneous, entertaining creators will produce a better social media for to provide PPE and crowdfunding explode. 2020 was and throw off a constructed image in order to everyone. Influencer friendships which have a something of a revolution in which people realised what connect as humans has turned influencers into stars greater purpose than reach will result in new social they could achieve through ingenuity and determination. in 2020 and created a new blueprint for how to be ecosystems and greater influencer equality. The result? A formidable spirit which will dominate 2021. an influencer in 2021. CORQ.

Trends + inﬂuencer hotlists for 2021 Beauty trends 2021 The pandemic has set in motion a number of behaviours which have led to staggeringly engaging content and new approaches to beauty. Here’s how these will evolve in the year to come…

Minimalist skincare: with more time and freedom to experiment with complex, active skincare ingredients such as acids and retinoids over lockdown, we may have reached peak skincare. A growing number of skincare gurus have shared advice for repairing the skin barrier. Minimalist skincare strips routines back to basics, undoing the damage of a haphazard, uneducated routine and rebuilding it from the ground up.

Filler fatigue: inﬂuencers have turned their backs on cosmetic ﬁllers in 2020, with the likes of Molly Mae Hague, Sydney May Crouch and Millie T all having theirs dissolved. Audiences are just as keen to watch this as they are cosmetic procedures - Molly Mae’s video of the experience is one of her most-watched to date. Consider this the start of a revolution.

Mask makeup: beyond weird and wonderful eyeshadow, the past few months have been filled with eyebrow trends (such as glue, bleach and fox brows) and outlandish eye tricks (see pastel lashes and floating eyeliner). Expect these to grow increasingly inventive as mask culture continues. “With over 160million views, the #skincarehacks movement is the result of an app that’s arguably home to more ingredient-savvy content creators than any other platform” Beauty Hacks on TikTok - a CORQ report CORQ. Beauty influencer hotlist 2021

Fatima Waheeb: a makeup artist Ellie Addis: her following soared this year after with a love for Halloween and going viral for recreating Ashley Tisdale’s most iconic anime, the latter half of this year has noughties looks - just one example of her ability to seen Fatimah embrace trending put a colourful twist on every TikTok trend. To use her media-inspired looks. Her following raised proﬁle for good, she recently started handing has soared as a result - expect even over her Instagram Stories to up-and-coming beauty more creativity in 2021. content creators.

Abby Roberts: the UK queen of TikTok beauty. In the past year she has Michael Brooks: Bereft of clients over lockdown, collaborated with James Charles, this makeup artist found his own beauty groove - Yungblud and Liam Payne as well as pastels, otherworldly brows and dreamy attending MTV’s EMAs. Known for her eyeshadow art. He also took on the ever-growing hilariously bizarre makeup challenges, quest to get the ultimate glow, and won, taking his her star shows no sign of fading. content from awe-inspiring to relatable too.

Eve Fraser: indie beauty master who Ewoma Ukeleghe: beauty professionals embodies the e-girl trend and is studying have attracted higher trafﬁc than ever this year Fine Art. As well as continually growing and cosmetic doctor Ewoma is no exception. on Instagram, her TikTok soundtrack is The founder of clinic SKNDOCTOR has turned insanely cool and she can go for months agony aunt on Instagram, solving skincare without vlogging, yet her YouTube woes such as maskne with wit and a deep audience has remained loyal. The understanding of the cosmetic industry. exception to the rule.

Lou Northcote: her #freethepimple Kadeeja Khan: having dedicated her platforms to campaign reached new heights in showing the disparity between social media and 2020. And her journey just took a natural skin, she’s on a mission to dispel the myths of new path - she’s currently dedicating “imperfections” and looks at various skincare and her proﬁle to her experiences with beauty trends through the lens of severe acne and the acne medication Roaccutane. polycystic ovary syndrome. CORQ. Beauty inﬂuencer hotlist 2021

Danielle Marcan: the self-proclaimed Sharmadean Reid: Over the past year, the “beauty guru wannabe” who broke the founder of treatment booking app Beauty Stack has one million mark on Instagram and expanded her horizons to a podcast, series of TikTok this year. The latter is where she business workshops and a monthly Beauty Stack really shines, thanks to her bold, unique Book Club. Her last talk of 2020 predicts big things eye designs, celebrity makeup looks and for next year, covering how to “level up” before then. ability to spot emerging beauty trends.

Jamie Genevieve: this YouTubing MUA and Gina Box: the bride-to-be is a reliable powerhouse has been creating content since 2013, choice for fun beauty content and has and is set to go stratospheric in 2021 thanks to the upped the ante as she creeps closer to her launch of her highly-praised beauty brand, Vieve. To 2021 wedding. She’s already started promote the line, she returned to the thing that made incorporating her ﬁance into “couple her name: makeup tutorials on YouTube. A signiﬁcant makeup looks” and plans on covering the change, as she has spent the past few years primarily run-up to her big day in-depth. focusing on vlogging.

Wendy Asumadu: beauty content doesn’t get much more imaginative than this. She Jules Von Hep: the founder of tanning brand Isle treats the complexion as a canvas and has of Paradise spent 2020 on a self-love journey and criticised the beauty community’s lack of is now out the other side and on a mission to representation, teaming up with fellow Black spread the “feel good” vibes. His style of content is content creators to launch Editorial BLK in warm, funny, incredibly motivational and rooted in 2020. She’s also fundraising to create more anti-perfection narratives. opportunities in 2021.

Sasha Louise Pallari: her anti-filter movement #FILTERDROP was picked up Diipa Buller-Khosla: already a seasoned beauty by Vogue, but Sasha doesn’t plan to blogger, Diipa was one of the first in the game to stop there. The model just launched her embrace Instagram Reels. And, thanks to her YouTube channel for more fresh and incredible 2020 Diwali beauty series, she has honest discussion around the beauty and become one of the platform’s most exciting creators. influencer industries. Fashion trends 2021

We’ve seen Lockdown Looks, a fast fashion backlash and the influence of cottagecore lead forward-thinking style influencers to pretty florals. So what’s next?

Nostalgic fashion: with nothing to be inspired by in the present, we’re continuing to look to the past for our fashion cues. Searches for 1990s fashion have been in similar demand for the past ﬁve years, but Google data shows desire for Y2K style is relentlessly peaking and increasing.

“A Week in Outﬁts”: this content trend is a cross between a lookbook and a vlog, seeing creators document each day’s ﬁt. With restrictions set to continue in some form into 2021, the format condenses a week’s worth of activities into 30-seconds - perfect for when diaries are empty and short form is the order of the day.

Restyling: the conversation around sustainability can only grow in 2021, as more of us consider the impact of our wardrobes on the environment. For fashion inﬂuencers, the key to survival lies in restyling content - going through old items, dressing up staples and sharing tips on unique ways to give new life to clothes.

“I hope we see more innovative fashion trends and the death of the shopping haul” - Chloe James, fashion and beauty reporter for CORQ CORQ. Fashion inﬂuencer hotlist 2021

Nyome Nicholas Williams: since launching her campaign Victoria Magrath: eight years since launching In #WeWantToSeeNyome, the model The Frow, she continues to outdo herself across all incited an Instagram policy change for platforms. The luxury blogger has established herself censorship of plus-size bodies. She is now as one of fashion’s most creative talents, pulling off a on a mission to increase the visibility of seamless transition to TikTok and Instagram Reels in Black, plus-size women in high fashion 2020 - and all in the year she left her management and has teased big plans for 2021. company to strike out on her own.

Emma Louise Connolly: originally set Emma Slade Edmonson: the sustainability expert to marry her partner Oliver Proudlock this was named one of the top environmentalists by Forbes summer, Emma was forced to delay the big in November, thanks to her hard work to educate day to 2021. However, she has promised others on the impact of their wardrobes. She launched the content will be worth the wait: she her IGTV series “Come Secondhand Shopping With plans on having ﬁve wedding dresses. Me” just before lockdown and plans to bring it back on a bigger scale as restrictions loosen.

Rubi Rasheed: the Australian fashion Evie Clark: specialising in Y2K fashion, she stands blogger has taken TikTok by storm with her out on Instagram thanks to her innovative IGTV fun, colourful, pastel outﬁts. Her sense of formats (see Evie’s Fashion Flip, where she reworks style is unique in the UK fashion space right her followers’ outﬁts). She has also started now and repeatedly draws in big views branching out into presenting, hosting her own through her IGTV and YouTube tutorials. podcast, Growing Up and Sometimes Down, and welcoming an array of fellow YouTubers onto her channel to talk about their careers so far.

Jessica Kellgren-Forzard: when she isn’t Amira Khan: the stylist and modest fashion blogger sharing tips for sustainable, vintage style, took time off from creating content this year after she uses her platform to address life with a suffering from severe ﬂare-ups of Lupus due to the disability (she has hereditary neuropathy stress of 2020. Since returning to social in November, with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP), she has vowed to work on getting herself back to mixed connective tissue disorder, and she is better health and producing more style, vegan food, deaf) and the LGBTQIA+ community. interiors and (hopefully) travel content. CORQ. Fashion inﬂuencer hotlist 2021

Sophia Tuxford: vlogger and co-host of Abimbola Ogunsanya: this entrepreneur hit podcast The Girls’ Bathroom, Sophia never fails to infuse fun into her fashion saw her following explode this year after content and is in the process of launching two embracing a new minimal aesthetic. It fashion brands. She is also keen to help other doesn’t hurt that she recently purchased bloggers, producing an IGTV series to share her ﬁrst home and dedicated a second industry advice in 2020. Instagram to its equally neutral decor.

Nella Rose: following a Twitter scandal in Mimi Missﬁt: the fashion blogger just May and a brief absence from social media, launched her third series for the BBC - a she rebounded with a horde of celebrity and children’s show entitled Mimi and Co - inﬂuencer supporters banding together as which follows her mission to live life to the “Nella Rose Stan Accounts”. Breaking the full. Also, after a busy year, Mimi has internet with a luxury apartment tour in teased more BBC content in the near future. December, she shows no signs of slowing down.

Fisayo Longe: her trajectory was already Karina Marriott: she started the year by impressive thanks to launching clothing relaunching her website, The Style Idealist, business Kai Collective in 2016. Then, this repositioning herself as a “mid-size year she was bestowed with the ultimate millennial writing about style, self- honour: featuring on Beyoncé’s list of Black- discovery and conﬁdence”. The move paid owned brands to support. Set to ﬁnish her off - Karina is the master of self-love and second bachelor’s degree in 2021, the mid-size styling across her blog and fashion blogger has big plans for her Instagram. business’ future: shoes.

Karen Williams: the stylist has a growing proﬁle in both the UK and US, Lauren Nicole Coppin-Campbell: her counts Beyonce as a client and is at that personal fashion and lifestyle website, Fashion point before her audience explodes. Killer, underwent a refurb this year, launching While many have been left sartorially as a collaborative blog targeted at millennial disorientated by 2020, Karen knows women. The model has also been named exactly where fashion needs to go next. contributing curve editor to Cosmopolitan. Food & travel 2021

With a world changed by the pandemic to explore and a desire for culinary adventures due to home cooking fatigue, food and travel inﬂuencers are set to have a monumental year.

#VanLife: an ever-growing gang of inﬂuencers are buying - and renovating - vans, as they are the perfect vehicle to limit the risk of contamination while living in a pandemic and travelling. Dedicated vanners include Craig and Aimee from Kingin' It, Stuart and Ashley from On the Road Again Travels, Karen from Travel Mad Mum and Anthony Pearson.

Community kitchens and meal delivery services: chefs and cooks have made it their mission to produce the food their communities love and make sure they can get it delivered to their doors. We’re not talking Uber Eats-style operations - we’re talking niche, targeted and authentic. Ravinder Bhogal and Exose Grant are just two inﬂuencers who’ve launched delivery services, but see Jacob Fodio Todd for a cook who was doing this pre-pandemic via his project, The Feature Kitchen.

“I’d like to see exciting, adventurous content in 2021 with inﬂuencers becoming more experimental again and showing us what’s out there.” - Lucinda Diamond, food and travel reporter for CORQ CORQ. Food inﬂuencer hotlist 2021

Original Flava: brothers Sean and Zaynab Paruk: this baker predominantly Craig have been on ﬁre all year and shares incredibly relaxing and upbeat 2021 will see them reap the rewards of cake-making tutorials on TikTok. As the their successful cookery book, YouTube founder of modest fashion brand Tulip channel and Instagram. They’re also Wear, she is now branching into style serious about giving back and have just content too and combining this with announced their new mentorship scheme. cooking on Instagram. Bake Off 2021?

Laura Jackson: she adapted her Exose Grant Lopo-Ndinga: the chef who supper club brand Hoste by turning it into saw that people would need help more than a dinner party box business and found ever when it come to food in 2020. Not only time to champion local independent did he start his own food delivery service but companies, eventually partnering with he is also now represented by IMG Models Google on a campaign with this ethos. and he was a ﬁnalist on Masterchef: The She’s also set to have her second baby - Professionals in 2019. a boy - in the New Year.

Kyle Gibson: a rising star on the Ravneet Gill: the pastry chef you need competitive eating scene who - thanks to to know in 2021 as she’s got a seriously consistently uploading - has managed to engaged audience and is now going take a meh YouTube channel and turn it mainstream. She landed columns in both into a must-watch for his 30K+ the Telegraph and the Guardian this subscribers. Growth is on the cards for year, and was announced as a future 2021 - catch him if you can. judge for Junior Bake Off. Impressive.

Poppy O’Toole: a Michelin-trained Tyler Butt: a personal trainer who became chef who has over one million followers popular on TikTok thanks to his simple on TikTok after her audience exploded recipes and funny delivery (for example, this year. More importantly, the broccoli - in his opinion - can be “fit”). He is founder of #PotatoTikTok - through now expanding onto Instagram, has which she endlessly makes potatoes published an ebook of recipes and to top it delicious. Funny and not afraid to take all off, has launched his own fitness and on a viral challenge. nutrition programme. CORQ. Travel influencer hotlist 2021

Jake McKenna: a photographer and Sima Sthanakiya: a journalist who ﬁlm-maker who documents his hiking trips writes and Instagrams about travelling with to the Lake District and Scotland on her children (think all of them snuggled in TikTok and YouTube. Perfectly positioned an enormous plush hotel bed) and is now to rise with the growing trend of hiking enjoying newfound TikTok success. Her and gain more recognition for his secret? A combination of education, knowledge of the great outdoors. humour and trend-driven family posts.

Eulanda and Omo Osagiede: couple Hannah Wood: who says you can’t who cover food and travel and have follow your dreams during a pandemic? created compelling content - despite Hannah quit her office job, bought a being grounded - through sharing camper van and is now documenting a financial and social media tips on their new experience of rural beauty Instagram and blog, TikTok and YouTube. everyday. She also ended the lease on They've also launched a programme of her flat and lives in the van too. Brave. online photography classes.

Sian Anna Lewis: an adventurer who Nuria Laiglesia: after spending most of has thrived in 2020 thanks to her this year in isolation while battling breast pandemic-friendly combination of wild cancer, traveller Nuria has big plans for swimming, camping and hiking. She’s 2021 to make up for lost time. She is also a keen forager and practices what enjoying the simplest pleasures - such as she preaches on the sustainability front. A going for a run - but expect bucket list- very 2021 inﬂuencer. style adventures to follow

Joel Friend: increasingly popular Mike Yu: genius travel TikTokker who TikTokker and Instagrammer who bought creates incredible videos about hidden a one-way ticket to Greece in October to gems which are loved by locals and meet someone he’d been chatting to on shares memories from his own extensive Instagram. He’s still there and if you travels. Meanwhile, his Instagram is really want to see his potential, check out dedicated to beautiful photography. his YouTube channel. Culture trends 2021 Arts, music and entertainment became online experiences in 2020 and those who were able to produce social-friendly work have thrived. The result? A whole new raft of bright young things set for greatness in 2021.

In-app community facilitated panels: Clubhouse has levelled up via inviting celebrities, influencers and commentators to participate in insightful debates. It has provided a safe space to offload frustrations and many viewers live tweet each panel. This new format is seeing regular users like Oloni and Nicole Crentsil engage in high-profile panel discussions, which Twitter and Instagram are now trying to replicate.

Blogging disguised as newsletters: writers have launched newsletters to freely discuss and share resources around topical subjects. The language, tone and content is diary-like and comparable to blogging. These newsletters are snappy and digestible, garnering impressively consistent engagement for inﬂuencers such as gal-dem founder, Liv Little.

Growth of grass-roots media platforms: lockdown saw the birth of a new wave of independent creative projects and platforms emerge and grow at a rapid pace. A good example of this is GUAP. Beyond being a digital magazine, it now has a studio dedicated to photography and podcasting and has been working with Reebok to offer emerging creatives opportunities. “Lockdown birthed some of the most innovative trends we’ve seen and these continue to inﬂuence the internet despite restrictions being lifted.” - Jennifer Adetoro, culture reporter for CORQ CORQ. Culture inﬂuencer hotlist 2021

Tolani Shoneye, Audrey Bertie Gilbert: he announced a Indome and Milena crowdfunding initiative for his Sanchez: the trio behind 2021 ﬁlm PLEASE CARE! this critically-acclaimed month. Alongside starring actor relationships and dating Hugh Skinner (W12, The podcast The Receipts are set Windsors), it is being produced to release their debut book by Oscar-winning production with Headline Publishing in company, Sick Films and will be July. Greater fame and an his biggest project yet. Not bad exponentially larger for an emerging Gen Z indie ﬁlm audience is sure to follow. director.

Danika Magdalena: the Munya Chawawa: there’s photographer has worked no denying that 2020 has on numerous projects this been Munya’s year. And, year including shooting J thanks to signing with Atlantic Hus’ clothing line and Records through his popular Arsenal’s 2020/21 kit as alias “Unknown P”, we can well as being the face of expect a multitude of music Topshop’s Christmas projects 2021, not to mention campaign. Her rapid rise a successful crossover to comes ahead of more mainstream channels and exciting projects in 2021. international recognition.

Arlo Parks: after being Poorna Bell: her searingly awarded BBC Introducing honest memoir of recovering Artist of the Year and her from her husband’s suicide single Black Dog named touched thousands. And her ‘Hottest Record of the Year’ next book - Stronger, out in by Annie Mac, she is April 2021 - is set to be the releasing her long-awaited post-pandemic handbook debut album Collapsed In for everyone rebuilding in a Sunbeams in January. brave new world. CORQ. Culture inﬂuencer hotlist 2021

London Hughes: after Christina Ebenezer: the relocating in Los Angeles to photographer behind Michaela work on a series of projects, Coel’s iconic British GQ cover the comedian is destined to has also applied her vision and have a fruitful year lens to heritage brands such as following the release of two Paul Smith and British Vogue original Netﬂix shows: The this year. Her strength? Portraits Netﬂix Afterparty and her - and it’s making her one of the comedy special, To Catch A most in-demand photographers D*CK. on the scene.

Abi Clarke: the comedian Henrie Kwushue: gaining joined TikTok during recognition for her three-part Lockdown 1.0 and grew a YouTube docuseries “Is Your following of 500K in just a Area Changing?”, presenter few months. Her contribution and DJ Henrie is a recipient of to TikTok’s musical of Disney the Dazed 100 Ideas 2020 ﬁlm Ratatouille was adored fund. She is currently using and 2021 will be her year to money from the initiative to springboard from social produce a ﬁve-part video media to mainstream project called “Untold channels Stories” on a large scale.

Jojo Sonubi: the success of Tiana Major9: following the his Black community-led success of her single “Collide” radio station No Signal saw with American rap duo him crowdfund a permanent EarthGang, Tiana has studio space and he has performed on NPR’s Tiny hinted at plans to expand Desk concert and received beyond radio via a new award nominations from both initiative with charity Youth the MOBO and Grammy Music, the No Signal Awards, earning global Academy. recognition and exposure. CORQ.

We look forward to working with you in 2021! Any questions or need help? Email: [email protected], cc’ing [email protected]