In 2016, American rapper iLoveMemphis released “Lean and Dabb,” a song that shaped youth culture. The first verse starts with the iconic line, “Wake up in the morning then I dab.” With the rise of short-form video platform Musical.ly, the song had every young teen at the time leaning into the elbow crease of their bent right arm and extending their left arm upward.
The dab died relatively quickly; it was our generation’s version of “six-seven.” At the time, I considered it kind of annoying, but I did the dance anyway. I did it with my friends, for my silly little social media videos and during softball practices.
Looking back, I miss the dab. That dance move now represents a time when life was simpler for a lot of people. I was 10 years old, enjoying the last little bit of elementary school I had left. I remember days when I would beg my mom to get me the Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino, to go shopping at Justice or to use her phone to film my videos for Musical.ly. I was sure I would become famous.
This year, Generation Z began posting a campaign saying that we should make 2026 feel like 2016 in a nostalgic attempt to romanticize life before the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. In my opinion, the best place to start is by bringing back the dab.
Before writing this personal essay, I asked people how they would feel if we brought back the dab. Every single person smiled the second I mentioned the dance move, then proceeded to do it. Even if someone said they haven’t hit the dab since 2016, they still smiled, remembering what the move meant to them during their younger years. It makes our generation automatically feel happier because it reminds us of a time where life was simpler.
When I have a really long essay that I need to write or a grade that stresses me out, I just hit the dab. I am so mortally embarrassed about the fact that I just performed a dance move that was popular when I was 10 years old that I am automatically happier than I was before I did this move. When I do a good workout or have a tasty coffee, I solidify my happiness through a dab. It comes back when I am sad, happy or annoyed. Honestly, with any emotion I feel, I hit the dab.
I remember my brother and I would hit the dab continuously around the house for no apparent reason. It was a time when I could just be a kid with no real responsibilities. In high school, it was so easy for me to get caught up in work and school that I forgot it was okay to have fun and still feel like a child. I was going from classes to extracurriculars to work and getting super overwhelmed because I was trying to emulate what I thought the transition from childhood to adulthood had to look like.
Whenever I hit the dab, I remember that life is not that serious and everyone is here just to have a good time. If little kids can yell “six-seven,” then I can hit the dab. I want to bring it back because, for me, it connects me with all my childhood memories and reminds me that it is okay to explore childhood humor even as an adult.
