Are the nepo babies ok? Yes, in fact, they’re doing great. After several years of damaging discourse (see that viral New York Magazine article and the many, many, many headlines, interviews and reactions that followed), it is, apparently cool to be a nepo baby again. So cool, in fact, that the nepo babies are bragging about their genetic good fortune. Where? Over on TikTok, naturally.

It all started with the ‘holy airball’ trend, a TikTok phenomenon in which people have been disclosing their greatest accomplishments set to the tune of Jeezy’s 2005 hit “Survivor.” See for example Gordon Ramsey’s take on the trend. “Told them ‘I like to cook,’” he wrote across a photo of himself. Cut to text that reads, “They said ‘What like sheet pan meals?’” Final slide: “Holy airball” alongside an image of Ramsey standing proudly in front of one of his giant restaurants. You get the idea.

So, what does this have to do with nepo babies? Well, some of them have taken it upon themselves to hop aboard the trend — but instead of bragging about their own achievements, they are (checks notes) bragging about who their parents are. How to describe this development? Bold, shameless, kind of iconic, and, ultimately, extreme nepo baby behaviour.

Take Ava Phillipe, daughter of Reese Witherspoon and budding actress. Her version of the holy airball trend goes: “Told him my mom’s a lawyer.” “He said oh what firm does she work at?” “Holy freakin’ airball” (alongside pictures of Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, obviously).

Then there’s Francesca Scorsese, daughter of renowned director Martin. “I told him ‘my dad is a filmmaker.’” “He said ‘oh nice for commercials or something?’” “Holy fckin airball” (and, yes, it’s a picture of the Martin Scorsese.)

Next up there’s Jackson Daly, son of Carson:

Finally, there’s Alianna Thiam, daughter of Akon (aka, the singer in the song used for the trend, no less):

So. What to make of this new nepo baby brag? On one hand, it’s worth noting that the nepo babies are somewhat in on the joke. And who can really blame them for having such iconic parents? Honestly, I’d do my fair share of bragging if my dad was Martin Scorsese, too.

On the other hand, it’s clear the nepo babies are done with hiding in the shadows. Discourse be damned. Is this trend the sign that the era of nepo baby embarrassment has come to an end? Because it wasn’t too long ago that the nepo babies were keeping awfully quiet and saying a lot of stuff about how they got where they are off of their own merit, thank you very much. Well, not anymore.

In fact, the trend could be seen as evidence of a certain vibe shift, to use a zeitgeisty term. It seems to me that we entering the age of status for status’s sake. The Holy Airball trend suggests that culturally, we love to have something — anything — to brag about. What that thing is doesn’t really matter anymore. It seems that these days, we all want something to prove our status — something to indicate that we are “special” — something to set us out from the pack.

After all, the “pack” is getting bigger and bigger — finding your place as an individual in an online world filled with other people just like you is bound to leave the young generations feeling uncomfortably anonymous and even unimportant. It’s no wonder we’re all looking for that special something that will set us apart. And it doesn’t really matter what that thing is. It could be an achievement from our past. It could be a career high. It could even be a famous parent.