Like many trends from the 1930s-90s, vinyl records have been making a comeback among teenagers, many of whom are drawn to the aesthetic and appearance of older trends.

Sophomore Nelson Yeung loves many of the vintage trends making comebacks, such as Converse shoes, low waisted jeans, windbreakers, tracksuits, and much more. The appearance of these trends is definitely alluring to today’s youth. “The fun colors and patterns are unique and different and I definitely feel drawn to them,” Yeung said.

One resurging vintage trend is vinyl records. Although records may be a hassle to use, the aesthetic of them along with the sound quality is appealing enough for many teenagers to invest in vinyls from their favorite albums. “It’s inconvenient but it sounds better in my opinion,” Yeung said.

Although vinyls have been coming back, students predict that their popularity will soon decline due to the sheer inconvenience of using a record player in comparison to a mobile device. “The worst part about vinyl is you can’t select certain songs; you have to listen to the whole album. I would say 20% of my time is spent listening to vinyl in comparison to using a device to listen to music. Also…you can’t bring it with you everywhere,” Yeung said. 

Many popular stores have found fun ways to display vinyl collections for sale, such as Queenie and Pearl , a small boutique in South Minneapolis owned by Lisa Banwell. Banwell has listened to music with records her whole life and is pleasantly surprised to see the comeback amongst the youth. “I’m excited that they’ve come back and that people are really enjoying them I think. They have a little bit of a different sound, I like the sound of the grooves, I like that it’s sort of clean sounding,” Banwell said.

Ultimately the possibility of vinyl records staying around is debatable, but one thing for sure is that they bring something real and genuine to the table that music on a mobile device can’t offer. “There’s something just very tactile and real about them that doesn’t really exist in a lot of other areas,” Banwell said.