Hopecore
What is the Hopecore trend?
Hopecore is a short-form aesthetic built from montages of uplifting audio, soft text affirmations, and footage that signals calm and confidence. There is no fixed text-overlay template: creators write whatever they want to say that is warm, specific, and pointed enough to feel personal. Brands use it to pair a daily-use product with a small, earnest wish for the viewer: a morning ritual, a skincare step, a daily-use item. Keep the tone sincere; irony kills it.
Origin
Hopecore is a TikTok and short-form video aesthetic that emerged in early 2023 as an offshoot of the "Corecore" video style. Corecore favored chaotic, pessimistic montages. Hopecore curated audio-visual elements intended to inspire optimism and emotional reassurance. One of the earliest documented examples was posted by TikToker @waxyegg on January 27, 2023, featuring a scene from Kung Fu Panda 2 with motivational narration, which accumulated hundreds of thousands of views. The term was formally added to Urban Dictionary in January 2023, defined as a genre of videos meant to invoke happiness and hope. Early videos centered on sports clips and interviews set to classic songs, with text overlays such as "Life is Beautiful." The hashtag #hopecore gained roughly 20,000 new videos in a single week in February 2024 as the format expanded to include animals, children, and tender everyday moments. The coffee and matcha beverage sub-format, in which creators film b-roll of their drink alongside motivational "I hope you..." text overlays, represents a later lifestyle adaptation of the broader Hopecore aesthetic. No single originating post for this specific sub-format has been documented by major internet culture reference sources.
Great for
Soft morning routine or getting-ready b-roll Close-up product in-use footage (skincare, coffee, ritual) Calm lifestyle or aesthetic flat-lay Natural-light product b-roll Low-key founder or team footage with a warm tone
Examples
I hope you have a great day, your caffeine is the right shade, and you woke up today remembering that even on their best day, they are not touching you I hope today is the day you finally try the thing you have been putting in your cart for three months I hope your skin is happy, your order shipped, and you remembered to drink water today
Sources
Turn a trend into an on-brand short from footage you already have.
More trends
