Depth has become the last part of creativity you cannot copy.

Every Essay is being written with an album in mind, which is playing at the same time we are writing what you are reading right now, so for full experience we highly recommend going to your music provider and play “King If Blue (Legacy Edition)” By Miles Davis as you are reading this, promise it’s worth it. Ok back to the topic now!

 

Depth didn’t disappear, it’s a byproduct of noise increasing.

There’s a correlation here: once something becomes commodified and quantified, it’s almost impossible to maintain depth. Post one article and you can go deep about every topic you could think of; post 100, and you didn’t even touch surface. Same thing with big media flooding the feed with hype and no substance. (All connected.)

It’s a lot of things that got us here. might be Influencers flooding the content engine with GRWMs, product reviews, restaurant reviews (not the ones where the owner actually talks and explains the place, the other ones), and the whole “brain rot” wave that made depth feel like something we all looking for, but still categorize as “stuff we’ll watch when we *finally have time.”

And Just when you thought it couldn’t get weirder, surprise - you have creative shortcuts: AI, excessive templates, all the tools that confine creatives into a mold that keeps generating the same thing over and over, just in different versions. (Probably why so much music sounds the same today. big exceptions here, but you get us.)

Still, there’s the rush to play the social media game, where speed dictates (unfortunately) the entire rhythm. Depth is slow, like taste. (Remember this one? All connected.) So it’s not rewarded, which means it’s less incentivized for anyone trying to make something real. It also lowered the bar to “enter the game.” All it takes is posting something funny, witty, or “weird”, and you broke the algorithm. Congrats. But what did you gain? Not fulfillment, that’s for sure. Maybe an ego tap. Congratulations, you did it.

The real shift happened when people started creating for the sake of being seen. That’s when depth disappears.

Copying style is easy, it shows up across every creative faucet known to humans; But before we even talk about what copying looks like today, we need to understand the mechanics of copying and where it originated.

A Quick Google search shows that “the earliest known instance of an accusation of intellectual or literary theft occurred around 80 AD when the Roman poet Martial accused another poet, Fidentinus, of ‘kidnapping’ his verses.’”

Oh wow. Trading bars in 80 AD. Somebody tell today’s rappers nothing is new under the sun.

Copying has always had internal drivers, be it admiration, insecurity, competition or envy, the usual suspects. But in our era, copying looks different and exactly the same at the same time. That’s what makes it interesting.

On social media, copying usually starts the moment someone “creates a trend” and everyone else follows. And business-wise? For some people, it makes sense, so each case has its own logic. And honestly, no one should be publicly judging that. Because even when someone copies, they’re still putting in work, to an extent. And when someone’s putting in work, you can’t fully knock it.

Across fashion, we should’ve seen it coming. With the rise of “I want a fashion brand” culture, and the fact that every third person on the street now has one (not a problem, and honestly encouraged, people should have creative outlets); it gets weird when all the graphics start looking the same and nothing new shows up on the table.

When brands don’t have ethos behind them, when they’re taking “inspiration” in ways that don’t build anything (and btw, there are levels to inspiration, it’s not the magical excuse people think it is), then yeah… it becomes a problem.

Maybe time is the ultimate test, It always shows who stays and depth actually never decays.

Depth demands understanding.

You cannot fake it, you cannot speed-run it, you cannot “template” your way into it. Depth only shows up when you actually care about the topic; when you understand the core ideas behind the argument or the culture you’re talking about.

Take John Galliano as an example.

You have two options:

1. read about his life and accomplishments for five minutes. That’s 300 seconds.

2. spend a week reading, watching, studying, actually learning. That’s 604,800 (ofc, not all utilized - be with us here!)

The person who spent a week will speak with more confidence, more clarity, more nuance. Why? Because research was done. Time was dedicated. And that time is a form of respect. Respect for the topic, for the craft, and for the person behind it.

“Firing quick videos that don’t go deep” is a disservice to whatever you’re talking about; whether it’s a moment in fashion, a collection, a collab, a design, or even a song. Behind the scenes, someone put in work. Real work. Probably more time than you’ve ever spent trying to understand it. Yet somehow, we reached an era where people think it’s okay to swipe up, down, left, right; and then create a shorter, “factless” version of something someone poured their life into.

Bad news: it won’t suffice, because Shallow work can fill a feed, but it can’t stand next to the real thing.

Depth will always take longer, it’s going to cost more, and definitely feel harder to justify in a culture built on speed. But that’s exactly why it matters. Anyone can post fast, copy trends, or recreate the surface, but very few are still willing to sit with an idea until it becomes honest; And in a creative world where everything looks the same, that willingness becomes the real separator because DRUMS PLEASE -

Depth might not win the algorithm today, but it will outlive everything that did.

If you made it here, thank you so much for reading, we truly appreciate each and every one of you, who took the time to look into our thoughts….

See you soon!