likes abstract expressionism, grungy 90s rock, and long walks in solitude

Bwog is back with its newest series: Tinder Archetypes. See if you can recognize today’s sensitive, despairing sadboy from your Tinder dating life.

It’s more than an aesthetic; it’s a way of life. Part of the Sadboy Lifestyle is a deep, unfillable loneliness which manifests itself in the form of sad Tinder profiles. There is Sadness practically radiating from the Sadboy’s profile – his Spotify is definitely connected, and his theme song can vary from Drake to Arctic Monkeys to Hipster Band You’ve Never Heard Of™. He either has a man bun or a David Beckham haircut, or some mixture of both. His pictures may include one of him on the guitar, performing with his band at some Hipster Underground Club™, an artsy picture of him in front of a pastel™ pink wall, a candid of him at MoMA, the Whitney or some similarly Hipster art museum, a picture of him taking a picture on a Nikon or a Canon (photoception!), or even just of him staring sadly at the camera. He might also have a picture with a dog or a cat (more dogs than cats, for some reason). And there definitely is some grunge element picture in there somewhere as well; one that evokes a 90s Johnny Depp/Winona Ryder/Kate Moss vibe. Think grungy filters or polaroids. A nude is rare but not unheard of: think full frontal view, various tattoos visible, crotch covered with hands, with graffiti or modern art in the background.

Their bios are too diverse to really generalize, but it probably seeps of desperation either ironically or unironically. He might beg you to swipe right but in a more clever way (ex. “If you swipe right you’ll be the hotter one”), make some ironically clichéd joke (“my name is So-and-so but you can call me tonight”), post a link to his Soundcloud, say that he’s a photographer looking for models, talk about whatever artwork he’s working on, or mention that he’s a model or an actor, or even a philosophy major. Bonus points if Alma or Butler is in his photos: you’ve stumbled upon a Columbia Sadboy!

sadboy via Nikki Shaner-Bradford