From 2009 to 2025: How Gen Z Turned Black Eyed Peas' "Imma Be" Into the Ultimate Main Character Energy Anthem

Introduction

If you grew up around late‑2000s pop-rap, the Black Eyed Peas were unavoidable: glossy production, stadium hooks, and lyrics that could swing from party-ready to oddly introspective. One cut from that era—“Imma Be” from The E.N.D. era—has experienced an unexpected second life. Between 2009 and 2025 the track moved from radio rotation and club remixes into the short-form-video sound library, surfacing repeatedly in Gen Z social feeds. What started as a catchy assertion—“I’m gonna be what I wanna be”—has been reframed into a playful, confident mantra that feeds a very 2020s cultural currency: main character energy.

This post unpacks how a song born in the late 2000s became, by 2025, a soundtrack for outfit transition challenges, “imma be taking them pics” moments, and broader Gen Z confidence culture. We'll do trend analysis rather than nostalgia therapy: chart the cultural mechanics, track platform shifts that made the remix possible, and point to concrete signals (including recent TikTok occurrences in 2025) that show the song’s resurgence. I’ll also be transparent about what's supported by verifiable research and what’s interpretive analysis, because the publicly available dataset for this particular micro‑trend is patchy. The evidence we do have—mostly short‑form video snapshots from 2025—reveals a clear pattern: creators are repurposing “Imma Be” as a soundtrack for self-staging, transformation, and main character moments.

Throughout this piece you’ll find actionable takeaways for creators, brands, and trend-watchers who want to understand or leverage the cultural mechanics behind this revival. I’ll also log the research data that’s available (and explicitly note the limitations), then synthesize how a 2009-era song found a new role in Gen Z’s aesthetic vocabulary by 2025.

Understanding the phenomenon

To analyze a cultural shift from 2009 to 2025, we need two threads: the song’s original position and the ecosystem changes that allowed it to be repurposed.

The song background (concise): “Imma Be” originates from the Black Eyed Peas’ late‑2000s period, an era of big, danceable pop‑rap singles. Lines like “Imma be what I wanna be” are simple, declarative, and lend themselves easily to aspirational reinterpretation. That lyrical directness is important—the phrase can be stripped from context and re-staged as a personal affirmation.

Platform evolution is the other half. In 2009 music consumption was dominated by radio, iTunes sales, and early YouTube. Fast-forward: the 2010s introduced Instagram, then Instagram Stories and Reels, and in the late 2010s/early 2020s TikTok emerged as the primary cultural engine for youth music discovery and meme creation. Short, loopable snippets of music—especially beats with a hook—are perfect for the app-driven remix culture. This gives old tracks new viral life.

What does the recent evidence show? The research I was provided included several TikTok data points from 2025 that indicate active engagement with “Imma Be” among Gen Z creators:

- A TikTok video from May 21, 2025, about Gen Z culture featuring Black Eyed Peas content. - A TikTok discovery page related to “Im Not Gen Z Black Eyed Peas” dated May 19, 2025 (reflecting the generational conversation around the band). - A TikTok video from April 21, 2025, using the hashtag #immabe. - An “Imma Be Dance Challenge” TikTok from June 20, 2025 promoting an “easy TikTok dance.” - An August 13, 2025 TikTok referencing a Gen Z hawker, which incorporated the track into lifestyle content.

These items show that the song was actively circulating on TikTok in 2025 across dances, lifestyle edits, and generational commentary. They also suggest varied uses: dance challenges, soundtrack for confident montages, and commentary about the band’s cross-generational appeal.

Important research limitations to flag (based on the dataset provided): - There is no comprehensive longitudinal metric included (e.g., yearly streaming counts, chart re-entries, or volume of hashtagged posts from 2009–2025). - There are no quoted experts or academic studies in the materials provided. - No direct platform analytics (TikTok play counts, Instagram Reels metrics, Spotify playlist additions) were included. - The available items are snapshots—helpful for qualitative reading but insufficient for rigorous quantitative trendlines.

Because of those gaps, this analysis aims to synthesize the observable pattern—how a particular snippet was recontextualized by Gen Z in 2025—rather than claim definitive causation backed by numerical time‑series data. Still, the qualitative evidence is strong for the core argument: the track’s lyrical mascotism and platform affordances made it ripe for a main character revival.

Key Components and Analysis

How exactly did “Imma Be” become a main character anthem? Let’s break the phenomenon into components: lyrical fit, audio structure, platform affordances, visual formats (outfit transitions), and cultural fit with Gen Z confidence culture.

1) Lyrical fit: affirmation as meme - The song’s central phrase is essentially a flexible assertion: “Imma be what I wanna be.” Phrases that double as mantras are viral gold because they can be re-used across contexts (confidence montages, mood flips, defiant comebacks). For Gen Z, who prioritize authenticity and performative self-styling, such a hook is easily repurposed as a “caption + soundtrack” combo. This linguistic portability is the seed of the trend.

2) Audio structure: hook + beat drop = loopability - Short-form platforms reward audio that can be looped or used for abrupt transitions. If a track has a clear hook or beat shift, creators can time edits to that moment for impact. “Imma Be” features rhythmic punchlines and producible beats that serve as transition cues—ideal for “outfit transition challenges” where you jump or snap at a beat to swap looks. Audio cues give creators simple choreography hooks without needing extensive production skills.

3) Platform affordances: editing tools + discovery - TikTok (and Instagram Reels) provide in-app editing, easy clip trimming, and sound pages that show trending uses. As of 2025, these platforms favor sounds that get reused because their recommendation algorithms amplify content with strong engagement. Once influential creators used “Imma Be” in a visually compelling way (dance, transformation, or “main character” clip), the algorithm could replicate reach exponentially. The provided search results (April–August 2025 TikToks) show this replication is happening in different content verticals.

4) Visual formats: outfit transition challenges & "taking them pics" - Outfit transitions are a staple format: quick cuts, snap edits, or spin transitions synced to audio spikes. The phrase “imma be taking them pics trend” captures a subtype—videos framed around getting camera-ready, angling for flattering photos, and leveling up one’s public persona. Pair that with “black eyed peas instagram trend” mentions and you see the cross-platform migration: what starts on TikTok will often be reposted to Instagram Reels and Stories, feeding a virtuous loop of visibility.

5) Cultural fit: Gen Z confidence culture and main character energy - Gen Z’s “main character” concept is performative but also aspirational: people stage moments where they appear to be the lead in their life’s narrative. This overlaps with mental health literacies (self-efficacy as a coping mechanism), micro-celebrity economies (aestheticized everyday life), and identity play. “Imma Be” supplies a succinct, swaggering soundtrack for those moments: it’s both ironic and sincere, which is a tonal sweet spot for Gen Z.

6) Cross-generational friction and conversation - The May 19, 2025 discovery page around “Im Not Gen Z Black Eyed Peas” indicates the conversation about older acts being rediscovered by younger listeners. This dynamic creates additional virality: older fans notice reinterpretations of their music, post reactions, and that cross-talk fuels algorithmic interest. Memes often thrive on this generational interplay—young users reclaim or reframe older artifacts, turning them into self-aware cultural props.

Synthesis: The convergence of a reusable lyrical hook, edit-friendly audio architecture, short-form platform tooling, and Gen Z’s appetite for staged confidence produced fertile ground for “Imma Be” to become a main character energy anthem. The specific TikTok examples from 2025 show the trend in flight—dances, #immabe tags, “imma be taking them pics” kinds of posts—confirming the pattern even without full analytics.

Practical Applications

If you’re a creator, brand manager, or cultural researcher, here are concrete ways to apply this trend analysis.

For creators (content strategy): - Jump on the format, not just the sound: Pair “Imma Be” or similar affirmation hooks with a clear visual template—outfit change, confident walk, or “before/after” moment. Users adopt formats more readily than raw sounds. - Use the hook as a caption prompt: captions like “imma be _____” invite engagement. Ask followers to complete the sentence in comments to increase interaction. - Layer irony and sincerity: Gen Z likes both. Pair the anthem-level music with a tongue-in-cheek or hyper-stylized visual to maximize shareability. - Crosspost smartly: If a video performs well on TikTok, export to Instagram Reels and Snapchat Spotlight quickly. The research showed cross-platform mentions (TikTok and Instagram), so duplication amplifies reach.

For brands (campaign activation): - Micro-influencer seeding: Collaborate with creators who already use “Imma Be” imagery—micro-influencers can provide authentic touchpoints without overt brand tone-deafness. - Create an “imma be” creative brief: encourage users to show how your product helps them “be” a particular version of themselves (e.g., “Imma be bold with X lipstick”). - Leverage user-generated transitions: run an “outfit transition challenge” where brand assets (logo, product) appear as the transformation catalyst, keeping the creative control minimal and the participation low-friction.

For researchers and trend analysts: - Track sound pages and hashtag cohorts: monitor the sound’s reuse, the velocity of its use across weeks, and cross-reference with engagement figures. Since public research was limited here, recommend tools like TikTok’s Creator Marketplace reports, Chartmetric, and Spotify for Artists for better metrics. - Conduct sentiment sampling: manually sample top-performing clips to categorize uses (dance, outfit, confidence montage) — qualitative coding helps translate play counts into cultural meanings. - Map generational reaction: capture commentary from older fans vs. Gen Z users to see how cross‑generational dialogue amplifies visibility (the May 19, 2025 “Not Gen Z” discovery page suggests this is a fruitful angle).

Actionable checklist: - Creators: Film 9–15 second transitions synced to the “Imma Be” beat, caption with a fill-in-the-blank, and post natively on TikTok and Reels within 24 hours. - Brands: Launch a 1–2 week micro-challenge seeded to 10 niche creators, offer product giveaways to boost UGC, and repurpose top entries into paid ads. - Researchers: Pull sound usage data weekly for 8 weeks and categorize uses into at least five buckets (dance, fashion transition, humor, nostalgia, lifestyle).

Challenges and Solutions

Trend opportunism isn’t risk-free. Here are common challenges (ethical, creative, and measurement) and practical fixes.

1) Challenge: Over‑commercialization and inauthenticity - Risk: If brands force the trend, it can look exploitative—Gen Z penalizes phoniness. - Solution: Use low-intervention briefs. Let creators interpret the prompt. Avoid heavy product placement in the first wave; let authenticity establish the trend before amplifying.

2) Challenge: Licensing and copyright - Risk: Using older tracks can bring rights friction—especially for paid campaigns. - Solution: Work with music licensing partners or labels early. Platforms often have commercial sound libraries; if the original isn’t cleared for commercial use, consider a cover/artist collaboration or commission a sound-alike that captures the same cadence without infringing rights.

3) Challenge: Measurement gaps (we saw this in the research) - Risk: Without robust longitudinal metrics, it’s hard to claim ROI or trend longevity. - Solution: Build a custom measurement framework: baseline sound usage at campaign start, weekly heatmap of sound reuse, and sentiment sampling. Use both platform analytics and third-party tools (Chartmetric, Songstats, TikTok Creator Marketplace) to fill gaps.

4) Challenge: Trend saturation and fatigue - Risk: Overuse causes diminishing returns; the format will get stale. - Solution: Refresh creative prompts—shift from outfit transitions to “day in my life” montages or micro-docs that still use the same hook. Encourage unexpected pairings (e.g., comedic subversions, political statements) to keep the sound evolving.

5) Challenge: Cross‑generational backlash - Risk: Older fans misreading reinterpretation could create negative PR. - Solution: Lean into the cross-generational conversation—invite veteran Black Eyed Peas fans to respond in duet chains or host a “then vs. now” reaction series that celebrates both the original and the remix culture.

6) Challenge: Short-lived virality vs. sustained cultural meaning - Risk: A sound can peak quickly and disappear. - Solution: Convert viral moments into long-term community practices. Encourage remixable templates (multiple formats) so the sound persists in different forms. Use the initial viral burst for community-building (mailing lists, Discord, or creator collectives) to sustain engagement beyond the trend cycle.

7) Challenge: Lack of rigorous evidence (as noted) - Risk: Acting on sparse data could misallocate resources. - Solution: Pilot small, measurable tests first. Use A/B testing with small budgets to validate that the trend mechanics hold in your target audience before scaling.

Future Outlook

Where does this trend go next? Below are plausible trajectories and what to watch for—both optimistic and cautionary.

1) Normalization into the “main character” canon - Likely: As Gen Z continues to codify main character aesthetics, expect more tracks from past decades to be repurposed as anthem lines. “Imma Be” could become a permanent go-to sound for self-assertion clips, much like some classic songs have become pickable meme staples.

2) Platform-driven evolution - Likely: TikTok and Instagram’s editing features will continue to evolve (more advanced AR, AI background separation, auto-transition tools). These tech improvements will make producing slick “outfit transition challenges” easier, lowering the barrier for mass participation.

3) Artist and label activation - Plausible: Labels and artists might lean into the trend by releasing updated stems, official remix packs, or challenge kits to encourage commercial reuse. That would professionalize and monetize repurposing while giving creators safer licensing paths.

4) Meme mutation and genre shifts - Likely: The sound’s use will diversify: from confident montages to irony-driven comedic plays, political reframings, or meta-commentary. Expect memetic offshoots that reinterpret the hook for other situated identities (e.g., “Imma be a grad student” or “Imma be debt-free”).

5) Research and analytics maturation - Plausible: As trends like this attract brand interest, more robust datasets will be collected. Expect third-party aggregators to produce white papers tracking lifecycle patterns for nostalgia-sourced sounds.

6) Skepticism and countertrends - Possible: A counter-movement might emerge that rejects repurposed nostalgia as derivative. This could open space for wholly new sounds that codify authenticity in different ways.

Signals to monitor in 2025–2026: - Spike in sound page uses and geographic spread (are non-English creators picking it up?) - Brand-safe licensing moves or label-published remix packs - Cross-platform migration (TikTok→Instagram→YouTube Shorts) - Emergence of high-profile creators (or legacy artists) who repurpose the sound in unexpected ways - Any academic or consumer research that quantifies psychological impact (does music-anchored affirmation improve engagement/metrics?)

If you’re a practitioner, track these signals weekly for the next 6–12 months to decide whether to amplify, pivot, or shelf the trend.

Conclusion

Between 2009 and 2025, Black Eyed Peas’ “Imma Be” illustrated a broader cultural mechanism: the way short-form platforms allow Gen Z to recast older pop artifacts as tools for identity performance. The song’s simple, repeatable hook and punchy beat created an easy technical fit for outfit transition challenges, “imma be taking them pics” moments, and broader main character energy content. The research snapshots from April–August 2025 (TikTok posts, discovery pages, and dance challenges) confirm that the song was actively circulating in Gen Z spaces—though the dataset lacks deep longitudinal metrics and expert testimony.

For creators, brands, and researchers, the lesson is practical and strategic: focus on format replication, low-friction authenticity, and careful measurement. Start small, allow creators to own the creative direction, and prepare for both rapid virality and equally rapid change. If you play the trend well, a nostalgic hook like “Imma Be” can be more than a meme—it can become a structural device in how a generation performs confidence and shapes its public-facing stories.

Actionable recap: - Creators: Make a 9–15 second transition video using the “Imma Be” beat; caption with a prompt; crosspost to Reels. - Brands: Seed a micro-challenge with micro-influencers; keep product placement subtle; secure licensing early. - Researchers: Build a weekly sound-usage tracker and sample qualitative uses to map cultural meanings.

The main character moment is performative but powerful: a short audio cue plus a confident edit can turn an ordinary clip into an anthem. In 2025, Gen Z made that move with “Imma Be.” Whether future generations do the same with other throwback tracks will depend on the interplay of language portability, audio architecture, platform tooling, and the ever-evolving tastes of cultural producers.