Call it magical thinking or manifesting, but the belief that people can influence their reality through sheer will has existed for centuries.
Now, there’s a new term for this idea: “delulu.”Derived from the word delusional, delulu first gained popularity this summer as shorthand for unrelenting confidence.
(Posts with the word have more than five billion views on TikTok.)
Though it has roots in the K-pop community to describe a fan’s parasocial relationship with a celebrity, delulu is now widely used by Gen Z-ers and young millennials to describe the process of making the seemingly impossible possible — or at least of coming to believe that they can.
In the words of Bianca Bernardo, a 23-year-old content creator in Los Angeles: “May all your delulu come trululu, because being delulu is the solulu.”
Persons:
delulu, Gen, millennials, Bianca Bernardo, “, ”
Locations:
TikTok, Los Angeles