– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

five trends that are going to define

2026.

Number one, the individual empire. As I

think about the individual empire, I

think we're at a tipping point to what

my conversation started in 2008 around

Crush It. Crush It came out in 2009. It

was like, "Hey, you can cash in on your

passion." Then there was Grape Story

when I started the first influencer

agency. Then there was Crushing It. And

now we're in this world where it's very

clear to people that being an influencer

is a business in a way that it wasn't 18

years ago. But more importantly, I'm

using the word empire. In 2008, I said

you, all of you, and this is still real,

can make 50 to $100,000 talking about

ALF and the Smurfs and all that. Ask

yourself, what do I want to do every day

for the rest of my life? Do that. I

promise you can monetize that [ __ ] If

you love ALF, do an ALF blog. You

collect smurfs, smurf it up. What I'm

saying in 2026 is you can build an

empire. Hey everybody, I know you're a

minute into the video on YouTube. I'm

not going to keep you long, but I've got

to tell you about garyve.com.

Stantore, an incredible tech stack for

creator, entrepreneurs, and

entrepreneurial creators is literally

the tech stack based on what I wrote in

Crush It and Crushing It and really the

thing almost all of you are trying to

build. So, if you are one of those

people, go to the Gary Vee challenge

that I've partnered up with this

investment I made in Stan's store. I

believe in this. I believe in it for

you. You'll see why I love it.

GaryVee.com/stan.

Go check it out. Now, back to the video.

We are talking about individuals now,

not just making money from brand deals.

But there are two macro things that are

happening that are massive. The CPG and

consumer product opportunity that the

Kelsey brothers just raised at a $200

million valuation on. When you look at

what's going on with uh Logan Paul and

Jake Paul and their brands, especially

Prime and KSI's brand, when you look at

Charlie De'milio going for her popcorn,

when you look at Emma Chamberlain and

her coffee, when you look at all these

ex the Poppy and Liquid Death, which is

a little different, Poppy and Liquid

Death were brands. And then the founders

themselves went up and became the

individual face similar a little bit to

mine. I'm more business then. I became

face then to business with Empathy

Wines, which I did originally back then.

And so it's similar to like building

your brand on Instagram, but then going

and standing up a Patreon substack, but

in those scenarios, those platforms

still take some of the action. When

that's built on a decentralized server,

not a centralized server, and not done

by a platform that owns it, but by a

platform that's decentralized, and you

own all the money, you're maximizing all

of your revenue and not sharing it. You

will share with the places that give you

the attention, Facebook, Instagram, Tik

Tok, whatever it is. But where you're

going to monetize, you're going to

monetize in a decentralized way where

you keep 100% of that dollar, not 90 or

80% of that dollar. Number two, Gen

Alpha unplugging. This is so fun for me.

I am completely convinced that young Gen

Z, Gen Alpha that's coming next and very

honestly probably all of Gen Z and maybe

even Young Millennial are all

understanding this is great but and more

importantly and this is great and by the

way I know you all want to demonize it.

This is great. It's changed your life. I

know we're all [ __ ] on it but like

how do you order food? How do you get a

date? How do you like do a million

things? This is great, but it's not the

end all beall and we don't want to live

like this 24/7 365.

This and so the unplugging is just the

pendulum swings in 2006 when I'm like

this this this didn't exist and didn't

have any of the market share. Now it's

gotten so much and I think within the

next decade and I think starting in 2026

you'll see more businesses like this.

I've just talked about a business where

you get paid to walk with people like

literally walk with them. I think

experiential music festivals, going

outside, going to events, just going out

and putting the phone away. So would

everybody else. So it's here. If it's

here for me, it's definitely here for

the 15-year-olds that are coming up the

game. Number two biggest trend in 2026,

the unplugging of Gen Alpha, which is an

indicator to the unplugging of every

generation. Number three biggest trend

of 2026 that no one sees, the

underpriced attention, the monetization

of random content. Let me explain. This

is a weird one. And I'm excited about

this. I think this is going to be the

breakthrough for some people. When I

wrote Crush It in 2009 or 2008 came out

in09, it was like you can cash in on

your passion. So if you're a hardcore

Star Trek collector, if you really go

crazy for two years on your blog at the

time and on Twitter and Facebook and

YouTube at the time, eventually you'll

get to a place where you can get

t-shirts sold, sponsorship, you can go

speak at Star Track Con and all that

stuff. What I'm saying here is very

different. This is about where we are

now in overall marketing and overall

communication, which is we're now in the

interest graph, not the social graph.

We're now in a place where I, Gary,

could tomorrow make my first ever piece

of content around surfing ever.

And even though all my followers do not

follow me for surfing, the way the AI

algorithms now work is when I post about

surfing and why surfboards are good and

why you should buy a surfboard for me or

why this is a good surfboard or surf

chalk or whatever the hell I learned

about surfboards,

that content is going to reach people

that are in a high propensity interest

of surfboards. Why is this important? I

believe for everybody who's watching

right now, if they started posting

content of everything that they are

interested in, everything, not passion,

but passions,

posted everything that's random to them.

I just took up checkers and the first

video is them learning how to play

checkers. So, not only their passions,

but their curiosities.

The rise of curiosity content. You're

curious, you're exploring, you're on

training wheels, but you're learning. My

brother AJ does not know how to ride a

bike. I probably said that because I

think it's funny. But if he started

making content as a 39year-old man about

his journey on learning to ride a bike,

here is my belief of the world we now

live in. For many of you, these random

random pieces of social content become

the first indicator to a massive

financial and happiness opportunity. The

monetization of random content. You post

something funny about sunflower seeds

because you spit one out on your friend

and you're like, "That's funny. Let's

make another one." And you find yourself

six months later getting $5,000 from a

sunflower seed brand to do content. It's

about a very simple concept, which is

why not? Why not post something random

all the time that you're genuinely

interested in? You're not watching this

video and you're just going random for

the sake of random because you believe

I'm right. Though honestly, that's

probably not a bad idea either. But

obviously, if it's grounded in truth and

authenticity, it's going to work better.

When all of you start putting out more

random content, when that post gets

three million views, it opens up the

opportunity for you to build on top of

it. Now, you might not be able to. You

get inspired by me in this video and you

eat a pickle and you put out a video

about pickles and it hits and it gets

[ __ ] three million views. And now

you're even getting DMs from people

like, "What do you know about pickles

and you want to do a pickle and you want

to come to the pickle festival?" You

might be like, I don't and honestly I

don't care and honestly I have nothing

else to contribute. Like I'm I'm very

surface level. I just eat pickles. A the

Rizzler just says ridiculous things and

makes a face. Like there's a lot of

people that have made full careers about

ridiculous things. Um the where's the

beef lady in the 80s was like she said

where's the beef? That was her career.

So you could be a random spokesman or

something of that nature. But if you

keep it authentic, if it's something you

really know about or it's something you

want to know about, it actually allows

you to build in depth, not just

randomness. And so your random thing

becomes the documentation of your

journey, which then becomes your

monetizable framework of content. It's a

left field thought that I think a lot of

people are going to struggle with

grasping. I myself am in my journey of

like really getting this narrative down,

but it's very clear to me. Do I believe

it's in the vested interest of all of

you posting way more often on TikTok,

completely random stuff that is grounded

in things that you really know about or

things that you're curious about? The

answer is yes. Let me give you, if you

just got motivated by that, let me give

you the list of what you need to do. You

know, if you're going to go down the

random play in social, make sure your

bios in your Tik Tok and Instagram are

really tight and awesome, meaning email,

phone number, like knowing that people

are going to randomly see something

because don't forget there's a whole

left field thing here. You're a lawyer

that wants or you're a a golf trainer.

You train people golf lessons. You give

golf lessons. You start putting out

things about pumpkins. You start putting

out things about um wet hair. you start

putting out things about um porcupines.

This is random ass [ __ ] When your

porcupine video gets three million,

people are going to land on your

account. If they see that you're a

professional golf expert and you do golf

lessons and you have an email there and

a phone number, of the three million

people that see your porcupine video,

nine of them are looking for golf

lessons.

So, this gets very practical of just

general awareness, relevance on an

individual thing you connect on. Some of

you liked me because we're both sad Jet

fans, right? But then when you needed

four years later some wine or you needed

an agency, you went to me because we're

Jet fans. Somebody loves porcupines.

They love your video. They may choose

you to do the golf lesson. So there's

two things. Your career might be about

porcupines because you decided to go

down that path. Or it became a gateway

drug to your service or your business

because you want on interest in a micro

moment, not a macro moment. Your

profile's got to be tight.

Number four on my 2026 trends

underpriced opportunities, the rise and

continued rise of the continent of

Africa. The numbers are staggering when

you look at how much youth of our

overall population in a decade will be

in the continent of Africa. When you're

worldly enough to interact with many of

the incredible young talent from these

countries, when you understand that the

way the world turns is every continent

gets its time. Many of us who are in my

age group watch the rise of Asia and the

rise of the Middle East. It is very

clear that Africa as a continent is

absolutely the big winner of the next

20, 30, 40 years. And for many of you

watching, this should open up the

aperture. Do you have relatives there

and you're like, "Wait a minute, Gary,

you're saying that I can actually grow

my like my professional careers growth

is actually from my grandparents and

cousins that live in Kenya or Nigeria."

I'm like, "Yes, that is exactly what I'm

saying. The opportunity there is

extraordinary. both doing business there

and two understanding how amazing the

raw firepower of the young talent is in

that country from an intellect and

hunger standpoint again follow what I'm

saying here similar to what we saw in

India and Japan and China and overall

Asia and the Middle East over the last

25 30 40 years here in the west and

Europe and the US so huge opportunities

the cultural impact I don't have to tell

anybody that follows music we've already

seen any early indications just like we

saw Latin music massively impact the US

over the last 25 years we've already

been seeing African music impact top

hits in the US African influencers the

culture the food the sport and it goes

both ways just like you're seeing manga

and anime and Asian culture massively

impact the west the west has massively

always because of the Hollywood machine

in America impacted the East. The

opportunity in Africa is very clear. You

have to understand it. It's either

direction. You're 23 and you want an

adventure. And forget about even

relatives. You're like a white boy in

Kansas and you're like, I'm an

entrepreneur. Wait, Gary's saying

Africa. I'm saying Africa. So doing

business. And obviously Africa is a

massive continent. Ma, in fact, it's so

much bigger than you think because it's

misrepresented on the globe. And

obviously every country has its

geopolitical stuff, its entrepreneurial

opportunities. Some are great, some are

not great. really no different than

Europe or anywhere else. But overall,

the impact's enormous. The basketball

culture, both the African Basketball

League, but the talent coming, Nigeria's

athletes starting to penetrate the NFL

in a massive way. Like, do I believe

that? Yes, I do. Does it take patience?

Yes, it does. Is that how great

businesses are sometimes built? For damn

sure.

Africa's impact massive. Opportunities

massive in both directions. Number five

on big opportunities in 2026,

alternative sports. This has been

massive for me. I've been following

esports for a long time. We represent a

bunch of esports, mongrel clicks, and

all these great athletes in Vader

Sports. Obviously, I got involved in

pickle ball early on. That's been very

fruitful. I'm obsessed with what's going

on with whiffle ball, padell, uh,

threeon-ree, the big three, and rivaled

basketball, both men's and women's. I've

had my hands deep in this. Obviously,

many of you know my long-term ambition

to own the New York Jets. Um, Mondays in

the fall are tough for me. I'm very

upset right now. I'm filming this on a

Monday after a tough loss. But what's

very clear to me is that this is going

to keep going. I'm involved in slam ball

as well. Like, this is going to keep

going. I had a conversation a few months

ago about bowling. Like, I'm like, "Oo,

I like that." Uh, the rise of UFC and

esports in the last 30 years, very

clear. Do you think these exhibition

fighting matches between Tyson and Jake

Paul and Mayweather and Paul and Paul

and Paul and like do you think these

things would work if social and YouTube

didn't exist? Nobody would care. Nobody

would watch. So it goes from YouTube to

Netflix. This is going to continue to

happen. This is the device that's

changed the world as we talked about.

And there's going to be room for more

sports, more sports. And basketball and

football and baseball and soccer were

invented by human beings. There's a kid

right now watching this right now on

YouTube who actually got inspired by my

rant and is going to actually invent the

next hockey, basketball, and football

and in 53 years will reference this

video. And that makes me feel good. I

hope I'm alive to get those flowers. The

rise of alternative sports because of

how the media landscape has changed is

firm. All of you need to look into it

and it changes absolutely everything.

and number six for 2026 because I

decided you'll have to wait for a

special video in the future. Thanks for

watching.

[Music]

[Music]

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
trend /trɛnd/ B1	noun - a general direction in which something is developing or changing
empire /ˈɛmpaɪər/ B2	noun - a group of countries or regions ruled by a single leader or government
passion /ˈpæʃən/ B1	noun - a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something
monetize /ˈmʌnɪtaɪz/ C1	verb - to earn money from something
influencer /ˈɪnfluenser/ B2	noun - a person who can influence others, especially through social media
business /ˈbɪznɪs/ A2	noun - an organization or company that provides goods or services
unplug /ˌʌnˈplʌɡ/ B2	verb - to disconnect from electronic devices or technology
generation /ˌdʒɛnəˈreɪʃən/ A2	noun - all people who were born at roughly the same time
decentralize /ˌdiːˈsɛntrəlaɪz/ C1	verb - to move control away from a central authority
content /ˈkɒntɛnt/ B1	noun - information or material that expresses ideas or facts
random /ˈrændəm/ B2	adjective - without a clear pattern or purpose
curiosity /ˌkjʊəriˈɒsəti/ B2	noun - the desire to learn about something new
opportunity /ˌɒpərˈtjuːnəti/ A2	noun - a chance for something to happen or be done
continent /ˈkɒntɪnənt/ A1	noun - one of the seven large landmasses on Earth
talent /ˈtælənt/ B1	noun - a natural ability to be good at something
build /bɪld/ A1	verb - to make or create something by putting parts together
rise /raɪz/ A2	verb - to increase or become higher
alternative /ɔːlˈtɜːnətɪv/ B2	adjective - existing instead of something else
sports /spɔːrts/ A1	noun - physical activities involving skill and effort