Thoughtful Vocabulary: Basic
Basic: of, relating to, or forming the base or essence. (Merriam Webster's Dictionary)
Slang: A derogatory term for one who follows mainstream fashion/trend/music.
It's impossible in most cases to trace the birthplace of a word, or even a new definition for an old word, but preliminary research says "basic," and particularly in the modifier "Basic B****" dates back to 2009, and was possibly popularized by comedian Li'l Duvall, but the only source I could find on that was Buzzfeed and I'd rather try to befriend hornets than rely on Buzzfeed for information.
Time also puts the phrase entering the public consciousness back in 2009, as measured by Urban Dictionary, though they measure the idea of Basicness by a throwaway character in Mean Girls, so make of that what you will.
Basic ladies, Basic bros. It doesn't even seem worthwhile to try to define what criteria make someone basic someone at the moment. If the term really has been around for over a decade, it means that "basicness" or "basicality," if you will, changes with the times.
What makes the word interesting, or course is that much like Nerd, Basic's new meaning is tailor-made to make fun of people for enjoying the things they enjoy. If you're buying the most popular brand of any object: sunglasses, water bottle, cooler, make-up, car, laptop, phone, beverage, epinephrine injector (oh, you're still using Epi-Pens? That's a little yikes) or, presumably, coffin, you're basically just basic and that's the end of it.
Even the basic need a defender, and it’s Brennan Lee Mulligan in a dumb costume.
What's really depressing about the term is that it's also clearly meant in bad faith. So, if a person is all-caps BASIC for wearing Oakley sunglasses, or whatever, it's just the general consensus that such a person is mindlessly following trends, and should be embarrassed by their frightening lack of taste. But if that same person was to wear, say, some nerdy-ass Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann sunglasses, you know for a FACT that the same people would have something catty to say about those unbelievably stylish shades.
Also a great way to show you’re ready to lead the Squirtle Squad.
It's strange to live in a society that will casually mock the majority of people for something essentially harmless but will just as quickly mock anybody outside the majority whose challenge to the status quo isn't cool enough. I'm not saying that if you think Starbucks is overrated, you're honor-bound to befriend people who drink ketchup out of a water bottle, but the expectation that the mainstream is embarrassing, but most of the stuff outside that mainstream is also cringey is just ridiculous. It's the same kind of narrow-minded worldview of a cool/lame binary that people were making fun of when "basic-osity" was in its Gerber-and-pampers infancy.
As a general rule, I think we can all stand to be more accepting of the harmless preferences of others and forgive the basicness of others as we would have them forgive our super-weird obsessions and favorites. Only then will we level up from basic human relationships to intermediate ones. But don't ask me about advanced human relationships because I haven't unlocked that level yet.