This paper explores how Britpop, Cool Britannia and New Labour impacted a generation of British youth’s attitudes towards British identity and their sense of belonging within the European Union. Based on current and upcoming events such as the Scotland referendum and the UK/EU exit referendum, the paper discusses the difficulties of identity construction for young people in the UK given the complexity of the British multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. Using qualitative interviews with former Britpop fans now in their early to late 30s from different ethnic backgrounds and different nations within the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), the paper provides an in-depth analysis of the social effects of a cultural phenomenon such as Britpop/Cool Britannia on young people’s construction of identity. The qualitative interview data shows that these former Britpop fans have a positive attitude towards British identity and a strong sense of belonging to the European Union.
