Spainwave is a primarily visual subgenre of Vaporwave that originated in the early 2020s, primarily from the subreddit r/spainwave. The aesthetic is defined by its specific focus on Spanish and Iberian cultural, historical, and political themes, which are recontextualized through the nostalgic, ironic, and surreal lens of Vaporwave and Synthwave .

Unlike classic Vaporwave, which primarily draws from 1980s-90s American and Japanese consumer culture, Spainwave sources its material from a broad spectrum of Spanish history, from the Spanish Golden Age to the present day. It is a highly localized and culturally specific offshoot of the broader Vaporwave movement, created by and for a community with a deep connection to Spain and its regional cultures.

The Spainwave aesthetic began to coalesce around 2020 with the creation of the r/spainwave subreddit, which currently has nearly 40,000 members. The community was formed to create a distinct version of Vaporwave that was culturally relevant to Spain, moving beyond the genre's typical American and Japanese reference points.

Users on the subreddit began to create and share a unique visual language by applying the editing techniques of Vaporwave (glitches, pastel color grading, surreal collages) and Synthwave (neon lights, retro-futuristic grids) to nostalgic and iconic Spanish imagery. While the visual aesthetic was established first, a musical component emerged later, often under the name " Rajoywave ," named after the former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

The visual identity of Spainwave is a fusion of Spanish cultural iconography (including elements of Spain's regional cultures) with established retro-digital editing styles. The source material is distinctly Spanish, often drawing from nostalgic television shows, old advertisements, regional landmarks, and political events. This imagery is then filtered through a classic Vaporwave or Synthwave lens.

Common visual treatments include applying pastel or neon color grading, VHS distortion, and glitch effects to the source images. The compositions often have a surreal, dreamlike, or melancholic quality. The aesthetic frequently features a blend of the mundane and the fantastic, such as a photo of a well-known Spanish politician set against a futuristic, neon-drenched cityscape, or a classic painting from the Spanish Golden Age edited with digital artifacts.

The musical component of Spainwave is a more recent development and is less established than the visual aesthetic. It follows the classic Vaporwave formula of sampling, but with a specific focus on Spanish source material. Tracks often feature slowed-down and reverb-heavy samples of old Spanish pop songs, television theme music, or political speeches. The most notable example is "Ｒａｊｏｙｗａｖｅ," a track that remixes speeches by former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, setting his voice to a classic, ethereal Vaporwave beat.