Edit: Looks like you can opt-out of that "new look and feel" pretty easily under the appearance settings but still, whats with putting rounded corners everywhere?
Edit 2: "Explore the web with a softer, more friendly aesthetic featuring rounded corners […] Designed to complement your operating system, whether on Windows 11, MacOS, or Linux." The fuck does that mean? Windows 11 fair enough but most Linux distros don't look like that at all.
It might just be down to nostalgia, especially when it comes to the early 2000s Windows XP style aesthetic. Just think about all the Vaporwave stuff (although that seems to be mostly late-90s-ish).
I’m more of a Windows Aero fan, myself. Frutiger Aero in general has a very dystopian vibe for me but I’m a sucker for transparency.
I miss integrated transparency