Such a phenomena! I've lived through the very inception of it and the 80s super-consumer atmosphere is right up my alley.
Vaporwave is a music genre but it's bigger than that. It was such an interesting pop culture art movement that I am happy to have gone through.
I grew up in the 90s and 90s Lithuania felt like 80s of the rest of the world. My first console was Sega Genesis at around 1997 to put things into perspective how behind we were. So the 80-90s capitalistic scene of vaporwave did resonate with me even though I never lived through the era american malls of the 80s. Once Lithuania picked itself up it kinda jumped through all of the fads in an accelerated time frame - shopping malls, neon colors, denim were all there but it flew by without many of us really getting to get into it. Maybe that's why I enjoy this feeling - it allows me go back a bit.
Of course as music vaporwave was exactly what I like - it's was enjoyable, not taking itself too seriously but nevertheless making you think if you wanted to dig deeper. The sampling of various 80s beats, phrases and even movies or anime promoted this familiarity feeling of carelessness.
Finally the A E S T H E T I C and meme community was absolutely top notch. I'm a fan of pastel colors and sunsets which really was the major part of vaporwave aesthetics. At some point I'd like to own a vaporwave themed cafe but by the time I get around to it the medium might be dead if it's not already :D
I'll leave you with my favorite recent vaporwave piece and my favorite video essay on the subject: