Chasing trends makes you one of thousands. Following your own weird makes you the only one.

Trends are already crowded by the time you can see them, so copying one puts you in a line behind everyone who got there first. The specific, slightly odd combination of things you care about has no line. It is harder to explain, and that is exactly why nobody else can hand in the same thing.

Think about what pulls you in when no one is grading it. Put one piece of that into something you are already making this week, even if it looks out of place next to what everyone else turned in.