Rising pop princesses, controversial movie remakes, and criminal lawsuits that turned the culture on its head, pop culture in 2024 did not see a day of peace with so many releases—be it music, films, or even Twitter truths. Every day you would scroll on X or Instagram and see another celebrity feud or another culturally significant moment, which wouldn't have been surprising, seeing that said moments would occur twice in a single month.

With so many events, incidents, and feuds, the introduction section of this article, I think, shouldn't take up too much space. So let's jump right in!

Photo by idrewuk from Wikimedia Commons

Lawsuits and Lemonade: Diddy + Beyoncé’s Conspiracy

Ah yes, the infamous P. Diddy lawsuits and criminal accusations. A case that shook up the industry in late 2023 continued into 2024, which shed a spotlight on this whole fiasco. What felt like a page ripped off the Hunger Games concept was when it was announced that Diddy’s case trials are going to be held on the same day as the 2025 Met Gala event.

What circulated on everyone's for-you pages was actually the entire Beyonce Conspiracy, which had a complete chokehold on the internet. “Thank you, Beyoncé,” and “Beyoncé’s album was one of the best” texts were flooding in as memes, referencing the alleged theory of Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and P Diddy ‘offing’ anyone who surpasses the “All the Single Ladies” singer. Truly one of those moments that will go down in pop-culture history!

Photo by iHeartRadioCA from Wikimedia Commons

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Oranges, Greys, and Blues: The Album Trinity of 2024

Apart from the controversies and feuds that took over the internet, this year was the peak of pop music. With the trinity of veteran artists releasing their much awaited albums, our Spotify playlists were NOT lacking in terms of good music this year.

Ariana Grande, with her ‘Eternal Sunshine’ album, leads us into soft hues of vulnerability laced in melodies of synth-pop and pop throughout the tracklist. Although she was snubbed this year in numerous award shows—be it the Grammys, VMAs, or the BBMAs—her hit songs like “we cant be friends”, “that boy is mine” and “yes? and” will continue marinating in our playlists, perfect for long night drives.

Taylor Swift released her compilation album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department,’ which she previously teased in her speech at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, is a moody ensemble of synth-pop, folk-pop, and country, detailing her emotions during her burnout while touring for her record-breaking “Eras Tour”. Although the critical reception to the album was polarized, it didn't stop the double-sided album from breaking records and bagging multiple nominations and awards.

One of, if not the best album to come this year (in my own opinion), was definitely ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ by our girl Billie Eilish. With vocals that feel like feathers touching your skin and excellent production, almost every song on the album feels like a smokey and wispy hug after being soaked in the rain.

Photo by Justin Higuchi from Wikimedia Commons

Power Pop Girlies: The Year of Bratz and Bangers

Continuing on with women in music, aside from the veterans, the rookies of this year served, ate, and devoured. Dubbed as the c*nty version of the Powerpuff Girls, these girls revitalized what pop music really was about—fun and theatrics.

Chappel Roan, with her fiery red hair and theatrical music, turned heads with her explosive fame this year. Although she started out in 2017, her single “Good Luck! Babe” shot her up onto the charts, subsequently followed by the rising popularity of her 2023 album 'The Fall of a Midwestern Princess.' Winning fans' hearts with her high productions and especially her 2024 VMAs performance, we only wait for her next releases.

Crashing down doors with her Bratz heels, wearing glittery baby blue corsets and red kisses, Sabrina Carpenter seemingly showed up out of nowhere and took over everyone's hearts—and playlists—within the span of just 3 months. The Sabrina lore goes hard: a former Disney star, acting in films, labeled as a “homewrecker” in the ‘love triangle' between her, Olivia Rodrigo, and Joshua Bassett, allegedly.

She gained mainstream success due to her humorously sexual outros to her song “Nonsense” and topped charts with her subsequent release “Espresso.” The singer is currently touring for her ‘Short n’ Sweet’ album, matching her doll-like, sparkly, yet sensual concept.

Two words: brat summer. There's no one who hasn't heard of this. Stemming from Charlie XCX’s 'brat' album, it's actually an aesthetic that contrasts the ‘Clean Girl’ aesthetic from 2023.

Bold, messy, y2k and synth- all words that describe the aesthetic and the album as a whole. Charlie might be someone who seems to have popped out of nowhere, but she too has been played on the radio more times than you would think. Songs like “Boom Clap,” “Afterparty,” etc. were a radio show staple back in the mid-2010s.

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Kendrick vs. Drake

We obviously cannot talk about music in 2024 without mentioning the iconic Kendrick and Drake feud. With an entire Wikimedia page to itself, it was too iconic to NOT be known by anyone with access to the internet; this is truly one of those things that will forever be associated with the year 2024. A result of years worth of cumulative disses and undertones and shots fired repeatedly from both sides, the win clearly and very obviously went to Kendrick Lamar.

After a series of back-and-forths from the two, the feud reached its climax with Drake’s “Family Matters,” released on May 3rd, taking a dig at Kendrick’s themes from his “Mr. Morale & the Big Stepper” album.

What had everyone gagged was that twenty minutes later, Kendrick dropped “Meet the Grahams” – which seemingly destroyed any prospect of Drake's recovery. With an eerie piano-driven beat and verses in the form of a letter to each of Drake’s family members, Kendrick brutally lays out every flaw, crack, and burn in Drake’s career and life.

And for the track that took over not only people’s attention but also the charts- only a day later, Kendrick released “Not Like Us.” If "Meet the Grahams" was the final nail in the coffin of Drake's career, "Not Like Us" was Kendrick dancing on his grave.

“Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar on Youtube

Although Drake released "The Heart Part 6" as a response, defending himself, it was drowned out by the sounds of the fans on non-fans alike, singing along to Lamar’s clever wordplay on “A-Minor.”

Weird Press Tours and Marketing Fails

Moving on to the film industry, Wicked’s marketing team worked overtime trying to turn the joint releases of Wicked and Moana into the 2024 version of Barbenheimer, which they failed at. After this first “ick,” the promotions and the press tours did NOT help with bringing in good responses from the viewers.

With all the constant crying and overdramatizations paired with that one “holding space” interview where Cynthia Erivo answers the interviewer's question about ‘holding space’ and finding power in the song “Defying Gravity”, an awkward situation not even Ariana, let alone the audience, understood, all while the latter holds on to Cynthia’s finger in comfort.

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Split end with us

Speaking of bad marketing, we were "graced” with the movie release of Colleen Hoover's infamous book “It Ends with Us”, starring the Hollywood It girl (now hated) Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who were also the producer and director, respectively.

With marketing campaigns that failed horrendously, unpacking the reasons behind their failure and the entire feud would require an entire article of its own. In a nutshell, Blake, who promoted the film as Barbie 2.0 (wanting to recreate the Barbenheimer phenomenon by pairing her film with her husband Ryan Reynolds’s film “Deadpool vs. Wolverine”), was heavily criticized and clashed with Justin Baldoni, who promoted the film as it is: a story about a domestically and emotionally abusive romantic relationship.

These clashes and Blake’s complete ignorance and tone deafness, paired with her using the film to promote her own hair brand, Blake Brown (which raised criticism of its own), eventually resulted in not only a 55% on Rotten Tomatoes but also her own downfall in the eyes of the general public.

Photo by Pierre de Coubertin from Wikimedia Commons

2024 Paris ‌Olympics

Although a sports event, this once-in-4-years event births quite a lot of memes and culturally significant moments. And this year….was full of them.

Hosted in Paris, people naturally expected a grandiose and powerful opening ceremony. What they didn't expect was drag queens with body paint cosplaying as the Greek gods in an Olympic banquet, dancing in the rain, leaving people disappointed and baffled. It was a perfect example of a scenario of ‘good vision, but bad execution.’

Apart from the opening ceremony, we had swimmers in a poop-infested lagoon, Yusuf Dakek, who competed with only his prescription glasses but somehow won silver, and people fawning over Kim Yeji – the South Korean sharpshooter. The most popular Olympian by far was Ragyun from Australia, who delivered a very questionable routine in the Break Dancing Olympics.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

The Inception of ‘Brainrot’ Humor

Although not as culturally significant, these moments deserve being mentioned in this article.

From the revitalization of Ellie Goulding’s “Symphony” into dolphins and rainbows, to the “Huak Twah” girl, to everyone collectively fawning over for an Ivy League graduate who murdered the CEO of a healthcare center, here’s a run-through of all the other iconic moments in 2024.

- Nicado Avocado is actually ‘always two steps ahead’ of us; he is now skinny and had pre-recorded everything he had put out until now.

- JoJo Siwa is now... emo? And makes music that's a mix of emo and EDM? Well, in her words, “Karma’s a b*tch; (you) we should have known better.”

- “From the screen to the ring, to the pen, to the king. Where's my crown? That's my bling." It’s KSI’s bling; he’s apparently a rapper now.

- Apparently everyone invited to the Met Gala this year didn't read half of the invitation and showed up, because although we got some iconic and creative looks, almost none of them were actually on theme.

The year 2024 was indeed an extremely entertaining year for us and definitely a year to be remembered. With the Y2K trends on the rise and an excellent lineup of films and TV shows for next year, which includes Batman 2 and Odyssey, as well as P. Diddy's trial, let's hope for a better, safer, and peaceful year.