CNN
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We’re crawling to the top of 2023, and thank goodness we made it.
We lived by quite a bit this 12 months — an excessive amount of, even! From Beyoncé and Taylor Swift monopolizing our lives to debates over NFL security, labor strikes, movie star divorces and countless courtroom appearances (who knew Gwyneth Paltrow and Younger Thug would have one thing in widespread this 12 months?), we — two self-proclaimed pop-culture students — have remembered it all.
So collect round, fellow tradition fiends. Listed below are the issues that outlined popular culture this 12 months, for higher or worse.
It was a theatrical occasion the likes of which we haven’t seen since Tony Stark died within the MCU (sorry, this isn’t a spoiler anymore). “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” two of the most-anticipated movies of 2023, premiered over the identical summer time weekend. (“Barbie” was launched by Warner Bros., which shares mother or father firm Warner Bros. Discovery with CNN.)
Reasonably than set the pair up for competitors, filmgoers created a viral marketing campaign to see them on the identical day, in a dissonant double characteristic. They referred to as it “Barbenheimer.” Buzz and advertising and marketing budgets apart, the “Barbenheimer” motion drove each movies to the top of the box office and gave theaters a much-needed increase. The actual takeaway right here, although, is that audiences simply need to watch good motion pictures, whether or not they’re steeped in historic dread or bedecked in pink.
It was the 12 months of the movie star memoir — Britney Spears’ “The Woman in Me” was billed because the pop idol’s first account of her 13-year conservatorship, whereas Prince Harry’s “Spare” was the erstwhile royal’s tell-all about the home of Windsor.
Barbra Streisand, after all, wanted almost 1,000 pages to recount her exceptional life and even Julia Fox, at 33, had a book-full of unbelievable tales. The accompanying audiobooks made the texts even richer: There was five-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams nonchalantly reciting the Justin Timberlake/Ginuwine “fo shizz” passage from Spears’ memoir; Prince Harry went viral for reading descriptive lines about his penis. Their honesty paid off: All 4 memoirs turned New York Instances greatest sellers.
Scandoval shocks the Bravo universe
When “Vanderpump Guidelines” star Tom Sandoval cheated on his fiancée and co-star Ariana Madix with their co-star Rachel Leviss, followers had been floored. The outpouring of shock and help for Madix was so large that it compelled even non-Bravo viewers to concentrate. After which when the revelations aired on “Pump Guidelines,” followers relived the drama as if for the primary time — the episode in regards to the breakup’s aftermath was the collection’ highest-rated. Madix, at the very least, wears heartbreak properly: She lately launched a ebook of cocktail recipes and can quickly star in Broadway’s “Chicago.”
AI continues to put in writing its personal horror story because the tech rips text from books, creates weird artwork and usually freaks us out. If solely AI was contained to “M3GAN,” a movie a few murderous android who seems like a preteen and kills her haters in between TikTok dances and deadpan quips. M3GAN made her eponymous movie a hilarious, unmissable occasion — and now, she’ll probably lead a saga of movies primarily based round her sardonic menace.
George Santos lands on Cameo post-Congress
The Republican consultant from New York was expelled from Congress in December after a Home Ethics investigation discovered that he misused marketing campaign funds and violated a number of federal legal guidelines. The disgraced politician parlayed his ouster, in what appeared like mere hours later, right into a profession on Cameo, recording messages for paying prospects about every thing from ignoring the haters to transferring the spirit of a deceased partner right into a model. As of this writing, customized movies ran for $500.
“The Simpsons” has had just a few constants over its three a long time and 35 seasons: The household will all the time be yellow, Springfield will all the time be stateless and Homer will all the time strangle Bart. And but followers had been positive that TV’s doughnut-loving patriarch had finally laid off the kid after a joke in a current episode went viral off-air: “See, Marge, strangling the boy paid off,” Homer stated, earlier than shortly including, “Simply kidding, I don’t try this anymore. Instances have modified.”
Sequence creator Matt Groening and producer James L. Brooks shut down the rumors with a brand new drawing of Homer wringing the neck of the younger rapscallion, this time for “clickbaiting.” And, per the staff, “Homer Simpson was unavailable for remark as he was busy strangling Bart.”
Mr. “Mandalorian” received new followers this 12 months as Joel in “The Last of Us,” HBO’s acclaimed adaptation of the online game of the identical title. Pascal’s Joel is a hardened killer of fungus-zombies whose coronary heart slowly thaws throughout his time touring a post-apocalyptic US with a pun-loving teen. It’s a profitable flip that earned him an Emmy nomination, a lauded host gig on “Saturday Night time Dwell” — not his solely look in 2023 — and so many TikTok fancams. Rumors are swirling that Pascal will be a part of the MCU subsequent — however with what time? We assume he’s busy sufficient being America’s sweetheart.
Eras and Renaissance excursions make summer time sing
Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour and Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” tour had been the suns round which our summers revolved. In case you didn’t put on all-alien chic to “Renaissance,” you donned the friendship bracelets for “Eras.” Or possibly you probably did each! The excursions turned record-breaking behemoths, bringing in billions of {dollars} in income for Dwell Nation, promoting out stadiums all over the world, and spawning wildly profitable live performance movies that additionally became huge money-makers. The 12 months belongs to those two queens.
The fifth season of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive,” a docudrama series about Formula 1, aired in February, bringing all kinds of F1 jargon into the lexicon (lower to us on navigating visitors on the best way to work, racing down the freeway and telling ourselves to “push push”).
Our speedy commutes apart, F1 had a large 12 months within the US. American automakers like Basic Motors and Ford have utilized to get in on the action, and the season was capped by the game’s first grand prix in Las Vegas in additional than 40 years. The occasion was a celeb hotspot, and although many residents were skeptical, the spectacle of watching drivers blast down the Strip was a sight to behold. F1 could not take soccer’s place as America’s favourite sport simply but, however it will get factors for attempting.
Autoworkers, actors, lodge employees, writers, well being care employees — you title it, they most likely went on strike.
The largest of those was seemingly the WGA strike, an almost five-month lengthy saga that, together with the SAG-AFTRA strike, introduced Hollywood to a screeching halt. Who knew we’d miss watching probably the most stunning amongst us promote their work?
Alas, we did, and the break uncovered among the sinister underbelly of the business — notably when one studio government told Deadline they’d permit the strike to proceed till writers “begin dropping their residences and dropping their homes.” THESE writers shudder on the thought.
It was a mug shot not like every other. His eyes educated on the digital camera, barely bloodshot, his eyebrows like two upside-down verify marks, his mouth twisted in a frown. Inmate No. P01135809, also referred to as former president Donald J. Trump. Few instances has a mugshot sparked as a lot debate and evaluation as this one, taken after Trump was indicted for his makes an attempt to overturn the 2020 election within the state of Georgia.
Trump will go down in historical past for a lot of issues, and being the one president to have a mugshot is certainly one of them.
Travis Kelce, tight finish for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, began the 12 months on a excessive, after his staff went to the Rihanna live performance — er, sorry — the Super Bowl, going through his older brother Jason and the Philadelphia Eagles. In a victory for youthful siblings all over the place, the Chiefs prevailed, and the occasion turned often known as the Kelce Bowl.
For most individuals, that will’ve been sufficient publicity for the 12 months. Then Kelce went on so far a little-known indie artist named Taylor Swift. Heard of her?
Kelce, as soon as recognized primarily by NFL followers and fantasy soccer addicts, is now one of the vital dissected celebrities of the 12 months. His previous posts on X, previously Twitter, went viral because of Swifties sleuthing; his ex got here out of the woodwork to share the main points of their former entanglement; and folks seemingly requested him more about his relationship than his soccer. It looks like we haven’t seen this degree of movie star obsession for the reason that early 2000s. Thanks, Kelce, for the nostalgia.
For Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, it was the autumn of affection. However for each different movie star — Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, Jodie Turner-Smith and Joshua Jackson, Cardi B and Offset, Jeremy Allen White, Reese Witherspoon, Tina Knowles, Tia Mowry, Deion Sanders, Hugh Jackman, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Sofía Vergara, Ricky Martin, Billy Porter, Kevin Costner, David Lynch, Lukas Gage, Maren Morris and, and, and, — it was the 12 months of divorce. Womp womp.
Although AI started its assault on our tradition final 12 months with the introduction of ChatGPT, this 12 months it upped the dimensions. Regardless of warnings from experts, corporations have continued to embrace AI. Spotify, after shedding greater than 2,000 staff this 12 months, has furthered its funding in the technology. Newspaper chain Gannett started utilizing AI to put in writing reviews on highschool sports activities, solely to announce a pause after a number of reviews had been botched. And one writer spoke up about her title getting used to put in writing books that had been actually generated by AI.
All of it looks like one thing straight out of a sci-fi film — and people after all ALWAYS finish properly for the individuals in them!! Alas, it looks as if the takeover will continue, and absolutely we have now nothing to fret about.
You understand, the one Netflix account all of us used to binge “Bojack Horseman” at two within the morning or hate-watch “Emily in Paris.” This 12 months, to our collective chagrin, Netflix started its password crackdown — efficiently boosting its new subscriber sign-ups and killing our account entry within the course of. Narcs! We hope they’re pleased.
Threads, Bluesky and Twitter replacements rise
We by no means fairly agreed on a alternative, did we? This 12 months, Twitter turned X for no discernible purpose (thanks, Elon!), and successfully killed the platform. Take it from our associates over at CNN Enterprise, who stated Musk turned Twitter “into a husk of its former self.” Yikes.
As a substitute have risen a myriad of alternatives. Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, Spill and T2 have all seen various ranges of success in X’s wake, though none can compete with Twitter in its heyday. Possibly as an alternative of a alternative, all of us take a while away from social media. Now wouldn’t that be good?
Hip-Hop turns 50, and André 3000 makes a flute album
It’s not yearly {that a} music style so embedded in American tradition turns 50. And it’s ALSO not yearly that André 3000, one of many beacons of the style, releases his debut solo album, “New Blue Solar,” which isn’t actually a hip-hop album in any respect, however a lilting, spring-like flute odyssey.
What else may we have now anticipated from the OutKast artist, who has spent years randomly showing in public enjoying a wind instrument? The title of the opening observe appears to mirror this inside battle: “I Swear, I Actually Needed to Make a ‘Rap’ Album however This Is Actually the Method the Wind Blew Me This Time.” We don’t know what the subsequent 50 years of hip-hop will maintain, but when Three Stacks is main the best way, we’ll fortunately comply with.
Simply two days into the brand new 12 months, Buffalo Payments security Damar Hamlin left the whole nation holding its breath. The order of occasions has been countlessly repeated. Hamlin, in a late-season sport in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals, took a shot to the top and chest space. He obtained up, took just a few steps, and fell backward. Later, it was revealed the then-24-year-old had skilled a cardiac arrest on the sphere. As he was carted off, some gamers knelt in prayer, others cried.
Although Hamlin has returned to NFL action, albeit minimally, the episode was a sobering one for America’s favourite professional sports activities league, which was already facing questions about participant security. Regardless of the current dose of fine publicity from the Kelce-Swift romance, it’s nonetheless unclear whether or not these questions have been answered as one other season attracts to a detailed.
Maybe you’re a fan of her Emmy-nominated work as take-no-s**t chef Sydney on “The Bear.” Or possibly she received you over because the lovably dweeby Josie in homosexual battle membership comedy “Bottoms” (cue Edebiri gently tipping her imaginary hat and uttering “good eve-ning”). You might’ve seen her entrance row at Thom Browne throughout style week. You’ll have excitedly pointed her out in any of the supporting roles she performed this 12 months, from a key voice in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” to a flimsy stage fight coach in “Theater Camp” to Janine’s flighty sister on “Abbott Elementary.”
Regardless of how her, you most likely love her. Ayo Edebiri shortly established herself as a rising star price rooting for.
Rihanna introduced her second pregnancy this 12 months at a venue befitting certainly one of our nice stars: In the course of the Tremendous Bowl halftime present, dripping in designer clothes. Wearing a cherry-red jumpsuit with corresponding breast plate from Loewe and large, comforter-esque coats by Alaïa, Rihanna reminded us all why we love her: She slayed her best hits for over 10 minutes, all whereas rocking a child bump. Does anybody bear in mind who received the Tremendous Bowl this 12 months? As a result of we’re nonetheless mesmerized by Rih’s unflappably assured return to the stage, child in tow.
It was a busy 12 months for celebrities showing in courtroom, and followers (and haters) adopted alongside carefully. There was Gwyneth Paltrow’s perpetually memed case in a Utah courtroom, which she finally received, after a retired optometrist accused her of ramming into him on skis in 2016 and injuring him. (Among the many most memorable strains from the trial — Gwynnie confessing she “misplaced half a day of snowboarding” after the optometrist accident.)
Young Thug’s RICO case in Atlanta is ongoing, and the acclaimed rapper stands accused of main a gang that shares his document label’s initials, YSL, and finishing up violent acts for over a decade. (The case is very controversial as a result of the prosecution is utilizing Thug’s lyrics as proof of the rapper’s wrongdoing.)
And former President Donald Trump appeared in courtroom greater than as soon as this 12 months, most lately for a New York civil fraud trial. His aforementioned mug shot, snapped when he was briefly booked into Fulton County Sheriff’s Workplace in Georgia after turning himself in on felony fees associated to 2020 election fraud, has made him millions of {dollars}.