By Jaida Dent and Rami Mansi
2024’s zodiac sign is the Year of the Dragon. The dragon symbolizes exceptionality and confidence, with powerful energy coming naturally to people born under the dragon. However, the dragon symbolizes an impatient need to consistently surpass others and maintain dominance. Pop culture in the controversial year of 2024 demonstrates these traits through its troublesome feuds and scandalous exposes, and its constant one-upping of another previous act.
In an era dominated by female artists, Megan Thee Stallion set the tone for both her career and what the future of rap held. On Jan. 26, Stallion dropped “HISS” with lines rumored to take jabs at people in the rap industry, according to Billboard. One line stirred a feud due to alluding to fellow rapper Nicki Minaj’s husband as being a registered sex offender. Minaj would fire back at Stallion with the song “Big Foot,” where she repeatedly states “Get up on your good foot.” The line pokes at Stallion’s legal battles against rapper Tory Lanez, who shot her in the foot.
Much to the joy of hip-hop music enthusiasts, the year sparked another rap beef that set a marker for all other feuds, as reported by Billboard. After J. Cole referred to himself, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake as the “Big 3” of rap on “First Person Shooter,” Lamar would respond to the claims on the song “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin in March. The duo would begin to go back and forth with one another between March and May, dropping an array of diss tracks. Lamar’s final song, “Not Like Us,” held weight for the feud as it sat on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs for 21 weeks.
Straying away from hip-hop, pop music took its shortest and sweetest turn with the drop of pop star Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.” This disco and funk-inspired pop track gave the mainstream public exactly what they needed, and it catapulted Carpenter into superstardom and helped kickstart her sixth studio album “Short N’ Sweet” into a chart-smashing number-one spot.
The summer of 2024 took a turn from “That’s that me espresso” to “I’m so Julia” with the release of Charli XCX ’s “BRAT.” XCX’s album, filled to the brim with lyrics from Charli and her party girl persona and electronic beats made to play at raves, was sent flying into critics’ number one album spots. Affectionately deeming the season “Brat Summer,” the two months of record-high heat waves were about coming into your own and experiencing the quest of finding out who you are in your most unapologetic mindset. With celebrity guest stars and 34 songs under the “BRAT” album and deluxe and remix versions, the neon green album has made its mark as the legendary sonic landscape that defined 2024.
Stepping away from music and entering the newfound realms of celebrity look-alike competitions on a global scale, these contests took social media by storm, with subsequent contests held worldwide. A Timothee Chalamet look-alike contest would begin the trend in Washington Square Park on Oct. 27, according to the New York Times. The real Timothee Chalamet would be in attendance and posed with fans for pictures. As reported by CNN, a domino effect would be created with other contests taking place in many major cities: a Paul Mescal contest in Ireland, Harry Styles in London, Zendaya in Oakland, Dev Patel in San Francisco, and Jeremy Allen White in Chicago.
In cinema, a world of old was brought anew through the eyes of director Jon Chu in the lustrous world of “Wicked.” A fantasy novel from the early 1900s that was reimagined in 1995, it was reworked into one of the most long-lasting and successful musicals in Broadway history and is now officially a movie starring world-renowned pop star and actress Ariana Grande and Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo. The film was praised for virtually all aspects, from stunts to cinematography to the vocal and acting qualities of both Grande and Erivo’s spellbinding performances. Through its vast marketing campaigns, the official establishment of pink and green as the go-to colors for the end of the year, and its fashion-forward press tour, no turn was left unmoved. Eyes were left teary as “Wicked” made its mark on viewers and spectators worldwide.
The last month of the year held a few major events, but to close the year, Alex Consani won Model of the Year at the 2024 Fashion Awards on Dec. 2, according to CNN. Her win cements her legacy as the first transgender woman to win the award, sitting in company with fellow winners Naomi Campbell and Bella Hadid. Along with dominating the runway, the hilarious Consani would become a pillar of the modern social media era with over four million followers on TikTok. In her acceptance speech, Consani thanked her parents for supporting her career and transition, and thanked Black transgender women for creating and fighting for the space she is in. She also urged a conversation about supporting each other within the industry during her acceptance speech, stating “Because change is more than possible–it’s needed.”
2025 could hold many new powerful changes and expected moments, but will the new contemporary shine through, or will the reinvention of nostalgic trends continue to take hold of the next year? Mainstream and underground media–whether through music, visual or performing arts, or rudimentary social media posts–all deserve fresh faces and new energy entering their atmosphere. Pop culture has never been more alive and renewed yet so overdone, as people try to imitate the past while establishing a new, completely different sense of character. We’ll have to wait and see what the upcoming year brings for us next.