Zoey's Pop Culture Highlights 2025
- Zoey Daniels
- Dec 23, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: 9 hours ago
Though this is titled 'Zoey's Pop Culture Highlights 2025,' I'm starting in September 2024 to keep consistent with the recap I just wrote, which you can read here.
September 2024
Bowen Yan's Moo Deng/Chappell Roan impression
November 2024
Mattel accidentally prints a porn site onto the Wicked Barbie doll boxes. This was really funny, especially because nobody was going to go to the movie's website anyway.
April 2025
Sinners comes to theatres. This movie was unique, and I would recommend watching the whole thing if it interests you, but I would recommend the dance scene to everyone.
Also exciting was the announcement of a 10 Things I Hate About You musical. It's one of my all-time favourite movies, and I actually really do trust Lena Dunham and Carly Rae Jepsen to do a good job with it.
May 2025
I loved Iceland's Eurovision entry because it felt really 'Eurovision' to me.
The article I linked about Katy Perry's space journey is worth a read in my opinion.
June 2025
One of my favourite shows of all time makes it return.
I also liked this specific demonstration at the Bezos wedding where they didn't have any real friends.
July 2025
The announcement of John Proctor is the Villain getting adapted into a movie was extraordinarily exciting to me. I saw the play on Broadway in August but had been looking forward to it for a really long time. Upon experiencing the show, this became even more appealing to me, as it was truly the best play I've ever seen, and became one of my favourite shows. I don't think you can understand how amazing it is for a PLAY to be in my list of favourite shows! It doesn't even have any singing (although there is some dancing)! If you want, you can find my vague review of the show here.
Chappell Roan's video for The Subway is great. I love the hair outfits.
Clueless is my third or fourth favourite movie of all time (it's tied with Legally Blonde), and I love dolls, so obviously seeing all the doll collabs made me really happy, and I did spend an ungodly amount of money to have one of my American Girl Dolls look like Cher, as you can see below.
The number one moment in pop culture this year was Coldplay-gate. This was so funny, and I loved everyone's interpretations. Though a couple families were probably divided, the rest of the world was united.
August 2025
Long Story Short was my favourite new show of the year... until I learned about Heated Rivalry.
October 2025
The Skims thong was very funny because it's essentially a merkin. For the uncultured, a merkin is a "pubic wig, a hairpiece worn over the genitals to simulate pubic hair, used for aesthetic, film, or novelty purposes, originating historically to cover symptoms of diseases like syphilis or pubic lice, but now common in entertainment and intimate wear for modesty or fashion."
The online reaction to the Louvre theft became the new Coldplay cam. It also seemed to be a very popular last minute Halloween costume.
November 2025
Lastly, Hamnet was my favourite movie of 2025. Give Jessie Buckley the Oscar already!
December 2025
Broadway star Derek Klena, who you may recognize from being in shows like Wicked, Anastasia, Moulin Rouge!, or Jagged Little Pill (for which he received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical), signs with the Savannah Bananas. If you're not familiar with the Savannah Bananas, or Banana Ball in general, I would highly recommend you check it out. They're like the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball, except there's an entire league and the games are not fixed. Jesse Cole, the founder of Banana Ball, has referred to the sport as "Broadway meets baseball," so this pairing does make sense. Before his Broadway days, Klena was a pitcher for UCLA. I really think it's unfair for one person to have so much talent.
Episode five of Heated Rivalry, "I'll Believe in Anything," ties Breaking Bad's "Ozymandias" for highest rated episode of all time. It loses it's perfect score after some time, and as of right now it's standing at a measly 9.9 and ranking at number twelve, with episode six, "The Cottage," coming in right after it at number thirteen, also with a 9.9.
The show is so, so good. Just watch it.
