Zoey's Pop Culture Recap Extravaganza (September 2024 - December 2025)
- Zoey Daniels
- Dec 23, 2025
- 10 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
About a year and a half ago, I wrote a pop culture recap to help Jayden be able to re-enter Canadian society. What I wasn’t really considering was that the majority of my readers are over the age of 50 (with Violet being a notable exception), and they too had no idea what went on in the world. Therefore, today I will be recapping the past fourteen-ish months, so you too can communicate with the youths and go into the new year as an informed human.
Before I start, I would like to remind you that even though there is an attached video or article for every point, please do not feel the need to read them all. Only click on what interests you. If you want to know what interests me, you can look at my curated selection of highlights here.
September 2024
Megan thee Stallion pays tribute to Britney Spears' iconic snake look at the VMAs, but struggles to keep her cool.
Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler star in Romeo & Juliet on Broadway, which features the classic love story but with a modern "club culture" twist. Videos of Kit Connor doing a pull up kiss every night frequently circled social media during the show's run.
Sean 'Diddy' Combs is arrested and charged with many felonies related to sex trafficking. Months later he is found guilty for two counts of transportation for prostitution, and was sentenced to fifty months in prison.
Katy Perry releases her seventh studio album 143. Perry seemed to be determined to recreate her early success and style, working with many of her collaborators from her Teenage Dream record. This backfired, as not only was her new album poorly received, Perry also received criticism for working with producer Dr. Luke, who has had a long legal battle with Kesha regarding a variety of misconduct allegations, including sexual harassment and rape.
Francis Ford Coppola's self-funded passion project Megalopolis comes out. The film had a budget of $120 million and made $14.4 million worldwide. Coppola sold his winery to finance the movie, yet the critics were uncaring as they panned the film.
Moo Deng, a pygmy hippo in a Thai zoo, goes viral on social media. Shortly after, Bowen Yang portrays her on SNL.
October 2024
A Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest happens in New York City in which the actor himself showed up to, but did not win. Shortly after, every celebrity big and small seems to also have a lookalike contest.
Claudia Sheinbaum becomes Mexico's first female and its first Jewish president.
Coldplay releases their tenth studio album Moon Music. Years ago, frontman Chris Martin announced that the band's final album would be released in 2025, but he later said that their twelfth record will be their last.
Former member of One Direction, Liam Payne, dies after falling off a balcony in Argentina. Soon after, five people are arrested in connection with his death.
November 2024
The first Wicked movie hits theatres after an... odd press tour.
Speaking of Wicked, Mattel had to issue an apology after printing the wrong website on the boxes of the Wicked dolls. Turns out it's wickedmovie.com, and the 'movie' part of that URL is crucial, because without it you end up on a porn site.
While taking a break from competing for world's most horrible YouTube personality, a 27-year-old Jake Paul shockingly wins a boxing match against a 58-year-old Mike Tyson.
December 2024
British musician Robbie Williams' biopic Better Man comes out. For whatever reason,
Williams is portrayed as a CGI monkey.
Brian Thompson, the CEO of an American health insurance company is murdered by Luigi Mangione. Mangione is celebrated online for taking action against the exploitative corporation/industry, and for his good looks.
A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet comes out.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol unjustly invokes martial law. He is impeached shortly after.
Sabrina Carpenter releases a Christmas special on Netflix called A Nonsense Christmas.
Country singer Morgan Wallen pleads guilty to misdemeanor charges of throwing a chair off of the roof of a bar.
A remake of the 1922 German silent film Nosferatu hits theatres. This time it's in colour... and in English.
January 2025
TikTok gets banned in the US for a whole fourteen hours.
Doechii releases the video for DENIAL IS A RIVER.
The internet debates whether or not Elon Musk's Nazi solute was intentional.
Bad Bunny releases his sixth solo studio album and short film, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.
February 2025
SNL celebrates its fiftieth season.
Kanye West makes yet another series of incredibly antisemitic tweets, in which he write that he loves Hitler, and is a Nazi. A few days later, West runs a Super Bowl ad for his company, telling viewers to "go to yeezy.com." All the clothes and shoes had been removed from the website, except for a white shirt with swastika on it. After these incidents he is dropped by his agent.
Tate McRae releases her third studio album So Close To What
A Delta flight lands upside down at Pearson. Fortunately everyone survived.
Chappell Roan wins Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards. During her speech, she calls for labels to treat developing artists as employees and provide them a livable wage and health insurance.
Kendrick Lamar performs at the Super Bowl halftime show.
March 2025
Years after the live action Powerpuff Girls CW show is scrapped, the trailer is leaked and torn apart online.
Chappell Roan releases the single The Giver.
The Oscars happen, in which Anora wins the most awards, Emilia Pérez wins two awards too many, and Adrian Brody gives the longest Oscars speech of all time at five minutes and forty seconds. The speech started with him throwing gum at his partner, and then went on to be rambling nothings, finally landing on the point that antisemitism is bad. I was watching live in Toronto with about six other Jews, and we all voted that he should shut up.
Lady Gaga releases Mayhem, her sixth studio album.
April 2025
Mark Carney is elected as the 24th Prime Minister of Canada.
Ryan Coogler's vampire movie Sinners premieres in theatres.
Pope Francis dies and the search to find his replacement is watched by the whole world, Catholic or not. The excessive interest is likely a result of the 2024 film Conclave.
It's announced that the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You is being adapted into a musical by Lena Dunham and Carly Rae Jepsen.
May 2025
After HBO chooses not to renew Sesame Street, Elmo and his friends find a new home on Netflix.
After rerecording four albums as "Taylor's Version," Taylor Swift finally purchases her masters.
The Met Gala has the theme 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,' which too many celebrities interpret as 'no fun colours allowed!'
Hailee Steinfeld marries Buffalo Bills player Josh Allen.
Katy Perry goes into space with a bunch of rich women for eleven minutes.
The 69th Eurovision takes place in Switzerland. Austria wins with the song Wasted Love by JJ, but I think Iceland should have won because their entry was exactly the kind of flashy gay Europop that this contest should be about.
Morgan Wallen releases his fourth studio album I'm the Problem, and given all his controversies, I'd have to agree that he is the problem.
Rumours spread that the original 'haunted' Annabelle doll escaped, and the internet blames her for a fire in Louisiana.
PinkPantheress releases her second mixtape Fancy That.
On John Mulaney's Netflix talk show Everybody's Live with John Mulaney, he loses a wrestling match to three fourteen-year-old boys in under a minute. (Fun fact: I pitched the Etalk story linked below)
June 2025
Justin Bieber goes viral in a paparazzi video where he repeats that he's "standing on business." A month later, he includes some of the audio from the encounter on his album SWAG.
Phineas and Ferb returns after ten years for a new season.
The Hudson's Bay Company closes its last store after 355 years in business.
Rachel Zegler begins her run in Evita on the West End. In the show, she performs Don't Cry For Me Argentina on a balcony outside the theatre for passersby to see, while paying audiences watch it on a screen inside.
Addison Rae releases Addison, her debut album.
Two of the world's most dangerous idiots have a public falling out on Twitter.
Weird toy/purse accessory Labubus continue to take over the world.
Haim releases their fourth studio album I Quit.
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez have their wedding in Venice, Italy. They reportedly had around 200 guests, seemingly most of which were random celebrities, leading to the question: do they not have any real friends? How much does the founder of Amazon actually hang out with Ellie Goulding?
The wedding is the target of multiple protests by locals. The subject of the demonstrations are varied. Some are protesting climate change, others protest billionaires and income inequality.
KPop Demon Hunters comes out on Netflix. In October, the film's characters are deemed the most popular Halloween costume of 2025.
KATSEYE releases their second EP, Beautiful Chaos.
Anna Wintour steps down as Vogue's editor-in-chief after thirty-seven years.
Sabrina Carpenter releases Manchild, the lead single from her upcoming album.
July 2025
A couple are caught having an affair at a Coldplay concert. If they had just acted normal, there's only a small chance anyone in their life would have known. The video taken by an audience member quickly goes viral and any event that has a jumbotron then has the 'Coldplay Cam,' where those on screen will hide from the camera in the same weird way the couple did.
Stephen Colbert reveals that CBS has chosen to end The Late Show after thirty-three years. The show's final episode will be in May 2026.
Saskatchewan gets some attention after being mentioned by Chappell Roan in her song The Subway.
It's announced that the play John Proctor is the Villain will be made into a film. Actress Sadie Sink, who starred in the initial Broadway run, will be executive producing and reprising the role of Shelby, for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Actress.
Oasis starts touring for the first time in years. They eventually manage to complete every show without breaking up.
Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle find themselves in a lot of controversy after an ad starring the actress is said to be promoting eugenics.
BTS can finally reunite after all members are discharged from the South Korean military.
A variety of doll brands celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Clueless.
August 2025
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announce their engagement.
In a rare win for neurotic Jews, Long Story Short is released on Netflix.
Reneé Rapp releases her second studio album Bite Me.
At Osheaga in Montreal, Olivia Rodrigo gives away her iconic rings to signify the end of the Guts era. She does this while wearing a red shirt with a 3 on it, teasing her next album.
Alejandro Kirk gets his first career stolen base.
The Naked Gun hits theatres.
Sabrina Carpenter releases her seventh studio album Man's Best Friend. The cover becomes quite controversial.
Sean Kingston is sentenced to three years in prison for fraud. Kingston's mother was also involved in the scheme and was sentenced to five years in prison in July.
September 2025
Jimmy Kimmel is taken off the air, supposedly for making an insensitive joke about the death of Charlie Kirk. Allegedly, the real reason was so ABC could sensor him in order to not piss off Donald Trump, as Kimmel never said anything truly offensive about Kirk's death.
Jerry Greenfield leaves Ben & Jerry's.
Cardi B releases her second studio album Am I the Drama?
Joey Chestnut eats twenty-six and a half pounds of poutine in ten minutes to win the World's Poutine Eating Championship held in Toronto. The person placing second ate seven and a half less pounds. The all-time record is twenty-eight pounds by... take a guess... Joey Chestnut.
Raye releases Where Is My Husband!
Nicole Kidman files for divorce from Keith Urban.
Mr. Fantasy, a strange musician who mysteriously has the same face, teeth, and tattoos of actor KJ Apa, goes viral.
Zara Larson releases her fifth studio album Midnight Sun.
It's announced that The Summer I Turned Pretty's true finale will be in an upcoming film.
October 2025
Taylor Swift releases her twelfth studio album The Life of a Showgirl.
Kim Kardashian's clothing brand Skims launches a thong that looks like public hair.
The Toronto Blue Jays make it to the World Series... it's not important who won.
Lily Allen releases her fifth studio album West End Girl.
Thieves steal a bunch of jewels from the Louvre. The memes really take off.
November 2025
It's announced that a Miss Piggy movie is in development with Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, and Cole Escola attached to the project. You may think that this is the best news to ever hit my corneas, but I am extremely nervous about this. I don't know if I trust these people with her. Will they even know to have Bret McKenzie write all the songs? What if they don't even make it into a musical? I would much prefer Muppet experts to handle such a divine project.
Wicked: For Good is released.
Jonathan Bailey (the actor, not my dad and mum) becomes the first openly gay man to be named People's Sexiest Man Alive.
Hamnet has a limited release in theatres.
Robert Irwin wins Season 34 of Dancing with the Stars ten years after his sister Bindi won Season 21.
December 2025
Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner are murdered in their home. Their son Nick is arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder.
Wake Up Dead Man, the third film in the Knives Out franchise, is released on Netflix.
Broadway veteran and Tony nominee Derek Klena signs with the Savannah Bananas. Leave some talent for the rest of us, man!
Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry become Instagram official.
Nicki Minaj is criticized for appearing at a Turning Point USA event where she praised Trump, and participated in harmful conservative rhetoric. This is an interesting choice on her part, as she once spoke about being brought to the States illegally as a child. Tens of thousands have signed a petition to deport her back to Trinidad and Tobago.
Rumours spread that Olivia Rodrigo and Louis Partridge have broken up after two years together. This is sad because they always looked so cute together and So American is so sweet, but the new album is coming soon, and her breakup songs always go so hard!
Bowen Yang leaves Saturday Night Live mid-season.
So that's about it. If I missed anything, keep it to yourself.
