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Creator Rewind Pop Culture

#KetchupRewind: Pop culture moments of 2024 that held it's space as our favourites!

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Smrithi Mohan
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popculture moments 2024

popculture moments 2024

As we step into a new year, here's a list of some notable pop culture moments of 2024 that made our online experiences exciting.

2024 gave us moments that were the talk of the town, sparking conversations and making them fun. People united over their collective brain rot from having spent hours on the internet, scrolling through topics that had the potential to be a conversation starter. Unlike the years before, the trends this year saw people obsessing over moments that have become a cultural phenomenon of its own.

The internet became an interesting place to be on as we saw people openly obsess over a hippo! Not to forget the internet's efforts to expand our vocab with words, which although confusing at first, soon become how we express ourselves. Another obsession that we were equally charmed by was the rave around Aditi Rao Haydari's walk in Heermandi. Then we also had all those re-releases that shaped us while growing up or the drama among actors during their press tour. It was also a big year for Indian artists as people from across the world took part in recreating the Asoka look or dance along Big Dawgs. While this is just a gist of what happened over the year, we have made a list of some of the notable pop culture moments we loved this year.

Also Read - #CreatorRewind: Viral social media moments of 2024 that took over our feeds

This exclusive list of pop culture moments from the year will surely take us back

Asoka makeup trend

The makeup trend saw people from all over the world be part of the viral TikTok challenge to recreate the makeup and outfits of Indian brides from the 2001 Bollywood movie 'Asoka'.

Celebrity look-alike competitions 

One of the first look-alike competitions held in NYC, this led to a ripple effect with people organizing look-alike competitions for their favourite actors. From Dev Patel, Jungkook, Jeremy Allen White, Paul Mescal, Glen Powell, Harry Styles, Zendaya and even Abay Deol, there have been a number of competitions in the second half of the year.

Very Demure

'Demure' turned into something everyone suddenly became obsessed with after a TikToker shared a clip using the internet’s now favorite buzzword. 

Morning Shed

Based on the idea that 'if you go to bed ugly, you wake up looking beautiful', this makeup/skincare trend saw people waking up and filming themselves shedding face, eye, lip mask and heatless curls to truly embody the 'woke up like this' concept. It somehow seems like, the more uncomfortable you are while sleeping, the more glowed up you will look the next morning.

Aditi Rao Hydari's walk from Heermandi

Aditi's walk from the song "Saiyaan Hatto Jaao" from the Netflix series Heermandi left everyone so spellbound that people couldn't help but dissect the history behind the walk. From people laying out theories comparing the walk to the gaja gamini walk, something that was first mentioned in Mahabharat symbolizing sensuality and grace, they couldn't stop raving and trying to recreate the same.

Tauba Tauba

Another song that was all over the internet, Tauba Tauba from Bad Newzz, became the perfect opportunity for people to thirst over Vicky Kaushal again!

Re-release of cult classics

This year saw movies like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Veer-Zaara, Tumbbad, and Laila-Majnu back in the theatre while people shared their experiences of watching it again. But as a part of the re-release of Kal Ho Naa Ho, the film completed 20 years since its release, Delnaaz Irani aka Sweetu decided to surprise fans by making a surprise visit in a theatre with the help of creator and movie fanatic, Sanam Buxani.

Diljit Dosanjh

It was the year of De-Illuminati where the singer was able to give us some insane pop culture moments. We saw him in his lover boy era by making Kareena Kapoor Khan blush by saying, ‘Hogi Rihanna, hogi Beyonce, sadi ta ae he hai, Kareena'. We also appreciated him when he recited Rahat Indori Sahab's poem 'Kisi ke baap ka Hindustan todi hai' after his Indore concert.

Ambani wedding

There’s only one event that took over all our feeds and it was Anant and Radhika’s wedding ceremony. After tons of pre-wedding festivities spread across months, the extravagant wedding ceremony saw celebrities, Indian and international, make time for the couple, making the wedding an event people couldn't stop talking about.

Glicked

After the massive success of the fan-made campaign Barbenheimmer, a portmanteau of Barbie and Oppenheimmer, fans decided to celebrate the release of Wicked and Gladiator on the same day by calling it Glicked.

Masculine lunch 

This became a thing after someone posted a tweet about how there is something feminine about carrying lunch boxes. As a scarcastic reply to the same, men started sharing all the ways they carry their 'masculine lunch' and they are all hilarious.

Regional songs that took the internet by a storm

Regional songs took place in everyone's playlist this year as Marathi's ‘Gulabi Sadi’, Tamil’s ‘Aasa Kooda’, Bhojpuri’s ‘Bandookk’, and indie artist Akshath Acharya's ‘Nadaaniyan’ became a hit. 

Dua Lipa x Woh Ladki Jo 

Dua Lipa, who came back to India for another concert, surprised the crowd by performing the most viral Instagram covers of Levitating and Woh Ladki Jo by DJ Ruchir.

MR Beast's India visit

The famous international YouTuber made an appearance in India along with Logan Paul and KSI as they promoted their brands and collaborated with various Indian creators.

Ed Sheeran India visit

The pop star collaborated with every possible artist during his visit in India. He performed with Arijit Singh, Diljith Dosajh, and even did a whole episode with Kapil Sharma for Netflix.

APT 

Bruno Mars was able to give people another trend to head bop to. The song in collaboration with ROSE became a trend that was able to sum up the year on social media.

Coldplay in India

The Coldplay concert ticket rush in Mumbai was nothing short of a digital frenzy! When they did, the ticketing website crashed almost immediately due to overwhelming demand. Social media was flooded with memes and complaints about the chaotic booking process.

Moo Deng

People just couldn't stop admiring Moo Deng, the adorable pygmy hippo, who was able to capture the hearts of internet users worldwide.

It Ends With Us promo drama

Ever since there were speculations and theories about what happened on the sets, people couldn't help but notice the drama surrounding the It Ends With Us promotions. With Blake Lively now suing Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment, the internet is once again invested in learning more about the case.

T20 World Cup victory

India rejoiced as the Indian Men's cricket team brought the trophy home. People not only flooded the streets to catch a glimpse of the trophy but also took the celebrations online with their posts.

Olympics moments 

The Olympics 2024 was a historic one with multiple moments that people loved witnessing to medals that felt worth it. Indian athletes have been showcasing their talents in a total of 69 medal events across 16 sports. Meanwhile moments like Yusuf Dikec's laid-back style of shooting, Zhou Yaqin learning the medal-biting tradition, the sportsmanship of Nadeem Arshad and Neeraj Chopra, Gianmarco Tamberi’s viral apology letter to wife for losing his wedding ring while sailing down the River Seine - every single one of them was special.

Dolly Chaiwala

A personification of 'If you're good at something be great at it', Dolly Chaiwala has become a viral sensation. Dolly gained popularity on the internet and when Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates was in India, he decided to give the internet’s famous chaiwala and his chai a chance, putting the viral star on the map. 

Sabrina Carpenter's Espresso and Charlie XCX's Brat Summer

Popstars Sabrina Carpenter and Charlie XCX were able to give people a new internet language that they were obessed with.

Indian films won internationally

After much wait and anticipation, Laapataa Ladies became India's official entry in the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards. Although the film is out of the race, people got to keep the celebrations going as All We Imagine As Light secured nominations for Best Director of a Motion Picture and Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes.

Hanumankind's Big Dawgs

The rapper who has produced a number of songs in the past was able to leave a mark with Big Dawgs that became a viral sensation. The song producer by Kalmi and released by Universal Music India saw Hanumankind aka Sooraj Cherukat perform within the popular Indian carnival attraction called 'well of death'.

Rat BoySummer 

Especially after the release of Challengers, Hot Rodent Boyfriends became a thing where people swooned over skinny celebrities who would be considered as unconventionally attractive dudes who did not fit under attributes that would be considered stereotypically 'macho'.

Unpacking the 'rodent boyfriend' and 'rat boy summer' trend and why it's not an insult - The Mirror US

Chappel Roan's red carpet moment

The singer who has been receiving praise for setting boundaries as a popstar became iconic when she confronted a photographer at the VMAs and later met the same person and asked them to apologize to her.

The K-drama world found its new crush! 

Lovely Runner was a K- drama that was made against all odds. A low budget, rejected by half the actors in the industry and no platform to air. But one person’s no is a golden opportunity for another. That’s how we discovered Byeon Woo-Seok! He carried the show from the first episode till the end and that result of that was a plethora of Reels on the actor. Everyone posted videos of themselves outside the character’s house shouting “Sun-Jaeyaaa” the same way Im-Sol does. It easily became one of the most viewed and talked about K-dramas this year!


Internet's craze for Luigi Mangione

One can never guess who would end up as the star on the internet and nobody was expecting Luigi Mangione to be the wild card. Accused of the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brain Thompson, he instantly became people's favorite after his mugshots were released.

Amelia and Andrew Garfield's Chicken Shop Date  

Who would have thought their interaction on the red carpet of an award show was building up to them actually ending up on a date? Either way, people got what they wanted and it was all the internet could talk about.

Drake Kendrick beef

Giving the people who love hip hop something to be involved in, Kendrick Lamar and Drake went into a rap feud releasing songs dissing each other. While people were divided in their support, they surely were loving the results of this beef.

In the Battle of Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar, AI Is Playing Spoiler - The New York Times

Nobody Wants This

As opposed to the title, Netflix's Nobody Wants This was all the rave this year. Noah from Nobody Wants This played by the lovely Adam Brody saved the declining image of male characters this year, while reinstating our love for Adam.

Jungkook coming live on a random Wednesday

Out of all the crazy things that could’ve happened this year, seeing Jungkook come live on Weverse during his military service is not at all what any of us were expecting. His live had 20 million people from around the world on it and of course, post the live were the memes, Reels and posts on social media that still haven’t stopped btw!

This article is a part of our #LetsKetchup series that sums up the year from our perspective! 

For more such content follow us at @socialketchup

popculture moments 2024 year roundup 2024 year roundup