Can we all just take a second to acknowledge the fact in less than a month, we will be entering a new decade. It seems like just yesterday that my 10-year-old self was rocking the classic aeropostale pink t-shirt with soccer shorts, dancing in my room to “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love.” Now 10 years later, after venturing through less exciting teen years than promised in High School Musical, we are almost completely finished with the 2010’s. For me personally, so many changes have happened over these past ten years. I finished elementary, middle and high school all within this time span, as well as started my undergraduate program at Queen’s University. Growing up in this time, I have avidly followed the top headlines for all things pop culture. From the birth and death of vine, to Gangnam style, adventures of Jelena and everything in between – these 10 years have been anything but boring. So to honour the decade, I have decided to take a trip down memory lane to highlight only some of the most iconic pop culture trends, songs, and hilarious moments that have occurred.
2010:
Top songs: Tik Tok – Kesha, Need You Now – Lady Antebellum, Hey Soul Sister – Train
Top Movies: Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland, Iron Man 2
Defining Pop Culture Moments: 2010 was truly a defining year for the evolution of celebrity gossip in the decade. We saw the beginning of a lot of relationships that continued on and off for many years following. The premiere of “The Last Song” started the relationship of Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth (Sorry Cody, I will forever ship these two being together). Justin and Selena Gomez dating rumours also circulated when they were spotted together at a New Year’s Eve party. Lady Gaga sparked a fierce debate with her infamous meat dress, and we saw the first of many jail appearances from Lindsay Lohan. Finally, it was in 2010 the incredibly lowkey, not at all popular app Instagram launched. Wonder where that went?
Photo courtesy of Seventeen.com
2011:
Top songs: Rolling in the Deep – Adele, Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO, Firework – Katy Perry
Top Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Pt. 2), Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Defining Pop Culture Moments: Petition for Rebecca Black to release a sequel to Friday anyone? Believe it or not, in 2011 the poetic account of a teen “going out on Friday” was released, collecting a total of 3.6 million dislikes. Also in 2011, two very different wedding celebrations happened. We had the marriage of William and Kate Middleton, with this marking the first royal marriage in over a decade. On the other hand, 2011 also brought the shortest marriage of the decade with reality star Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries, with their nuptials only lasting 72 days. Finally, the famous TV show “Game of Thrones” aired for the first time in 2011, and continued until 2019.
Photo courtesy of Youtube.com
2012:
Top Songs: Somebody that I Used to Know – Gotye, Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen, We Are Young – Fun
Top Movies: The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Avengers
Memorable Moments: The odds were ever in our favour during 2012, as we were blessed with the presence of Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth AND Jennifer Lawrence all in one cinematic masterpiece – “The Hunger Games” (Yes, I am a mega fan). 2012 was also the year of Barbara Walters, or you may redneckognize her by a different name, Honey Boo Boo. The living legend Anne Hathaway once again took our breath away with the famous musical “Les Miserables.” Finally, how could we not mention that 2012 was the year of the incredibly famous and only slightly repetitive dance “Gangnam Style.”
Photo courtesy of TheJarkartaPost.com
2013:
Top Songs: Thrift Shop – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke, Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
Top Movies: The Hunger Games (Catching Fire), Iron Man Three, Frozen
Memorable Moments: It is still something that amazes me, however, 2013 was the year where a man dressed in a fox costume racked up 900 million views with “What Does the Fox Say?” Miley Cyrus proved she was no longer in her Hannah Montana phase, with her famous performance at the MTV Music Video awards. Jennifer Lawrence won our hearts once again when she had a tumble on her way to the Oscar stage to collect her award. Above all, the Queen herself Beyonce gave one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows ever, with the reunion of “Destiny’s Child” we all needed.
Photo courtesy of Eonline.com
2014:
Top Songs: Happy – Pharrell Williams, Dark Horse – Katy Perry, All Of Me – John Legend
Top Movies: American Sniper, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, Guardians of the Galaxy
Memorable Moments: In 2014, a whole range of emotion was felt. The world’s happiest mugshot surfaced when Justin Bieber was arrested for a DUI (we were thick in the JB bad boy phase). On the other hand, one of the biggest tear jerkers “The Fault in Our Stars” took the screens and my 14-year-old self has never felt so much heartbreak. I quickly recovered when twitter made Target employee Alex famous. The hashtag #alexfromtarget quickly started trending, and he even made it onto Ellen. Also – have you ever wanted to be in a selfie more?!
Photo courtesy of TheDrum.com
2015:
Top Songs: Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson, Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran, See you Again – Wiz Khalifa
Top Movies: Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out
Memorable Moments: T-Swift made us all envious when she introduced her ultimate girl squad in her “Bad Blood” music video. While this girl squad was thriving, our favourite boy band “One Direction” delivered the heart-breaking news that Zayn was leaving. Also in 2015, a widely sparked debate began when a particular dress went viral; the question still remains – is it black and blue or gold and white? (P.S. It was totally Gold and White). Finally, my dance routine has forever been changed when “The Whip” and Nae Nae was introduced by none other than Silentó.
Photo courtesy of Caitlin McNeill’s Tumblr site.
2016:
Top Songs: Love Yourself – Justin Bieber, Sorry – Justin Bieber, One Dance – Drake
Top Movies: Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Finding Dory
Memorable Moments: I deeply apologize for reminding you of this moment, but it wouldn’t be 2016 if we weren’t reminded of the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt split. To add on in sad celebrity couple news, Beyonce’s “Lemonade” sparked many rumours that Jay Z had cheated on her… just who is Becky with the good hair?! Mercury was clearly in retrograde for the entirety of 2016 for many couples. However, Meghan Markle seemed to be thriving as she started her journey of becoming a princess when she started to date Prince Harry. Although, none of this comes close to the fact that 2016 was the year that LEONARDO DICAPRIO FINALLY WON AN OSCAR.
Photo courtesy of Pinterest
2017:
Top Songs: Shape of You – Ed Sheeran, Despacito – Luis Fonsi, That’s What I Like – Bruno Mars
Top Movies: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2, Beauty and the Beast
Memorable Moments: We all felt the second-hand embarrassment when “La La Land” was accidentally named Best Picture, when it was actually “Moonlight” who had won. However, the discomfort felt at the Oscars was not nearly as bad as the Pepsi commercial with Kendall Jenner (still cringing at this one). Beyonce once again proved she is better than us, and showed us all how to OWN a pregnancy photo shoot. Finally, 2017 was also the year that “Riverdale” came into our lives, and honestly, nothing will ever be more iconic then Archie telling his fellow inmate he will never know the triumphs and defeats of high school football (but because it’s KJ Apa, we’ll let it slide).
Photo courtesy of Medium.com
2018:
Top Songs: God’s Plan – Drake, Perfect – Ed Sheeran, Meant To Be – Florida Georgia + Bebe Rexha
Top Movies: Avengers: Infinity War, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Incredibles 2
Memorable Moments: It seems that as the world is getting older, unfortunately we are not getting any wiser. 2018 was the year of the “Tide Pod” challenge, and honestly, I have nothing else to say about this. Five boys won our hearts (and sadly I am not talking about a 1D reunion), but instead the fabulous reboot of “Queer Eye.” Mason Ramsey was caught on camera yodeling in a Walmart and soon became known as the Yodeling Kid, later performing at Coachella and on Ellen. The split of Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson gave us a fabulous new break up anthem ‘Thank U, Next”. The beginning of Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson drama began when Tristan was spotted cheating on Chloe just says before the birth of baby True. Finally, “The Kissing Booth” started the trend of Netflix originals you say you refuse to watch (but secretly love).
Photo courtesy of Spin.com
2019:
Top Songs: Old Town Road – Lil Nas X, Sunflower – Post Malone, Without Me – Halsey
Top Movies: Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Spider-Man: Far From Home
Memorable Moments: If you had told me in 2010 that in 2019 Kanye West and Kim Kardashian would be meeting with President Donald Trump to try and get ASAP Rocky out of Swedish prison… I would have thought that you were crazy. 2019 has truly been quite the year. Miley and Liam have officially made me never believe in love (*Cue When I Look At You for dramatic effect.*) Many Facebook users decided this was the year to storm Area 51, with the event reading – they can’t stop all of us. The new app TikTok has become incredibly popular, with many celebrities taking part in the dancing/video app. Speaking of celebrities, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello shared a rather intimate (and also slightly gross) video of them kissing to prove to people that they could. Finally, the Jelena Saga is officially over, with JB marrying Hailey Baldwin over the summer and closing that chapter for good… maybe.
Photo courtesy of Insider.com