I began high school in the middle of the pandemic during a period of both general social and political unrest. Each year after was equally as stuffed with pop culture and political events, and I can attest that there was never a dull moment. As my graduation approaches, I would like to look back at the pop culture highlight reel of the past four years.
The first pop culture moment that I have to point out is still memorable and still quotable. On November 7th, 2020 a video of Kamal Harris went viral as she had just secured the vice presidency. Who could ever forget the iconic line of “we did it Joe”? Shortly after that, on March 7th, 2021, we got another viral sound bite, but this time from English politics. After Meghan Markle and Prince Harry left the monarchy, their Oprah interview was the very first tell-all until Prince Harry’s book, Spare. A lot has happened for the monarchy in my four years of high school, but Oprah’s questions “were you silent or were you silenced?” goes at the top of my list for iconic lines. What great moments to start off high school.
Sophomore year started off with another iconic and interesting moment, but this time it invaded the fashion world. At the Met Gala on September 13th, 2021, AOC wore her iconic “Tax the Rich” dress. That statement didn’t quite land how I imagined she had planned with most believing that the glamorous spot of the Met Gala, where the rich mingle, was a hypocritical place to declare the need to tax her peers. In that same semester, the #FreeBritney movement took off and finished with Britney Spears being released from her conservatorship. While Britney Spears may not have been our generation’s big popstar, we still love her and are happy to see her out of her shaved-head era. I think my last pick for sophomore year pop culture moments has got to be obvious – think Oscars. That’s right: Will Smith X Chris Rock Slap. I had watched all of the Oscar Best Picture nominees that year, and so I was in it for the long haul. I could never forget Smith walking up onto that stage, then the audio and video cutting out, and then watching his Best Actor speech right after. Then, of course, going to school the next morning and having it be the talk of the town. But at least we got another sound bite out of the whole thing, right?
Junior year starts off with my least favorite on this list – the Don’t Worry Darling drama. To this day, will we ever know if Harry spat on Chris? I would love to know. And what exactly happened between Florence and Olivia. Not to mention the Harry and Olivia relationship which I was so aggressively against. Team Jason. Of course, junior year redeemed itself with the beginning of the Eras Tour. There is nothing quite like staying up to watch a glitchy livestream of the surprise songs or watching random TikTokers track and predict the secret songs. Who could ever forget “secret song o’clock”? Then another less fun thing happened – the actors and writers strike which bled into senior year as well. I’m so happy that it is over because I need the final season of Stranger Things ASAP. However, we will still be without The-Summer-I-Turned-Pretty this year because of the strike. In all seriousness, I am happy that the actors and writers succeeded and are now back at work.
Now, senior year, the last year, the last hurrah, has truly been a big year. Kicked off by Barbenheimer, we all knew this would be a great year. Barbenheimer has got to be one of the greatest pop culture moments of the century, not to be dramatic. The publicity genius, the power of tik tok, the fun, and the comeback of movie theaters – Barbenheimer has had a beautiful impact. And of course both movies were phenomenal. Moving on from movies, I have to talk about a little podcast moment that will go down in history. The Travis Kelce friendship bracelet declaration that will bring us all the way to the end of senior year. Who would have thought we would see a collision of worlds greater than Barbenheimer in Travlor? Football fall was definitely more fun this year. That moment brings us all the way through the winter to Coachella. Lana Del Rey on a motorcycle. Sabrina Carpenter’s new song Espresso (an absolute hit), Kesha and Renee Rapp, Billie Eilish and Lana, Suki Waterhouse’s first performance since she had her baby, and, of course, Taylor and Travis stealing the show from the audience. This year has given us so much in pop culture, and there is so much more to come. There has been a reemergence of Ariana Grande through her new album. Billie Eilish is releasing a new album, one that I have been waiting for what feels like forever. Taylor Swift has released a double album because she’s just amazingly crazy like that. Will Sabrina release an album this summer? We can only hope.
In these past four years, a lot has happened, at Westminster and in the wide world. While I just hit the highlights, there is much more that could represent the past four years at Westminster. So while music, movies, pop culture, and politics will continue to change, come and go, we’ll never forget the past four years only represented by the moments I’ve listed.
Edited by Phoebe Clayton
