TOP POP CULTURE EVENTS OF 2022
By: Emma Widensky
Ticketmaster disaster, a dead queen, and a slap heard round the world are just a few ways 2022 will be remembered. We should have known back on New Year’s Eve 2021, when we lost the last Golden Girl a few days before her golden birthday that the year ahead was going to be a doozy. Little did we know how many pop culture events we would endure throughout the year.
The beginning of the year brought us the Wordle craze. It is crazy that a game of five letters could get people of all ages hooked every day. Wordle was eventually purchased by the New York Times by the end of January, and the craze has since slowed down in popularity. You know who else has slowed down in popularity? I will give you a hint, “He got in one little fight and Chris Rock got scared”. During the 94th Academy Awards, best actor nominee Will Smith came on stage and slapped Chris Rock in the face after the comedian’s comment about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. The actor faced severe backlash to his career due to his actions that night, and still is facing the backlash.
Spring began the trial where we “Heard” and went into “Depp”th into the marriage of Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. Depp won the six-week defamation trial against Heard and the jury granted him 15 million dollars in damages. Late Spring brought us the 2022 Met Gala, it also brought us Kim Kardashian in Marilyn Monroe’s iconic 1962 John F. Kennedy, Happy Birthday, Mr. President Dress. The dress had been in Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Orlando Florida since 2016. There are reports that the iconic dress has been damaged from Kardashian wearing it that night. Rumors say, the dress now shows signs of tearing and missing crystals. Maybe Ripley’s should have stuck with their original answer of “No” when asked if Kim could wear the dress, but after Kris Jenner and a few donations. I guess, money does get you places, believe it or not.
The Summer brought in the heat and some sad news for females in our country. The US Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022. In 1973, the landmark decision gave women federal abortion laws protecting their rights. This decision was overturned in June of 2022. Celebrities and influencers both male and female turned to social media to express their anger and frustration towards this decision of the Supreme Court. This decision has created a ripple that has even had an effect this week in our county. President Biden signed the “Respect for Marriage Act” this week protecting same sex marriage. This was the President’s way of protecting human rights so they cannot be taken away in the future. Decisions like overturning the almost fifty-year-old Roe v Wade decision, impact the future and can create an uncertain future for us all. It is important to protect human rights, and especially for us, as the future generation.
September brought us the passing of Queen Elizabeth at the age of ninety-six years old. The late Queen Elizabeth was the ruler of England for over seventy years. Her son Charles is now the King of England and is the newest monarch of the English throne.
Ending the year on a positive note, let’s talk music. Taylor Swift released her tenth studio album titled “Midnights” on October 21, 2022, and before the clock could strike midnight, less than 24 hours after the release of the album, it had gathered the most streams in a single day in Spotify history. Taylor then announced her upcoming Eras Tour on November 1, 2022. Fans were ecstatic, since she hadn’t toured since her 2018 Reputation Tour. However, that excitement quickly turned into frustration on November 15th when presale tickets went on sale, and fans were waiting online for over five hours, for most not even to get tickets. This sale was a disaster resulting in many angered and disappointed fans. Fans were still hopeful to obtain tickets in the general sale on November 18th. However, their hopes soon faded once Ticketmaster canceled the general sale due to “insufficient remaining inventory, and high demand”.
As 2022 comes to an end, and we welcome 2023, we look forward to new events to come that will change the course of our history, pop culture, and our future.