With the first month of 2024 being over, here is a look back at the biggest pop culture moments from 2023. 

The Hunger Games and Josh Hutcherson Lore

There were many great movies out in theaters in the year of 2023. A lot of them stood out and were amazing, but there was one that particularly stood out to the social media community. “The Hunger Games” seemed as if it became trending overnight and you may be wondering how that happened. In March of 2023, Netflix decided to add all the first four movies to Netflix as an attempt to promote “The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” coming out in November of 2023. Not only did the first four movies get so popular again, the most recent movie was so good in theaters, that movie gained so much popularity as well.

On the topic of these movies, the casting was great for all five movies. One actor that surfaced was the infamous Josh Hutcherson. Around this time, there was a meme of him made to the song “Whistle” by Flo Rida. This gained so much traction and was the new version of being “Rick Rolled.” 

Barbenheimer

On the topic of cinematography, there was a debate over the summer that took over. On July 21, two blockbuster movies were released. These two movies were “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” There was a huge dispute over social media platforms about the two movies. People argued about which one they were seeing or which one was better. A new trend emerged from each where they would binge watch both of the movies back-to-back. People would dress up in all pink for Barbie and all black for Oppenheimer. Not only was this trend popular at the time they both released, the build up towards the two movies is what is noted. I would say this topic lasted at least a couple of months, just for excitement about the two movies. 

The Eras Tour

In March of 2023, Taylor Swift’s career took a drastic turn for the better. Swift decided she wanted to do something special for her fans and create an unforgettable experience. Known as The Eras Tour, this 3 ½ hour performance goes through the different “eras” of her career and highlights them each. Not only has she created an unforgettable performance with the songs itself, the effects and overall production of the concert is what makes it so good. As a result, she is at the height of her career and doesn’t look like she’s stopping anytime soon.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce

On the topic of Taylor Swift, arguably the most crazy pop culture moment that happened in 2023, was the newfound romance of Chiefs player, Travis Kelce, and Taylor Swift. It all started when Travis Kelce made a friendship bracelet with his number on it and planned to give it to Swift when she performed in Kansas City in honor of her song “You’re on Your Own Kid” which states to “make the friendship bracelets…” After that, fans were left questioning what happened after that. It was made pretty clear that something was happening when Taylor Swift made her first appearance on September 24, 2023 at a Chiefs game. Although they have become the most popular couple, they have received a lot of backlash, especially considering that Taylor Swift will most likely be attending the Super Bowl and football fans all across the board are bothered by it. Nevertheless, they are arguably the biggest couple to come out of 2023. 

Super Bowl 

Super Bowl LVII took place on Feb. 12, 2023 and was one for the books. The matchup was against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. If you were just looking at the teams, you may not notice anything, but this Super Bowl game was the fight of two brother’s careers on opposing teams. Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce were pitted against each other this time around. This was known as the “Kelce Bowl” and the face of it all was their mother, Donna Kelce. When asked who she was rooting for she stated “Whoever’s on offense.” Donna Kelce was in a win-win situation, and this is a huge accomplishment on all of their behalfs. It’s rare that both of your sons go professional in the same sport, even more rare that they are against each other in the Super Bowl.

On top of the Kelce brotherly rivalry, the Super Bowl halftime show was a shocking story in of itself. Rihanna was performing and she did not disappoint. She performed hits like “Umbrella,” “Only Girl in the World,” and “Diamonds.” Not only was her performance amazing, there was something else viewers noticed. During the halftime show, Rihanna announced her second pregnancy. People were shocked all over the world, as no one had really seen her for a couple months and then she showed up and performed all while being pregnant. 

Roman Empire

There are so many TikTok trends that happen in the years, it’s hard to keep track of all of them. There’s one that particularly stood out to people and that was the Roman Empire trend. It all started with a bit showing up on TikTok where people would ask their boyfriends how often they thought about the Roman Empire. Shockingly, some of these people were saying at least once a day or once a week. As that became a trend in of itself, people started a new one relating to that where they name other things as their Roman Empire, which really meant that they think about it a lot. Arguably, this was the biggest trend on TikTok in 2023 and it was so big that we still see people posting about what their Roman Empire is.