No one could’ve predicted that the pop culture of 2023 would be defined by Taylor Swift dating a podcasting tight end and people dressing up as a mix between a classic doll and a nuclear physicist.
But that won’t stop us from trying our luck at guessing what the seminal events in the worlds of music and movies in 2024 will be. From highly anticipated pop starlet albums to movies about love and tennis, here is everything you need to know about the year to be in pop culture.
Dua Lipa’s Third Album
Eóighan Noonan | Senior Staff Writer
After wiping her Instagram feed and debuting new auburn hair in a series of cryptic posts in October, the U.K.’s reigning pop princess is ready to start her new era this year.
2024 is slated to be yet another year of Dua Lipa, with the singer’s first album since 2020’s record-breaking “Future Nostalgia.” Quarantine-era disco-pop hits like “Don’t Start Now” and “Levitating,” the most popular song of 2021, solidified Dua’s star power, teeing her up for a successful comeback this year.
In November the singer took on a darker sound with the lead single of her new album “Houdini,” a groovy, synth-pop track. The song marks a shift away from Dua’s usual club tracks while maintaining the same electric edge and unabashed confidence present in the singer’s biggest hits.
In interviews over the last few months, Dua has hinted at the album being “more personal” and inspired by “1970s-era psychedelia.” Despite the air of mystery currently surrounding the singer’s upcoming project, if Dua’s past commercial success and critical acclaim are any indication, 2024 is sure to be another year of pop excellence for the three-time Grammy winner.
“Challengers”
Nicholas Anastacio | Community Relations Director
While the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike delayed its release from September of last year, “Challengers” seems better equipped to define pop culture in 2024. The R-rated film from “Call Me by Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino has all the makings of a blockbuster: a pearl-clutching love triangle, an inside look into the contentious world of professional tennis and Zendaya.
The sports-romance film follows retired tennis player Tashi Donaldson, portrayed by Zendaya, and a tennis match pitting her husband and trainee, played by Mike Faist, against his former best friend and Tashi’s ex-boyfriend, played by Josh O’Connor. 2024 marks the Emmy-winning actress’ return to acting since her critically acclaimed performance in the second season of HBO’s “Euphoria” in 2022.
With Zendaya already being in theaters starting March 1 for “Dune: Part Two” and the French Open soon following afterward in late May, “Challengers” looks to hit an ace when it releases April 26.
Ariana Grande’s 7th Album
Brooke Shapiro | Reporter
After teasing fans with clips of her in the studio and a rebrand of the “Sweetener” Instagram account, Ariana Grande released her new single, “yes, and?” last Friday.
The song features an exciting, club-style beat that nearly forces listeners to dance along. If the rest of Grande’s currently undated anticipated seventh album is anything like “yes, and?” fans can expect the return of her iconic pop sound but with even more house-based elements.
Grande’s first album since 2020 and return to the screen in November’s Broadway adaptation “Wicked: Part 1” leaves the door to an exciting and action-packed year wide open in 2024 for the pop star.
Mean Girls
Maansi Chandra | Reporter
20 years later, the Plastics are back.
Following its premiere in 2004, “Means Girls” took the world by storm. People constantly quote the movie’s iconic lines like “That’s so fetch” and “On Wednesdays we wear pink.” People dress up for Halloween based on iconic costumes from the movie, like Karen’s mouse costume or the “Santa’s helpers” outfits from the Jingle Bell Rock performance.
When the 2024 adaptation of the movie — released this past Friday — was first announced, people were skeptical about what the final product would look like since new actors and actresses would play the main characters. The remake is also a musical, centering on songs from the Broadway rendition not featured in the original film.
Despite some trepidation around the film, the nostalgia and iconic attitude of the movie will never go out of style. “Means Girls” was a defining movie of 2004 and will stay so even in 2024.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
Nan Jiang | Reporter
Last summer, moviegoers got a treat with “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” Audiences loved the movie’s beautiful cell-shaded animation, gripping-but-funny plot and fresh ideas.
With obvious passion and effort behind it, the film was everything stale modern superhero movies weren’t. More so, its “canon events” — a term from the movie about events meant to happen by fate — have taken over internet pop culture, with people sharing their own “canon events” with the world.
The film ended with not only a thrilling cliffhanger but also a promise that the conclusion to the trilogy, “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse,” would be released in March 2024. But due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes last year, the film was delayed indefinitely. Still, with an original March release date planned, there is a good chance it will hit the big screen this year.
Just like the last two films in the trilogy, “Beyond the Spider-Verse” will no doubt be a landmark pop culture event of the year. It’s the conclusion to perhaps the most important domestic animated film series in recent history, and brings home a storyline that moviegoers are invested in to a degree that the industry hasn’t experienced since “Avengers: Endgame.”
Coupled with Insomniac’s “Spider-Man 2” video game last year, Spider-Man is an unstoppable hype train and pop culture juggernaut ahead of “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.”
