This is the script for the ‘infinite scroll podcast’ episode: ‘2024 Internet Culture Recap: 10 of The Biggest Viral Moments‘
2024 has been an eventful year for pop culture—a rollercoaster of highs and lows, from nearly every major pop girly dropping an album to a few high-profile cancellations in the online world.
The internet, as always, has been at the centre of it all— shaping trends, sparking arguments, and bringing us both fun and controversial viral moments. As we do every year, we’re taking a step back to reflect on some of the biggest culture-shaping moments that have taken the internet by storm. Whether it’s music, scandal, or new trends, there has been a bit of everything.
So let’s get into it.
The Rise of the Pop Girlies
Now, we can’t talk about 2024 without mentioning the renaissance of pop. The likes of Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande have been dominating for the past decade, but this year, a new class of breakout stars emerged. With pretty much every pop girl dropping an album this year, the 2025 Grammys is set to be a total bloodbath.
As Mikael Wood pointed out in a Los Angeles Times article, Olivia Rodrigo was the last major Gen Z pop sensation to break into the mainstream in 2021 before this year. An anonymous pop songwriter quoted in the piece mentioned that the nearly four-year gap between Olivia’s rise and the others was “not normal,” as there used to be at least one massive breakout every year, sometimes two. This gap was partly due to the pandemic, which forced labels to adjust their strategies for elevating young artists. During this time, TikTok emerged as a game-changer, contributing to the rise of Chappell Roan, Charli xcx, and Sabrina Carpenter.
Charli probably went the most viral this year with brat. From memes about the aggressively green album cover to social media users embracing the whole 365 party girl vibe, it’s clear Charli had Gen Z in a chokehold. One of the standout— and honestly, crazy— moments of this era was the way brat influenced the presidential election in the United States. In a surprising turn of events, the Kamala Harris campaign jumped on the zeitgeist by posting brat-coded fan cams after Charli tweeted, “kamala IS brat.”
Beyond the intersection of brat and the 2024 election, the brat era gave us brat summer (or brat winter down in Australia)— and with it, the viral TikTok dance to ‘Apple,’ created by Kelley Heyer. The album also went viral for its remixes and the clever marketing strategy, with brat billboards popping up around the world. Some of the most notable remixes came from artists like Lorde on ‘Girl, so confusing,’ Billie Eilish on ‘Guess,’ and Ariana Grande on ‘Sympathy is a knife.’ And let’s not forget Charli’s Sweat tour with Troye Sivan, where videos of fans doing the ‘Apple’ dance on the big screen went viral, along with Charli’s routine monologues before performing ‘Girl, so confusing.’
Speaking of viral touring moments, Sabrina Carpenter might take the cake this year. She kicked off 2024 as an opening act on Taylor Swift’s massively viral Eras Tour, where her ‘Nonsense’ outros and iconic kick during ‘Feather’ became fan-favourite moments. By the end of the year, Sabrina had stepped fully into the spotlight on her own, riding the success of her song ‘Espresso’ and all the memes it inspired. Now on tour for her album Short & Sweet, Sabrina has social media users obsessed again, with clips from every show going viral— especially as fans speculate which ‘Juno’ position she’ll choose each night.
Last but certainly not least, we have Chappell Roan. Her rise has been nothing short of meteoric, going from relative obscurity to becoming one of the most talked-about artists of the year. With songs like ‘Good Luck, Babe,’ ‘Pink Pony Club,’ and ‘Hot To Go,’ Chappell really cemented her place in pop culture. Some of her most viral moments came from her festival runs, where she pulled massive crowds and wore iconic costumes— ranging from the Statue of Liberty to Divine the Drag Queen.
Of course, Chappell hasn’t been without controversy. She’s faced criticism for setting firm boundaries around parasocial relationships with her fans and refusing to endorse a presidential candidate, urging her audience to do their own research.
Film is bigger than ever
While the pop girlies had their moment, 2024 was also a big year for film. The resurgence we saw in 2023 with Barbie and Oppenheimer—released on the same day, leading to the Barbenheimer phenomenon—carried through this year in its own way. While no double release quite reached Barbenheimer’s level (despite attempts like “Glicked” with Gladiator II and Wicked), we did see some unforgettable press tours.
Earlier this year, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers had everyone obsessed. The tennis film, starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, saw its cast doing press worldwide. Zendaya especially stole the spotlight, going viral for her tennis-themed premiere looks. Once the film was released, fan edits shipping the characters flooded social media, cementing Challengers as a standout film of 2024.
And then there’s Wicked. Released just last month, the lead-up to this film has been extensive. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were everywhere—from the Super Bowl to the Paris Olympics—building anticipation for the movie. While Wicked has received glowing reviews, much of the conversation online has centred around its press tour, with Ariana and Cynthia delivering iconic looks and moments at every stop. And, of course, they are always holding space for the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity.’
Paris Olympics
But Ariana and Cynthia were not the only people to go viral at the Paris Olympics— it also brought a wave of viral Olympians who took over the internet. Leading the charge was Australian breakdancer Raygun, whose unorthodox dance moves captivated people across the world. Then there was “Pommel Horse Guy,” whose real name is Stephen Nedoroscik. He not only impressed viewers with his gymnastics skills on the Pommel Horse but also his calm, unbothered demeanour on the sidelines. In shooting, Turkish marksman Yusuf Dikec went viral for showing up with almost no equipment, while South Korean shooter Kim Yeji gained fans for her “main character energy” and impressive, high-tech gear. Lastly, Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen went viral after sharing his chocolate muffin reviews from the Olympic Village.
Though TikTok first embraced Olympic content in 2021, this year’s Games felt freer as athletes enjoyed the competitions without the constraints of COVID protocols.
The rise of the dating exposé
While content from the Olympics dominated the internet this year, another type of content also gained popularity: the dating exposé. TikTok users started replacing short-form style content for multiple-part storytimes this year— and it all started with a woman named Reesa Teesa when she posted her 50-part series “Who TF did I marry?!”
The entire series spanned approximately 10 hours, with many TikTok users having watched the whole thing. Reesa essentially narrated her experience of being married to a pathological liar. She characterised her ex-husband as “the United Nations of red flags ” and explained how he deceived her throughout their whole relationship. This included lies about his financial status, particularly when they were planning to buy a house, details about his family, and past relationships.
After Reesa found serious success on the platform, well-established creators followed suit. Brooke Schofield and Madeline Argy are two examples.
Brooke exposed her ex-boyfriend Clinton Kane for lying throughout their relationship— from claiming that his mother, brother and father died in the same year to saying that he had grown up in Australia (when he actually lived in Brunei). Among the lies, she also spoke about how Clinton would manipulate her, leaving her in an extremely vulnerable state.
Meanwhile, Madeline took to the platform to get candid about her on-again-off-again relationship with UK-based rapper, Central Cee. This came off the back of relationship rumours between Central Cee, TikToker Leah Halton and Ice Spice— all while he was allegedly dating Madeline. With this context, many TikTok users presumed that these rumours were for publicity. In her series, she revealed that she was being “played” alongside the public.
In a similar vein, Aspyn Ovard went completely viral this year after addressing her divorce from her husband of nearly 10 years, Parker Ferris. While she didn’t drop an exposé video like Brooke or Madeline, Aspyn leaned into the speculation with a series of TikToks—many of them poking fun at the situation and even throwing a little shade at Parker.
It all goes to show how success on TikTok often comes down to authenticity, honesty, and relatability— something that could be said for all of these creators.These characteristics fit the platform’s culture, perfectly aligning with Gen Z’s expectations of storytelling and creators.
Right-wing ideology infiltrates the mainstream
While many women have shared their personal experiences online this year, men have done so as well—though often in ways that have proven far more harmful. Throughout 2024, right-wing ideology has seeped further into mainstream internet culture than ever before. On TikTok, practices like looksmaxxing—efforts to enhance one’s appearance that is actually rooted in incel ideology—have gained significant traction.
Beyond TikTok, right-wing influencers and public figures have been emboldened during the 2024 US election cycle. Trump, for example, made appearances on platforms associated with right-leaning influencers like Adin Ross, Jake Paul, and Joe Rogan. Elon Musk also deepened his political influence, attending Trump rallies and even becoming Trump’s “efficiency tsar,” reportedly working to “dismantle government bureaucracy” for the incoming administration.
One of the starkest examples of alt-right ideology surfacing online came when Australian skincare brand tbh skincare went viral after participating in the “Boots and a Slicked-Back Bun” trend. While some users dismissed the video as “millennial core,” others joked that “marketing degrees should be more expensive.” However, the criticism took a darker turn when the video circulated on Twitter, where thousands of men began targeting the women involved. Andrew Tate even shared the clip, writing: “If you do not escape The Matrix women like this will be your boss. Zog corp loves emasculating men by forcing them to listen to semi sentient females. If that doesn’t motivate you to get rich. Nothing will.”
This blatant misogyny is just one example of how the alt-right operates online, but subtler manifestations have also emerged— most notably, the rise of “tradwives.”
A true tradwife isn’t just an aesthetic or a stay-at-home mom who enjoys cooking; it’s an ideology steeped in white supremacy, heteronormativity, and antifeminism. While many tradwife creators don’t explicitly identify with the alt-right, the embrace ofTrad Lifeoften serves as an entry point to the far-right, particularly through the so-called “Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline.”
This year, creators like Nara Smith have popularised a watered-down version of tradwife culture. While most tradwife influencers don’t actively promote harmful ideologies, their content can inadvertently act as a gateway for audiences to engage with more overtly alt-right material. This slippery slope has made tradwife content a quiet but notable force in the increasingly common belief in the far-right online.
Some notable cancellations
While tradwives have yet to be cancelled on a major scale, a couple of influencers have been — much like every other year in internet culture. Now, we can’t get into all the scandals and cancellations that took place this year but there have been three major ones.
First is Brooke Schofield. She faced significant backlash this year after past racist tweets resurfaced—a controversy that gained renewed traction given the growth of the Cancelled podcast this year. While these tweets had circulated on Reddit in the past, the scale of criticism this time was unprecedented.
In her initial response, days after they had started going viral, Brooke acknowledged the tweets were real. She went on to explain her upbringing, mentioning her grandparents’ conservative beliefs, and how she absorbed those views as a teenager.
In the video she said: “Honest to God, you guys, it wasn’t until even after college that I really started to shift my way of thinking. There are people in my life who I might have looked up to forever who I do not agree with. And it’s amazing now that people are learning earlier on about politics and forming their own opinions outside of what their parents think.”
The tearful video, meant to provide context, was widely criticised as tone-deaf and lacking accountability. Many pointed out that for someone whose platform and podcast centres on dissecting online drama, her response fell short of the standard she holds others to.
She did go on to post additional videos and make more comments but public opinion remained divided with many users questioning whether her response reflects genuine accountability or damage control – especially because she liked a picture of Donald Trump amid the controversy.
Next, there was Cody Ko. He became embroiled in controversy earlier this year after Tana Mongeau made a claim during the Cancelled podcast tour. At the Sacramento stop on May 30th, a clip from the show went viral in which Tana was asked who had the smallest dick she’d ever encountered. She responded by naming Cody Ko and then added that she can say that because she was 17 when they hooked up, implying a significant age gap, as Cody would have been around 25 at the time.
The allegations immediately sparked widespread backlash, putting pressure on Cody to respond. However, he remained silent in the weeks that followed, a decision that many criticised. Adding to the outrage, a video surfaced of Cody playing Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” during a DJ set shortly after the allegations, which some interpreted as an insensitive response to the situation.
The cancellation has since quieted down, with speculation that legal proceedings may be preventing either party from commenting further. However, Cody has not directly addressed the claims publicly, leaving many questions unanswered. He did, however, issue a shared statement with Noel Miller.
For context, Cody and Noel run a podcast network called TMG Studios. TMG stands for Tiny Meat Gang, which is the name of the podcast they co-host. Under TMG Studios, Cody hosts his own show called “Insanely Chill.” In the shared statement, they started by thanking the team and listeners for being patient but the pair also announced that Cody will be taking a step back from TMG.
Last but not least, we have MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson. This year, Jimmy faced a series of allegations, primarily related to his highly anticipated Amazon game show, “Beast Games,” and concerns about how the MrBeast workplace is managed.
We first saw Jimmy’s best friend and former channel co-host Ava Tyson in the centre of controversy. Around the middle of this year, posts began circulating online alleging that Ava had exchanged inappropriate messages with a user known as LavaGS, who was reportedly 13 years old at the time.
Ava later took to Twitter to address the claims, apologising for her previous behaviour, while also clarifying that she “never groomed anyone.” In her statement, she also announced her decision to step back from social media and “all things MrBeast” to focus on her mental health and to prevent the allegations from impacting the company or its team.
Jimmy also issued a post saying that he “recently” became aware of the allegations and is taking it seriously. He ultimately terminated Ava’s role with his company and hired investigators to look into the claims.
The fan in question, LavaGS, later spoke out, stating he did not feel groomed by Ava. However, he acknowledged hearing other accounts from young fans and expressed that Jimmy’s decision for Ava to step back was likely the right move. In an exclusive feature with Rolling Stone, Lava clarified that some creators have been misrepresenting the situation to further their own agendas.
It has been speculated that the creators pushing the grooming narrative may be motivated by transphobia, given that Ava came out as trans last year and has since been the target of significant discrimination and hateful commentary.
Then, MrBeast was exposed for making racist and homophobic comments back in 2017. A spokesperson for MrBeast later told the Associated Press that “when Jimmy was a teenager he acted like many kids and used inappropriate language while trying to be funny.”
Amid all of this, Rosanna Pansino continued making content exposing MrBeast. If you aren’t already familiar with Rosanna, she is a YouTuber who participated in one of Jimmy’s creator games competition shows and has been vocal about how it was rigged.
Around August, Rosanna started testimonials from contestants during the filming of “Beast Games.” It is billed as the biggest competition show ever with the biggest winning prize: $5 million. 2000 people competed in Las Vegas to be chosen to be on the show where there will be 1000 contestants that wind up on the final Amazon Prime show.
The stories coming out from the contestants claimed that they had been mistreated over the course of the competition. The New York Times later corroborated these claims, speaking with over a dozen contestants who described chronic neglect and harsh conditions. On September 16, a class-action lawsuit was filed against MrBeast and Amazon on behalf of five contestants. The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of all “Beast Games” participants, alleging multiple causes of action related to the chronic mistreatment and neglect they endured.
While the lawsuit and mistreatment allegations were the most significant aspects of the MrBeast’s cancellation, Rosanna also shared additional offences that added to the fallout. She posted screenshots from a MrBeast work chat log, highlighting inappropriate messages that raised concerns about workplace culture. Additionally, she shared a video revealing quality issues with MrBeast’s snack kit brand, Lunchly, including reports of mould found in the products.
Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake
While Rosanna Pansino is constantly feuding with MrBeast, it doesn’t compare to Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s back-and-forth this year. After collaborating in the early 2010s on projects like Drake’s Take Care album and tracks like ‘Poetic Justice’ and ‘Fuckin’ Problems,’ their relationship famously soured – leading to years subtle shots at one another.
This April though, Drake released ‘Push Ups,’ mocking Kendrick’s height, followed by “Taylor Made Freestyle” on Instagram, taunting Kendrick for not responding. Kendrick finally came back on April 30 with the six-minute ‘Euphoria,’ calling out Drake for using the N-word, critiquing his fashion, and questioning his hip-hop credibility.
The feud then escalated in May when Kendrick accused Drake’s camp of leaking information in his song ‘6:16 in LA,’ to which Drake responded with ‘Family Matters,’ alleging Kendrick had been unfaithful to his fiancé. Kendrick fired back again with a song called ‘Meet the Grahams,’ accusing Drake of being a deadbeat father and hiding a secret daughter. Drake dismissed the claims on Instagram, jokingly asking someone to “find my hidden daughter.” Kendrick then released ‘Not Like Us,’ doubling down on claims of Drake’s sexual misconduct.
Liam Payne’s passing
Perhaps the most heartbreaking news to shake pop culture this year was the death of Liam Payne. Liam passed away on October 16th after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. An autopsy conducted that evening revealed he suffered “multiple traumas” with injuries consistent with falling from a significant height including “internal and external haemorrhaging.” Authorities ruled out self-harm or involvement from a third party, though three individuals have been arrested in connection with the incident. On November 6th, Liam’s body was released to his family and flown back to the UK. His funeral took place on November 20th, with all his One Direction bandmates in attendance to pay their respects.
Lookalike contests
In lighter news, the second-half of the year has seen the increasing popularity of lookalike contests. It all started at the end of October, when a Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest was held in Washington Square Park in New York. It was organised by 23-year-old YouTuber Anthony Po, where the event promised the winner a $50 check made out to “Best Tim” and a six-foot-tall trophy. Things quickly went awry when several NYPD squad cars arrived, ordering the crowd to disperse for gathering without a permit and eventually taking one of the lookalikes away in handcuffs. To everyone’s surprise, the real Timothée Chalamet dropped by shortly after, sending attendees—and online viewers—into shock. 21-year-old Miles Mitchell, dressed in a purple Willy Wonka costume, ultimately won the lookalike competition.
The trend has since spread all over the world, with competitions for Harry Styles, Paul Mescal, Zayn Malik, Jeremy Allen White and others going viral. As for why internet users are obsessed with these events and the content that comes out of them, Raven Smith for Vogue suggests that it reflects a broader cultural tendency to gravitate towards familiar content over new stories and experiences. This isn’t entirely surprising— especially after the US election and other traumatic global events that leave many young people unsure about what comes next.
There has also been a lot of discourse around why many of the most popular lookalike competitions have been for male celebrities. In a viral TikTok, a user named Nia argued that the popularity of these competitions—and their focus on men—stems from misogyny in the society.
“It makes a lot of sense that a trend would emerge in a secondary space that is a male pageant where young women who are often persecuted or criticised for liking pop culture and stanning men get to point at random white men on stage and go ‘boo,’”she says. With this, she makes the point that these competitions are subversive and campy in a way that other events haven’t tapped into— explaining why they are just so popular.
The fully conscious baby
And for our final viral moment, it is none other than the fully conscious baby. But before we get into that it is worth sharing some other honourable mentions like JoJo Siwa’s ‘Karma,’ Moo Deng – the pygmy hippo from the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand— and of course the iconic “Man in finance” song.
The baby— whose name is Kate— went viral in a TikTok clip that showcased her seeming to be extremely self-aware. Her aunt, Stefanie O’Brien, posted the video, which quickly racked up millions of views. In the clip, Kate is asked, “Who wants to go to the Four Seasons Orlando?” to which she confidently responds “Me,” while pointing her finger. Viewers dubbed her the “fully conscious baby,” and memes quickly spread. In an interview with Rolling Stone, her mother clarified that Kate isn’t actually “fully conscious” at 13 months — she just happens to say yes and no occasionally. This was one of those moments where her answer aligned perfectly with the question.
Overall, while there are some parts of 2024 we would all rather forget, there were also plenty of iconic moments. And as internet culture continues to merge with the mainstream, 2025 is bound to deliver even more iconic cultural moments— though we can definitely skip another round of MrBeast exposés.
Listen to the full episode via the ‘infinite scroll podcast’ on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.