Pop Goes 2025: Cultural Moments That Defined and Fruitionised This Year
2025 was another year where ‘culture’ was typically followed by ‘fractured’ in one way or another. However, compared to years past of recent memory, more cultural artefacts made it out of the deep online crypts and into something resembling ‘watercooler moments’ and authenticity, authorship and presence unified a lot of the cultural moments that made a mark.
On TV, we were privy to ‘Severance’ and ‘The Traitors’; ‘Sinners’ and ‘Weapons’ got a lot of people into the cinema while ‘One Battle After Another’ was a highlight for fans of Paul Thomas Anderson, and we’re still waiting for ‘Marty Supreme’ to, err, fruitionise on the big screen before the year’s end. Musically, Lily Allen was the talk of the town across all demographics as her confessional, raw ‘West End Girl’ album captured ears with hooky melodies and unprecedented details of a relationship unravelling. Taylor Swift continued to tour her behemoth ‘Eras’ show and she found time to drop a new album too, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’, to many fans’ delight. Elsewhere, Geese dominated the conversation about the return of guitar bands in the same period as Oasis and Radiohead came back for a limited series of gigs. (Oh and the indie sleaze aesthetic reared its head from the early ‘00s too.)
It looked like artists across mediums abandoned perfection and audiences welcomed messiness and friction with open arms. An imperfect aesthetic resurfaced in sound and style: guitar bands, grunge textures, messy beauty and visible craft pushed back against algorithmic smoothness and AI-generated sameness. In fashion, Chanel’s new creative director looked to real people for inspiration behind the ultra-luxuriousMétiers d’Art 2026 show, creating clothes that wouldn’t look out of place on public transport. The show was fittingly staged in a disused subway platform.
As the experience of social platforms made more of us search for the meaning of enshittification, eroding trust and engendering more digital fatigue, we turned to more and more niche communities (like quitting social media in favour of group chats) and seeking out more IRL experiences, be that book or run clubs. A shift happened; we wanted more specificity, intensity, and things that felt true.
Below, adlanders from Serviceplan Culture, Collaborate Global, Uncommon Creative Studio, Rain the Growth Agency, Kirby, Dryer, Sullivan & Partesotti, Partizan, Lost Planet, BUCK, Wonderhood Studios, Laughlin Constable, Anomaly, Pablo, Bungalow 5, and Leith share their top cultural moments of 2025.
Katie Hunter
Co-founder and managing partner at Wonderhood Studios
Rosalia's ‘Berghain’. No notes.
It was just what the internet ordered. Gorgeous, exciting, unexpected and absolute catnip for TikTok trends and commentary, of the good kind. After months of dipping between misery and mindlessness, this landing felt like fresh air, just pure and unapologetic entertainment. Without sounding my millennial age, for me this harked back to what the internet used to be; that moment of discovering something new and feeling part of a conversation that was just… everywhere.
We could get all ‘marketing’ about it and pick apart the science and strategy of the release, the cut downs, the cameos, but let’s not ruin it. Let’s just enjoy the mini cultural moment of when new music makes everyone feel something.
Oh, and in at number two is Bieber’s “standing on business”. Because I think we could all take something from that…
Franziska Gregor
Managing director at Serviceplan Culture
2025 felt like culture splitting along two fault lines, as if the world’s political tremors had seeped into how we dress, listen and communicate. One current surged toward friction. Grunge, post-punk and indie sleaze rose again, not as revival but reinvention: Berlin’s clubs, London’s East End, Bushwick rooftops all humming with a new appetite for distortion. TikTok teems with garage bands, smudged liner, jagged haircuts, unruly textures. Spotify’s data mirrors it: guitar-driven acts ascend as hip-hop recedes. Even beauty abandoned the porcelain ‘clean girl’ ideal for glitter, sharper cuts and deliberate imperfection. Brands like L’Enfant Riche Déprimé became emblematic of this rawer, more disobedient mood.
The counter-movement tilted toward opulence. Gold, fur, leather, heavy stones; surfaces that declare themselves. Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda leaned fully into Catholic baroque excess. And in Paris, creator Elias Medini under the alias Lyas transformed Fashion Week into a public spectacle – livestreamed on a monumental laptop, crowds cheering like at a derby.
In-real-life experiences became the new currency. After years of polished bodies, identical silhouettes and immaculate digital worlds, audiences sought friction, texture: proof of a human hand. This shift is reshaping creator culture: credibility now depends on what can be witnessed with one’s own eyes. Reddit’s steadily rising influence reflects the same desire for unfiltered reality. And brands like Gentle Monster, whose Seoul flagship blends sculpture, performance and Tilda Swinton’s eerie authority, show how art and commerce now converge in spaces where authenticity is something you step into, not scroll past.
Martin Severs
Head of strategy at Collaborate Global
Culture is now moving at warp speed, driven by political, commercial and technological uncertainty and an expanding media landscape. With so much noise, one positive and one negative stand out.
The highlight was ‘Celebrity Traitors’, an obvious choice, but so powerful. Brilliantly made, uniting viewers across generations with its gothic, camp fluffiness, delivering true event TV for 15 million+ who watched the finale. Its success reinforces the enduring appeal of immersive worlds seen in hits like ‘Stranger Things’, ‘Squid Game’, ‘Wicked’ and ‘KPop Demon Hunters’. Just why brands are shifting more spend into IRL events and experiential marketing.
The lowlight was the growing sense of tech enshittification, as platforms that once empowered consumers now prioritise short-term profits, leading to worse, costlier services. This fuels mistrust, digital fatigue and hopefully a renewed desire for the small, local and real. This Christmas, let’s put devices down, reconnect and see what happens.
Claire Eden
PR director at Uncommon Creative Studio
As a Lily Allen stan since the 'Alright, Still' days, the explosion of 'West End Girl' was undoubtedly my cultural moment of 2025. Its unflinchingly honest tell-all of her marriage breakdown felt like the raw portrayal of real life that we’d all been craving, in amongst the curated highlight reels on Instagram, or the return of the ‘heroine chic’ beauty standard thanks to the rise of Ozempic-fuelled celebs. 'West End Girl' transcended generations - Lily became the new, achingly cool ‘It Girl’ among gen z daters, who are fed up with the emotionally unavailable men that typify the modern dating pool (TikToks' words, not mine!) - see also: the viral ‘Is having a boyfriend embarrassing now?’ Vogue article by Chante Joseph, the must-read opinion piece of 2025 - and millennials were reminded why Lily will forever be the queen of the mid-2000s… She represents a relatable, unapologetically flawed pop girlie who could easily be one of your mates. After a seven year hiatus from releasing music, she sold out her tour in seconds, and we all collectively felt proud of her. Authenticity is what won people over in 2025, and 'West End Girl' is the cultural moment that proves it.
Gary Ward
Executive producer at Lost Planet
Despite the end of the world being just around the corner, there were both good and bad things that stood out in 2025. Bands made a comeback… actual people who play instruments. Big Thief, Florry, Fust, Brown Horse all made great records. You couldn’t walk down a street in Brooklyn without Geese playing live on a corner someplace. Steve Gunn released not one but two stunning albums. The Alan Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles record is heartbreaking and beautiful.
Pop music itself still stinks.
The late artist Noah Davis had an inspiring career retrospective at the Hammer Museum. Paul McCarthy continues to make gruesome, thought-provoking art. Barry McGee’s show at The Pit was an overload of graffiti-influenced madness. Joe Roberts’s show at Guerrero Gallery is weird as hell, in the best possible way.
Benicio Del Toro is the best thing about ‘One Battle After Another’. ‘Bugonia’ is worth watching. Apparently, golf is the new skateboarding… see Metalwood Studio and Pluto of St. Andrews. The Dodgers proved once again that they are the most obnoxious organisation in professional sports. The Barriga taco at Carnitas Ramirez is the best thing to eat in NYC. Doug Bihlmaier is cool as hell, and the best glass is a rocks glass.
Pranav Pandit
EVP digital marketing at Rain the Growth Agency
Movie merch mania saw a seismic shift with the original ‘Star Wars’ franchise and now theatrical marketing is undergoing another transformation. In 2025, studios doubled down on experiential strategies and exclusive collectibles, reshaping cultural engagement. Films and brands regularly collaborate on limited, story-driven products and immersive activations that extend the movie universe. This trend surged after iconic partnerships like Airbnb and ‘Barbie’ and AMC and ‘Dune’ drove branding, buzz and box office results. The model scaled further with the year’s ‘Wicked: For Good’, boasting 400+ cross-industry collabs. The latest phenomenon? A fake-yet-now-viral video for ‘Marty Supreme’ featuring Timothee Chalamet directing a marketing team to pull off outrageous stunts, spawning real-world activations like pop-up shops, and celebs such as Tom Brady and Kendall and Kylie Jenner sporting ultra-rare, branded windbreakers. Even as this piece is being written, an orange ‘Marty Supreme’ branded blimp floats over my condo in West Hollywood, CA.
In 2025, we took a dramatic step closer to the fabled ‘rise of the machines’. Robots stepped out of factory assembly lines and into our lives with self-driving cars like Waymo and delivery bots such as Coco becoming regulars on our streets and sidewalks. Drones reshaped expectations for delivery convenience and urban logistics. But perhaps the most striking shift came from the advent of humanoid robot helpers. Brands like Tesla with its Optimus robot, Figure AI with Figure 01, and Agility Robotics’ Digit all began piloting real-world home and work assistants. Early adopters embraced these machines for chores, monitoring, and accessibility support, sparking heated debates about automation in intimate spaces. 2025 became the year society stopped wondering IF robots would drive our streets and enter our homes. Instead, we began debating how much we trust them with our lives and whether we’re comfortable with them as members of our family.
Mollie Partesotti
Co-founder, strategy at KDSP
A 2025 defining moment was Caitlin Clark breaking the all-time scoring record and instantly turning a regular season game into a global event. It was not just a sports milestone. It was a cultural ignition. Every clip, every angle, every micro reaction flooded the feeds.
Suddenly, women’s basketball sat at the centre of the zeitgeist, not as a cause but as a spectacle people chose. It proved that when excellence is undeniable, the culture moves with it. The broader shift was the collapse of the old hierarchy. Prestige TV shared brain space with ‘KPop Demon Hunters’. Speculative fiction from Apple sat next to Coldplay gossip. 'Brainrot' became an honest descriptor of how we toggle between the profound and the ridiculous.
The through line. People chased emotional intensity over polish. Anything that made them feel alive won.
Mike Lobikis
Head of sales/EP at Partizan
Increasingly, I keep an eye on the luxury and fashion world, and Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel Métiers d’Art 2026 show really landed for me because it reminded everyone what real craft looks like. At a moment when fashion (and advertising) is drifting toward AI mood boards and copy-paste aesthetics, Blazy delivered a hand-made collection rooted in the cultural experience of his generation. He presented it on a wildly diverse cast in a far-from-glamorous subway stop in the hardest-working city on earth.
He turned a platform into a runway and flexed on behalf of the artisans and ateliers who turn technique into emotion. In a year when so much culture feels like kayfabe engineered to avoid friction, this show brought back texture, limit-pushing fits, and intention. Culturally, it felt like a needed reminder: craft still matters, stories still matter, and the human touch isn’t going anywhere.
Julie Alter
Designer at BUCK
I’m a reformed Marvel maniac. ‘Phase One’ debuted while I was in middle school, sending me on a decade-long phase of my own. Now in my twenties, my interest has been sucked dry. Yet, it was Marvel veteran Ryan Coogler who managed to sink his teeth into my attention for a cinema experience I didn’t realize I’d been missing.
‘Sinners’ was a revelation among sequels and reboots. It reminded me of what was so dazzling about the early Marvel films: not just the spectacle, but the thrill of a fresh, singular vision. It was the only film among the 2025 domestic Top 10 that was not a franchise. ‘Superman’ and F1 found success with ‘underdog’ plotlines, but IRL their IPs are billion-dollar empires. ‘Sinners’ was the true hero this year, fighting to prove that American audiences – including this former franchise fanatic – crave genuine discovery even in our blockbusters.
Chris Ebel
Group creative director at Laughlin Constable
Not to be contrary, but to me ‘popular culture’ is an increasingly inaccurate term to describe the cultural trends of today. Fan groups are extremely diverse across the world, and what we are seeing now is that with modern technology and globalisation, creators finally have the opportunity to make and deliver content to these niche groups. ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ was by far the biggest moment for me this year. This type of accessible cross-cultural creativity dominated streaming, music, fashion, and even family programming this year. It's great to see that K-Pop and anime are finally gaining meaningful US exposure, but what’s next? I’m bullish that within the next couple years we will see more projects from places like the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe. All these places have amazing cultures, storytelling traditions and art that are ready to be expressed in a new way for more people.
Alexis Madison
Social strategy lead at Anomaly
I’m going to be selfish and pick two moments. The first has to be ‘Sinners’. Cinematically, the film is unmatched in creativity. From the setting of the piece to the characters and the plot line, as a Black woman, I’ve never felt seen like this in the theatre. The marketing behind the film was so well done. Between having Ryan Coogler do a deep dive on film formats with Kodak to exclusive releases in towns the film is based on, I was captivated the entire way. My second moment has to be everything Bad Bunny. From the moment his album was released, the world was blessed with cultural stories that sang the song of Puerto Rican pride. He hosted SNL, created a once in a lifetime residency and completed a series of interviews that let us all in on some of his magic. Seeing someone celebrate their culture out loud always warms my heart.
Summer Taylor
Strategy director at Pablo
Etsy Witches. In 2025, tarot cards feel about as radical as florals in spring. But the multi-billion psychic-services industry kicked up a notch with Etsy Witches selling 'career luck spells,' 'love spell, intense and permanent,' and same-day hexes.
Influencer Jaz Smith hired one to keep rain from her wedding. A Knicks fan cursed the Pacers. But people aren't just buying spells for fun, they're hiring witches for jobs, relationships, life direction.
Honestly, I get it. When traditional levers for sorting your life out feel impossible to pull, (the economy's grinding, AI's reshaping everything, dating apps have created a 'totes dystopes' mindfield), spending a flat white's worth on cosmic intervention doesn't seem crazy. It seems worth trying.
It's interesting how witchcraft, once used to persecute marginalised women, has become a quirky side hustle. A way people grasp agency when the usual routes aren't delivering. Absurd, maybe. But also a little hopeful.
Cudjo Collins
Senior editor at Bungalow 5
Is hip-hop the most influential genre of music ever? Growing up as a kid in Wisconsin, the 1985 song 'Rappin' Duke' – with its memorable 'da ha da ha' lyrics – was the first and only rap song I remember being played on the local radio station. Fast forward 40 years, and an unfiltered, unapologetic Kendrick Lamar delivered a Super Bowl halftime show for the ages: a transcendent moment in American pop culture, signaling hip-hop's full arrival as the nation’s most influential art form. Kendrick represented a generation of rap rooted not only in hit-making but in storytelling, social awareness, and authenticity. His presence reinforced that lyrical depth and cultural commentary could thrive on the world’s most commercial stage without compromise. Ultimately, I believe this performance reshaped how America views hip-hop: no longer as a rebellious outsider, but as a dominant force in shaping modern culture.
Emma Traynor
Social strategist at Leith
If short-form ruled 2025, then why was every film two hours long and Lily’s Allen’s 14-song breakup album dominating conversation? Could it be that instead people are getting more discerning as social media loses its novelty? There are always two sides to the cultural coin. In 2025, if brands wanted to get those internet brownie points you had to meet the demand of people wanting more. Some of my favourites were more entertainment in the form of a 22-episode TikTok only drama @roomiesroomiesroomies, more authentic personalities from @maxklymenko, more knowledge from creators like @arkamcreates. This move in content appetite makes sense, channels need to keep us, and connection is the way to do it as it gives you the dopamine hit you're chasing. But don't get too comfy, Nano Banana AI has come along to ensure we're kept on our toes and left guessing is this real, does it matter?
