Reflecting on 2022, a lot has happened. Let’s turn back the clock and look at the most memorable trends and moments of 2022. 

Daily Wordle puzzles. The New York Times game Wordle became very popular among all age groups. People were obsessed with watching the letters turn green as they solved the puzzle. 

Super Bowl LVI halftime. Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, and Kendrick Lamar performed at the hip-hop/rap themed halftime show. 

Russia invades Ukraine. On Feb. 24, Russia invaded Ukraine after days of threatening war on them. Because of this, gas and oil prices have skyrocketed which affected the spending of people around the world. 

Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars. At the 94th Academy Awards, Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. Her husband, Will Smith walked up to the stage and slapped Rock, and yelled some profanities. Smith later won the award for Best Actor. 

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard go to court. In April, Johnny Depp sued Amber Heard for defamation and to prove that he did nothing to her, which resulted in Depp being awarded $15 million from Heard. 

Kim Kardashian wears Marilyn Monroe’s iconic dress. On May 2, Kim Kardashian stepped out of her car wearing a bedazzled dress made by William Travilla for Marilyn Monroe. Kardashian had to lose 16 pounds in two weeks to be able to fit into the dress. She still stretched the fabric of the dress because her rear-end could not fit into it and led to much controversy. “She shouldn’t have worn the dress because it is such an iconic dress and it was made to fit Marilyn Monroe, not Kim Kardashian,” junior Maddie Grove said. 

Hypermasculinity with Andrew Tate.  In the summer, Andrew Tate, a former professional kickboxer, rose to the spotlight because of his radical, ultra-traditional views. Later he was arrested in Romania because of sexual assault charges.

The death of Queen Elizabeth. On Sept. 8, the Queen’s reign of 70 years came to an end. She was 96 years old, having made it past her Platinum Jubilee in June where everyone celebrated her. Her eldest son, Charles, is now the King. “To be honest, I didn’t really care. I thought it was kind of funny how many people were so distraught,” junior Jordan Smith said. 

Lizzo plays a 200 year old crystal flute. On Sept. 26, Lizzo toured the Library of Congress and was able to play President James Madison’s crystal flute made by Claude Laurent, a French aristocrat. Later in the week, she was able to play the same flute in concert in Washington D.C. 

Elon Musk buys Twitter. In late October, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk bought twitter for $44 billion. As soon as he had the social media platform, he reinstated former president Donald Trump’s Twitter account. 

 Swift releases “Midnights” and Ticketmaster could not deliver. Along with her album, Taylor Swift released many tour dates with Ticketmaster, causing billions of people to log onto their computers to buy tickets, which crashed the website. This led to Swift having to find another alternative to selling her concert tickets. 

Kanye. Over the course of 2022, Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, said and did a bunch. Most memorably, he said that because he works with Adidas – a company that used to work for Adolf Hitler during World War II – he would be able to say whatever he wanted because of their antisemitic past. 

The World Cup in Qatar. For about a month, soccer took the sports stage during the World Cup. After rounds of hard play and determination, Argentina pulled through with a win, leaving Lionel Messi with a final win under his belt. “I thought it was super entertaining; the whole game and everything. From the start, I was rooting for Argentina and Messi and was so glad they got the win,” junior Isabella Cambou said. 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s drama continues. On Dec. 8 and Dec. 15, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released a two-part documentary series to Netflix about the last seven years of their lives, and essentially attempted to clear their names. Harry released a memoir titled Spare on Jan. 10 about his life as an extra to the heir of the United Kingdom.