At the start of the year, if you’d told me I’d be watching Katy Perry shove a daisy in front of a camera in space, I would have thought you needed to lie down. But, here we are. With Christmas just around the corner, small sharp teethed plastic monsters have taken over the world, chocolate has to come from Dubai to be relevant, the Louvre heist robbers were hot? And then that was a hoax! I don’t know what to believe any more.
So be ready to bring in the new year, and likely a whole lot more pop culture controversy in 2026, with a kiss. But if you’re thinking about infidelity, I’d suggest avoiding a Coldplay concert…
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Grammy win made history
Beyoncé made history in 2025 when Cowboy Carter won the Grammy for Best Country Album, marking the first time a Black woman had ever taken home the award. The win felt overdue and quietly seismic, not just as recognition for the album itself, but as a cultural correction — a reminder of who has always shaped country music, even when the genre refused to acknowledge it.
Kendrick won the feud in flared denim
Kendrick Lamar’s appearance at the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show turned a pair of Celine bootcut jeans into the real winner of his very public fallout with Drake. Wearing flared denim paired with a Martine Rose varsity jacket and Air Max 96s, the jeans sold out almost instantly, reigniting online debates about masculinity, nostalgia, and whether bootcuts were officially back (spoiler: they are).
Adolescence, Severance & Stranger Things took over TV
A few TV shows dominated the culture this year. Adolescence proved hugely impactful, with Kier Starmer backing its inclusion in schools as part of the syllabus to help educate young boys about misogyny and violence. Inspired by the series, Stephen Graham is also releasing Letters to Our Sons, a collection of heartfelt letters from fathers to their sons that encourages openness and shared life wisdom.
Severance was equally inescapable, with its popularity amplified by immersive press stunts, including a fully functioning office installation inside Grand Central Station, complete with the show’s actors in character, and another at London’s Southbank. Add in the long-awaited final season of Stranger Things – which briefly reunited the internet over Christmas around its shared passed to protect Steve Harrington – and TV in 2025 had us completely locked in.
Doechii is crowned 2025’s it-girl
Doechii was 2025’s fashion icon, with her stylist Sam Woolf praised for his efforts with the British Fashion Award’s Stylist of the Year Award. Her Met Gala entrance (where she demanded umbrellas to cover her outfit) was unforgettable, and she doubled down on the drama by referencing the iconic moment in her performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June, turning even controversial press into a talking point.
Celebrities reached peak crossover cameo
Cameos became the ultimate flex in 2025: Apple Dance, the Sabrina tour lock-up, and the “Sally dance” with Role Model had everyone scrambling to spot their favourite artists popping up in each other’s worlds. The coolest place a celebrity could be seen this year? Guest-starring at another artist’s show. And after Lily Allen brought out Dakota Johnson on SNL, we’re holding our breath to see if a new Madeline appears at every West End Girl performance.
It was the battle of the denim campaigns
In August, as outrage swirled online around Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign, global K-pop group Katseye captured widespread attention with Gap’s unapologetically millennial-coded Better in Denim campaign, pairing the group’s signature slick choreography with Kelis’s iconic track “Milkshake.”
Zohran Mamdani and Zack Polanski made socialist politics feel cool again
Finally, it felt like there was some political hope. In 2025, Zohran Mamdani and Zack Polanski emerged as two of the most compelling faces of contemporary socialist politics, not through polished soundbites but through clarity, consistency, and visible grassroots work. Their campaigns cut through a landscape otherwise dominated by cynicism, offering policies that felt tangible rather than theoretical, and doing so without talking down to the people they were trying to reach.
Both spoke plainly, showed up in real communities, and demonstrated that left-wing politics could still be principled, organised, and energising. In a year when much of public life felt exhausting, Mamdani and Polanski offered a sense that politics could be participatory again. Not performative hope, but the kind built slowly, collectively, and in public – which, in 2025, felt genuinely refreshing.
JPG x Duran Lantink divided fashion critics
Duran Lantink’s debut collection for Jean Paul Gaultier was one of fashion week’s most divisive moments. Following his already controversial AW25 show — which paired breastplates and faux pecs with otherwise pared-back trousers, prompting debates about shock value and the continued co-opting of women’s bodies — expectations were high, and nerves even higher.
His Gaultier collaborative collection leaned hard into provocation, exaggerating the house’s historic codes through warped silhouettes and confrontational styling. Some praised it as a necessary refusal of safe fashion and nostalgia, while others dismissed it as intentionally incoherent. Either way, the collection reignited an age-old debate: when does fashion challenge convention, and when does it rely on controversy alone? In 2025, Lantink ensured no one could look away.
The Traitors turned everyone into an amateur detective
The British celebrity edition of The Traitors cemented itself as a stand-out television moment in 2025, fuelled by a run of unexpected celebrity appearances. Celia Imrie delivered some of the show’s most unhinged moments – from blood-curdling screams to unexpectedly crude humour – while the pairing of Alan Carr and BRICKS cover star Cat Burns emerged as an instant fan-favourite duo. The result was a rare, genuinely cross-generational obsession, with Gen Z, millennials, and grandparents all tuning in (and arguing about traitors) together.
Across the pond, The Traitors US produced its own breakout star in Gabby Windey, who won over viewers en route to becoming one of the winning Faithfuls. Her victory, alongside her reintroduction to audiences as a lesbian, turned her into an audience favourite almost overnight, earning widespread support from the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. In 2025, The Traitors proved that paranoia, camp, and perfect casting remain a winning combination.
Lily Allen spilled the tea on West End Girl
When it came to cultural discourse, West End Girl had no competition. Much of that attention centred on its thinly veiled references to Lily Allen’s breakup from David Harbour, with listeners poring over lyrics for clues about what went wrong, and how much of it they were meant to recognise.
Whether the album felt cathartic or uncomfortably candid depended entirely on who you asked, but either way, the record reignited familiar arguments about confessional songwriting and the ethics of airing relationship fallout in public, while simultaneously cementing Allen’s knack for turning personal upheaval into cultural material. With a sell-out tour underway and whispers of a stage adaptation on the horizon, the album’s afterlife looks just as busy as its release. Harbour may have exited the picture, but West End Girl ensured Allen stayed firmly at the centre of the conversation.
Together for Palestine turned cultural attention into aid
Together for Palestine held a benefit concert at London’s Wembley Arena in September, raising over £2 million for Gaza. The initiative continues with a Christmas charity single, Lullaby, featuring Brian Eno, Neneh Cherry, Celeste, and Leigh-Anne, reimagining a Palestinian folk song to support Palestinian-led charities via the Choose Love fund.
Enjoyed this story? Help keep independent queer-led publishing alive and unlock the BRICKS Learner Platform, full of resources for emerging and aspiring creatives sent to you every week via newsletter. Start your 30-day free trial now.