Latest / Mini Scroll / The Great Meme Roundup: Our Favourite Unhinged Memes of 2025

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The Great Meme Roundup: Our Favourite Unhinged Memes of 2025 · Mini Scroll

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Hi everyone, welcome to the final episode of Infinite Scroll
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for 2025. I cannot believe that we made
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it, but we are here. I was actually thinking I should
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have done a podcast wrapped how many times I wore this sweater
1:00
on the podcast, honestly. But I am here with Annabelle
1:04
today and we are going to be doing our favorite moments from
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2025. We're going to be recapping the
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memes and viral moments that made us laugh, made us cry
1:14
actually don't know if we have any sad ones.
1:16
So it made us laugh mostly. We're a bit unhinged from the
1:20
year. So before we get into it, as
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always, Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
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Please Spotify star rate US. We got like literally a bunch of
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ratings overnight. I was so excited.
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I think because people know it's like coming to the end and I
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keep asking. So please, Merry Christmas to
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us. Please Spotify star rate US sign
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up to our newsletter, which is called Keep Scrolling.
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For reminder, we do have a Patreon now.
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So if you guys want content over our break for the next couple of
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weeks until we're back in January, I will be doing some
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content there as well. And yes, let's just get into it.
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OK, We're going to alternate our ideas, so I'm going to go first.
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My first favorite moment of 2025 was the Zendaya Hat theory.
2:07
This is so silly, but in May of this year, the Zendaya hat
2:11
theory started circulating. The root of this meme is the
2:14
picture of Zendaya at the 2014 Teen Vogue Young Hollywood
2:18
Party, where she seems to be wearing like this giant top hat.
2:24
According to Know Your Meme, it originated by a TikTok user
2:27
named At the Snake's Blocks at the beginning of May 2025.
2:31
As the article reads, quote on May 1st, 2025, Tik Toker At the
2:35
Snake's Blocks posted an edit that begins with a clip of
2:38
Zendaya talking about her favorite Beyoncé song set to
2:41
ominous music. The video then cuts to show
2:44
several low resolution photos of her wearing the big hat.
2:48
I love how they specify low resolution photos of her.
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No, I think that is what makes it the vibe.
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It's the low resolution. Oh my.
2:57
See. OK, yes, yes.
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The video gained over 17 million views in four days.
3:04
So this spread quickly with many users creating fan edits of
3:08
Zendaya and the hat. And a theory started circulating
3:12
that after she wore the big Black Hat, her whole life
3:15
changed and that Tom Holland her now what are they fiance
3:20
boyfriend? They're not, I think.
3:21
They're engaged. They are engaged.
3:23
I think they got engaged this year.
3:25
Yeah. Her fiance slash boyfriend was
3:28
hiding in the hat and that changed her whole life.
3:31
With Zendaya wearing a white suit with a white hat to the
3:34
Mech Gala this year, this added another layer to the theory.
3:38
And then TikTok users started speculating what this white hat
3:41
means for her. OK, why do we think this month
3:45
so viral? I think it's just so silly.
3:47
Yeah. And like, Zendaya is so Internet
3:50
culture, like, there's been so many viral moments of her I feel
3:53
like over the years. OK.
3:54
Well, I mean, I don't know if you can just say like somebody
3:56
goes viral, like why do they go viral?
3:58
I think that she goes viral as a person because she is the peak
4:03
age demographic of people who are like chronically online,
4:07
like she is like a Gen. Z celebrity, like a true Gen.
4:10
Z celebrity. And because she's always been
4:12
like silly and goofy online, like she's always been open to
4:16
that kind of like vibe. She's not, I wouldn't say she's
4:18
not unpolished by any means, but she has a fun personality and
4:22
she lets that show despite being like an A Lister that I think
4:25
she's so memeable and therefore people meme her a lot.
4:28
I do think she has become like less memeable over time on A.
4:32
I mean she's definitely meanable but she's become like less
4:34
public overtime. I also think a lot of Jen zeds
4:37
would have grown up watching her and shake it up so I think that
4:40
feeds into your point. Like she's a familiar figure for
4:43
a lot of people. Yeah, I mean she's.
4:45
A fashion icon. Well, yeah, she took a lot of
4:47
risks with that top hat. And I think that people were
4:49
like, what the fuck is this? And so of course it had to turn
4:52
into. A meme I think.
4:53
She doesn't regret it, she said, like she would wear it again.
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I also think because she's such a fashion icon now, obviously
5:00
this was like years ago. It's funny to see her wearing
5:04
that hat, like, even though she stands by it.
5:07
But arguably, people probably wouldn't wear that.
5:10
Yeah, You know what? I'm like, yeah, OK, I see not.
5:12
The comfort zone day. I love you queen.
5:14
Before we get into my like moments on my first one, I need
5:17
to preface that my social media algorithm is like they're kind
5:20
of insane. I do get a lot of brain rot and
5:23
my explore page, I don't know if I've ever shown you it on
5:25
Instagram is literally unwell. Like it's just brain rot.
5:28
And I also feel like the audience is going to like learn
5:30
a lot about me. Good.
5:33
I've chosen to be clean here. The first trend that I wanted to
5:36
talk about feels insane, like I said, but it also feels feels
5:39
like a really good introduction into the way I use social media
5:42
when I'm not using it for my job.
5:45
But I don't know if you saw it, but there was this phase on
5:47
TikTok where pictures of shops that were kind of plays on
5:52
Ariana Grande's name were going super viral.
5:55
I feel like it's kind of hard to explain without like showing
5:57
you, but these Tik Toks would be like photos of storefronts that
6:01
would either have the name like Ariana in it or the name like
6:04
Grande in it or something like that.
6:07
So they were real. Stores, yes.
6:09
So it would literally just be a still photo of the storefront
6:13
with a clip of Ariana like performing, breathing like one
6:17
of her songs live from the Sweet and the World Tour.
6:19
So okay, some examples that I saw were like shops with the
6:23
names like Ariana Kebab, Ariana Defense lawyers, Ariana Motors.
6:29
And obviously also the comments were like super funny.
6:31
I feel like that's also what makes content really funny to
6:33
me, where people would be like commenting puns in relation to
6:38
the store and Ariana. I mean, this just makes sense
6:42
for you as one of your favorite moments because you're an Ari
6:44
stand true, as we established in last week's Friday.
6:48
Episode I like just need an audience to speak about Ariana
6:50
Grande, Yeah. Literally.
6:51
I'm holding you captive. No, you're like that, that
6:54
you're like that part of Mean Girls where she's like, anytime
6:57
I wasn't talking about Regina George, I was like waiting for
7:00
people to bring her up so I could talk about Regina George.
7:02
Like That's you with Ariana Grande.
7:04
And Beyoncé. But I feel like this trend trend
7:07
is like, I mean, I think Ariana is quite memeable.
7:10
Yeah. But I feel like it's kind of an
7:11
offshoot of whenever, you know, have you ever seen those videos
7:15
of people, like wearing a high ponytail or like having their
7:18
sleeves over there? Yeah.
7:19
Yeah. And it's being like, Ariana,
7:21
what are you doing here from the Nicki Minaj?
7:23
Like. So I feel like it's kind of a
7:24
play on that as well. OK.
7:26
But As for this, like, meme specifically, I think it shows
7:29
how far referential humour or like leaning into fandom can get
7:33
you on TikTok. Like this trend was only funny
7:35
to me because I'm obviously like long time Ariana Stan.
7:38
Yeah, but it's also because I've seen so many iterations of it,
7:41
like pop up on my For You page. It just gets funnier and
7:44
funnier. Yeah, that makes.
7:45
Sense and also I think I mean I've spoken about this on mini
7:48
tech before I think, but I think leaning into fandom such an
7:52
underrated strategy. Yeah, it's so effective.
7:56
I mean we've seen like Lionsgate do it more and more like them
7:59
leaning into fan edits. And also commenting crazy stuff
8:02
on which I don't always like but I think because they are leaning
8:07
into like you said fandom and like the zeitgeist of TikTok and
8:11
how people are using TikTok in relation to the actual industry
8:15
that they function in which is film and television.
8:18
Actually don't even know if they do TV but like film.
8:20
I think them commenting unhinged stuff when it makes sense on
8:26
TikTok actually is relevant. Yeah, I think so too.
8:28
But yeah, so I found that really funny.
8:31
I think you need to like search it up.
8:32
Okay, like then we just start funny.
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Okay, my next one is I was obsessed with this little bitch,
8:41
the angler fish. In February of this year, a
8:44
video of an angler fish went totally viral.
8:48
Scientists captured a video of an angler fish swimming upward
8:51
toward the sunlight, which is an unusual pattern of behavior for
8:54
the species. Soon after it was spotted, the
8:57
fish died. And I think it was actually
8:59
speculated that the reason it was going towards the surface
9:02
was because it was ill. And that sent TikTok users into
9:06
an absolute spiral. People imagined the fish's final
9:11
emotions where they went on to pity and sympathize with the
9:15
fish. And I think what really amped
9:17
this app was the zoomed out captures like a photos of this
9:22
because then you realize how small because up close, all of
9:26
these really deep sea fish and creatures look so scary.
9:30
And then to actually see that the angler fish was like this
9:33
big, that's crazy. And so, yeah, people got like
9:36
parasocial with the angler fish and honestly same like it's just
9:39
like an innocent little creature and she was just trying to get
9:42
help. It reminds me of, you know, like
9:44
when you have a little dog and she's sick and she wants to be
9:47
like near you. It's the same thing like she
9:50
was. Treating it like it's pet like.
9:52
She was looking for help and then she didn't get it and she
9:55
was so, oh, I don't even know if it's a girl or boy.
9:58
I don't even know if they have gender.
9:59
I have no idea. But to me, she's a girl.
10:01
Yeah, I agree. It kind of reminds me of like
10:03
Moodang almost. That's.
10:04
A Oh my God. Vintage reference?
10:06
Vintage from like 2 years ago. I was going to say, when did
10:08
Moodang go viral? And it was last year, yeah.
10:10
But it was like beginning, I think.
10:12
Remember when people made like Brat fan edits of.
10:14
Moodang remember when Moodang predicted that the winner of the
10:18
2024 presidential election. Oh my God, yeah, no, people
10:22
definitely got. I mean maybe not Kuwait because
10:25
we only had like picture of this fish.
10:27
That's the crazy thing is there was like 1 like video of this
10:31
fish and that just like took over the world.
10:34
Can you imagine if that fish knew that she was famous world
10:39
wide She. Was.
10:41
Loved. And that's probably all she
10:42
wanted, yeah. My next trend slash moment I
10:45
guess happened earlier in the year and that was the great meme
10:49
depression of 2025. I actually did cover this in a
10:52
mini tech episode, but I had to bring it up again.
10:55
But basically back in March, social media users, particularly
10:58
on TikTok, started discussing how we were in the midst of a
11:02
meme depression. What does that mean?
11:05
So there was just like no new memes circulating.
11:08
It was all like older memes coming back.
11:11
And according to a Know your Meme, the origin of the meme
11:14
drought came from a social media user called at Goof Angel.
11:18
In a video I posted on March 10th.
11:19
He noted that March had not seen a single original meme.
11:22
What was funny though, was after he posted this video, the meme
11:26
drought became a meme in and of itself.
11:28
Like, that's very classy for the Internet.
11:30
So there was a lot of TikTok circulating showing historical
11:34
pictures of people, like waiting in lines and like historical
11:37
graphs and stuff with like captions of like the great meme
11:41
March depression, the great March meme depression.
11:44
I think when I spoke about this the first time, I did say that I
11:47
don't really buy the concept of a meme drought just because of
11:50
like, how fragmented the Internet is.
11:52
And I still hold that position. And I think the second-half of
11:55
the year kind of proves that point because this conversation
11:59
was happening in March, right? And this was before, like, memes
12:02
like 6-7 really took off. And that is the meme, I think
12:06
probably that like has defined this year.
12:08
And 6-7 or the song that 6-7 originally came from actually
12:13
was released to the public in February.
12:15
So I think it's just an example of like the meme life cycle, how
12:18
it's like bubbling in different corners of the Internet.
12:21
So yeah, we definitely weren't necessarily in a meme drought
12:24
for like 2025, considering what came next, like 6-7 Italian
12:28
brain run. But I think people were just
12:31
feeling bored in that moment or like their side of the Internet
12:34
didn't have of those memes yet. I was going to say, the fact
12:36
that one person said there's been no original memes for this
12:40
entire month is a wild statement.
12:43
That is like a sweeping statement, yeah.
12:45
Ever since March I haven't seen much talk of a meme drought, but
12:49
I have seen discussion of a meme reset.
12:52
I think this came from a piece from Wyatt where the journalist
12:56
was basically grappling with the possibility of a meme reset,
13:00
wondering if we could kind of return to the days.
13:02
I think she referenced the Nyan cat.
13:04
And like, so she was wondering if we could return to the days
13:07
of like the Nyan cat and then also rejecting any kind of AI
13:11
generated memes. So while we might not be in a
13:15
meme depression or drought anymore, maybe we're witnessing
13:18
a meme reset. Who's to say?
13:21
I think memes will become more valuable if they are not AI
13:24
generated. I think most of them at the
13:26
moment probably are well also. Like I think this feeds into
13:29
what we discussed last week, which was like the brain rot
13:32
fatigue. So maybe that is why.
13:36
Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, you guys, I don't think it
13:39
would be an episode to wrap up the year if I didn't cover my
13:45
queen, one of our favorite people here at Centennial World
13:50
Club, Chalamet. How Queen?
13:53
This year was a big year for our girl club Chalamet, because she
13:58
was covered in a profile interview for the Wall Street
14:02
Journal. She should what?
14:05
That's so wild. I think I covered this on mini
14:07
quite recently but I don't care. Like I need to talk about it any
14:10
chance I can get? You are parasocial with Club
14:12
Chalamet. Oh my.
14:13
God I am but like valid honestly valid.
14:16
Her sub stacks amazing. I think I covered when she
14:18
launched her sub stack to like I'm crazy.
14:20
About her sign up to it. Yeah.
14:21
Oh my God, they didn't. Know that?
14:23
No. And like her welcome post was so
14:25
funny. Like she's an icon, OK.
14:27
That's so funny. So Club Chalmet is arguably the
14:31
most famous or maybe infamous at this point.
14:34
Timothy Chalamet stand account. She has approximately 50,000
14:37
followers on X and 14,000 on Instagram.
14:40
So given how small those followings are, like in the
14:43
scheme of how famous she is, like that is so impressive.
14:46
Yeah. So the key takeaways from this
14:48
profile, this big moment for Simone?
14:50
That's her. Your close personal.
14:53
Friend. Yeah, my close personal friend
14:55
Simone, she is truly unapologetic about how she is
14:59
not the average fangirl, she said.
15:01
Quote. I can't change the fact that I
15:03
was born in 1966. I don't want to be a 24 year old
15:07
white girl running Club Chalamet.
15:09
I am who I am. I respect that.
15:11
She makes me feel so much better about doing this job at my age.
15:17
The way she's like my mom's age is iconic.
15:19
I love it. She's also embracing sub stack.
15:21
Like I said, she has a sub stack.
15:23
So subscriptions for Club Chalamet start at $6 a month and
15:27
go to $65 a year, or $150.00 for a premium annual subscription.
15:32
What do we think it is about Club Chalamet that's gone so
15:35
mainstream? Well, I think at first it was
15:37
because of her age. Like people were just surprised
15:41
that someone in their 50s was running a Stan account on
15:44
Twitter. For club for for club.
15:48
Timothy Chalamet. Like it's not for somebody in
15:51
her age, Bra, someone who she's grown up with or.
15:53
Something also she's has been historically quite defensive of
15:57
Timmy, especially when it comes to Kylie, so I think that also
16:00
became a meme. Wasn't she calling her like
16:01
slurpy? She calls her Slurpee.
16:03
Yeah. Because it's something to do
16:05
with the fact that she's, like, cheap and like sugary sweets.
16:09
There's something. It's not good.
16:11
It's it's mean. I think she has softened her
16:12
language around Kylie now though.
16:15
Yeah, no, I do think she has. I think, yeah, I think she's.
16:18
So again, all of this is like, why is this spiral?
16:21
Because it's memeable. Why is she memeable?
16:23
Because she's unhinged. It all comes back to being
16:26
unhinged maybe. We need to be more unhinged.
16:29
But I want to know, like, why are you so obsessed specifically
16:32
with Claude Chalamet? There are several reasons.
16:35
Definitely the fact that she's unhinged, older and just so
16:40
shamelessly herself is so funny. It's it's wild.
16:45
Like it's truly unhinged in the best way possible.
16:48
I do think the fact that she's a little bit mean because it feels
16:52
like honestly, that's like it adds to it.
16:54
I think, like you said, I think she's getting less mean.
16:56
But like honestly, her being a little little bit savage, a
16:59
little bit mean is also part of that.
17:02
It just makes her a bit more like iconic.
17:03
I'm not really sure. And then the other part of it is
17:06
what you were saying before about referential humor, because
17:09
she is such like a personality right now in Internet culture,
17:14
in the current zeitgeist. And the fact that we have
17:16
reported on her so many times and she's constantly part of our
17:20
brand. Well, that sounds crazy, but you
17:22
know what I mean? Like we need.
17:23
To get her on the. Paw.
17:24
Yeah, No, we do. She's like, woven into the
17:25
fabric of Centennial World. Yeah.
17:29
She like, feels like she's a close personal friend of the
17:32
pod, like, you know, and it feels like referential when
17:34
she's brought up in pop culture, when she's brought up, you know,
17:37
in media. I'm like, Oh my God, my queen.
17:41
Also she's. Like niche, it's like being in
17:43
on it. Yeah, that's what I mean, like
17:44
referential. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:46
OK. So obviously, like Club Chalamet
17:49
is maybe your creator. Of obviously club, club.
17:52
Our close personal friend club. I feel like the creator that
17:55
really took off for me all kind of defined my 2025 has being
17:59
vanilla Mace. Yeah.
18:00
I thought her rise this year was like, genuinely fascinating.
18:03
Yeah. Because we haven't seen that in
18:06
a while and it's really hard to achieve.
18:08
I'll give a rundown. I'm sure people know who she is.
18:10
Yeah. Give a rundown of how she like,
18:12
really blew up. So she had had like a couple of
18:15
viral moments over the years, but what really propelled her
18:19
was this year she was opening a skull panda blind box and she
18:23
had said that she didn't want one of them, which was a
18:25
Christmas tree. Also, this was in April.
18:28
So like, why would you want a Christmas tree in April?
18:30
Obviously she got the Christmas tree and her reaction was like,
18:33
funny. Like it became memeable.
18:35
OK, here's the thing. Basically I'll be happy with any
18:40
of them except that fuck ass Christmas tree.
18:43
I don't like that one. Just anything but the Christmas
18:46
tree. OK.
18:46
I'm going to show you guys first.
18:55
No, no. No.
19:05
Pain I feel in my arm. Oh, who is you?
19:07
Who? Is you.
19:10
We're going back in, we're going back inside.
19:11
What are the odds that I get the same 1 twice, right?
19:14
It's going to be fine. I'll show you guys first.
19:28
So people started making so many fan edits.
19:31
It kind of reminded me of like the Brittany Brewski com butcha
19:34
moment. Yeah.
19:35
I feel like it's kind of similar.
19:37
But yeah, after that with the fan edits and just people like,
19:41
clipping that one moment and reaction, her social media
19:44
channels like, really grew. I truly have not seen someone
19:47
grow that fast and also have like a super engaged audience,
19:51
not just like numbers. Yes, yes.
19:53
I do have some numbers. So by May this was she went
19:57
viral in in April and by May she had hit 500K TikTok followers
20:00
and today she's sitting at 4.7 million.
20:03
Holy shit. And then on YouTube it was
20:06
similar. She had grown from 18,000
20:09
subscribers in March to almost 1.5 million today.
20:13
That is crazy and I agree with you.
20:15
It's not from her. It's not the same as when, you
20:19
know, we saw Charlie d'emilio get 100 million TikTok followers
20:23
in two years or whatever that was.
20:24
We see obviously very quick rises like that here and there,
20:28
especially on TikTok. But I agree that she still first
20:31
of all, feels niche. I wouldn't say she's like
20:34
totally mainstream and also that is genuinely like an engaged
20:38
audience because she's so personality driven.
20:40
I think that's. Part of it, yeah.
20:41
And I think maybe she feels niche because she is a streamer
20:44
like last and foremost. And I feel like streamers, even
20:47
though they're becoming more mainstream, I would say they are
20:50
still kind of a specific area of the creator economy.
20:53
Yeah. So like, definitely the scale of
20:55
Vanilla's success is not something we see super often,
20:58
especially when it's like not off the back of scandals.
21:00
Like obviously she has found herself in controversy a little
21:02
bit over the years by but that isn't what like propelled her
21:06
into the limelight. I don't know, I.
21:08
Have a couple of thoughts of, like, why she succeeded.
21:11
Like obviously 1 is that personality driven?
21:14
She's memeable. She has, like, great reactions
21:16
to things. I think she almost has like, a
21:17
nostalgic feel to her. A lot of people have compared
21:20
her to Jenna Marbles, like, just based on her vibe.
21:22
And also I know she's collabed with like, Julian and everyone's
21:25
like, Oh my God, Jenna. Yeah.
21:28
Like, this is the closest we're going to get.
21:29
And then also as a streamer, she's definitely being able to
21:33
tap into like a growing area of the creator economy.
21:37
So I think that was to her benefit.
21:40
And then also her viral moment with the skull panda like
21:43
aligned perfectly with the obsession of blind boxes this
21:45
year, like I think. It's just all.
21:48
The stars aligned. Yeah, that makes sense.
21:50
Like there's always an element of luck with everyone's, you
21:52
know, success. Yeah.
21:53
OK, My next best moment of 2025 was Mr. Fantasy who is KJ Appa's
22:02
like alter ego that is now releasing music question mark or
22:07
going to release music He has he has OK so in August slash
22:11
September of this year, this account called I am the real Mr.
22:14
Fantasy, it started going viral. The oldest video posted on this
22:18
account was from August 19th showing a man with a shoulder
22:21
length Bob nodding along to a song.
22:24
Black Bob. OK, so not red, not like you
22:26
know he has red hair. I was going to say, did I get
22:28
that wrong? He has.
22:29
Red, that was him in Riverdale. I don't actually think it's his
22:31
natural head. Yeah, I.
22:33
Think you're right? Actually, don't.
22:35
Think it might be. That's why I was like, I don't
22:37
know if Reds actually. Anyways, it was like not his
22:40
hair. Pretty soon after he started
22:42
posting, which would be, you know, anything from like vlogs,
22:45
lip syncing, videos, pictures, people started questioning if he
22:50
was KJ Appa. So KJ Appa did not release this
22:54
account and let anybody know that it was him and he wasn't
22:57
confirming it. And people were like, is this KJ
23:00
Appa just being again unhinged? That's actually the through
23:04
line. All of this is just unhinged.
23:07
And yes, his facial structure looked exactly the same, the
23:10
only differences were his hair, obviously his black Bob and he
23:14
has like a buck teeth and an accent like a different accent.
23:18
So KJ is from New Zealand, but I'm the real Mr. Fantasy has an
23:22
English accent. Since then, Mr. Fantasy has gone
23:26
on to release original music. His debut single was Mr.
23:30
Fantasy, but he also has released songs Waywana and
23:34
Catapults. The music videos are insane, but
23:36
the songs are actually kind of chill and like we were listening
23:39
to them before and they're pretty good.
23:40
Yeah, honestly, it was. They're kind of like indie.
23:42
It doesn't match his aesthetic at.
23:45
All No. Which I think is funny, but
23:46
yeah, no, he is the modern day Hannah Montana in my opinion.
23:51
I can't but I think this aligns like KJ app is always doing
23:55
weird goofy quirky stuff. I think he ate with this.
24:00
Yeah. He literally ate.
24:01
I remember when he first started blowing up people, like, OK,
24:03
wait, maybe I do understand how Hannah Montano happened because,
24:06
like, there were always questions when it was airing,
24:08
Like, how do people don't recognize?
24:10
Yeah. But I'm like, actually, this is
24:12
kind of true. Yeah.
24:14
I mean I guess if you think about like pre TikTok days it's.
24:16
Just so. Funny, I think this blew up so
24:19
much because it is the ultimate. Troll.
24:22
Yeah, and people love a troll when they're in on the.
24:25
Joke yes and it's like a harmless troll obviously like
24:28
it's so wild to see somebody. I wouldn't say KJ app is maybe
24:31
like a list, but he's pretty famous.
24:33
He's mainstream yes. To see like a mainstream
24:35
celebrity do something so unhinged like this, just low
24:38
key, you know and just drop it in there and just see how it
24:41
goes is really. Funny.
24:43
Yeah, I love it. It's very human.
24:45
OK. The next trend I need to talk
24:48
about is one that dominated my For You page and that was the
24:51
Clan Clan Clan with the trolley. Oh my God.
24:55
You literally sang that like every day of 2025 since the.
24:58
Start. I know it's so iconic.
24:59
I don't care. This might sound like insane to
25:02
people if you've never heard of it, but like, if you know, you
25:04
know. Yeah.
25:05
And I will explain for those of you who weren't privileged
25:07
enough to have this on your FOR You page.
25:09
But basically, clan, clan, clan with the trolley.
25:11
Those are lyrics from the Trolley Song, which is a song
25:15
that had been performed by Judy Garland in the 1944 musical
25:19
movie Meet Me in Saint Louis. I will say I've never seen this
25:22
film before. Which features in the Sex and
25:24
the City. Movie, yes.
25:25
Jennifer has some gifts at to Carrie Bradshaw.
25:27
No, I watched Sex and the City for the first time this year and
25:31
I watched the movie with my friend and when that came on she
25:36
had never got that on her 4U page, but I had been speaking
25:38
about it so much that she knew what it was.
25:40
Was she dying? She was.
25:42
Were you dying? I was like, I actually, I was,
25:45
we were sitting and when watching it, I stood up and I
25:47
was like, Oh my God. I was like, Oh my God, this
25:50
movie was for me. Yeah.
25:52
Like. The world's colliding for you.
25:54
That was. Crazy.
25:54
Also, that's like the most insane crossover ever.
25:57
Yeah. Yeah.
25:57
So I haven't seen the film that it comes from.
26:00
Yes. But I should say that the
26:02
trolley song has gained a new life in recent years.
26:05
It has become like an LGBTQIA plus anthem where CNN actually
26:09
described it as a quote. Can't be crowd pleaser, which
26:12
I'm like, period. How it really gained traction on
26:15
TikTok was many users started remixing the classic with more
26:20
modern songs. So the majority I saw what
26:22
Charlie Xex and Addison Rae remix is OK and one TikTok that
26:25
I saw described the remix as like a Judy Garland boiler room
26:29
set which I thought was funny. Stop.
26:31
No, no, that is too far for me. It's.
26:35
So funny, like I love, I love that because when I need to lock
26:39
in, I always put on the Charlie Xex boiler room.
26:43
I thought you were going to say I always put on because like
26:45
Charlie starts with C2, like clank Clank, like I.
26:50
Honestly sure not to intellectualize this, No.
26:53
Please do. Well.
26:54
I don't know. I think it's just a really good
26:56
example of how like Internet culture these days, it's just a
27:00
mixture of literally everything happening at once and pairing
27:03
things together that don't necessarily like go together
27:06
organically. I feel like we see that in like
27:07
fashion as well. Like I feel like so much of the
27:09
Pinterest fashion is like mixing up athletic aesthetics with
27:13
like, clean girl. Like do you know what I mean?
27:14
Well, I would even argue you could say the same thing about
27:17
what we were talking about last week with Lil Boo boos and like
27:19
bag charms and stuff like that. It's like we would have, you
27:22
know, $30,000 Birkins that had Lil Boo boos hung on them.
27:26
And like, it appears to the outside like a childish
27:30
collectible, you know what I mean?
27:32
And to like pair that with like, yes, the juxtaposition.
27:35
I think it's just like another example of how music exists on
27:39
TikTok. Like we know what TikTok is a
27:41
major music discovery platform, but I feel like we often think
27:44
about the relationship between music and TikTok as like one
27:47
that is shown in dances or like music discovery.
27:50
But like the musical remixes are also a major point I think.
27:55
The first time I'd ever heard that song on TikTok.
27:56
I'd obviously heard the song before, but the first time it
27:58
was ever on my For You page was that meme that was like, you
28:02
just know the girls and the gays got down to this song in the
28:06
40s. Yes, I was.
28:08
Sorely. Like that I did not know this
28:10
song before, so I this is how I was introduced to the song,
28:13
right? OK, but I'm so glad I was it's.
28:16
Like on your Spotify? Rapped.
28:17
Oh my God, it should have been. It should have been.
28:20
OK, my last favorite viral moment of 2025 was the Bunny art
28:27
meme. The Oh no Me meme.
28:32
I loved that queen. OK so this one's hard to
28:36
explain. I will put visuals on the screen
28:39
but I don't know, just bear with me.
28:41
So towards the beginning of this year, paintings by the artist
28:44
Irena Azine started gaining traction on TikTok.
28:48
These paintings are surrealist and often incorporate a Bunny.
28:51
There were pictures of various rabbits with almost a human
28:54
looking rabbit with other animals in different settings.
28:57
So most of them were like in a forest or something like that.
29:00
The artist has been producing art like this for over a decade,
29:04
but it only started getting action online when it became a
29:06
meme. Which honestly is your sign to
29:09
keep going. It's your sign to keep going.
29:12
So as know your meme explains this.
29:14
Wow, know your meme is like the number one.
29:17
Yeah, for this episode quote. In January 21st, 2025, TikTok
29:23
user at Avery Mahoney posted one of Irene's rabbit paintings,
29:26
adding the text Me and my twin after saying something at the
29:30
same time then thinking we are sharing brain cells.
29:33
The image is accompanied by the brain rot audio red like green
29:37
light. Korean version by Tik Toker
29:40
Raniella Herko, originally from Squid Game.
29:43
The post amassed more than 16,000,000 plays and 4 million
29:46
likes in five days. And from there it's spread
29:49
really quickly. Many users were incorporating
29:52
the paintings as a reaction image or a meme, adding
29:55
different captions and scenarios, and there have also
29:58
been fan edits made of the Bunny.
30:00
And these bunnies, look, they kind of look AI.
30:03
The paintings kind of look AI, but they obviously aren't.
30:06
And then, yeah, one of the iterations of this Bunny meme
30:09
was the Oh no, me. Like, oh, like, Oh no.
30:13
And then me. But am I like, Oh no, me and
30:16
like you would say the your favorite thing, it'd be like, Oh
30:18
no, me sister, like Oh no, me, I don't know, phone, whatever.
30:22
I'm like what's my favorite thing?
30:23
I don't have a sister so. I actually never had this on my
30:27
foot, you page, but I knew about it because you were obsessed
30:29
with it. Yeah, I loved.
30:31
It but like what do you think it was about it?
30:34
Again, it's just unhinged. It's unhinged.
30:36
It's silly. All of this is actually showing
30:40
us what hits online in terms of like, cultural relevance, at
30:43
least for a moment in time. I'm not going to say that these
30:47
things that we're talking about now have like necessarily
30:49
longevity, but it's like silliness, referential, like
30:53
humor, being part of an in joke, being a bit unhinged and being
30:58
light. There could be more meaning
31:00
behind it, but there often isn't.
31:02
Or that's not why people are like, into it.
31:04
Yeah, that is. Where we come in?
31:07
To intellectualize it. But I do think, to be fair, I
31:10
think we have also picked light moments as well for this
31:13
episode. Which honestly, that's good
31:16
because typically as we know Centennial World, a lot of what
31:19
we're covering is not like. No, OK, the last moment I need
31:23
to highlight. I feel like it's a bit of a
31:25
broader content style and it might be a little bit of a cop
31:28
out, but it's concert content. But it is very true to my
31:32
experience online. Like I get so many concert
31:35
videos. Do you get a?
31:36
Lot no, it depends if there is OK, Like Zara Larsson, her
31:41
concerts are all over my free page right now because it's like
31:44
a major pop girly that's about to have a Sabrina Carpenter
31:47
moment. Like I will start to get that
31:48
kind of content because they're up and coming and they're
31:51
starting to be talked about, but like normally.
31:53
No, no, I get so much concert content and I feel like it
31:58
really reflects my stand Twitter roots and also the fact that I
32:02
am just like a concert galley. I love music and stuff, yeah,
32:05
but I do feel like concert content really.
32:07
I started taking off during the Eras Tour in like 2023, and
32:10
since then it's just lingered for me.
32:12
But I also don't necessarily think it's just my algorithm.
32:14
I think it just shows how live music has become dominant on
32:18
TikTok as well. You know what's interesting
32:20
though, I like if you think about when people go to a
32:24
concert and they post clips of it on Instagram stories, like
32:27
everybody hates that. So like why does it hit on
32:29
TikTok? I kind of like it.
32:33
I thought it was like a known thing that everyone's like tap,
32:35
tap, tap, tap, tap. I mean, I think, yeah, No, I
32:37
think if you post a lot, sure. But if you post, like, one good
32:40
video, then I like it, I guess. You know what I mean?
32:43
But also, I'm just, I just like seeing, like, artists perform,
32:45
too. Yeah.
32:46
But yeah, I feel I need to talk about some of the moments that
32:50
really dominated my feed when it came to concert content.
32:53
OK, obviously it was Cowboy Carter for me.
32:56
I love Beyoncé. I went to the Cowboy Carter tour
32:59
in London because I'm a freak. But yes, so there specific
33:03
moments in the show that were like literally everywhere for
33:06
me. If you know, you know.
33:07
But I will say it. One of them was Blue Ivy,
33:10
Beyoncé's daughter doing her Deja Vu solo where she ate.
33:14
Another one was her other daughter, Rumi.
33:16
She would come out during the song Protector.
33:18
And it's really funny because Protector, it's a really like a
33:20
meaningful song about like mother and daughter, mother and
33:23
child relationships. And like Rumi would come out and
33:25
like do like dance moves and like, that was not the vibe, but
33:28
she just like loves being, I think, on stage.
33:31
Yeah, so loved. And then also Beyoncé would like
33:34
have this part in the concept where she would read names of
33:38
signs and like there were a couple times where she just like
33:41
either messed up or looked like really confused.
33:43
I ended up going super viral within like a bandit.
33:46
So that was really funny. But otherwise, some other fun
33:50
concert moments for me was like Cat's Eye.
33:51
I spoke at them last week, but Gnarly was literally everywhere.
33:54
Also, they're like great performers and dances, but they
33:57
have been everywhere for me this year.
33:59
And then Speaking of Cat's Eye, Adela, I'm calling it now.
34:03
Yeah, I'm calling it now. I've been seeing people saying
34:06
that as well. She's going to blow up next
34:08
year. I love her.
34:08
I think she's so talented. Her EP is really good and she
34:13
did a little tour this year. It was like really small stages
34:16
and people were comparing her to like Lady Gaga.
34:19
Early days. It was like, that's such a
34:20
compliment. No, I've been seeing that
34:22
because I saw a video of somebody being like, I predict
34:25
Zara Larsson's going to blow up, and it's like, yeah, OK, Like
34:27
everyone could predict that. The comments were literally
34:29
filled with people saying no Adela.
34:32
Adela like she needs to blow up. I really would love to see her
34:37
like ascend to yeah yeah, pop girl status also because she's
34:40
opening for Demi Lovato next year.
34:42
So I think that is probably a moment.
34:44
Also another one I liked was Chapel Roan doing the Apple
34:46
dance at Primavera Sound. That was that was big for me.
34:49
But yeah, concert content they will never it will never get old
34:52
for me. And I think part of it actually
34:54
is growing up in Australia, which like didn't used to be a
34:57
major touring market. I think it's become way more
35:01
popular, like now we actually get shows.
35:03
But like, growing up, I literally have been slighted by
35:06
my face, like Beyoncé not coming here for Renaissance to ruin my
35:09
life. That made me a freak.
35:11
That like literally made me need to travel to go to.
35:13
Like, that is what triggered me. Yeah.
35:15
Yeah. And then yeah.
35:16
So I feel like. You're like a modern day
35:19
groupie, like just following your favorite artists around the
35:22
world. I know, but like as I should.
35:24
Yeah, like that's fine. Live your life.
35:26
This is where my money goes, actually, yeah.
35:28
And I also think it's just like fandom being participatory
35:32
online by like, you know? Being parasocial, it is really.
35:36
Fun. I do love it and I'm going to
35:37
Lady Gaga tomorrow when we're recording this.
35:40
So. Yeah, it will be fun.
35:42
OK, I also have before we finish, Yeah, I have some
35:44
honorable mentions that I wanted to include.
35:47
OK, The first was Pope Crave. Oh my God, yes.
35:50
I loved Pope Crave, they were literally documenting the
35:53
conclave and that was amazing. I also got so much content this
35:57
year, people doing mukbangs in cars of like LA's most beautiful
36:02
desserts did you ever get? Those I got some of them, yeah.
36:04
I don't know why they live on my for you page as well as a
36:07
crumble cookie like tasting. Crumble was all over my For You
36:11
page this year. I felt desperate to try a
36:13
Crumble. Cookie.
36:14
Yes, yes, and like you love a cookie.
36:16
I love a cookie. It's my number.
36:18
One and then my last one, this is rogue.
36:21
This woman lives on my for you page.
36:23
She's a psychic and medium. Her name's Lydia and she goes by
36:28
the psychic ish I think podcast and she like tunes into photos.
36:32
Wait, you've shown me her. I'm obsessed with her.
36:35
Like she'll tune into like listings on Zillow and she'll
36:38
also tune into like old photos. I'm just obsessed with it.
36:41
Like I, I can't look away even though paranormal stuff really
36:44
freaks me out. I can't watch spooky movies
36:46
because of that. Yeah, I fear.
36:48
Unfortunately this year has been bad for me trying to get off of
36:54
the pipeline, the spiritual psychosis pipeline that I
36:58
started on down in 2024. Like genuinely, this year,
37:02
unfortunately I'm even further down that.
37:04
But it's fun maybe. Anyways, guys, that's it for
37:10
2025. That's a wrap.
37:13
Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for the year that was.
37:17
Honestly, it was so amazing. I said this in my last mini last
37:20
week, but it's just been such a journey trying to figure out
37:23
kind of what our brand looks like and how everything goes
37:26
down. Basically what we're publishing
37:28
every single day mostly. And I feel like we really are in
37:32
a good rhythm now and we figured it out these last couple of
37:34
years and I'm just so proud of us.
37:36
And I'm so thankful to you guys for tuning in multiple times a
37:40
week. And thank you so much to Britta,
37:42
our faves. We stand Britta.
37:45
They literally on top of keeping us hydrated all year, kept us
37:49
paid. So thank you to Britta because
37:51
we would not be here in our new office, you know, just like
37:55
going into the new year like at all if we didn't have Bretta
37:59
this year. So we love you Bretta.
38:00
We love you Bretta. Thank you guys.
38:02
Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
38:04
Please Spotify star rate US and we will talk to you guys next
38:08
year. Exciting.
38:09
Bye bye.