Happy New Year, everyone! 2025 is now complete, and we move on to a hopefully better 2026. Last year was one that most people will not forget, with the uprising of A.I., a new presidency, and multiple pop culture events. Let’s talk about all the crazy things that went on in 2025.

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One of the biggest things that happened during 2025 was the shocking, yet terrifying, uprising of A.I., also known as Artificial Intelligence. Sora A.I. was one of the most popular new A.I.s, and it was released in December 2024. In September 2025, Sora 2 was released, and it went viral really quickly. Videos and images could be made in a literal minute that will look exactly like one taken on a movie camera. We need to hope that laws are made that can prevent A.I. from becoming dangerous. Dozens of other applications of A.I. were made, as well as changes to ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and more.

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A few big things on the political side of the world were Donald Trump becoming the new president. This is his second time being in office, with his first term being in 2016, and now he will be president for the next 4 years from 2025 to 2028. The government was shut down for a record-breaking 43 days, which caused a lot of trouble for people in need of food and travelling. Many different politicians passed away last year, including Dick Cheney and Clint Hill. Political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated that year as well, marking a major turning point in the US.

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It is time to talk about all the pop culture events that took place this year, and there were a bunch. Beyoncé became the first black woman in Grammy history to win the award for ‘Best Country Album’ and won ‘Album of the Year’ that same night, and gave us a meme-worthy reaction. Along with the Grammys, the Oscars took place, in which ‘Anora’ took home 5 awards that night, being the most awarded film that night. The Emmys also took place, in which HBO Max and Netflix tied for 30 wins each in September.

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People were going crazy on January 19th when they heard that TikTok had been banned. That ban did, however, last less than a day. Kendrick Lamar performed at the Super Bowl in February, seemingly aimed to make Drake madder, as they had a massive rap feud the year prior. For 2026, it was announced that Bad Bunny would be the performer for the Super Bowl, which caused a huge spark of outrage among the American people, specifically those in correlation with the Trump administration. Katy Perry, a popular pop star, went to space and went viral after kissing the ground once returning, even though she was up there for less than 20 minutes.

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Films such as ‘Superman’, ‘F1’, ‘Wicked: For Good’, and ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ were the biggest to come out in 2025, with all of them being well received by critics and fans. As for the TV shows, ‘Adolescence’, ‘Squid Game Season 3’, and ‘Stranger Things Season 5’ were released, with ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things’ releasing their final seasons.

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I asked a couple of people to describe 2025 in a sentence, and this is what they said. Security, Ms. Morris said, “Humbling, exciting past adventure.” Short, but a very fitting description of the year. Mr. Thomas, another security guard at Glades, said, “A year of reflection and realizing how your individual input affects the world.” This is almost a perfect description of not only 2025, but every year, as most people don’t realize how much they impact the world based on their actions. 

There is still so much more stuff to talk about, like Coachella, the Louvre heist, the Tony Awards, SNL 50, Stephen Colbert’s show ending soon, Jimmy Kimmel’s show getting pulled off of air for almost a week, CEOs cheating at a Coldplay concert, Labubus and the uprising of brainrot, and so much more, but if I were to talk about all this, we would be here for a few days, so lets just leave it at this. Have a great new year, and may 2026 bring you more happiness than 2025.