Summer pop culture moments

The summer season is the time for sometimes hilarious, mostly cringe-y pop culture moments to thrive. Maybe it’s the mass amount of students out of school with nothing better to do, or maybe it’s the warm weather that invites people to be more creative instead of hiding from the winter cold, but in any case, we saw a ton of memorable moments this summer. Here are a few to remind you what happened if you vacationed somewhere without cell service, or just happen to be out of touch with what’s happening on the internet.

Drake from the “In My Feelings” video. Photo courtesy of Young Money; Cash Money

The “In My Feelings” challenge

What is it about Drake that turns him into a meme time and time again? Do we remember the “Hotline Bling” meme? Well, summer ‘18 comes with its own Drake moment thanks to Instagram account
@theshiggyshow.

Shiggy, the man behind the account, created a dance to Drake’s “In My Feelings” song of his latest album, Scorpion. Bumpin’ the song on the street seemingly outside of a vehicle, the dance challenge went viral on social media and suddenly everyone was doing the dance, hopping out of cars and even doing it on the freeway.

Celebrities started picking up on the trend, and now we have a drone video of Will Smith doing the dance on a roof. Finally, to end the challenge, Drake picked up on it and incorporated the trend into his music video for the song. Signifying the end of the viral videos, the trend had come full circle and finally died. Nobody will ever be the same when they hear, “KiKi, do you love me…”

Elon Musk and Grimes at the 2018 MET Gala. Photo courtesy of Neilson Barnard/Getty images

Elon Musk, Grimes and Azelia Banks

Azealia Banks feuding with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his electro-musician girlfriend Grimes basically confirms that there’s been a tear in the space time continuum and we are now living in an alternate reality, one we were never meant to experience.

First of all, Elon Musk has become a meme in his own right over 2018. From a respected CEO with an innovative thriving company, Musk went from making cool cars to selling flamethrowers and launching a dude into space in a Tesla. Then, he announced he wanted to take Tesla private. Finally, he started dating Grimes. The “Elon Musk has a goth GF” memes have been making their way around the web.

But then, Azealia Banks started a collaboration with Grimes and implied Grimes had a little too much to say about her boyfriend, sharing with followers on social media stories about Musk scrounging for investors and using drugs. Then she apologized. It still doesn’t feel like an event that happened in our reality.

Screenshot of Ariana Grande’s Twitter courtesy of Amber McLinden

Big dick energy

It all started with Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson’s engagement. After her split with Mac Miller, people expected her next beau to be the hottest person they’ve ever seen. Then came Davidson.

That’s not to say he’s unattractive, he just looks a lot more like us regular folk than like the human embodiment of a Barbie that Ariana Grande is. Grande even dedicated a song to him on her latest album, Sweetener, and before it was released, someone on Twitter inquired about the length of the song.

“Like 10 inches? …. oh fuck …. I mean …. a lil over a minute” was her response on Twitter.

Suddenly part of Davidson’s attractiveness came to light, and people began tweeting about big d*ck energy, including a tweet from @babyvietcong. “Pete davidson is 6’3 with dark circles, exudes big dick energy, looks evil but apparently is an angel, and loves his girl publicly the only thing wrong w him is that he’s a scorpio but anyway…..id married him within a month too.”

If you don’t understand the “energy” part of big dick energy, look past Pete Davidson to icons like Cardi B, Rihanna and Kate Blanchett, according to The Verge. Then you’ll start to get it.

Serena Williams at the French Open. Photo courtesy of Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty images

Sports are still sexist and racist

You’ve heard of Serena Williams because she’s the most famous tennis player in the world. Back in May, Williams played (and won) in the French Open, wearing a black catsuit custom designed by Nike to prevent blood clots after she gave birth. The blood clots nearly killed her during childbirth, so it seems reasonable that she wear a super sleek, cool catsuit that also helps her health condition, right?

The French Tennis Federation didn’t think so, calling the outfit “disrespectful.” So in true icon fashion, Williams wore a tutu to the U.S. Open in August, still killing it on the court. The clothing she wore had nothing to do with the way she played and the dress code was universally criticized as elitist, exclusionary and promoting “white” femininity.

Nike also ran an advertising campaign with Williams after the French Open, with photos of her and text over reading things like, “You can take the superhero out of her costume, but you can never take away her superpowers.” The incident has sparked a conversation about the way sports institutions police women athletes.