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Breakdowns and bust ups: 2016’s biggest moments in pop culture

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2016 was a devastating year for music fans, with David Bowie passing away on January 10, much to the collective shock of the world. ‘Harry Potter’ actor Alan Rickman died just four days later.

On April 21, music legend Prince was pronounced dead. It took a while to determine the cause, but his death was found to be an accidental drug overdose.

In June, 27-year-old ‘Star Trek’ actor Anton Yelchin died in an freak car accident.

In August, ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ actor Gene Wilder passed.

In November, we lost folk musician Leonard Cohen.

2016 was also the year of celebs getting political in their awards show acceptance speeches. Sam Smith hit up gay rights at the Oscars, Leonardo DiCaprio attacked on climate at the same awards, while Taylor Swift got all feminist (and had a go at Kanye) at the Grammys, not to mention EVERYONE at the Emmys had something to say about Obama/Hillary/transgender rights etc. Even the Aussies got in on it: Waleed Aly spoke out on racism in the TV industry while musos at the ARIAs addressed LGBTQI issues and campaigned to Keep Sydney Open. All in all, it was a year of major political statements.

It even extended to Beyoncé, who basically owned the internet in February with her Black Lives Matter-leaning ‘Formation video

… And then again in April when she released her LP ‘Lemonade’. Remember that madness? Rachael Roy never got so many Google hits in the space of a week.

Speaking of dominance, it was hard to beat Kanye West this year. It started with the feud with Taylor Swift over the ‘Famous’ song lyrics in July, which got messy REAL QUICK once an assortment of supporting characters got involved. Kim got all Watergate with her Snapchat, Chloe Grace Moretz fought with Khloe Kardashian via Twitter and even Selena Gomez got in, then very quickly out once the haters attacked her lack of political presence. What did we do for entertainment before celebs on social media?

Of course, the Kanye narrative was far from over. Taking over the airwaves again in September for his Yeezy Season 4, Kim pulled out her most naked outfits, models fainted from heat exhaustion and Kanye made a s**tload of cash after peddling Yeezy merch.

Later, as Kim Kardashian recovered from the strenuous activities of fashion week, she was held up at gunpoint in a Paris hotel. Aside from the impact on the Kardashian/Jenner clan, Kim’s ordeal kept every news outlet in business for the next four weeks and introduced the world to a character no one had ever seen before…

Enter sad Kim. Absent from social media and public life since early October, this pared-back version of Kim getting ice-cream in hoodie and slides was so drastic, it prompted family members to rethink their social media strategy for a brief moment. Kendall went off Insta for one whole week, while a new Kardashian duo stepped into the shadow left by Kim…

… hello, Rob and Blac Chyna! After getting engaged in April, the couple confused the hell out of everyone when it was revealed just how convoluted and tangled their little family circle really was (we explain it below). They also scored their own car crash TV show ‘Rob and Chyna’ and gave birth to a baby, which they named Dream. Naturally, Chyna invited her mother in law Kris and the E! entertainment channel into the delivery room.

Unlike Rob and Chyna, some other celebs tried their best to stay out of the spotlight. Like Selena Gomez, who cancelled her tour due to exhaustion and anxiety in August.

It seemed to be the year of confessions over health issues, with Zayn Malik revealing he once had an eating disorder, girlfriend Gigi Hadid is suffering from Hashimoto’s Disease and Lady Gaga has PTSD after being raped at 19. These are some dark times.

But none of this prepared us for the saga of Kanye’s meltdown in November. Mouthing off at one of his concerts about Hillary Clinton, Jay Z, Beyonce and basically everything, the rapper cancelled his tour and was hospitalised, citing “exhaustion” as the culprit.

Speaking of exhaustion, The Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton felt like the longest, dirtiest presidential campaign in history, didn’t it?

Thank god for the memes. From Melania Trump’s eerily similar (ok, plagiarised) Michelle Obama speech to the fallout from the final result, at least we could see the funny side?

Now onto breakups… in June, Brexit stumped everyone (including Britain)… but that was nothing compared to….

Hiddleswift. We know Tay's ex Calvin Harris was fuming because he got all pissy on Twitter about it, but the whole world threw up a little when Tom Hiddleston - former respectable British actor - donned an ‘I heart TS’ tee and frolicked in the surf with an assortment of Taylor’s rent-a-crowd friends.

Thankfully, we were able to recover by laughing at the expression of PURE JOY on Ryan Reynolds face during the July 4 publicity stunt weekend. Surprisingly, Hiddleswift was all over by the beginning of September and has remained as nothing but a distant, strange memory.

Perhaps this video should have alerted us, but something was up with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard back in April when they arrived in Australia to stand trial for… dog smuggling.

That oddity was quickly engulfed by the divorce and allegation of domestic violence which erupted at the end of May. As the press had a field day, things turned ugly quickly and both camps scrambled to get the upper hand. TMZ released secret phone footage filmed by Amber and photos of her bruised face, while Johnny’s daughter Lily-Rose and ex-partner Vanessa Paradis rushed to the actor’s defence.

By August, an agreement was reached and the trial by media relented. We were pretty over it by then. Amber Heard continues to campaign for domestic violence victims.

That was nothing, though. In September, we spent a week in shock over the split of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. It was hard to imagine that Brangelina, Hollywood’s most shipped It-couple of the past decade would be no longer… and even though the custody battle over their six children is still going strong, the tabloid frenzy seems to have eased – thankfully.

Brangelina wasn't the only casualty of 2016. At first, we were sort of confused but then eventually the oddball pairing of James Packer and Mariah Carey started to feel normal. But by late October the 10-month engagement was off and the tabloids were reporting that Mariah’s spending and her reality TV series ‘Mariah’s World’ was to blame. Whatever happened, Mariah got keep that $10m engagement rock – score.

Also attracting headlines were the Hadid sisters, who became fashion’s favourite siblings – making history as the first sisters to appear together on a Victoria’s Secret runway…

… And also getting targeted at Milan Fashion Week by prankster Vitalii Sediuk, when he tried to pick up Gigi and carry her away(?). It made for one seriously WTF Fashion Week moment.

Also on the radar? Celebrity offspring. From Kaia Gerber’s breakout to Dylan Lee and Sofia Richie’s debut – not to mention Hailey Baldwin’s ubiquity – 2016 was the year a whole host of mini-me celebs hit the scene. Stayed tuned for more in 2017…

And then there’s that other kind of royalty – the British kind. As our obsession with Kate and Will cooled slightly, royal fervour was still running high, thanks to the Netflix series ‘The Crown’ and the November-breaking news of Prince Harry’s girlfriend Meghan Markle – turning her into 2016’s most googled actress. The frenzy that ensued was so bad and racist in nature that it inspired Harry to release a statement calling for Markle and her family to be left alone. A month later, Prince Andrew used Twitter to address press reports about the careers of his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie. It appears the royals have discovered social media after all.

Also speaking out this year? The new feminists. From Kim K and Emily Ratajkowski’s bathroom FU, to Taylor Hill’s Grammy speech and even the entire Hillary Clinton presidential campaign – feminism (whether faux or rooted in actual politics) took centre stage in 2016. Even if it often missed the mark (Em Rata nude, again?) and Hillary missed out, at least we can say it was on the agenda again.

Lastly, we must give a shoutout to the biggest trends of the year. We sipped on kombucha tea, paired chokers with slip dresses and off-the-shoulder tops, swapped contouring for strobing, experimented with boxer braids and watched as girls clamoured to copy Kylie Jenner’s matte bold lip. It's fair to say the Kardashian/Jenners are still hugely influential.

From celebrity deaths to bust-ups, feuds and meltdowns, Yeong Sassall charts pop culture's biggest water cooler moments in 2016

It began with Bowie. Passing away on January 10 this year, the tragedy should have been our first inkling that 2016 was not going to be a kind year. And boy, was it a tumultuous one! We lost legends like Bowie and Prince, watched celebs catfight like crazy and saw some of the year's oddest and unlikely couples get together and then ultimately separate. Of course that was nothing compared to the dominance of Trump and Kanye, as well as the uncertainty of Brexit. Join us, as we take a trip through the highs and lows of 2016 in pop culture.

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