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End of Beginning: The Best and Worst of 2024

  • vsandoval04
  • Dec 30, 2024
  • 5 min read

Updated: Jan 15, 2025

2024 had very high highs, and VERY low lows. Here's what I got from them.


Surely there is no better way to start than at the end. A year is about to be over, the clock is ticking toward a new and promising 2025. And like many, I am terrified.


This upcoming year will mean many endings and beginnings in my life. I will graduate college, I will (fingers crossed) start a new job, I will travel to places I’ve never been before, I will make decisions that may impact the rest of my life, I will turn 22. The end of this year feels like the end of many things that I’ve known and loved for a really long time, and the beginning of the new year brings a set of terrifyingly new challenges that I will have to face head-on.


But I can’t let the year end without thanking it, and thank it I will in the way I know best: lists.


Here are some of my favorite things to come out of 2024, as well as a variety of things I want to take and grow with me in 2025, and those I want to leave behind with the new year.


Favorite movies of 2024

  1. Challengers

  2. My Old Ass

  3. Wicked

  4. Inside Out 2

  5. The Substance

  6. It’s what’s inside

  7. MaXXXine

  8. The Outrun

  9. Sweethearts

  10. Lisa Frankenstein

  11. Kung Fu Panda 4

  12. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

  13. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire


Notes on the top movies:


Challengers

This movie surprised me with how good it was. From its incredible cinematic shots to the depth of the characters and their relationship to each other that had me debating the difference between love and reverence at the dinner table. No movie has ever made me as interested in a sport as Challengers. Rating: 10/10.


My Old Ass

I walked into this movie without knowing how much it was going to touch my heart. In a coming-of-age story that is both funny and heartwarming, this movie creates that sense of nostalgia for your younger self that many movies attempt and fail at. Needless to say, I cried a lot and I would recommend it for anyone else in a turning point in their lives. Rating: 9/10.


Wicked

I was not a Wicked fan before this movie, but I certainly am after watching it. The singing was incredible, the sets were beautiful and the story was fun and engaging. Also, the fact that every scene with Jonathan Bailey had me and the entire theater giggling and kicking their feet is a phenomenon that needs to be studied. Wicked is a REALLY good movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, with only one exception: the really long musical breaks in crucial songs like Defying Gravity (and the fact that they released them just like that on the Official Soundtrack.) Other than that, rating: 9/10.



Favorite music of 2024

  1. Good Luck, Babe - Chappell Roan

  2. Girl, so confusing featuring Lorde - Charli xcx

  3. That’s so true - Gracie Abrams

  4. L’AMOUR DE MA VIE - Billie Eilish

  5. we can’t be friends - Ariana Grande

  6. Juno - Sabrina Carpenter

  7. Diet Pepsi - Addison Rae

  8. 16 CARRIAGES - Beyonce

  9. The Bolter - Taylor Swift

  10. club classics - Charli xcx

  11. BIRDS OF A FEATHER - Billie Eilish

  12. Nothing Matters - The Last Dinner Party

  13. Juna - Clairo


Notes on the top songs:


The Pink Pony Pilates Princess Chappell Roan Era

Since the beginning of the year when videos of her opening for Olivia Rodrigo went viral, I was entranced by Chappell’s 80s synth-pop revival and insane voice flips. Good Luck, Babe was just one of the many songs that made it to my top songs of 2024 and Chappell Roan is set to remain a constant both in my playlists and in my karaoke repertoire.


Brat summer is never over

I admit I was slightly late to the Brat fever, but the moment I was in, I was in deeply. I spent the entire summer to the beat of “club classics,” “360,” and “apple” and that summer seeped into fall, and still some playlists leftover this winter that feature the bright green album. Brat summer in literal terms might be over, but I believe its essence is something that has been revived into our society and can never really go away again. 


Billie’s beautiful comeback

I love Billie Eilish since I heard “idontwannabeyouanymore” in 2017 and realized the girl who wrote it was just a year older than me. Since then, every time she releases singles or albums I feel like I understand the emotions she puts into them and I relate to a lot of the situations she describes in them. "Hit Me Hard and Soft" was exactly that. I listened to it at the perfect time to relate it to everything going on in my life and I was really happy to hear Billie is bringing back her sound, a specific type of pop somewhere between indie, electropop and bedroom pop that works marvels with her voice and songwriting.


Favorite shows of 2024

  1. My Lady Jane

  2. Baby Reindeer

  3. Bridgerton S3

  4. One Day

  5. Sweetpea

  6. The Bear S3

  7. Fallout

  8. The Sex Lives of College Girls S3

  9. Nobody Wants This

  10. Perfect Match S2


Notes on top shows:


My Lady Jane

I walked into this show blindly and I am so glad I did so I will not spoil anything. The only thing you need to know is that it tells the story of Lady Jane Grey, but with some really big twists, and it has a perfectly set romance with just the right amount of enemies-to-lovers, forced marriage and doomed pairing vibes. Rating: 9/10.


Baby Reindeer

This is a show I could barely get through. It is a really good depiction of a really bad situation, and it does a crazy good job at giving the viewer the same anxious and unsettling feeling that the main character deals with throughout the show. There is a reason this show became such a global phenomenon, and it is because it shows the uncomfortable reality of stalking and assault, and how it often presents itself as something harmless at first, until it isn’t. Rating: 9/10.


Bridgerton S3

This was by no means the best Bridgerton season (it’s really hard to top the masterpiece that was season 2) but it was still entertaining. I finally started liking Penelope a bit more, but the show lacked a lot of the character depth that it needed to make me root for her or for her love with Colin. There were too many subplots (FAR too many) and some of them were starting to feel more interesting than the main couple (like Cressida and Eloise) until the show inevitably ruined them too. Not a good execution of a love story, but it certainly kept me captivated from beginning to end so it still makes the list. Rating: 6/10.


INs and OUTs for 2025

As proven by the evidence, 2024 had a lot of good things come out of it, but it also had some things that I would rather leave behind with the new year. Here are some of my guidelines on what is IN and what is OUT for 2025.



IN

  • color blue (light and periwinkle)

  • exercise (it’s not an arc, it’s a circle)

  • accessorizing 

  • bars

  • lattes (matcha, vanilla)

  • real milk

  • candid photos

  • breakfast

  • prioritizing sleep

  • learning new things

  • party tricks 

  • friend dinners 

  • reusable clothing pieces (basics)

  • Sabrina Carpenter 

  • ambient lighting 

  • birthday cards

  • Owalas

  • "bruh"/"brother"

  • nature time! (hikes, walks, picnics)

  • salad dressing

  • ugly pictures of your dog


OUT

  • club

  • energy drinks

  • nut milk

  • girl dinner

  • overly curated posts

  • avocados

  • sleep debt

  • taking gossip too far

  • sunken cost fallacy

  • overconsumption 

  • Cody Ko

  • limited series

  • Taylor Swift

  • Stanley cups

  • mullets and mustaches

  • pizza

  • judging people’s taste


Overall, I think positivity will be very IN for 2025, and I'm looking forward to whatever cocktail of experiences it has in store. Thank you for reading and happy new year!

 
 
 

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