From Thrift Shops to Anacondas, the class of 2016 has witnessed cultural trends of all colors. | Courtesy of Creative Commons/Wikimedia
Over the past four years, Penn seniors have bore witness to a series of cultural events. Here’s a year by year look at what events have influenced the formative years of this weekend’s newly minted graduates.
Freshman Year: 2012-13
The top songs included “Payphone” by Maroon 5, “Titanium” by David Guetta ft. Sia, “As Long As You Love Me” by Justin Bieber ft. Big Sean, “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore, “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye, and pretty much all things One Direction.
The big things to watch were “Pitch Perfect,” a film about a cappella groups, and Harlem Shake videos on YouTube. It also included the last season of the MTV classic “Jersey Shore.”
As for news headlines, it was also a significant year. President Barack Obama was reelected, so the entire college experience of the graduating seniors took place over a full presidency. It also, unfortunately, included the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Boston Marathon bombing and Hurricane Sandy.
This was also the year of Miley Cyrus’ new haircut and the birth of “YOLO,” “swag” and “ratchet.”
Sophomore Year: 2013-14
The top songs of sophomore year were two of Miley Cyrus’ hits: “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball.” Lorde also crashed the music scene with her Grammy Award-winning song, “Royals.”
The diverse range of movies hitting theaters included “We’re the Millers,” “Frozen” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
The major news included the death of former South African President Nelson Mandela and of two major actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Walker. The United States federal government officially shut down for about 15 days, and Colorado became the first state in the country to legalize the sale of marijuana in specialty retail shops.
And, of course, the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral on the internet.
Junior Year: 2014-15
In a big year for pop music, the hits included: “Take Me to Church,” by Hozier, “Shake it Off,” by Taylor Swift, “All About That Bass,” by Meghan Trainor, “Anaconda,” by Nicki Minaj, “Uptown Funk,” by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars and “Trap Queen” by Fetty Wap.
The biggest topics in the news included the Ebola scare and Joan Rivers’ death. Caitlyn Jenner came out and became the world’s most prominent transgender woman.
“Bae” became part of everyone’s vocabulary as did the word “turnt”. Yik Yak became a top trending app on college campuses, and the “white and gold” vs. “black and blue” dress confused everyone.
Senior Year: 2015-16
“Can’t Feel My Face” by the Weeknd, “Sorry” by Justin Bieber, “Hello” by Adele and “Hotline Bling” by Drake were released this year.
The sale of hoverboards took off and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” demolished at the box office.
The presidential race has dominated the news, which is currently narrowed down to 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump on the Republican side and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on the Democratic side. Throughout this process, the news headlines also covered the outbreak of E.coli in Chipotle food and Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia.
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