FROM minorities taking the Hollywood spotlight to the explosive development of the #MeToo movement, Channel NewsAsia Lifestyle looks back at the pop cultural moments that defined 2018.

K-pop boy band makes history

Whether or not you’ve kept track of their chart-topping albums, massive social media impact or growing legion of famous super fans that includes rapper Nicki Minaj, supermodel Tyra Banks and WWE wrestler-actor John Cena, you cannot ignore the 2018 global domination of South Korean act BTS.

The boy band not only sold out concerts globally throughout 2018, they also made history by being the first ever K-Pop group to speak at the United Nations for UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited launch.

The #MeToo Movement

The #MeToo movement first gained global attention in October 2017 when actress Alyssa Milano asked women who’d been sexually harassed or assaulted to write #MeToo as a status on Twitter after rape allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein came to light and 600,000 people responded.

But it was in 2018 that the movement really kicked into high gear.

One by one, powerful men in Hollywood were called out for their bad behavior, from actors Kevin Spacey and Louis CK to TV hosts Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose. Weinstein is now facing criminal charges of rape, while U.S. TV network CBS head honcho Les Moonves has resigned amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies.

Bill Cosby, who has been the subject of allegations dating back to the 1960s, has been convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison. Cosby is the first celebrity conviction of the #MeToo era.

The suicides of Anthony

Bourdain and Kate Spade

In the space of a single week in June, two beloved names in gastronomy and style were found dead. In a grim coincidence, they both hanged themselves, which shocked the world, brought grief to their legions of fans, and prompted the global media to readdress the issues of mental health, suicide and its prevention.

In September, Bourdain won two posthumous Emmy Awards for his acclaimed series “Parts Unknown,” while Spade’s niece, actress Rachel Brosnahan, honored her aunt’s memory on Christmas Eve, on what would have been her 56th birthday.

The game-changing film ‘Crazy Rich Asians’

This year was a cultural watershed and a box-office bonanza for inclusive films like “Black Panther,” which was well-received by both critics and audiences alike. But it was “Crazy Rich Asians” that took everyone by surprise when it became the highest-grossing romantic comedy in 10 years.

Starved for Asian representation in Hollywood, America flocked to the cinemas to watch director Jon M Chu’s fun, frothy flick based on the novel by Kevin Kwan about super-affluent elites, bringing in US$174 million against its US$30 million production budget.

Its lead actress Constance Wu also became the first nominee of Asian descent for best actress in a musical or comedy in 50 years for the upcoming Golden Globes awards.

Britain’s royal wedding

Prince Harry wed his beau Meghan Markle in May, in the first of two weddings for Britain’s royal family this year — the second being that of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank.

Now, the world loves a good wedding, and Harry and Meghan’s couldn’t have come at a better time. Amid the doom and gloom brought on by Brexit fears and U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued hogging of headlines, this was the real-life, feel-good romantic drama escapism.

In September, Markle was named People magazine’s best dressed woman — a rare royal accolade. And a month later, Kensington Palace announced that the couple were expecting their first-born in 2019.

Yanny or Laurel

Remember the “Is it gold or is it blue?” dress that become one of the great modern viral news stories of our time? This year saw the audio version that similarly tore the Internet apart at the seams.

The short audio clip of a computer-generated voice, which first appeared on Reddit, could be heard saying a name — but listeners couldn’t agree on whether that name was “Yanny” or “Laurel.”

This ignited furious Twitter debates and provoked a whole series of explanations by experts — scientific or otherwise — along the way. (SD-Agencies)