Take a Look Back at the Biggest Pop Culture Moments of 2021

2021 was a year full of highs and lows. With 2020 pretty much written-off, this year brought back highly anticipated events such as the Met Gala and live shows, with yes, real people sitting in the audience! But that’s not all, Taylor Swift released her version of Red and Adele dropped her album 30 after six years.

2021 was also the year America elected a new president, with Joe Biden being tasked with the most powerful position in the world. But not everything was smooth sailing because despite being a new year, countries were still being ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, including Australia.

Sydney and Melbourne dealt with gruelling lockdowns due to the Delta variant and now, in the lead up to Christmas, the new Omicron variant seems to be taking over.

But going back to what made us leap with joy, Britney is finally free and it was a huge year for movies, with James Bond No Time to Die released after constant delays and Spider-Man: No Way Home breaking records at the box office. 

Amy Sussman, Staff Entertainment Photographer at Getty Images had a busy year, and she revealed just how much her job has changed since pre-pandemic. 

“At the People’s Choice Awards there were six outlets at the whole event and we all had big roped off sections, so there was a lot of space. Normally events like that would be quadruple the size – it would be exponentially busier. So the size of the press has dropped for sure.”

But it’s not just how people interact with one another, but also the advancements of technology that have helped photographers do their best work. 

“One of the biggest things I’ve seen is cameras being able to transmit instantly when being on carpets. It allows you to be more flexible with the people you’re working with especially now, when we don’t have people on-site,” said Amy.

Take a look back at some of the biggest pop culture moments from 2021.