Let’s be honest: 2025 has been a chaotic year for culture. Movies blew up overnight, a lot of new music dropped and somehow older books started feeling really relevant again. Being the Culture Editor this year meant getting to read all of that – the good, the weird, the controversial – and realising how much culture actually shapes how we think, even when we don’t notice it.

This year, Harbingers’ Magazine’s writers didn’t just report or review. They dug into trends, shared personal takes and even went on trips to places most of us will never see. Every article had its own way of making you stop and think. Looking back, there are five that I keep coming back to – and I’d like to share them with you.

It’s crazy how a book written more than 70 years ago can still feel like it’s talking about right now. Maria Mitko (2024’s Women’s Desk Editor) takes George Orwell’s novel 1984 and looks at all the ways it connects to the politics of 2025. What I loved about this article is that it doesn’t just throw scary headlines at you – it shows you the parallels in a way that actually makes sense. This amazing piece stuck with me because reading it felt like connecting the dots between Orwell’s world and the one we actually live in.

If you spent any time online this year, you probably saw K-Pop Demon Hunters blowing up – 33 million views in just two weeks is wild. Sofia Didenko’s article isn’t just a review of the film, though. She dives into why Sony Pictures Animation is suddenly outpacing Disney, how audiences are reacting, and what this says about the film industry as a whole. What I loved about this piece is that it looks at the bigger picture and is a perfect recap of 2025’s entertainment scene.

The Grammy Awards are one of the most important events in the cultural calendar, so of course it had to be on this list! Alia Saphier’s piece doesn’t just list who won or lost; it talks about the moments that made us cheer, and the ones that left us slightly unsatisfied. Reading it felt like reliving the whole evening: the hype, the drama, the joy and many other emotions!

In my opinion piece, I talk about why I never binge-watch new films or go for what’s popular, but instead keep coming back to the same movie again and again. It’s personal and a little controversial, which makes it fun to see how people respond to it. I picked it because it shows a side of how I think about culture – what matters, what sticks and, most importantly, it’s proof that we all have different points of view and every single one is valid.

This year in Culture has been full of interesting stories and unexpected perspectives, and working on them reminded me why I enjoy this section so much. Every article taught me something new – and sometimes made me rethink the way I look at culture as a whole. These five pieces are the ones that stuck with me the most, and I hope they make you notice something you might have missed, or see a topic in a different way.

I’m very grateful to our writers’ dedication and I’m excited to see what they’ll come up with in 2026!