Music

Type: Insta-Quotable 

Why It Resonates: Sourced from an instantly viral 2013 clip of Rihanna seemingly pretending to remember a gift a fan gave her in the past, this hilarious quote perfectly captures the feeling of trying to play off almost getting caught in a lie. 

Best Used For: Continuing to contribute to a conversation you know damn well you have no clue about. — KYLE DENIS

Type: Wait What?

Why It Resonates: Nobody really knows why Oscar-nominated actress Juliette Lewis was so inspired by her in-car “Work Bitch” jam session to call on Britney Spears to “save us [from] Satan controlling the universe,” but both her pleading and her bopping remain eminently relateable. (As does her questioning of whether we even merit Britney’s grace: “Can we be saved?”)

Best Used For: Reacting to any of the most recent developments with the demonic figures who legitimately are currently controlling the universe. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Type: Insta-Quotable 

Why It Resonates: Taken from a 2018 Breakfast Club interview on Power 105.1 AM, Banks uttered this hilarious phrase in response to an awkward exchange between her and hosts Charlamagne tha God and DJ Envy. After Charlamagne mentioned that an intern said Banks “made music for gays,” the rapper responded, “I do,” before pointedly turning to look across the table at DJ Envy. “I’m not the intern, she looked at me like I’m the intern,” Envy nervously chuckled, leading into a brief moment of silence before Banks asked, “So… what now?” 

Best Used For: In response to any stupid/nonsensical question or to move on for the moment of silence that follows humbling somebody. — K.D.

Type: Singular Expression

Why It Resonates: Seven years after Jaden Smith’s interview on Big Boy TV, the second-gen star’s semi-out of touch attempt to differentiate himself from his peers remains in the internet’s lexicon — because, after all, there is a lot to talk about regarding the political and economic state of the world right now.

Best Used For: Ironically cutting through the noise, acknowledging that something is unimportant in the grand scheme of things and demonstrating your intellectual superiority to your peers. — MEGHAN MAHAR

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: Sometimes in life, you show up somewhere in the hopes of having a good time, only to find out that — usually more from the larger universe than from a specific Trent Reznor type — you’re seeing the wrong f–king band for that. Hopefully when that happens, you’ve at least got NIN-like synthesizers to play you out.

Best Used For: Sports, mostly. — A.U.

Type: Insta-Quotable

Why It Resonates: Meme aside, Tove Lo’s name pronunciation isn’t so straightforward for non-Swedish speakers. But the randomness of Megan Thee Stallion’s attempted pronunciation, in full glam amid Instagram Live chaos, is what makes the clip hilarious. And what a full circle moment when the two linked up for a quick lip-sync to the meme in 2023!

Best Used For: Whenever Swedish dance-pop singer Tove Lo comes up in conversation — or if her 2014 hit “Habits (Stay High)” comes on in the club. “PERIODT!” — DANIELLE PASCUAL

Type: Universal Application  

Why It Resonates: The Grammy-nominated, Hot 100 top 10 hit from Gunna’s DS4Ever album entered the zeitgeist at the top of 2022 to represent keeping it real, promoting positivity or getting paper – and countless corporations couldn’t stop using the song (and its quickly unavoidable associated emoji) that contagious optimism.  

Best Used For: Responding positively to any given situation. — HERAN MAMO

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: It’s a pretty great photo of any kid: the little half smirk, lifted eyebrows, hand on the hip and concerned look into the camera. But the fact that it’s Cardi B, of all people, is what made this meme go far. X users took the throwback pic to a new level when paired with phrases prefixed with “My momma said […]” — just as kids use their parents to rationalize anything — and now, Bardigang will never let Cardi live it down. 

Best Used For: Commanding attention, needing an excuse to get out of something or knowingly being a know-it-all. — D.P.

Type: Insta-Quotable / Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: “Did you just say ‘wig?’” Katy Perry asked Noah Davis, a contestant auditioning for American Idol. Her eagerness to return the “wig” and demonstrate allyship to the gay singer translated to viewers as cringeworthy, but the positive intention and confusion it created amongst Perry’s fellow judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan made the moment go viral.

Best Used For: Any situation in which one would use “wig” as slang, or in response to someone who is doing so, either affirmingly or in playful reference to Perry’s viral moment. — M.M.

Type: Proto-Meme 

Why It Resonates: This 1999 Funny or Die clip pre-dates what we now understand to be memes, but Warwick’s giggly outburst at the separation of LaToya Jackson’s name from “some of the top performers of our day” is still hilarious. 

Best Used For: Shading the odd person/thing out of a group. — K.D. 

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: Have you ever listened to music that you’re so deeply moved by that it leaves you speechless? This is a seemingly common experience for Addison Rae, who loves music so much that she expressed it across a handful of posts that, when shared together, create a reaction that only Addison herself could create.

Best Used For: Showing appreciation for any music that is powerful, lovable, speaks to you or is “wow.” – M.M.

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: The late great Takeoff was riding high on the Migos’ incredible Culture-era run in 2017, and it felt reasonable that he wasn’t going to let anyone drag him down by pointing out that, technically, he didn’t get a verse on the group’s biggest hit of the period. (And to be honest, no, he didn’t look like it. )

Best Used For: When someone is trying to dull your shine with some needless (if not totally inaccurate) detail-harping. — A.U.

Type: Wait What?

Why It Resonates: In February 2023, pop culture repost account @PopBase posted a photo of North West’s incredibly accurate drawing of her grandmother, Kris Jenner. A user replied, saying “Why she ate,” a way of complimenting West. Then, an account called @sexxtbook replied saying “she=Onika ate=burgers,” a nonsensical way of bringing Nicki Minaj, whose real name is Onika, into the conversation. The crazy tweet became an inside joke on the internet for any Barb, or Barb-adjacent person with an insane amount of daily screentime.

Best Used For: Not easy to use in its totality, but one can use the formula and apply it to any simple sentence to add some absurdity into the conversation. For example, one user posted a screenshot of his mother texting him “your father and I are getting a divorce.” And he replied “your father and I = Onika a Divorce=burgers.” — KRISTIN ROBINSON

Type: Wait What? 

Why It Resonates: Because of how ridiculous the accusation was. Let’s play it back: Harry Styles, about to take a seat next to Chris Pine for a Don’t Worry Darling Venice Film Festival screening, puckers his lips with his head tilted down in his co-star’s direction. At the same moment, Pine freezes mid applause and pointedly looks down at his lap. “Spitgate” was the internet debate of 2022 — until it was squashed by Pine’s rep, who told Billboard that the viral video was “the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation” and clarified: Just to be clear, Harry Styles did NOT spit on Chris Pine.”

Best Used For: Reminiscing about how crazy the Don’t Worry Darling press run was. — D.P.

Type: Lore-Builder / Singular Expression 

Why It Resonates: Posed on IG in 2020, Lana Del Rey’s question for the culture asked why other female pop stars (notably she named mostly Black women) can get hits singing about non-traditional themes while she gets chastised as “glamorizing abuse.” In between completely ignoring the different reality and reception of Black women pop stars’ work and poorly wording the rest of her open letter, Lana had a point about the unique way her music and image have been received and critiqued over the years. Nonetheless, over the past half-decade, the absurdity of the surprise question and the immediate “WTF?!” of it all transformed Lana’s inquiry into a deeply ironic meme. 

Best Used For: Posing a question and pretending it’s profound or controversial, when it’s really not anything of the sort. — K.D.

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: In the never-ending Fan Wars of social media, @KingBeyonceStan added a new arrow to the quiver of pop soldiers everywhere with a 2016 tweet storm against Queen Bey’s supposed vocal rivals, ending every critical missive with “She doesn’t have the range.” The victims? Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and even Adele, but Mariah Carey was spared: “She has the range,” they conceded. (Note: This almost enters Proto-Meme territory, since the phrase originated in a sketch on the 2003-06 series Little Britain, but @KingBeyonceStan took it to the moon.)

Best Used For: At this point, vocal critique is too obvious; it’s far funnier outside musical context. Case in point. — KATIE ATKINSON 

Type: Calendar Perennial

Why It Resonates: Of course, it’s in part because “All I Want for Christmas Is You” continues to dominate the holidays — reaching No. 1 on the Hot 100 for seven straight years and counting! But it’s also because, like Mariah herself, “it’s tiiiime” is delightfully extra. As is now tradition, Carey kicks off the yuletide season every November 1st by releasing a new video announcing her annual return (last year’s featured her emerging from a Han Solo-esque block of ice to sing the now-iconic words), forever ensuring she remains the self-proclaimed Queen of Christmas.

Best Used For: When the clock strikes midnight on Halloween and you’re already unpacking your Christmas decorations and trimming your tree, officially commencing the holiday season. Or, you know, any other time you want to channel that giddy anticipation for something you’ve been eagerly awaiting. — XANDER ZELLNER

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: Travis Scott’s music in the 2010s often sounded suspended in free-fall, so it was almost too perfect to get a clip of him seemingly stepping right into the abyss while onstage with Drake, with a hauntingly truncated Auto-Tuned warble (“eeyehh“) as his last will and testament. (He was fine.)

Best Used For: When you need to make an abrupt exit from somewhere — preferably from this entire dimension. — A.U.

Type: Proto-Meme / Universal Application

Why It Resonates: The spoken phrase that opens “Man! I Feel Like a Woman,” Shania Twain’s eighth single from her 1997 smash album Come On Over, became a rallying cry of sisterhood as much as an undeniable promise of a good time — one that endured well into the social media era.

Best Used For: Any girls — or gays — night out, but especially for bachelorette parties. — MELINDA NEWMAN

Type: Singular Expression

Why It Resonates: Is it really a scarf? Surely that must be a blanket. Do they even make scarves that big? The paparazzi photo continues to mystify due to its sheer audacity. Kravitz is no stranger to bold fashion statements (see: Kravitz’s complicated history with leather pants), but the massive scarf reached new levels of fashion lore. Who else could make a scarf of that size look so effortlessly cool? If anything, it helped solidify Kravitz’s place in the pantheon of rock-star fashion legends. You must respect his commitment (both to fashion and methods of staying warm).

Best Used For: The scarf? Best on a brisk autumn day when the last thing you want is to feel the crisp air. As for the meme — maybe as a way of expressing your decision to step out in something bold or slightly ridiculous. — X.Z.

Type: Insta-Quotable

Why It Resonates: Justin Timberlake certainly didn’t need one more thing for people to give him crap for in the mid-2020s, but at least this one was gleefully harmless: a young JT, as recalled by his then-girlfriend Britney Spears in her now-memoir, greeting R&B star Ginuwine with unforgettable white-boy try-hard pizzazz. Rounding out the meme’s star-powered brilliance: Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams, really putting her whole chest into her rendering of the quote for the audio book.

Best Used For: When your excitement over being in the proximity of a particularly cool celebrity makes you lose all powers of self-consciousness or self-editing. — A.U.

Type: Insta-Quotable / Universal Application

Why It Resonates: The phrase went viral in 2024 after a fan quote tweeted that some of the Katy Perry album covers “might be Clairo shade.” It was quite the stretch… So now, anything and everything can be Clairo shade! A tweet about President Biden talking about Vladimir Putin was virally quote tweeted “this might be Clairo shade” soon after the meme took off, taking it to new heights.

Best Used For: Basically — if you want to use it correctly, ask if something is Clairo shade in any situation that Clairo has absolutely nothing to do with! — K.R.

Type: Lore-Builder 

Why It Resonates: In 2014, Taylor Swift was still seen more or less as pop music’s “good girl,” which made it all the more absurd when someone on Tumblr shared a teenage photo of her and claimed that it was their cousin Becky who’d “snorted marijuana” and “died instantly” at a party — after which they famously shot down one commenter’s insistence that it was actually a photo of the singer with a curt “no its becky.” What solidified the exchange as a quintessential meme (in the Swiftie community, at least) was when Swift herself stepped out wearing a “no its becky” T-shirt, proving that she, too, was in on the joke. 

Best Used For: As a response to pretty much any photo of Taylor Swift, but it goes especially far in instances where a casual observer in the comments expresses confusion over the identity of the photo’s subject (something that’s exceedingly rare now that she’s the most famous woman in the world). — HANNAH DAILEY

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: In the title track of her studio album, Ari sings about her exes, saying “One taught me love / One taught me patience / One taught me pain” — causing a slew of comedic adaptations of the format online, with people in every world from entertainment to sports and politics getting in on the fun. 

Best Used For: When you want to compare three things and how they make you feel. — DENISE WARNER

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: Because stan Twitter/X loves any excuse to be a hater. People randomly woke up one day and decided to collectively blame Gracie Abrams for anything they don’t like — even if it has nothing to do with her. Didn’t get tickets to Ariana Grande’s upcoming tour? Blocked Gracie Abrams. Phone on 5%? Blocked Gracie Abrams. Forgot a crucial ingredient at the grocery store? Blocked Gracie Abrams.

Best Used For: Rectifying any negative experience. — D.P.

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: Morgan Wallen may or may not have been dissing SNL either when he left the set more abruptly than expected following his March performance, or when he captioned a later Instagram post of himself apparently flying home with “Get me to God’s country” But that caption immediately became cultural shorthand for being somewhere you feel you don’t belong and needing to get back to your safe place — perhaps a little overdramatically so.

Best Used For: Captioning a vision of your own particular version of paradise — like, say, an announcement of new Hilary Duff live dates. — A.U.

Type: Wait What?

Why It Resonates: Meek Mill is one of those artists where anything he does can instantly turn into meme ammo against him. Displaying soggy, chlorine-splattered fries is one of those wtf moments, making you ask yourself — why is Meek trying to flex on us right now?

Best Used For: Any situation where two clashing things shouldn’t be in the same place or situation, turning our brains into a mental pretzel. — MICHAEL SAPONARA

Type: Singular Expression

Why It Resonates: At her animated ’90s peak, Whitney’s full-bodied energy was infectious — if occasionally somewhat alarming — and no moment captured that better than this eminently reusable BET Awards clip of the pop and R&B legend getting so into the groove of her acceptance speech’s extended thank-yous that she turns it into a little shoulder-shrugging boogie.

Best Used For: When you’re feeling yourself and your people to a near-comical extent. — A.U.

Type: Insta-Quotable

Why It Resonates: “When we post our presales, we be surpassing the Bible, and that’s crazy,” said Lil’ Kim in a 2023 Instagram Live about her The Queen Bee memoir. “And the thing is it’s, like, the Bible. I don’t take that lightly. Y’all already know that.“ Needless to say, Kim’s memoir did not surpass the Bible by any measure of consumption. 

Best Used For: Celebrating a purely delusional win; reminiscing on your favorite off-the-wall celebrity remarks. — K.D.
 

Type: Wait What? 

Why It Resonates: Back in the days of novelty social media accounts, Lorde hopped on the train with a secret Instagram account that reviewed different onion rings. “I sort of naively didn’t realize it would be like a thing. That I was going to different places and trying the onion rings at each of those places,” she explained to Jimmy Fallon in 2017. “I think it reads like the kind of a thing a pop star would do to look relatable.”

Best Used For: A demonstration of an unlikely secret obsession. Or just a fun fact at parties. — D.W.

Type: Insta-Quotable 

Why It Resonates: Wendy Williams was notorious for mispronouncing celebrity names on her daytime talk show, but there was something instantly iconic about referring to Dua Lipa as “Dula Peep.” Maybe our brains were just collectively fried during the pandemic, but it stuck! 

Best Used For: Lovingly referring to three-time Grammy winning pop star behind “Levitating” and “Dance the Night.” — K.D.

Type: Classic Reaction 

Why It Resonates: Lobbed at red-carpet photographers while Grande was at the Billboard Music Awards in 2016, this phrase is quite possibly the most succinct – and sassiest — way of shutting down anyone who tries to get under your skin. Combine that with the built-in ponytail flip that even just saying these words evokes, and you’ve got the perfect way of communicating that you don’t give a f–k that rivals the classic “I don’t think about you at all” moment from Mad Men. 

Best Used For: Anytime someone tries to call you out for something that you simply could not care less about. Observe: Yeah, I licked a donut that I didn’t pay for. And what about it? — H.D.

Type: Proto-Meme

Why It Resonates: It was a TV commercial that became a generational rallying cry. The idea was to get fans to call their local cable operators, who were initially reluctant to add this upstart 24-hour video channel, and demand that they do so. MTV enlisted such stars as Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Billy Idol to say the catchphrase on camera. Sting even sang the line in Dire Strait’s “Money for Nothing,” a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

Best Used For: When you want something and you want it now. – PAUL GREIN

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: Jay-Z pulled up to a 2008 Coldplay performance of “Lovers in Japan” in London and nodded along, lending his approval, but still displaying a certain level of uneasiness, showing he wasn’t fully committed. In the process, Hov became a meme that’s long been a staple of music Twitter.

Best Used For: When fans want to show they’re enjoying a song or a sound that ended up being way better than they originally expected. — M.S.

Type: Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Fifth Harmony’s attempt to create visual cohesion created buzz (but perhaps not in the way they hoped) as they surrounded a bulldozer to mirror the theme of their music video. Why was Ally Brooke hammering a tire? Why was Lauren drilling the bulldozer? Because they’re pop stars, not construction workers. Duh.

Best Used For: Drawing a parallel to visual chaos, nonsensical maneuvering, or demonstrating helplessness humorously as one would say, “I’m just a girl.” — M.M.

Type: Lore-Builder / Singular Expression

Why It Resonates: Pre-“Espresso,” it gave Carpenter runaway Emails I Can’t Send hit a life of its own. During her shows following the release of her 2022 album, it became tradition for her to change the final lyrics to her song “Nonsense” — usually by paying tribute to wherever she was performing with a sexual innuendo. For example, opening for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in Mexico City: “Felt so good he made me hit the top note/ Eras tickets, girl you won the lotto!/ Mexico, I kinda think te amo.” 

Best Used For: A key part of the origin story surrounding Sabrina Carpenter’s NSFW songwriting – or if you’re feeling particularly frisky, some provocative punning of your own. — D.P.

Type: Insta-Quotable / Universal Application

Why It Resonates: There’s a reason that on The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift’s longest album to date – there was one line that rose above the verbose pack. Whether it was the Glee choir room, the Tumblr log-in page or the perpetual Ticketmaster queue, social media users shared their own “asylums” in droves, aka the corners of the Internet and pop culture that made them who they are today.

Best Used For: The most obscure, now-obsolete video games you ever played, like one based on Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. — K.A.

Type: Insta-Quotable

Why It Resonates: The moment on the 2022 Oscars when Will Smith strode to the stage and slapped Chris Rock across the face for telling a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, was shocking enough, but just as shocking was what came next. Smith returned to his seat and twice shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out [of] your f–king mouth!” The incident was a complete 180 from the genial, nice-guy image Smith had cultivated over the previous 35 years, and instantly entered pop culture immortality.

Best Used For: “I just lost it,” Smith said on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah eight months later, in an attempt to explain his bizarre behavior. So, “The Slap” incident captures that moment when you just lose it – your cool, your temper, and maybe part of your reputation. – P.G.

Type: Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: It’s one of the essential pop star/fan interactions of the 21^st century: Before the explosion of online stan culture, “Anthony Cosby-Hypen-Knowles” was the center of a moment from Beyoncé’s 2009 I Am… Tour that the BeyHive will never forget. “Are you my cousin?” Bey asked him from the stage after seemingly having read her last name on his drivers license. “I’m your husband!”… “He my husband?!”

Best Used For: Proving your place in the BeyHive. — D.P.

Type: Lore-Builder / Singular Expression 

Why It Resonates: Shared on her official Instagram account to mourn the Notting Hill Carnival the pandemic stole in 2020, this hilarious Adele flick quickly went viral for her Jamaica-tributing outfit and awkward pose. In addition, the island’s biggest music stars had her back, so it was a win-win situation.  

Best Used For: Expressing that nothing can stop you from being a baddie. — K.D.

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: If comedy derives from contrast, this 2020 meme had serious legs: LISA’s glorious gams are simply unmatched next to the comparatively shabby torsos of Stephen Colbert, Spock and BoJack Horseman.  

Best Used For: Lightening the mood during quarantine. — ABBY WEBSTER

Type: Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Dopamine finally arrived in 2024, and one dedicated Twitter fan faithfully waited for five years for Normani’s debut album. Every year, the user would tweet “[X number of] years… ur sick” in response to a 2018 Normani tweet that read, “I have my album title y’all.” To celebrate the album’s release, Normani posed with a cake decorated with a print-out those tweets. 

Best Used For: Recalling the sometimes-unbelievable road to Normani’s debut album — or badgering the next exciting new artist who’s taking a little longer than you might like for LP1.  — K.D.

Type: Classic Reaction / Lore Builder

Why It Resonates: Much like Mariah Carey’s classic reaction to being asked about Jennifer Lopez, although certainly less iconic, Bieber’s (possibly unintended?) flippancy about his fellow Canadian hitmaker – already a rising pop star at the time – showed the “Baby” star’s indifference to his competition. But don’t worry, they worked it out on the remix.

Best Used For: It’s an easy way to be dismissive about any person, place or thing you don’t believe to quite be on your level. — D.W.

Type: Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Chance the Rapper had long been building a reputation as hip-hop’s preeminent Wife Guy when Twitter user Charlie Winsmore jumped in — the day before new Chance album The Big Day was released — with a fake Chance song from the new album repeatedly proclaiming his marital devotion (in between “ACHH!” yelps). The meme-song went viral enough that it largely overshadowed the new album, giving Chance no choice but to play along with it on Instagram.

Best Used For: Gently ribbing music and culture’s most unapologetic Wife Guys — a category that sadly no longer includes Chance himself, as he and Kristen Corley officially divorced earlier this year. — A.U.

Type: Insta-Quotable 

Why It Resonates: Uttered at the end of a characteristically hysterical exchange between Carey and Minaj during their time on the 2013 American Idol judges panel, this prime bit of shade — concerning the difficulty and rarity of procuring a Hot 100-topping single— held up until Minaj finally earned her first No. 1 hit in 2020.

Best Used For: Throwing shade at pop stars without Hot 100 chart-toppers, of course! — K.D.

Type: Lore-Builder / Universal Application

Why It Resonates: Because decades after Lady Gaga’s NYU classmates (maybe? allegedly?) made a Facebook group proclaiming her inevitable languishing in obscurity — absolute origin-story catnip for Little Monsters — you could be eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and still have to resist the urge to say out loud, “Peanut Butter and Jelly, you will ALWAYS be famous.” 

Best Used For: Just about any situation where the legacy of a person, place or thing needs to be announced for the record — in either direction, but in no uncertain terms. — A.U.

Type: Singular Expression

Why It Resonates: Worlds collided when Future met Nardwuar in 2014, and unexpected gold came out of the interview when Future delivered a one-word reply to describe how he likes his cheesecake, “Sensational.” 

Best Used For: “Sensational” has stood the test of time as a go-to way to spice up a reply or reaction to something with a positive connotation. — M.S.

Type: Wait What?

Why It Resonates: Because never in a million years would anyone have guessed they’d see Lana Del Rey working at Waffle House in 2023. She’d just released her album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd a few months prior, so why was she pouring coffees and serving sodas? It wasn’t till a few months later that Lana revealed the real story behind her shift at the small town Alabama diner.

Best Used For: Halloween costume inspiration for pop music fans. — D.P.

Type: Proto-Meme / Classic Reaction  

Why It Resonates: When Natalie Cole won the award for favorite adult contemporary artist at the 1992 AMAs over Whitney Houston — whom she was up against in the same category several times — both women showcased the power of camaraderie over competition.  

Best Used For: Gassing up your homegirl. — H.M.

Type: Insta-Quotable 

Why It Resonates: An unserious flex that prompted hundreds of hilarious edits and recreations, Nicki Minaj’s catwalk to her private plane is still the gift that keeps on giving. 

Best Used For: Whenever you’re in a flexing mood, particularly about travel plans. — K.D.

Type: Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Like any pop star, Iggy Azalea was determined to beat the lip-syncing allegations — but perhaps adapting Kendrick Lamar’s “Look Out for Detox” to her own freestyle, and doing it a cappella with an Australian accent, was too great of a risk. The performance was mind boggling and borderline indecipherable, and yet somehow it still stuck the way a catchier song could.

Best Used For: A reference point with which to roast someone’s rapping or other incomprehensible babbling. — M.M.

Type: Insta-Quotable

Why It Resonates: Before skyrocketing to fame as one of the greatest female MCs of all time, Cardi B was a cast member on Love & Hip Hop: New York from 2015-2017. Her increasingly intense screaming match (with herself) during the show’s season 7 reunion in 2017 still makes its rounds on social media, and to this day, we’re still wondering what was the reason.

Best Used For: Needing an explanation for anything and everything. Or, getting your point across —whether or not you’re ultimately right. — D.P.

Type: Insta-Quotable

Why It Resonates: Sometime in the late 2000s, disliking Nickelback became a meme of its own. The meme culminated with a still from the music video for the band’s “Photograph” where frontman Chad Kroeger holds a framed photo and sings “Look at this photograph.” The internet, naturally, ran with it, swapping in silly images, and later, editing the clip so that Kroeger awkwardly declares, “Look at this graaaph,” while wielding a bar chart instead. The meme endures not just because it’s funny, but because it captures the internet’s long-running love-hate fascination with Nickelback.

Best Used For: Obviously, whenever you’re talking about graphs. Just be sure to include your deepest- and gruffest-voiced Kroeger impression to go along with it. — X.Z.

Type: Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Fergie is surely not the first singer to face criticism for their delivery of the national anthem, but her performance at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game was.. unique. So much that even fans and players in the venue struggled to hold back laughter. And naturally, the laughs continued when the video went viral, and even moreso when it was remixed by Suede the Remix God.

Best Used For: Sharing an iconic performance of the national anthem that holds the power to heal our nation (with laughter). — M.M.

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: This photo of Miley Cyrus attempting to smize (smile with your eyes, of course) but really just looking crazy with piercing blue eyes and smudged eye lined should go down in music meme history. The image was taken at the 2008 Grammy awards when the singer was just 15, and it’s intense expression makes it the perfect reaction photo to many situations.

Best Used For: Trying to get the waiter to notice you at dinner? Miley Cyrus meme. Talking about how freaky some people’s blue eyes are? Miley Cyrus meme. And hey, if you want to superimpose her eyes on different people’s faces, you can do that too. — K.R.

Type: Wait What?

Why It Resonates: Rihanna was certainly known for her larger-than-life fashion statements by the 2015 Met Gala — just not quite this much larger. And certainly not quite this yellow, the kind of yellow that when splayed out like egg running in all directions to fill a frying pan, has you thinking less about high art or charity and more about breakfast-for-dinner. (But if anyone could ever make fantasizing about IHOP feel chic, it’s Rihanna.)

Best Used For: Noting when an artistic statement has gone all the way over the top and ended up somewhere back near the bottom. — A.U.

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: Lil Yachty and Drake playing Genius Bar employees makes for a memorable scene from the video to the latter’s diamond-certified “Life Is Good” with Future. Drizzy helps Yachty out with something on his computer and it all clicks for the Atlanta rapper after receiving the assist from the 6 God. A relatable feeling.

Best Used For: It’s been a staple on Twitter/X, used to mock an individual for finally understanding something fairly simple that everyone around them has already long realized. — M.S.

Type: Insta-Quotable / Singular Expression

Why It Resonates: In 2005, the Grammy nominees for best rap album were established acts including Jay-Z and the Beastie Boys — that is, except for new sensation and loudmouthed underdog Kanye West. That night, he took home the award (and two others) for The College Dropout — and in true Kanye fashion, he acknowledged the haters and critics and flexed in one fell swoop. What if he didn’t win? I guess we’ll never know.

Best Used For: Celebrating a major win, while dunking on the losing party. — M.M.

Type: Wait What?  

Why It Resonates: Whether she was posing for the ‘gram or it truly was a candid shot, Gomez contently peering into the distance became such a hot meme in 2023 that the actual blanket she was bundled in started flying off the shelves.  

Best Used For: Valiantly coming out on the other side of a harrowing situation – or just blissfully taking in one’s current moment. — H.M.

Type: Lore Builder 

Why It Resonates: At Katy Perry’s 2015 Super Bowl Halftime show, the singer – who has shown a propensity for camp on stage – included two men in shark costumes as part of her performance. The one on the right kept perfectly in time to the choreography. The one on the left did not – leading to an infamous place in social media history. (Sorry to Right Shark.)

Best Used For: Although its popularity has died down, it still makes a great Halloween costume. Just ask Justin Trudeau, who dressed up as his girlfriend’s backup dancer this past holiday. “I’m the shark (to his left),” the former prime minister of Canada captioned the post. — D.W.

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: The actress went live on Instagram in the beginning of the 2020 COVID outbreak, with a few comments shrugging off the world’s attempts to contain and limit the devastation (which she later apologized for): “I’m sorry. But like it’s a virus. I get it. I respect it. But at the time, even if everybody gets it, like yeah, people are gonna die, which is terrible but inevitable?”

Best Used For: If you’re unbothered or straight-up insensitive about a situation, just show Hudgens’ face in gif form. — D.W.

Type: Singular Expression

Why It Resonates: Soulja Boy has been the subject of plenty of viral moments and firsts for rappers, and he added another to his resume during a 2019 interview with The Breakfast Club, where he repeatedly said Drake’s name in a puzzled tone while arguing he had the biggest comeback in hip-hop and that he taught Drake everything he knows. 

Best Used For: Whenever Drake’s name is thrown into a debate where someone believes it shouldn’t be, expect to see a reply with the gif or clip of Soulja Boy standing up in his tan Gucci headband shouting the 6 God’s name. — M.S.

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: Don’t we all feel like SHINee vocalist KEY resignedly putting on a clown wig sometimes? While the K-pop star did happily don the Ronald McDonald costume IRL, this meme communicates a much more long-suffering vibe. His circus? Yup. His monkeys? Unfortunately.

Best Used For: When you’ve found yourself — or others — entertaining the foolishness. — A.W.

Type:Calendar Perennial

Why It Resonates: It’s partly the fact that May 1st comes around every year — but also partly because *NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me,” with its affected pronunciations, remains an enduring boy band classic. The month-turning meme would not have endured if the song wasn’t such a banger. And fans agree, as the anthem now gets a major streaming boost every spring — joining such other calendar-driven staples like Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” and Taylor Swift’s “August.”

Best Used For: Perhaps when you’re writing a poem on April 30th: “Roses are red / April is grey / when I see you tomorrow / …” You know the rest. — X.Z.

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: Justin Bieber had had enough of paparazzi following him and invading his privacy over the summer, so he fired back with a reply that was hilarious but also seriously got his point across. He capitalized on the viral exchange by referencing it on his SWAG album, and even releasing “It’s Not Clocking to You” SWAG merch bundles. 

Best Used For: If you’re standing firm in your stance on a certain topic and the opposition refuses to understand your point of view, let them know it’s not clocking to them that you’re standing on business. — M.S. 

Type: Calendar Perennial 

Why It Resonates: The internet has kept this running inside joke for the last 10 years (and counting) that the mystery, white tuxedo-clad crasher at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival is really Jason Derulo taking a tumble down the red carpeted steps of the Met. Who knows when the jig will be up?  

Best Used For: The first Monday in May, while real-time social media reports are coming in just to (literally) throw off netizens. — H.M.

Type: Insta-Quotable 

Why It Resonates: From its original appearance as a lyric in 2008’s “Diva” to its revival thanks to a TikTok meme spawned by the 2023 Renaissance World Tour, this Beyoncé catchphrase — absolutely devastating when throw in your direction — has had quite the lifespan. 

Best Used For: Throwing shade at someone who just can’t keep up with you. — K.D.

Type: Insta-Quotable / Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Today, public figures have less privacy than ever – and social media DMs are one of the last refuges they have from prying eyes. But when these private messages leak, they often reaffirm preconceived notions about their sender’s character, with gratifying results. Adam Levine’s spicy Instagram DMs with the model he had an affair with are a prime example: Comically blunt messages (“It is unreal how f–king hot you are, like it blows my mind,” “Holy f–k, holy fucking f–k, that body of yours is absurd”) reveal the lithe, tattooed Maroon 5 frontman to be every bit the Lothario his internet detractors have long suspected.

Best Used For: It’s less usable on a regular basis than some other memes – but still gets a lift whenever a public figure’s overly excited personal communications find their way out there, or whenever Levine or Maroon 5 is in the news. — ERIC RENNER BROWN

Type: Wait What?

Why It Resonates: There wasn’t a lot of levity to be found amid the turmoil of 2020, particularly surrounding the brutal killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police, which started a social reckoning across the U.S. Engaging with the moment — but maybe not grasping its full scope — was French DJ David Guetta, who paid tribute to Floyd the best way he knew how: Shouting out Floyd’s family during a build-up moment in his (socially distanced) live set, then sampling Martin Luther King, Jr. from his “I Have a Dream” speech for the drop. The quickly viral bit was well-intentioned but hilariously clumsy, with edits of it on YouTube winkingly titled “David Guetta Ends Racism.”

Best Used For: Chuckling at a celebrity attempting to do the right thing at a moment of global crisis, but being distractingly themselves in the process. — A.U.

Type: Insta-Quotable 

Why It Resonates: In a timeless Wall Street Journal interview that included a lightning round of opinions on the 2010s class of pop stars, Aretha Franklin could only muster up “Great gowns, beautiful gowns” when asked for her opinion on Taylor Swift. 

Best Used For: A sly way to dismiss somebody or something you simply don’t rate. — K.D.

Type: Calendar Perennial 

Why It Resonates: After a not-entirely-positive Pitchfork review of her Manic album in 2020, Halsey took to Twitter/X to plead, “Can the basement that they run p*tchfork out of just collapse already” — not realizing, as many users ultimately did, that Pitchfork has its offices at the World Trade Center, which famously collapsed once before back on Sept. 11, 2001. 

Best Used For: Reminiscing about it every September 11th… never forget (both 9/11 and Halsey’s accidentally 9/11 tweet). — K.R.

Type: Calendar Perennial  

Why It Resonates: Tracing back to at least 2010 (with who started the trend unclear), Spanish icon Julio Iglesias has become a viral meme in the Latin community during the month of July (July in Spanish is Julio). Similar to “It’s Gonna be May,” the organic annual resurgence of Iglesias memes have different expressions alluding to the season that’s linked to the artist’s name: “Llego Julio” (July is here) is one of the most popular ones, showing the romantic balladeer coming out of a private jet. 
 
Best Used For: Though fans get really creative, and there are many types of expressions and photoshopped photos of the artist, the only time this meme makes sense to use is during the month of July. — J.R.

Type: Insta-Quotable

Why It Resonates: Tyler, the Creator received his first two Video Music Awards nominations for Video of the Year and Best New Artist in 2011, prompting a series of tweets including this timeless gem that perfectly encapsulates the feeling of all-consuming joy in the most Tyler way possible.

Best Used For: Sharing enthusiasm for a highly anticipated announcement or seismic development, whether it’s the start of a new era or your fan-made fantasy becoming a reality. — M.M.

Type: Insta-Quotable
 
Why It Resonates: During a lie detector test with Vanity Fair, Keke Palmer greeted a photo of former Vice President Dick Cheney with the following admission: “He could be walking down the street, I wouldn’t know a thing. Sorry to this man.” Social media promptly exploded — less with mockery than with collective admiration for how effortlessly funny this singer-actor is even when she’s serious. It doesn’t even need text — a simple screenshot of her face from this interview will do the trick when you need to wave someone off.
 
Best Used For: The perfect response when you either genuinely don’t know this man, or you deeply wished you did not know this man. — JOE LYNCH

Type: Classic Reaction / Universal Application 

Why It Resonates: A July Coldplay concert launched the biggest infidelity scandal of the year when Astronomer soon-to-be-former-CEO Andy Byron and HR exec Kristin Cabot were seen holding one another on the Gillette Stadium jumbotron. Byron attempted to evade the cameras and Cabot looked as if she’d seen a ghost, causing the clip to go viral and give social media a monocultural moment that just about everyone had an opinion about. “​​Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy,” Coldplay’s Chris Martin remarked as it transpired, making it feel like a scene out of a movie.

Best Used For: If any sort of juicy infidelity story has hit the timeline, there’s a good chance a form of the original photo or clip will be in the replies. It could also be used for people getting exposed at a place they didn’t want to be seen. Corporations’ social media teams even leaned in to engulf the controversy and sports teams had mascots re-enacting the pose. — M.S.

Type: Singular Expression

Why It Resonates: Because for someone as lyrically and musically verbose as Lady Gaga, her use of this one adage about Bradley Cooper believing in her during the press tour for A Star Is Born immediately caught the internet’s attention. As she repeated the anecdote over and over and over again, fans immediately turned the story into a running gag about keeping yourself casual and breezy when you’ve really rehearsed that one turn of phrase you like to death. 

Best Used For: Did your friend just share the exact same joke in the group chat that they sent you privately 30 minutes ago? “There can be 100 people in a room…” — STEPHEN DAW

Type: Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Dua Lipa broke out the twisting hip dance as part of a 2018 performance, and she was incessantly bullied for years. (One oft-quoted YouTube review of her low-motor dancing at the BRITs later that year commented, “I love her lack of energy, go girl give us nothing!”) But at times, there are some positives to bullying, as she told The Tonight Show that it made her take her live performance more seriously, hiring choreography savant Charm La’Donna and never looking back. Dua even had fun with the “Pencil Sharpener” dance, which she brought back as part of her routine on the Future Nostalgia Tour in 2022. 

Best Used For: The “Pencil Sharpener” dance clip will go viral from time-to-time on Twitter/X and Instagram, showing how far Lipa’s performances have come. People will also throw it out in certain situations that basically insinuate a “go girl, give us nothing” moment. — M.S.

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: For any other artist, a quick dance move and simple phrase likely wouldn’t generate much attention. But Usher’s quick moment where he’s feeling himself while performing “Confessions Part II” during his NPR Tiny Desk concert perfectly captures his charisma and playful swagger. It’s continued to resonate because it taps into nostalgia for Usher’s peak pop dominance, and also the fact that the meme can easily be repurposed for everything from minor flexes to major glow-ups.

Best Used For: When you’re about to hit a sick dance move or flex on somebody (don’t worry if the result is successful or not) — or maybe showing a before-and-after glow-up. — X.Z.

Type: Insta-Quotable / Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: The pop auteur finally broke through to the mainstream with her Grammy-winning 2024 album Brat – and while the music was a big reason, so was the way the record and its iconic green album cover took over the internet. The phenomenon hit a fever-pitch when Charli declared that Kamala Harris, just named the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee, was “brat.” In an era where monoculture is elusive, Brat united the internet, and today it’s cultural shorthand for summer 2024.

Best Used For: Now, the meme is mostly used to riff on “Brat summer”: “Brat summer is over, now it’s [insert artist name here] fall.” But Charli and “Brat” will be forever linked: When Taylor Swift released “Actually Romantic” in October, she compared its subject (heavily rumored to be Charli) to a “toy chihuahua” — leading one X user to declare “being compared to a chihuahua is brat.” — E.R.B.

Type: Calendar Perennial 

Why It Resonates: From the inaudible sigh of relief to the nonchalant shoulder shrug, the James Bond actor’s introduction of musical guest The Weeknd during the 45th season of Saturday Night Live reminds us that the simple pleasure of the actual weekend’s arrival never gets old.  

Best Used For: 5:00 p.m. on a Friday (or whenever you’ve decided to tap out for the week). — H.M. 

Type: Singular Expression 

Why It Resonates: Whether she’s twirling into a human tornado or hooting and hollering in the bathroom, Britney Spears Instagram performance clips are collectively iconic, and endlessly reusable. 

Best Used For: Expressing a certain joie de vivre that words cannot. — K.D.

Type: Insta-Quotable 

Why It Resonates: Nicki Minaj’s 2018 TIDALxCRWN interview is probably her last truly resonant conversation with a journalist to date, and this hilarious moment — which came in response to fans rapping her searing “Make Love” verse — proved one of the most memorable. 

Best Used For: Driving home the fact that you were right all along. — K.D.

Type: Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Because it shows the power of fan accounts. Who would’ve thought a light-hearted tweet featuring a photo of Taylor Swift with a fan in a suite at a Chiefs game could inspire one of 2023’s biggest duo Halloween costumes and a new product by one of America’s most well-known condiment brands? That’s “seemingly ranch” for you.

Best Used For: Referring to a white speckled condiment, usually used as salad dressing, that may or may not be ranch. Bonus points if it’s served with chicken tenders. — D.P.

Type: Proto-Meme / Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Because the pre-meme targeted the most worshipped band on Earth — and, as is often the case with conspiracy theories, the more absurd they are, the harder it is to resist digging in. Part of the fun was the treasure hunt: combing through album art (the Abbey Road cover is a funeral procession!), lyrics and backwards messages on songs that revealed hidden clues surely proved that McCartney had, in fact, died and been replaced by some lookalike imposter. Even though The Beatles and McCartney himself debunked the theory, it’s taken on a life of its own, evolving into pop-culture legend and is now forever cemented in Beatles mythology.

Best Used For: Best used as an example of extreme, mostly harmless, fandom at work. — X.Z.

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: Because Lovato yelling at a self-described “stalker” to “GET A JOB” after posing in a photo with her sister is both pretty justified and objectively funny. It became such an enduring part of the pop culture canon that Demi herself now sells merch with the phrase emblazoned across it. 

Best Used For: An instance in which two things interact — or could potentially interact — in a way you find even just a little bit objectionable. The more harmless the interaction is, the funnier this meme gets. — S.D.

Type: Singular Expression  

Why It Resonates: Adele deliberately avoided cameras while having the best seat in the house for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game — next to her all-star agent boyfriend (now fiancé) Rich Paul – making for an epic (and fabulous) failure at being low-key. 

Best Used For: Feeling unbothered or actively avoiding a situation. — H.M.

Type: Insta-Quotable / Universal Application

Why It Resonates: Timberlake’s reported reaction to a DUI stop six weeks into his Forget Tomorrow World Tour was both deeply relatable (whose stomach hasn’t dropped when they’ve realized the ramifications of a bad decision?) and deeply unrelatable (how many stomachs have dropped from realizing their bad decision might cost them hundreds of millions of dollars?). But the episode, in which the police officer asked Timberlake “What tour?,” also afforded observers a bit of schadenfreude: His celebrity didn’t save him from getting booked, or ultimately pleading guilty.

Best Used For: For Timberlake’s sizable contingent of online haters, the meme was a gift. But beyond its application mocking him specifically, the phrase “This is going to ruin the tour” is often deployed facetiously, for situations that might not, in fact, be tour (or even day) ruining. — E.R.B.

Type: Classic Reaction

Why it Resonates: A fan paused a video of Travis Scott on stage wielding a mic stand over his head. Of course, as with most Travis Scott’s performances, he was all-in in the freeze frame, raging to his own music, and looking hilariously (and surreally) cartoonish doing so.  

Best Used For: This meme was used often as an expression of aggro-ness when it first came out, but it became even more powerful when it became an “emote” on Fortnite, taking on an even bigger presence online and in the game. — K.R.

Type: Lore Builder / Singular Expression 

Why It Resonates: When things go wrong at the Oscars, one of the glitziest nights in Hollywood, it’s sure to make headlines — and such was the case with John Travolta’s infamous (and inexplicable) flub of Idina Menzel’s name at the 2014 awards ceremony. “Here to perform the Oscar-nominated, gorgeously empowering song ‘Let It Go,’ from the Oscar-winning animated movie Frozen,” Travolta intro-ed, “please welcome the wickedly talented, one and only… Adele Dazeem.” Menzel got her revenge the following year, though, when she took the same stage to introduce Travolta as “Glom Gazingo.”

Best Used For: After a mispronunciation of your own, reminding people that yours could never be as embarrassing as Adele Dazeem. — D.P.

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: Hip-hop is serious business, even for a rapper like Young Thug known for his singular warble and off-the-wall lyrics. Thug and Durk specifically heighten the humor of this locked-in meme, but it’s their focus that feels universal — and has helped the image spread to corners of the internet that might not even be familiar with either rapper.

Best Used For: Virtually any situation – serious or funny – that demands attention or scrutiny. — E.R.B.

Type: Insta-Quotable / Singular Expression 

Why It Resonates: It’s rare that the entire world can look at three people in a clip and deduce, that in that specific moment, each person was on a totally different planet from ours — but that’s precisely what happened with this instantly viral video from the 2024 Wicked press tour. From the nervous acrylic nail grab and hushed confusion to the still-unclear concept of holding space and “I’m in queer media,” the moment was, and still is, legendary. 

Best Used For: Expressing confusion, overwhelming emotion or employment in queer media. — K.D.

Type: Singular Expression 

Why It Resonates: The Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle dominated music in 2024, and Kendrick Lamar took a victory lap performing “Not Like Us” for millions of viewers at the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show in February. Only Kendrick could crack a demonic smile for the camera mid-”Not Like Us” performance as he figuratively danced on Drake’s grave on the biggest stage of them all. 

Best Used For: If you’ve successfully prayed on someone’s downfall, this meme is for you. Think of it as taking joy in seeing someone else having the worst day of their life. — M.S.

Type: Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: As 19-year old ascendant country star Taylor Swift was giving her best female video acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs for “You Belong with Me,” Kanye West went on stage, grabbed the mic from her, and said: “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!” In a way, the instantly iconic moment served both West (who burnished his reputation as an unvarnished truth-teller) and Swift (who became even more popular and, yes, famous, afterwards), though it came to define both their careers in ways both good and bad for much of the next decade-plus to come.

Best Used For: West’s brief comment can be sliced and diced a few ways: “X is one of the greatest Ys of all time,” the patent insincerity of “I’m really happy for you” and the coarse edge of “I’mma let you finish.” – P.G.

Type: Classic Reaction

Why It Resonates: Because Beyoncé is and always has been a consummate professional in both her music and her public life. So, when she loudly declares that “somebody’s getting fired” for a technical mishap in perfect time with her song “Diva” — and does so without missing one beat of her choreography, mind you — you know she means every word of it. Sorry to whoever may or may not have lost their job there, but Beyoncé needs those lighting cues!

Best Used For: Literally any situation where you have been inconvenienced by forces beyond your control, and you’re ready to find a scapegoat. — S.D.

Type: Universal Application  

Why It Resonates: Stills of Drake’s disgruntled-turned-gratified facial expressions and goofy dance moves from the music video for his 2015 Grammy-winning smash “Hotline Bling” began circulating around 4chan, Sheeky Forums and Reddit, snowballing into the phenomenon otherwise known as “Drakeposting.” The contrasting frames of his approval and disapproval have remained unmissable on social media in the years since.

Best Used For: Preferring one thing over another. — H.M.

Type: Lore-Builder 

Why It Resonates: Poot Lovato is one of the most outlandish memes to come out of the 2010s, which is also why it’s one of the most hilarious. To this day, no one knows who edited the original red-carpet picture of Demi in such an unflattering way, nor what possessed one Tumblr user to claim that the doctored snapshot was of the star’s fictional twin sister stepping outside for the very first time after being “locked in a basement her whole life.” Regardless, the fake story would quickly take on a life of its own, with Demi’s understandable distaste for it only fueling its virality. (“Cool to see a s—ty angle turn into a meme that circulates the Internet to people’s amusement ha,” the singer tweeted when Poot first took off in 2015.) 

In the years since, Poot has become a beloved figure in Demi’s history, with the vocalist often referencing her “twin” in good humor online (and even in a recent Halloween costume). But why does Poot’s legacy endure? Perhaps it’s because Poot — while deeply funny – is also quite an inspirational figure, when you think about it. Despite facing such darkness in her life, she nevertheless chose to embrace the world with resilience, curiosity and a big smile on her face. In a way, we all have a little bit of Poot inside of us, so long as we let her out of that metaphorical basement. 

Best Used For: Whenever you take a bad photo, tell a joke that falls flat or do something remotely cringey, invoke the power of Poot. It wasn’t you, it was just your bumbling alter ego — one who spent all of her developmental years trapped in a basement, for crying out loud. — H.D.

Type: Universal Application 

Why It Resonates: Future is synonymous with the toxicity of his music when it comes to his relationship with love and romance — so a simple photo of him looking down at his phone and texting ultimately took on a life of its own, giving guys a boost akin to liquid courage to text their ex. It feels like Future would agree with Wayne Gretzky, who famously once said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” He’s even become the face of the unofficial “Text Your Ex” holiday on Oct. 30.

Best Used For: Take any significant cultural event, pop-culture moment, sports game or holiday, and incorporate that into a short paragraph explaining how it inspired you to text that former fling in your life. — M.S.

Type: Universal Application

Why It Resonates: Because two decades ago, it was good harmless fun to get someone to click on a link that they’re sure offers one thing and then, all of a sudden, instead pops up Rick Astley doing his little shimmy and singing his 1988 smash, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” The phenomenon soon known as “Rickrolling” was perhaps the first truly great pop star meme of the digital age – and one of the most biggest and most enduring — even if much of its humor was based on how distant Astley’s chart-topping days seemed by the mid-’00s.

Best Used For: Anytime you want to add a little good-spirited jolt into a meeting or someone’s day. It’s been deployed by everyone from the White House under Obama to the New York Mets, so just roll with it. — M.N.

Type: Insta-Quotable / Lore-Builder

Why It Resonates: Because Lady Gaga doesn’t play when it comes to her schedule. When describing her day-to-day life while making The Fame, Gaga ran an interviewer through her grinding routine that involved various modes of transport and at least three nightclubs. Maybe it’s the earnest addition of “no fear, no one believed in me” on the end of her agenda, maybe it’s the way that she clapped for emphasis with each successive item of her schedule, maybe it’s even the off-kilter hat she wore during the interview that Gaga herself remembers fondly; but when you add all of those pieces together, you get an immediately iconic moment for the terminally online.

Best Used For: Whenever someone asks you to add yet another thing to your already packed itinerary, just send them this clip. — S.D.

Type: Insta-Quotable 

Why It Resonates: Coined by Carey in 2003, she uttered the phrase (along with some vociferous head-shaking) in response to a question about her thoughts on Jennifer Lopez, who was propped up as a rival of hers by the media in the early ‘00s and began a working relationship with Carey notorious ex-husband following their separation. Now a crucial element of Carey’s cultural brand, she’s recycled the phrase several times and wielded it against younger pop stars like Demi Lovato. “I don’t know her” encapsulates the witty shade, effortless humor, evergreen timeliness and flat-out ballsiness of the all-time best pop star memes. 

Best Used For: Not knowing somebody or something, of course. — K.D.