This year was full of highs and lows, ups and downs. Most importantly, this year was full of trends faded, as well as trends that will continue on as we move into the new year. Check them out here.

14. #AlexfromTarget

After a British teenager with the Twitter handle @auscalum posted a photo of Target cashier Alex Lee in November with a comment about his attractiveness, it seemed that the meme #AlexfromTarget exploded on all of our Twitter feeds. The surprising popularity of the photograph, however, must be credited to the absurdly large number of pre-teen girls who retweeted the photo and then proceeded to seek out information on Lee over the internet. The photograph resulted in Lee’s appearance on the Ellen Show, countless interviews with several news agencies, and a whole lot of aggravated Twitter users.

13. Sochi Problems

“Sochi happened this year?” It seems hard to believe. in 2014, we did eagerly watch Russian president Vladimir Putin’s reaction at the mysterious malfunctioning fifth ring in the Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony, followed by South Korean ice skater Kim Yuna’s intense competition with Russia’s Yulia Lipnitskaia over the gold medal. We still can’t forget Bob Costas’ unfortunate case of pink-eye. Yet, the most memorable part of Sochi was the fact that the Olympic village was not yet finished at the time the events were being held. Athletes and reporters alike tweeted and posted for our enjoyment their experiences with unfinished hotel rooms, brown tap water and most disturbingly, this.

12. Bae

Not to be confused with bæ, traditionally meaning ‘poop’ or ‘turd’ in Danish; also not to be confused with the Icelandic word bæ, meaning goodbye or farewell. The word was commonly used in 2014 as a cool slang replacement for ‘babe’ or ‘baby’ in reference to one’s significant other. However, many who still use it are unaware that the term actually originates from “before anyone else.” Needless to say, ‘bae’ is a word that we hope we can say good(bae) too in 2015, once and for all.

11. Luis Suarez

“What, the World Cup happened this year too?”
Just a few weeks into the World Cup this year, Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez did something that almost no one expected from a human being, let alone a World Cup soccer star. Suarez, in front of thousands of spectators, and millions of soccer fans at home, sunk his teeth into an opponent’s flesh on multiple occasions. Taking on the nickname “Cannibal of Ajax,” Suarez was banned for nine matches after defender Giorgio Chiellini of Italy displayed the visible teeth marks from Suarez’ bite on his shoulder blade.

10. Ebola Paranoia

We know that Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever has become a serious threat in African countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia due to the lack of basic medicinal necessities. Yet in the United States this year, especially through the beginning of the flu season, we made a collective decision to every person who coughed or sneezed as if they had the deadly virus. In fact, this year we even coined the hashtag, #AndNowIHaveEbola to describe this irrational fear of falling ill.

9. Meghan Trainor

Trainor, one of 2014’s biggest surprises in pop culture, took Billboard by storm as the population fell in love with “All About That Bass.” Not surprisingly, Americans fell in love with the idea of “bringin’ booty back” rather than Meghan Trainor’s message of self-love. After her spike to stardom, many wondered if Trainor had the power to maintain a presence in the pop world, or if she would fizzle away as another “one-hit wonder” in 2015. Yet with the success of her latest single, “Lips Are Movin,” it appears that Trainor is here to stay.

8. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

As a scorching summer hit regions of the world in 2014, most of us were doing what any normal teen would do- looking for ways to subtly post pictures of our cute new swimwear without facing the judgement of our peers for doing so. Alas, what better way to do this (and appear like a good samaritan) than the Lou Gehrig’s disease awareness campaign. Although the campaign did raise awareness for the disease through social media, the number of people who completed the challenge without donating money to the ALS association for the sake of “bandwagoning” was disappointing. Perhaps in 2015 we can collectively raise funds for another relevant cause, in a way that encourages spreading the word as well as donation.

7. Turn Down for What

Released around the tail end of 2013, Lil Jon and DJ Snake’s “Turn Down for What,” rapidly took the party scene by storm as DJs around the country blasted its simplistic chorus through the first half of 2014- over, and over, and over. Unfortunately, once a hit song is played on repeat for such a long time, it instantly will become an eye-roller to anyone who hears it after its streak of popularity- much like “Turn Down For What” soon became.

6. Online Personality Quizzes

Before you hit “Share to Facebook” on that Buzzfeed “Which Disney Princess is Your Dog Most Like” internet quiz, think to yourself, do your Facebook friends really need to know? This year, internet quizzes went viral through Facebook and Twitter communities, simply because the enticing quiz titles just had us dying of curiosity to know what our results would be. Real quizzes and tests are painful enough for most Jefferson students, must we take loads more unnecessarily each year?

5. ‘Yonce

“Driver roll up the partition please.” This year Beyonce was in more tabloids than she probably cared to be, with the family drama between her sister Solange Knowles and her husband, rapper Jay Z. However, she did have some musical successes this year with the release of her self-titled album, including the hits “Drunk in Love,” “XO,” “7/11,” and, most famously, “Partition.”

4. Selfie Sticks

Selfie Sticks, a new invention now commonly referred to as “The Wand of Narcissus,” in which we can now include everyone in the shot when we vainly decide to photograph ourselves for the purpose of posting on social media. Now, rather than posting multiple selfies featuring different friends, we can consolidate all of our posts into one picture, more effectively than ever before.

3. Taylor Swift

Officially departing from any affiliation with the country music genre this year, Taylor Swift had a record breaking jump in popularity with the release of her latest album 1989 in late 2014. What was more memorable than her album, however, was Swift’s risky decision to pull all of her music from Spotify due to what she views as unsatisfactory payment to artists for their work. Swift, in addition, made sure her album was virtually un-pirateable, pulling all songs from 1989 from sites like Youtube and Tumblr. Fans could only purchase the album from iTunes, spurring a boost in album sales previously never before seen, reaching nearly two million sales by November. Although Taylor Swift’s newest album is enchanting and incredibly catchy in ways her other albums were not, her war against Spotify simply caused an increase in iTunes sales because fans could only get the coveted album from one source. Because of her success despite the music streaming service, Spotify and Pandora premium users may find themselves frustrated in 2015 as more artists follow in her footsteps.

2. Yas (more commonly seen as #yasssssssss)

Yas, another form of ‘yes,’ or perhaps a more enthusiastic form of the word, took over social media this year along with its little sister, #slayyyyyyyyy. These words, introduced this year for the purpose of supporting of a person or idea, can be used in a post together or seperately, but essentially provide the same meaning to the comment.

1. Booty

2014 was officially the “Year of the Rear,” due to the outrageous amount of pop culture nearly fetishizing the behind. What started Taylor Swift’s twerking scene in “Shake it Off” on August 18, was soon followed by the release of Nicki Minaj’s highly controversial “Anaconda” music video on August 19. Both videos were instant successes, garnering hundreds of millions of views within the few remaining months of the year. Meghan Trainor added to the fun with “All About that Bass.” But, what will be most memorable of all as we go in to 2015 is the event that truly broke the internet- Kim Kardashian’s behind gracing the cover of our issues of “Paper” magazine.