These are the internet fads we’ll wave goodbye to in 2020

It’s my job to watch memes grow and enter our cultural history through mass popularity

The moment ‘Baby Yoda’ debuted on the new Disney Plus series ‘The Mandalorian’, a thousand internet memes bloomed in its wake (Disney)

2019 was, for many, a pretty awful year. Boris Johnson won a huge majority in parliament, making a hard Brexit all the more likely and a Final Say referendum a dwindling prospect. Donald Trump allegedly committed impeachable crimes. Countries around the world experienced some of the most extreme weather on record.

But at least we have memes.

It might sound flippant, but to cope with a world that sometimes seems full of bad news, people create memes in order to spread a bit of joy. In my job on the Audience team at The Independent, I watch these memes begin, and how some enter the cultural lexicon through their mass popularity. They are their own, small historical moments, just like anything else that happens in the news.

It doesn’t take much for a meme to be born; they’re the perfect example of organic social growth. Becoming an iconic one, however, takes a little more than simply getting lots of likes and shares. It has to be something that captures the imagination of a wide audience, it has to have the ability to be moulded and recreated, and – most of all – it has to be really funny.

So as the midwife smacks the backside of newborn 2020, it means it’s time to say farewell to some of our old friends. Memes have a short shelf life, and you don’t want to be caught using an old one in a new year. So let’s look at what brought the internet joy in 2019 – and what we have to wave goodbye to as we usher in another year of social media madness.

1. I don’t know who needs to hear this but...

An absolute staple of 2019, this self-explanatory meme served us well, but will definitely lose its shine this year. However the pearls of wisdom it gave shall live on (for example: “I don’t know who needs to hear this, but using a make-up wipe isn’t the same as washing your face”).

2. You were at my wedding Denise

Meghan McCain’s clapback at The View’s Denise McAllister made Twitter explode in the early months of 2019, and is one of the simplest and best memes of the year. It was subsequently used as a general retort to anyone accused of betraying one of their nearest and dearest.

3. Gonna tell my kids

Originally a scathing tweet about Justin Trudeau’s blackface scandal, “gonna tell my kids” was everything a meme should be: hilarious, simple and very, very viral. This meme let us rewrite history for a split second, and it was great (”gonna tell my kids this was the Queen of England,” one person said to a picture of Meghan Markle, while someone else used Jonathan Van Ness from Queer Eye‘s image for: “gonna tell my kids this was Jesus”).

4. AOC dancing

After the right tried to shame Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a video of her dancing at college (HOW DARE SHE?!), America’s youngest congresswoman hit back with a dancing video of her own – this time in congress. The two completely adorable videos only made the world fall more in love with her and, of course, became prime meme fodder.

5. Woman yelling at a cat

Arguably the biggest meme of the year, it’s probable “woman yells at cat” will linger on into 2020 before disappearing. The meme has faced some controversy as the woman in question, Taylor Armstrong from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, was arguing at the time with cast members while talking about her husband allegedly abusing her. She has since addressed the popularity of the meme, which some thought was inappropriate considering its context, and said, “It is OK to laugh at the images that have been created.”

6. Rise and shine

Kylie Jenner went viral after she sang “Rise and shine” in a video she posted on social media while waking up her daughter. As simple as that. It’s so widespread there’s even merchandise for it. But it’s probably too late to buy it now and still feel relevant.

7. Coleen Rooney v Rebekah Vardy

Without a shadow of doubt, the best moment of 2019 was Coleen Rooney calling out Rebekah Vardy for allegedly leaking stories from her Instagram account. The feud became an international spectacle, and led to some of the best memes of the year.

8. Baby Yoda

A relatively new addition to the meme world, Baby Yoda shall live on. Get ready to see a lot of him in January.

Yours,

Lucy Anna Gray

US Audience editor