Months and seasons no longer divide calendar years – memes and reels do. And now that 2023 is coming to a close, we must hit rewind and take a sweet trip down ‘memery’ lane. While the summer months were defined by ‘favourite subject baingan’ and ‘mature bag’, early winter was ruled by ‘baithne ka tareeka thoda kazual hai’ and ‘just looking like a wow’. The internet gods were kind enough to bless us with incredible content in a chaotic year.
These bite-sized gems were more than just conversation starters. They bound the world in shared laughter, making us ROFL, LOL and snort coffee through our noses in unison. It wouldn’t be fair to move on without revisiting at least a few of them. Here are 10 favourites that deserve a second look.
Moye Moye
This trend has, to put it in cliche terms, taken the internet by storm. The catchy Serbian tune has become fodder for many ‘dank’ memes and reels. There is no logic to moye moye; we see people break into confused dance upon learning that they’re addressing a person without hands. However, everyone seems to have a take on it – Ayushmann Khurrana to Delhi Police. Can’t say if the trend is funny at all, but the randomness of it all sure is.
Probability the best #moyemoye moment 🤣😆😆 pic.twitter.com/v9mb8mU9cY
— Umer Khan (@khizer48066) December 6, 2023
Melodi
Memes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi have always dominated the internet, but now he has a partner in Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. Meloni met Modi at the G20 summit in New Delhi, striking a friendship that cameras couldn’t ignore. Out-of-context snippets of a ‘heart-eyed’ Modi and a ‘blushing’ Meloni did rounds across social media, with some reels and YouTube shorts taking it a notch up by adding doctored background songs in Modi’s voice. Both PMs hit back – by sportingly jumping in on the #Melodi trend.
Good friends at COP28.#Melodi pic.twitter.com/g0W6R0RJJo
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) December 1, 2023
Lappu sa Sachin
Seema Haider and Sachin Meena’s cross-border romance polarised India in July. Everyone – from TV channels to neighbourhood aunties – was eager to give their two cents on the morality and legality of the young couple’s relationship. One woman, Mithilesh Bhati, was so hilariously insensitive with her remarks that social media enthusiasts had no option but to immortalise them with reels. “Lappu sa Sachin, jhingur sa ladka” will remain etched in the annals of pop-culture history.
Lappu sa Sachin with Carry 😶 pic.twitter.com/YPTzcZ7D6Q
— Anoop 🇮🇳 (@ianooop) August 12, 2023
So beautiful, so elegant, just looking like a wow
Who knew that a small Instagram store promoting fake luxury goods would be all India talks about for months on end? Jasmeen Kaur, a designer and shop owner based out of New Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, introduced us to a plethora of “so beautiful, so elegant” colours – laddoo peela, kaleji, mouse. And, of course, composer Yashraj Mukhate had to make a song. Cut to today, Kaur’s ‘sasta, sundar, tikau’ store has kilometre-long lines ahead of it and unjustifiable price tags. Everyone, as Jasmeen would put it, wants to look “like a wow”.
#WATCH | Maharashtra: Union Minister of Textiles Piyush Goyal says, "Let's start it (Walkathon) now… I just want to say, this is a wow. So beautiful, so elegant, looking like a wow…" https://t.co/fAgvl4rrmE pic.twitter.com/dtf96uczK5
— ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2023
Elvish Bhai
Elvish Yadav made news for all the right – and wrong – reasons in 2023. The influencer won Bigg Boss OTT, went viral for stealing G20 plant décor, and was allegedly caught with snake venom at a rave party in Noida. But these series of mishaps have not stopped Yadav’s followers from screeching in his support. A young man screamed Elvish Bhai’s name with such intensity that the internet collectively collapsed in laughter. And even Yadav couldn’t help but imitate him.
Also Read: Indian Roger Federer to Aurangzeb’s game of throne—10 most viral meme trends of 2022
Barbenheimer
Call it a marketing stunt, a cultural phenomenon, or an unhealthy obsession with cinema—Barbenheimer is one for the history books. The simultaneous release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie inspired mind-blowing creativity on the internet. Although Barbenheimer morphed into unimaginative graphics posters over time, the main theme behind the template was the celebration of stark contrast. Social media users ran with it and started short-lived trends such as Oppenheimer girlfriend, Barbie boyfriend. Anything pink next to anything black is just a Barbenheimer meme waiting to happen. The impact of the trend was so strong that Oppenheimer actor Cillian Murphy, who is infamous for being clueless about pop culture, was introduced to the phenomenon of memes.
he’s literally barbenheimer pic.twitter.com/td51s36kzl
— ً (@HailEternal) December 3, 2023
Girl math/Boy math
Women around the world were revelling in self-depreciation this year. Girl math throws shade on adult women who spend their hard-earned money with a philosophy quite detached from reality. It’s completely irrational. A jacket worth Rs 8,000 becomes dirt cheap if you decide to wear it 8,000 times. It doesn’t have to make sense. The point is, the jacket must be bought.
my girl math is if i pay for something and you cashapp me ur half i ended up w more money
— kalah ★ (@kalahx3) December 9, 2023
With the trend catching the eye of critics, women flipped the script and started calling out the silly logic men operate with— boy math was born. Boy Math is having Nike Jordans lined up in your room but using shampoo as a body wash. The accuracy of it all is unchallenged.
King Charles’ coronation
Nobody in the history of the British monarchy has been humbled like ‘King’ Charles III. People on the internet pointed out all that’s wasteful about the 73-year-old being crowned in 2023, which is everything. The comical image of a frightened Charles balancing a 17th-century crown on his head while holding two staffs in both hands is forever burned into our collective memory. The regal became ridiculous. Charles’ bejewelled crown was replaced with a paper one from Burger King, Prince Louis’ expressions defined the general mood, and the way Prince Harry dashed out of the pompous fest gave us the fodder we needed on the estranged royal’s LA exile. God save the memes!
Yes, the King Charles memes are already out… #Coronation pic.twitter.com/MiD09TtxjJ
— TIM News (World) (@timnewspaper) May 6, 2023
Pedro Pascal eating a sandwich
The Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal is the father figure of 2023. His role in HBO’s The Last of Us and Disney’s The Mandalorian made him an internet sensation, but it was his sandwich-induced trance on LADbible TV’s Snack Wars that made him closer to people worldwide. The viral video has a particular zoned-out/unbothered calm to him that most of us relate to. Everything can be tuned out with the sound of Pascal biting that sandwich. Why is his peanut butter and jelly sandwich crunchy? Don’t ask.
when you make reels but the algorithm only wants pedro pascal eating a sandwich pic.twitter.com/Dj9X9KrgUF
— nix (@babablackhole) June 18, 2023
Pascal wasn’t the first Hollywood star to get internet famous for simply eating on camera. Adam Driver did it before in Lena Dunham’s 2017 web series Girls when he, in a very deadpan manner, slurped a big spoonful of soup and approved—“good soup”. Driver sipped so Pascal could chomp.
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk glides through life as if he were Icarus, and the Sun is a gigantic orange. After buying Twitter and changing its name to X, he riled up the masses like never before. The allegedly stolen X logo, his rash decision to kill the Twitter bluebird, his going ballistic on monetising the app—anger for everything was turned into a roast of the ‘disrupter’ CEO. His face, his tweets, his life, everything is a meme. He is the jester in his court. Or like he said, “I live on memes street (literally)!” There came a point when Musk could not take it and started banning users who mocked him. But the onslaught of memes never stopped, they’re everywhere and X marks the spot.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)