Between a disastrous flood, the rise of labubus, sports accomplishments and more, the summer 0f 2025 was full of major trends and events that sent shockwaves through the U.S. and entire world. Below are 10 events that occurred during the summer months.
News
Texas floods:
Central Texas experienced a destructive flood, resulting in the deaths of 135 people, including at least 37 children on the weekend of July 4. While many who were affected were located in Kerr County, campers attending Camp Mystic were impacted as well. The camp was located on the banks of the Guadalupe River where many of the cabins were in direct flood zones, according to the New York Times. Several schools near impacted locations opened their doors early to offer food, shelter and recovery in the earliest days of the flash floods.
Jen Pawol breaks major-league baseball history:
Pawol made Major League Baseball history when she became the first female umpire to work a regular-season baseball game on Saturday, Aug. 9. At 48 years old and working 1,200 minor-league games in the past decade, she has broken one of baseball’s final barriers, according to The Athletic. This wasn’t first time Pawol umpired for an MLB game. Pawol called MLB spring training games in 2024, becoming the first female umpire to do so since 2007. She was also the first woman to umpire the International League championship game, and the first female umpire for a game at that level in 35 years.
‘Big beautiful’ bill signing:
The bill was implemented with the intent to focus on domestic and foreign policies as well as budgeting. President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 4, creating an extension of tax cuts, removing approximately $1 trillion from health programs and more. This bill the largest recall of federal support for health care in American history. Additionally, the legislation also cut down around $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) which is food assistance for low-income families, also known as food stamps.
CPB shutting down:
Congress approved the White House’s request to draw back $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting on July 17, leaving local radio, TV stations and public media across the U.S. vulnerable. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced shortly afterwords that it will be shutting down within the next year on August 1. The CPB is an American non-profit corporation founded under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 to better aid public broadcasting in the U.S., such as NPR, PBS and more.
Pop-Culture
Labubu:
Labubus were designed in a children’s book in 2015 by Chinese artist Kasing Lung in 2015. 2025 was the year that the pointy tooth plush took off. The doll has accomplished $418 million in global sales in only the first half of 2025. Following the release of the Labubu storybook character Lung followed up with a toy release. However, the toy first really took off when Lung decided to partner up with Chinese toy company POP MART in 2019.
Now in 2025, Labubus are most famously sold in mystery packages where the purchaser buys a box without knowing what color or style of Labubu is inside. The mystery boxes add to the appeal element of the dolls where consumers get surprised and hope to find “rare” dolls. Labubu mystery boxes originally sell from 20 to 30 dollars but can sometimes get up to hundreds of thousands of dollars when rare ones are found and resold.
Celebrities like Dua Lipa, Rihanna and Lisa from the K-pop group “BLACKPINK” have been seen sporting Labubus, adding on to its viral presence. Videos on platforms, like TikTok and Instagram, have been circulating of people unboxing and shopping for the dolls as well.
Taylor Swift engagement:
On Tuesday, Aug. 26, pop singer Taylor Swift and tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce announced their engagement. The couple shared a five picture post on Instagram, with the caption “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” The series of photos showed Kelce down on his knee in a flower filled garden, as well as others displaying the newly engaged embracing. One picture captured the gold rectangle shaped diamond ring on her finger.
The ring designed by Kindred Lubeck is an old mine brilliant cut diamond, which are named antique stones and very valuable.
Life of a Show Girl:
Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast reel revealed Taylor Swift’s announcement on her upcoming studio album went viral on Tuesday, August 12. In the short video, Swift opens a briefcase to reveal a blurred version of her album. Later both the album cover and name, “The Life of a Show Girl”, were revealed to the public via the New Heights podcast.
“The Life of a Show Girl” is going to be released on October 3rd and was revealed to have 12 tracks. One of the anticipated tracks is revealed to feature Sabrina Carpenter on the title songs. She made the album with the help of Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster–who’s also known as Shellback–all of whom made Swift’s successful album “Red”, along with the songs “Never Getting Back Together”, “I Knew You Were Trouble”, “22”, “Shake It Off” and more.
It was said by Swift and Kelce that this album is more upbeat and joyful compared to Swift’s last album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” This is so far conveyed by the color scheme on her released album images. The color associated with this album is an orangy color. Orange is associated with happiness and energy.
“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said in the podcast. “It just comes from like the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in, in my life.”
K-pop Demon Hunters:
Becoming a top movie hit of the summer, the Netflix sensation, “K-pop Demon Hunters” reached 33 million views within two weeks after its release date of June 20. The fictional movie follows the K-pop girl group, “Huntr/x”, who also doubles as demon hunters. They eventually come face to face with the “Saja Boys”, a K-pop boy band that’s secretly a demon group. The goal of Huntr/x is to seal the Honmoon to protect the human world from the demons, however the Saja Boys are fighting them to prevent this. However Rumi (a Huntr/x) is secretly a demon, and throughout the movie, hides this fact and confides within Jinu (a Saja Boy).
However, the main attraction is not only the plot line, but the music is making waves throughout the world. On Monday, August 11, one of the songs, “Golden”, shot up to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. On Saturday, August 23, “Your Idol” is number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, “Soda Pop” is number ten, “How it’s done” is number 14, “What it sounds like” is number 24, “Free” is number 25 and “Takedown” is number 26. That’s seven songs ranking in the top 100 songs in the nation.
“Golden is a song that I put all my experience into, what I wanted to hear when I was training, because it’s not an easy industry,” Korean American Songwriter and vocalist Ejae (who voices Rumi) said. “I brought that heartbreak I felt into the lyrics and when I’m singing.”
Not only does the movie bring a catchy plot line and a slew of songs, it also preserves Korean heritage. It captured different pieces of Korean culture and included them in the film: Korean bathhouses, Seoul and Namsan tower. Another example of Korean culture is how the characters speak, but the animators made their mouths move as if they were speaking Korean. These pieces bring aspects of Korean culture to people who watch the movie, helping expose viewers to bits and pieces of the culture.
“It was surreal,” Director of K-pop Demon Hunters Maggie Kang said. “Every step of the way and every milestone we hit, I can’t believe we’re able to do this.”
The Summer I Turned Pretty:
Becoming a viral sensation over many social media platforms, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Han’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” T.V. show’s season three was released gradually over the summer, still leaving two episodes. Every single week, Amazon Prime Video would release one episode, causing suspense for many viewers.
Based on the original “The Summer I Turned Pretty” trilogy, the T.V. series started during the summer of 2022 and since released on preceding summers, except skipping the summer of 2024. Season three started its release on July 16, and the last episode will be released on Sept. 17. The T.V. show follows Belly–played by actress Lola Tung– and her love triangle with Jeremiah Fisher (actor Gavin Casalengo) and Conrad Fisher (actor Christopher Briney). Throughout the series, she goes back and forth between the two brothers, both of whom love her. The plot is complicated and messy, having many layers to it.
“‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ is especially appealing to Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z because it’s tender, layered and physiologically rich,” Relationship and Attachment Therapist Deborah Robbinshttps said.
Throughout the release of the episodes week by week, viewers took sides on the internet. Some sided with Belly and Conrad being in a relationship together, while others sided with Belly and Jeremiah being in a relationship together, otherwise known as “Team Jelly.” This was a controversial subject that throughout the summer was debated on through memes, edits and theories on different posts.
“To me, telling stories, making TV and writing books is really all about connection,” Han said. “I feel really lucky to feel like I am connected to the audience.”
Coldplay Affair:
At a Coldplay concert at Gillette stadium on July 16 turned viral, with the internet going crazy. The moment starts as lead singer Chris Martin pans the camera to people in the audience. The camera then spotlights a couple who is embracing, broadcasting them up on the big screen. Once the couple realizes everyone is watching them, the woman turns around hiding her face, while the man ducks down avoiding the camera. Surprised, Martin jokes, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Later, viewers of the video took to the internet trying to discover who the couple was. They uncovered that the man was Andy Byron, CEO of the tech company Astronomer and the woman was Kristin Cabot, Chief People Officer at Astronomer. What threw this story for a loop was the fact that both Byron and Cabot were married and had children with other partners. This discovery made the internet go wild, with content creators sharing their thoughts on the matter and even remaking the viral moment. All the publicity Cabot and Byron were getting led them both to resign from their jobs at Astronomer.
Following the resignations, Astronomer released a statement video poking fun at the public affair. The video stars actress and former wife of Martin, Gwyneth Paltrow. In this minute video, Paltrow answers “questions” following the affair, jokingly avoiding the questions that pop up on the screen and instead, promotes the company.
