The 50 Best Moments Of 2019

As we bid farewell to another year, we look back to the memorable moments that made us laugh, cheer and cry

ALL ABOUT THE ROYALS

The members of the British royal family were busy, busy and busy this year. Here’s what was on the royal agenda:

1 Archie’s Birth

Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry welcomed their first child on May 6. Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born bright and early at 5.26 am and weighed in at 3.2 kg. His proud parents said baby Archie has “the sweetest temperament” and was “really calm”. Archie is the seventh in line to the British throne.

2 Meghan & Harry In Africa

Baby Archie made his first trip abroad when his parents took him on their 10-day royal tour of Africa. The happy family was pictureperfect at every turn, and Prince Harry even retraced Princess Diana’s footsteps when he walked through a minefield in Angola 22 years after his mother did the same.

3 Kate & William In Pakistan

Not content to take a backseat to his brother, Prince William, too embarked on a royal tour with his wife, Duchess Catherine, to Pakistan. It was a sartorial success from every angle for Kate as she let her modestbut-modern clothes do all the talking.

4 Queen Elizabeth’s first IG Post

Who says the royals are products of a bygone era? The Queen proved she’s very much in the now when she uploaded her first-ever photo onto Instagram in March, signing off as “Elizabeth R.” on the @theroyalfamily account.

5 Prince Louis Turns One

With all eyes on Archie, it’s easy to forget that another little royal marked a milestone this year too. Duchess Catherine's youngest, Prince Louis, turned one on April 23. To mark the occasion, his mum gifted the world with three new snaps of the Prince on Instagram. Just look at that adorable face!

6 KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES

Jen Breaks The Internet

Our November cover girl Jennifer Aniston made friends with the online world when she joined Instagram in October with IG handle @jenniferaniston. She uploaded a selfie of her former castmates and it crashed the platform. She also broke a Guinness World Record in the process, by picking up a million followers in five hours and 16 minutes. The previous record holders were Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who garnered 1 million followers in five hours and 45 minutes with their account @ sussexroyal.

7 DID IT SPARK JOY?

A tidying expert from Japan, Marie Kondo, became a household name when her show all about cleaning up made its debut on Netflix in January. Her method, the KonMari, started a cleaning revolution and everybody started decluttering their closets and dumping out things that in Marie’s words “did not spark joy”.

8 BREAKIN’ BEAUTY NEWS

Tati Westbrook Vs James Charles

Beauty YouTubers Tati and her mentee James shook their community when Tati detailed James’ problematic behaviour in a video in May that garnered over 25 million views. He lost millions of followers after her accusations, which he has since regained, and Tati is back with her own cosmetics line. Feud over?

9 Shiseido Buys Drunk Elephant

Clean beauty brand Drunk Elephant was acquired by Japanese juggernaut, Shiseido, in October at $1.1 billion (US$845 million). The biggest beauty deal of the year, Drunk Elephant joins Nars, Cle de Peau Beaute and Laura Mercier in Shiseido’s prestige portfolio.

HERE, KITTY KITTY

Cats, as usual, were a talking point for many but there was good news and bad news:

10 Grumpy Cat Dies

His famously grouchy face captured the Internet’s heart but sadly, we lost Grumpy Cat on May 17. The kitty, whose real name is Tardar Sauce, died of complications from a urinary tract infection

11 Tik Tok Cat Rules

A new feline ruler has come to claim his throne. Ed, the orange tabby cat, became an Internet sensation after his owner uploaded a video of him on Tik Tok bopping along to Mr Sandman.

12 BBT FEVER STILL BUBBLING

Bubble tea fever hit its peak this year with more brands setting up in Singapore like The Alley, Xing Fu Tang and Milksha. The bubble team boom saw it spread its boba-liciousness to create other food trends like boba cakes and even boba crab. There was also a bubble-tea playground of sorts called the Bubble Tea Factory. Opened from October at *Scape till December 18, the 10,000-sq ft space boasts 10 sensory rooms, including a pearl pit with plastic balls made to look like taro balls.

13 WEIRD & WONDERFUL INVENTIONS

In other news, people who hate tidying up have a reason to smile. The Foldimate, launched at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019, automatically folds your laundry so you don’t have to break a sweat. Foldimate says it can fold an entire load of laundry in about five minutes, which includes collared shirts, pants, and medium-sized towels. Marie Kondo is shaking!

SOCIAL MEDIA RULES

Everyone took to social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok to take part in all sorts of wacky and downright entertaining challenges:

14 Old Age Challenge

Thanks to the FaceApp, every other celeb, and friend posted photos of themselves looking much, much older than their years in July.

15 Baby Challenge

Similarly, lots of stars also rewound the clock and dominated our Instagram feeds with lots and lots of baby faces with the baby face filter on Snapchat.

16 Gender Bender Challenge

Others like Miley Cyrus took it further still by swapping from female to male and vice versa using Snapchat’s gender-bending filter.

17 Bottle Cap Challenge

A random challenge that sparked a viral craze. Tons of celebs got in on the action and showed off their martial prowess (or lack thereof!).

18 Gradient Challenge

An app, rather than a filter, Gradient swiftly took over the Internet by comparing its users to a celebrity. It was kind of janky, but fun nonetheless.

19 BIG SPLITS

Song-Song Couple No one expected Song HyeKyo and Song Joong-Ki to pull the plug on their marriage after only 20 months. The couple cited a difference in personalities for their split and had what was considered an amicable divorce as far as celebrity divorces go. The former golden couple first made headlines when they starred opposite each other in popular K-drama, Descendants of the Sun, and displayed electrifying on-screen chemistry.

20 Miley Cyrus & Liam Hemsworth

The pair were married for only seven months before Miley was photographed kissing another woman.

21 Adele & Simon Konecki

Adele and her non-celebrity, businessman husband have one child together and have vowed to remain friends.

22 Jeff & MacKenzie Bezos

The Amazon chief’s divorce made his ex-wife one of the richest women in the world.

23 Ahn Jae-Hyun & Goo HyeSun

This Korean couple are in the midst of a messy divorce, with both actors airing their dirty laundry for the world to see.

BABY ON THE BRAIN

Meanwhile, some celebs welcomed new additions to the family and expanded their brood:

24 Rain & Kim TaeHee

The happy family said hello to their second child – a baby girl – in September.

25 Myolie Wu & Philip Lee

Congratulations came pouring in for the actress when baby #2 arrived in June.

26 Grace Chan & Kevin Cheng

Hong Kong celeb couple celebrated the arrival of their son on Valentine’s Day this year.

27 Ruco Chan & Phoebe Sin

The Hong Kong actors became proud parents to a baby girl in April.

28 Gordon & Tana Ramsay

It was fifth time lucky for the celebrity chef and his wife when she gave birth to a son at 44-years-old.

29 Steven Yeun & Joana Park

The Walking Dead actor welcomed a second child in April; the baby girl joins older brother Jude.

30 WHAT HAPPENED AROUND THE WORLD?

Hong Kong Protests

In June, anti-government protests rocked Hong Kong after the city’s leader Carrie Lam pushed through a bill that allowed extradition to mainland China. The bill was withdrawn in September after public ire but clashes between police and activists continue in the city-state.

31 Christchurch Shooting Led To Gun Reforms In New Zealand

A shooting in a Christchurch mosque left 51 dead on March 15. A lone gunman was charged for the attack and New Zealand moved to tighten gun ownership after the incident.

32 Notre-Dame De Paris Fire

The world-famous cathedral in Paris caught fire in April, and the blaze consumed much of the iconic building’s roof and spire. Hours after the fire broke out, millions of dollars were pledged to restore the 850-year-old building to its former glory.

33 The Rise Of Greta Thunberg

After speaking at the United Nations Action Summit, 16-yearold Swedish Greta Thunberg has become the face of climate-change activism after rallying an estimated four million people across 161 countries to march for action.

34 Typhoon Hagibis

The strongest typhoon to hit Japan in decades left a trail of destruction in its wake. Almost 80 people died after Typhoon Hagibis slammed into eight prefectures, bringing with it torrential rain and wind speeds of up to 225 km/h in October.

35 Jack Ma Rocks Out

Alibaba’s chairman bowed out of the company 20 years after he founded China’s most valuable e-commerce platform with an epic rock concert.

IN MEMORIAM

Here were the stars we said goodbye to:

36 Aloysius Pang

The Singaporean actor died on January 23 after suffering injuries as a result of being crushed by a gun barrel in a self-propelled howitzer while on reservist. He was 28.

37 Karl Lagerfeld

The creative director of Chanel, Fendi and his eponymous line Karl Lagerfeld died on February 19. He was 85.

38 Sulli

The former member of K-pop girl group f(x) was found dead in her apartment in South Korea on October 14. She was 25.

SCREEN HITS & MISSES

39 One for the books

Marvel’s first film to feature a largely African-American cast, Black Panther, was the first superhero movie to win three Oscars: Costume Design, Production Design and Original Score. Two crew members made Oscar history by becoming the first black winners in their categories, too.

40 End Of An Era

The third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ended in April with Avengers: Endgame. Next year will see a new phase and new movies like ShangChi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, the first Marvel film to feature an Asian lead.

41 Game Of Thrones Ends With A Thud

After eight seasons, 73 episodes and one melted throne, winter finally ended in May. Instead of the bang fans were hoping for, the finale ended with a whimper.

42 Jennifer Lawrence & Cooke Maroney

The Oscar-winner is off the market after saying “I do” to her art gallery-owner boyfriend, Cooke Maroney. The duo exchanged vows on Rhode Island in front of 150 guests that included Adele, Amy Schumer, Emma Stone and Sienna Miller. No official photos have been released of JLaw’s Dior wedding gown, but it’s said to be a sparkly 20s-era creation.

It seems Cupid was fairly busy this year! Here are some other couples who got hitched in 2019: