The Best Musical Moments Of 2024
From Broadway icons to soaring Disney soundtracks, these are the best musical moments of the year. As the year comes to a close, the writers of Pop Culture Planet are sharing the Best Of 2024.
Abigail All Along
Our favorite witches take on the original song “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” in Agatha All Along. What seemed like a catchy song about the mysterious road that promised your hearts desire ended up being a part of a huge twist in the series that you have to see to believe.
- Kristen Maldonado
Challengers
Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have been responsible for some of the best film soundtracks, with Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers ranking high on our list. While we obsessed over Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist’s performance, the music mirrors the intense emotions especially during the tennis matches. It’s powerful, pulsating, and everything EDM fans will enjoy.
- Paola Cardenas
Deadpool & Wolverine
Name a more iconic opening credits scene than Deadpool dancing to N*SYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” Yup, that’s what I thought. The performance took the world by storm, with the song returning to the Billboard charts thanks to Deadpool & Wolverine.
- Kristen Maldonado
Girl Haunts Boy
Bea (Peyton List) and Cole (Michael Cimino) may not have ever worked out together in this universe, but they sure were the cutest couple ever in Girl Haunts Boy. Their love story is perfectly encapsulated in Cimino’s original song “Still Haunted By You” featured at the end of the film. Emotional and passionate, we feel the love and loss within their relationship which may have led to a few tears shed. I’m not crying, you are!
- Paola Cardenas
Hazbin Hotel
With original music by Sam Haft and Andrew Underberg, Hazbin Hotel features a legendary vocal cast of high caliber Broadway veterans. With alumni from Broadway shows like Waitress, Mean Girls, Wicked, Rent, Beetlejuice, and more, the score spans classic musical theater songs to soaring rock ballads to dark EDM dance tracks.
- Kristen Maldonado
Mean Girls
It’s no surprise that when you bring in Broadway caliber singing voices, you end up with an iconic soundtrack. From Reneé Rapp to Auli’i Cravalho to Jaquel Spivey, the musical numbers in the movie adaptation of the Mean Girls musical were top tier. I’ve still got “Apex Predator” and “World Burn” on rotation.
- Kristen Maldonado
Moana 2
Moana (Auli’i' Cravalho) and Maui (Dwayne Johnson) are back like they never left in Moana 2! The soundtrack features incredible music by Grammy winning duo Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. You can hear their signature style intertwined with the Polynesian culture in sure-to-be hit songs like the soaring “Beyond” and vibey disco track “Get Lost.”
- Kristen Maldonado
My Old Ass
One of the most iconic parts of Justin Bieber’s concerts back in the peak of the early 2010s was his “One Less Lonely Girl” performance where he pulled an audience member up on stage and serenaded her. In My Old Ass, Maisy Stella does an impeccable impersonation of the Bieber performance during a drug induced hallucination where she sings to her crush.
- Jordan Bohan
Smile 2
Naomi Scott has been a promising pop star since her Lemonade Mouth days and now she’s back on the music scene as Skye Riley in Smile 2. With a 6 track EP, she’s one horror icon who’s concert you won’t want to miss… even if it means dealing with the Smile Entity.
- Kristen Maldonado
The Idea Of You
While Harry Styles fans desperately wait for another album, Nicholas Galitzine’s character in The Idea Of You comes as a close second. Fictional boy band August Moon — led by Galitzine — gave us a tracklist of songs to enjoy that captures that One Direction feel we all love. From “Guard Down” to “So Cold,” the soundtrack is filled with nothing but banger after banger.
- Paola Cardenas
Descendants: Rise Of Red
Life feels so much sweeter now that these girls are in our lives. Kylie Cantrall and Malia Baker are ushering in a new era of Disney Channel stars for the next generation. While the original cast remains the heart of the Descendants franchise, Rise of Red introduces a fresh wave of talent with addicting songs to boot. We’ve been playing “Red,” “Perfect Revenge,” and “Life Is Sweeter” on repeat!
- Makkedah Ramsey
Wicked
Dear Oz, where do I even begin? I could easily fill this entire listacle with praise for each musical performance, but I’ll try to be brief. Wicked is one of the most beloved Broadway musicals and the cast of the film adaptation exceeded all expectations. Choosing to sing live, they captured the energy of the original Broadway production. Ariana Grande’s magical operatic notes in “No One Mourns the Wicked” put all cynicism to rest, while Cynthia Erivo’s beautiful rendition of “The Wizard and I” was filled with hope and clever foreshadowing. Jonathan Bailey’s swoon-worthy “Dancing Through Life” stole the hearts of audiences, and Grande’s “Popular” showed her pure love for the story radiating through every note. Finally, Erivo’s breathtaking “Defying Gravity” left everyone weeping. Every performance truly defied gravity.
- Ally Bonsall
