Now that we are officially over 2018, it’s time to look ahead to what we should be excited for in the world of art and media.
While 2018 was an incredible year in the realms of video games, horror movies and comic book media, it was somewhat less so as far as music and the more general world of film went. For music we didn’t have any huge standout pieces to hang our collective hats on and say “That was what 2018 was all about,” something we have had in years past. Enough about 2018 though—let’s look ahead.
Video games
2019 is primed to be an incredible year in gaming. 2017 is said to be one of the greatest years in gaming history with releases like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Nier: Automata, and 2019 is primed to top 2017 if it manages to live up to its potential. Starting the year off strong is Kingdom Hearts III, one of the most anticipated games of all time.
“I’m excited for the release of Kingdom Hearts III,” Graphic Design Senior Kassie Jentzsch said “I played I and III and they’re definite childhood memories. I haven’t played any of the smaller Kingdom Hearts games, so I hope I’m not too lost.”
Filling out the early part of 2019 is Metro Exodus, the third entry in the stellar Metro series, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice by From Software, makers of the venerated Dark Souls and Bloodborne.
Movies
In the world of cinema, the big one is obviously Avengers: Endgame. After Infinity War made all of the money in the world (only a slight exaggeration) Endgame will carry on the story of Thanos wreaking havoc across the Marvel universe.
About one month before that, Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Get Out will be released—Us, a horror film about a family that meets the exact dopplegangers of themselves while they’re on vacation, and their doppelgangers are not terribly kind.
The end of 2019 will bring us the as-yet-untitled Star Wars IX, where we will see if the storied franchise can overcome the divisive eighth installment to presumably close out the third Star Wars trilogy strong.
Music
In 2019 we have, unfortunately, release-dateless albums coming from Carly Rae Jepsen (she’s talented beyond “Call Me Maybe”), Lana Del Rey, Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa. The new year also brings us a new project called Malibu Ken from the world’s most verbose rapper, Aesop Rock, collaborating with TOBACCO. Their self-titled debut album drops Jan. 18. The first two singles, Corn Maze and Acid King, are incredible showcases of Aesop’s adept manipulation of the English language and TOBACCO’s top notch instrumentals.
Other albums to look forward to in 2019 include likely releases by Chance the Rapper and The Weeknd. It might be too early to say, since album releases are announced significantly later in the process than other mediums, but 2019 is definitely looking good musically.
These are definitely a few reasons to look forward to 2019 from an artistic standpoint. They may not be your reasons, but whatever reasons you do have, I ask you to join me in getting hyped for the good things to come in the new year.
