what i leik'd in 2022
my favorite movies, tv shows, music & more
Happy (almost) New Year, dear readers.
If any of you are actually reading this right when it comes out, I hope you’re having a splendid New Year’s Eve wherever you may be.
It’s been a while since I last wrote you all – football season, am I right? Busy, busy, busy time for me, but it’s over now and that means You Leik That? newsletters and podcasts should be returning on a more frequent basis.
To tide you over until then and to recap the year, I’ve thrown together a brief list of my five (5) favorites in six (6) categories. While I don’t explain each selection, I do provide a brief explainer of the category itself.
If you know me, a lot of these will make sense. Maybe you’ve already seen me post or heard me talk about them.
So without further ado, I (Emily Leiker) present: What I Leik’d in 2022.
CELEBS
Keke Palmer
Glen Powell
Jeremy Allen White
Tyler James Williams
Renee Rapp
I went with celebs I felt like had breakout years, even if they’ve been in the business for a while. Keke Palmer was undoubtedly one of the biggest stars of 2022, and the fact that she hard launched her pregnancy while hosting SNL is just like a cherry on top of a fantastic year.
POP CULTURE MOMENTS
Harry Styles Spit Gate (& all DWD press tour drama)
Corn Kid
“Holy fuck. Holy fucking fuck. That body of yours is insane.”
Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars
Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian dating
BOOKS
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy by Jenny Han
(I ready more than this but nothing I’d qualify as a favorite, so…)
ALBUMS
“five seconds flat” - Lizzy McAlpine
“SOS” - SZA
“Honestly, Nevermind” - Drake and 21 Savage
“emails i can’t send” - Sabrina Carpenter
“Harry’s House” - Harry Styles
Sorry, “Midnights.” The more I sit with you as a full product the further you fall in T-Swift’s repertoire for me.
TV SHOWS
Andor
House of the Dragon
The Bear
White Lotus (S2)
Abbott Elementary (S2)
This was the hardest Top 5 to pick I think. Seriously. There was so much TV I enjoyed. Honorable mentions to The Boys (S3), Euphoria (S2), Stranger Things (S4) and The Summer I Turned Pretty.
MOVIES
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
Wakanda Forever
NOPE
Top Gun: Maverick
Barbarian
Movies are weird for me to rank because I watch different movies for different reasons and therefore have different enjoyment levels of them based on what I was expecting. So think of this as a combo ranking between overall film quality, my enjoyment and how it matched what I was expecting.
You can see my full Top 24 movies of 2022 by finding me on Letterboxd @emleiker.