Perhaps it’s fitting to take this depressing inauguration day (and unfortunate MLK Jr. Day) to reflect on what an ill-fated year 2024 was. However, we here at Mildly Pleased sat down once again, like we do every year, to reflect on the things that were pretty good but not great from the past year. Sure, there was plenty to be disappointed with, but there were also things that somehow managed to not be as disappointing as they should have been (remember Beetlejuice’s return to the big screen?). So fret not. Even when the world feels like it’s lost its way, remember, there’s mild pleasure all around. You just have to know where to find it.
Most Mildly Pleasing Viral Video
Give him that hawk tuah and spit on that thang
Holding space for Defying Gravity
Anyway how have you been??
Winner: Kabin Crew and Lisdoonvarna Crew – “The Spark”
Woman climbs through window
Most Mildly Pleasing Event
Winner: Drake–Kendrick Lamar feud
New Jersey is visited by UFOs!
Paris Olympics (opening ceremony, penis vaulter, Raygun)
Total Solar Eclipse!
The Willy Wonka Experience scam
Most Mildly Pleasing Album
Winner: Ariana Grande – Eternal Sunshine
Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism
Japandroids – Fate and Alcohol
Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department
Most Mildly Pleasing Song
Beyonce – “Texas Hold ‘Em”
Nicki Minaj – “Everybody”
Winner: ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.”
Shaboozey – “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
Tommy Richman – “Million Dollar Baby”
The Jimmy Buffett Lifetime Achievement Award
Francis Ford Coppola
Winner: Katy Perry
Lenny Kravitz
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Robert Zemeckis
Most Mildly Pleasing Actor
Winner: Channing Tatum, Blink Twice/Deadpool/Fly Me to the Moon
Gabriel LaBelle, Saturday Night
Harris Dickinson, Babygirl
Lewis Pullman, Salem’s Lot
Tom Hardy, The Bikeriders
Most Mildly Pleasing Actress
Winner: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Twisters
Jodie Comer, The Bikeriders
Saleka Night Shyamalan, Trap
Scarlet Johanson, Fly Me to the Moon
Winona Ryder, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Most Mildly Pleasing Film
Winner: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Mean Girls
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Trap
Twisters