Award Season Theatrics & Pop Star Dramatics
Vol. 1 Issue 13 – 22nd June 2024
The lions, the switch and the wardrobe
This past week saw various events taking place in different corners of the world. Here are some highlights…
The 77th Tony Awards - The ceremony held in New York City recognizes achievement in Broadway productions and performances. It forms one-fourth of the coveted EGOT status (Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony) for an entertainer. This year the musicals, The Outsiders and Merrily We Roll Along were the big winners, with the former taking home the award for Best Musical. Jonathan Groff won his first, long-awaited Tony with Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for Merrily, as co-star Daniel Radcliffe won Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. Jeremy Strong won the Tony for Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in An Enemy of the People, while Sarah Paulson won Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for Appropriate.
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity - Comprising of the most revered awards in advertising, this event celebrates the creative communications industry, with panels, exhibitions and presentations by industry leaders and trailblazers to gain insights into the latest trends, cultivate creativity and innovation, and help understand the value behind it. WPP won the title of Creative Company of the Year and Ogilvy, one of its network agencies, won Creative Network of the Year. Coca-Cola was named Creative Brand of the Year. Here’s the full list of winners, the categories range from Craft and Entertainment to Engagement and Strategy. One of my favourite brand collabs of the year, Michael Cera with CeraVe won the Social & Influencer Grand Prix. Meanwhile, the Indian contingent won 18 awards at the festival, with agencies Leo Burnett and Ogilvy leading the way.
Nintendo Direct - Streamed on YouTube, the gaming giant uses this presentation to announce its latest games and features for the Nintendo Switch presently. Some of the new games announced this year were The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Super Mario Party: Jamboree, Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports, Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, Donkey Kong: Country Returns, Hello Kitty: Island Adventure and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Milan Fashion Week - Showcasing the Spring/Summer 2025 Men’s Collections, the biggest names in fashion, Armani, Zegna, Dunhill, Prada, Gucci, JW Anderson, took over the Italian city from 14th to 18th June. The biggest takeaways from the presentations were earthy tones, lightweight tailoring in soft, flowy fabrics, and super short shorts courtesy of Paul Mescal sitting front row at the Gucci show. The week ended with a surprise look at Valentino’s new collection under the new creative direction of Alessandro Michele, formerly at Gucci. Ditching minimalism, Michele’s signature eccentric styling is evident in the lookbook with nods to the fashion house’s archives.
This is going to ruin the tour
What tour, you ask? Well, that’s the question a police officer had for Justin Timberlake too.
The singer got arrested by the police for driving under the influence in the Hamptons. Upon arrest, Timberlake said under his breath, “This is going to ruin the tour”. The young cop, not knowing who he was, asked “What tour?”. “The world tour”, JT replied.
After this conversation was reported, Twitter had a field day with this VERY grave and pensive exchange. And so, “this is going to ruin the tour” has officially entered my vocabulary for any minor inconvenience I face from now on.
Sound off
New music releases from this Friday!
The Secret of Us, Gracie Abrams’ new album, featuring Us. ft. Taylor Swift (Watch the bts of the duo writing the song together, and putting out a fire in Taylor’s kitchen)
Crash, Kehlani’s new album, the title track is my favourite
And a special mention to the viral hit, The Spark by Kabin Crew. A song performed by a group of schoolchildren, aged 9-12, in Cork and Lisdoonvarna, Ireland.
In other music-related news, Post Malone announced his new country album, F-1 Trillion, slated to release on August 16th.
Kendrick Lamar played his Drake diss track, Not Like Us, 5 times at his LA concert for Juneteenth!
Katy Perry is working on a new album, a single off of which will be called “Woman’s World”. Ironic, since she’s working on it with music producer Dr Luke who had been accused of sexual assault by singer Kesha followed by a very public trial.
Another controversial man in the industry, Scooter Braun has announced that he’s stepping away from being a manager. I wonder if it was his choice or a byproduct of all his clients dropping like flies out of nowhere last year.
BTS’ Jimin has revealed the tracklist for his upcoming second solo album, MUSE.
Speaking of Kpop, Blackpink singer, Lisa, has announced her new single, Rockstar, scheduled to drop on June 27th!
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour has partnered with Spotify to introduce two exclusive ticket presales for her fans who are her top listeners on the platform! A Spotify Fans First Front Row Presale in a special listener area, and a Spotify Fans First Presale for a broader grouping of frequent listeners. This is an amazing initiative, if done right, as it will allow real fans to receive the best seats at the show instead of scalpers and resellers, as has been the case in recent times.
Sporty spice
Ferrari won the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. This was the prancing horse’s 11th win, thanks to drivers Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.
The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship is underway. England failed to secure their place in the knockout stages as Group C winners as they were fortunate to take a draw against Denmark in Frankfurt. Germany and Spain have already qualified for the Euro Round of 16 2024.
A Formula 1 triple header is coming up with the Spanish GP this weekend, followed by the Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg on Sunday, June 30 and the British GP at Silverstone on Sunday, July 7.
Watch out
After the success of Inside Out 2 in the theatres, (the second-biggest animated launch of all time and the biggest overall since Barbie!) Disney is developing its spinoff series for Disney+, slated to release next Spring!
Despicable Me 4 will be in theatres soon, so of course there is a popcorn bucket!
Netflix’s Beef is looking to star Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan as leads for its second season.
Amazon Studios has announced a live-action Totally Spies TV Series, with Will Ferrell as executive producer.
Elizabeth Olson and Miles Teller were spotted filming their new movie, Eternity, a romantic comedy where everyone must decide who they want to spend eternity with.
Horror movie M3GAN’s universe is expanding, as the producers announced ‘Soulm8te’, an erotic thriller centred on a man who acquires an Artificially Intelligent android to cope with the loss of his recently deceased wife. Slated to be released in 2026.
Brad Pitt and Lewis Hamilton’s Apple Original F1 movie is set for its big international release in June 2025!
The Thai film, How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, is turning out to be a sleeper hit globally. A soul-stirring story, while there is no set date for its official release in international markets, it shouldn’t be too hard to find for the well-acquainted digital native 👀
The official teaser for A Real Pain just dropped. Following two cousins (Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin), taking a trip through Poland to honour their grandmother.
The first trailer for the Selena Gomez-Zoe Saldanha starrer, Emilia Perez, is here! After the win at the Cannes Film Festival, the movie is already creating buzz for Gomez’s first Academy Award nomination.