Viral memes, Victoria's Secret, good reads and a good-bye
Vol. 1 Issue 30 – 19th October 2024
Internet’s favs
Ariana Grande hosted Saturday Night Live last week so naturally, we got a couple of instantly classic moments from the show. In one sketch, a group of bridesmaids sing about the bachelorette party to the tune of ‘Espresso’, where Ariana hilariously attempts to be a bad singer. The catchy change in lyrics has made it the most-watched video on SNL’s TikTok, and it’s stuck in everybody’s heads. Another sketch where Ariana plays a late Renaissance Italian boy who has been castrated gave us this reaction image!
Did you even doom scroll through short-form videos/Twitter this week if you didn’t come across– “In da clerb, we all fam”. The sound byte from the sitcom ‘Broad City’ is trending as people lip sync over it to show camaraderie in certain situations or to relate to a younger demographic.
The lyric “Wait, they don't love you like I love you” from the song ‘Maps’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs is being used for a dance trend. The short audio and complementary step is wildly addicting to do and watch for hours on our feeds.
“Im 17 and AFRAID of Sabrina Carpenter”, an account posted on Twitter with regards to Sabrina’s suggestive performances on tour and the rest of the website is having a field day with it.
Haven’t you heard
The (in)famous Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returned after 6 years! The show was opened by Gigi Hadid and closed by sister Bella. All the VS angels including Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoel, Barbara Palvin and Jasmine Tookes returned with their wings. Modelling legends Tyra Banks, Kate Moss, Ashley Graham also graced the runway with Cher, Tyla and Lisa performing. However, what was missing were the big, bouncy blowouts, since when is Victoria’s Secret a slick-back ponytail?
Disney alum, singer and all-around achiever Bridgit Mendler is revolutionizing space tech!
Al Pacino has a Shrek phone case and texts with his 16-month-old son…
The cast of Wicked recreated the iconic Playbill poster, but not to a T (re: Elphaba’s smirk), so fans took it upon themselves to edit the movie poster to match it, in good faith. Cynthia Erivo, who has previously shared other edits and memes, took major offence, many saying she’s blowing it out of proportion.
Kesha and Tate McRae joined Charli xcx and Troye Sivan on stage at their joint tour.
Florence Pugh couldn't make it to the London premiere of her new movie, We Live in Time, so co-star Andrew Garfield brought a life-size cut-out along with him to the carpet!
Tom Holland is launching his own line of non-alcoholic beer, Bero, following two years into sobriety.
Megan Thee Stallion and Venom is a crossover we didn’t know we needed!
Watch out
A Phineas and Ferb revival season is coming in 2025 with all the original cast returning to voice their characters. The audience in the poster is filled with easter eggs!
If you grew up on the internet and had unrestricted access, the names ‘Dumb Ways To Die’ and ‘Happy Tree Friends’ may unlock a memory. And now the two have come together for a collab episode!
The Batman spin-off show, The Penguin’s 4th episode currently has the best IMDb rating for a TV show with a 9.5/10.
The last film in the Conjuring franchise, Conjuring 4, has begun filming.
Emma Stone is reportedly set to reprise her role as Gwen Stacy in the 4th Spider-Man movie in the Marvel-Sony-Tom Holland run. (And Tom and Zendaya have already read the script!)
For a heartwarming, funny and emotional watch, go see The Wild Robot in theatres now! The voice actors (Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal and Kit Connor) do a stellar job bringing the stunning animation and sincere story to life.
To be read
Two highly anticipated, upcoming books have revealed their covers and synopses. The Hunger Games prequel/spin-off, Sunrise on the Reaping. follows the journey of Haymitch’s win in the Quarter Quell. The other release is Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life, where an amateur and a seasoned writer compete to pen the biography of a famed woman a la Taylor Swift’s The Last Great American Dynasty.
Speaking of Taylor, the singer is releasing a tour book for The Eras Tour in November, including behind-the-scenes photos of rehearsals and tour life, alongside anecdotes and thoughts penned by her. What’s even more interesting is, like her concert movie released direct to theatres, Swift is once again eliminating the middle man and going straight to the audience by publishing the book herself!
Sound off
Lady Gaga has changed the letter case of some of her song titles on Spotify, indicating the name of her 7th studio album!
Bruno Mars and Blackpink’s ROSÉ new song, APT. is out now!
The deluxe version of Gracie Abrams’ album, The Secret of Us is out, including a rumoured song about boyfriend Paul Mescal, called ‘Packing It Up’.
Listicles
The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg’s annual Oscar predictions list is out, with Ralph Fiennes and Angelina Jolie being the top contenders for Best Actor and Actress. See the full list for all the categories here.
Billboard continues to update its Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century list, reaching up to #9, bestowed to Ariana Grade. Here is the rest of the list.
In memoriam
Former member of One Direction, singer Liam Payne died in Argentina, aged 31, after falling from his hotel room. Reports say the untimely death was brought on by being under the influence of a slew of drugs and alcohol. The singer got violent and as the hotel staff tried to control him, he flung himself out of the window, allegedly aiming for the pool below.
In last week’s issue, I had highlighted the attention-seeking behaviour Payne had been displaying off late, and I won’t deny that my plans for this issue were to write about his ex-girlfriend Maya Henry speaking out about Liam forcing her to get an abortion at the age of 19, with no medical supervision, or him by her side. She had also initiated a legal case against him, with many fans also coming forward of offensive online interactions with him.
His actions and the person he had become can’t be excused. But it can’t be denied that this is also a person who many, including me, have fond memories of as part of their childhood. The era of One Direction is hard to put into just a few words, but those of us who grew up with those 5 boys know that nothing can, and will compare to those moments suspended in time. Like many have expressed online, the group, that fandom and those memories always felt untouchable and pristine. None of us imagined ourselves to be so young when hearing news related to a death. This is a shock, not just to our current selves, but to the little girls and boys of our past, we had tucked away with happy memories.
The person we are mourning is not someone many of us related to in recent times, but someone who had not been that version of themselves in a long time. Grief is nuanced, you and I will know many complex and complicated people in our lives. We can, and will hold them accountable for their mistakes, but also celebrate them and their lives for the rest of who they were. The two truths can co-exist.
Equally, fame is tricky. It doesn’t exempt anyone from erroneous behaviour and actions, but it’s also something only a select few in the world understand and even fewer learn how to effectively grapple with. The least we can do is give Liam grace in his passing, as we look back on a film reel of the last decade and then some of the good times. Some will be quick to judge and question the parasocial relationship but the account, shityoushouldcareabout said it best, “Just because you never spoke to them doesn’t mean they didn’t in some way speak to you - a loss is a loss, and no one can tell you differently.”