Pop Culture Mondays/10.23.23
The “It’s Britney, Bitch” Edition
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies. I am not going to lie…I am still having difficulty getting my head back into the PCM game. I didn't do a podcast last week mainly due to travel, or that’s my excuse. But really, I am worn out. Are you worn out? The discourse online AND offline is just heartbreaking. The anti-semitism is heartbreaking. The loss of life is heartbreaking. The ignorance is heartbreaking. The crazy opportunists like Shaun King, who at BEST is nuts and trying to put him at the CENTER of this horrible moment in time and make himself look like a hero at others expense … or, at worst, is actually a conduit to Hamas and therefore should be investigated by the FBI. But he is one of countless buffoons who are so lost and so obsessed with clicks and clout they have truly lost their minds.
BUT…I don’t want to make this about Israel, Hamas, and Gaza. We just need a brief break from it. Or I do, at any rate. But I thought this was a beautiful post from Ziggy Marley. No one who follows me or reads this newsletter is unaware of where I stand. I stand with Israel. And I stand with freeing people from the control of a terrorist regime. And this was perfect.
You can believe both to be true.
It is ok.
Don’t let the hate and the ignorance distract you.
But let’s move on to things like Britney and Taylor and bubble gum and sugar plum fairies or whatever.
Again, this will be a brief one. I am sitting in the TWA Hotel at JFK, and I am sorry to tell you, but this is NOT a glam place…this is like the PORT AUTHORITY of hotels. Instagram pictures and posts be damned….it is whatever the opposite of sexy is. So let me get through this (I am UNMEDICATED, which is pretty miraculous considering my surroundings), and then I shall hop on my plane back to LA and forget this moment in time as quickly as possible.
(SORRY TWA HOTEL, but it’s a NO for me.)
Hopefully, you are in a much more comfortable and sexy location WHILST reading this….grab some headphones and some chips or candy or popcorn…and enjoy.
THE WOMAN WE NEED:
Guys. I know Kara Swisher literally has her Burn Book coming out next year…but it SEEMS that Miss Spears has dropped her OWN burn book, if you will. Officially dropping on TUESDAY (BUY IT HERE), The Woman in Me is already a bestseller…and for good reason. Our girl is not holding back. I mean, I assume she has the MOST incredible editors because if you follow her on Instagram, ADMITTEDLY, she is a bit hard to follow. She is dancing with knives and posting rambling thoughts, and while it seems like she is NOT well, she is also free to make her own decisions…something that was not the case for a long time.
And this Insta sums up what we should expect, and I AM HERE FOR IT:
Oh, and I should mention especially as I have heard from several VERY excited people about this…THE AUDIBLE….The Audible version is read by….
YESSSS GURL. Get yourself an incredibly talented OSCAR-award-winning actress to read YOUR book. HIGHLY recommend. I cannot wait for this tbh. Now, there are some nuggets that have dropped already, and let’s just say…Justin Timberlake, ONCE again, is not having an awesome moment.
We will get to that.
Our girl Brit turned to Insta to manage some of that, I guess…
I have bought the hard copy AND will buy the Audible…I am ALL in.
So, let’s get to what we DO know.
Britney has revealed that she got pregnant by JT when she was just 19, and claims he pressured her to get an abortion because he was not ready to be a father. I mean, look…they were YOUNG. So I totally understand the thinking…but the Internets sees this as Britney being pressured into getting an abortion that she did not want…and THAT my friends…is a no no. Especially when she writes:
“To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life.”
Let’s see how the socials responded.
And this is the video this TikTok is referencing which everyone now connects to her being devastated over her abortion:
I loved this video. And yeah, if you know me, you will NOT be shocked that Stephen Dorff is SO my type.
ALEXA, SHOW ME A PICTURE OF A RED FLAG.
I digress.
But the video and song are great and sad, and now more sad after reading the excerpt from the book.
Britney also revealed that JT broke up with her via a simple text after she had made out with someone. The text?
“It’s over!”
This one killed me:
And finally, MY FAVE:
We got you, Britney.
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT:
We have a few more things to check out to distract us. It's a quick PCM this week…but one that packs a punch.
LOVE ON TIKTOK:
All of TikTok became obsessed with this potential love story that unfolded on the app.
HOT right? People loved it:
Well, the creator then posted a story time about that night and said there would be no part 3 because she hadn’t found the guy and asked the Internet to do its thing.
And?
The Internet DID its thing.
And responses were AMAZING:
He went to find her:
MAN…I am invested. We all are. Also, the eyes…THE EYES. Woo boy. My heart.
LOOK AT MY SON!
I am unabashedly a Hamilton person. Don’t care what you say, I know every word to every song and listen to the music alllll the time. So, I love me a TikTok Hamilton trend.
Add cats being dumb?
LOVE IT MORE.
There are a million more…I have watched them all.
SNL BRINGS IN THE A TEAM:
Since SNL started, it has had to come up with live shows in crazy times and figure out a way to deal. Last week, we saw the show hosted by Pete Davidson, who I THOUGHT did a tremendous job in navigating the moment. This week…we have moved on a bit. The host was Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, the incredible singer/rapper from Puerto Rico. Also rumored boyfriend of Kendall Jenner. Yawn.
Bad Bunny is incredibly talented. But…he doesn’t speak perfect English. So, they brought in some reinforcements. Who were all incredible.
Bad Bunny is a MASSIVE artist. Spotify announced this the other week:
But let’s look at some of the other things that people are talking about.
This was an unhinged sketch that I loved…and wait for the surprise.
I mean, MICK is 80. 80. Dear sweet Jesus. Still sexy AF. I once had the privilege of being at a dinner party with Mick, and that man cleared the table…like he asked me if he could take my plate. “Are you done love?” he asked.
WHAT IS SEXIER THAN THAT??
And lastly, on SNL…the best Jada Pinkett-Smith “analysis” out there:
MORE MUSIC…
THE WATER SONG:
Have you heard of Tyla? She is a beautiful and talented South African singer who has a hit song, and I mean HIT song, called “Water,” and it has a dance that goes with it, and it has gone viral. First, let me explain…this TikTok has 95 MILLION VIEWS. Think about that for a minute.
It has inspired “The Water Challenge,” which she gives tips on how to do:
Here she is up close doing it:
Here are some examples of others attempting it:
And now another trend has kicked off…women trying to test their partners on whether they KNOW what comes with the song, aka they have watched her dance a LOT.
Love it all so much. Man, I wish I could dance.
ENRIQUE IGLESIAS:
Remember him? He, I guess, is on tour with Pit Bull and Ricky Martin (The TRILOGY TOUR)…and it’s not going so well for Enrique. Either the auto-tune failed, or he has not been kind to his voice. The TikToks have been brutal.
He has worked around it, though…by not singing:
AND a brief Taylor/Travis Update:
The NFL continues to win the lottery…Tay Tay is BACK in Kansas City, and we are all celebrating.
MOST especially the NFL…this is from the NFL’s TikTok. THINK ABOUT THAT!
AND this from the NFL:
Oh wait….AND this from the NFL:
OK, you get it.
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
So there you have it. I took a break from the world falling apart for a minute. I am also not an expert, but I do find the time to read and educate myself. The problem is SO much of the noise is coming from NPCs, you know what I mean?
You might not.
An NPC is a term your kids or employees are VERY familiar with…I grew up in the gaming world, so it’s always been a part of vernacular. Officially it stands for NON-PLAYER CHARACTER, meaning a character that isn’t controlled by the player themselves, and who usually populate the fictional world of the game.
But now, in today’s world, an NPC is a way of describing people who don’t think for themselves or are perhaps behaving predictably.
DON’T BE AN NPC. That’s my guidance.
And connected, in a way, is the best book I have read in a while, and if you have not read it…READ IT. It’s BRILLIANT. Whether you like the gaming world or have no interest…it matters NOT!
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Xx,
Brooke
