Pop Culture Mondays/4.17.23
The “FESTIVAL” Edition
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies. I am not going to lie; this week and weekend have knocked me out. I am MEANT to be in London, but thanks to the failure of SAME DAY PASSPORTS in Los Angeles, I am not. First, they are no longer SAME DAY anyway, thanks to a post-Covid world. But they aren’t TWO-WEEK Passports either, which is what I was working with. I am unsure what destroyed me more…last week’s Succession epi or my failure to procure a renewed passport.
So I am going to make it a quick one this week. We are skipping over Coachella (though Baby Yoda pays HOMAGE to it today) in so much as you get it — every influencer and actor and someone you know is there. There is fashion and make-outs and the biggest drama seems to be influencers are turning on one another by calling out their peers who are not at the actual festival and instead are taking a ton of photos at influencer events in Indio but not actually at the festival. YOU GET ME? The only thing I am going to point out is that Rosalia is one of the greatest artists we have in the world right now and she was TRIUMPHANT at Coachella:
Rosalia is a 30-year-old Spanish megastar who likely many of you reading this are unaware of, but trust me, your kids are very aware. I am SO happy to see her get her moment with a US audience at Coachella.
But for the rest of it, let’s just move through it quickly because it’s that kind of week. From Love is Blind killing Netflix last night or the Dalai Lama tongue kissing a little boy or how AI is now impacting the music world OVER night, let me break it all down for you.
In case you missed me breaking down Logan Roy’s swift departure from Succession last week and the term DRAMATURGICALLY taking over our brains, check out last week’s pod:
Grab some headphones. And if you are popping Psilocybin mushrooms on the reg, then go and grab those suckers and enjoy.
Xx,
Brooke
WE ARE DOOMED:
Look, I don’t say this lightly, but the speed at which AI is developing and being adopted is astounding. And I am someone who has made her entire career about the innovation and evolution of technology, and yet…I am like…NOT ok with what is happening. And the potential for what WILL happen is mental as we are only in the NEWBORN stage…we still have infant and toddler stages to go, and let’s not forget about the TERRIBLE TWOS and do we even want to imagine what the pre-teen and teen years of AI will look like? WILL WE EVEN BE HERE as humans at that point?
The only way to change my mind on any of this is if AI comes in and figures out a way to keep pets alive for 50 years. Like if you can come in and AI can ensure me Potato the dog lives as himself in dog form for another 40 years, then I will support you, AI. I will have your back. UNTIL THEN, however….
We are here. And that is in a place where over the weekend, some AI-generated music went viral. A new song by Drake and The Weeknd came out, which many people thought got leaked until it was “revealed” it was made by this TikToker called “Ghostwriter977” who published it and I would share the OG but the video cannot be shared. But here it is captured on Twitter:
And a creator who breaks it down.
I put “revealed” in quotes as there are still a lot of people who believe this is a hype move BY Drake and The Weeknd and all done on purpose. As of now, we do not know anything for sure, but the Internet and the music biz have lost their minds. And with good reason. What this means for artists, for IP for publishing and trademarks — it is truly bananas to think about it. You tell AI to make you a song that sounds like Taylor Swift and Kanye duetting…I mean the horrors are endless. You can listen to the whole song here…I cannot lie…It might be my favorite Drake song. 🫣
The song has over 20 million streams across multiple platforms. THINK ABOUT THAT. Overnight a new legal industry has been created. I mean I do remember the beginning of Napster days and how my friends in big bands were horrified, and rightfully so, about what was happening and how they were not getting paid. It changed the music business overnight and we are here again.
I think Beeple’s take is dead on:
Lots of coverage is coming out on this in the last 24 hours:
Also, this song that came out is not the first time Drake has been re-created using AI. Last week, news came out about Drake being on a track by artist Ice Spice which was AI generated:
The great news here is LIVE WILL BE AMAZING. Nothing more authentic than seeing the real artist playing real music. So there is that upside.
THIS IS RALPH YARL:
This is a terrible story and one that has gotten a hold of a nation not really because of news media but because of the big spotlight both demonstrators and celebs have put on it…otherwise, it would likely not have been front-page news which is shocking. Ralph is a 16-year-old in Kansas City, Missouri, who went to pick up his younger siblings from a friend’s house. He didn't have his phone on him and he got the address messed up and rang the wrong doorbell which was just one block from where he was meant to be. The owner of the residence for which Ralph RANG THE DOORBELL, was a white man in his 80s who, of course, had a gun and opened the door and shot Yarl. In the head. And then when he was down on the ground, he shot Yarl AGAIN. And the shooter?
WAS NOT ARRESTED.
The miracle at this point is Ralph Yarl is still alive and being treated by an amazing team of doctors and nurses and we hope this turns into a survivor story. We should also demand the shooter, despite his age, be arrested.
There is a GoFundMe which I ask you to consider contributing to:
A LITTLE THIS, A LITTLE THAT:
As I said, we are cruising through this one, SO let us look at some highlights (and lowlights) of some OTHER pop culture-y things that have gone down this week.
Remember her?
This is Victoria Jackson, who starred on Saturday Night Live from 1986–1992 and then went on to become a crazy ultra-religious homophobe and clearly needs to be under the care of medical professionals. Because here she is NOW. Good times. 🤬
And Walmart found itself in some hot water recently due to this shirt:
Did you figure out why?
No, the conservatives have not gone nuts on the message of recycling. That’s NOT IT.
Look at the first letter of each word and see what that spells.
You’re welcome.
I have written about other seasons of this show AT LENGTH and I have to be honest, as much as I love this newsletter and my readers, I just did not have it in me to watch this season. And frankly, I didn’t have to thanks to TikTok telling me all I needed to know. Who the villains were and what the storylines for everyone were and who got married and who didn’t. Save TikTok for saving ME the suffering of sitting through this awful show.
But people love to hate-watch it, and Netflix knows this so they promoted HEAVILY that the reunion show would be LIVE. Reunion shows are DE RIGUER now of all reality shows. If they were not created by Andy Cohen and Bravo, they were certainly normalized by them, and now other networks try to follow suit. So last night, the show was meant to be live, and it would have been a great feeder into the next epi of Succession which people like to watch in real-time as soon as it drops at 9 PM ET (Thanks to ALL my friends who throw spoilers around on Twitter like the way I salt my food.)
I digress.
This was the second live event NetFlix was trying out. The first was the Chris Rock special.
So here we are. But we were not. It was meant to air at 8PM ET. And…nothing happened.
And everyone got into it on the socials.
Let’s start with the brands:
And other reactions from people were hilarious:
Even AOC had thoughts:
(A reference to the seamstress who saved a wedding on the show.)
And when people did get to finally watch the show, the biggest takeaway are that the hosts, Nick & Vanessa Lachey, are the worst.
Yeah, so that didn’t go over well.
His holiness had asked the boy to “suck his tongue.”
His holiness also apparently hired Michael Jackson’s crisis PR team:
“His holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident.”
So far, nothing from his celeb devotees. Not a word.
She’s Everything. He’s Just Ken:
This meme has been trending for a bit now but I forgot to write about it last week. Seemingly a result of the Barbie movie tagline, it has become a fun one to track:
And yes, there is a lot of content and as the wise Shiv said on last night’s Succession, “I have thoughts.” But I will hold them off til next week as I just cannot write more today. Love you lots though. Lmk of content YOU are loving.
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
I wish I was sending this off from London, my favorite city in all the land. But I will get there soon enough. Instead, I will try to track down a sausage roll and have a pint and close my eyes and pretend really hard I am there.
If you aren’t already a subscriber (PLEASE PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!!! to MEDIUM) and please do SHARE this with all your friends as I am trying to grow this little thing…BUT IF you want this in your inbox for NOW, please send an email to:
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Xx,
Brooke
