Hello prettybusy friends! It’s Sunday again, so here’s your weekend cultural digest, Culture over Coffee, where we discuss pop culture news and happenings you may have missed throughout the week, such as Jersey Shore’s DJ Pauly D’s attire at last weekend’s Stagecoach festival:
Not enough people are talking about the 20 year anniversary of iconic gymnastics movie Stick It this week, and I just need to know if you all watched it on repeat at sleepovers in 2006 or was that just me and my sister?
Top 4 Cultural Moments of the Week that you may have missed:
Wedding bells: It’s all but confirmed by the couple, but Harry Styles and Zoe Kravitz appear to be engaged. This is notable due to the lack of fanfare (literally, the fans don’t seem to care, myself included) despite the appearance of a giant ring on her finger last week. If you’re an early reader of this newsletter, you know I’m currently battling the ick in relation to Harry Styles, so while I would’ve expected to feel any type of way about this surprise engagement, I truly feel nothing but impressed that Zoe Kravitz has gotten 3 famous men to propose to her. Harry and Zoe have only been together for 8 months, and I haven’t forgotten that they publicly claimed (via TMZ) that they were just friends with benefits back in September, and now they’re reportedly headed down the aisle.
Harry Styles, 32, of One Direction fame, has a history of dating older women (Olivia Wilde, Caroline Flack, and now Zoe) and released his highly anticipated album this year with a major (read: expensive) tour to follow this fall. Zoe Kravitz, 37, daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, is a noted actress and singer. Most recently she was engaged to Channing Tatum, like, 2024 recently, after divorcing actor Karl Glusman in 2021 (you can read all about her love life here). Channing apparently has been posting cryptic messages on IG following People magazine’s confirmation of her engagement to Harry. He’s 46 btw.
credit to backgrid
Beyonce watch: Beyonce dropped a carousel of new photos on her IG and website, seemingly denoting the start to her new Act III era. She’s pictured in a rich purple gown, reminiscent of her iconic yellow Lemonade dress, and people are making connections to Prince (hello rumored rock era!). Stay tuned this week to see if the delulu Beyhive fans were right and we’re getting a single from the new album on or around the Met Gala on Monday. Bonus rumor: there’s an old clip of Destiny’s Child with Stevie Nicks in the photo dump on Beyonce’s website, and people are speculating that they’re going to collab on the new album.
credit: beyonce’s ig obvi
Women in Music news roundup: Girls Trip, Zara Larsson’s remix album of last year’s Midnight Sun has finally arrived and it’s actually life changing. I didn’t know I needed a Zara + Kehlani R&B collab but now I can’t live without it. Speaking of, Kehlani released her 5th studio album, which is self titled, and it’s getting a ton of buzz. Demi Lovato is on tour, doing the nostalgia thing everyone’s been doing and bringing “throwback” celebrities on stage with her to sing like Joe Jonas and JoJo (of Leave, Get Out, not Siwa). Hilary Duff is the face of fitness app Ladder’s new campaign, and made headlines for saying she wants to be strong rather than thin (because it’s the 90’s again in Hollywood these days). Doechii and Lady Gaga collaborated on a song for the new Devil Wears Prada movie and released an amazing music video with tons of call backs to Gaga’s early career. Sabrina Carpenter and Madonna released a song following their performance together at Coachella a few weeks ago.
i meannnn come on, so iconic!
Political corner (I KNOW, but I can’t be the only one with this knowledge):
Everyone’s already forgotten about the “assassination attempt” on Trump’s life at the White House Correspondant’s Dinner last Saturday, and Trump famously still hasn’t forgiven Biden for beating him in the 2020 election, so that’s not suspicious at all.
Speaking of, Trump said he won’t be wearing a bullet proof vest after surviving three assassination attempts because he doesn’t think he can “handle looking 20 pounds heavier.” He also posted himself as Jesus in AI-generated pictures to his personal “twitter” website, Truth Social, and shook the hand of his cabinet members instead of allowing King Charles III to do so during the King and Queen of England’s visit to the White House this week. The King of England addressed the US Congress in a historic speech lasting 30+ minutes and full of subtle (read: British) jabs at Trumpism, such as reminding Congress “executive power is subject to checks and balances.”
Don’t get me started on the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act…
This weekend Spirit Airlines suddenly shut down operations. Like, the whole airline. Leaving 17000 people out of a job. They cited the rising cost of engine fuel due to the stupid war Trump has waged on Iran, blocking the shipping of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, as a huge reason for the sudden closure (in addition to failed government bailout talks). Also, Jetblue’s founder is hinting that they could be next if this war continues… I’d expect all airline prices to keep going up for the foreseeable future 🫠
lol i wonder what happened to her (she’s a comedian btw)
Honorable mentions from the week:
The Devil Wears Prada 2 was finally released, and it was reportedly really good (surprising for a sequel these days but not for Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway IMO). Ariana Grande announced her eighth studio album, Petal, coming this summer. Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby this weekend and I’m only including it because the horse was trained by a woman and she became the first female horse trainer to ever win the race. Kacey Musgraves released her anticipated album Middle of Nowhere, which she has said “was largely inspired by the Mexican community,” so I’m going to have to dig into that this week because I dropped off her train after Golden Hour.. (quick research: It’s because she’s from Texas, but can confirm she’s not Mexican. She’s also been getting support from some of the Mexican community for this album). Lastly, Megan thee Stallion has ended her Broadway run a few weeks early, with May 1st her final show, and Cardi B was in attendance for support.
i literally cant stop thinking about this.
Best Tiktoks of the Week:
One cat one: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8pJa3fQ/
One dog one: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8pJNcpN/ (he must be so pumped for the new Haley Williams tour)
Astrology/Energy for the week…
We just had the Full Moon in Scorpio on May 1st, so we should still be in the “shadow period” of that transit for the next few days. If you want to know what this full moon means for your sign specifically, Cosmo actually has a great article about it. Energetically & astrologically, all my fave astrologers & Tiktok energy readers have been warning about this April-May period bringing volatility and demanding deep rest from us. All we can do is find joy any which way we can, for me, a Taurus whose birthday is coming up this Wednesday, that means laying down with luxurious blankets, delicious and delectable meals, seeing fantastic shows around NYC, and hugging my dearest friends close. Come back to what brings you joy, and infuse that as much as possible this week!
Shameless plug: prettywell retreats
If you didn’t know, I’m a yoga teacher in addition to all of the other many things I do, and I’m building out my plans for yoga and wellness retreats (I just put down the deposit for my first one in May 2027 👀 ). If that’s something you’d be interested, get on the waitlist now to be among the first to find out where we’re going, and when!
we survived another week <3
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