Pop Culture Primer 12.2.24
I’ve decided to launch a new series here because why not? Since my writing is so heavily inspired by pop culture and what’s going on in the celebrity world, I thought I would put together a (weekly?) round up and share what’s been taking up space in my brain recently.
Holding Space for…Whatever This Is
If you logged onto the internet at some point between now and last week, you probably saw how everyone and their mom was talking about holding space for the lyrics of Defying Gravity. Where did it come from? A press tour interview with leads of the new Wicked movie (which is excellent and you should see it if you haven’t already), Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
The whole thing was strangely baffling. Cynthia and Ariana were weirdly emotional. The interviewer talked about how she’d seen “some posts” where people were “holding space for the lyrics of Defying Gravity” because she’s “in queer media.” Ariana held Cynthia’s finger in a very bizarre way. It all brewed up the perfect pop culture meme.
What it made me realize? I work in the humanities in higher ed, and none of what they said sounded weird to me; in fact, it made perfect sense. Maybe I need to cut back on the gender studies conferences.
The End of Eras
Unless you’re living under a rock, you’re probably aware of Taylor Swift’s iconic and record-breaking world tour. Five continents, three and a half hours, and the highest-grossing tour ever, it’s safe to say that Eras has changed the pop culture landscape.
After nearly two years, (I got tickets for my first show in 2022!) the tour is coming to an end on December 8th in Vancouver, Canada. Will she finally announce Reputation TV? Will she announce Debut TV? Will there be a double drop? Will we all still continue to be the clowns we are (very likely)? I myself attended three shows (Atlanta N3, Minneapolis N1, and Edinburgh N1), and it’s safe to say it has become a big part of my personality. After all, I’ve traveled with my friends and sisters, met new friends that I still keep in touch with, and discovered my passion for making friendship bracelets.
I will not apologize for the person I will become once this tour is over—I’m not sure what I’ll do when I don’t have a grainy livestream to watch every weekend or logging my guesses of what Taylor will wear in Mastermind, but I’m glad she’ll be able to get some rest.
What will be next for Taylor? No one knows, but I suspect she won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
Raw Milk-Gate
This story may be flying under the radar for many people, but as a Tay75 fan (Taylor Swift and The 1975 fan), it’s been all over my socials after last night.
Gabriette Bechdel, model, influencer, and fiancee of The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, posted a cooking video, which she does quite often. Innocuous enough, right? But never one to shy away from controversey, she included raw milk in her cottage pie recipe (which looked tasty as hell, might I add.).
If you’re not up to date on the zeitgeist surrounding raw milk in the U.S., I’m honestly jealous of you. Recently, it has grown in popularity and has become part of the culture war. There’s actually only one state where the selling of raw milk is completely illegal, and that’s in Louisiana. Otherwise, it’s legal to obtain it in some way throughout the United States, thought there are risks in consuming milk straight from the source.
The internet seized on her use of the milk and the speculation ran rampant. Does this mean she has specific political views? Does she know the risks of consuming raw milk? How is Matty involved in this (he was spotted taking said cottage pie out of the oven)?
Some users pointed out that she is currently in Australia, where raw milk is legal and pasteurized via cold pressed to remove bacteria. This seemed to appease most users, but others brought up that Gabriette has mentioned drinking it before.
Anyways, I’m sure she knew what she was doing including it in the video and that it would stir up chatter, and I’m curious to know if it breaks containment and becomes a bigger story.
That’s all for this week! If there’s anything specific you want me to cover, feel free to shoot me an email!
