Intro for September 25, 2026

Dear Gossips,

Today is a holiday in many parts of East Asia. Chinese people call it Mid-Autumn Festival, the North American equivalent would be Thanksgiving. It’s a time of gratitude and appreciation – for the harvest, for the bounty if we’re lucky, for life and what feeds us.

In the spirit of the benevolent giving moon, today this space is dedicated to our site manager, Emily, who we are thankful for every day. Emily’s favourite artist is Brandi Carlile who she saw in concert last week. Not only was she barricade… she showed up on Brandi’s Instagram, ON THE GRID.

Not only was Emily seen by her idol, she was seen to the point where a photo of her and her partner, having the time of their lives, was publicly shared by the idol… and it just happens to be the most perfect, most beautiful, most CINEMA photo of all time – it’s a miracle that Emily is even functioning because if that were me and my fave, I would have expired by now.

Fortunately for us, Emily is here, as she always is: our constant lovely moon, glowing with goodness and gayness.

And on that note, Brandi was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week talking about the saddest gayest songs, and then pivoting to her own song “Church and State”, going full lover nerd on the First Amendment.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jimmy Kimmel Live (@jimmykimmellive)

Now here’s a deluxe version of an album out today that’s actually worth it – Brandi Carlile’s Returning to Myself (Sad Gay Version) is available now with sad gay versions of the original tracks from the album, including "Church and State", which she performed live on Kimmel.

Here's Brandi on The Today Show this morning in New York.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey