Maria is in Vegas for Adele so I’m taking over today and my first question to you is this: are you over this f-cking mess between Selena Gomez, Hailey Bieber, and Kylie Jenner? Probably I’m in the minority because TikTok can’t seem to get enough which is why I still think that so much of this is fan and social media driven. Not all of it, but a lot of it. Anyway, supposedly both Hailey and Kylie have lost millions of followers because of this drama but when you have 49 million followers (Hailey) and over 379 million (Kylie), does a million matter? Like does follower count have real world consequences the way box office totals and streaming numbers do? 

 

Selena, meanwhile, has apparently gained followers. And she rewarded them by going fishing. 

Speaking of fan-driven drama, there’s a wild rumour out there that Liam Hemsworth might sue Miley Cyrus for disparaging him in her music. According to this website, however, the story was fan-generated. Like even the Daily Mail is calling the story “bogus” and you know if the Daily Mail is saying something is bullsh-t, it’s really, really, really full of sh-t. 

Miley’s new album, Endless Summer Vacation, drops next Friday. “Flowers” is the biggest hit of 2023 so far, a true smash. So Miley’s not bothered. She dropped the demo for the song today. We’re getting a Saturday Night Live appearance out of this album cycle, right? 

 

Fresh off her SAG win, Michelle Yeoh covers the new issue of PEOPLE and the timing is perfect because Oscar voting just started yesterday. This is such a tight race for Best Actress, the closest it’s been in years. So I really like the way Michelle’s team is running her campaign. And they got an assist from Drew Barrymore and Garcelle Beauvais yesterday, too. 

I’m not doing a standalone Outfit of the Week post this week because I’m covering for Maria and I’ll just include it here – Kerry Washington in Elie Saab, styled by Law Roach. This dress is exquisite on her. And she knows it. Also, she said the thing. You know the thing. If Miley’s “Flowers” is the song of the year so far, “Angela Bassett did the thing” is the meme of the year so far. 

 

I hope this has become a point of pride for Ariana De Bose. 

Speaking of Angela Bassett doing the thing, Bee Quammie points out that not many people can do the squat pose. This is a high degree of difficulty. You cannot second guess this serve. If you decide to drop, you better believe in it with your whole chest and all your glutes. OF COURSE it’s not a problem for Angela. 

 

And finally… as is customary when I take over this space, it’s time for BTS content. And there happens to be a LOT of it today because j-hope just dropped his new single, “on the street (with J. Cole)”. All of ARMY knows what J. Cole means to j-hope. Hobi is J. Cole’s biggest fan and he’s talked a lot about how J. Cole inspired his creative path. As he just told Variety in a new interview, J. Cole is “my idol”. They met last summer at Lollapalooza, so you can imagine how j-hope must feel to be able to collaborate with his ultimate fave. 

This is j-hope’s final gift to ARMY before he begins the enlistment process to serve mandatory military service in South Korea. Jin is now in his fourth month of service out of a total of 18 months. With j-hope going soon, the five others are likely to follow by the end of the year. 

 

But not before rolling out even more content. Jimin’s album is due out later this month. And V is currently starring in the reality series, Jinny’s Kitchen, now streaming on Prime Video. Which, as I said last week, is wild to me, because here’s a member of the biggest band in the world, working at a pop-up restaurant in Mexico as an intern. I watched the first episode last week and he’s really in the kitchen grating carrots and washing dishes, like every day, for HOURS, and regular people are just sauntering in completely unaware. Until they’re aware. Western artists just don’t do this! 

 

Jimin is now an ambassador for Tiffany & Co. One step closer to Beyoncé!

One more, JK livestream today. If he were an Oscar voter, he’d be voting for “Naatu Naatu," right?