Thirty years ago, an edgy new pop star looked set to take over the world. With her peroxide blonde hair, camo trousers and rebellious spirit, No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani seemed like a breath of cigarette-smoke-tinged air: cooler and sexier than Britney Spears, but not quite as chaotic as Courtney Love; an artist who appealed to both rock and pop fans.
No Doubt’s third album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), sold more than 16 million copies, earned the band two Grammy nominations (for best new artist and best rock album) and spawned the colossal hit single Don’t Speak. Stefani’s decision to go solo in 2004 catapulted her to the A-list, with number one singles, sold-out tours and countless magazine front covers. She was the US’s favourite cool girl, whose empowering songs formed the soundtrack of millennial adolescence. Until she wasn’t. Two decades later, Stefani has found herself with a very different identifier: enemy of liberals everywhere.
The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident. In discussing the show, “Love Story,” one of its producers explained: “Given how much we’re rooting for John and Carolyn, Daryl Hannah occupies a space where she’s an adversary to what you want narratively in the story.” Storytelling requires tension. It often requires an obstacle. But a real, living person is not a narrative device.
There is also a gendered dimension to this thinking. Popular culture has long elevated certain women by portraying others as rivals, obstacles or villains. Isn’t it textbook misogyny to tear down one woman in order to build up another?...
As Brandon Morse has been following here for the past few weeks, the lead actress in this DC-Warners feature, Milly Alcock, has been serving up audience-repelling comments on the regular, and the film’s fortunes are foundering as a result. This is not only sure to tank the profitability of the movie itself, but the future of the DC superhero universe, as helmed by James Gunn, is threatened.
Initial tracking for this title had it pegged to perform better its opening weekend than the “Mandalorian” entry, at around $80 million. In early June, those numbers were revised down to a more modest $55 million debut weekend. Contrasted with “Superman’s" bow last year at $125 million, this is a woeful prospect, and the projections have only turned more dismal.
New York Post @nypost, "Brian Austin Green admits his marriage to ex Megan Fox was led by ‘physical attraction’ https://trib.al/GP5uFqw," Really?Right now, some of you are rolling your eyes and saying "There she goes again, showing off her magnificent rack" and I just want you to know that I am not seeing the problem https://t.co/Y1XmjpeXFT
— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) July 17, 2026
At Althouse again,
Madonna shows love/"shows love."
Madonna shows love to Kylie Minogue in new Graham Norton interview:
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 27, 2026
“I was actually a little bit jealous of you…she’s so cute. I think my ex-husband at the time had a crush on her. I was like, ‘I’ll never be as beautiful as Kylie.’” pic.twitter.com/uCZixsykdH
CNN’s Zoe Sottle writes:“Choosin’ Texas,” Ella Langley’s languid heartbreak anthem about losing her cowboy sweetheart to a girl from Texas, which Rolling Stone has declared the song of the summer, is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.“What’s really happening is there’s hits in what we call subcultures,” NYU music professor Clayton Durant tells Sottle. I guess national fandom and massive radio and retail success across multiple genres is a subculture?
It depends on who you ask and, more importantly, what their algorithm serves them up.
The song – cowritten by Miranda Lambert in one mark of Langley’s country bona fides – is an undisputed hit, if charts are how you define such things. It’s spent 15 weeks at Billboard’s No. 1, making Langley just one of three women to earn that honor as solo artists and breaking the records previously held by Whitney Houston for “I Will Always Love You” and Mariah Carey for “We Belong Together.” She’s leading Taylor Swift and Drake in the charts.
So, why does it feel like people don’t know her face or name? Call it the baffling reality of music in 2026.
Grande’s cheeks appear to be sunken. Her clavicles and upper rib cage protrude. Her arms seem to be entirely lacking fat or muscle and instead to be sinew on bone. Her legs, what we can see of them, are spindly. Online, a dietitian I follow posted a hesitant video explaining that while she generally refrains from publicly commenting on other people’s bodies, she was going to use Grande’s video to educate viewers on the signs she looks for when diagnosing malnutrition at an anorexia/bulimia treatment program. The dietitian then dispassionately pointed out that Grande’s body, at least the parts that were visible, fit nearly every criterion.
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Matt Margolis at PJM,
Here's How Team Trump Got Ariana Grande to Have a Complete Meltdown
On Thursday, the Team Trump TikTok account, which has 14 million followers and has been running since before the 2024 election, posted a video of Trump walking to a rally podium set to Grande's 2024 song "We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)." Text overlaid on the video read, "Me and my truth we sit in silence...Men can't have babies and should never compete in women's sports." The caption made the point even plainer: "This shouldn't be controversial! #trump #arianagrande #maga."
...
Of course, Grande did not see any of that as up for debate. She commented on the Team Trump post, demanding that the account stop using her music and pushing back against the claims made in the video. "Never use my music again," Grande wrote. "Also, your truth is false."
I hope she finds the help she needs. We don't need any more Karen Carpenters.
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