Okay so it’s Sunday afternoon and we hope you have had a great weekend so far. Sorry that the letter wasn’t in your inbox on Friday—we’ll be back to the regular schedule this week. In the meantime, we hope the content of this week’s letter held ward off your Sunday Scaries. 💕

This week, Daysia is obsessed with those Iggy Azalea DMs and she has a pressing question after listening to “deja vu.” Meanwhile, Hannah can’t get over this NYT profile of Lena Dunham and shouts out Olivia Rodrigo’s “Diary of a Song.” Yes, we are proud Livies here at Pop Cult. 😌

Also we have a “Where Was Their Team?” to marvel over a tweet by Kerry Washington that captures the news of recent celebrity deaths (DMX, Prince Philip)—it’s really doing the most. 

<3

Daysia and Hannah 

This Week's Fixations

What's taking up our brain space this week?

Daysia: Alright, I’m keeping it (relatively) short and sweet today, babyyy. This week I’m obsessed with: Lucky Blue Smith’s Very Messy, Very Mormon family dynamic, Demi Lovato is here, queer, and ALIVE, Kehlani came out as lesbian on Instagram Live 💖, what’s the difference between hot ugly and ugly hot celebs?, and IGGY AZALEA's DMs from verified accounts ☠️ (who is asking to kiss the inside of her butthole??? do we think that this tweet is right? 😭😭😭).

ALSO, after listening to “deja vu” many times over the past week, I just have one question… 

Did Sabrina Carpenter know who Billy Joel was before meeting Joshua Bassett? I find it very hard to believe that she didn’t, but here’s my line of thinking, assuming that “deja vu,” like “drivers license,” is speculated to be about Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter. 

Olivia Rodrigo sings “And I bet that she knows Billy Joel / ’Cause you played her "Uptown Girl",” implying that the new girl didn’t know who Billy Joel was before Rodrigo’s ex showed her (and Rodrigo showed him Billy Joel, so this mystery woman wouldn’t know about him if it weren’t for her!). But… Sabrina Carpenter is several years older than Olivia Rodrigo… and I imagine her parents taught her who Billy Joel is? I feel like someone younger than Rodrigo might not know but Carpenter must know? She’s old enough to know and she’s also in the music industry? Obviously this song could just be a generic love song but I have been thinking about this all week. So much so that I called Who? Weekly about it... to no response ):

Hannah: There have been many things that Lena Dunham has said that have left me completely baffled but the most recent thing was a quote that appeared in a New York Times piece about her and her new clothing line (we’ve also included it in “Too Many Tabs” this week). The quote was about her perspective on body positivity (I think? Jury is still out). Overall, the piece was fine and even when you read the full quote in the piece it makes a little bit more sense but the pull quote I saw on my timeline left me completely confused. Like it’s just such a nonstatement? I have no idea what she is trying to say. And what makes it particularly hilarious to me is that it’s in the New York Times design treatment. I’m not sure why it gets me but it just makes me laugh!

For the record the collection only has five pieces in it, and Dunham gives the following explanation for the low number: “I’ve totally given up on the idea of being any type of impresario or person who had something to say to everyone.” Okay! Again, not really sure what that means but I have made a promise to myself to not get too invested in Lena Dunham. 

This whole thing also reminds me of when the New York Times wrote about Ella Emhoff (model and stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris) and her limited knitwear collection which had—yup, you guessed it—five items (except there were only one of each item). Five seems to be the magic number! 

Switching gears, if you haven’t already I highly recommend watching Olivia Rodrigo’s “Diary of a Song” for “drivers license.” She’s so genuine and it was really interesting to learn about some of the lyric changes (like it was originally “brunette girl” instead of “blonde girl” 👀). I’m really excited for her full album to drop next month! 

Where was their team?

This week's celebrity PR flop

Friday was a big day for celebrity deaths with the families of both DMX and Prince Philip announcing they had died. Both had an enormous impact on culture but in very different ways. Social media was filled with condolences but I think Kerry Washington’s (now deleted) tweet takes the cake. Luckily, Daysia managed to catch a screenshot: 

Aside from the chaotic content of the tweet (well, really the rhetorical question) the fact that it’s from Kerry Washington is what adds a whole different level of chaos. Despite the title of the show she led for four seasons, Washington is usually not caught up in controversy. The recent headlines about her before this tweet were about her jumping into a pool in her dress she was wearing for the virtual SAG awards and a selfie where her skin looked good. Unfortunately, it seems like Washington’s team will be busy for the next couple of days and it likely won’t be fielding offers from skincare companies. Like I mentioned, the tweet was deleted and I haven’t seen a statement from Washington about the tweet but I feel like she probably learned the important lesson to think before you tweet. And as long as she doesn’t do a Notes app apology I’m sure she’ll be fine.

Has Lorde dropped a new album?

No, but she's alive! Look:

To which we say:

In the meantime, listen to Doja Cat and SZA’s sexy new collab “Kiss Me More” or, of course, Fearless (Taylor's Version).

Too Many Tabs

Our fav reads of the week

The Atlantic’s Spencer Kornhaber wrote about Demi Lovato’s docuseries and our culture’s obsession with observing pop stars’ most intimate and human moments.

Vanessa Friedman interviewed Lena Dunham about her new clothing line for the New York Times and it is… peak Lena Dunham.

For Vogue’s May cover story, Doreen St. Félix talked to Amanda Gorman about her astronomical rise, word choice, writing, a little bit of TV (of course!), and what’s next. 

Sarah Manavis explored the world of Tattle Life, an online forum for UK influencer gossip, for the New Statesman.

Plus, Regé-Jean leaves Bridgerton, the pandemic made theaters more accessible, Jill Biden = Moira Rose, and a new show about a women’s porn mag feat. Jake Johnson!