It’s a very special day because today is the one year anniversary of Pop Cult! Thank you so much for reading our letter every week, it means the world to us. 🥺❤️

This is a passion project for us that existed for the longest time just in our brain(s) and iMessage chat but we eventually made it a reality. We’d also like to thank Google Docs and, of course, celebrities for being ridiculous and doing the most. 

In this anniversary issue, Daysia treats us to some gems that were cut from past letters and Hannah reminisces on her favorite Pop Cult moments. 

Here’s to another year of Pop Cult and we’d love to hear what you’d like to see in future letters (tweet us @popcultletter). 

<3

Daysia and Hannah

This Week's Fixations

Daysia: Over these past 52 issues, there were a lot of celeb write-ups that I scrapped or replaced with more newsworthy events. However, I kept most of the drafts I wrote, as a sort of record for B-to-D-list celebrity news that happened throughout the year. Here are some things that I (and maybe you) forgot happened this year: 

1. Former UK Love Islander Lucie Donlan, aka the pick-me MENACE of season 5, was mistaken as an anti-vaxxer after this screenshot of her became a viral meme. As much of a misunderstanding as this was, I would not have been surprised if she was anti-vax, considering some of the terrible stuff she’s done in the past. It felt on brand, ok! It was also a very funny mistake.

2. A question that’s been on my mind for years now: Where in the world is Bridgit Mendler? Well, she’s literally in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Doing what? Working on a JD AND PHD—at Harvard Law and MIT, no less! 

So the real question is, where’s the new music? Miss Mendler, who has given us such iconic tracks as “Hurricane” and “Ready or Not,” teased a comeback in April. It’s December… I just want to know where the track is. Or at least a release date. Please!

3. Sydney Sweeney tried to KILL me with this recreation of the iconic Sophia Loren-Jayne Mansfield photo.

4. This one’s new, but I had to sneak it in. I’m a **** for Nicholas Braun and this video does a lot for me. That’s all!

Thanks for rockin’ with us this year! We hope you’ve enjoyed reading as much as we’ve enjoyed writing. More to come in ‘22! 💖

Hannah: It’s hard for me to choose favorites when it comes to Pop Cult because I think every issue has something special—whether that’s a particularly hot take, a finely crafted sentence, or a great piece of pop culture journalism. However, there are some moments/issues that stand out to me from our first year (!) of the letter. 

In no particular order, here are some of my favorite Pop Cult memories: 

• When Lorde finally dropped an album and we started our reviews of the Solar Power tracks. Through doing these mini-reviews for the tracks, it gave me a greater appreciation for this album and since I usually listened to the track I was reviewing at least 5 times in a row. It caused me to find new favorites on the album and now I think I can say my favorite song on Solar Power is “The Path.” Plus I loved that on Solar Power Day we had a Too Many Tabs (Lorde Edition). — featured in Issue #37 and Issue #38

• There’s nothing I love better than Daysia doing a deep dive on our pop girlies and their relationship to society and the wider culture. A standout for me was her writing about Britney in light of the Framing Britney Spears documentary. — featured in Issue #11

Go off, queen!! 

• I don’t think it’s any secret how much Daysia and I love Succession, Jeremy Strong and Nicholaus Braun so loved our Christmas/birthday issue “Is Jeremy strong okay?” and when talked about Nicholas Braun’s hit song “Antibodies. Plus as we get in the holiday season I invite you to revisit our gift quiz. — featured in Issue #5  and Issue #9

• I loved it when we had our friend, Noel Gasca, do a close read of Trisha Paytas’ “I Love You Moses” music video. — featured in Issue #18

• Finally, I never thought I would be writing so much about celebrity engagements and weddings but did really enjoy writing about Ivy Getty and Paris Hilton’s weddings and, of course, the engagement of Taylor and Taylor. — featured in Issue #49 and Issue #50

I can’t wait to see what we write next year! 

Has Lorde Dropped a New Album?

In a conversation with Evening Standard’s Richard Godwin, Lorde describes the separation of her “pop part” and her “real life.” And regarding the lack of Grammy nominations for Solar Power, she’s not too concerned.

“I sort of knew it would be a bit of a strange record for people,” she says. “But I think it to be wonderful and exactly what I needed to make.”

ICYMI: Glass Animals covered “Solar Power” in BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge.

Too Many Tabs

The Sunday Times’ Camilla Long profiled Christine Quinn, a fan-favorite villain who propelled Selling Sunset into the pop culture stratosphere. 

“Adam McKay believes that personal profiles have destroyed America,” is what acclaimed director McKay wanted journalist Joe Hagan to write as the lede in his Vanity Fair profile. Hagan didn’t do this, but he did write about McKay’s new movie Don’t Look Up, the strain of success, and McKay’s creative uncoupling with Will Ferrell. 

Writer Gabe Bergado interviewed Juliana Canfield, who plays Jess on Succession, about the fanfare over her character for W.

Plus… Machine Gun Kelly accidentally stabbed himself to impress Megan Fox, Kim Petras and her music is the moment, Joshua Bassett “lives nowhere” now (aka Woodstock, NY), why do we all love the sad Roy, get to know Kodi Smit-McPhee because we’ll likely be hearing his name all awards season, and it’s the most wonderful time of the year: Netflix Christmas movies are here.