Pop Culture

In my household, the antidote to graduating in six weeks is revisiting Degrassi: The Next Generation. Unbearably Canadian and quintessentially teen, Degrassi is a must-watch, and is even getting an HBO Max reboot soon.

Euphoria is, at its core, a tremendous piece of art. Its cinematography, soundtrack, and performances are chillingly beautiful, and it’s brought to life a cast of diverse and intricate characters unlike any seen on television before.

This season of Love is Blind comes with considerably more racial diversity than the last. It’s fun to see women of colour on reality television, living out lighthearted narratives that don’t explicitly exploit their trauma.

While fashion has taken a keen interest in head coverings, be it through balaclavas or a simple scarf, the implications for Muslim women sporting the same attire are vastly different.

The cover of The Weeknd’s newly released album, Dawn FM, provides the first hint about the themes within. The singer’s appearance resembles how most of us feel after going on three years of a global pandemic—tired and aged.  

Back in 2017, I ran down the stairs excited to tell my parents a West Side Story remake had been announced. My dad, who exclusively watched Bangladeshi soap operas and American true crime, had no idea what I was talking about.

I used to go to this day camp in the summer. It had a tube slide, but I never slid down—I climbed up. I would climb and climb, pretending I was Spider-Man. When my mom came and picked me up at the end of each day, I told her I was Spider-Man and I believed it was true.

30 reminds me of why I fell in love with Adele in the first place.

Nobody involved with the Astroworld festival disaster is innocent. 

Megan Fox is no stranger to mainstream media.

When I first heard about the launch of a new show called The Activist, I thought it was a joke. Within days of the hosts being announced, a swift firestorm of backlash was catalyzed, and CBS decided to reconfigure the proposed show into a one-time documentary special.  

In the second season of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, impulsive and charming main character Devi Vishwakumar shines, and the ground-breaking Indian American representation that captured our hearts becomes more nuanced.

Too Hot to Handle (THTH) strikes back with a new scandalous, sizzling group of contestants once again challenged with fostering emotional connections that go beyond abs and boobs—ooh-la-la.

Britney Spears hasn’t held control over her own life since 2008.

When I first heard Kehlani’s “Nights Like This,” I immediately noticed the subtle hints that she was singing about a woman. It was the bridge that piqued my interest, when Kehlani sings, “You gon’ get my hopes high, girl,” in the old school R&B voice I’ve been in love with forever.Though it may not seem like a big deal, it undeniably stood out to me, a girl whose playlists consist of Summer Walker, Jhené Aiko, Rihanna, and of course, Kehlani. I’d never heard a woman R&B singer sing openly about a queer love interest.

Shows like Too Hot to Handle, The Bachelor, and Love is Blind are inherently spectacles, but their representation—or lack thereof—impacts the way we perceive queer relationships, especially if shows reinforce damaging stereotypes surrounding the LGBTQ2S+ community.