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  • Please Please Please enjoy this week's edition | Pop Recap #10

Please Please Please enjoy this week's edition | Pop Recap #10

Author

Katrina
August 25, 2024

Happy Sunday to my fellow fans of pop culture! We are back with another week of entertainment news. From AI movie reviews to the new Sabrina Carpenter album, we are getting into it today. Let’s start by looking at some of this week’s biggest trending topics…

Sabrina Carpenter has released her sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet. With a runtime of just 36 minutes, the project is very short; but only sometimes sweet. As the follow-up to Carpenter’s 2021 project, Emails I Can’t Send, this album feels a lot like a sophomore album for the former Disney star. It’s her second release with Island Records and the second installation of what feels like an image and sound completely different from her first four projects. Carpenter has mastered a pop persona that equals exuding confidence while being playfully snarky - a characteristic we saw crafted with her various cheeky, raunchy outros done in live performances of her hit single “Nonsense.” The lead singles from Short n’ Sweet, “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” smashed records and became songs of the summer. With all eyes on Carpenter, many wondered if the new studio album would live up to the rising hype.

The Best: “Taste” is a playful opening to the album that uses an already familiar song concept of leaving a mark so strong on an ex that his new girl feels it too. “Bed Chem” is a reminder that one of Carpenter’s winning qualities is her quirky, playful and flirty lyrics filled with innuendos and quick references. Other high points on the album include “Juno,” which I believe could be the next single, “Good Graces,” and closing track “Don’t Smile,” which effectively ends the album in line with its tone, as Carpenter literally references an end by singing “don’t smile because it happened, cry because it’s over.” 

Might Grow On Me: “Coincidence” is a track that almost made my “not feeling it” category. To me, the track is fairly lackluster, but its saving grace is its bridge, which is coincidentally one of the strongest bridges on the entire project. “Slim Pickins” is another song I want to love but haven’t been able to fully yet. Carpenter’s vocals suit a country sound so well that I kind of wish she dialed down the pop and leaned more into the Western tone on this track. Doing so may have switched up the cohesiveness of the album, but to be fair, other tracks like “Don’t Smile,” also lean into other genres a bit more heavily. 

Not Feeling It: “Sharpest Tool” starts well but builds up to a chorus that's ultimately a little disappointing. I think it’s interesting because I have found that I prefer Carpenter’s vocals on more upbeat songs instead of ballads, but this was a track that I wish she slowed things down for.

Personally, I’d rate this album a 3.5/5. While Short n’ Sweet isn’t perfect, it's whimsical, upbeat and a fitting entry aligned with Carpenter’s sassy pop persona. Its bite-sized runtime makes the catchy package easily digestible and repeatable. 

  • Lionsgate released a trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s upcoming Megalopolis film, except they made one huge mistake. They used fake quotes from critics in the trailer and got caught!!! The original trailer featured quotes that were negative in nature about Coppola’s previous films. My understanding is that their intention was to create a narrative that despite critics bashing Coppola’s older movies when they first came out, they stood the test of time and are well-regarded “classics” today. For context, Megalopolis received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics after it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, so my guess is they were trying to imply the pattern would follow with Coppola’s new flick. My question was…why did they think the real people they referenced wouldn’t catch on to this? Why even draw attention to the bad reviews? Well, it turns out the reviews were AI-generated. Lionsgate ultimately had to issue an apology statement for the error and they fired the marketing consultant responsible. If anyone wants to check out the Megalopolis trailer with the fake reviews, it’s still on YouTube.

  • Chappell Roan is making headlines after sharing a series of videos and messages on social media regarding the boundaries she wants to set between her on-stage persona and personal life, and the concerns she has after fans have invaded her privacy. Unfortunately, this has become a controversial discussion online for the past week. My thoughts on it? A woman asking for people to not stalk and harass her should never be controversial. I think a lot of people are taking Roan’s statements to mean she doesn’t appreciate or respect her fans, but the reality is this type of behavior isn’t done by true fans. Fans who really respect the artists whose music they love wouldn’t participate in actions that could cause that artist to literally break down and stop creating. I’ve also seen a lot of comparisons of Roan to other artists and their public interactions. But it's truly up to each individual person how they wish to interact their audience. Every artist doesn’t have the same personality. Some people love the attention that fame brings them, they pose for the paparazzi and spend hours signing autographs in public. Others simply wish to be left alone, and that’s where Roan stands. I think it's really great of her to stand her ground about what she is comfortable with, so early in her career. She went from having less than 1 million monthly listeners to over 50 million in just about six months. That rise in fame, so fast, has to be overwhelming for anyone. I do, however, wonder how these comments will actually shift things within celebrity culture in the long run. I think normal people and fans who care have the ability to adjust their behaviors. But crazy people who already think things like stalking are okay have a tendency to do so, even when told no.

  • Ted Lasso may be getting a fourth season?!? I thought this show was over, so I’m really confused by this news - but maybe it's because I was not caught up on the show and simply assumed it had a complete ending. I definitely remember it being marketed as having an end, but so many prestige television shows ended last year, so I may be getting mixed up. Apparently, a Season 4 may actually be happening, and Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein and Jeremy Swift are reportedly returning. No word yet on whether Ted Lasso himself, Jason Sudeikis, will be back, as the trio above were under contract and Deadline is reporting that the studio is just now reaching out to cast members whose contracts previously expired. 

  • Season 6 of Love Island USA. was the most watched season of the series yet, and the romantic bunch from this summer reunited in a tell-all special earlier this week. I’m typically a regular viewer of this show but somehow I decided not to watch this season and missed what was apparently the best one yet. Let me know your thoughts on the reunion special if you tapped into the drama and whether it's worth going back to watch now even though the internet hype is dying down on social media.

  • Chick-Fil-A is starting a streaming service?!?! The company has reportedly been working with major production companies and studios to create and license family-friendly content. I’m so confused about the point of this and what kind of shows the fast food chain intends to create. Will we get animated shows about overly friendly cows? A reality show documenting how their staff members are trained to be super positive? Right now, the question everyone definitely wants to know the answer to is - will the service be available on Sundays?

  • The “Baby” singer now has a baby. Justin Bieber has announced the birth of his son with his wife Hailey Bieber. Congratulations to the two of them, but now this song is stuck in my head ⤵️

Let’s get into more of this week’s trending stories! 

  • Jordan Fisher, Maia Reficco, Phillip Boykin are staying way down in Hadestown a little bit longer. The trio has extended their runs in the hit Broadway show through January 12, 2025. 

  • John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands, Adrian Blake Enscoe and Wayne Duvall are officially set to lead the Avett Brothers jukebox musical Swept Away on Broadway. The four originated their roles in the show’s pre-Broadway runs in Berkeley, CA and Washington D.C. in 2022 and 2023.

The next edition of Pop Recap will be out next Sunday.

Listen to the latest episode of the Fan Fave podcast all about my time at Lollapalooza now and make sure to stay connected with the Fan Fave community on social media. 

xx Katrina