This Week in Pop Culture: February 7, 2025
Babygirl, books, and the Grammys, plus so much more in this week's pop culture round-up.
Happy Friday, friends. We made it to February after a January that truly felt like it was three years long. No real preamble this week, but I hope you’re taking care of yourselves and finding things that spark joy. It is cold here and we’re about to get a fresh dumping of snow, so I’m looking forward to cozying up this weekend and playing games and avoiding real life. We’re hosting some family for the Big Game and I’m busy planning all the snacks I want to serve, which is really the only reason I stay in the room with the TV during football.
The Grammy Awards were this past weekend, and they were VERY fun! My husband made it about an hour-ish into the show, which is pretty good for him, but I watched the whole thing and cried multiple times, in addition to screaming for some excellent, historic wins, including Doechii for best rap album,1 and Beyonce for country album of the year AND album of the year. I highly recommend watching Doechii’s incredible performance at the show, which I of course can’t embed here, but you can watch in full at the Grammy Awards official site.
Also, Chappell Roan gave a really beautiful (and nervous) speech directed at record labels and executives profiting off artists:
The fashion of the Grammys is always fun because people go crazier than they do for things like the Emmys and the Oscars, but (usually) as balls to the wall as for something like the VMAs. The red carpet was fun, overall. Here are some of the most memorable/best looks of the night:
Chappell Roan in vintage Gaultier and Cardi B in custom Cavalli:
Beyonce in custom Schiaparelli2 and Doechii in Thom Browne:
Gracie Abrams in Chanel and Olivia Rodrigo in vintage Versace:3
Sabrina Carpenter in JW Anderson and Taylor Swift in (custom) Vivienne Westwood:4
Overall, the night was great for women, which I love to see. I always have a fun time with Grammys, even if I think Trevor Noah is boring as a host and the show ran hilariously long considering they only give out like 8 awards during the telecast.
In other news, it was announced this week that Sarah Michelle Gellar is attached to a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, and it made me gasp out loud and then screech with anticipatory joy:
Gellar would not star but would have a recurring role on the show. Joss Whedon is not involved in the reboot (and he doesn’t own the intellectual property of Buffy, so this is good news all around). This is the second time that they’ve tried to reboot the franchise, and obviously it could still not happen, but having Gellar attached is a very good sign, and I’m very excited about it!
Here’s the rest of the pop culture that took up space in my brain this week:
What I Read:
One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin: Natalie and Rob could not be more different from one another: she’s an artist, and he’s a stuffy academic. But their shared interest is that their respective best friends are getting married, and they’re in the wedding party. When Natalie discovers that Rob gave her debut novel a one-star review just minutes before the ceremony, she vows to never spend another second with him after the nuptials are over. But fate has other ideas, and the two continue to cross paths over the years.
The premise of this one didn’t exactly speak to me; there have been too many weird real-life author meltdowns over bad reviews of their books for it to seem like a cute way to tell an enemies-to-lovers story for me, but I kept seeing people whose opinions I trust say that it was good, so I finally got around to the galley copy sitting on my Kindle. And I loved this, though I recognize that it will not work some readers, and I kind of wish it wasn’t marketed as a romance, because that feels so secondary to the other things happening in the book (friendships changing as characters grow up, figuring out that life’s plans are not often linear and that dreams change). I thought the characterization was great in this, from the main characters down to the secondary and tertiary ones, and the banter often sparkles on the page. But Natalie and Rob are also total assholes, and that will be off-putting for some folks (not for me, a noted asshole). I didn’t want this one to end and cried through the last 50 pages or so. Recommended!
When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson: The Fall siblings live in California wine country with their mother after their father disappeared mysteriously years before. Dizzy, Miles, and Wynton couldn’t be more different, but when they all encounter a strange girl with rainbow-colored hair, their world tips over and they attempt to figure out why she feels so vital to them even as tragedy strikes.
This was TOOOOOOOOO LOOOOOOOOONG! I know that I make that complaint fairly often when it comes to books and movies, but boy howdy, if there was ever a time for me to make it, it would be in relation to this sometimes very brilliant and sometimes very frustrating YA novel! You will never convince me that it needed to be 520 pages (17+ hours on audio), and I will die on this hill. I have previously loved Nelson’s other YA novels, and have always liked her elaborate prose and quirky characters, but this just felt like too many ideas executed halfway, and the result was a deeply uneven reading experience. A slow start and a meandering plot with a lot of complicated, oftentimes confusing connections between characters, there were moments of real beauty in this - Nelson is unmatched when it comes to creating a sensory fever dream. I just wish it had cohered more (and was, like, 200 pages shorter, SORRY).
Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin: Enid is obsessed with space and has a crippling fear of bald men. When she’s not listening to her favorite true crime podcast, she serially dates women from the apps and trying to form a relationship with her half-sisters after the death of her estranged father. But as she starts what is her first true romantic relationship, she also can’t shake the feeling that someone is following her, and as her paranoia overtakes her, she has to reckon with whether or not something is really wrong with her.
I knew almost nothing about this book going into it, and was completely taken aback by the fact that the cartoon-ish cover belies the complex, nuanced, and moving narrative within its pages. This deeply weird, extremely memorable book hooked me from its first pages and I found myself rooting for Enid even as she spiraled further into chaos. The exploration of loneliness and anxiety were particularly compelling, and there were moments of the book where I felt seen in a way I don’t often encounter in reading fiction. Austin manages to find a balance between hard topics (and sad stuff) while also imbuing her characters with humor and warmth. A moving gem of a novel - I really loved this!
What I Watched:
Paradise, Season 1 (Hulu): When a shocking murder occurs in a wealthy community inhabited by some of the world’s richest and most prominent individuals, the tranquil community reckons with secrets come to light as the investigation gets underway.
On the surface, this show should have everything I like: Sterling K. Brown, a twisty premise, and created by the folks who brought us This is Us, one of my favorite emotional manipulation shows. But of the four episodes that have dropped so far, I find myself scratching my head because something is missing, and I can’t figure out what it is.5 Brown is unsurprisingly great (as is the camera’s commitment to show his tushy a few times), and I’ll definitely keep watching, but I can’t help but feel like something is off. It might be the pacing? It could definitely be the music, which features such silly sad-girl versions of classic rock songs that it’s actively distracting. Hoping it turns things around but I…doubt it? I’m still watching, though, so that must mean something.
Babygirl (VOD/Rental): A successful CEO who feels unsatisfied in her marriage puts her life in jeopardy when she begins an intense affair with her much-younger intern.
One of my most-anticipated movies of the year, I watched this excellent movie while literally clutching my face. The clutching was because it was so good and so weird and so tense (and horny), and because I couldn’t believe how good the performances were and how committed the movie was to creating a portrait of women, their bodies, and the regulation of both. If you see one movie starring Nicole Kidman where she enters into an affair with a younger man, make it this one - but know that this is not a romantic comedy or even really a romance so much as it is an erotic thriller (and your mileage may vary on how well that will work for you). This is one of Kidman’s best roles in recent memory, and her absolute commitment to the movie (including a couple of extremely revealing nude scenes) is remarkable. But also great is Harris Dickinson as her younger paramour. The movie was directed by a woman, and it shows in how gorgeously shot it is, and in how it’s much more interested in exploring women’s pleasure than it is in showing the nitty gritty details of a D/s relationship. I loved this but absolutely do not think it’s for everyone!
What I Listened To:
Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra”: Gaga dropped a new single during the Grammys by making a music video that was also a Mastercard ad. Her new album, Mayhem, is out this spring, and I’m very excited about the fact that it sounds much more like classic Gaga (early aughts dance music). The video is fun, too.
What I’m Looking Forward To:
Running Point (Netflix, February 27): A former party girl finds herself trying to prove herself as a serious businesswoman after she’s put in charge of her family’s pro basketball team. Kate Hudson isn’t always my favorite, but when she’s good, she’s good, and this looks…fun enough? Sure, why not!
Forever (Netflix): Two teens explore their first romance and developing identities in Los Angeles, 2018. An adaptation of Judy Blume’s wildly influential YA novel featuring Black actors? Sign me up! This drops sometime this year (date TBD), but I can’t wait.
That’s it for this week! I’ll be back next week with a quick recap of the Critic’s Choice Awards, more Oscar nominees,6 and whatever else catches my fancy. Have a good weekend, and thanks, as always, for reading.
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Doechii is only the third female rapper to win this award in the history of the Grammys!
Beyonce almost never walks the red carpet anymore (and indeed showed up to the awards show about an hour after its start time), but did take this photo backstage.
Abrams’s look was one of my least favorites of the night! It’s giving Dune meets the virgin Mary and I hate it. On the other hand, Rodrigo looks INCREDIBLE.
I do not love Taylor’s look here, though I love the corset top and the color on her (this is definitely a nod to the Chiefs). The little “T” dangling from a chain around her thigh is so funny, though.
It’s certainly not a bonkers plot, which it has in spades.
With the way that Karla Sofia Gascon has absolutely melted down in the press after her horrific tweets were uncovered, do I even need to watch Emilia Perez anymore?
OMGGGG I did not know there was going to be an adaptation of Forever <3 <3 so excited!! andddd I will watch Babygirl eventually :)
also - this is such a perfect line about what reading a Jandy Nelson book is like: "Nelson is unmatched when it comes to creating a sensory fever dream"
I need to see Babygirl!
This week I finished “Y2K, How the 2000s Became Everything“ by Colette Shade which other readers might already have on their radar. I don’t think it was entirely successful but the nostalgia certainly hit and has given me some things to chew on. There were some moments where I thought to myself: “IDK, I think Maddie could’ve done this better.”