Pop Culture Shock

A blog designed to discuss what is going on in La La Land and what it means for the rest of us peasants.

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I bet Kim is having a fourth child just to beat Kourtney and that she’ll name it Fourth West.

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Jordyn Woods is cancelled, y’all.

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Lala Kent = Fergie 20 years ago/pre-meth

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Mac Miller died today of a suspected drug overdose. He was 26 years old.

This is heart-breaking. There have been too many lives lost to substance abuse and/or mental health issues, and it is entirely preventable.

Please, if you are struggling with substance abuse/mental illness, get help. Talk to a friend, family member or therapist. If you suspect someone in your life is struggling with this, please, please reach out to them. You could be saving a life.

We must all work together to end substance abuse and mental health stigma so that everyone feels safe enough to talk about this, because opening up and talking about it is the first step to getting better. 

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WTF is going on with Lil Xan and Noah Cyrus??!!

ICYMI, I’ll try to sum up the ongoing drama as succinctly as possible (grab your popcorn): Lil Xan posted to his IG story “I feel like I’m probably being cheated on.” Next thing we know, he and Noah are broken up and Noah is posting screenshots of a text convo with Xan where she sent a photoshopped image of Charlie Puth’s head on a porn star’s body (presumably as a joke). Then Xan retaliated that the meme was not what upset him, and reposted a pic that Noah had originally posted to her IG of her with her arms around (in what looks like an innocent, friendly hug) artist Ookay, saying his girl should not touch another dude like that. THEN Noah clapped back sharing pics someone had sent her of Lil Xan with a hickey on his neck that she had NOT given him, and Lil Xan responded by saying Noah was using him to “get more poppin’” in the music industry. Yeah, OK. Everyone knows who the Cyrus family is, but had anyone even heard of Lil Xan before he started dating Noah? Excuse me, who is using who? And who is cheating on who?

In a nutshell: Lil Xan is a controlling, borderline abusive douche who cheated on Noah Cyrus and then publicly dumped and slut-shamed her.

Not cool.

I ALMOST FORGOT THE BEST PART which was Lil Xan posting a video of himself peeing on a plaque for his track “Betrayed” in a bathtub. Yeah, that happened. Can’t make this shit up.

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People were quick to criticize Ariana Grande for her outfit at Aretha Franklin’s funeral, saying her dress was too short and showed a lack of respect for the late singer. I am against policing women’s clothing in 2018 in general, but a fair comparison is that it would be equally disrespectful for a male to wear shorts to the funeral. While I agree that I would not have made the same outfit choice, Grande most likely had a stylist who made this decision for her, so we can’t really blame her. 

Disturbingly, what took people longer to criticize was the way Bishop Charles Ellis III clutched Grande’s boob for a prolonged period of time as he mocked her, while she squirmed uncomfortably at his side. He said he hadn’t recognized her name when he saw it in the program and “thought that was a new something at Taco Bell.” If Kanye West performed at that funeral, you can’t tell me that bishop would have been groping Ye’s ass or something while making fun of his name and saying that he hadn’t known who he was. The unequal treatment and physical harassment of women needs to stop. It is so deeply engrained in our culture that I bet Bishop Charles didn’t even realize what he was doing - which certainly doesn’t excuse his behavior, and in some ways makes it worse.

He should have shown a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T to the reigning queen of pop, the late soul singer, and women in general *flips ponytail over shoulder.*

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Just a healthy reminder that Ariana Grande and her brother Frankie looked pretty much like the rest of us peasants before they got the fame and money to upgrade.

Not hating on them then or now, just reminding everyone that celebrities have whole teams of people and unlimited resources to look the way they do, but that underneath it all they are mere mortals like us.

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On a recent episode of Spencer and Heidi Pratt’s podcast Make Speidi Famous Again, Amber Rose claimed that Gwyneth Paltrow is “Becky with the good hair.”

Please, please let this be true.

I’m sorry that there has to be a Becky at all, but if it’s Gwyneth Paltrow that’s the most entertaining thing she has ever done.

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I know I’m embarrassingly late to the AHS party, but did anyone else notice Kyle’s fraternity shirt in Coven foreshadowing Kai???

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If anyone else knows who they are, don’t you think Lil Xan looks like Danny Noriega/Adore Delano? #siblings

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Lil Xan, aka Mr. Noah Cyrus, pictured with and without his face tattoos.

Express yo self and all that, but does anyone else think he looks wayyyyy better without the face paint?

No hate, I love that song Betrayed.

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Kylie Jenner has removed her lip fillers.

This actually is a really big deal with a lot of cultural implications. Hear me out:

1. When Kylie tweeted that she was over Snapchat, the company lost $1.3 billion in market value. $1.3 BILLION - that’s how much this girl’s opinion is worth. Will Kylie’s decision have a noticeable effect on the plastic surgery/injectables industry? And will more women embrace a more natural look?

2. Kylie’s lip injections were problematic to begin with, not just because of her age (Kylie was underage when she first started getting injections, and therefore would have needed parental consent). A white girl rocking fake over-plumped lips can be viewed as cultural appropriation. People of color have suffered and been mocked for their natural facial features, including big lips (think offensive “black face” makeup with dark skin and large, cherry red lips) . Now that Kylie has taken the fillers out, it stands to reason that - like Snapchat - big lips will be “out.” People of color can’t just deflate their natural lips. I’m all for boosting your self-confidence and doing whatever you want to your own damn body, as long as you are working on yourself on the inside as well. But it is hard to reconcile boosting one’s self-confidence with casually trying on and taking off another culture’s look, especially when one has so much influence.

3. How will this affect Kylie’s business and her image? Kylie makes a portion of her income from her makeup line which prominently features lip kits. The models on her website all sport over-plumped pouts like Kylie’s. Will she move away from lip products? Will her website feature models with thinner lips? Will she lose income because of it, or will fans embrace the change?

At the end of the day, it is her body and her choice, and no one should tell anyone how to look. Personally I prefer a more natural look (she took out the hair extensions too!), and I think she looks awesome in this photo. I hope it is a reflection of her becoming more comfortable with herself and embracing a more “real” look.

But I also think as someone who chooses to be in the public eye she needs to be aware that her choices do have a significant cultural and even economic impact. 

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BREAKING NEWS: JUSTIN BIEBER AND HAILEY BALDWIN ARE REPORTEDLY ENGAGED!!! 💍 Excuse me while I go process/eat my feelings.

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If Corinne Olympios and Dean Unglert of Bachelor/Bachelorette/BIP fame had a baby, it would be Model Jordan from this season of Bachelorette. Can’t wait for paradise.

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***BREAKING NEWS*** JELENA IS 100% FULLY BACK ON

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Ughhhhhh this is happening and I hate it. Shawn Mendes and Hailey Baldwin are allegedly a thing now. They’re too perfect and I’m weirdly jealous of both of them and if they actually take a photo together as a couple my heart and brain might explode.

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The Weeknd and Bella Hadid are hanging out again. He was photographed leaving her apartment. Is this real life? Is 2017 even happening or are we in some weird time warp? I wonder how much of this is real and how much is just both of them getting back at Selena Gomez. Not that she cares; she’s got Justin Bieber, which I think was secretly her end game all along. If I were Bella though, I’d so not be having it. He got with Selena like five seconds after breaking up with Bella, and now he wants to come crawling back? Boy bye.