When winter arrives and snow piles up outside, a strong, familiar urge tends to overtake us: The desire to curl up with a good holiday movie. Whether with family, friends, or snuggled up alone, the act feels mandatory. Even solitary viewings feel like a communal experience, one grounded in shared[Read More…]
Tag: pop rhetoric
KATSEYE represent exploitation masked as progress
Since their 2023 debut, KATSEYE have skyrocketed into the mainstream. After a year of silence, the group resurfaced in 2025 with their second EP, Beautiful Chaos. Their hyperpop sound, paired with intricate choreography, marks a departure from their previous K-pop-inspired, teen girl music and aesthetic. Fans often celebrate KATSEYE as[Read More…]
Point-Counterpoint: Sabrina Carpenter and the thin line between submission and control
On Aug. 29, Sabrina Carpenter released her album Man’s Best Friend. But the real conversation began months earlier—on June 11—when she unveiled the provocative cover art on Instagram. It features Carpenter on all fours, in a black mini-dress and high heels, as an anonymous man grips her by the hair.[Read More…]
Preserving music on principle: How Habibi Funk sets the gold standard
As a radio host on CKUT 90.3 FM, a non-profit, campus and community radio station based at McGill, I constantly scour the internet for obscure tracks to fill the airwaves. In November, I had the pleasure of co-hosting CKUT’s World Skip the Beat alongside my friends Monique and Isla, where[Read More…]
Bring more big-name musical acts to Montreal
Montreal is often overlooked when it comes to big-name concert tours. Despite its vibrant music scene and energetic crowds, many artists don’t think to stop in Montreal when booking their Canadian tour stops. Meanwhile, cities like Toronto and Vancouver are popular tour destinations. What do other cities have to offer[Read More…]
Trigger warnings: Are modern audiences too soft?
Language is one of the most illusory human creations. We trust that words will remain objective and unchanging. Thus, we are often ignorant of the ways they can distort before our eyes. In a momentary sleight of hand, a word’s meaning can slip away, adopted anew by generation after generation.[Read More…]
Cash grab or uninspired choice? Deluxe editions of albums are both
Typically as an artistic or stylistic choice, deluxe editions of albums are released a few months or so following the initial album drop, expanding upon the original record with the inclusion of more songs. With (relatively) recent examples such as Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS (spilled) (2024) and Tyler, the Creator’s CALL[Read More…]
Does Princess Diana’s depiction in ‘The Crown’ contradict her public legacy?
Following the conclusion of Netflix’s The Crown with its sixth and final season in late 2023, I found myself drawn to the series’s portrayal of Lady Diana Spencer’s life and death. Born into British nobility and thrust into the spotlight following her 1981 marriage to now King Charles III, then[Read More…]
Where’s the hair, Harry?
In Nov. 2023, the entertainment world was shocked to hear the news that one of their very best had been lost. Millennials still harbouring crushes from their teen years and diehard fans alike were devastated when they discovered what happened to Harry Styles. No, the man himself isn’t dead—but his[Read More…]
An ode to the fall film
There is so much more to October film-watching than scary movies. While viewers may inevitably crave the grotesque in the lead-up to Halloween, autumn simultaneously evokes a search for comfort in the TV catalogue as viewers shy away from the frigid outdoors. I found this sense of warmth during the[Read More…]