April 2026 Pop Culture Recap
- Zoey Daniels
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
Welcome to April. Things seem to start being okay, as all the snow we once had has turned to rain, which I guess is preferable.
This particular issue of your monthly pop culture recap is dedicated to Marianne Theoret, who just found out that I'm "still doing that" ("that" being writing for my blog). This girl needs all the help she can get when it comes to popular culture because she's too busy having a job and like, feeding sick birds or something too keep up. You're welcome, Marianne.
You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love
Olivia Rodrigo announces her third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love. The title is, of course, very different from her previous two album titles Sour and Guts, which were both four letters as opposed to thirty-six letters.
Rodrigo also released the first single off the album called "Drop Dead." The music video features Rodrigo running through the Palace of Versailles alone, which I never realized was a dream of mine.
Scientology Speedruns
Tiktokers have started to sprint through the doors of Scientology buildings, and run around with a camera to try to map out the inside, and probably also to annoy the Scientologists. Participants run through the building until they get physically removed. Some Scientology buildings have responded by removing their doorhandles, which seems like a fire safety risk.
Euphoria
The third and likely final season of Euphoria begins airing. As per usual, the show is covered in controversy, and the creator/writer/director Sam Levinson isn't looking too good right now.
I had seen the first two seasons was looking forward to Season 3, but by the time it came out I couldn't be bothered to watch it. Eventually I saw clips on social media and felt some fomo, so I started it, and found myself skipping through eighty percent of it. I just can't bring myself to care about Rue or her wild drug adventures.
Artemis II
NASA mission Artemis II sees four astronauts launched into lunar orbit to do a quick drive by of the moon. Why is this important? I honestly couldn't tell you. Space is cool I guess, but I don't see a point in going just 'cause. Like, especially if you're not even landing on the moon. Guess what? You can see at least some part of the moon from Earth most nights.
And you know what, as neat as it is to see a rocket launch into space, I prefer the video of it slowly falling into the pacific ocean with three parachutes attached.
Upon returning, the crew members had to do a press conference with Donald Trump, where he did his typical unhinged ramblings, including saying, "there was a lot of rocket under them," and, "to get in there, you have to be very smart. You have to do a lot of things physically good, so I would have had no trouble making it. I'm physically very, very good." Remember back when a politician making an obvious lie would hurt their credibility? No? Me neither honestly.
Coachella
Coachella aka the 'Influencer Olympics' happened. There's not much more to say. No scandals of 'Bye Sister' level yet. It's enough of an event that it's worth mentioning, but not interesting enough to write anything else.
Madwoman
Laufey has been killing it in April, and has quickly become one of my favourite artists. Not only did she perform at Coachella, and released the extended version of her album A Matter of Time (which included "Madwoman" as a single), she also released a children's book called Mei Mei the Bunny.
But let's talk about "Madwoman" for a second, because my god, the music video's amazing. Laufey assembled a cast that I've seen called the "Royal Court of Wasia" and the "Wasian Avengers." Lola Tung, Alysa Liu, Megan Skiendiel (of Katseye), Hudson Williams, and of course, Laufey herself. It's so good, I'm obsessed. If you watch one video I'm linking here, it should be this one.
The Drama
Kristoffer Borgli's The Drama starring Zendaya and Robert Pattison hits theatres. The film's marketing garners controversy for failing to convey the dark, potentially triggering themes of the film. I won't say what the contentious subject matter is, as I know most of my readers personally and it probably wouldn't be an issue for you, but for a mass, mainly American audience, I definitely see why people would be upset.
Beach Read
It's announced that Patrick Schwarzenegger will star opposite Phoebe Dynevor in the film adaptation of Emily Henry's Beach Read. People are mad about it. I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why. He's a generic white guy like all of the love interests in her stories. I guess the complaint is that he's not "rugged" enough. He's an actor. He can get rugged enough. I think he'll fit in fine in a beach town in Michigan. I would roll my eyes here if this was a conversation and not a sentence you're reading digitally.
By the way, I cannot recommend less reading three Emily Henry novels in one month like I recently did. They are meant to be spaced apart. I didn't even do them in a row, I had at least three books in between each read, but one a year seems like a good amount. They're nice, light books, but they're all pretty much exactly the same. Take your time.
Rapunzel Gets a Haircut
A Rapunzel animatronic at Tokyo DisneySea gets attacked by two crows possibly hired by Mother Gothel to steal her hair. I really like this because it's the opposite of those early Disney movies where woodland creatures help the princess get ready for the day. This feels like the grim modern retelling of that.
April's New Shows
April has brought two new shows I've been watching. First, The Testaments on Disney+, which is the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. I read The Handmaid's Tale and started to watch the show, but then I realized the entire book mainly happened in the first episode, so I didn't continue. I don't know what drew me to The Testaments, as I haven't read the book nor watched the prequel, but it's been interesting so far. It's always fun to see bits of Toronto as Toronto on screen, even if it's brief.
The second show I've been watching is Margo's Got Money Troubles on Apple TV (shout out Wendy for letting me use her account). It's based on the 2024 Rufi Thorpe novel of the same name, which I read not long after it came out, and remember really enjoying. So far, I've been liking the show just as much, and especially Nick Offerman as Margo's former pro-wrestler father.
Pinky Up
Katseye releases their new single "Pinky Up," which is their first project without Manon. As is typical for pretty much every Katseye song, the first time you hear it, you're like, "this is absolute garbage," but by the fiftieth time, you're like, "okay it's kind of a bop in a cunty way."
As per usual, the lyrics are all over the place. These are the lyrics of the second verse:
Us against the world, shaking ass in the parking lot
If wе get arrested, haha, baby, laugh it off
And I'd kill 'em for you if it got that deep
Fancy is a frequency
A mind of delusion, philosophy
In that verse they sing about getting arrested for dancing (which doesn't make sense, but whatever) and they correctly reference Socrates. Genuinely what the fuck?
Alex vs Alix
This was a big story in meaningless pop culture this past month, but I've got to say, I don't understand it. Like many people, this drama taught me that these two blonde women were different people. I knew who Alex Cooper was, because Call Her Daddy has been referred to as Gen Z's Barbara Walters, and I knew Alix Earle was on Dancing With the Stars, but I would not have been able to tell them apart, and honestly, it's still a struggle.
From what I understand: Alex Cooper has her own podcast network, which Alix Earle was a part of, until either they had a disagreement, or Cooper decided to drop Earle for other reasons. Then Earle was liking some Tiktoks shading Cooper, which she noticed, and publically called her out. Did Alix Earle respond? Not in any interesting way. Instead, she posts a video where her friends wake her up with Cooper's call out post. It seems really weird that they would film that, but I guess I just don't have that influencer mindset #grind.
Jumping to May, on SNL Veronika Slowikowska and Chloe Fineman appeared on "Weekend Update" as Earle and Cooper, respectively. They essentially are making fun of how nobody understands anything about this beef, and how neither woman is really saying anything at all.
Michael Movie
Apparently this is a hot take, but I don't think we should be making blockbuster movies celebrating alleged pedophiles. I totally believe in separating a work of art from an artist's personal life, but a biopic is literally about his personal life. I think you can listen to Thriller all you want without feeling guilty, but a story of his life should not be ignoring his countless (alleged) victims just because he made good music.
Red Sox Coaches
The Boston Red Sox fired their manager and five coaches. The men were escorted out in a van that had text reading "COACHES4HIRE" on the side. God, sometimes life is fun!
The Devil Wears Prada 2
In the modern tradition of making sequels of a beloved film decades after it came out because everything else is a sequel and you can only make so many sequels of a sequel, or at least sequels of a sequel of a sequel, The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits theatres.
Thee Cheater
While I usually try to avoid writing about a couple's personal business, that's more a rule about speculation. If someone involved posted about their partner's infidelity, I feel like that's fair game. Megan Thee Stallion took to her Instagram story to post "Cheating, had me around your whole family playing house... got "cold feet" Holding you down through all your HORRIBLE mood swings and treatment towards me during your basketball season now you don't know if you can be "monogamous"???? bitch I need a REAL break after this one .. bye yall." She does not name names, and given that the ex has not publicly commented on it, I feel that I shouldn't either. While I'm sure that many of the alleged cheater's fans are supporting him, I've seen nothing but support for Megan. I feel like this is just proof that cheating is about the cheater and not the cheatee.
Shortly after the post, it's announced that Megan will be leaving the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge early. Are the two items directly related? One can only speculate.
Recast
Helena Bonham Carter leaves The White Lotus days after filming began due to"creative differences" with showrunner Matt White. Laura Dern has been called in to replace her. I'm not sure if my father watches the show, but if so, I'm sorry about this development, Dad.
The Secret Lives of Not-So-Mormon Wives
Hulu announced a spin-off to their successful reality show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. The new show, to be titled The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County will follow, well, the secret lives of Mormon wives living in Orange County... in theory. Apparently, not only do almost none of the cast members currently identify as practicing Mormons, but many allegedly didn't even grow up in the Church of Latter Day Saints. Also, some may not live in Orange County. This is tabloid speculation though, and I'm not sure how much of it is true, but I don't think there would have been anything wrong with naming the show The Secret Lives of Wives: Greater Los Angeles Area. Okay, maybe that's not as catchy.
