May 2026 Pop Culture Recap
- Zoey Daniels
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Hey, who knew these could still come out in a somewhat timely fashion? Don't get used to it.
The Met Gala
As you likely know, every year the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a benefit for the Costume Institute, colloquially called The Met Gala. There's always a theme, and celebrities show up dressed to the nines. The Met Gala is often referred to as "fashion's biggest night," and for that, you expect to see some interesting things. Well, not so much "expect" as "demand." I think if an attendee's outfit isn't interesting enough, they should not be allowed into the museum and never be invited back to gala. The thing about the Met Gala is at this point, you're expected to dress weird. I don't want to see anything that wouldn't do a double take at on the Oscars' carpet. The 2026 theme was "Fashion is Art," which could be interpreted in many ways. I think it's kind of hard to find a wrong way to go, yet I'd say 75% of the guests managed to.
What I want to see can be narrowed down to one word: weird. I want to see outfits that literally could not be worn anywhere else for both societal and practical reasons. I'd much prefer someone looks bad but tried to adhere to the theme and do something unique, than looks really good, but doesn't stand out. Here were my favourite looks in no particular order:
And then there were the looks in the category of "You Look So Fucking Good, but It's Not Outrageous Enough For the Met Gala. Wear it to the Oscars:"
And then there's the category of "Your Outfit is So Boring it's Insulting You Showed Up to This Event:"
Las Culturistas Culture Award Nominations
Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang have announced the nominations for 2026's Culture Awards. Some of my favourite categories this year are "Real Housewives Award for Best Way to Start a Confrontation," "Shhh Don't Repeat This Award for Rumour We Are Making Up," and of course "Eva Longoria Award for Tiny Woman, Huge Impact."
Flight of the Conchords Concert
In news that there's a good chance that only I care about, Flight of the Conchords had their first concert in eight years. That's right, "New Zealand's fourth most popular folk-parody band" (after the Oatie Boys, John and Lisa, and Life of the Conchords, a Flight of the Conchords tribute band that's better than them because they perform more often and remember the chords) is back! Unfortunately it was only for a few shows in Los Angeles and 'Santa Brahbrah,' but it was still nice to see Bret and Jemaine together again, of course accompanied by 'The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra' aka Nigel.
Eurovision
Bulgaria won Eurovision. Their song was 'Bangaranga' by DARA, and yes, I guess it was technically weird enough. I didn't see anything this year that particularly stood out. Seemingly these countries are choosing between weirdness and having a good song. I miss when both were possible.
The Roast of Kevin Hart
This one is a little difficult for me, because it happened, it was a moment, and it caused some controversy, but, like, reporting on pop culture isn't something I'm being paid for, and I don't want to spend time watching this. I simply just don't care about Kevin Hart or any of the comedians doing the roasting. Also, Shane Gillis hosted, and I can't say that I know much about him, but he has really bad vibes. Is it just me who thinks that?
The Sheep Detectives
The Sheep Detectives, a murder mystery where the sheep solve the case, premieres to theatres. I have to say, as stupid as it sounds, I liked it quite a bit.
New Art
Okay, maybe this wasn't really a "pop culture moment," but it was to me! If you asked me in April of 2026 what my favourite painting was, I probably would have told you The Birth of Venus, or at least the version featuring Miss Piggy, but a new masterpiece has been painted, and it's absolutely brilliant. Mosquito Finds Love by Dayton Bissett is absolutely my new favourite painting. Artistic genius.
Olivia Rodrigo's New Music
Olivia Rodrigo released "the cure," the second single off of her third album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love.
Rodrigo was also the host and musical guest on SNL, where she performed "drop dead" and debuted her new song "begged."
Hit Me Hard and Soft Movie
Billie Eilish's most recent tour has been turned into a movie directed by Eilish and James Cameron. The film is officially called Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), which is quite a mouthful, and why would I want to see a concert film in 3D? I don't want to see any movie ever in 3D, but I at least understand why someone would pay more to see something like Avatar in 3D or UltraAVX-ScreenX-D-BOX whatever. 3D has only ever made me enjoy a movie less.
To be fair, I can't speak to this movie specifically as I have not seen it in 3D, or even normal viewing yet. I am just a 3D hater, and I think James Cameron is always trying to scam me out of four extra dollars.
Off Campus
Apparently 2025/6 is the time for hockey smut tv shows, because Off Campus premiered on Prime, and quickly rose to its number one spot in Canada. I've seen it referred to as "Heated Rivalry for the straights," but based on the trailer, it seems a little more traditional romcom than Heated Rivalry. Still, good for the straights. I hope you guys enjoy this one. I know it's been a trying time.
Drake's Three Albums
After fans were able to figure out his album's release date due to the ice block stunt, Drake managed to still surprise listeners by releasing not one, not two, but three albums. On May 15th, Iceman, Habibti, and Maid of Honour were released. Soon after, Drake became the first artist to simultaneously hold all top three spots on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Paralives
Early access to Paralives, a life simulator game similar to The Sims becomes available. It gains praise for its customization options, especially in comparison to The Sims 4.
I love The Sims, and it's been interesting to watch all the influencers who have built their platforms solely on that game jump ship really quickly, and focus their content on Paralives. I have yet to play the new game, not so much out of loyalty to The Sims, but more because I didn't want to spend money on it. Then I learned that the game is Canadian, so maybe I have to check it out after all. I would much rather give money to a group of people in Montreal than EA who is owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner.
The Boys Finale
After five seasons, The Boys reached its conclusion on Prime. Do you ever watch the first season of a show, forget about it, then check up on it when it ends and are like "who are all these characters?" I read the spoilers because I wasn't ever particularly fond of the show, so I wasn't going to watch the ending, and I remembered, like, four characters. Were the others always there and I just forgot about them, or were they the new additions of the four seasons I didn't watch? There's no way to know... unless I was willing to put the work into googling it, which I am not.
Saint Satine
The fourth and final member of HYBE x Geffen's new girl group has been revealed. The group features familiar favourites from the Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE, Emily, Lexi, and Samara, as well as new addition Sakura, who just won the Japanese survival competition series World Scout: The Final Piece. Emily and Lexi were both top contenders for Katseye (while Samara didn't get a lot of screentime), so I'm super happy that they're getting to debut. Still, it's a surprise to see Lexi still working with HYBE x Geffen, as when she quit the Katseye competition, she did not seem pleased with the company at all.
YouTubers to Acclaimed Horror Film Directors
In May we got both Obsession and Backrooms. The former was written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker, a twenty-six-year-old YouTuber who is the co-creator of the sketch comedy duo that's a bad idea. Obsession was made with only a $750,000 budget, and you really cannot tell. The cinematography was not lacking and Inde Navarrette was so good in the role of Nikki.
Backrooms was directed by twenty-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons, based on the series of Backrooms short films he had posted on his channel over the years. Parsons also collaborated on the movie's score with Edo Van Breeman.
Trisha Paytas' New Music
Internet icon Trisha Paytas released two new songs. The first, entitled "Crying on the Kitchen Floor," is a reference to her many viral videos featuring her doing what else, but crying on her kitchen's floor. The second was a K-Pop song entirely in Korean called "사랑해 Saranghae (I Love You)." Honestly both are kind of bops.
Canadian Screen Awards
The fourteenth Canadian Screen Awards happened. Big winners included North of North, Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie (an absolute must see), and of course, Heated Rivalry, which broke records by taking home sixteen awards.
Man, that Hudson Williams has a way with words.
Euphoria is Officially Over
It was officially confirmed after the Season 3 finale that that was the show's final episode. I imagine most of the cast was happy to hear the announcement.
Dare to Be Stupid: The Weird Al Musical
It's announced that a Weird Al jukebox musical is in the works. While I don't love Weird Al (it bothers me that most of his songs are based on a lazy rhyme of the original title), or jukebox musicals (there are always exceptions), I think this project actually has a lot of promise. Yankovic is working with Scott Brown and Anthony King, the writing duo behind Beetlejuice (the musical) and Gutenberg! the Musical! (which was one of my favourite live performances I've ever seen). Also, Alex Timbers who directed both shows as well as several John Mulaney projects, Just In Time, and The Muppet Show special that premiered earlier this year, will direct. All in all, I have quite a bit of faith in this project.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's Last Show
Stephen Colbert was forced to sign off as The Late Show is no more. CBS cancelled it for reasons they claim were "purely financial," although many suspect it had more to do with Colbert's criticism of CBS's parent company Paramount, and their $16 million financial settlement with Donald Trump, which he referred to as a "big fat bribe." Colbert kept the show upbeat, and received lots of praise for this and the past eleven years of episodes.
