The daily gossip: Why Olivia Rodrigo's Sour sneakily credits Taylor Swift, Alex Rodriguez rebounds with men's makeup, and more
Why Olivia Rodrigo's Sour sneakily credits Taylor Swift, Alex Rodriguez rebounds with men's makeup, and more
![Alex Rodriguez.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YiPKULgykXNMRnbpsXFmin-415-80.jpg)
- 1. Why Olivia Rodrigo gave Taylor Swift a song writing credit
- 2. Alex Rodriguez is now selling makeup 'specifically designed for men'
- 3. Is there anyone who isn't in 'Knives Out 2'?
- 4. Ben Platt thinks of perfect comeback to his haters 1 day late: 'Watch Grease'
- 5. The 'Charlie Bit My Finger' family wants in on some of that sweet, sweet NFT cash
1. Why Olivia Rodrigo gave Taylor Swift a song writing credit
It's been four months since Olivia Rodrigo first made us all feel like teenagers again with her massive hit, "Driver's License," and on Friday she finally released her debut studio album, Sour, to rave reviews. But while the comparisons to Taylor Swift — Rodrigo's hero — are easy to make, fans noted that Sour even goes as far as to credit Swift and her longtime collaborator, Jack Antonoff, on Rodrigo's fourth track, "1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back." Notes Rolling Stone, "The two numbers even make a '13,' a subtle nod to important numerology in the Swiftverse," and while "Swift and Antonoff did not collaborate on the track ... the song is an interpolation of Swift's 2017 Reputation hit 'New Year's Day.'" As for a real collab — well, it seems to only be a matter of time.
2. Alex Rodriguez is now selling makeup 'specifically designed for men'
Anything you can do, I can do better? After getting hooked on the products in his ex, Jennifer Lopez's, new beauty line, Alex Rodriguez is launching a makeup line of his own with the wellness company Hims & Hers. His first product? A "convenient concealer specifically designed for men." Called the Blur Stick, the cover-up helps "camouflage everything from blemishes to razor burn to dark eye circles," the website explains, while blessedly forgoing most of the embarrassing hypermasculine language that is typically used to hawk everyday products to men (though presumably "camouflage" is strategically meant to reassure anyone on the fence that even Army guys can use aloe extract and jojoba seed oil to "soothe and moisturize" their skin).
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3. Is there anyone who isn't in 'Knives Out 2'?
It might officially be time to start reporting who's not in Knives Out 2. In for sure is returning lead Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc, as well as Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, and Edward Norton. As of Thursday, Kate Hudson was also confirmed to be a potential suspect. Perhaps more informatively, the Knives Out 2 cast does not include Eve the cow, your mom, or Jason Derulo (yet, anyway). "The CDC says under a thousand people a day are getting cast in Knives Out 2, a new low," joked Keep It co-host Louis Virtel of the seemingly endless stream of casting news coming from the 2022 whodunit sequel, while The Hollywood Reporter's Ryan Parker tweeted, "If you read this tweet — you're now in Knives Out 2." Congrats!
The Hollywood Reporter The A.V. Club
4. Ben Platt thinks of perfect comeback to his haters 1 day late: 'Watch Grease'
If you've been online this week, you might have seen people dunking on 27-year-old Ben Platt for very obviously being a grown-up playing a 17-year-old high schooler in the trailer for Dear Evan Hansen. Platt, who played the original Evan Hansen on Broadway in 2016 (when he was a slightly more convincing 22), had evidently been fuming about "randos being jerks about age," when he took to Twitter to belatedly slam the haters in a since-deleted tweet, adding: "Watch Grease." Zing! But as Dlisted points out, "Grease was FUN. DEH does not look fun at all." Plus Us Weekly notes that Universal Pictures could have simply cast 19-year-old Andrew Barth Feldman, who took over the role on Broadway in 2019, instead — but suspiciously, "Platt's father is one of the producers behind the film." Hmm.
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5. The 'Charlie Bit My Finger' family wants in on some of that sweet, sweet NFT cash
Rich people are always finding creative new ways to light their money on fire, which is why we have NFTs. The sudden popularity of this "new form of tradable ostentation" has triggered "a meme gold rush" as the people whose faces previously launched a thousand jokes are now raking in thousands of dollars by selling what amounts to digital certificates of authenticity. Now the "Charlie Bit My Finger" family wants a taste. Their 56-second viral clip, first posted in 2007, is reportedly getting deleted from YouTube, where it was once the most-watched video with over 878 million views, so that "one person will have the opportunity to own it in its new form as a 1/1 NFT," CharlieBitMe.com writes. The auction begins May 22, if you, too, want to set your money on fire.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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