Brooks Nader Says Her Dad "Didn't Even Notice" Her Topless Vacation Pics — The Internet Very Much Noticed
Jennifer Lawrence joining Instagram is the celebrity-internet event of the day. Per BuzzFeed, she'd been hinting at a "secret life" online before making her account public, and the first comment under her debut alread...
Quick Hits
- Jennifer Lawrence is officially public on Instagram. After teasing a "secret life" on social media, J-Law pulled the trigger and her very first comment is already viral. The internet is losing it, appropriately.
- The BBC has cancelled RuPaul's Drag Race UK, and fans on r/popculturechat are calling the move everything from "sickening" (in the bad way) to flat-out stupid. A beloved, filthy, fabulous institution — gone.
- Charli xcx is taking the "Music, Fashion, Film" era global, announcing a February 2027 UK and Europe arena run with Audrey Hobert opening. Kickoff: Feb. 13 in Dublin.
- Who is Stella Lefty and why is your entire feed about her? Rolling Stone digs into the rising country artist at the center of the internet's latest firestorm over her background and song credits.
- The Black Eyed Peas' "Pump It" just crossed 1 billion YouTube views — more than 20 years after release. That little Diablo horn riff has permanent residency in our brains.
What's Trending
Jennifer Lawrence joining Instagram is the celebrity-internet event of the day. Per BuzzFeed, she'd been hinting at a "secret life" online before making her account public, and the first comment under her debut already has people screaming. Two decades of "she's famously offline" energy, gone in one afternoon.
Brooks Nader, meanwhile, is handling backlash to those viral topless family vacation pics with maximum Louisiana candor. As BuzzFeed reports, the SI Swimsuit model said her dad "didn't even notice" she was topless in front of him, adding: "I grew up in an all-girl household. We're always naked together as sisters." Honestly? The nonchalance is the whole story here.
And if your timeline is wall-to-wall Stella Lefty discourse, Rolling Stone has the explainer: the rising country artist has drawn online criticism over her background and her music, and the piece breaks down why she's suddenly everywhere. Required reading before you tweet.
Music
Charli xcx's 2027 is already booked and busy — Billboard and Variety both report she's announced six UK and Europe arena dates for February 2027 in support of her latest album, starting Feb. 13 in Dublin and hitting Glasgow among other cities, with Audrey Hobert along as opener. The "Music, Fashion, Film" era is becoming an actual world tour.
It's New Music Friday, and Billboard's guide flags the essentials: Jhené Aiko (with Kendrick Lamar in the mix), Bleachers, Dove Cameron and more. Clear the weekend listening queue accordingly.
In bummer news, Alison Krauss and Union Station have cancelled their remaining tour dates after Krauss was advised to take a vocal rest. "Prioritizing health and vocal integrity is imperative at this time," the band said, per Rolling Stone. That voice is a national treasure — rest it, queen.
Two delightfully random items to close out: Britain's Royal Mail is turning Duran Duran's classic albums into actual postage stamps and collectibles, which is the most British honor imaginable. And that Black Eyed Peas billion-view milestone marks the group's fourth video in YouTube's Billion Views Club. Also, Dancing With the Stars returns for season 35 on Sept. 15–16 on ABC and Disney+, and Billboard has a fun behind-the-scenes look at how the show's music gets built every single week.
Movies & TV
The Drag Race UK cancellation is the TV story of the day — per the fan reaction raging on r/popculturechat, the BBC axing its hyper-flamboyant, hilariously filthy celebration of queer culture is being received about as well as you'd expect. Pour one out.
Netflix's new YA rowing drama Crew Girl arrives and... Variety's review literally says it "capsizes and sinks." The show, created by Vivian Lin, follows 16-year-old single sculler Teagan Tao (Miku Martineau) through the cutthroat rowing world — but critics say it never finds its stroke.
On the awards trail: Singapore has selected Anthony Chen's We Are All Strangers as its official entry for the International Feature race at the 99th Academy Awards. And at TIFF, Variety has an exclusive clip from Viva Carmen — the animated film from Sébastien Laudenbach that premiered in Cannes' Directors' Fortnight — featuring singer Silvia Pérez Cruz and a brand-new song ahead of its North American premiere.
Festival heads-up: the 31st Busan International Film Festival has lined up Master Classes with Na Hong-Jin, Lav Diaz, Bertrand Mandico and Rintaro, while Venice Final Cut winner Machérie Ekwa Bahango is making the rounds for Madi Makambu, telling Variety she wants Congo seen as "a great nation that needs to write its own history." Chills.
Celebrity Tea
Lee Pace's new Variety portrait shoot (photographed by Ryan Pfluger) is making the rounds on Reddit, and the consensus is: tall, brooding, immaculate. Never a bad Lee Pace photo drop.
And in Florida chaos news, TMZ has dashcam/bodycam footage of a model allegedly turning "a routine drive into a demolition derby" before bawling her eyes out during her DUI arrest. The video is wild in the way only Florida footage can be.
TikTok & Internet
BuzzFeed's quiz desk is feeding us this week: a single-frame '90s movie quiz that is apparently way harder than it looks, a "pick 6 singers to reveal your Off Campus boyfriend" personality quiz, a '50s bombshells trivia challenge, and a fresh pop culture crossword packed with needle drops. If your Friday productivity dies, at least it dies entertained.