Quick Hits

• Taylor Swift broke two Spotify records for 2026 — including most-streamed female artist in a single day — after the midnight release of "The Life of a Showgirl: Encore" (Variety). Honestly, at this point Spotify should just rename the app after her.
• "Godzilla Minus Zero" premiered at NYFF and blew the roof off Alice Tully Hall — and it's the franchise's first-ever R-rated movie. Director Takashi Yamazaki says censoring the action "was not an option." King of the Monsters, Rated R for rampage.
• Jon Watts is directing the next "Star Wars" movie (Variety). The man behind Tom Holland's "Spider-Man" trilogy is heading to a galaxy far, far away.
• Chuck Varga, GWAR founding member and the one and only "Sexecutioner," has died at 68 after a battle with cancer, the band announced Friday (Rolling Stone, Billboard).
• Olivia Rodrigo opened the "Unraveled" tour in Hartford with "hit after hit" and, per Billboard, a literal dissolving dress. Opening night theater kids, we won.

Music

• Olivia's "Unraveled" launch at Hartford's PeoplesBank Arena already feels like the tour of the fall — Billboard counted five best moments on night one alone (dissolving dress included), and Variety is live-tracking the full setlist if you want to scream-cry along from home. Three no-skip albums means zero filler, and it shows.
• Stray Kids closed out their Latin American run with STRAYCITY at Mexico City's GNP Seguros Stadium on Friday — Billboard described it as an ephemeral city built on music and choreography, with the band greeting fans with "Did You Miss Us?" Sirs, we never recovered from you leaving.
• Rolling Stone profiles Nene Royal, the metal-loving teen from Thailand who just won "America's Got Talent" and its million-dollar prize — and she's going straight into a rock album with major collaborations on her wishlist. The kids are alright. The kids are, in fact, metal.
• RIP to Chuck Varga, who Rolling Stone notes played an "enormous" role in GWAR's "illustrations, character designs, performances, and artistic vision." Shock metal lost an architect. Horns up.
• Per r/popculturechat, Ed Sheeran's Gillette Stadium shows are canceled — details on why are still thin, so hold the theories.

Movies & TV

• The NYFF Godzilla double-whammy: Variety reports the "Godzilla Minus Zero" world premiere was rapturous, and its review calls the film — which pits Godzilla against King Ghidorah in a battle to the death — an "even grander follow-up" to 2023's beloved "Godzilla Minus One." An R-rated kaiju movie getting festival applause? Cinema is so back.
• A very jet-lagged Scarlett Johansson took a break from filming overseas for the NYFF premiere of "Paper Tiger" — which opened the festival's 64th edition — reuniting with Adam Driver and Miles Teller after skipping Cannes. Her assessment: "I'm hallucinating." Relatable queen behavior.
• "Love Hypothesis" director Claire Scanlon walked Variety through the rom-com's "Star Wars" Easter eggs, from a Gracie Abrams song to color-coded wardrobes — and yes, apparently a Stanford biology lab now belongs among iconic franchise locations alongside Tatooine and Naboo. Canon is whatever we say it is!
• Jia Zhangke is prepping road movie "Mamma Dunhuang" with Zhao Tao — and per Variety, AI is banned from the production. A king with boundaries.
• Indian devotional sleeper "Hanuman Ansh" has grossed more than $3.5 million internationally, with Hombale Films (the "K.G.F" and "Kantara" outfit) unveiling its global rollout plans.
• For a palate cleanser: BuzzFeed rounded up 25 movies and shows people swore they'd hate and ended up loving — including one skeptic who expected "a generic military movie" and instead got "a hunting alien killing soldiers left and right." The Predator-to-convert pipeline works every time.

Celebrity Tea

• Isaac Mizrahi is serving 30 years of tea in one interview (Variety): he's celebrating the restored "Unzipped," rehashing the John Galliano Met Gala fiasco, and — the headline quote — says the "Devil Wears Prada" cerulean blue speech "makes me want to kill somebody." Finally! Someone said it! That speech is sacred to some of us, Isaac.
• BuzzFeed also compiled 40 celebrity sex confessions "so wild you'll immediately regret clicking" — the disclaimer is doing a lot of heavy lifting, and we respect it. Read at your own risk; you were warned.

TikTok & Internet

• Robert Pattinson revealed his favorite meme of himself during a recent interview, and r/popculturechat is having the best day of its life. Pattinson remaining the internet's favorite muse in year — checks notes — forever? Never doubted him.
• Country star Ella Langley got asked out by a very bold fan in public, and Billboard reports her response was sharp and decidedly not mincing words. Add in "Choosin' Texas" recently making Hot 100 history, and Ella's having the kind of month you can't script.
• BuzzFeed collected people's creepiest relationship secrets they'll "NEVER" admit to their partners — including someone who "licked his empty beer cans where his mouth had been" and another who was "secretly in the back of their vehicle" during a drive. The word you're looking for is "concerning."

That's the weekend wrap: Taylor owns the streams, Godzilla owns the rating, and Pattinson owns the memes. See you tomorrow for whatever chaos Sunday brings.