Quick Hits

• Miley Cyrus just landed her first Billboard 200 No. 1 in 13 years — Bass Persuades tops the albums chart, her first chart-topper since Bangerz back in 2013. The comeback math is mathing.
• Taylor Swift owned the VMAs conversation twice over: she world-premiered the Patient Zero music video (a ghost story, per Variety), and separately, a side-by-side of her 2024 vs. 2026 VMA looks went viral for how different she looks.
• Tom Cruise went viral for personally checking on a random staff worker who looked sad. Wait until you hear why the guy was sad.
• Keanu Reeves introduced Peter Hook & The Light onstage in San Francisco, then had "Love Will Tear Us Apart" dedicated to him — and was spotted dancing. Enthusiastically. Peak Keanu behavior.
• Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård's Wicker — the film where he plays, per Variety's headline, a "very sexy basket" — has been generating headlines since Sundance and it is NOT stopping.

What's Trending

• The Tom Cruise moment, explained: he noticed a staff worker looking down and went over to check on him… and the guy was fine, just doomscrolling. That's it. That's the story. The internet is fully melting down over the world's most considerate action star interrupting someone's doomscroll session, and honestly, fair.
• Swifties are having a DAY. BuzzFeed rounded up the viral reaction to Taylor's 2024 vs. 2026 VMAs comparison — sample comment: "Literally who is this person????" — and then, for anyone who survived that, published an era quiz that forces you to make "painful choices" (which album really has her best lyricism??). Chaos, but delicious.
• Europeans are roasting American fashion again, and the BuzzFeed confession roundup is merciless — the top grievance being Americans hitting "the supermarket or university in their pajamas." We have no defense. We won't be taking questions.

Music

• Taylor's Patient Zero video is officially here: Variety's framing is perfect — it's not a love story, it's a ghost story — with the Showgirl: Encore single getting the full dramatic treatment in its world premiere at the VMAs.
• Slipknot announced their biggest tour ever: a 2027 global stadium run they're calling the (Sic)est Stadium Tour, with Bring Me the Horizon opening all North American dates. Masks. Stadiums. 2027. Plan accordingly.
• GENER8ION and Yung Lean delivered one of the VMAs' most striking performances with "Storm II," an army of dancers recreating the viral video's Damien Jalet choreography. Roll the clips.
• Tones and I announced a surprise pop-up show for the exact same weekend her collapsed NRL Grand Final pre-game headlining slot was supposed to happen. Petty pivot or efficient one? You decide.
• Quick beats: Gracie Abrams performed "Look at My Life" on Fallon (album Daughter From Hell has been out since July); HYBE's newest girl group TUIDE landed Billboard's K-Pop Up & Comer spotlight; and a judge ruled Ticketmaster must face the FTC's lawsuit over allegedly enabling mass-scale ticket reselling, saying the BOTS Act applies — a big one for anyone who's ever fought a ticket queue and lost.

Movies & TV

• Wicker keeps winning: Olivia Colman plays a fisherwoman whose romantic interest is Alexander Skarsgård as her custom-woven lover, and the erotic scenes have been headline fuel since Sundance. The stars' take at Zurich? It's "two souls being kind to each other." Okay! Sure! I'm seated!
• Paul McCartney's documentary Man on the Run, from Oscar-winner Morgan Neville, asks the ultimate question: "What do you do after the Beatles?"
• Linkin Park's Joe Hahn says his new film Unshatter is "a film about healing" — arriving mid-reformation-era, after From Zero, three No. 1 Mainstream Rock singles, and two Grammy noms.
• TV execs are getting comfy with AI, and it's a lot: BBC boss Matt Brittin says he watched a fully AI-generated episode of Doctor Who and called it "pretty good" (while stressing it's "not going to replace humans"), and Prime Video international chief Kelly Day told the industry AI "doesn't replace imagination, it amplifies it." Bold statements, everyone. Bold statements.

Celebrity Tea

• Michael Fishman is apologizing to fans for the "chaos" of his headline-making feud with former co-star Roseanne Barr, declaring "I'm gonna keep pushing out love." De-escalation via wholesomeness — rare move in a celebrity feud.
• Barbara Palvin and Dylan Sprouse announced the birth of their daughter with an adorable family photo, and yes, there were matching outfits. We are not emotionally equipped for this level of cuteness.
• BuzzFeed resurfaced the sweetest throwback: how Taylor Swift showed up for Bebe Rexha after designers refused to dress her for the Grammys over her size — the moment that gave us Bebe's iconic "If a size six/eight is too big, then I don't know what to tell you." Queens supporting queens.

TikTok & Internet

• PewDiePie is officially ending family vlogs to protect his son's privacy — a genuinely rare "creator chooses family over content" plot twist in the YouTube universe. Respect the boundary, king.
• And BuzzFeed's daily geography game is now two days deep into humbling absolutely everybody. If you can't find Portugal on a map, today is not your day.