Month: June 2024

Almost every long term relationship suffers from a rut eventually. That goes especially for married partners who become parents and have the added responsibility of raising kids. Maintaining a connection is hard enough in this busy, fast paced world. Top it off with making sure kids are awake, dressed, entertained, well fed, oh yeah, and alive…and you best believe all you have energy for at the end of the day is sitting on the couch barely making it through one episode on Netflix.

And yet, we know how important it is to maintain a connection with our spouses. Many of us just don’t know how to make that happen while juggling a million other things.

According to one mom, a “three-hour night” could be just the thing to tick off multiple boxes on the to-do list while rekindling romance at the same time. Talk about the ultimate marriage hack.

---

The three-hour night was something that Rachel Higgins and her husband began incorporating into their lives at the beginning of this year. And so far, “it’s been so fun and such like a game changer for how our evenings go,” she says in a clip posted to TikTok.

Before using the three-hour night, the evening would look a bit like this: their daughter would go to bed, they would lounge on the couch, scroll through social media, then fall asleep. Sound familiar?

But with a three hour night, Higgins and her husband divvy up the time before bed into three section, each for a different focus.

In the first hour, starting around 7 p.m., is what Higgins calls “productive time,” during which the couple sees to any household chores that might need to be done.

“So start with like a quick cleanup of the kitchen or just like things that accumulated throughout the day, and then we try to do something that either … has been being put off or cleaning the bathroom or like organizing the pantry or hall closet or something like, super random like sharpening the knives. Anything that’s productive for the household,” she explains.

@rachelleehiggins if you’re stuck in a rut with your evenings try this! i saw someone do something similar to this a while ago but can’t remember who! #marriage #1sttimeparents #newyearsgoals ♬ original sound – Rachel Higgins

Next, the second hour is geared towards re-establishing a physical or emotional connection in their marriage. The phones go away, and they focus only on enjoying one another.

“So, that could be things like showering together or ‘having fun’ together, playing a game together, or just like anything that’s gonna get you guys talking and connecting or like debriefing from the day or just like talking about what you’re doing and like the plans for tomorrow or like how works going or whatever. So, anything that’s gonna connect and strengthen and build your marriage,” Higgins says.

Lastly, the final hour of the night is dedicated towards anything Higgins and her husband individually want to do, any sort of personal recharge activity.

Since this is a judgment free time, Higgins states that “If you just want to lay on the couch and scroll your phone and watch TikToks or whatever like watch YouTube videos,” it’s totally acceptable.

Higgins’ novel approach definitely interested viewers, who chimed in with their own questions. One major concern was how the heck this could be done every night. But even Higgins admits that she and her husband don’t succeed at having a three-hour night every night—they usually try for about 3-4 times a week. And honestly even once a week could still probably be beneficial in building intimacy.

Others wondered how to have a three-hour night when things randomly popped up in their schedule, like when kids won’t magically go to sleep promptly at 7pm. Higgins shares that in these cases, they tend to just shorten each phase. The point being: these can and probably should be customizable, even fun, rather than yet another rigid chore.

Plus, a three hour night (or whatever your version of a three-hour night may be) is a great way to remind yourself just how high of a priority your relationship has in your life…no matter what else is going on at the time. Odds are you’ll probably find you do have more time for it than you previously thought when you set aside time for it.

This article originally appeared on 1.8.24

At first glance, giant pandas can be intimidating. Their large size and sharp teeth and claws might evoke the kind of instinctual fear any bear would.

You definitely don’t want to mess with their babies, make them feel threatened or assume they’re as cuddly as they look, as they actually can be dangerous. But compared to other bears, giant pandas are pretty chill. This is especially true for pandas in captivity, who aren’t just generally docile but downright doofy.

Watching a panda play is like watching a toddler that doesn’t quite have their bearings yet. They tumble and stumble and get themselves into conundrums and appear to be having a grand old time doing it, which is what makes the song “Death by Panda” so perfect.

---

The song, shared by Some Guy Named Robb (Robb McCormick), paints pandas to be terrifying, vicious creatures in a fun, parodying kind of way. Check out these lyrics:

Pandas will melt your face

Turn your bones to paste

Destroy the human race

It’s on their ‘things to do’ list

With a driving beat and intense electric guitar, “Death by Panda” makes a hilarious soundtrack for videos of pandas…well, being pandas. Just watching them walk around is entertaining, but give them some outdoor equipment to play on and OMG the delight

Watch:

The song can be found on Spotify, where you can listen to it in its entirety. And the panda behavior in the video prompted a wave of funny comments highlighting how absurd these creatures really are.

“Kung fu panda makes so much sense now “

“There’s a reason they’ve been on the endangered species list.”

“Never before realized that I have the agility of a panda.”

“Panda: the drunken uncle of the bear species.”

“Pretty sure all Pandas are part Chris Farley.”

“Look… they’re here for a good time….not a long time unless we bubble wrap their entire habitat and give em little helmets.“

“I totally get why Jack Black was Kung Fu Panda.”

“The instinctive ability to fall & roll in a controlled way, is their funny survival tactic. “

“Based on my lack of balance and clumsiness, I may have been a panda in a past life….”

People can be so funny.

But seriously, how do these guys survive in the wild?

In case you’re actually wondering about that, pandas used to be on the endangered species list, but have been downgraded to “vulnerable” status. The World Wildlife Fund celebrate giant pandas as living proof of conservation efforts working, as the number of pandas in the wild has grown with protections in place for them and their habitat.

Panda habitats are among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, so protecting them helps not only the giant panda but also other threatened and endangered species such as golden snub-nosed monkeys, takins, red pandas and snow leopards.

Climate change, tourism, overharvesting of bamboo and other threats pose challenges giant pandas’ future. But we can take inspiration from the fact that conservation has worked for these majestically goofy creatures and keep those efforts going.

In late April, Gracie Abrams and Audrey Hobert went to Webster Hall in New York City to support Malcolm Todd, Hobert’s brother. This was common practice. Abrams and Hobert have done everything together for a decade-plus, and New York is littered with ghosts of adventures that now exist only in their memories. On this night, they had a secret. Abrams would shout it to the world in approximately ten hours, but the best part of having a secret is trusting it to someone first. The Secret Of Us, Abrams’ sophomore studio album out now via Interscope Records, blossomed from that deep-rooted principle.

“Making things with Audrey felt like this stamp of validation on all feelings,” Abrams says over Zoom, sitting in the Los Angeles home she has shared with Hobert for 18 months. “Together, we created this space where the most dramatic and embarrassing feelings were okay to express as loudly as we wanted to.” She waves her hands around and smirks, adding, “These walls hold our secrets.”

Back at Webster Hall, Abrams didn’t want to withhold The Secret Of Us anymore. She recognized Lucy, 18, and Stella, 19, two of her most loyal fans since early 2020. Lucy and Stella didn’t expect to run into Abrams, but an unlikely run-in with your artistic hero is always possible when tackling a New York night together. It was reminiscent of what Abrams and Hobert used to do five or six years ago — back when Abrams studied International Relations at Barnard College for a year, and Hobert was an NYU student. After Todd’s show, Abrams chatted with Lucy and Stella outside of Webster Hall for 20 minutes before grabbing them by the shoulders and whispering in their ears, “We’re announcing the album tomorrow.”

“Being able to share that moment with her is one I will forever cherish,” Stella says. “It is still crazy to me that I got to be excited about my favorite artist’s new music but with her — in person.”

“The fact that she trusted the two of us with such delicate information is still hard for me to process,” Lucy adds. “What made that moment extra special was the fact that Stella and I met and became best friends through Gracie and her music.”

After the announcement, The Secret Of Us produced “Risk” as a ubiquitous, viable lead single, and the shamelessly exuberant album closer “Close To You,” which had been kept as a demo for seven years and became Abrams’ first-ever Billboard Hot 100 charter by debuting at No. 49. Abrams’ headlining The Secret Of Us Tour, with Role Model as the opener, sold out entirely in hours. So it was already a successful album before release day, but The Secret Of Us is a special album because it’s a culmination of friendship rooted in music — not results.

Abrams and Hobert met at Abrams’ fifth-grade graduation. Hobert stopped Abrams as she left the bathroom because Abrams had on white high-top Converse sneakers with orange neon laces, and Hobert, a year older, declared she had worn the same shoes to her fifth-grade graduation. They had another best friend, Clem, in common, allowing Abrams to trust Hobert. They were inseparable throughout their adolescence in Los Angeles — sharing an iPod on the school bus to middle school, practicing the piano, and singing together at every opportunity.

Abrams grew up recognizable as the daughter of acclaimed director J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Star Wars) and former political aide-turned-producer Katie McGrath, but Hobert loved her as Gracie, her intensely curious and creative best friend. Hobert had always trusted Abrams, but she realized Abrams was her favorite person to share secrets with during the one year they were both college students and, as Hobert says, would “drink two milkshakes each and watch music videos” on most nights.

Since Abrams and Hobert moved in together, they’ve spent infinite nights like that, unknowingly planting the seed for The Secret Of Us.

“Living with my best friend, you go downstairs, and you’re having a sh*tty day and you’re talking about it immediately rather than hiding in your room,” Abrams says. “There’s something that’s really almost inherently generative about sharing space with someone.”

Last August, Abrams and Hobert’s unfiltered running dialogue led to co-writing “Risk,” co-produced by Aaron Dessner, who also co-produced Abrams’ 2023 debut album Good Riddance. The delightfully manic song illustrates impressive growth in the 16 months that elapsed between Good Riddance and The Secret Of Us.

“[I] know myself better, which just comes with time, obviously, but I have a better grip on how I feel that I am in relationship to myself and relationship to others,” Abrams says. “Not in a way that’s declarative, like, ‘I know me!’ But I just feel grounded in my body these days.”

Abrams had always been a viscerally vulnerable songwriter — likely since she started writing at eight years old — but writing like this? Frantically scribbling down her romanticized, outsized fantasies, knowing it probably won’t work out but imagining anyway how fun it would be if it did? That was new.

“One of the gifts that I got from the process of making this album was having a partner in laughing through a lot of the heavier, more confusing, or embarrassing feelings,” Abrams says. “Not to discredit the severity of them, but laughing because you don’t have to go sit in a corner. There’s another option. To kind of introduce a lightness around it all was a huge relief because I used to do the opposite. I was always a go-it-alone person before, where I wouldn’t talk about it with anyone and would go down multiple different spirals of self-loathing or judgment and feeling crazy and then alone in the crazy.”

After “Risk,” the songs poured out. Abrams shed her self-critical, introverted tendencies just enough to indulge in extroverted, fun impulses. Abrams and Hobert “kept writing and writing every time we sat down to talk,” Abrams says.

“I will forever treasure the memories made these past 10 months, getting to spend so much time with Gracie and just laugh, laugh, laugh all day, getting to know Aaron Dessner and [recording engineer] Bella Blasko,” Hobert says. “I didn’t know that I liked to write music before I started writing songs with Gracie, and now I’m addicted beyond compare. I don’t know how soon I would’ve discovered this passion of mine without Gracie.”

Hobert directed the playfully unhinged “Risk” video, and she’s a credited songwriter and background vocalist on six of 13 songs. The album was born at home with Hobert, eventually including Dessner and recorded at Dessner’s Long Pond Studio near Hudson, New York.

As The Secret Of Us unfolds, Abrams toys with hypothetical possibilities and brilliantly reconciles the inevitable gut punch when reality doesn’t match fantasy. Really, the album has a strong argument as pop’s most compelling pros and cons list.

The hushed, repetitive opener “Felt Good About You” establishes this dichotomy (“Felt good about you till I didn’t”). Abrams boldly laughs in the face of danger in the “Risk” chorus (“God, I’m actually invested / Haven’t even met him / Watch this be the wrong thing, classic”). In the acoustic-based “Blowing Smoke,” her rumination turns toward excruciating torment (“Tell me, is she prettier than she was on the internet? / Are your conversations cool? Like, are you even interested?”). Through “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” “Let It Happen,” and “I Knew It, I Know You,” Abrams fixates on her perceived inadequacy. The pristine duet “Us” featuring Taylor Swift — yes, Abrams listed it as Track 5 on purpose — immediately crystalizes what Abrams has explained about the benefit of core-dumping with Hobert. Abrams’ vocalizes angst (“Wonder if you regret the secret of us”), and Swift lends steadying perspective (“What seemed like fate, give it ten months and you’ll be past it”).

The slow-building, melodic “Free Now” is the payoff. I suggest to Abrams that “Free Now” is the bookend to “Risk,” due to lines like “It was harsh ’cause I lost what I wanted.” She’s visibly elated, blurting, “You’re right! I love you. I’m so relieved and happy right now.” It’s a spontaneous, throwaway exchange, but it also offers an authentic glimpse at Abrams’ newfound comfort in uninhibited extroversion. The album ends with Abrams restarting the cycle, undeterred by heartbreak, as “Close To You” captures her ready to daydream again (“I burn for you, and you don’t even know my name / If you asked me to, I’d give up everything”).

The Secret Of Us is an unedited letter to past crushes, but, as Abrams confirms, it’s also a love letter to having Hobert as her platonic soulmate.

Abrams repeatedly describes Hobert as her “rock,” particularly of late. Abrams opened on Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour Tour in spring of 2022 and one-upped herself by opening on Swift’s ongoing The Eras Tour from April to August 2023. She also headlined her Good Riddance Tour and staged The Good Riddance Acoustic Shows with Dessner. Then, she became a first-time Grammy nominee (Best New Artist) and attended her first-ever Met Gala earlier this year. Sure, she was seen — highly visible, in fact — but she didn’t feel truly known.

“But isn’t it true of every sort of parasocial relationship?” Abrams says. “You don’t know these people; you do, to an extent, but not fully.”

At the 2024 Grammys, Abrams closed the loop on perhaps her most precious parasocial relationship. She met Joni Mitchell, her biggest inspiration. Abrams has “River,” her and her mom’s favorite song, tattooed on her arm.

“I tend to get nervous when people show me tattoos related to my music because I always think, Well, what if you don’t like me in five seconds? What then?” Abrams says, her endearing self-deprecation creeping in, even if sarcastically. She deeply appreciates when fans show her their tattoos inspired by her, especially “Camden”-related ink, and enjoys the idea of her fans drawn toward “Free Now” tattoos.

“The sentiment of ‘Free Now’ is one I appreciate a lot,” she continues. “I think it’s kind and sincere, and there’s an acceptance of many things being true at once.”

Abrams’ multifaceted sincerity won over Lucy and Stella four years ago and recently won over writer Zoë Rose Bryant, who nearly lost her voice scream-singing “Risk” alone in her kitchen and quickly developed an all-consuming infatuation with Abrams’ discography. “I, too, am such a hopelessly romantic, delusional lover girl, and I think it can be so embarrassing to admit that or speak those feelings aloud, but here was this song that said them all,” Bryant says.

The irony is not lost on Abrams that her album driven by unrequited affection led to an entirely sold-out headlining tour because her ballooning, fiercely devoted fan base adores her that much. Abrams grew up attending shows at The Greek and can’t count how many times she’s been flustered by the mere sight of New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, so she won’t bother predicting how she’ll process the immense rush of performing four September shows at The Greek and three October dates at Radio City. Abrams has learned firsthand that, sometimes, reality outwits the imagination.

Still, Abrams admittedly pondered how to better occupy iconic venues when opening on The Eras Tour last year. She was overwhelmed by the vastness of the stadiums that Swift so effortlessly commanded. “The infectious energy that just exists in those stadiums, I was craving music that matched it better, so the tone of this album was totally influenced by [Eras],” Abrams says.

She adds, “I’m pretty sure I experienced Taylor’s show from every possible angle. I got to see it, what, three days a week for four months? It never got old. I’d sit in the stands with all of her wonderful fans, and then I’d get on stage, and I remember occasionally feeling like I was watching myself, floating a few feet above my body, in complete awe of even just being in the room. I felt like a fan first on that tour. I couldn’t help it.”

Bryant, Lucy, and Stella represent hundreds of thousands of fans excited to similarly give themselves over to The Secret Of Us Tour. Bryant can’t wait for the chance to belt, “God, I’m actually invested.” Lucy snatched tickets to five shows, including opening night in Portland on September 5, while Stella plans to attend at least six. But before Abrams embarks on her headlining tour, she and Hobert staged The Secret Of Us at The Echo in LA on June 17 — an intimate performance akin to when these songs were their little secrets in the living room.

“Writing this album with Gracie has completely changed my life — no lie,” Hobert says. “Working with her has only affirmed the things I already knew about her. She is kind, talented, brilliant, smart, hilarious. I like to picture her and I in our 70s, drinking tea in a breakfast nook and reminiscing on this time in our lives.”

This time in their lives is about to get even richer. Abrams will return as an opener for Swift’s second The Eras Tour North American leg, sweetening a fall already booked with bucket-list venues. She’ll warmly embrace new faces and chase new adventures with Hobert. Abrams won’t think twice about how she fills space because she is full.

“When I think about this album, it does remind me so much of the energy that Audrey and I have together, and that’s such a big part of my life; the tone of this album — all of its wistful qualities, all of its petty qualities, all of its judgmental, nervous and also madly in love qualities — paints a fuller picture of who I am day-to-day, I suppose,” Abrams says. “I don’t really think about how I want to be remembered, but this album shows a different side of me, and I like the idea of being known. Not widely known, but known better. If anything, I would be thrilled for people to know me better through this album.”

Pull those pants up. Bronx rapper Ice Spice continues her Y2K! rollout with the tough-talking “Phat Butt” video. As always, the new song is produced by Ice’s long-running collaborator RiotUSA, who offers a video gamey beat that gives the rapper plenty of room to stretch her lyrical muscles. Among her boasts on track are reminders of her recent success (“We came from the four line to four times Grammy nominated”) and, of course, flexes about her attention-grabbing physique (“Fat butt pull my pants up / Shakin’ ass got my bands up”).

“Phat Butt” is the third single from Ice Spice’s upcoming debut album Y2K!, following “Think U the Sh*t (Fart)” and “Gimmie A Light.” While none has reached the heights of the four hit singles she references in the lyrics to “Phat Butt” (“Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” with PinkPantheress, “Karma” by Taylor Swift, and “Princess Diana” and “Barbie World” with Nicki Minaj), fans continue to look forward to the debut. Ice confirmed its July 26 release date after months of teasing, then announced her headlining tour with Cash Cobain earlier this month, following up with a defense of the album cover after fans maligned it online.

Watch Ice Spice’s ‘Phat Butt’ video above.

Y2K! will be out on July 26 via 10K Projects and Capitol Records.

Both Taylor Swift and Post Malone are familiar with what it feels like to have a No. 1 single, and they both recently had yet another Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper with “Fortnight” from Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. (Malone has since landed another one with the Morgan Wallen collab “I Had Some Help.”) The two made a visual for their collaboration, too, and now Swift has shared a behind-the-scenes video.

In one fun moment, Post Malone has a lovely time getting his hands on an old-school typewriter. Swift shows Malone how to move the carriage back to the left side of the typewriter, and Malone, ever the beacon of positivity, responds, “All you do is move it! This is amazing.” He adds, “I feel very steampunk.”

Once he figured out how to use the shift key and get a capital letter, he laughed and exclaimed, “Oh, what the hell?! That’s badass! I’m buying this right now. […] This is too much fun. Y’all shouldn’t have let me play with it.”

Swift gets her fun in, too, although it’s less from fiddling with vintage writing equipment and more from the joy she gets when her directorial vision is realized in a satisfying way.

Check out the video above.

Paris Hilton‘s music career had a resurgence when “Stars Are Blind” appeared in Best Picture nominee Promising Young Woman. Now, nearly 20 years after her debut album (you know who else went almost two decades between albums? Steely Dan… something to think about… or maybe don’t), The Simple Life star is coming back with her follow-up: Infinite Icon.

The album’s clubby first single, “I’m Free,” features Rina Sawayama and is inspired by “Free” by Ultra Naté.

“A song can change your life, and that’s what ‘Free’ by Ultra Naté did for me,” Hilton said in a statement. “I heard it for the first time at a club in New York City shortly after being released from the Provo Canyon School where I experienced mental and physical abuse. For me, the song represents the journey of healing and finding your voice. It has served as an anthem of hope and a guiding light and I’m honored to have had the chance to create this new version. I’m also so grateful to have Rina Sawayama’s mesmerizing vocals and lyrics on the song. Together, Rina and I hope to inspire fans around the world to embrace their own strong voices and feel free to fully express themselves.”

Infinite Icon comes out on September 6. In the meantime, you can listen to “I’m Free” above.

Sabrina Carpenter, at times, can take things to a fun and sexually charged place. During a recent BBC performance, for example, she sang the following “Nonsense” outro: “How quickly can you take your clothes off, pop quiz / I’m American I am not British, so BBC: it stands for something different / This Live Lounge is so lit because I’m in it, innit.”

Carpenter says, though, that despite the frequency of moments like these, sex isn’t actually on the brain for her all the time.

In a video from Vanity Fair, Carpenter said she’s not as horny as it may seem. In the clip, she explains, “Over the last year, I’ve heard from a lot of people, like, ‘Wow, she’s just the horniest girl alive,’ because sometimes in my songs, I say some crazy things on stage. But I’m actually a very normal amount of horny, and also, a lot of it is because I’m able to kind of have fun and play. You know, when I’m doing these live shows, it’s just a matter of not taking things too seriously. I love play on words and I love funny innuendos; It’s just always been something that makes me laugh. So, yeah, I’m not the horniest girl alive, for sure.”

Check out the video below.

Hot Ones will never be the same after Conan O’Brien rubbed hot sauce around his, hm, nipples region. Future guests will have to find ways to one up him. Taking off your shirt is a good start, especially if you’re one of the most beautiful people in the world.

Season 24 of the First We Feast web series continued this week with supermodel Heidi Klum, who got so sweaty after trying the Da Bomb Beyond Insanity hot sauce that she unbuttoned her denim shirt and took it off. “I’m getting hot,” the queen of Halloween costumes said, to which host Sean Evans (who, as a professional, kept his eyes up here) replied, “Whoa, whoa! Now I’m getting hot too, Heidi.” Klum did the rest of the challenge in her bra and jeans.

During the interview, Klum was asked about the priciest outfit she’s ever worn. “$12.5 million bra and $750,000 panties to match… for Victoria’s Secret, it was all encrusted with diamonds and rubies and what not,” the America’s Got Talent judge said. “I think I got in the Guinness Book of World Records by wearing the most expensive lingerie set in the history of the world.” The red Hot Ones bra is equally historic. Put it in the Smithsonian.

You can watch Heidi Klum’s episode of Hot Ones above.

Early in the morning on June 20, police officers were called to Miami Beach Marina. There, Travis Scott was asked to leave a charter boat, but that process didn’t go smoothly, as the encounter ended with the rapper getting arrested on charges of disorderly intoxication and trespassing on property after a warning.

It appears Scott is bothered by this approximately 0 percent. For one, hours after the arrest, he tweeted simply, “Lol.” Then, he decided to make the most of the situation by selling t-shirts with his fresh mugshot printed on the front.

The shirt features the photo along with the caption, “It’s Miami,” which was what Scott was reported to have said when asked by police if he had been drinking. So, he seemingly just confirmed that quote.

The shirt is for sale on Scott’s webstore, with the product titled “FREE THE RAGE TEE #2.” The shirts are going for $35, and $5 from each sale will be donated to Scott’s Cactus Jack Foundation.

This whole situation comes not long after settled the final Astroworld Festival wrongful death lawsuit, after nine out of the 10 suits were settled weeks before. That said, there’s still an Astroworld injury case that has yet to be settled.

During her Coachella performance in April, Chappell Roan described herself as “your favorite artist’s favorite artist.” The “HOT TO GO!” singer has become a lot of people’s favorite artist since then, with festival crowds requiring larger stages and toddler look-alikes. But Roan is quick to point out that she didn’t come up with “your favorite’s artist favorite artist.”

When the expression came up during Thursday’s episode of The Tonight Show, she told host Jimmy Fallon, “That was a reference to Sasha Colby,” a former RuPaul’s Drag Race winner. “Sasha Colby said, ‘I’m your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen.’ And I was like, it just hit me through the heart.”

Fallon also mentioned that when he did a Google search for “chappell roan” (“Did you not know who I was before?” she zinged him), the top of the results page read, “Did you mean: your favorite artist’s favorite artist.” How did that come about? “It’s this random twink that works at Google,” Roan said. “I know it is. I know it’s just some, it’s some assistant that, like, we love her.”

You can watch Roan’s very funny The Tonight Show interview above. She also performed “Good Luck, Babe!” which you can check out below.