What you need to know to be in the know
Miranda Priestly is back, and she brought receipts. The Devil Wears Prada 2 pulled in $32.5 million on opening day alone, tracking toward an $80M domestic debut and $175M globally. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt reunite in a sequel that's earned a 79% critics / 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes — and it's the kind of movie that makes everyone rewatch the original this weekend.
But the real flex might be the soundtrack: Lady Gaga dropped two original cuts — "Shape of a Woman" and "Glamorous Life" — alongside tracks from Dua Lipa, SZA, Miley Cyrus, Laufey, and RAYE. The soundtrack album landed with 13 tracks that range from power ballad to runway strut. Summer movie season is officially open.
The BookTok-beloved novel about a widow and a suspiciously perceptive octopus is finally a Netflix film, arriving May 8. Sally Field leads the cast with Lewis Pullman and Alfred Molina voicing Marcellus the octopus. Director Olivia Newman adapts Shelby Van Pelt's debut that spent 64 weeks on the NYT bestseller list. If you read it, you already know — this one's going to wreck people.
Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan took over from Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, and it's working. The new season, set at a country club with Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton rounding out the ensemble, sits at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics say it's less focused than Season 1 but Spaeny's performance is "easily one of the best of the year." Eight episodes, all streaming now.
Netflix's animated Devil May Cry Season 2 drops May 12 with Dante vs. Vergil finally front and center. Then on May 27, Nicolas Cage stars in Spider-Noir on Prime Video — a 1930s noir detective show with Brendan Gleeson, released in both black-and-white and color versions. Meanwhile, A24's Mother Mary is still in theaters with Anne Hathaway as a pop star, featuring an entire soundtrack written by Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff. 🎯
The final season of Good Omens arrives May 13 on Prime Video. And John Krasinski reprises Jack Ryan on May 20 for Ghost War, a new standalone entry. May is relentless.
The Queen of Pop and pop's current It Girl officially teamed up. "Bring Your Love" dropped on April 30 as the lead single from Confessions II — Madonna's first album sequel, reuniting with producer Stuart Price for a 12-track nonstop dance mix. The track premiered live at Coachella and already hit #1 on iTunes in 34 countries. This is the kind of cross-generational pop moment that doesn't come around often.
Rodrigo is the first artist to have the lead singles from her first three albums all debut at #1 on the Hot 100. "Drop Dead" is a synth-pop, power-pop hybrid about a first date, with a music video shot at Versailles. The new album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, arrives June 12.
Her seventh album is a love letter to Golden, Texas — the small town she left, came back to, and can't quite quit. Willie Nelson, Billy Strings, Miranda Lambert, and Gregory Alan Isakov guest on a record that leans full classic country. It's the kind of album that makes you want to drive with the windows down even if you're in a city.
Twenty tracks, all featuring women. Midnight Sun: Girls Trip remixes and expands Larsson's last album with collabs from PinkPantheress, Madison Beer, Shakira, Kehlani, Tyla, and Robyn. It's a pop buffet with a sharp feminist edge. 🎯
Lionsgate's Michael biopic dropped just 48% in its second weekend, earning around $51M as Devil Wears Prada 2 took the #1 spot. The MJ film has now crossed $217M worldwide, making it the biggest biopic ever — despite that puzzling 35% critics score against a 94% audience rating. Audiences have decided this one's for them.
David Lowery's Mother Mary is an art-house curiosity — Hathaway plays a fictional pop star unraveling alongside Michaela Coel, performing seven original tracks written by Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff, and FKA twigs. Critics are divided, the box office is modest ($2.2M against a $20M budget), but it's the kind of film that'll find its audience on streaming. 🎯
Memorial Day weekend is loading: Mandalorian & Grogu is tracking $80M+, Mortal Kombat II brings the violence, and A24's The Backrooms adapts the internet's favorite liminal horror. May is going to be massive.
Tomorrow's Met Gala theme is "Costume Art" — exploring fashion as an embodied art form. With Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams co-chairing, the host committee reading like an Avengers lineup (Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, LISA, Angela Bassett, A'ja Wilson), and a dress code this open-ended, expect the most maximalist red carpet in years.
After years of whiplash trend cycles, Gen Z is settling into "uniform dressing" — boxy knits, workwear classics, vintage sportswear, and the same perfect outfit repeated. The new flex isn't novelty — it's knowing exactly what works for you and wearing it with confidence. Maximalism is still here, but it's intentional maximalism: chaotic layering over quiet luxury, Depop over fast fashion.
The median first-time buyer age has hit 40, while the share of first-time buyers dropped to just 21% — well below the historical 40% norm. High rent, student debt, and childcare costs are forcing young adults into co-living and multigenerational housing. The silver lining: home prices may grow slower than wages for the first time since the financial crisis, but don't hold your breath.
A Chinese court ruled that companies can't fire employees solely to replace them with AI to cut costs. The landmark ruling came after a tech worker was dismissed when an LLM took over his role. Meanwhile, in the US, the Department of Labor launched an AI Apprenticeship portal. Two very different approaches to the same problem.
Every May 1st, the entire internet lip-syncs to NSYNC's "It's Gonna Be Me" because Justin Timberlake pronounces "me" like "May." It's nostalgic, it's silly, and it's the one meme that unites millennials and Gen Z every spring. watch it →
Two-slide carousel: a throwback photo labeled "primadonna girl," then swipe to your current era captioned "all I ever wanted was the world." Set to Marina and the Diamonds' 2012 hit, athletes, creators, and regular people are showing their glow-ups. Winter Olympians and influencers are all over this one. watch it →
Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' Miranda Hope is channeling punk rock energy by turning actual text messages from her ex into different genres of music. It's part of a bigger trend where people screenshot toxic conversations and set them to genre mashups. Peak chaos culture.
Three months in and the viral pickle dip — cream cheese, yogurt, chopped Grillo's pickles, a splash of brine — is still going strong. People are serving it in the original Grillo's tub, which is honestly the best part. watch it →
The DoD will use AI tools from OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and four others on classified networks. Anthropic was excluded after insisting on safety guardrails for military AI use. It's the clearest split yet between "build fast" and "build careful" camps in AI.
Meta acquired Assured Robot Intelligence — a startup building foundation models for humanoid robots to do household chores. The co-founders come from Nvidia and NYU. Meta, Tesla, Amazon, and others are all racing toward physical AI now. The robot future is getting very real, very fast.
OpenAI's most advanced model launched with stronger coding, research, and agent capabilities. More importantly, they broke their Microsoft-only cloud deal, opening distribution through Amazon. The AI infrastructure wars are shifting fast.
The open-world racing series heads to Japan for what early previews are calling "the series' best map yet." Day one on Game Pass.
Young James Bond gets his own game on May 27, while LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight drops May 22. Plus: Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a Switch 2 exclusive — the first mainline Yoshi game in 7 years.
Philly completed a 3-1 comeback to eliminate the Celtics 109-100. The Sixers now face the Knicks in the East semis. Out West: Thunder vs. Lakers, Wolves vs. Spurs. Three more Game 7s today — Pistons/Magic and Cavs/Raptors.
The Lightning-Canadiens series has been absurd: three of six games went to overtime, and Tampa forced a Game 7 tonight with a 1-0 OT win. Flyers advanced past the Penguins 4-2. The Avs swept the Kings and face the Wild next.