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It’s weird to reconcile Taylor Swift the Savvy Billionaire with Taylor Swift the Woman With So Much Personal Drama. I’ve been thinking about that a lot this year – Taylor is so accessible to her fans and accessible as a celebrity, going about her life, hanging out with her football player boyfriend. going to dinner with friends and writing blind-item lyrics. And she’s also one of the canniest marketers of the modern era, a self-made billionaire with a Midas Touch. Taylor covers People Magazine’s 2023 Most Intriguing People issue this week. This is sort of People’s annual wrap-up, a who’s who of “fascinating” or “intriguing” celebrities in 2023. It had to be Tay-Tay.

Taylor Swift is on top of the world and more in control than ever as she closes out her biggest year yet — which is why she’s on the cover of PEOPLE’s 2023 Most Intriguing People of the Year issue.

Her record-shattering Eras Tour (a 3.5-hour spectacle that draws from her 10 albums and spawned a history-making concert film) helped boost Swift to billionaire status, Forbes reported in October. Rerecordings of her early albums (which she began to release after her original label head sold them to music manager Scooter Braun) have even made vinyl records popular with Gen Z: 1989 (Taylor’s Version) broke the record for the largest vinyl sales week ever in October with at least 580,000 copies sold.

And the 12-time Grammy winner remains a force in pop culture, defining friendship goals with her tightknit group of girlfriends and causing Taylor-mania in the NFL amid her new romance with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

“She never really stops writing songs,” says the National frontman Aaron Dessner, 47, who first began working with the star on her 2020 pandemic projects Folklore and Evermore. “I’ve spent a lot of time with her, and I’ve never seen anyone wait on her. When I have stayed at her house, Taylor herself was cooking everyone breakfast and dinner. She’s legitimately just a very down to earth and hard-working person.”

While she’s accomplished more in a year than anyone in the game, Swift may be even busier in 2024. Touring through next December, she has two more albums to re-release and has frequently been spotted at an N.Y.C. recording studio with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff; she’s up for six more Grammys in February; and her feature film directorial debut based on an original script she’s written is still in the works.

“Taylor has so many stories to tell,” says Dessner. “I think she’ll keep inventing new ways and methods of writing and keep expanding this enchanted universe of her own making that we all get to enjoy.”

Swift’s longtime friend, Paramore rocker Hayley Williams, 34, agrees.

“I’m almost afraid to say it,” Williams ponders, “but I kind of think she’s just getting started.”

[From People]

“When I have stayed at her house, Taylor herself was cooking everyone breakfast and dinner. She’s legitimately just a very down to earth and hard-working person.” True or false? I sort of believe that Taylor likes to play hostess and all of that, but surely she has domestic staff?? Doesn’t she have a maid or a cook or both? How can you be a whole-ass billionaire and not have household staff??? A question for the ages: does Taylor clean the kitty litter all by herself?

As I was writing this up, guess who was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year? Jesus, it really was The Year of Taylor Swift. You can see Taylor’s POTY package here. I actually love that Time chose an entertainer for POTY – all too often, Time chooses a politician. Taylor has the power to bring governments to their knees.

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Covers & Instagrams courtesy of People Magazine and Time Magazine.

Over the weekend, Roya Nikkhah at the Sunday Times had a very important royal exclusive: Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, will snub the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and not invite them to his June 2024 wedding. Considering Nikkhah reported it, the big exclusive absolutely came from Kensington Palace. The vibe of the whole story was that Prince William threw a tantrum and demanded that Grosvenor snub the Sussexes, and then William leaked the whole thing as a slam on Harry. Meanwhile, Harry is playing with his children and dogs in sunny California while William rages to Roya. The whole thing is incredibly pathetic. Hilariously, they’re dragging Camilla into it now – there’s a long history of Grosvenor family weddings being the site of royal shenanigans, apparently.

When the Duke of Westminster made the ‘incredibly sad’ decision to exclude the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from his wedding next summer, he was mindful of the royal row that complicated his sister’s ceremony at the same venue. The Daily Mail understands that the Duke, Hugh Grosvenor, was ‘very conscious’ of the tensions surrounding the wedding of Lady Tamara Grosvenor and Edward van Cutsem at Chester Cathedral in 2004 and did not want anything similar at his own.

‘Hugh knows how sensitive wedding invitations can be,’ a friend of the family told this newspaper.

Camilla Parker Bowles was invited to his sister’s wedding but was told that she would not be permitted to sit with Prince Charles and would have to sit several rows back. She would also have to arrive separately. This was because Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were due to attend the ceremony. A Buckingham Palace courtier was quoted as saying at the time: ‘It may provoke comment on the day, but Her Majesty will also be attending and she is a stickler for protocol. A pew will be set aside for the members of the Royal Family attending, and it would be inappropriate for Mrs Parker Bowles to sit beside Prince Charles since she has no official standing. Even for Mrs Parker Bowles to arrive with the Prince at the event, in the presence of the Queen, would be to confer rights and status upon her that she simply does not have.’

There had previously been very few official occasions at which both Mrs Parker Bowles, as she then was, and the Queen had been present. Among them were the Westminster Abbey service for the 50th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation, a pop concert in the garden of Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen’s Jubilee, and the Queen Mother’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.

According to Viscountess Bangor, better known as the distinguished author Sarah Bradford, Mrs Parker Bowles was apparently so infuriated to read in a newspaper diary column that royal protocol would mean she couldn’t sit beside Charles at the wedding that she told the heir to the throne that the status quo was no longer acceptable. She and Prince Charles pulled out of attending Lady Tamara’s wedding, which, like her brother’s, was described as the society event of the year. It was reported that Charles took the decision because he was unhappy about the treatment of Mrs Parker Bowles.

The wedding was attended by 650 guests, including the Queen, Prince Philip, and Princes William and Harry.

[From The Daily Mail]

It’s true that the 2004 wedding “seating snub” was some kind of turning point for Camilla, although Charles would not actually propose to Camilla until months after that wedding snub. Weirdly, I think the protocol around seating would be a lot looser at a society wedding than at a royal funeral, but what do I know. In any case, it absolutely sounds like Hugh Grosvenor is being used as pawn in one of William’s unhinged schemes, which is weird because Hugh is a very rich, very important person in British high society. William’s rage and need to drag Hugh into this mess could come back to bite William in a big way. You’ve got to think that many of those aristocrats have been looking for a way to put William in his place.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Here are more photos of the Princess of Wales on Tuesday, as she opened a new Children’s Day Surgery at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London. In the comment section yesterday, someone freaked out that I didn’t name the CEO of Evelina London, Gubby Ayida, a name which was not included in any of Kensington Palace’s media briefings, nor was it a name included in most of the coverage of Kate’s event. Probably because to the palace, diversity props’ names are not important. The point of the event was explicitly to get Kate photographed with as many people of color as possible, as you can see from these photos.

The point, as the Daily Mail reports, was to have Kate and the rest of the royals go on a “charm offensive” to prove that they’re not racist, although it comes across as “we were only racist to Meghan, not anyone else.” The Mail’s headline was seriously this: “Harry who? Royals will put on a united front at Buckingham Palace Christmas Diplomatic Reception tonight as they brush off Omid Scobie racism row – after Kate delighted youngsters at new children’s hospital and William sold the Big Issue.”

The Royal Family has embarked on a ‘charm offensive’ as they brush off the fallout from Omid Scobie’s racism row – with William taking to the streets to sell the Big Issue, Kate visiting a children’s hospital and King Charles preparing to host a Buckingham Palace banquet.

The Prince of Wales left shoppers stunned this morning after he was spotted selling the magazine outside a Tesco in Hammersmith, West London. The beaming royal, 41, appeared relaxed as he chatted to vendor Dave Martin, 61, who has been a friend since they hit the streets to sell the magazine together 18 months ago.

Kate was also out and about today, receiving a warm welcome as she opened a new Children’s Day Surgery at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London before reuniting with fundraising amputee Tony Hudgell and his adoptive mother.

[From The Daily Mail]

The fact that these people have to go on “we’re not racist” charm offensives in the year of our lord Beyonce 2023 will always be funny to me. The fact that they’re this ridiculously obvious, that their comms offices are explicitly briefing the Mail about their intentions too. “Will and Kate are going on a charm offense, yes, please use those words, we’ll make sure to send a Black child over to hand flowers to Kate.”

William’s poverty tourism isn’t helping matters either.

Note by CB: Get the Top 10 stories from Omid Scobie’s Endgame when you sign up for our mailing list! I only send one email a day on weekdays.

Great to be back with Dave, selling the latest edition of the @BigIssue once again!

Find your nearest vendor this festive season: https://t.co/4Gauhs9Hgy pic.twitter.com/BEtDn0Hwak

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) December 5, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

This week, Prince Harry’s lawyers are in court, arguing about his security when he’s in the UK. When QEII was alive, she made sure that he and Meghan had royal protection when they visited, but this situation is now in dire straits with Harry’s father on the throne. Something that never made sense to me about the timeline in 2020 is when did the Sussexes’ royal protection really get pulled and when were they officially “cut off” from the institution? Omid Scobie writes, in Endgame, that the final cutoff happened in July 2020, when the Lord Chamberlain made good on his threat to cut off Harry when Harry refused to drop his legal action against the Sun, which led straight to Christian Jones. But we also know that Tyler Perry basically had to provide his private security to the Sussexes by the end of March 2020. Now, at least the timeline makes slightly more sense – Ravec cut off Harry’s security rather suddenly in February 2020.

RAVEC, a committee that also included police and senior palace aides who Harry had fallen out with, made the decision in February 2020 after he announced his decision to quit a month earlier and before his final royal engagements that March.

Shaheed Fatima, Harry’s attorney, told the court RAVEC’s own policies suggested an assessment by the Risk Management Board (RMB) should have been taken before he was stripped of his protection.

“In this case RAVEC chose not to follow its own written policy,” she told the High Court in London. “RAVEC chose not to do an RMB risk analysis. RAVEC therefore chose to apply a far inferior procedure to [Harry] that lacked the critical safeguards that have been built into the written policy.”

The prince’s team believe it is the first time the Home Office has done this and Fatima added: “No good reason has been provided for singling [Harry] out in this way. The critical point is that when that decision was taken he was still a full-time working member of the royal family,” she continued. “He was plainly still in the RAVEC cohort and the written policies should have been applied to him.”

She said “the court does not need to make a decision about” whether Harry should get “protective security,” but rather whether the decision was unlawful. It is possible that even if Harry wins, the government will simply take the same decision again using a different process.

[From Newsweek]

“It is possible that even if Harry wins, the government will simply take the same decision again using a different process.” Yep. I mean, I support Harry and I find this case really fascinating, because Harry is exposing some really disgusting sh-t at the heart of the royal protection bureaucracy, but nothing is going to change. It’s through this case that I learned that royal protection does not follow the threat, it follows favoritism and rank. Harry and Meghan were in serious danger and under siege from violent racists and lunatics – but because Harry was disliked by Edward Young and because the Windsors wanted to put the Sussexes “in their place,” they limited and ultimately removed the Sussexes’ protection. It’s short-sighted and extremely dangerous. And whatever happens with Harry’s case, the end result will be the same – Ravec has made it abundantly clear that the Sussexes need to be in mortal danger and that the Sussexes cannot pay for their police protection if they ever visit the UK.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

You guys, this is the second GREAT Stella McCartney ensemble I’ve seen in as many days. What is happening? Usually I loathe all things Stella McCartney, but Pamela Anderson’s Stella outfit at the British Fashion Awards was amazing, and now look at Taylor Swift’s Stella McCartney coat and matching miniskirt. They’re outstanding! I love that tweed, I love everything about her street-style look here (except the shoes). The coat is apparently $2900. Yikes, too rich for me, but it does look great on Tay.

These are pics of Taylor out to dinner last night in Tribeca. She flew out of Kansas City yesterday I think, or maybe Monday? Some outlets described her flight back to New York as “sudden,” but… that’s where she lives, and she’s not just going to camp out in Kansas City permanently. Especially when Meredith, Benjamin and Olivia are probably still living in New York. I don’t see any gossip about Taylor’s dinner companions, so it’s possible she just went out with her security guys – they went to Paros, a Greek restaurant.

The Kansas City Chiefs will play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, and the game is at Arrowhead in KC. Will Taylor fly back down this weekend to see her man play? This past Sunday was the first time the Chiefs lost with Taylor in attendance. I wonder…

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Last year, the Windsors made a big deal over the Princess of Wales’s second piano recital, her “Together at Christmas” event at Westminster Abbey. King Charles, Queen Camilla, and almost all of the left-behind Windsors made a point of coming out to the event. Many of the women wore matching burgundy coats, because the Duchess of Sussex talked about all of the fashion rules for royal women, so the burgundy coats were seen as some kind of “dig” at Meghan. This was happening at the same time as the Harry & Meghan docuseries aired as well, so you get the picture – united front and all that. One year later, and the front is no longer all that united. Harry’s memoir was a huge cultural moment, and the Windsors are currently trying to ignore Omid Scobie’s Endgame and the outing of two alleged “racist royals,” Charles and Kate. Hilariously, Charles and Camilla made a point of scheduling something out of town on the night of Kate’s third annual piano recital.

King Charles III will be 100 miles away on the day of Kate Middleton’s major winter project as the pair are swept up in a media storm over Meghan Markle’s race allegations.

Charles was named in the Dutch-language version of new royal book Endgame, released on Tuesday, November 28, as the royal who commented on the then-unborn Prince Archie’s skin tone; the Princess of Wales was said to have been present at the time. The names have not been officially confirmed, but were included in the Dutch-language version of Endgame in error, the book’s publisher said, and copies were pulled from shelves. Since the revelation, Charles and Kate have been engulfed in a frenzy of news stories, although the British press has largely been supportive of the royals while condemning author Omid Scobie.

The saga will almost certainly be the backdrop to Kate’s Together at Christmas Carol Service, at Westminster Abbey, in London, on Friday. The press release said that “other Members of the Royal Family” will be present, sparking a headline in the U.K. newspaper Daily Mirror about family unity.

However, hours later, Buckingham Palace announced that the king has an engagement the same day at his Highgrove Estate, in Gloucestershire, England, more than 100 miles away.

A Kensington Palace press release read: “Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales, and other Members of the Royal Family will attend the Together At Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey on Friday 8th December.”

On the same day, the king will attend what the palace described as a “Celebration of Craft” Reception, hosted by his charity The King’s Foundation at his Highgrove estate.

[From Newsweek]

Charles reportedly prefers to spend his weekends at Highgrove, so I can understand (logistically) why he wouldn’t stick around in London on a Friday evening just to attend Kate’s dumb event. Although it IS funny – he would rather celebrate local crafters at Highgrove than put on a united (racist) front with Kate, William and the left-behinds. I absolutely wonder if this whole controversy might be the beginning of the institutional cooling-off for Kate.

Note by CB: Get the top 8 stories about the Waleses stealing King Charles’s thunder when you sign up for our mailing list! I only send one email a day on weekdays.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

While I’m extremely wary of Page Six’s royal coverage and their motives, even I have to admit that Page Six has run more than a few pro-Sussex stories over the past year. It’s pretty weird and I don’t know what’s going on. During the whole “controversy” over the paparazzi chase in New York this past May, Page Six even ran several confirmations of the Sussexes’ version of events. The outlet – part of The New York Post and owned by News Corp – has been running positive stories about what Meghan’s next business moves could be. Like, it feels as if they’re trying to be a more Sussex-friendly outlet. For what it’s worth. All of which to say, Page Six has an exclusive on the whole “Hugh Grosvenor won’t invite the Sussexes to his wedding next June” story. And Page Six’s version is A) very likely and B) hilarious.

Prince Harry declined to attend his posh pal the Duke of Westminster’s wedding to avoid an awkward clash with his brother Prince William and other family members amid their boiling family feud, Page Six can reveal.

He got a “Save the Date” card to the wedding next summer — but then called the Duke, Hugh Grosvenor, personally to say it would be best if he and his wife, Meghan Markle, didn’t come. It would have been the first meeting between Markle and Kate Middleton since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022. His decision was made well before new tensions with his brother caused by the publication of controversial author Omid Scobie’s “Endgame” last week, which launched new salvoes against William and his wife Kate Middleton, including naming her in a Dutch translation as one of the alleged “royal racists.”

Harry and Markle have kept silent over the book and the mounting storm over it.

Both Harry, 39, and his older brother Prince William, 41, are BFFs with Hugh Grosvenor, who is godfather to both their sons, Prince George and Prince Archie. However, a storm erupted when the Sunday Times claimed that Grosvenor chose future King William over Harry to attend his wedding to Olivia Henson next summer to avoid a clash among the warring brothers.

But a source told us: “Harry actually got a ‘save the date’ card a few months ago but called Hugh and said it would be too awkward if he and Meghan Markle attended, so he made his apologies and Hugh understood.”

[From Page Six]

Yeah, I think this is entirely possible. I think it’s highly probable that this is exactly what happened – that Hugh sent out invitations to the Sussexes and the Waleses, and Harry already told Hugh that they would be unlikely to attend. Then William heard about it and twisted the whole thing into “William threw a tantrum and Hugh succumbed, all to snub Harry!” I still say that William’s behavior has been utterly classless, and I would imagine that has not gone unnoticed by the aristos. William leaking all of this sh-t about the Grosvenor wedding to his favorite royal reporter is really tacky and obvious.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Spoilers from 2019 for Game of Thrones and Avengers: Endgame
The weekend of April 26, 2019 was an eventful one for us nerds. It was the weekend that The Avengers: Endgame opened in theaters and that the Season 8 episode of Game of Thrones, “The Long Night” aired. The Internet was abuzz trying to figure out which of our beloved characters from each franchise would survive the weekend. It was a whole thing. “The Long Night” ended up having one really cool moment for Ayra Stark, but otherwise, all of the main cast survived. The same could not be said for Avengers: Endgame. We *spoiler* lost the Black Widow and Iron Man, two superheroes that had basically been there since the beginning of Marvel’s incredible multi-phase journey. Both deaths, particularly Tony’s, were emotional.

Four years later, the MCU is struggling. My personal belief for that is threefold: 1. Fans gave their emotional-all over the course of 11 years for phases 1-3; 2. Phases 4 and 5 involved too much homework, requiring viewers to watch movies and subscription-only TV shows to understand everything going on; and 3. Superhero fatigue. Because of this, none of the newer MCU movies have really caught on with audiences. So, of course, rumors recently arose that the studio was trying to bring back the original Avengers, including Tony Stark/Iron Man, forcing Marvel’s captain Kevin Feige to release a statement denying this.

Marvel fans shouldn’t be checking for Robert Downey Jr. to reprise his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel universe. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair that despite reports otherwise, there are no plans to resurrect the character after Downey Jr.’s last appearance in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”

“We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige said. “We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”

Downey Jr. was hesitant to even do reshoots for “Endgame,” according to the film’s co-director Joe Russo. “We’d already said tearful goodbyes on the last day of shooting. Everybody had moved on emotionally,” Russo told publication. “We promised him it would be the last time we made him do it — ever.”

His brother Anthony Russo, who co-directed “Endgame,” added, “That was a difficult thing for him to do, to come back to pick up that line.”

“When he (Downey Jr.) did come back, we were shooting on a stage directly opposite where he auditioned for Tony Stark,” Anthony Russo said. “So his last line as Tony Stark was shot literally a couple hundred feet from his original audition that got him the role.”

[From CNN]

One of the things that made Tony’s death so sad was that his very last line was a repeat of the line that closed out the very first Iron Man movie. It came full circle. To me, that made it all the more final. I know Marvel is trying to go the comic book route in keeping its main players around by taking advantage of the multiverse. That may (emphasis on may) have worked if they hadn’t expanded to Disney+ shows, but it appears they may have f–ked around and found out by putting those shows (with complicated plots) behind paywall.

All that said, I would be remiss if I didn’t admit that I really liked RDJ as Tony Stark, Chris Evans as Capt. America, and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. Part of me would love to see them all come back again. But, all good things must end and we got pretty satisfying conclusions for two-out-of-three of those characters. I felt the same for Loki at the end of the second season of Loki and even that show was a multiverse of mindf–kery. Honestly, I think that Marvel Studios needs to regroup and make things simpler for viewers again. Salud to RDJ, ScarJo, Evans, and (I think?) Tom Hiddleston for all they gave to fans.

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Here’s a holiday story that makes my vintage heart happy: the nostalgic hit “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” has just topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for the first time in its 65-year history. Recorded in 1958, the rollicking tune made it to No. 14 in 1960. Over the last few years it’s risen to No. 2, beaten out by, you know it, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” The two songs have switched places for the moment, and 78-year-old singer Brenda Lee is getting a sentimental feeling in the new old-fashioned way:

On Monday, Billboard confirmed that Lee’s classic holiday tune had appeared atop this week’s Hot 100 chart, which measures the 100 most popular songs in the U.S. Not surprisingly, the list is populated at the moment by a number of Christmas staples, including Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock.”

Lee celebrated the achievement with a short note on her Instagram Stories.

“We did it, Brendanators!” she wrote.

At 78, Lee becomes the oldest performer in history to top the Hot 100. Her tune also sets a new record for the longest gap between a song’s release and its appearance in the top spot. The previous record holder was “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which took 25 years to make the journey.

Though many assume her raspy, rockabilly voice to be that of a more mature performer, Lee was just 13 years old when she recorded “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” in 1958. The song was written by Johnny Marks, who also wrote the holiday standards “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Silver and Gold,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and “I Hear the Bells on Christmas Day.”

Two years after its initial release, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” entered Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first time, coming in at No. 14.

Much like “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” the song skyrockets in airplay annually between Thanksgiving and Christmas. For the past four years, it’s reached a peak position of No. 2, kept from the top spot by — what else? — “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is Lee’s third No. 1 song. The Georgia-born singer previously topped the Hot 100 chart with “I’m Sorry” and “I Want To Be Wanted.” Both songs were released in 1960.

“I would’ve never thought in my wildest dreams that ‘Rockin’’ would be my signature song,” Lee, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee, told The New York Times in an interview published last month.

After joking that she and Carey were Christmas competitors, Lee added: “Oh, there’s room for everybody. Her song’s good, too. I love her singing.”

[From HuffPost]

“Her song’s good, too.” That just about killed me. The shade of it all! No, I know Brenda was merely joking (probably). But it’s still a ballsy move to take on Ms. Mariah Carey in her peak season. And for that chutzpah, she’s converted me to a Brendanator! Billboard reported that “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” became only the third holiday song ever to reach No. 1, joining “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” And what is the remaining of the three songs? Of all the varied and fine Christmas music in the world? Come on, you know. The only other holiday song to hit No. 1 is none other than “The Chipmunk Song.” I kind of love that we live in a world where this is true.

“Rockin’” reaching No. 1 was likely helped along by the fact that its first-ever music video was released last month, starring Brenda Lee (of course) with appearances by Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. Golden oldie fans and new Brendanators like me can catch Brenda performing her chart-topping hit December 7 in Christmas at the Opry on NBC.

Photos credit: Judy Eddy/Cover Images, London Features/Avalon and screenshots from YouTube

Cardi B & Offset unfollowed each other… are they breaking up? [Hollywood Life]
Andrew Scott & Claire Foy looked amazing at the British Independent Film Awards. They should do a movie together!! [GFY]
Again, stop throwing stuff at celebrities! [Socialite Life]
Lily Gladstone is so beautiful but this dress is meh!! [LaineyGossip]
I totally forgot that Sean Austin is a nepo baby. [Pajiba]
Non-Americans cannot comprehend the American way of life – our tipping culture, our abundant flags, our beautiful, patriotic ice. [Buzzfeed]
Dominic West reveals why his son isn’t in The Crown anymore. [JustJared]
Horoscopes for December! [OMG Blog]
Lisa Rinna looks crazy & hilarious in this pic. [Seriously OMG]
Lupita Nyong’o wore Chanel to the Academy Museum gala (we didn’t have these pics or else I would have covered the event). [RCFA]
Tracey Edmonds & Deion Sanders called off their engagement. [The Root]