As you may know by now, I am fascinated by all things paranormal. My two favorite paranormal topics to talk and hear stories about are synchronicities and ghosts. In the past, we’ve talked about celebrities’ experiences with spirits, including Kevin Bacon destroying a haunted house on his Connecticut property, Suzanne Sommers’ widow getting signs from her, Matt Damon finding peace after a dream from his dad, Patrick Stewart’s haunted house in LA, and even the Wales’ allegedly haunted Norfolk home.

On this edition of Rosie’s Paranormal Posts, we’re talking about Courteney Cox. Courteney is the latest celeb to speak out about their spiritual encounters. During an appearance on CBS Sunday Morning this past weekend, Courteney shared that she believes Matthew Perry’s spirit visits her pretty frequently because she talks with him and both of her parents for guidance. In fact, Court believes that a lot of the people we’ve lost “guide us.”

Courteney Cox believes that her late “Friends” co-star Matthew Perry still “visits” her 7 months after his untimely death. Appearing on “CBS Sunday Morning,” the actress, who starred as Monica Geller alongside Perry’s Chandler Bing for 10 seasons on the hit show, commemorated the 20th anniversary of the sitcom’s series finale. In the show, the pair’s two characters ultimately end up together.

“I think he’s probably one of the funniest human beings in the world. He’s just so funny,” Cox, 59, said. “He is genuinely a huge heart. Obviously struggled. I’m so thankful I got to work so closely with him for so many years. He visits me a lot, if we believe in that.”

Cox was then asked to elaborate on her spirituality, revealing that the late actor “guides” her.

“I talk to my mom, my dad, Matthew. I feel like there are a lot of people that, I think, guide us,” she shared. “I do sense — I sense Matthew’s around for sure.”

[From Page Six]

That’s very sweet. I’ve talked about the meaningful experiences that my own family had after the death of my beloved grandfather, including him visiting my mom and grandma on the same night without the other knowing about it and making his presence known at the birth of my older son, who was born one year after the day of his passing. (My grandma said she prayed that entire day to not let him be born until after midnight and she got her way, lol.) There’s a reason why the saying goes “death is hardest on those who are left behind.” Many of us take comfort in a belief that our loved ones are sending us signs from beyond or that they’ve begun their next great adventure. Maybe they are allowed to gently nudge us in the right direction, even if the choice is ours in the end. If Courteney says she feels a connection with Matthew’s spirit while she’s speaking with her loved ones who have passed, then I am not going to discount her experience. I hope it brings her comfort and closure.

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Multiple things can be and are true all at once when it comes to Britney Spears. Jamie Spears was financially and emotionally abusive as Britney’s conservator. Britney has every right to make medical decisions for herself. The conservatorship was poorly managed and it functioned as a slush fund for Jamie and all sorts of terrible people. It was right that the conservatorship ended. But it’s also true that Britney has not been doing well post-conservatorship. Her marriage to Sam Asghari crashed and burned because Britney is not well. She’s once again surrounding herself with users and abusers. And so I understand why there’s a conversation about “Britney needs another conservatorship.” But I find it so suspicious that TMZ is leading the charge.

Britney Spears is in increasing danger of hurting herself or others, or even worse … so say numerous people in and around her life, and they are scared for her and believe the only path for long-term survival is another conservatorship.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, Britney’s mental health has been in a tailspin since the conservatorship ended. They say she often is not taking the meds that stabilize her, and she is drinking and using various drugs which is especially dangerous, because she has substance abuse problems that sent her to rehab multiple times.

We’re told Britney has radical mood swings and often goes into rages that end in physical violence. There are times we’re told it’s impossible to communicate with her because she can’t engage in rational conversation.

What’s even more problematic … we’re told her current boyfriend, Paul Soliz, a felon, is running her household, and her life. TMZ broke the story, earlier this month Britney and Soliz got into a physical fight after a night of drinking at the Chateau Marmont hotel on the Sunset Strip where she ended up half-naked in the hallway, screaming at people. An ambulance was called after Britney hurt her ankle, and badly. They also got into a fight in a Vegas hotel room that caused so much damage, Britney paid the hotel thousands of dollars for repairs.

The sources with whom we have spoken all say … it was a huge mistake to end the conservatorship, though they add her dad, Jamie Spears, was no longer the right person to run the show, mostly because she came to intensely dislike him.

It should be noted, after more than 2 years of post-conservatorship allegations against Jamie for various alleged financial misdeeds, Britney and her dad settled — Britney did not get a cent from Jamie and ended up paying her lawyer millions in attorney’s fees and she also paid Jamie’s $2 million attorney’s bill. In short, her legal fight was a bust, and people around her fear the legal bills and her wild spending are putting her on a path to going broke.

Every source we’ve spoken with says … if things continue the way they have been going, Britney is in grave danger.

[From TMZ]

There’s more at TMZ, including a weird tangent about how Britney’s bedroom wasn’t really bugged and something about the “bugging” claims were why the conservatorship ended. Which is incorrect, but I’m just going from memory – I’m pretty sure the conservatorship ended because Britney was finally able to hire her own lawyer and advocate for herself in court, and the dominos fell from there. It feels like there should be a happy-medium between “Britney needs to be put in a conservatorship” versus “Britney is free to do drugs with her felon boyfriend.”

Photos courtesy of Britney’s Instagram.

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At an event in Nigeria, the Duchess of Sussex wore a simple white dress and an equally simple diamond cross necklace. People Magazine exclusively reported, as the Sussexes were still in Nigeria, that Prince Harry had given the necklace to Meghan and it once belonged to his mother. It was the first time anyone saw the necklace on Meghan, and Diana was never photographed wearing it. But given People’s reporting, I feel like Harry or Meghan confirmed the provenance to Simon Perry, People’s royal editor, who was traveling with the Sussexes. Well, as you can imagine, the usual suspects are still super-salty that Meghan gets to wear some pieces from Diana’s private collection. The NY Post published this curious story:

While in Nigeria on her three-day faux-royal tour with Prince Harry last weekend, Markle, 42, displayed a delicate diamond cross that glinted in the sun as she attended a reception for military families in Abuja. Sources told Page Six that the never-before-seen necklace was gifted to Markle by her husband and was from his mother’s private collection.

“Diana remains a prominent force in Harry’s life and as a result, Meghan’s,” a source who knows the couple told us. “So much of his work is inspired by his mum, and it’s evident how much she still means to him. A gift to his wife that once belonged to his mother is incredibly meaningful and that isn’t lost on his wife.”

The appearance of the cross has set off intrigue, however, as to its origin. One London socialite who knows Markle mused to page Six, “Meghan likes to curate her jewelry to tell a certain story. I find it hard to believe that she’s been sitting on this necklace for 5 years.”

Additionally, Diana, who died aged 37 in August 1997, was never pictured wearing the piece of jewelry in public.

“No — I didn’t recognize this at all,” said one insider who worked closely with Diana. “In fact, Diana was ever the professional and she generally avoided wearing religious motifs of any kind because they have the potential to offend people, so she would never usually wear such a thing.”

Indeed, Diana was pictured wearing a cross in public just twice: once, her own, which she donated to charity and once with a cross she had borrowed from a friend.

[From Page Six]

I think people are trying to cast doubt on the origin of the necklace and they’re trying to say it’s not really Diana’s and the Sussexes are lying? Like… if Harry says a necklace belonged to Diana, I believe him. Now, I also doubt that Meghan would have had this necklace in her jewelry box for five years without ever being photographed in it. Which is why I suggested that Harry perhaps picked up this necklace while he was in London two weeks ago. He had free time, considering his dogsh-t father refused to see him – it would have been easy enough to have a brief meeting with the jeweler who keeps all of Diana’s private jewels. Harry possibly picked up even more pieces. Also: someone suggested that the Spencers might have given him the necklace, which I also think is a possibility.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

Jennifer Lopez stepped out solo to the LA premiere of Atlas last night. There was some talk about whether all of the Bennifer drama was lowkey promotion so that all eyes would be on this premiere… but now that I’m looking at the photos, no, that’s not the case. Jennifer looks so sad, drawn and she’s lost weight recently. Ben Affleck’s absence on the carpet is very noticeable. Jennifer did pose happily with her costars Simu Liu and Sterling K. Brown, but overall… a solitary appearance.

In the past 24 hours, the gossip about the Bennifer marriage has heated up. Page Six reports that Ben has “come to his senses” lately and he feels divorce is inevitable. A source told the outlet: “If there was a way to divorce on grounds of temporary insanity, he would. He feels like the last two years was just a fever dream, and he’s come to his senses now and understands there is just no way this is going to work.” I mean… it was a fever dream which he asked for, that he wanted. None of this would have happened if Ben hadn’t started writing love letters to J.Lo while she was engaged to Alex Rodriguez! Meanwhile, People Mag had this:

Over the weekend Jennifer and Ben were photographed smiling together, and they’ve continued wearing their wedding rings in public, though multiple sources indicated to PEOPLE that there’s a strain on their relationship.

“They just have very different approaches when it comes to media attention. Ben hates all attention and it makes him very uncomfortable. Jennifer has always had a different approach,” one insider says.

A source in the film industry says Affleck, 51, has “always been impressed” by Lopez’s work ethic and success in the industry, however, “always sharing her life is not his way.”

“Even though he admires that about her, it doesn’t make him happy and causes stress in his life and then in hers. There is no question their different styles clash,” adds that source.

A third source, from the music world, says Lopez, 54, “needs that expression but Affleck simply is not comfortable with it.”

“After a while it causes tension in the relationship,” says the source. “He is more introspective and private. She likes to open her heart to her fans and to the world. This makes them considerably different, and it has been difficult in the day-to-day relationship.”

“There have always been clashes in their styles, how they handle issues, and their actions, but nothing has stopped their love over the years,” the source says. “This is a great love story.”

[From People]

I hate to say this, but yeah… I was right to be concerned about Jennifer’s whole This Is Me Now crap. She really did lose the plot. The visual album/movie and the documentary were way too much. The fact that she shared Ben’s letters with songwriters and producers was a huge overstep. Her need to document this “love story” for public consumption was a huge error. Now Ben is using all of that against her. I mean… neither one of them has learned a thing, that’s what makes them perfect for one another. But yiiikes.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

One thing I haven’t missed this year is the collective delusion of royal reporters trying to pretend that the Princess of Wales’s Early Years busywork is groundbreaking, important or substantive. Kate has been trying to make “I’m a credible expert on the Early Years” into a thing for six years, the start of which coincided with the Duchess of Sussex’s substantive projects. They wanted Kate to have a “thing” too and Kate needed to look busy. So we’ve had to watch as Kate has spent years spinning her wheels with fakakta surveys and fancy “studies,” all of which remarkably come to the same conclusion: that people don’t know that the Early Years are important, and Kate must spread awareness of their importance. Speaking of, we’ve gotten an update on Kate’s “work,” which everyone swears she’s been monitoring from home.

The Princess of Wales is today revealed as the ‘driving force’ behind a new report calling on businesses to introduce more family-friendly working practices. Her Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood has unveiled a major new report which argues that investing in early childhood could generate more than £45.5 billion for the national economy each year.

Downing Street, as well as senior ministers in the departments of health and education, have already been briefed about its findings – although palace officials are at pains to point out that it is not a political campaign.

A Kensington Palace spokesman also stressed that the news should not be seen as Kate, 42, returning to work after undergoing major abdominal surgery and revealing she was undergoing ‘preventative chemotherapy’ for cancer. She has not undertaken public engagements at all this year. But they confirmed that she has been across every aspect of the report from home, despite her illness.

Her spokesman said: ‘The work of The Prince and Princess’ projects is “always on”…early childhood is a huge priority for The Princess and so she has been kept fully updated throughout the development of the Taskforce’s work and she has seen the report. ‘

A senior royal aide added: ‘The Princess of Wales was the driving force behind the business task force. She has been kept up to date since the inception of the task force and she has read the report and been briefed on it. This is a clear commitment she has made that throughout her life of public service that this will be focus. That will continue when she returns to work. But we have been really clear that she needs the space and the privacy to recover right now. She will return to work when she has had the green light from doctors.’

A source close to the Princess said: ‘She is excited about it. Action is so important for her, so having eight of the most important businesses in Britain come forward to make the case to their fellow business leaders is exciting to her. It’s a priority going forward.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Kate’s Centre for Early Childhood, Buttons and Gopher Wiglets really funded a landmark study which shows that businesses should adopt family-friendly working practices. That’s it. That’s the sum total of a year of research, surveys, busywork and manhours. What’s also funny to me is that Kate’s staff and her new private secretary are desperate to do something and make it sound like Kate is doing something, but they also want to ensure that absolutely no one expects to see or hear from Kate. “Kate’s working on this, we promise, but no, we will not answer any questions about her health, nor should you expect to see her any time soon.” Saturday will be the five-month anniversary of the last time Kate was credibly seen in public. She’s not scheduled to attend any of the upcoming events in June either.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red, Kensington Palace.

Here’s Timothee Chalamet in a commercial for Bleu de Chanel, which was directed by Martin Scorsese. This is such a ‘90s-ass commercial. [Socialite Life]
Anya Taylor Joy wore Giambattista Valli to the UK Furiosa premiere. [RCFA]
Hot Ones should be eligible in the Emmys’ Talk Series category. [LaineyGossip]
Netflix made a decision about 3 Body Problem. [Pajiba]
I love this dress on Lily Gladstone. [Go Fug Yourself]
Kyle MacLachlan is good at social media. [OMG Blog]
Adele congratulated Rich Paul’s daughter as she graduated from college. [Just Jared]
Ryan Reynolds hired Lee Majors for an ad. [Seriously OMG]
Kody Brown’s father had a secret third wife. [Starcasm]
Hailey Bieber has a very specific pregnancy craving. [Hollywood Life]
Some of these signs really are funny, some are just gross. [Buzzfeed]

I saw a TikTok describing Rose Hanbury and Queen Camilla as “the Side-Chick Avengers” and I haven’t been able to get that out of my head. Rose, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, has suddenly re-emerged after rumors of her affair with Prince William went massively mainstream several months ago. Keep in mind, while Rose is aristocratic and well-connected, for the past five-plus years, we’ve barely seen her. She’s turned up maybe once or twice a year at royal events or public events. Except for the whole “she might be banging an angry egg” thing, Rose has always been pretty good about minding her business and not seeking the spotlight. So it’s crazy that we saw her twice in one week – once on May 12 at the Badminton Horse Trials and once on May 15th at the service for the Order of the British Empire. Both of those appearances included Queen Camilla as well, and at the Badminton Horse Trials, there were even photos of Rose and Camilla greeting each other and laughing. Fascinating. Also fascinating? Richard Eden’s latest Daily Mail column, “How Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, is blossoming in the court of Queen Camilla.”

While the Princess of Wales is missing from public life as she undergoes treatment for cancer, one of her friends is taking an increasingly prominent role at court. The Marchioness of Cholmondeley, who lives next door to Prince William and Catherine’s Norfolk retreat, Anmer Hall, is said to have become close to Queen Camilla.

Last weekend, the marchioness, former model Rose Hanbury, 40, was pictured curtsying to the Queen at Badminton House in Gloucestershire, where they attended the horse trials.

Badminton is owned by the Duke of Beaufort, rock musician ‘Bunter’, who’s a close friend of Rose’s father, Tim Hanbury.

Just a few days later, one of Rose’s twin sons, Lord Oliver, held the royal robes at St Paul’s Cathedral, where he was page of honour to the King and Queen at a service of dedication for the Order of the British Empire.

Rose’s husband, David, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, who turns 64 next month, is a Lord-in-Waiting to the King.

While Catherine was absent, Rose gave a subtle nod to her style by wearing the same black, drop-brim hat by royal favourite Lock & Co that the princess has worn in the past.

[From The Daily Mail]

Everyone knows. It’s not like a Mail columnist just decided to note that this Norfolk marchioness seems to be out in public these days. No one is saying it outright, but the fact that they’re saying anything is proof that there’s a much larger story. A story involving a missing princess, a side-chick queen, a rural rival mistress and an off-kilter heir. It’s interesting that Eden is even taking the first tentative steps towards saying something or drawing attention to Rose’s sudden closeness to Camilla.

Incidentally, for months now, I have not believed that Rose is being soft-launched as the new Princess of Wales. Like, I don’t think she wants that life and I suspect she and Huevo are not doing the forbidden dance at this point. But all of this is so incredibly curious and poorly managed.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.

Last December, suspiciously well-placed “sources” spent weeks gossiping about the Duke of Westminster’s upcoming wedding. Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, will marry Olivia Henson on June 7 at Chester Cathedral, after which there will be an enormous reception at Hugh’s country pile, Eaton Hall, a 11,000-acre estate. When the save-the-dates went out last December, Prince William seemingly saw his opening to make Hugh’s wedding all about Prince Harry and how Hugh didn’t invite the Sussexes to the wedding. “Sources” were crowing that Hugh is incredibly loyal to the Windsors and Hugh would never put Prince William in a difficult position of having to behave like an adult at another person’s wedding. It was all very tacky and obvious from William’s side. Days later, Page Six got an interesting tip that Hugh actually did invite the Sussexes to his wedding but Harry declined the invite and Harry and Hugh spoke about it. Which I believe. Well, predictably, Roya Nikkhah at the Times of London has another big scoop about how the Duke of Westminster’s wedding is all about Prince William.

The Prince of Wales will be an usher at the society wedding of the year when his close friend Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, gets married next month. Grosvenor, 33, one of Britain’s richest men and a godfather to Prince George, will marry Olivia Henson, 31, at Chester Cathedral on June 7, with Prince William among the groom’s party. The Princess of Wales, who is receiving cancer treatment, is not expected to attend.

To avoid royal tensions overshadowing the day, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not attend. Their absence from the wedding, at which there will be 400 guests, will be notable as Grosvenor is so close to Harry that he is also a godfather to the Sussexes’ son Prince Archie, five.

Grosvenor, known as “Hughie” to his friends, and Henson, who were introduced by mutual friends in 2021, have insisted on a “strictly no-gifts policy” for their guests. With Grosvenor’s inherited fortune estimated at more than £10 billion, the couple have everything that money can buy.

He has a property portfolio of 140,000 acres in Oxfordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Scotland as well as 300 acres in Mayfair and Belgravia, inherited from his father, the late Duke, who died suddenly at the age of 64 from a heart attack in 2016.

After the wedding service at Chester Cathedral, guests will enjoy a lavish reception at nearby Eaton Hall, the Grosvenors’ 11,000-acre family estate, where the couple will live. The following day they will host a second, smaller reception at Eaton Hall for close family and friends. Details of both receptions are being kept under wraps.

It is understood the King, who is Grosvenor’s godfather, will not attend the wedding. Charles is still undergoing cancer treatment and will be travelling to France the day before the ceremony with the Queen and Prince William for events commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

[From The Times]

The two new pieces of information are that King Charles will not attend his godson’s wedding and that William will be an usher. Did Hugh just ask William or something? This has the feel of William calling up Roya two minutes after Hugh asked. Honestly, I find it weirder that Charles is skipping. I get that Charles will have just gotten back from the D-Day trip to Normandy, but it’s his godson’s wedding. His godson, whose father passed away unexpectedly eight years ago, after which Hugh became one of the richest and most powerful men in the UK. Like, it’s genuinely strange that Charles won’t even bother. (Note: The Mail has a story about why Charles will likely skip, which I will cover separately.)

Also: the mentions of the Sussexes are meant as a distraction from the fact that Kate will not attend. That’s the bigger story than “Harry isn’t flying in for Hugh’s wedding.” It’s that Kate will still be in the wind in June. I’ve posed this question a few times: when will the international media start pressing the palace on Kate again? It feels like Kate will not attend any of the big events in June (Hugh’s wedding, Trooping, D-Day, etc). What happens if no one has heard from her by the time Wimbledon rolls around in July?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Over the weekend, the Times of London reported that Prince William will attend Hugh Grosvenor’s June 7 wedding and that William will be an usher. The Grosvenors are well-connected to the monarchy – Hugh is friendly with both Prince William and Harry, Hugh is King Charles’s godson, and Hugh is godfather to both Prince Archie and Prince George. The Windsors and the Grovesnors invite each other to weddings, funerals, memorials, christenings, etc. Well, the Times also reported that William is basically the only Windsor attending Hugh’s wedding. Considering Hugh, the Duke of Westminster, is basically the only person richer and more powerful than the Windsors, it feels notable. King Charles will likely skip his godson’s wedding, as will the Princess of Wales and Queen Camilla. So what’s the backstory? According to the Mail, it’s all because of a “snub” in 2004.

Prince William is set to be an usher at his friend the Duke of Westminster’s wedding but King Charles won’t attend amid rumours of tension over a past Queen Camilla ‘snub’. Prince Harry is also expected to miss the event over worries his attendance may cause family awkwardness which could overshadow his friend Hugh Grosvenor, and his bride-to-be, Olivia Henson’s big day on June 7.

The King and Queen will miss the ‘society wedding of the year’, over claims they have not forgotten about what happened at the 2004 wedding of Hugh’s sister. They turned down their invitations at the time to Lady Tamara Grosvenor and Edward van Cutsem’s wedding, which was held at the same venue as the duke’s upcoming wedding: Chester Cathedral.

Camilla Parker Bowles, as she was then, had been told that she would not be allowed to sit with Prince Charles and would instead be seated several rows back and be made to arrive separately. This was because of royal protocol since Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip attended the ceremony, along with Princes William and Harry.

Tensions were heightened by reports that Emilie van Cutsem, the groom’s mother, and Camilla had fallen out after each is alleged to have criticised the behaviour of the other’s children. Charles ultimately excused himself from the event with just days to go, saying he had to visit Warminster barracks to meet the families of soldiers serving in Iraq. Camilla was described as ‘otherwise engaged’. According to royal author Sarah Bradford, Camilla was so infuriated that she told Charles the status quo was no longer acceptable. Their own engagement was announced three months later.

The King, who is Grosvenor’s godfather, is still undergoing cancer treatment and will be travelling to France the day before the ceremony next month with the Queen and Prince William to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Another aspect of the upcoming wedding that has been the talk of the town for months is why Prince Harry may have turned down an invitation from his old friend. Now friends of the Royal Family think they have solved the mystery, claiming that Prince Harry refused to attend when he discovered his brother William had been given a prominent role.

[From The Daily Mail]

Re: Harry’s non-attendance… back in December, after Prince William’s office made a big f–king deal about how Hugh snubbed Harry for a wedding invitation, sources told Page Six that Hugh actually did invite the Sussexes but they declined, and Harry and Hugh spoke about it. It’s not about William being an usher. William needs to stop centering himself in stories about the Duke of Westminster’s wedding, it’s tacky as f–k.

As for the infamous story of the 2004 wedding… lol. I remember Tina Brown backing up that story in her reporting too, saying that Camilla basically forced Charles to propose after that because she was so sick of being treated like a dirty little secret, the side chick who was not really welcome at these exclusive events. Reportedly, Charles was still hesitant but he did propose and Camilla got what she wanted. Now, is Camilla still mad about the 2004 wedding? Probably. But I don’t believe that Charles would miss his godson’s wedding just because Camilla is still furious. It sounds like Charles has other reasons (probably including his trip to Normandy one day before the wedding) and Camilla is telling people that Charles will skip Hugh’s wedding out of loyalty to her. Camilla really is a piece of work.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

In April, Billie Eilish gave an interview to Billboard about her new album and her attempts to change the music industry and make the industry more environmental and less wasteful. One of the big headlines from Billie’s interview was that she said that too many artists are being wasteful with how many variants they do. In music parlance, “variants” are multiple versions of the same album, offered in vinyl, CD or digital. Many big artists are “gaming the system” for record sales and charting by offering twenty different variants of their albums with “new songs” or remixes or what have you. While Billie didn’t name names in the Billboard piece – because multiple artists are guilty of it – many people did think of Taylor Swift immediately. The variant issue is Taylor’s whole deal these days, it’s her modus operandi for dominating the charts and sales. She gets her Swifty army to buy the same album like twenty different times, all to get “new songs” or whatever.

Skip ahead to last week. Billie Eilish released her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. On the very same day, Taylor decided to drop new variants of The Tortured Poets Department, an album which had only been out for less than a month. Coincidence or conspiracy?

Earlier this year, Billie Eilish was forced to hit back after she was accused of shading Taylor Swift in comments about “wasteful” artists during an interview with Billboard. Speaking to the publication for a sustainability-centered interview, Billie criticized how normalized it has become for artists to sell multiple variants of the same album. At this point, it’s important to point out that Billie herself sells multiple vinyl variants of her albums, but they all have the exact same tracklist so that fans aren’t forced to buy every version in order to hear all of her songs. She also uses 100% recycled vinyl and scraps for each variant.

“We live in this day and age where, for some reason, it’s very important to some artists to make all sorts of different vinyl and packaging… which ups the sales and ups the numbers and gets them more money,” she explained in the interview. “I can’t even express how wasteful it is. It is right in front of our faces, and people are just getting away with it left and right,” Billie went on. “I find it really frustrating as somebody who really goes out of my way to be sustainable and do the best that I can and try to involve everybody in my team in being sustainable — and then it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making fucking 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”

Taylor Swift did not publicly acknowledge any of the discourse at the time, but people believe they have now spotted some seriously shady activity from the star. On Thursday, it was announced that Taylor will release three new digital versions of her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, on Friday, May 17. Each version includes a first draft phone memo of one of three of Taylor’s songs; either “The Black Dog,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” or “Cassandra.” To hear all of the original drafts, fans must purchase all three of the newly available variants at $5.99 each.

And it didn’t take long for people to notice that the three new variants were dropping on the same day as Billie’s third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft — thus putting the two in competition in the music charts.

[From Buzzfeed]

I’m including some tweets below, cited in Buzzfeed’s coverage, which seem to be gaining traction. Like, I don’t pay attention to Taylor’s eleventy billion variant drops because I’m not a Swiftie and I really don’t give a sh-t. Taylor is going to bleed her fans dry if it’s the last thing she does and her fans play her games willingly. The answer is convincing her fans to stop playing her stupid cash-grabbing games. And yes, Taylor absolutely did this on purpose, dropping these digital variants on the same day as Billie’s album drop. Petty petty petty. While I do think Billie was referencing Taylor in the Billboard interview, Billie was also generalizing in the hope that more artists would rethink their wasteful, system-gaming, fan-scamming variant strategy. I hope Billie says some sh-t about Taylor’s private planes next. This could end up being a pretty good beef.

billie’s statement about artists releasing 40 vinyl packages to get people to buy more really got into her… doing this on her album release day is so nasty https://t.co/T9Q0oj4hA9

— pop culture gal (@allurequinn) May 16, 2024

the same day as billie’s release……. and yall swear that taylor is a girl’s girl. https://t.co/kW9tAbKY5b

— rudy (@rudyIopez) May 16, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.