Harry Styles is soooo handsome IRL
A thing I can definitively say as of Nov. 20.
In this week’s handle with care, we’re catching up on the past two weeks of pop culture. Oops!
Since you last heard from me, I was lucky enough to see Harry Styles during his Love On Tour at The Forum with one of my best friends (hi Mariela!)! And thanks to her angel sister and her friend, who camped out the night before (and Miss God may have had a hand, I think), we ended up at the barricade on one of his catwalks and B stages.
Jenny Lewis opened, and I really enjoyed her! I put “Puppy and a Truck” on my November and December playlist this week. After the show, I was thinking about how I missed Kacey Musgraves’ set when she opened for Harry’s last tour, and how disappointed I get about it today because I love her now. Also, Mariela found out that Jenny Lewis has a song that came out in 2006 called “Handle With Care.” I’m choosing to believe that the events of this whole day were destined to happen to me.
While we were waiting for the show to start, we predicted that Harry would be wearing a pink outfit, but he wore a sparkly, black fringe vest with mint green pants. His vest was open with no shirt underneath, so naturally we were shaking like leaves. I can’t believe I was once a person who had never seen Harry Styles’ abs and giant butterfly tattoo six feet away from me. “Two Ghosts” is my favorite song of his, and he sang a little bit of it as an intro to “Falling” on the B stage in front of us. My mom requested a video of her favorite song, “Watermelon Sugar” (no, she does not know what the song is about, and no, I will not tell her!!). I’ve heard her watching the video on her own several times this week. It’s precious! After carefully studying my videos, I noticed that Harry Styles looked over at us at least three times during the show. It was the most fun I’ve ever had at a concert… can’t wait for Laugh On Tour!
The only thing I could have done without on this day was when I got motion sick in the car after picking up our wristbands. Since the pandemic started, I have stayed home 95% of the time, and apparently not getting in a car after a while really fucks you up! It caught up to me in the afternoon, which means we weren’t even at The Forum for two minutes before I puked in the parking lot. But it was kind of hilarious the way I did that and kept it moving though… I had plans! And to think, for a few hours I was in the same room as James Corden, Mr. Moseby from “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody,” and Harry Styles’ therapist.
Things I liked about the 2022 GRAMMY Nominations
I’m so happy for Olivia Rodrigo, who is the only artist to be nominated for the big four categories (Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Best New Artist), and has three other nominations. She’s going to recreate that one photo of Taylor Swift at the GRAMMYs in 2010.
Here are my notable takeaways:
ABBA is nominated for Record Of The Year for “I Still Have Faith In You.”
Arlo Parks and Japanese Breakfast join Olivia Rodrigo in the Best New Artist category, and they are both nominated for Best Alternative Album (“Collapsed In Sunbeams” and “Jubilee”). “Jubilee” is the album that got me through a very emotionally taxing summer.
Halsey’s album “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power” is nominated for Best Alternative Album. I’ve mentioned this before, but this album was a surprise favorite of mine this year!
“camera roll” by Kacey Musgraves is nominated for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song.
Hans Zimmer is nominated for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for “Dune.”
“Agatha All Along” from “WandaVision” is nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
Soccer Mommy is nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package for the deluxe version of her album “Color Theory.” I just think it’s so neat that there’s a GRAMMY for this!
Jack Antonoff is nominated for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical. He should win a GRAMMY solely for producing “gold rush” by Taylor Swift.
“Fine Line” by Harry Styles is nominated for Best Immersive Audio Album.
The relationship circuit
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello announced their breakup via Instagram stories on Nov. 17.
Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson are officially dating, and pictures of them holding hands in Palm Springs are on The Daily Mail.
This week in The Bachelorverse
The Bachelor relationship circuit
People exclusively reported that former Bachelorette and current “Bachelorette” host Tayshia Adams and Zac Clark have called off their engagement. They were engaged for a little over a year.
Former Bachelorette Hannah Brown revealed in her new book that she and Peter Weber hooked up while his “Bachelor” season was airing, not too long after he ended things with his winner, Hannah Ann Sluss, and while he was thinking about his runner-up Madison Prewett. I have nothing to add, I just live for this mess. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Katie Thurston did a whole thing on her Instagram called the “12 Days of Messy” in celebration of “Red (Taylor’s Version),” where she assigned songs from the album to men from her season. On the 12th day of Messy, she assigned “Begin Again” to John Hersey, who was sent home during the second week of the show. Us Weekly reported that the two are dating now that Thurston and ex-fiance Blake Moynes have been broken up for one month. Hersey (which I always read as Hershey) affirms that there was “no wrongdoing prior to the end of their engagement,” but the timing of their relationship is still questionable.
The Bachelorette Week 5 + 6 Recaps
Bear with me as I try to succinctly recap two weeks of this show! Production moved to Michelle’s home state, Minnesota, and the 11 men left are so excited to go there. They meet with Michelle, where she asks fellow Minnesotan, Joe, on the first one-on-one date of the episode. They go to a Twins game where Michelle throws the first pitch, and then visit her high school to play basketball in the gym. During the date, the remaining men are in their suite waiting for the group date card, and the name that isn’t on there is guaranteed a one-on-one date. The card arrives, and Brandon, Casey, Chris, Clayton, Leroy, Martin, Olu, Rick, and Rodney are invited. Nayte is getting a one-on-one date with Michelle, much to Chris’s dismay. Back on Joe and Michelle’s date, he opens up to her about sports-related injuries he’s had, and a surgery to fix it that went wrong. He couldn’t play sports the same after that, and it led to a worsening mental state. Michelle was moved to tears, and she completely understood as a former athlete. He receives the date rose, and they ride a ferris wheel together.
The group date is viking-themed and it took place in the stadium where the Minnesota Vikings play. The men have to dress up as vikings (Except for Chris, who is dressed as a centaur), do a little viking screech, eat viking food… etc. The man that does the best job and wins the challenges is our future Bachelor, Clayton. At the after party, Chris is waiting for Michelle to talk to him, because he’s upset about her not listening to him about Nayte. But this is Michelle’s show, so she meets with the men to hand the group date rose to Clayton, and Chris is angry.
For Nayte’s one-on-one, they go to Lake Minnetonka and drive a boat around. But surprise! Michelle’s friends, Allie and Tia join them to press Nayte on the goings on in the house. When asked if anyone is there for the wrong reasons, Nayte tells them about Chris. When Michelle’s friends leave, she and Nayte jump into the lake before meeting for dinner. That evening, Michelle opens up about her last relationship and how toxic it was. It ended up manifesting into a physical sickness for her. During the date, Chris arrives to interrupt and talk to Michelle. Nayte’s face is priceless. They go outside and Chris accuses her of being fake with him on the group date. Michelle doesn’t like the way he’s talking to her, walks him out. When she gets back to Nayte, she offers him the rose, which he accepts! Peace is restored.
Something so off-putting happened at the cocktail party before the rose ceremony. Michelle and Martin go to chat, and he tells her that women in Miami are “very high-maintenance.” He is asked to explain, and completely fumbles it. He doesn’t like when women expect to be taken care of. Hm. Time for roses, and they go to Brandon, Olu, Rick, Rodney, and Martin somehow? Going home this week is Casey and Leroy. Leroy deserved to stay over Martin, so I was disappointed.
Week 6 is pivotal for this ~journey~ because Michelle is weeding the remaining eight men down to four. Speaking of four, four of Michelle’s students are orchestrating the dates this week, because children are famously excellent judges of character. The men try to charm these kids to win a one-on-one date, and the most “successful” man is Clayton, who built a couch fort with them. Quotation marks because I think these kids actually liked Rodney more, but the “Bachelorette” producers have a “Bachelor” edit to manufacture here! Michelle and Clayton go on a one-on-one date at a natural history museum, but by dinner, it’s obvious that Michelle just isn’t that into him. Clayton is sent home, but the next day, two of Michelle’s students are back to visit him. They hand him letters (that were definitely written by producers) about how he’ll find his person one day. See where this is going?
Back to the men still in contention, the last group date is taking place on a farm. Joe, Martin, Nayte, Olu, Rick, and Rodney milk cows, play with baby cows (!!!), churn butter, and scoop manure. I loved Rodney on this date; he and Michelle are so cute, but it gives me friend vibes instead of romantic. Joe was a natural with the baby cows, and that was also precious. The highlights at the after party were Nayte telling Michelle he is falling for her, and Martin getting himself worked up about his last conversation with her. And he made even more comments that were in poor taste, saying that her poem showed that she’s “immature” and not over her “childhood trauma.” Olu is the one that tells Michelle the truth about Martin, which leads to Michelle pulling Martin aside before handing out the group date rose. Martin is talking over her, not listening to her, and Michelle is not having it. She sends him home, and Nayte gets the last group date rose, securing a spot for hometowns.
Brandon is finally getting his one-on-one date with Michelle, and they start off with ice cream at her favorite spot. Then Michelle drives to a surprise location… her childhood home, but she tells him not to worry about her parents because they aren’t home. Hehe. They look at Michelle’s school photos, and she shows him her childhood bedroom. Michelle tells Brandon he can borrow her dad’s swim trunks (that I hope were actually new and planted) so they can get in the jacuzzi. And what do you know… Michelle’s parents are home!! They put on their regular clothes to sit down with Mr. and Mrs. Young to talk, and while Michelle is gone, Brandon asks her parents for their blessing to marry her. Mind you, they just met fifteen minutes ago. They agree if Michelle ends up picking him. These little microwaved relationships are so fascinating to me. Their dinner goes well, and Brandon gets the second rose of the episode, meaning there are now only two up for grabs at the rose ceremony.
Unfortunately for Joe, Olu, Rick, and Rodney, Michelle has already made up her mind on whose families she wants to meet at hometowns, so there won’t be a cocktail party for additional convincing. Joe and Rodney get the roses, and Olu and Rick have to say goodbye. This episode also made history because it’s the first time the final four were POC! And yet… the new Bachelor is white. 1 step forward, 3 steps back.
Plugging before I go!
I recently started writing for The Luna Collective, a digital music publication that does all of its photography on film. I did a Q&A with ZOYA that went up a few weeks ago, and wrote a feature on CHAII, who released her EP, “Pineapple Pizza,” earlier this month.
Apologies for no handle with care last week — I wasn’t planning on the break, but last week was much busier than usual. I got my COVID booster shot during that time, and my only side effect was arm soreness that later trickled up into my armpit for a couple of days. With the holidays happening, and especially with the omicron COVID variant popping up this weekend, I seriously advise you all to get vaccinated if you’re able! And if you do, drink a lot of water afterwards and get a full eight hours of sleep… it helps!
I’ve felt so much support recently, so thank you to those that have reached out to me and signed up to receive handle with care this month! If there’s anything you want to see from me, let me know. Thank you for reading ❤️
Congrats on writing for the Luna Collective!