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Welcome to the B-List, your weekly roundup of celebrity mess and pop culture. This week; new music from Taylor Swift, SNL season 51 premiere, and Jane Goodall’s passing. Stick with me.
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The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, debuted on Friday, October 3rd, to mixed reviews. While there’s praise for her return to upbeat pop and a lighter tone after last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, the reaction is far from unanimous. Critics are calling the album fun and lyrically sharp, but many say it falls short of the high bar set by 1989 and Reputation. British outlets in particular are unimpressed — with The Guardian labeling it “dull razzle-dazzle” and The Financial Times saying the promised pop sparkle just isn’t there. Even the more positive reviews note the album’s unevenness, suggesting that while Swift is clearly having fun, Showgirl may be more of a flashy detour than a pop masterpiece.
Saturday Night Live opened its 51st season with recently announced Super Bowl halftime headliner Bad Bunny as host. In a bilingual monologue, the star poked fun at the right-wing backlash to his halftime gig, joking that “even Fox News” was happy for him before SNL cut together a spoof montage of conservative anchors praising his music. The new season arrives amid major cast turnover, with longtime performers Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim among those exiting, and several fresh faces stepping into 30 Rock.
Trailblazing primatologist and conservation icon Jane Goodall has died at age 91, the Jane Goodall Institute announced. She passed away of natural causes while on a U.S. speaking tour in California. Goodall’s decades of fieldwork in Tanzania fundamentally changed how we view chimpanzees and human-animal connections. As tributes pour in globally, her legacy lives on in her impassioned advocacy for animals, the environment, and youth empowerment.
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That’s all for today. Tune in next week to hear about what happens this week in pop culture. For WNUR News, I’m Ella Barnes.
