We’re halfway there! It’s June, the perfect time to take a pop culture inventory of the best things we’ve watched, listened to, read and can’t stop thinking about for the first half of the year. Plus, we preview the books, movies, TV, films and live shows that will get us through the rest 2024. The London musician’s unassuming debut remains the sort of album destined to be rediscovered by future generations as an underappreciated masterpiece.
The daughter of session legend Pino Palladino and a protege of Jai Paul’s forward-thinking Paul Institute, Fabiana Palladino’s self-titled slab was a skip-free triumph. Booming songs such as and showcased her intellectual appreciation for timeless sophistipop and the melodic bounce of ’80s new wave and ’90s R&B, yet bubbled with dense, unexpected textures and off-kilter, maximalist production. From the moment Ryan Gosling flashdanced his way through the central number in Greta Gerwig’s last July, we sensed this was coming.
Even while Finneas and Billie Eilish’s maudlin started winning all the accolades, there was no way the Oscars’ organisers could miss the opportunity. Gosling, flexing the Mouseketeer chops forever lying dormant in his deepest cells, didn’t disappoint. The opening behind a giggling Margot Robbie, the playful shimmy alongside his co-star Emma Stone, the pink leather glove draped over a slashing Slash, Greta Gerwig’s incredulous “what the f—” stance at its close, the whole thing deserved .
