Why ZAYN’s all-female band is so important
The singer has been praised for spotlighting the seven-women brand supporting on his latest tour. Zayn Malik’s decision to tour with a seven-woman band had people talking, and for good reason. While male-dominated lineups are the default in the music industry, this ensemble – featuring Molly Miller on guitar, Baby...
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One of the world’s greatest female footballers faces transphobic abuse
Barbra Banda’s mistreatment highlights the insidious misogyny and transphobia launched at women in sport. Barbra Banda, a Zambian footballer, was awarded the BBC’s Women’s Footballer of the Year last month. The prestigious award marked a milestone in Banda’s illustrious sporting career and should have been an opportunity to spotlight women’s...
Wicked star slams ableism on social media
Marissa Bode has called out ‘very gross’ comments about her ‘Wicked’ character Nessa Rose, as internet trolls prove that – despite growing representation – disabled individuals are still pushed to the fringes. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll be well aware that Wicked, a movie adaptation of the award-winning...
Global cities set alcohol and firework bans ahead of New Year’s Eve
Hoping to ensure safer New Year celebrations for all, several global cities are introducing alcohol and firework bans, while others are closing off central areas altogether. December 31st is arguably the world’s biggest annual celebration, with friends and family gathering together to usher in the start of a new calendar...
Opinion – social media platforms will see a mass exodus in 2025
Social media hasn’t been around for long, with the first platforms emerging less than thirty years ago. In this short time, they’ve become a breeding ground for annoying bots, rampant online hate, and the poor mental health of their users. Will they survive another year? By now, anyone with access...
Should cis-gender actors ever play trans characters?
Actor Park Sung-hoon has been criticised for playing a trans woman in the latest season of Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’. But those defending his casting say the issue of on-screen trans representation is more complex and layered than we'd like to think. Squid Game’s second season is one of the most...
Chinese blockbuster Her Story sparks feminist discussion globally
The last week of November saw an unexpected champion at the Chinese box office. But beyond the numbers, ‘Her Story’ has ignited debates about feminism, representation, and the global lens through which Chinese culture is often viewed. It’s unusual for a comedy drama, no less a feminist one, to smash records in China's film industry. For a country known for boosting high-budget action and sci-fi movies at the box office,...
Musicians could lose €4 billion to generative AI every year
A first-of-its-kind economic study predicts that, in just four years, a quarter of music artists could see their earnings sabotaged by the rise of AI generated tracks. It’s getting harder and harder to trust the authenticity of ‘leaked’ songs from our favourite artists these days, and that’s all thanks to the rapidly improving capabilities of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). In just a few minutes, the vocal likeness of top artists can...
‘Fogvid’ was our favourite conspiracy theory of 2024
As barmy conspiracies go, Fogvid 24 made a late play for the title of most baseless and far-fetched of 2024. Let’s get into the details still spreading throughout the tendrils of Facebook. Last year was a great year for conspiracy theories, creatively speaking – in terms of plausibility, perhaps not. In April, Elon Musk apparently replaced pigeons with AI-powered drones to gather data for Space X, Taylor Swift was outed...
The power of swearing in positions of powerlessness
Is being explicit how we cope with how out of control things are – and how out of control we feel? Recently, internationally acclaimed Irish popstar CMAT (Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) posted an Instagram story responding to someone who criticised how much she swears on social media. She explained that, sometimes, when there’s nothing else you can do to relieve yourself from the shittyness of a situation (like an underpaid job that...
