From Kendall Jenner slaying the magazines to Zayn Malik making the panties drop, we cherry-pick pop culture’s best and buzziest this week.
Beyonce rings the alarm
MANILA, Philippines - After almost giving us a heart attack last December, Queen B once again serves up a jolt to the senses — this time through a low-budget video for new song 7/11 that’s got everybody ***Flawless and shaking what their momma gave them. It was, as New York magazine’s The Cut put it, “a live-action selfie,” featuring Beyonce chilling at home, flexing with her hands up, spinning with her hands up, wearing the hell out of men’s briefs, one-upping Miley in the twerk game, and holding that cup of alcohol. The song is part of the release of “Beyoncé Platinum Edition,” which also includes collaborations with Pharrell and Kanye West.
Zayn gets his depp on
Zayn is regarded widely as the One Direction member blessed with the most conventionally good-looking mug. He made waves in the week’s super-important, life-changing breaking news: “ZAYN MALIK GOT A HAIRCUT.” And evidently, he looks amazing in it, at least judging by the heart attacks he caused on Tumblr. He’s got the James Dean daydream look in his eyes and that early ‘90s Johnny Depp hair to match.
Aca-scuse us again
If you feel like the first Pitch Perfect “crushed it,” if you feel like the winner in Fat Amy vs Amazing Amy is undoubtedly Fat Amy, if you sometimes feel like singing No Diggity in your neighborhood Riff Off, we’ve got good news for you. The trailer for Pitch Perfect 2 came out this week and it couldn’t be more glorious. Opening with Anne Kendrick crooning her popular Cups song and ending with Rebel Wilson crushing it, it’s got us jazzed for the movie, out May 2015.
Kendall gets ‘dazed’
Kendall Jenner has quickly established herself as a real muse of the season—walking the runway for the likes of Balmain and Givenchy, and nabbing high-profile magazine covers like Love and Teen Vogue. The youngest Kardashian graces the cover of this season’s Dazed magazine. “Changing the face of fashion,” the cover line announces. Between a high-profile gig with Estée Lauder and a coveted spot in Chanel Spring 2015 campaign, Dazed’s claim is over-the-top but not entirely unfounded. Keeping up with Kendall. This is 2014.
BFFS at the AMAs
Less prestigious than the Grammys and nowhere as scandalous as the MTV Video Music Awards, the American Music Awards have always been in a weird gray area, as far as music award shows are concerned.
Leave it, then, to music’s popular girls to inject some fun into a relatively by-the-numbers event. At this year’s show, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Lorde, and supermodel Karlie Kloss sat together in the front row and proceeded to have a rollicking night, dancing and singing along to every performance (see Jessie J’s singing her head off through Bang Bang while the girls cheered her on).
What was especially touching was seeing female friends so supportive of each other — none of the cat fights the tabloid press usually paints girl singers with. When Selena Gomez teared up while performing a breakup song, Taylor Swift stood in the front row, openly teary-eyed. When Taylor Swift received the Dick Clark Award for Excellence, Selena, Lorde, and Karlie looked genuinely happy and excited for their friend.
And to cap things off? Their AMAs after-party was immortalized in a photo Selena Gomez posted on Instagram, Lorde, Taylor, Karlie, Selena, and the girls from Haim goofing around and openly affectionate with each other. “Not a better way to end my night. Surrounded by SO much love,” Selena captioned.