Inside the 'Summer House' Premiere Party
And the 'Love Is Blind' tell-all you have to see
Welcome to Gibson Johns’ pop culture newsletter — subscribe to get recommendations of what to watch, read and listen to in your inbox every week!
I don’t have much to harp on up here this week, but there’s still a bunch of great stuff listed below for you to parse through this long weekend!
You’ll find some details on the “Summer House” season 7 premiere party I went to this week, the “Love Is Blind” tell-all you have to see and a bunch of amazing articles I recommend reading (I’m assuming you’ve already read the British Vogue cover story about Rihanna, which is a given).
If you’re enjoying this newsletter, I would absolutely adore if you could tell one friend who you think would enjoy this to subscribe to it. The list of you all continues to grow when I share each week’s new post, which has been incredibly rewarding, but I’d also love some word of mouth help to see that trend continue.
Keep scrolling for more and have a stunning weekend!
Read
“Is Celebrity ‘Queer Baiting’ Really Such A Crime?” by Mark Harris (T Magazine)
“Get Me Risa Heller! If You’re Jeff Zucker or Mario Batali or Jared Kushner and You’re Trying to Survive A Bout of Very Bad Press, She’s Who You Call” by Shawn McCreesh (Intelligencer)
“On Rihanna, Her Super Bowl Halftime Performence, and a Mogul’s Reality” by Shamira Ibrahim (Teen Vogue)
“Louis Vuitton, Pharrell Williams and the Loss of Fashion Magic” by Robin Givhan (The Washington Post)
“Remaking Country’s Gender Politics, One Barron Weeper at a Time” by Carlo Rotella (NY Times)
“I Never Asked to Be The Face of a Movement: TikTok Made Remi Bader a Body Positive Influencer. Behind the Scenes, She Struggled With an Eating Disorder” by Remi Bader (The Cut)
Listen
Kelsea Ballerini’s Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP
On Valentine’s Day, Kelsea Ballerini released Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, a gorgeous new EP detailing her divorce from fellow country star Morgan Evans. It’s the best work of her career, and I’ve had it on repeat all week. She accompanied it with a pretty stunning 20-minute short film, too. “SNL” also just announced that she’ll be a musical guest in early March, which is huge for her. Listen to it here.
“Flowers” and the Art of the Response Song - “Switched on Pop”
Another enlightening episode of “Switched on Pop,” which places Miley Cyrus’ record-breaking hit in context within the history of the “response song,” a concept I was familiar with but had never heard broken down in such a great way. The ties between “Flowers” and “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars (the song that Liam Hemsworth dedicated to her at their wedding, despite it being a breakup song…) actually blew my mind. Highly recommend giving this episode a listen here.
(Side note: The below comment on the mashup of the two songs above spells out some of the hidden meanings in “Flowers” so well that I had to share.)
Watch
Raven Ross Tells All on “Viall Files”
Netflix dropped three “After The Altar” episodes for the most recent season of “Love Is Blind” last weekend, and they were fine. The thing holding them back from feeling like they had any substance was the fact that, during filming, Raven and SK were still together. In the time since, their relationship was enveloped in a TikTok-fueled cheating scandal that resulted in them breaking up. Raven self-recorded a short moment for the end of the third episode, but this week she went deep about the entire situation on Nick Viall’s podcast, “Viall Files,” which you can watch above (or listen to here). If you watched season 3 of “Love Is Blind,” this is a must-see.
Bravo, Bravo, Fucking Bravo
“Summer House” Premiere Party
Season 7 of “Summer House” premiered on Monday, and I attended the premiere party at the Moxy East Village for the big night. The entire cast was there except for Danielle (no reason was given for her absence, but she was in Aspen, per her Instagram) and, even though I expected some tension given what seems to go down this season, the vibes amongst the cast were pretty great. They all posed for photos together and the newbies seemed to mix in fairly well. I chatted with all of the returning cast members who were all in great spirits, with a good amount of them staying way longer than they indicated they would (it was a Monday night, after all). It was also Mya’s birthday that night, and it was really cute watching them all sing for her as she blew out candles.
The biggest surprise of the night was when Gizelle from “RHOP” walked in. I chatted with her for a minute before even connecting the dots on why she was there and realized that Jason was right behind her in a baseball hat. She was in town to do some stuff for the upcoming third season of “Ultimate Girls Trip” with Alexia from “RHOM” (who popped up at the Sunday afternoon gay party at Le Bain last weekend), but it appears as though there was more than one reason for her visit! They seemed to be really happy with one another and had a great time talking and taking pictures with a bunch of people at the party. I also witnessed the Bravo social team asking her for permission to take and post that viral photo of them together, which was hilarious to watch.
I chatted with Kyle and Amanda for a bit about “The Traitors US,” the fan-demanded reunion for which he’s filming today. He seemed to love the experience and talked a bit about how frustrated he was to have figured out who a few of the traitors actually were but being banished before he could do much about it. They stayed at the premiere party until the very end, too. Carl and Lindsay stayed later than I expected, too, considering they had an early morning Valentine’s Day flight to Jamaica the next morning.
Also there were Andrea, Rachel and Korey, who pops into the house several times this season, bringing much-needed additional male energy to the cast. I saw him kiss newbie Samantha at the party, so it seems like whatever they strike up together this season is still going strong.
Kyle is on my podcast next week and I’m scheduled to interview Danielle next week, too, so prepare for more “Summer House” content from me this season.
Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” Live Event
Last Friday, I brought my mom to City Winery for Page Six’s live taping of their podcast “Virtual Reali-Tea,” hosted by Evan Real and Danny Murphy. It was Valentine’s themed, so four Bravo couples took the stage one at a time to spill on their relationships and respective shows: Melissa and Joe Gorga from “RHONJ,” Dolores and boyfriend Paulie from “RHONJ,” Guerdy and Russell Abraira from “RHOM” and Lindsay and Carl from “Summer House.”
Any tea that was spilled from that night has already made headlines, so I won’t rehash that here, but I will say that it’s always so fun being in a room full of people who also obsess over Bravo. It’s affirming to see the stars interact so positively with fans and feel that love in person, and it’s a much-needed reminder that the people we watch on TV are indeed real people. If you ever have the opportunity to attend a live taping for a Bravo podcast you love or go to an event featuring one of your faves, go! It’s almost always worth it.
The highlight for me was being able to introduce my mom, who is also a huge Bravo fan, to Melissa, Lindsay and Carl. They were all so amazing to her, and it was a thrill seeing how much of a kick she got out of the whole thing.
Self-Promotion
“We Should Talk” feat. Marysol Patton of “The Real Housewives of Miami”
This week’s podcast featured an interview with Marysol, an original cast member of “RHOM,” who still plays a key role on the show as a friend of the cast. We got into the drama with Dr. Nicole Martin, her “irreparable” rift with Adriana de Moura, the upcoming reunion and “Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip” season 3. Note that we recorded this before the most recent episode came out. Listen to that here or watch it here!
New York Things
Last night I went to the opening party for the new Glossier store in SoHo (on Spring between Crosby and Lafayette). Busy Philipps was there with her kid, and one of my favorite up-and-coming pop stars, Griff, did a surprise performance. If you’re a Glossier girlie, it’s def worth the trip — it’s a huge, gorgeous space with stunning lighting and seemingly every single one of their products laid out for you to play around with. Come for the products, stay for the Subway-set photo opp.
Currently
The way I completely forgot this weekend was going to be a long weekend and planned nothing for it… I’m traveling the next couple of weekends, though, so I’m excited for a low-key weekend in the City watching movies and catching up on some reading.