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Kylie Jenner Admits That "Kylie Jenner" Isn't Real

August 7, 2017, 2:05 pm
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Although many of us have been spying on the life of Kylie Jenner for years through Instagram and Snapchat, E! finally made our voyeuristic tendencies official by premiering Life Of Kylie Sunday night. The series is supposed to give viewers an #unfiltered look at the youngest KarJenner daughter’s experiences when she’s not debuting new hairstyles on The ‘gram or inciting Twitter drama. Essentially, Life Of Kylie is supposedly a chance to meet the real young woman behind the lip kit. While a good portion of the one-hour premiere "Nineteen" parts 1 and 2 deals with Kylie’s trip to prom and her best friendship with Jordyn Woods, we do get an unexpectedly honest deep dive into the cosmetics mogul’s inner life. The most surprising reveal from Life Of Kylie ’s debut? Kylie Jenner admitting she’s really just playing a character. The Kylie Jenner we think we know isn't real.

Life Of Kylie is out to prove the Instagram selfie artist we all know as Kylie Jenner is a simple mirage created as a self-defense mechanism. "I just feel like for so long I’ve been putting on this like, different persona to the world," she tells an unseen specialist during her first-ever trip to therapy. "I feel like I have to kind of keep up this idea about who I am. I think I lost a lot of parts of myself."

This erasure started happening even more rapidly as Kylie's celebrity got "bigger," and the social-media trolls began pouring out of the woodwork. "When that started happening, that really affected me. So I was like, ‘I’m not gonna show people that side of me.’" As a way to protect herself from criticism, Kylie explains while her classic Snapchat OOTD videos play, “I’m kind of putting up a version of myself to the world that isn’t fully me … [criticism] doesn’t really hurt me because I know that that’s not really me.” Technically, that means Kylie is outing the life of Kylie — and therefore The Life Of Kylie —   as a complete fabrication aimed at garnering the highest number at fans. This is the most accidentally honest any KarJenner family member has ever been about the clan's expansive TV empire. It also might be the closest we'll ever get to the inner workings of Kardashian-Jenner image manipulation.

While multi-millionaire Kylie admits "a lot of people have it worse," her confession is seriously alarming for a 19-year-old young woman. The E! star is barely an adult, and she’s already complaining to her therapist at near-tears, "Sometimes I’m like, ‘This is it, I’m going insane.’ Like, I’m going crazy."

After looking back at old social media videos of the longtime reality TV star, it’s pretty clear she did ditch her "funny" and fearless personality for the glammed-up one now dominating social media. In one old video, the teen swings around in a children’s park. In another, she jumps in a hallway, hits an overhead light, and falls on the floor — it’s 110 percent the kind of physical comedy one can’t safely do in Christian Louboutin heels. In others she giggles loudly, uses weird voices, and screams with abandon. Where Kylie has now perfected pouting on video while listening to the latest rap songs, she used to belt along and make purposefully hilarious faces with BFF Jordyn. Although Kylie should feel free to love her new persona, it’s pretty clear she desperately misses her old one. Sadly, she’s too afraid of haters to pull the “Old Kylie” out of the mothballs and back into the public light.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Kylie has admitted to covering up her personality to deal with life as The World’s Most Famous Teen (who's about to turn 20). “On Snapchat I show people what I think they want to see. That’s not me. It’s a projected image. A brand. I’m not a different person. I just don’t show all of me.” she told Allure in July 2016."I usually don't show my true personality to the world, because when you open yourself up so much, there's more room for people to say things about you." At the time, it was unclear how far Kylie was willing to go to keep the haters at bay. Life Of Kylie shows its star has been slowly cutting her true self out of her public image amid countless bouts of extreme anxiety.

At least we can understand why Kylie, who’s seemingly pretty unhappy leading a double life, is still pretending to play a character for the crowds. During a midnight trip to the beach with Jordyn, Kylie ponders whether she’s actually made out for this “fame thing.” She points out that older sister Kendall Jenner, along with friends Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin, make millennial celebrity look effortless. The Life Of Kylie lead, on the other hand couldn’t be having a harder time getting comfortable with fame, all these years later. In fact, Kylie would rather sport her sweats and Heelys roller sneakers over the body-con, Instagram-ready outfits she’s now known for. Yet, she says, “the only reason why I keep it up a little bit is [for] Kylie Cosmetics." So, Kylie apparently believes the only way to keep her company successful is to stay in the spotlight. Ergo, the only way to stay relevant is to keep up appearances on the requisite social media sites. So, Kylie is currently ready to trade in pieces of her emotional well-being to sustain her “passion,” as she’s repeatedly called her beauty business.

For those worried about Kylie’s well-being after these huge bombshells, there is a little bit of hope. During her heart-to-heart with Jordyn, Kylie prophesies, “This fame thing is going to come to an end sooner than we think.” Only time will tell if that’s the truth or a wishful mantra.

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Former Bachelor Juan Pablo Galavis Just Secretly Married Osmariel Villalobos

August 7, 2017, 2:10 pm
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Surprise! Former Bachelor star Juan Pablo Galavis is married. The 36-year-old, who led the 18th season of franchise, has tied the knot with Osmariel Villalobos, according to the model's Instagram posts. Us Weekly reports that the small ceremony took place in Miami for documentation purposes, and that another wedding will follow sometime soon in Venezuela.

"They both wanted to keep the wedding very, very secret," a source told the outlet regarding the initial nuptials. "All their friends and family knew they were going to tie the knot eventually, but it was a surprise to a lot of their family members!"

Villalobos herself said something similar in her Instagram caption, thanking her friends and family for their discretion.

"THANKS to so many people who worked with me in SECRET to make this dream come true," she wrote in Spanish.

She followed this up with another snap from the wedding, this time alongside her hubby.

Te amo Esposo Mío 👫 Foto: @andreinaduven y @patrickdolande 📸 GRACIAS por capturar este inolvidable momento ❤

A post shared by Osmariel Villalobos (@osmariel) on

While Galavis hasn't taken to his personal social media to announce the news, he did wish his wife a heartfelt happy birthday just five days ago.

"Happy Bday Baby Mia, I LOVE you and HOPE to enjoy many MORE together..." he wrote. "THANKS for being what I NEEDED..."

Previously, Galavis dated Nikki Ferrell after she rose to the top of his unconventional season of The Bachelor, but they broke up back in 2014. Galavis and Villalobos began their courtship two years later, and "could not be more in love."

The details of their second wedding are still a mystery, but maybe that's on purpose. Galavis has definitely had enough of the reality TV limelight.

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This Week Is Not Shaping Up To Be Good For The Environment

August 9, 2017, 1:00 pm
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President Trump's disbelief that climate change is real  seems to dictate many of his environmental policies. In the last couple of months, we've seen him pull the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord and roll back efforts to curb climate change, such as the Clean Power Plan, cementing the impression that this administration hasn't exactly been environmentally-friendly.

But the Trump administration took things up a notch this week in terms of rolling back environmental policies. There were reports that staffers at a federal agency were instructed to stop using the phrase "climate change," protections for the endangered greater sage grouse were relaxed, and scientists feared the Trump administration would suppress a report outlining how climate change is already impacting the United States.

Let's take a look at everything that's happened so far this week.

Relaxed protections on the greater sage grouse to favor mining and petroleum companies

The greater sage grouse population, a Western bird species known for its complex (and funny) mating dance, has declined drastically in recent years. In 2015, the Obama administration drafted an elaborate conservation plan to help slow down its loss of habitat. But some companies and states (including Utah and Idaho) said the plan would interfere with economic development in the area. The plan was implemented anyway, with then-Interior Director Sally Jewell calling it as a "truly historic moment."

But in June, the Trump administration's Interior director, Ryan Zinke, ordered a task force to review the plan to "protect sage grouse and its habitat while also ensuring conservation efforts do not impede local economic opportunities."

The task force released its recommendations this week, which include relaxing rules around mineral leasing areas and incrementing the level of flexibility in grazing management. But environmental advocacy groups protested the rollback, saying it favors oil and gas development at the expense of protecting the sage grouse's habitat.

"Wholesale changes to the plans are not necessary and could derail years of hard work," National Wildlife Federation President Collin O'Mara said in a statement. "We cannot fall victim to the false dichotomy that pits wildlife conservation against the administration's energy development goals."

Department of Agriculture staffers are told to avoid using the term "climate change"

Employees at the Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which oversees farmers’ land conservation, were instructed to stop using the term "climate change" and substitute it with "weather extremes."

Emails obtained by The Guardian show Bianca Moebius-Clune, director of soil health, sent a list of terms that the NRCS staff should avoid and which terms to use instead. Besides avoiding the use of "climate change," employees were also instructed to swap "climate change adaption" with "resilience to weather extremes."

Scientific terms used when describing human-driven climate change were also targeted by the department. Staffers were instructed to replace "reduce greenhouse gases" with "build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency" and avoid "sequester carbon" in favor of "build soil organic matter."

The language is consistent with President Trump's denial that climate change exists and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt's comments that he doesn't believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to climate change.

Scientists fear the Trump administration will censor climate change reports

Experts in 13 federal agencies drafted a report concluding that evidence proving climate change is the result of human activities is "unambiguous." The report contradicts the Trump administration's belief that man-made carbon pollution is not a primary cause of climate change.

"There are no alternative explanations, and no natural cycles are found in the observational record that can explain the observed changes in climate," reads the report, which cites thousands of peer-reviewed studies. "Evidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans."

Scientists told The New York Times some were afraid the Trump administration could alter or censor the report. It's unclear whether President Trump will accept the results and take them into account when enacting new environmental policies.

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These Are Our Favorite Books Of 2017 — So Far

August 9, 2017, 1:10 pm
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We may be living in a Golden Age of television, where you can hang out on the couch and watch hours of award-winning series that are legitimately stimulating and not feel even the tiniest bit guilty about it. (Fact: We do that too. It's our go-to Sunday afternoon plan.)

But in 2017, we'd like to suggest a new concept: Instead of binge watching, why not try binge reading? Sure, it sounds like more work than camping out in front of the ol' boob tube. But your attention span — not to mention the more literary muscles of your mind — will thank you.

That's why we're issuing a challenge: Stop downloading Netflix series to your phone to watch when you're bored at work, between classes, or at the bar with a particularly lame Tinder date. Always have a book in your bag instead. And if you need some ideas for which titles to bring along wherever you go — well, we've got some suggestions...

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Sour Heart
By Jenny Zhang
Out August 1

Both a debut author and the debut novel from Lena Dunham’s imprint, Lenny, Sour Grapes is a collection of incredible stories about the immigrant experience in America. From the fast moving halls of a public school in Queens to scamming Atlantic Casino busses, the tales in this book traverse different slices of life, across decades and countries, with new perspective; lovers of Miranda July, Helen Oyeyemi, and Zadie Smith will find themselves in good company with Sour Heart.

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See What I Have Done
By Sarah Schmidt
Out August 1

We’ve all heard the story of how Lizzie Borden murdered her father and stepmother in cold blood with an axe one morning. But what is the story was more complicated than that — more complicated than we could ever imagine without getting to know the motivations and memories of all the players in this bloody drama?

Schmidt’s reimagining of the story shifts perspectives, from Lizzie herself to her older sister, Emma, and beyond, gives new life — and depths — to the century-old true crime tale that we still cannot get out of our minds.

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Impossible Views of the World
By Lucy Ives
Out August 1

Stella Krakus is having what might be the worst week of her life. She’s being stalked by her (almost!) ex-husband. Her workplace romantic is coming apart at the seams. A beloved colleague at a Manhattan art museum has suddenly gone missing.

But when Stella stumbles on a mysterious map, she starts connecting the dots of nefarious happenings at the museum — not to mention her personal life. It's only then that Stella starts to see the bigger picture, and to unravel secrets that will change her life.

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The Lauras
By Sara Taylor
Out August 1

After a fight with Alex’s father, Ma yanks her only child out of bed and decides it’s time for the two of them to embark on a cross-country journey, from Virginia to California. What Alex doesn’t realize at the start of the trip, though, is that winding their way westward is also working their way to the center of Ma’s greatest secret. A fascinating portrait of a young person's coming-of-age and the characters they encounter along the way, The Lauras is road trip narrative that refreshes the genre for 2017.

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The Regulars
By Georgia Clark
Out August 8

Yep, you’re right: This is a book that came out in hardback last summer. But we loved it so much that now that the paperback has arrived, we’re bringing it up again.

Krista, Evie, and Willow are three friends just trying to make it through their twenties in New York City, with all the usual dating, job, and quarter-life-crises that plague women their age. But when the gals happen upon a magic tincture that will make them drop dead gorgeous with just a few drops, the landscapes of their lives begin to change — and not necessarily for the better.

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After Andy: Adventures In Warhol Land
By Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni
Out August 1

Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni was just 16 years old when she met Andy Warhol — but it was an encounter that would forever shape the course of her life. This gloriously detailed all-too-true tell-all delves into the depths of what the man himself was like, and the world that built up around him: socialites, artists, rock legends, art world powerhouses, models, starlets, and general glitterati. As the last person to be hired on at the studio before Warhol’s death in 1987, Fraser-Cavassoni is also uniquely able to share not only the circumstances of his life, but also of its the aftermath, from the assessment of his estate to the record-breaking auction of his belongings and the publication of his diaries. Prepare to go behind the scenes and be totally transported.

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Arbitrary Stupid Goal
By Tamara Shopsin
Out July 18

Picture it: Vintage New York in the '70s, decades before anyone was touring the West Village looking for Carrie Bradshaw's Perry Street apartment, and at the center of it all is the author's family's diner — a legendary greasy spoon that will leave you hankering for egg salad and an era without iPhones. Shopsin's book is a portrait of a bygone time when families could actually afford to live in Lower Manhattan and when a single neighborhood in a big city could blossom into a world full of adventure off your own doorstep.

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Sex and Rage
By Eve Babitz
Out July 11

Yes, we know: This book is an oldie, originally published in 1979. But it's getting a reissue this month, and for good reason. Why? Because it's RAD.

Jacaranda — sun-kissed and gorgeous, a part-time beach bum and painter of surfboards — knows that her life is dreamy, but she's concerned about its overall lack of purpose; with that in mind, she packs up and heads from Los Angeles to New York City, to redefine her fate. But when she gets to the Big Apple, Jacaranda's adventures take her places she never could have predicted. Sensual and dreamlike, Sex and Rage is still a transportive, relevant text nearly half a century after its debut — as well as a reminder that sometimes it's the chance encounters that change us most.

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The Goddesses
By Swan Huntley
Out July 25

When Nancy, her husband, and their twins move to Kona, Hawaii, they leave the mainland as a broken family. Infidelity has wreaked havoc on the marriage. Everyone needs a fresh start — and they get one: planting an orange tree in the backyard, settling back into a routine, learning to trust one another once again.

But when Nancy becomes increasingly close to her yoga teacher, Ana, the plot start to shift once again. Suddenly, Nancy is spending all her time with Ana, realizing that she would go to the ends of the Earth for this new person in her life — perhaps even at the expense of everything, and everyone, else she loves.

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Refuge
By Dina Nayeri
Out July 11

When Niloo was a little girl, she was whisked away from Iran to live in America — but her father stayed behind. In the 20 years since, they have had four reunions total; but when Niloo receives a string of concerning emails from her father's address, she is suddenly thrust back into a culture that feels at once like home and like something entirely foreign.

A beautiful, complex rendering of the relationships between fathers and daughters, as well as a moving portrait of diaspora's effects, Refuge is a novel that perfectly captures the heartache — and hope — of our modern global moment.

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What We Lose
By Zinzi Clemmons
Out July 11

Thandi — raised in Pennsylvania by a mother from Johannesburg — feels out to sea, caught between identities of Black and white, American and foreigner, young woman and adulthood. She is searching for something to define and anchor herself; when her mother passes away, from cancer, her quest to find the place she truly belongs intensifies.

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Goodbye, Vitamin
By Rachel Khong
Out July 11

Suddenly single after a split from her fiancé, 30-year-old Ruth feels like her life is at a crossroads. But when she returns to her childhood home, she finds her family is in more disarray than she can imagined: Her father seems to be sliding out of lucidity, and her mother can barely keep it together. As her dad becomes sicker, Ruth's grief begins to transform into something that also gives her a greater sense of self.

Laugh out loud funny and also full of heart, Goodbye Vitamin is the story of a young woman finally growing up, after years of thinking that particular rite of passage was already behind her.

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We Shall Not All Sleep
By Estep Nagy
Out July 3

The Hillsingers and the Quicks have shared the tiny island of Seven, in Maine, for generations. But in the year 1964, things suddenly start to shift after a matriarch is lost and grief begins to wind its way outward in strange directions.

On top of that, this book has C.I.A. secrets, intergenerational family drama, WASP warfare, and all sorts of other twists and turns that will keep your eyes glued to the pages. A summer read if there ever was one, this is one of those literary beach books you won't be able to put down.

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American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land
By Monica Hesse
Out July 11

A true crime narrative chockfull of spellbinding storytelling and incredible reportage, American Fire tells the story of Accomack Virginia, a rural town where — night after night — someone is setting fires. Once you find out who — and why — you'll be singing the praises of this book all over town. Not only is it stranger than fiction: It's all completely true.

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Hello Sunshine
By Laura Dave
Out July 11

Sunshine Mackenzie is living a dream life as a culinary star with millions of dedicated fans. But when she gets hacked and all her secrets are suddenly revealed, her fall from grace is swift and complete. Sunshine winds up moving back to her childhood home to live alongside the estranged sister she's tried hard to leave in her past. But what begins as a personal nightmare turns into a move that might save both their lives. Sunny, funny, and sweet, this book is basically the formula for your ideal beach or poolside read this summer!

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The Windfall
By Diksha Basu
Out June 27

For thirty years, Mr. and Mrs. Jha have endured the daily drama of close quarters with neighbors in their housing complex. But when Mr. Jha inherits a vast sum of money and the couple moves across town, everything changes — including the way they relate to their twenty-something son. But money certainly doesn't solve everything. In fact, it might have made things worse in this hilarious, insightful novel about family, fragility, pride and sense of self.

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Perennials
By Mandy Berman, Out June 6

Rachel and Fiona grew up going to camp together, summer after summer. Now, with freshman year of college behind them, they're reunited for yet another season at Camp Marigold — this time, as counselors. But their lives, and their friendship, have shifted; for the first time ever, they find themselves keeping secrets from each other. When a tragedy spends the camp into tailspin, the young women must confront the precipice they stand on: the edge that defines childhood and the moment you really start to grow up.

Photo: Random House.
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The Answers
By Catherine Lacey, Out June 6

Mary Parsons is broke — between medical bills and credit card debt, she's not sure how she'll make it through. When starts looking for a second job on Craigslist and winds up on a posting called the "Girlfriend Experience", she decides to give it a shot.

The details: A famous actor has hired a team of biotech researchers to build him a harem of women who, together, will constitute the "perfect" relationship. Mary joins the gang, which includes a Maternal Girlfriend (who does the laundry), a Mundanity Girlfriend (who mostly hangs around) plus a host of others tasked with meeting Kurt's intimacy needs. What follows is a wacky look at the way human beings connect — and how, even with all the planning in the world, the ideal relationship isn't something you can create with an algorithm.

Photo: Courtesy of Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux.
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Small Hours
By Jennifer Kitses, out June 13

What does a relationship — and the secrets contained within it — look like, as it spills out over the course of a day? In this suspenseful, beautifully written debut, we get an hour-by-hour look at a marriage that's trying to outrun the past. But the clock is ticking, and they're running out of time.

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The End Of Men
By Karen Rinaldi, Out June 20

Isabel, Anna, Beth, and Maggie are the epitome of modern, independent women. Their version of "happily ever after" definitely isn't something you'd find in a Disney movie; it's simple, something to seek out on your own terms — and it's also the beating heart of this hilarious novel.

From lusting after a former lover (even while you're in a perfectly happy marriage!) to starting a pregnancy lingerie company, the lively stories in this book made us laugh out loud — and also reconsider the social pressures women face in order to be thought of as "successful" across all areas of their lives. Read it once, read it again, and gift a copy to your best girlfriend so you can giggle about it together.

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Aftercare Instructions
By Bonnie Pipkin, Out June 27

At 17, Genesis doesn't jibe with her small New Jersey town; her only refuge is her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter. But when he abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to get an abortion, her whole world is turned upside down — and Genesis has to redefine her identity, all on her own. Told through the arc of a young love story that builds toward betrayal, this sharp, complex narrative is a coming-of-age novel that will feel especially resonant for women in the lens of 2017.

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Our Little Racket
By Angelica Baker, Out June 20

When an investment bank shutters, its CEO suddenly becomes a pariah in his own cloistered community — and the five women in his life must scramble to readjust to this jarring new normal. His teenage daughter, Madison, wants to know the truth about what her dad did — or may not have done; while her mother, her nanny, her best friend, and a family friend begin to question their own relationship to power, privilege, and the man who made it all possible.

A probing social novel about contemporary culture, family, wealth, and the line between ignorance and complicity: Our Little Racket is a captivating read that you must throw in your beach bag, posthaste.

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

By Taylor Jenkins Reid

Out June 13

When aging Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the story of her glamorous, scandalous life, she picks unknown, down-on-her-luck magazine reporter Monique Grant to take on the challenge of writing her biography. The only question is: Why? Monique's career is in a state of standstill; her husband has flown the coop — and it's not like her star isn't exactly on the rise. But the more Monique finds out about Evelyn, the more it becomes clear that their lives are eerily, unpredictably connected. Jenkins Reid's book is a look back at the Golden Age of Hollywood with more than a dash of suspense thriller; mysterious, artfully told, and impossible to put down.

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The Shark Club

By Ann Kidd Taylor

Out June 6

On a gorgeous summer beach day in Florida, two things happen to Maeve Donnelly that will forever impact her life. The first is that she gets kissed by the boy of her dreams. The second is that she is bitten by a blacktip shark. Eighteen years later, Maeve has made her name for herself as a marine biologist specializing in the minds of misunderstood sharks. But when she returns to the seaside town of her youth, she gets more than she bargained for in the romance department. So what comes first: Her love life — or her career? And should she rekindle an old romance, or kick up a new one with a colleague who has a secret swimming below the surface?

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The Answers

By Catherine Lacey, Released June 6

Mary Parsons is broke — between medical bills and credit card debt, she's not sure how she'll make it through. When starts looking for a second job on Craigslist and winds up on a posting called the "Girlfriend Experience", she decides to give it a shot.

The details: A famous actor has hired a team of biotech researchers to build him a harem of women who, together, will constitute the "perfect" relationship. Mary joins the gang, which includes a Maternal Girlfriend (who does the laundry), a Mundanity Girlfriend (who mostly hangs around) plus a host of others tasked with meeting Kurt's intimacy needs. What follows is a wacky look at the way human beings connect — and how, even with all the planning in the world, the ideal relationship isn't something you can create with an algorithm.

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Clik here to view.

Perennials

By Mandy Berman

Out June 6

Rachel and Fiona grew up going to camp together, summer after summer. Now, with freshman year of college behind them, they're reunited for yet another season at Camp Marigold — this time, as counselors. But their lives, and their friendship, have shifted; for the first time ever, they find themselves keeping secrets from each other. When a tragedy spends the camp into tailspin, the young women must confront the precipice they stand on: the edge that defines childhood and the moment you really start to grow up.

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Touch

By Courtney Maum

Out May 30

Sloane Jacobson is one of the world’s most powerful trend forecasters, and her sense of where family life is going is down, down, down. But when Sloane starts to realize that perhaps her forecasting on the subject of human empathy isn't tracking to real life, she has to come to a reckoning: Does she go with the data — that people are increasingly isolated? Or does she go with her gut — and her heart?

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The Leavers

By Lisa Ko

Out May 2

One day, Deming Guo's mother, Polly, is waiting to walk him home from school; the next, she vanishes into thin air, leaving not a trace behind. What follows is a heartbreaking, thought-provoking novel about the search for roots and belonging in contemporary America. For more about the novel, check out a full review here.

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Mr. Rochester

By Sarah Shoemaker

Out May 9

Lovers of Emily Brontë and Jane Eyre, this one’s for you: If you’ve ever wondered about the backstory of the man who Jane eventually teaches to love again, Mr. Rochester is officially wish fulfillment. Is it made up? Sure. But who cares — so is Jane Eyre, and the character creation here makes the story in the original novel all the more swoon-worthy.

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You Don’t Look Your Age… And Other Fairy Tales

By Sheila Nevins

Out May 2

Famed documentary producer Sheila Nevins stepped out from behind the camera to write this book, in which she tackles many real life challenges of being a woman in a man’s movie business world. “Women need this kind of honest excavation of the process of living,” Meryl Streep said on this memoir-meets-field-guide-to-life. If it’s good enough for Meryl, then consider us sold.

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Miss Burma

By Charmaine Craig

Out May 2

A story of how modern-day Burma came to be, as well as the tale of one of the most violent and turbulent eras in world history played out. At once beautiful and heartbreaking, this novel is told through the lens of an incredible family saga that centers on a husband and wife, and their daughter who grows up to become Burma’s first beauty queen — before the country falls to dictatorship.

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One Day We’ll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter

By Scaachi Koul

Out May 2

One Day We’ll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter might sound like a book that’s full of doom and gloom — but, in this case, that couldn’t be further from the truth. These essays span everything from awkward conversations with your bikini waxer to the best way to slay a troll, as relayed by one of the sharpest, funniest writers working right now.

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I’ll Eat When I’m Dead

By Barbara Bourland

Out May 2

A whodunnit with a Devil Wears Prada twist: When a high-powered fashion editor dies in her office, her best friend / work wife Cat knows that it wasn’t because of something she ate (or, in this case, didn’t eat). Cat enlists the help of a detective and they get on the case — which winds the duo up in a web of sex, lies, and makeup counter madness. If you love UnReal, then this smart, sassy novel will be right up your alley.

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Mothers and Other Strangers

By Gina Sorrell

Out May 2

“My father proposed to my mother at gunpoint when she was nineteen, and knowing that she was already pregnant with a dead man’s child, she accepted."

That's the opening sentence to Sorrell’s novel, which chronicles a young woman’s quest to understand the mother who raised her — and the secrets she left behind. Don’t even pretend like that first line doesn’t already have you hooked.

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Into The Water

By Paula Hawkins

Out May 2

When a single mother turns up dead at the bottom of a river, her teenage daughter knows that there’s more to the story than suicide. Marked by the careful plotting and suspenseful twists we’ve come to expect from Hawkins, the thriller master behind The Girl On The Train, this story slowly unravels to reveal what’s lying beneath the surface — and a web of secrets that has been killing the women of a small town for years.

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The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness

By Jill Filipovic

Out May 2

The search for happiness can be a complicated endeavor for women in the 21st century; in this book, acclaimed writer Filopovic argues that the main thing standing in between women and the h-spot is a rigged system, hellbent on keeping them from getting even close. So what will it take to break down the bulwarks? Filipovic has some thoughts — pick up this book to find out where she takes them.

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Priestdaddy: A Memoir

By Patricia Lockwood

Out May 2

Ranging from raunchy critique to a thoughts on religious devotion, poet and writer Patricia Lockwood's memoir conveys stories about her father: a Catholic priest, the likes of whom you’ve probably never encountered before.

When Lockwood and her husband have to move back into her parents’ rectory after 10 years of being on their own, hilarity ensues — as does plenty of other action. Nothing in this book is expected; everything — from the stories to the prose itself — will stick with you long after its over.

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The F Word

By Liza Palmer

Out April 25

Olivia Morten is perfect — or at least, she looks that way on the surface. A high powered publicist with a bangin' body: Who cares if her husband is never around or if the secret she'd kept hidden for years is eating her from the inside out? (Spoiler: She does.) But when Olivia's high school frenemy (and former crush) shows up on the scene, her calculated exterior starts to crumble.

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Oola

By Brittany Newell

Out April 25

When Oola and Leif meet in London, they fall for one another hard and fast. Lives newly fused, the young, aimless couple heads back to the United States for the summer, where they bounce around housesitting gigs before winding up in Big Sur. Soon enough, they're nearly bored to tears — and that's where the story takes a major twist, from love story to something decidedly more interesting and experimental. What happens next will either ruin their relationship or catapult it to a place that neither Leif nor Oola ever imagined they would wind up.

Harper Books
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Anything Is Possible

By Elizabeth Strout

Out April 25

For anyone who adored My Name Is Lucy Barton, you'll be thrilled to find out that Strout brought her back in this beautiful novel about the ties that bind and the journeys toward understanding each other and ourselves.

In this novel, two sisters choose very different paths to fulfillment; a janitor at the local school finds himself ever-more drawn into the life of someone unexpected; a grown woman longs for her mother without reprieve. Finally, a sister returns to visit her family after nearly two decades to build bridges with the siblings she left behind.

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The Widow of Wall Street

By Randy Susan Meyers, Out April 11

Phoebe falls for Jake Pierce hard when they're still just teenagers: She seems to know even before he does that he'll go on to conquer a financial empire and rule the Wall Street scene.

But the dirty secret behind Jake's success will eventually become the downfall of this couples' glittering life together. Think of The Widow of Wall Street as The Wolf of Wall Street — except told from the side of the wife, more scintillating, and a testament to the power of a woman's ability to survive it all — it's a must-read that will dazzle and repel you, in equal measure.

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Imagine Wanting Only This

By Kristen Radtke

Out April 18

When writer and illustrator Kristen Radtke was in college, she experienced two things in quick sequence that altered the way she viewed the world: A beloved uncle passed away, and the sight of an abandoned mining town kicked off her fixation on things discarded and forgotten. In her debut graphic novel, we go on a world tour via the author's perspective; the result is an unforgettable exploration of the people, and places, we leave behind, as well as a dreamy, well-drawn memoir about the landscapes of loss.

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The Book Of Joan
By Lidia Yuknavitch, Out April 18
The planet has become radioactive. Humans — or, the creatures that were once humans — live on a shelf suspended above the soil, their skin nearly translucent and tattooed with the literal stories of their own existence. There is only one person who can save them from a brutal overlord — a child soldier, destined to become a martyr to the cause of existence. This is her story; this is The Book of Joan.

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The Last Days Of Café Leila

By Donia Bijan

Out April 18

Iranian-born Noor and her daughter, Lily, have a perfectly fine life in San Francisco. But Noor is dreaming of returning to her native country and, along with it, the restaurant that has been in her family for three generations. When she finally makes the move, Noor is thrilled to find herself home once again. But soon she discovers that life outside the cafe walls is much different than the Iran of her upbringing. A love letter to family, food, and culture, The Last Days Of Café Leila is a beautiful narrative with an undeniable ache for belonging at its center.

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If We Were Villains

By M.L. Rio

Out April 11

It's a whodunnit with a decidedly Shakespearean twist. Oliver has been in jail for the last decade, serving time for a crime that he may or may not have actually committed; on the day he is released, a detective meets him at his cell, wanting to know now — once and for all — what really happened the day a member of Oliver's acting troupe came to his tragic end. To answer that, Oliver takes us back in time to tell the story of how he and his fellow performers concocted a script that kept everyone but the players from discovering the truth.

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Sympathy

By Olivia Sudjic

Out April 4

Twenty-three-year-old Alice Hare has become obsessed with the idea that Mizuko Himura, a Japanese writer living in NYC, is her "Internet twin." With the aim to meet her in mind, Alice travels from England to New York and artfully sets up a meet cute with the object of her fixation, which — at first — goes just fine. But soon enough, Mizuko begins to realize that Alice has been lying to her all along. A dark, spellbinding reflection on relationships in the Digital Age, Sympathy is a debut that will have you rethinking the way life online intersects with existence offscreen.

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No One Is Coming To Save Us

By Stephanie Powell Watts

Out April 4

JJ Ferguson has returned to his hometown of Pinewood, North Carolina, with a plan: He aims to use his newfound wealth to erect a mansion overlooking the lake, and to woo his high school sweetheart. Ava, in short order. But Pinewood isn't quite as he left it: Ava is married to someone else, and the once vibrant town has been economically gutted by the loss of factory jobs. A Gatsby-esque story, delicately spun and especially relevant in the America of 2017, No One Is Coming To Save Us is ultimately a story about what people do with the hands they are dealt.

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Marlena

By Julie Buntin

Out April 4

When 15-year-old Cat moved to a rural Michigan town, she thought life as she knew it was over. Then she met her neighbor, Marlena: a manic, pill popping beauty who initiated Cat into the cult of bad teen behavior and become her best friend. But within a year, Marlena was dead — drowned in six inches of icy water, out in the woods — leaving Cat to pick up the pieces. Told through haunting dialog that shifts back and forth between past and present, Marlena is a novel about the forces that shape us, for ill and good, as well as the friends we'll never forget.

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It Happens All The Time

By Amy Hatvany

Out March 28

Amber and Tyler have been best friends — strictly platonic — since childhood. But one evening when they're both back in their hometown, a hookup changes everything. After that night, Tyler thinks they've finally, after all these years, acted on their feelings for one another. But from Amber's perspective, her best friend raped her, ruining her life. Told through the experiences and thoughts of alternating characters, It Happens All The Time probes the outer limits of what consensual sex means, and chronicles the fallout that arrives thereafter.

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The Arrangement

By Sarah Dunn

Out March 21

Lucy and Owen traded in their Brooklyn-based life for a more bucolic update scene: the 200-year-old Upstate New York house with chickens roaming around the yard — you know, the works. But when they decide to take a cue from another couple and try out an open marriage for six months, Lucy gets more than she bargained for. In the end, she has to decide what she desires more — the stable, happy, beautiful life she's built with her husband? Or a much messier one that might ultimately be more satisfying?

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Lucky You

By Erika Carter

Out March 21

Ellie, Rachel, and Chloe weren't exactly friends in college. But now that they've graduated and stuck around their Arkansas campus town together, they've become sort of an accidental trio — in more ways that one. All waitresses at a local dive bar, each young woman is unravelling in a way of her own. When Rachel asks Ellie and Chloe to come live off-the-grid with herself and her boyfriend, in a remote, rural house, they agree. But the "experiment" that takes place there — in the silence, and the boredom, and the brewing tension — is more than any of the women bargained for ...

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The Rules Do Not Apply

By Ariel Levy

Out March 14

When writer and journalist Ariel Levy left for a reporting trip to Mongolia in 2012, she was pregnant, married, and stable in her life. Less than four weeks later, everything had come undone.

"I wanted what we all want: everything," she writes in this resilient and wrenching memoir that belongs at the top of your list. "We want a mate who feels like family and a lover who is exotic, surprising. We want to be youthful adventurers and middle-aged mothers. We want intimacy, and autonomy, safety and stimulation, reassurance and novelty, coziness and thrills. But we can't have it all." Tough words and thoughts worth considering.

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The Book of Polly

By Kathy Hepinstall

Out March 14

Willow Havens has been obsessed — no seriously, obsessed — with her own mother for as long as she can remember: Polly is a strong, spitfire Louisiana woman who sticks out among more conventional women in their small Texas town.

But Polly is also a woman of many secrets — secrets that Willow is constantly trying to unravel. A mother/daughter comedy steeped in quirky characters, personal history mysteries, and no small amount of love, The Book of Polly is a delightful read about one of the world's most fundamental relationships.

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The Idiot

By Elif Batuman

Out March 14

In 1995, when Selin — the daughter of Turkish immigrants — arrives at Harvard, email is brand new and the world has not opened itself up to her quite yet. But soon enough, Selin begins a digital pen-pal affair with Ivan, an older mathematics student from Hungary, and life begins to change. With every missive they exchange, the two become more entwined. But it's not until the summer, when Ivan goes to Budapest and Selin heads to the Hungarian countryside, that their connection truly blooms — or that Selin realizes she might not be able to escape the fate of becoming a tortured writer.

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The Best We Could Do

By Thi Bui

Out March 7

Evocative and powerful, this graphic memoir tells the story of a family's escape from South Vietnam in 1970s and the new life they carve out for themselves in San Francisco. Alternating between the past and present, Bui's narrative emerges across three generations, beginning with her own parents' journey and spanning into her experiences as a young mother on the West Coast. Hers is a nuanced and heartfelt immigrant tale, brought to true life through beautiful and brilliant illustration. On top of that, it's an especially poignant read from the vantage point of 2017.

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All Grown Up

By Jami Attenberg

Out March 7

When Andrea first moved into her Brooklyn apartment, she had a view of the Manhattan skyline. But as time crept forward, the city grew up around her, brick by brick. Until one day, her view was gone.

Now in her late 30s — single by choice but also seemingly unattached to much of the life she's built for herself — Andrea is reaching a reckoning point. Does she want to stick with the scaffolding she's built for herself? Or is it time to finally peel away the layers to find what really matters? A wry and at moments wrenching book about loss and the search for identity, All Grown Up is a beautifully written book by one of our favorite fiction writers working today.

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Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

By Helene Cooper

Out March 7

Leader of the Liberian women’s movement, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the first democratically elected female president in African history, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a beacon of breaking barriers and challenging the status quo. But her accomplishments are all the more impressive and important given the story that preceded them, as told by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author Helene Cooper.

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Down City: A Daughter's Story of Love, Memory and Murder

By Leah Carroll

Out March 7

When Leah Carroll was four years old, her mother — a gifted amateur photographer — was murdered by two drug dealers with Mafia ties, who both received light sentences for their crime. Then, fourteen years later, Carroll's father would die, too, leaving her alone in the world, haunted by questions about her past, present, and future. In this raw debut, Carroll — a Refinery29 staffer — seeks to piece together her parent's lives and the tragic circumstances of her mother's death, while also delving into the mysteries of her Rhode Island town.

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The Lucky Ones

By Julianne Pachico

Out March 7

Set in Colombia and New York City between 1993 and 2018, The Lucky Ones is a gripping, tense debut that explores what happens when trust and truth evaporate: A teenage girl finds herself stranded home alone, with no connection to outside world — and then comes a knock at the door that will change everything. Meanwhile, her former teacher has been captured by guerrilla fighters who now watch his every move. Far away, another classmate manages to escape her native land, trading it in for the NYC club scene — but little bags of white powder still rule over her life. Fans of A Visit From The Goon Squad and The Goldfinch, take note: This is the new novel you'll tear through — and then go back and read again.

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Abandon Me

By Melissa Febos

Out February 28

In her critically acclaimed memoir Whip Smart, Melissa Febos gave readers a peek into the lifestyle of professional dominatrix, while also traversing themes of power and desire, subversion and fulfillment.

In the highly anticipated Abandon Me, she peels back another layer: Her latest release is a work that looks at the father her left her behind and the one who raised her, as well as the ripple effect those two relationships had on her life more largely. Intimate and mesmerizingly vulnerable, Abandon Me is a book that gets at the heart of who we love, how we love — and why.

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Everything Belongs To Us

By Yoojin Grace Wuertz

Out February 28

Jusin and Namin are best friends who couldn't have had more different lives before reaching university. The former is the daughter of a wealthy tycoon, without a care or want in the world; the latter, the daughter of street vendors, whose only goal in life is to launch her family out of poverty.

But when a young man enters their lives and draws them into a prestigious club at their elite university, Jusin and Namin must decide where their allegiances lie — to their families, to their politics, to their hearts, or to one another.

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Why I Am Not A Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto

By Jessa Crispin

Out February 21

If you're looking to get some real talk going at your book club, we definitely suggest bringing this new title into the mix. Crispin, founder of the beloved (and now defunct) literary blog Bookslut, has a complicated relationship with feminism. It's not that she isn't a feminist — this is a feminist manifesto, after all — but she does have some major questions about the kind of feminism we seem to be subscribing to these days.

Is the feminist movement too watered down and consumerist to matter anymore? Does being a feminist really just mean believing women are equal to men? Who gets to claim the feminist label — and who doesn't? These are just a few of the questions and cultural criticisms posed in this smart and provocative release. And, especially in this modern moment, it's worth considering them all.

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Flâneuse: Women Walk The City

By Lauren Elkin

Out February 21

Sure, there’s plenty of literature devoted to the meandering walks and subsequent observations of men. But this book turns the tables, delving into what happens when women go wandering: Equal parts memoir, social critique, and cultural criticism, Flâneuse is new world walking and watching literature — this time, from a much-needed female perspective.

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Piecing Me Together

By Renee Watson

Out February 14

Jane's family is poor — and she knows her only way out is a good education and the opportunities to come along with it. So when her elite private school offers her a chance to see the world through a study abroad program, she's ready to pack her bags.

But before Jane can leave her family, her community, and her circumstances behind, she must enroll in a mentorship program, where she is matched with a young woman named Maxine who just doesn't understand Jane's life. Finding common ground becomes much harder than either girl could have ever imagined — but the journey to understanding one another is an education unto itself.

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Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember

By Christine Hyung-Oak Lee

Out February 14

When Christine Hyung-Oak Lee woke up with a headache on the last day of 2006, she never would have imagined that within a week she would lose her ability to form sentences, or decide what to wear in the morning by herself.

But as her symptoms progressed, it became clear to doctors that the then-33-year-old had suffered a stroke. This honest and meditative memoir is the story about how Hyung-Oak Lee rebuilt her life, quite literally one step at a time, and how she discovered the person she had always wanted to become.

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The Lonely Hearts Hotel

By Heather O’Neill

Out February 7

Two babies are abandoned in a Montreal orphanage in the winter of 1914, but it quickly becomes clear that there are more to the duo than meets the eye. Pierrot grows into a piano prodigy; Rose can charm any room with her dancing and personality. Together, they begin to perform throughout the city and plan a circus act the likes of which the world has never seen. But when fate tears them apart, the lovers must find their way back to one another through the seedy underbelly of a city with many secrets beneath its bricked streets.

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A Separation

By Katie Kitamura

Out February 7

When a young woman and her husband separate, he asks that she tell no one — and she obliges. But when her estranged spouse goes missing in a remote region of Greece and her mother-in-law bids her to go find him, she must embark on the mission. In the process, she begins to uncover details about her former lover's life that have been buried for all the years she's known him.

A spellbinding portrait of how a marriage frays and how intimacy can betray us, Kitamura has spun a tangled web of a story we could absolutely not put down until the final sentence came to a close. Gone Girl fans, take note — you’’re definitely going to want to dive into this one.

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A Book of American Martyrs

By Joyce Carol Oates

Out February 7

To be honest, there’s not much (i.e. anything ) by Joyce Carol Oates we wouldn’t recommend reading. But even so, her latest novel stands out at the top of our reading recommendation list.

The story of two families in a midwestern community, A Book Of American Martyrs chronicles what happens after an abortion care provider is murdered in a small Ohio town. Urgent and epic, this fictional work is also an important interrogation of how issues divide neighbors — and our nation — today.

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The Woman Next Door

By Yewande Omotoso

Out February 7

Hortensia James and Marion Agostina have been neighbors for years. Both are successful. Both are newly widowed. Each has a secret that the other desperately wants. But as sworn enemies — divided by a hedge between their houses and by race — neither Hortensia nor Marion has ever tried to truly get to understand her neighbor. Until now, that is, when they most decide what is more important to hold onto: a grudge, or their way of life.

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All The Lives I Want

By Alana Massey

Out February 7

From the writer behind the viral essay "Being Winona In A World Made For Gwyneths" comes a beautifully articulated, personal collection of cultural criticisms on the subjects of celebrity worship and the performance of womanhood in the world.

From Anna Nicole Smith and Amber Rose to Scarlett Johansson and Lana Del Rey, Massey's debut covers a lot of territory, but keeps you pinned to the pages at every turn. We're recommending this one for your next book club — All The Lives I Want is the book we want to be dissecting with all our girlfriends in the months to come.

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Schadenfreude, A Love Story

By Rebecca Schuman

Out February 7

Every once in awhile, a coming-of-age memoir arrives that truly breaks the mold — and this one certainly fits that bill. Like a lot of people, Rebecca Schuman fell in love for the first time as a teenager. But unlike most everyone on the planet, the object of her affection was a man who had been dead for a near-quarter century: Franz Kafka. What unfolds in Schadenfreude is the story of their (admittedly one-sided) affair, and then some. Germanophiles, this one's for you.

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The Possessions

By Sara Flannery Murphy

Out February 7

For years now, Edie has worked for Elysian Society: a private service that allows the bereaved to reconnect with their dead loved ones. Elysian Society workers don the clothes and personal paraphernalia of the dead, and then channel their spirits for brief periods of time.

But when Edie first channels Sylvia, the deceased wife of Patrick Braddock, she knows something is different — and more than a little dangerous — this time around. What happens next is the story of how Edie disappears into memory of a dead woman and discovers long-buried secrets about her own past along the way.

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The Girl From The Metropol Hotel

By Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

Out February 7

Acclaimed writer and reporter Ludmilla Petrushevskaya was born inside Moscow’s famed Metropol Hotel in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. But not long after that, the hotel became the Second House of the Soviets, and she and her family were cast into the streets to fend for themselves.

This is Petrushevskaya's story of being tossed from her posh home and raised among outcasts. Biting but beautiful, it’s an autobiography that says much about the world both then and now.

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The Animators
By Kayla Rae Whitaker
Out January 31

Sharon Kisses and Mel Vaught met in college — and have been best friends ever since. Both artists, they moved together to Brooklyn after finishing school, to spend the rest of their twenties drinking, laughing, and, most importantly, drawing together.

Now, after nearly a decade of trying to make their way, the pair finally have their first big break on the horizon: a film that literally illustrates Mel's dark and difficult childhood. Soon their movie — and both women — become the toast of the indie scene. But success cracks the foundation of their relationship, and the women have to decide if it's even possible to patch things up.

A chronicle about the fierceness of female friendship and what it takes to sustain a lifelong partner in creative pursuit, The Animators is new spin on the coming-of-age novel — and a fabulous, funny, sometimes traumatic one at that.

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This Is How It Always Is
By Laurie Frankel
Out January 24

When Rosie, Penn, and their four boys welcome another baby to their brood, the new little boy fits perfectly. But one day, Claude decides he wants to don a dress and grow out his hair; ultimately, he tells his family that he hopes to be a girl.

Illuminatingly nuanced and heartfelt, This Is How It Always Is is the story of how a family evolves — and grows — together.

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What We Do Now: Standing Up For Your Values In Trump's America
Out January 17

Okay, okay: So this one is a little (a lot) left of partisan. But if you're at all feeling lost in 2017 because of the political situation we've found ourselves embroiled in, let it be known that there are good books, and great essays, to get you through.

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A Word For Love
By Emily Robbins
Out January 17

It is said that there are ninety-nine Arabic words for love — and when Bea, an American exchange student, travels to the Middle East to study a manuscript of famed romantic legend, she aims to understand them all. But when Bea arrives at the home of her host family, reading Arabic takes a backseat to watching a real-life love story play out before her eyes.

A beautiful novel about our connection to language, to culture, and to one another, A Word For Love will tug at your heart in all the right ways.

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The Futures
By Anna Pitoniak
Out January 17

Evan and Julia met and fell in love at Yale before moving to New York City to start their post-grad life together. Julia — born wealthy and beautiful — goes to work at a nonprofit, while Evan — who went to the elite Ivy on a scholarship — lands a job at a prestigious financial firm.

Yep, this is another novel about the economic collapse of the late aughts. But it's an especially enjoyable one, all about the things you believe in when you're young — and what breaks your heart along the way.

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Lucky Boy
By Shanthi Sekaran
Out January 10

Solimar Castro-Valdez is a young Mexican who made her way to America for a better life and winds up in an immigration detention center, separated from her infant son, Ignacio. Kavya Reddy is a wealthy American woman who has struggled to have her own children — and ends up with Ignacio under her care, allowing her to finally be the mother she has always dreamed of becoming.

But when both claim a child as their own, which mother — and which nation — does he belong to?

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The River At Night
By Erica Ferencik
Out January 10

When Winifred Allen departs on a white water rafting trip with her three best friends, she thinks she's going to relax and unwind. But what begins as an invigorating nature retreat ultimately becomes a quest for survival in the Maine wilderness.

A thriller like you've never encountered before — make sure this one finds its way to your bookshelf. But maybe don't read it right before an adventure vacation.

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The Most Dangerous Place On Earth
By Lindsey Lee Johnson
Out January 10

Not since The Breakfast Club has there been a narrative so insightful about the secret lives of high schoolers. The characters of this smart, gripping debut are the kids you think you know: wealthy students in San Francisco who it seems have everything at their fingertips.

But just below the surface is a far more complex story about a tragedy that binds them all together and rippled through their lives from middle school forward. Smarter than Mean Girls and every bit as chilling as Asking For It, Johnson's novel will linger in your mind long after the pages are closed.

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History of Wolves
By Emily Fridlund
Out January 3

Fourteen-year-old Linda lives with her parents on a near-abandoned commune in the woods of northern Minnesota. Isolated both physically and emotionally, she begins to find her place in the world when she is hired as the babysitter for a family that recently moved in across the lake. She grows to love caring for the family's son, Paul — a task that finally gives her life meaning and purpose.

But just as Linda uncovers a sense of belonging, she also uncovers the family's secret, and it will alter the course of her life for good.

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Idaho
By Emily Ruskovich
Out January 3

Long-married couple Ann and Wade have carved out a life for themselves in northern Idaho. But as Wade's memory begins to fade, Ann becomes determined to learn more about the fate of her husband's first wife, Jenny, and their two daughters, all three long gone.

Little by little, the shocking tragedy that split Wade and Jenny emerges — as does the story of how Wade and Ann found one another. Haunting and full of heart, this book is a perfect place to begin your new-year reading list.

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Difficult Women
By Roxane Gay
Out January 3

While we'll admit that we would read anything that Roxane Gay writes, from her groundbreaking essay collection Bad Feminist to a scribbled grocery list, her latest release is especially intoxicating. Each of these fictional stories tells the tale of a complicated woman and the way she moves in the world. You could read this one in small bites, one narrative at a time... But it's even better if you sit down and don't get up until you're all done. Our rec? Just let this whole book wash over you.

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Lotus
By Lijia Zhang
Out January 1

Inspired by the author's own true story about discovering that her grandmother had been sold into prostitution during her youth, Lotus delves into the history of Chinese "flower girls" in a fictional narrative about a young streetwalker who reaches a fork in the road — and must choose her path carefully.

Read the author's essay on the inspiration behind her novel.

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The Saddest Breakup Songs Of All Time

August 9, 2017, 1:15 pm
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Illustrated by Sydney Hass.

The Ronettes had it all wrong. The best part of breaking up is not the making up. That rarely happens, and when it does, it often leads to more breaking up.

No, the real pleasure in having your soul shredded by another human being comes in the days, weeks, months, or maybe even years of wallowing that follow. It’s a chance to wear pajama bottoms past noon and indulge in some serious self-reflection — the type that makes you a stronger, better person. This journey into the self can be scary, but luckily, generations of musicians have written songs to soundtrack the plunge.

What follows are the saddest (and therefore finest) breakup songs of all time. On this list you’ll find no TSwizz “We’re Never Ever Getting Back Together" (too empowering) or Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” (too angry). These songs are plain and simple, rip-your-heart-out sad. Play ‘em just loud enough to drown out the sobbing.

"Maggie May," Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart says it plain: "You broke my heart, and that's what really hurts."

"Big Girls Don't Cry," Fergie

Will you cry for the song, or for your lost youth in the mid-2000s?

"Why Can't I?" by Liz Phair

It's been two decades, and we haven't been able to get the hook of this '90s song about paralysis post-breakup out of our ears.

"Green Light" by Lorde

Lorde's lyric, "I can get my things but I can't let go," might be the most succinct image of how hard it is to move on from a relationship.

"Smile" by Lily Allen

Lily Allen is the queen of snark said with a smile. "At first, when I see you cry / it makes me smile," she sings.

"Tainted Love" by Gloria Jones

Everyone knows the cover of "Tainted Love" made popular by Soft Cell in the '80s, but Gloria Jones Motown version sounds a bit more like a real breakup song.

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"I Knew You Were Trouble," Taylor Swift

Ah, but if she had listened to her gut, she wouldn't have learned an important life lesson.

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"Thinking Bout You" by Frank Ocean

With the line, "I've been thinking bout you / do you think about me still?" Frank Ocean reads our break-up ravaged insecurities.

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"Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia

In which our favorite '90s singer faces the disintegration of her relationship. Or, more specifically, the disintegration of her idea of the relationship. Disillusionment has never been so catchy.

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"My Love Took Me Down to The River to Silence Me" by Little Green Cars

In this eerie folk anthem, a woman's lover leaves her, and she's left emotionally ravaged."I'm still here waiting for you," croons the lead singer of this band, inspired by the Irish musical tradition.

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"Yesterday" by The Beatles

Some things, like the Beatles and Twilight Zone reruns, never get old. "Yesterday" is Paul McCartney at his most stripped-down, mopey, and vulnerable. The brilliance of the line, "Yesterday came suddenly," grows on you.

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"Lover You Should've Come Over" by Jeff Buckley

In this aching song, Buckley is mourning a relationship that ended because of his own wishy-washiness. Buckley doesn't know how to stop wanting to be both free and committed. When he sighs, "And maybe i'm too young to keep good love from going wrong," I can't help but tear up — no matter the state of my heart.

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"Hello" by Adele

If you haven't cried while listening to "Hello," what steel are you made of?

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"Better in Time" by Leona Lewis

With a blend of hopefulness, nostalgia, and pain, Lewis sings of the light at the end of the breakup tunnel, when she'll be all better — but will still miss her ex.

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"So Long Marianne," Leonard Cohen

Cohen looks back at his relationship with his real-life girlfriend, Marianne Jensen, with such poetic nostalgia. For when you know you have to leave — but how nice it would be if you could stay.

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"Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," Bob Dylan

Never has break-up sass been thrown so subtly and effectively. Dylan sings with the self-satisfied bite of the wronged party.

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“Stay,” Lisa Loeb

Everyone’s favorite bespectacled over-thinker hit on something universal with the line, “I think that I’m throwing, but I’m thrown.” That’s what it’s like being in a bad relationship. The question of “should I stay or should I go?” isn’t always a binary yes-no kind of thing. Sometimes, it sends you down the kind of emotional rabbit hole Loeb goes into here, with winning results.

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"Need You Now," Lady Antebellum

In this unabashed cheese-fest, two exes say to us what they wish they were saying to each other. The couple seems a moment away from getting back together.

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“It Must Have Been Love,” Roxette

Immortalized in Pretty Woman, “It Must Have Been Love” represents the perfect ratio of schlock to sentiment. In someone like Celine Dion’s hands, this would have been a complete disaster, but the Swedish duo of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle gaze off to “where the water flows” and “where the wind blows” without sounding like ‘90s Disney characters.

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"If You See Her Say Hello" by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan's trying to play it casual in this ballad, but he's dying to hear how his ex is doing.

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“All Cried Out,” Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam

A year before freestyle queen Lisa Velez topped the charts with the gushy, lovey-dovey 1987 smash “Head to Toe,” she went the opposite route, putting foot to heart and pressing down hard. “Don’t you know the hurt will cause an inferno?” she sings, helpless against a fire that buckets of tears have failed to extinguish.

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“Don’t Turn Around,” Ace of Base

Typically, neither crossover reggae hits nor songs by Swedish pop foursomes are known for being particularly sad. (When was the last time Sublime or Abba made you bawl?) For whatever reason, though, this moody summer jam — all about keeping a brave face while having your heart ripped out — has less bounce than a punctured beach ball.

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"Woke Up New" by the Mountain Goats

Sung in John Darnielle's gravelly, raw voice, this song perfectly encapsulates the feeling of freedom and deep loneliness that occurs during the days following a breakup. "On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time / I felt free and I felt lonely and I felt scared," the song opens.

The lyrics describe the sense of wandering through daily life with a phantom partner — not there in presence, but there in mind. Darnielle repeats, "What am I gonna do without you?" It's the unanswerable question. He'll do everything he did before, but after waking up new, nothing's the same.

As the lyrics go, "I got ready for the future to arrive." But for now, he's here in the present, and nothing's right at all.

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"The Heart Wants What It Wants" Selena Gomez

SelGo's ballad tore us apart when it first debuted — mainly because it was presumably about Justin Bieber. (Sigh.) Like many great breakup songs, the tune details that moment when you're teetering on the edge, deciding if the relationship has reached its end.

Also, it's a great karaoke song.

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"Stupid In Love," Rihanna

When it comes to rousing anthems of love gone wrong, Rihanna reigns supreme. This 2009 single from her album Rated R emphasizes the idiocy involved in all failed relationships. Simply put: love is stupid. Relationships are stupid. We're all stupid. (Stupid in love, one might say.)

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"A Million Reasons," Lady Gaga

Our Lady Gaga just went through a breakup of her own — she ended an engagement to actor Taylor Kinney while she was writing her newest album Joanne. Fittingly, the album is imbued with both mourning and a come-together rallying cry. The song "Million Reasons" narrates the harrowing decision to dump someone.

"You're giving me a million reasons to let you go," Gaga sings.

But, ultimately, we want to stay no matter what, right? The chorus ends with this unfortunate truth: "Baby, I just need one good one to stay."

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"Never Let Me Go," Florence + The Machine

Florence Welch, with her melancholic croon, has always produced music that hits you in the proverbial feels. Even her happier songs, like "Dog Days Are Over," hint at a deep sadness. "Never Let Me Go"is probably her weepiest production — or weep-inducing. Note: that isn't to say the song is despondent. Somewhere in those hollow calls, there's a hope for the future.

The sweeping chorus goes, "And the arms of the ocean are carrying me/And all this devotion was rushing out of me/ And the crashes are heaven for a sinner like me/ But the arms of the ocean delivered me."

The ocean-as-lover metaphor works in two ways: the ocean can envelop you and make you feel surrounded. It can also swallow you whole. Weeping yet?

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"Deep Blue Sea," Grizzly Bear

The Grizzly Bear song keeps this melancholy tune simple with a repetitive structure — each verse reads the same line twice, building an incessant, obliging refrain. The song uses metaphor to allude to all that achey breakey pain, and it works.

The second verse croons: "Dig his grave darlin with a /silver spade/ Dig his grave darlin with a /silver spade."

"Him" being, well, you know.

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"Slow Dancing In A Burning Room," John Mayer

John Mayer seems to specialize in the moony love song, the moony crush song, and, of course, the moony breakup song. There's just something about that slow croon that scream melancholy romance. "Slow Dancing In A Burning Room" speaks to the final stages of a relationship — when you're fully aware that this relationship ain't headed anywhere good.

"This is the deep and dyin' breath of/This love we've been workin' on," Mayer sings. In essence, the song is a eulogy for love lost, but it's actually not all that plaintive. This is the breakup song that resolves the relationship turmoil, and it's best for listening when you're coming to terms with that newly single life.

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"Gives You Hell" All-American Rejects

The pop-punk hit from 2008 is post-breakup bitching at its best. The refrain — "Hope it gives you hell" — summarizes our most juvenile sentiments toward an ex. It's fun, angsty, and a great song to shout at your ex as they're driving away in their getaway car or whatever.

"Truth be told, I miss you," the All-American Rejects sing. But it's a fake out! They continue, "And truth be told, I'm lyin'!"

The song is one giant, delicious middle finger to exes everywhere, and it's oh-so-satisfying.

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"Sober," Childish Gambino

Gambino (Donald Glover) has always been a melancholy sort, crooning about the trials of the music industry and the perils of existence. "Sober" features CG's plaintive falsetto singing about the need to be inebriated after a breakup.

He sings throughout the track, "And now that it's over, I'll never be sober."

Yup, sounds about right.

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"Seven Days Of Lonely," I-Nine

The popular pop-rock song from the mid-aughts is quintessential shower singing. This is angsty lady pop at its best — call it a guilty pleasure if you want. Directed at a past lover, the lyrics are just plain tacky. (Which is exactly what we want post-breakup.)

Lead singer Carmen Keigans sings , "Tell me how I'm gonna make it, you're the one I can't forget/It's like I'm running in slow motion in a nightmare that never ends." Feel free to actually run in slow motion when you hear this part.

And then she puts it plainly: "God, I wish you could hold me through the seven days of lonely."

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"Cranes In The Sky," Solange Knowles

From her third album A Seat At The Table, "Cranes" is about the desperate need to please, especially in the face of abject failure. Sound familiar? The title refers to man-made metal cranes used in construction. The lyrics read as a catalogue of various attempts at healing. Like a metal crane, the singer wants to construct a way of remaining 'above' the world's maladies.

"I ran my credit card up," Knowles sings. "Thought a new dress would make it better." On a macro scale, the song is about pain in general — not just romance-induced ills — but the melancholy tone is the perfect complement for breakup blues.

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"If I Ain't Got You," Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys was onto something with this track, from her (arguably) greatest album, The Diary of Alicia Keys. The R&B singer was soulful and subtle on this album, and this song's simplicity made it a standout. Also: it was just really fun to sing (albeit offkey).

"Hand me the world on a silver platter, and what good would it be?" she asked. "Someone people want it all / But I don't want nothing at all / If it ain't you baby."

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"Gravity Don't Pull Me," Rostam

You know when the breakup is messy and sad and entirely your fault? Former Vampire Weekend bandmate Rosstam Batmanglij goes solo on this sad breakup track.

"And the worst things I ever did / was to this same boy I couldn't help it," he sings. "I messed things up / And it broke my heart."

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"Don't Give Up On Me," Solomon Burke

The singer famous for "Cry To Me" — you probably know it from Dirty Dancing — makes a true break up song. Soul singer Solomon Burke won a Grammy for the album, which borrows its title from this song.

"Hang in there baby, sooner or later," Burke asks plainly. "I know I'll get it right."

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"Missing," The XX
The XX are really great at making songs about relationships. Not the breakup anthems or the Lemonade-style dizzying divorce solos — XX's songs are about the nuances of every stage of a romance, even when it's stalled.

"My heart is beating / In a different way," they sing. "Been gone such a long time / I don't feel the same."

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"Echoes of Silence," The Weeknd

Before the lights and glamour of OVOXO, The Weeknd released Trilogy, an album of his mixtape songs that were floating around the internet. "Echoes of Silence" is one of the weepier tunes: Abel is asking his lover why she insists on hurting them both.

"It's gonna end how you expected girl you're such a masochist and I ask why," Weeknd asks. But the woman is as emotionally ravaged as he is: "And you reply... / I like the thrill / Nothing's gonna make me feel this real." Ouch.

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"These Arms Of Mine," Otis Redding

No one does break up songs better than Otis Redding. "These Arms Of Mine" isn't particularly weepy, but you can hear the longing in Redding's deep voice. "These arms of mine, they are yearning / Yearning from wanting you / And if you would let them hold you / Oh, how grateful I will be," the master of soul sings.

The lyrics are simple — Redding wishes his lover was back in his arms — but the way his voice ascends and drops is deeply moving.

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"Take A Fall For Me," James Blake Feat. RZA

James Blake and RZA play with the push-pull of a relationship that's soured because of a struggle to commit. The song's plot is simple enough: Blake/RZA are men who loved sleeping with a woman that wants more. When she decides to take another man's proposal, their world shatters.

"What will become of me / If I can’t show my love to thee? / What will become of me?" RZA questions, his voice full of regret.

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"I Care," Beyoncé

Beyoncé cares, y'all: "I told you how you hurt me, baby / But you don't care / Now I'm crying and deserted, baby / But you don't care."

Bey's vocals are piercing, and they should be. It hurts to be the only one putting in effort, caring about whether or not a relationship can be sustained. Once again, Beyoncé says it better than anyone else ever could.

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"Not Gon' Cry," Mary J. Blige

In Waiting To Exhale, this song plays when Angela Bassett is deserted by her cheating husband. It might be the greatest break up song ever — the tempo feels like a desperate whine. MJB always delivers.

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“Doing It Wrong,” Drake“

We live in a generation of not being love / And not being together,” says the prophet Aubrey Drake Graham on this track. We’ve seen weepy Drake, lit Drake, Big Rings Drake. But this is the rapper’s magnum opus of sad breakup songs. Are you crying? We are.

Drake and his lover can’t seem to break up properly. They’re too invested, too intimate. It’s hard to stop needing someone, Drake explains. But he needs someone different.

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"Phantom Other," Phantom Other

Grizzly Bear co-lead singer Daniel Rossen supposedly wrote this song in a moment of frustration with his co-lead Ed Droste. You can feel the irritation in the deliberately slow pacing: "What would it take," he repeats and over and over again, "to make you listen?"

Rossen and Droste never broke up — the bandmates still friendly — but the sentiment of being at your wits' end in how to deal with someone who can't feel your pain is real.

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“Marvins Room,” Drake

Aubrey has a lot of emotions, and “Marvins Room” is when they’re the most raw. This is sad, regretful Drake: He’s addicted to thinking about the women that have abandoned him, and wants to tease them (and himself) with a drunken phone call. He’s made it big time, and wants to show off his success.

But what does he have to show for his fame? What has being “25 sitting on $25 mil” brought? Late nights and loneliness. His ex has moved on with someone else, and he’s trapped in her memory. “I’m just saying you could do better,” he sings.

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"First Song for B," Devendra Banhart

It's hard to listen to this song without feeling an little bit of an ache. Devendra is in newly in love, and emboldened by it. "I wanna see you be the one who’s first light harbors in the new day / And see you settle into yourself," he sings quietly. "And never be afraid."

But love comes with the inevitable risk of disappointment and distress: "Please destroy me," he begs.

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“Summertime,” Vince Staples

“Summertime” begins and ends with a hook that echoes: “This could be forever, baby,” Vince says. His voice isn’t tender, but sad — the relationship he’s talking about could never be forever. He’s asking a girl to stay with him beyond summer, but knows that she won’t.

Summertime ‘06 really is about that summer, and the crossroads it presented in the rapper’s life. In the album’s 20+ songs he zigs and zags between playful and precious. Summertime speaks to the latter: It’s love that keeps him home, but it’s the same love that’s tearing him apart.

“My feelings told me love is real / But feelings known to get you killed / I feel as if I'm misconstrued / I spend my moments missin' you,” he says.

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“White Ferrari,” Frank Ocean

So Frank finally dropped the album. Blonde is marvellous, and White Ferrari is a sad-song highlight. Something about Frank Ocean’s voice feels intimate and close as he talks about a former love, before the song builds into layers and layers of songs and emotion.

Once Frank and his former lover could communicate without even speaking; now he only has his imagination of what they could have been. “I care for you still and I will forever / That was my part of the deal, honest / We got so familiar,” he sings.

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“How Can You Mend A Broken Heart,” Al Green

Is there a song more suited to a particularly steamy, sad night? Is there a song more perfect for a bottle of whiskey and a long scroll through an ex’s engagement album? Al Green’s voice has that soft '70s vibe, and the violins whine and whimper. Here's your late night breakup song.

“How can you mend this broken man? How can a loser ever win?” Green asks, his voice sadly soulful. Somebody please help me mend my broken heart / And let me live again.”

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"White," Frank Ocean & Odd Future

While we wait for Boys Don't Cry — whatever it is and whenever it arrives — this Frank Ocean deep cut is worth a revisit. Ocean sings a capella here, thinking out loud about love, heaven, and his fear of being swallowed into his own darkness.

"Could this be Earth? Could this be light?" Ocean asks. "Does this mean everything is going to be alright?" He's brought into the bounty of the afterlife's warmth and light, but still considers a former love. "But I'll forget 23 like I forgot 17," he says. "And I forget my first love, like you forget a daydream."

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"A Message," Kelela

Kelela's voice sounds like something that drifted in from another planet. This song opens her EP Hallucinogen, and it sets the tone for the emotional, moody release.

On this track, Kelela sees everything with newfound clarity. She's speaking to an ex-lover, revealing their relationship's hardest truth: she has never satisfied him. A clean break is required. "You don't even see me," she sings, asking, "Are you even breathing?"

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“Like You’ll Never See Me Again,” Alicia Keys

By now we know that Alicia Keys is not — despite her efforts to the contrary — a soprano. But she had us fooled (and weeping) with "Like You’ll Never See Me Again." She became an exciting artist to behold with this track, and its delicate R & B melody hasn’t aged. “On the dreamy lullaby ‘Like You’ll Never See Me Again,’ [Keys] ponders whether she’ll be appreciated after a lover stops calling her name,” wrote Rodney Dugue for Spin. A bonus: The song’s music video is equally heart-wrenching, even though it can never be forgiven for insinuating that it’s possible for Common to die.

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“Caretaker,” D.R.A.M. feat. SZA

D.R.A.M. revisits a highlight of Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment's Surf, this time adding the perspective of SZA. The song is about two people who aren’t together anymore but still care deeply about one another: “I’ll take care of you, I will / Even if I got a man now,” SZA sings. These are friends from day one unable to untangle their lives: “I’ma be there, ‘cause I wasn’t there.”

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“Gimme All Your Love,” Alabama Shakes

Alabama Shakes is a good band, but it’s Brittany Howard’s voice that is central to making this song work. Her request — not just “love me,” but “give me all the love you have” — starts out as a whisper and grows into a growl. Maybe she’s singing about a punch-drunk love on its last legs, or a spark that’s dimmed.

Songs don’t have to be weepy and quiet to be sad. The great guitar riff around the track’s three-minute mark is like the push-pull of a toxic romance, a back-and-forth that continues (probably) despite a lover’s better judgment.

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"Bad Religion," Frank Ocean

Obligatory friendly reminder that we, the people, are still waiting for Frank’s next album. (Cc: Frank Ocean, Bcc: Odd Future)

Could “Bad Religion” be the best track on an album that’s nearly perfect? No matter the answer, everything about this song is pitch-perfect on late-night desperation and loneliness. “I can never make him love me,” Ocean repeats. To recover from an unrequited love so barren, he might have to beg for a blessing from any god he can find.

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“Plastic Bag,” Drake & Future

“If anybody know, I know,” Drake mumbles at the song’s opening. We’re listening to What a Time to Be Alive Drake, the 6ix God himself, Drake punctuated by Future. This isn't the open-wound Drake of albums past. On a record that manages to mimic a bit of the zeal and excess of Watch the Throne, “Plastic Bag” is a moment of real tenderness and sincerity.

Drake has a documented history of knowing and liking strippers. But this song isn’t about poles or thongs, it’s his way of sweetly appreciating the labor of these dancers, while also somberly observing the warped morality of his lavish lifestyle. Every syllable is weighed down by his guilt.

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“The Greatest,” Cat Power

Cat Power’s bluesy voice drugs listeners into an easy melancholy. The musician (whose real name is Chan Marshall) expertly walks the line of beautiful but tortured. “Once I wanted to be the greatest,” she murmurs. “No wind or waterfall could stall me / And then came the rush of the flood / Stars at night turned deep to dust.” This song is about her complicated relationship with fame, but the soft rat-tat-tat of the drums makes it a great track for a cloudy-day cry.

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“Foreground,” Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear is deceptively simple. Upon the release of 2009’s Veckatimest, Pitchfork called “Foreground” masterful and muted. The song is anchored by a piano melody as it winds and twists its way into your wounds.

“Take all evening, I’ll just be cleaning,” frontman Edward Droste suggests. Take an evening to cry with this song. It’s the perfect background music to heal your woes head-on.

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“End of the Road,” Boyz II Men

The secret to life is that this is the greatest song ever written. The way it slowly builds from a regular '90s ballad into a hymn of loneliness and sadness is mythic in that uniquely New Jack Swing way. It’s a deeply affecting breakup song but with a kind of the groupthink of wounded machismo: “Why do you play with my heart, why do you play with my mind,” the quartet croons.

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“You Always Hurt The Ones You Love,” Ryan Gosling

Remember Blue Valentine? Remember how it made you weep? Remember how the movie’s trailer still sometimes does? This soft Ryan Gosling melody is a major reason why.

The Mills Brothers made this song popular decades ago, but Gosling’s character isn’t a singer, so his voice cracks and stumbles over the lyrics. His uneven, tuneless sound is perfect. It’s slow and sad, and the movie’s ending raises its profile as a song ideal for a good weekend cry.

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“I’d Rather Go Blind,” Beyoncé

It goes without saying that this is an Etta James song — it’s always been an Etta James song. But Yoncé's cover for the 2008 drama Cadillac Records is spectacularly heartbreaking. And it might even be better.

The premise is simple enough: “I’d rather be blind, boy,” Bey sings, “than to see you walk away from me.” Her voice rises to match the song’s crescendo, and the effect is staggering. With this cover, Bey will have you missing your first relationship, your last relationship, and maybe even the train home.

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“Higher,” Rihanna

So, this isn’t technically a song about “breaking up.” But it’s still a song about missing someone, trying to move on, and feeling caught in the clutches of a relationship that has soured. In an interview with Vogue, RiRi herself compared it to a drunk voice mail: “You know he’s wrong, and then you get drunk and you’re like, ‘I could forgive him. I could call him. I could make up with him.’ Just, desperate.”

An added bonus: The song just sounds beautiful. “[ Anti] is an intimate process, and Rihanna lets us see the fingerprints, the sweat stains, the fine lines,” wrote Jenna Wortham for The New York Times Magazine. “Her voice cracks as she sings ‘I hope I ain’t calling you too late’ over whining violins on ‘Higher,’ wobbling in a decidedly unpolished way. Seeing those seams is its own kind of beautiful, and a rarity in a pop world that tends toward polish and perfection.”

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“Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,” The Smiths

For breakups, bad days, and rainy afternoons, there are few groups more perfect than The Smiths. “Please, Please, Please” is gloomy, brooding, and oddly charming all at once. “See the luck I’ve had can make a good man bad,” Morrissey sings.

So what if 500 Days of Summer kind of made The Smiths cool for the Manic Pixie Dream Girl crowd? The song is just so easy to weep to.

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“Dreams,” Kelsey Lu

Kelsey Lu’s voice reverberates with a bewitching frequency as she sings about loving a boy that’s bad for her. Lu’s voice drags into a guttural moan that’s deeply moving. “I’m out drinking every night, hoping I’ll run into you,” she sings. “I know you’re no good, but I can’t get enough of you.”

Lu is a new artist and an accomplished cello player. At 18, she ran away to music school and has been growing into an artist to watch since. “Lu gently builds from distant, piercing intensity to something heavy and mournful,” wrote Laura Snapes from Pitchfork.

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“Time Flies,” Lykke Li

Lykke Li is weak and tired. Relationships are taxing, and breakups come with not only an emotional exhaustion, but a physical one too. The way her voice is barely a whisper, the way it fades in and out — her physical tiredness is palpable.

“I get weak, I miss sleep, I get moody,” the Swedish indie-pop singer croons. The song is called “Time Flies,” but it’s the perfect sad song because it shows exactly how time can drag.

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“Samson,” Regina Spektor

Okay, so you used this song to get over your high school crush. And then you used it to get over your high school boyfriend. And then you used it just on long drives home in college. But this track is one of Regina Spektor’s greatest and most heartbreaking works of art.

The striking imagery — cutting a lover’s hair with blunt scissors, kissing in the morning light — is still there, and still just as moving. But Spektor also gets at a moving truth most sad love songs don’t talk about: “The history books forgot about us and the Bible didn't mention us, not even once.”

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“Sandcastles,” Beyoncé

Sometimes, losing love leads to more than just a breakup, it becomes a full-fledged crisis of faith. Lemonade isn't a "breakup album," but an album about the deepest recesses of loss: losing love, losing sanity, losing yourself as a relationship crumbles.

This track is a turning point on the album — it suggests the possibility of forgiveness — but you’re still left with these crippling lines: “Bitch, I scratched out your name and your face / What is it about you that I can't erase, baby?” She’s not just talking about "Becky with the good hair." This is a much more intimate loss.

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“Lover’s Spit,” Feist

This stripped-down version of the Broken Social Scene track bares all about unromantic sex and loveless physicality. Feist’s patchy vocals add to the song’s sad simplicity about lost connection: We’re all too busy smooching and swiping right to really engage with one another. “You know it's time that we grow old and do some shit.” You won’t be crying over one breakup with this song; it preys on nostalgia for youthful romances and flirtatious flings, too.

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“Ne Me Quitte Pas,” Nina Simone

For starters, the title is French for “Don’t Leave Me.” But you don’t have to understand another language to feel the deep unrest in Simone’s soul on this song. Simone — a truly distinct and talented vocalist (and concert pianist) — mourns her love, offering him rain and earth and everything in between. She’ll hide herself in his shadow after being rejected. “I will dig the earth / Until after my death / To cover your body / With gold and light.” Maybe don’t look up the French translation. Simone’s voice is enough to echo through your heart’s caverns.

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“I’m Goin’ Down,” Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige was in her 20s when she covered a less popular Rose Royce song from the 1970s for her 1994 My Life album. MJB croons about when sleep isn’t easy and everything is going wrong. Her tearful apology is the saddest song to come of the canon of heartbreaking '90s R & B tracks.

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"Skinny Love," Bon Iver

Bon Iver, a.k.a. Justin Vernon, once told Pitchfork that "Skinny Love" is about when "you're in a relationship because you need help, but that's not necessarily why you should be in a relationship." That anguish fills every note of this plaintive song. By the time Vernon wails, "And now all your love is wasted/ And then who the hell was I?" You'll want to cry out along with him. Also, if Vernon's notoriously bad enunciation means you can't really understand what he's saying, there's always the beautiful Birdy cover.

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"Shiver," Lucy Rose

We first got wind of Rose's sweetly melancholy tune when it was employed during the Adam-Hannah split in season 4 of Girls. Since then, it's been a go-to for when we're feeling weepy. Rose doesn't place the blame on her romantic partner for the split; she admits responsibility. But even though the breakup was mutual, she remains nostalgic for the good moments. "Shiver" is the perfect song for when you know you need to move on, but just can't.

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"A Case Of You," Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell's conversational, devastating song, describes what it's like when a relationship is over but a connection to another person remains. "You're in my blood like holy wine/ You taste so bitter and so sweet," she sings. There are plenty of songs on Blue that will do the trick if you're looking to wallow, but "A Case Of You" articulates what it's like to a lose someone who has burrowed into your soul.

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“Someone Like You,” Adele

There’s a war going down inside Adele’s head. She wants her ex to be happy, and yet she finds herself wandering past his flat, hoping he’ll see her, remember the good times, and forget all about his new girl, who happens to be his wife. “Never mind, I’ll find someone like you,” she sings, though she, like Sinead, knows that nothing compares.

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“Love Is Stronger Than Pride,” Sade

Pride vs. love is like your JV high school basketball team vs. the 2012-13 Miami Heat. Sade knows all about the mismatch, and while she wishes she could hate this guy who's wrecked her life, the affection she feels is quick and tenacious, like the triumvirate of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade. All she can do is run out the clock and hope to rebuild next season.

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“I Can’t Make You Love Me,” Bonnie Raitt

Is it a breakup song if the people in question are still sharing a bed? In this all-time soul-crusher, the intimacy is purely physical, and as unfulfilling as that is, Bonnie will take it — for a little bit longer. “Morning will come and I'll do what's right / Just give me till then to give up this fight,” she sings, working up the strength to walk away. “And I will give up this fight.”

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“Nothing Compares 2 U,” Sinead O’Connor

If you know the exact amount of time that’s elapsed since you got dumped, you’re in deep trouble. On this Prince-penned classic, we meet Sinead “seven hours and 15 days” after her love took a hike, and she’s still reeling. She’s even been to the see the doctor. Doc's advice: Have some fun. Even in Ireland, the health-care system is whack.

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“Song Cry,” Jay-Z

Rappers have feelings, too. The thing about Jay is that he has trouble showing his, so in lieu of shedding actual tears, he aims to “make this song cry.” He does a decent job, though even as he opens his heart and apologizes to the girl he cheated on, he doesn’t quite ditch the macho posturing that might have made this tender mea culpa ring truer.

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“Pictures of You,” The Cure

Robert Smith has been writing intensely personal, moody songs of heartbreak pretty much since he founded The Cure in 1976. But this one is the most beautiful. Almost eight minutes long, "Pictures of You" finds Smith reflecting on memories of a person he loved, triggered by old photographs. “Remembering you falling into my arms / Crying for the death of your heart / You were stone white, so delicate, lost in the cold,” he sings. “You were always so lost in the dark.” For a Goth boy who is still married to his high school sweetheart, he sure knows how to capture the pain of lost love.

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“Crying,” Roy Orbison

There’s nothing worse than bumping into your ex and having to pretend you’re not a total whimpering mess. Roy figures he pulls it off — “You couldn’t tell that I’d been crying” — and if he does, he’s a hell of an actor. In that signature opera-billy style of his, Orbison sings with a hurt not easily hidden.

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“Caroline, No,” The Beach Boys

Originally titled “Carol, I Know,” this song became infinitely better when Brian Wilson misunderstood collaborator Tony Asher’s initial reading of the lyrics. The narrator in this song doesn’t know Jack. “Where did your long hair go?” he asks. “Where is the girl I used to know?” “Could I ever find in you again things that made me love you so much then?” If the bummed-out orch-pop backing is any indication, the answers to that last question is “Brian, no.”

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“You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” The Beatles

Everyone tells John Lennon he should suppress his feelings and go about his business, but this guy’s business was expressing his feelings. They come through in a big way on this transitional Beatles cut.

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“Lost Cause,” Beck

Arguably the saddest song on Beck’s saddest album, this is the slow, strummy equivalent of waving a white flag. Poor Beck knows there’s nothing he can do to save this girl from herself, so he’s pulling his forces and signing whatever treaty he needs in order to escape with his sanity.

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“Nothing Better,” The Postal Service

Selective memory is a the worst. The male character in this synth-pop duet figures there’d be nothing sweeter than marrying the girl who’s recently left him. Unfortunately, she’s prepared charts and graphs to remind him of why the good times weren’t that good. This is young love in the time of Excel.

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“You Left Me Standing In the Doorway,” Bob Dylan

Dylan waited until he was 56 to write one of the best lines of his career: “Don’t know if I saw you, if I would kiss you or kill you.” That, like the title, pretty much says it all, but then he goes one better: “It probably wouldn’t matter to you anyhow.” It’s a rascally line from a guy who’s wicked bummed but still pretty feisty.

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“The Heart Remains A Child,” Everything But the Girl

In this song, vocalist Tracey Thorn bluntly asks a question that occurs too often during heartbreak: "Why don't you love me?" If that seems like a simplistic inquiry, well, that's sort of the point. This song perfectly expresses how we regress after heartbreak, and fall into our same, mopey patterns.

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“Stay,” Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko

Rih clears a little path through a hoarder’s den of messy feelings on this confusing piano ballad. “Not really sure how I feel about it,” she confesses, right before her duet partner, Mikky Ekko, sings the same line. These are two people who are completely wrong for each other, and when they join their voices on the line “funny, you’re the broken one, but I’m the only one who needed saving,” it’s like they’re both dishing blame and seeking salvation at the same time.

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“Again,” Janet Jackson

When Janet hears her former boo is back in town, she goes off on a soul-searching journey that begins with wishful thinking (“I’ll never fall in love with you again”) and ends with acceptance (“God knows I do love you again”). The single-word title may be a predictor of how this story ends.

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“Almost Blue,” Elvis Costello

“There’s a girl here and she’s almost you,” Elvis sings, weary like a lounge singer playing to a roomful of 2 a.m. drunks. He’s found a new romance that leaves him a little cold — “almost blue” — and that makes for one chilly-ass torch song.

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“Heartless,” Kanye West

At the risk of being melodramatic, Kanye dubs this “the coldest story ever told.” It’s the tale of two former lovers — presumably Yeezy and former fiancée, Alexis Phifer — who’ve wronged each other and wound up bitter enemies. “How could you be so Dr. Evil?” he raps, too mentally spent to muster anything better than an Austin Powers joke.

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“You Were Meant for Me,” Jewel

If you ask Parks and Recreation protagonist Leslie Knope, there are few problems that can’t be solved by breakfast foods. Jewel might beg to differ. “I got my eggs, I got my pancakes too / I got my maple syrup, everything but you,” she sings, unwilling to accept her sugary a.m. feast as a substitute for the one that got away. Eventually, Jewel tells herself, he’ll realize they’re meant for each other. Until then, Mrs. Butterworth will have to pick up the slack.

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"The World Has Turned and Left Me Here,” Weezer

Rivers Cuomo has it even worse than Robert Smith does in “Pictures of You.” On this Blue Album gem, the Weezer frontman is talking to wallet photos and losing his grip on reality. “You laughed, enchanted by my intellect,” he sings to his ex. “Or maybe you didn't.” Either way, he won’t be adding any more smiley snapshots of this girl to his plastic sheath.

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“I Will Always Love You,” Whitney Houston

That towering, thunderous, ground-shaking “And I…” high note Whitney hits toward the end of this monster ballad makes total sense. Written by Dolly Parton, this is one of the most selfless love songs of all time, and before taking her leave of the man she knows she’s holding back, Whitney gets in one last show of dignity: an extended vowel sound people will be talking about until the end of time.

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“It’s Too Late,” Carole King

It’s the sense of finality that makes this 1971 chart-topper such a killer. “Something inside has died, and I can’t hide it,” King sings, a little sad, a little relieved to no longer have to carry on a charade. “And I just can’t fake it.”

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“Don’t Speak,” No Doubt

Success must have been bittersweet for Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal, punk-ska’s answer to Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. No Doubt’s breakthrough 1996 single (and lone No. 1) is all about their breakup — an emotional earthquake Gwen clearly hadn’t recovered from the day she cut this vocal.

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“Are You Lonesome Tonight,” Elvis Presley

In the famous spoken-word part, a truly miserable-sounding Elvis looks back on a failed relationship like a theater critic reviewing a play. Act one was great. Act two: not so much. Looking ahead to the act three, Elvis is only willing to entertain one possible ending. “If you won't come back to me,” he says, “then make them bring the curtain down.”

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“Without You,” Mariah Carey

Talk about fresh wounds. “I can’t forget this evening, or your face as you were leaving,” sings Mariah, who’s coming to us mere hours after the breakup went down. She hasn’t had time to process things, so she’s feeling a little overdramatic. Hence that chorus: a show-stopping declaration of why life is no longer livable. In time, she’ll get over it, but for now, let her wail.

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“Back to Black,” Amy Winehouse

The references to “puff” and “blow” give this an air of druggy self-destruction that heightens the sadness, especially in light of Amy’s untimely death. Even without those lines, though, it’s a heavy song — a smoldering James Bond theme for an everyday story about a woman plummeting into darkness as her man goes back to his former girlfriend.

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"Take a Bow," Madonna

Taking a page out of the King's playbook, Madonna uses theater as a metaphor for her latest heartbreak. "You deserve an award for the role that you played," she tells the deceptive lover she's finally wriggled free from. "No more masquerade." Given that Madge used to be married to Sean Penn, the lesson here may be to only date crummy actors. Their lies are easier to spot.

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This Is The Worst Part Of The Usher STD Scandal

August 9, 2017, 1:15 pm
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The first time I was ever so upset with a guardian that I considered running away from home was when my grandmother refused to buy me Usher’s My Way album because it had a parental advisory label on it. I loved the titular single. I loved him. My granny was standing in between the only connection I had with my one true love at the time. Usher was the boy of (one of) my girlhood dreams for all of the late ‘90s. Still, we all have to grow up and realize that even our sweetest fantasies are subject to the harsh realities of the world. For example, sex with your most successful celebrity crush could potentially expose you to a sexually transmitted disease. Or worse, no one would ever believe you if you did have sex with them because of the way you look.

Last month, RadarOnline published some leaked documents pertaining to a 2012 lawsuit against the contemporary king of R&B by a woman who claimed she contracted herpes from the singer. She alleged that Usher’s doctor disclosed the information with her over the phone, while her former lover was present. The lawsuit was reportedly settled for a little over one million dollars. Later, another anonymous woman — who may have seen the RadarOnline story — filed her own lawsuit for $10 million, and upped it to $20 million when she tested positive for the virus. Now, Lisa Bloom — the same women’s rights attorney who is representing Blac Chyna — has released a statement about a forthcoming lawsuit on behalf of three clients who claim to have had sexual encounters with Usher as well. Two of the clients have chosen to remain anonymous, although she claims that one of these anonymous accusers tested positive for the virus.

But a third client, 21-year-old Quantisia Sharpton stood next to Bloom during a press conference where Sharpton said that she met Usher after one of his concerts a few years ago and had unprotected sex with him. Although she tested negative for the virus, she claims that she wouldn’t have consented to sex with him if she knew his status. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself about whether or not I think Sharpton should be entitled to money from Usher. It's also important to understand that at this point, all of these accusations are unconfirmed. I think we are each responsible for our own sexual health, but what I can definitively say is that the popular reason for discrediting Sharpton is bullshit.

Social-media users have chosen to believe that the accusations against Usher are false because they can’t imagine him sleeping with a woman that looks like Sharpton. And, per TMZ, s ources close to the singer reportedly said that Usher likes to bring a diverse group of women on stage as an “esteem booster,” but that Sharpton isn’t his “type.” (Refinery29 has reached out to Usher's representation for comment.)

And these reactions are the most heartbreaking development of all.

We have to move past this narrative that people should only be sexually attracted to one “type” of woman. The people that we marry (or feature in our music videos) are the not full report on whom we may or may not sleep with. That physical appearance is the only basis of attraction is reductive. And even the banal idea that we only ever sleep with people that we are attracted to reveals a gross misunderstanding about human sexuality and interaction. As a fellow fat girl, I know better than to ever assume what type of woman someone may be sleeping with based on public personage alone. Popular media would like us to believe that no one is or should be willing to sleep with plus-sized women, ever. And that simply isn’t true. Heterosexual men with a lot of money and access are not off limits to fat women. Trust me on this.

That sources from Usher’s camp have reportedly come forward (per TMZ) to clarify that the entertainer isn’t attracted to Sharpton, while he’s remained silent on his actual bill of health says a lot about the world we currently live in. People can question whether or not you’re a responsible sexual partner, but they should never get the wrong idea that you would sleep with a fat girl, even if you probably would.

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The Best Part Of Snapchat? These Celebrities

August 9, 2017, 1:20 pm
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Raise your hand if you love Snapchat.

If you're raising your hand, then you are actually not that special (sorry). There are at least 100 million daily Snapchatters — and that number is growing. As of February 2015, more than 60% of 13-to-34-year-olds had the app downloaded on their phone, according to a U.S. Census study on Snapchat's site. Whoa.

Why do we like it so much?

It's quick to use and has fun filters. It is a lot more real than Instagram, a lot less argumentative than Twitter, and a lot more hip than Facebook. Now that Snapchat has even infiltrated the White House, it's safe to say the app is in it for the long haul.

In addition to the political powers in D.C., dozens of celebrities are jumping on the Snapchat bandwagon, eager to share glimpses of their behind-the-scenes life with their fans.

Everyone from models to actresses (to model/actresses, to model/DJs, you get the idea) are daily users (DJ Khaled and Kylie Jenner just might be addicted) and now, some are even using the platform to premiere and share original content.

So open up the app and start adding these celebs. They'll make it worth your while.

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Patrick Ta

Username: @patricktta

Typical snap: Admire a skillful contour? Follow Ta's days as a makeup artist to the stars.

Joyce Bonelli

Username: joyce_bonelli

Typical Snap: Documentation of Bonelli's life as the Kardashians' makeup artist.

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Keke Palmer

Username: keekthasneak

Typical Snap: Fierce selfies in the blue club light.

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Snoop Dogg

Username: snoopdogg213

Typical Snap: Pictures of his entourage, cigarette selfies, my favorite story feed

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Austin Mahone

Username: yungmahone

Typical Snap: Videos of the live performances you weren't present at

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Perrie Edwards

Username: perriesnap

Typical snap: The Little Mix singer posts mostly selfies and snapshots of her Yorkie. What else is Snapchat for, anyway?

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Chance the Rapper

Username: chancethesnapper

Typical snap: Anything that will make us love him more.

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Victoria Justice

Username: victoriajustice

Typical Snap: An intimate look into the actress and singer's life.

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Macklemore

Username: mackandryan

Typical Snap: Ooey, gooey, daddy-daughter affection, and updates on where his fans can find him.

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JoJo Fletcher

Username: jfletchaa

Typical Snap: Photographic evidence of the former Bachelorette and her one true love, Mr. Jordan Rodgers

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Jessica Alba

Username: jessicamalba

Typical snap: A behind-the-scenes glimpse into her business; typical selfies

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Hilary Duff

Username: @ Ohheyhilary

Typical snap: Entertaining snapchats documenting her daily life.

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Frankie Grande

Username: @FrankieJGrande

Typical snap: For when Ariana Grande isn't enough, follow her older brother.

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Zendaya

Username: zendaya_96

Typical snap: a goofy expression

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Bella Thorne

Username: bellathornedab

Typical Snap: a pouty selfie, a glimpse of her nipple rings

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Olivia Culpo

Username: oliviaculpo

Typical Snap: Selfies in-between photoshoots

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Abel Tesfaye

Username: xo.official

Typical Snap: His band warming up

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Hailey Baldwin

Username: haileybisboring

Typical Snap: Goofy pics

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Julianne Hough

Username: jujucaroo

Typical Snap: Silly moments with her dog

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Tyga

Username: T-Raww

Typical Snap: On-stage hyping and his grillz

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Keegan Allen

Username: lifelovebeautyb

Typical Snap: Artistic selfies

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Shawn Mendes

Username: shawnmendes1

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Typical snap: Shawn likes trying out every possible selfie filter.

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Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson

Username: TheRock

Snapchat Signature emoji: arm flexing (duh)

Typical snap: overzealous workout selfies

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Cara Delevingne

Username: caradevilqueen

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Typical Snap: Relentlessly goofy selfies

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Corinne Olympios

Username: colympios

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Typical Snap: Herself. Duh.

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Nick Viall

Username: nickviall

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Typical Snap: Selfies, because duh.

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Refinery29

Username: refinery29

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Typical Snap: Refinery29 gives you not only all the best celebrity, fashion, and beauty content, but it also has all insider scoop. We gotchu, boos.

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Miranda Kerr

Username: mirandakerr

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Typical Snap: Glam squad selfies, and videos of her cooking healthy recipes in the kitchen.

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Ellen DeGeneres

Username: ellen

Signature Snapchat Emoji: cat

Typical Snap: The television personality often lends her Snapchat account to her famous guests who share funny messages. Her crew also has fun sharing behind-the-scenes moments from the set of her show.

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James Van Der Beek

Username: beekvanderjames

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Typical Snap: The former Dawson's Creek star will star as Diplo in an upcoming series on Viceland. In the meantime, he's hanging out with his wife and their four adorable kids.

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Jen Atkin

Username: jenatkinhair

Signature Snapchat Emoji: scissors

Typical Snap: The hair stylist is quickly becoming a recognizable name on her own. She mostly snaps hair product line, OAUI, and an array of pics and videos with her famous clients including all of the Kardashian-Jenners, Chrissy Teigen, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, and Jessica Alba (to name a few).

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Tori Kelly

Username: koritelly

Signature Snapchat Emoji: sparkles

Typical Snap: Behind-the-scenes snaps from her life as a country singer.

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Keke Palmer

Username: laurenpalmer

Signature Snapchat Emoji: tongue out

Typical Snap: The actress is always sharing sage advice with her Snapchat followers. (And it's usually hilarious.)

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Jonathan Cheban

Username: jonathancheban

Signature Snapchat Emoji: fork and knife

Typical Snap: Food, food, and more food. The fancier the better.

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John Stamos

Username: stamosofficial

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Typical Snap: Outtakes from the set of Scream Queens, along with some impressive filter selfies.

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Heidi Pratt

Username: prattheidi

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Typical Snap: The other half of Speidi is an avid Snapper sharing her day-to-day activities with her followers, along with her adorable crew of fluffy pups.

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Kendall Jenner

Username: kendalljenner

Signature Snapchat Emoji: baby angel

Typical Snap: Jenner's model jet-set life is in full force on her Snapchat. She also shares artsy pictures of milestone moments, like a selfie after she voted for the first time.

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Bob Saget

Username: bobsterclaw

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Typical Snap: Bob Saget is surprisingly hilarious on Snapchat. Just give it a go. You won't be disappointed.

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Sophia Bush

Username: sophiabushsnaps

Signature Snapchat Emoji: fox

Typical Snap: On-set selfies from her show, Chicago PD, and videos of her dog.

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Millie Bobby Brown

Username: milliebbrown

Signature Snapchat Emoji: kiss

Typical Snap: The charming 12-year-old Stranger Things star is delightful to follow on Snapchat. She's constantly hanging out with other stars, and is eager to share tidbits of her exciting life with her fans.

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Khloé Kardashian

Username: khloekardashian

Signature Snapchat Emoji: money bag

Typical Snap: KhloMoney, as she nicknamed herself, is constantly working out with her trainer and her older sister, Kourtney. When she's being filmed throwing punches in chic gym attire, she's sharing selfies of her glam squad in typical Kardashian fashion.

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Kelly Oxford

Username: kellyoxford

Signature Snapchat Emoji: detective

Typical Snap: The Canadian author and comedian is a low-key internet sleuth (she's led Snapchat investigations on a mysterious A-list pedophile, as well as the JonBenét Ramsey and Amanda Knox cases) and a social media influencer (she recently ignited a moving conversation about sexual assault on Twitter leading with #notokay).

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Usher Raymond

Username: howusnap

Signature Snapchat Emoji: a lightbulb

Typical Snap: Usher is all about the details. He also loves a good selfie video, to really give an inside look into his life. I mean, who can forget about his aggressive steam room selfie?

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Reese Witherspoon

Username: snapsbyreese

Snapchat Signature Emoji: piece of cake

Typical Snap: All of Witherspoon's snaps are totally adorable. Just what you'd expect.

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John Mayer

Username: johnthekangaroo

Snapchat Signature Emoji: guitar

Typical Snap: John Mayer is all over the place these days. He's hanging out with the Stranger Things cast, sharing his intense facial care routine, and performing at the Emmys.

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Troian Bellisario

Username: gaia17

Snapchat Signature Emoji: none

Typical Snap: The Pretty Little Liars star snaps her behind-the-scenes life which includes PLL swag (pictured), her directorial debut, and other fun videos.

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Sofia Richie

Username: srichieee

Snapchat Signature Emoji: running man

Typical Snap: The daughter of singer Lionel Richie and stepsister of Nicole Richie has a pretty charmed life in Beverly Hills. She often shares snippets of her luxury lifestyle, which most recently includes tropical vacations with Justin Bieber.

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Ryan Lochte

Username: ryanlochte

Snapchat Signature Emoji: gold medal

Typical Snap: The 12-time Olympic medalist has started using the app to show behind-the-scenes moments of his life. We're especially looking forward to his Dancing With The Stars snaps.

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Keith Urban

Username: keithurban

Snapchat Signature Emoji: none

Typical Snap: The country superstar likes to focus on his fans in his snapchats, often flipping the camera to face his screaming crowds during shows. But, of course, he throws a few selfies into the mix. Who can resist?

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Kaitlyn Bristowe

Username: snapbackbean

Snapchat Signature Emoji: none

Typical Snap: The season 11 Bachelorette is hilarious on Snapchat. She and her fiancé, Shawn Booth (the winner of her season, props to them for being in love IRL) are also #couplegoals, too.

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Fetty Wap

Username: fettywap1738

Snapchat Signature Emoji: dollar bills

Typical Snap: The "Trap Queen" rapper loves using those filters.

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Alexa Chung

Username: chungalexa

Snapchat Signature Emoji: none

Typical Snap: The model and designer shares snaps of her favorite products and chill moments with famous friends.

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Lea Michele

Username: msleamichele

Snapchat Signature Emoji: none

Typical Snap: Snaps from recording sessions, backstage access on her various projects, and funny selfies.

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Gucci Mane

Username: guwopsnap

Snapchat Signature Emoji: baby face and ice cream cone

Typical Snap: Analysis of his OOTD, sneak peeks of his music in the studio, and videos proving that he isn't a clone.

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Chris Pratt

Username: chrisprattsnap

Snapchat Signature Emoji: speak no evil monkey

Typical Snap: Inspirational mantras, movie announcements, and random moments, like this one with a donkey.

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Michelle Obama

Username: michelleobama

Snapchat Signature Emoji: hair flip girl

Typical Snap: Worldly travels with influential people, and snaps of her blossoming garden in D.C.

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Kourtney Kardashian

Username: kourtneykardash

Snapchat Signature Emoji: letter 'K'

Typical Snap: Workout sessions, luxurious trips, and downtime with the kids.

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Chelsea Handler

Username: chelseahandler

Snapchat Signature Emoji: raised arm woman

Typical Snap: Every once in awhile, Handler will rap and narrate all of her snaps of the day. It's pretty amazing.

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Brody Jenner

Username: nextjenneration

Snapchat Signature Emoji: none

Typical Snap: His adorable dog, new fiancée, and sneak peeks at his aspiring DJ skills.

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Spencer Pratt

Username: prattspencer

Snapchat Signature Emoji: baby face

Typical Snap: A reoccurring rotation of him making espresso, practicing jujitsu, eating burritos or sushi, and critiquing celebrities in gossip mags.

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Blac Chyna

Username: blacchynala

Snapchat Signature Emoji: baby face

Typical Snap: Selfies with a reluctant Rob Kardashian, videos of King Cairo, her son with Tyga, and snaps of her purple Lambo.

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Chanel Iman

Username: cigotcha

Snapchat Signature Emoji: heart and peace sign

Typical Snap: Behind-the-scenes videos of photo shoots, sassy selfies, and other typical moments in the life of a young, jet-setting model.

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Diplo

Username: diplo

Snapchat Signature Emoji: mustached man

Typical Snap: Vacations, shirtless selfies, and wild crowds at his shows.

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Kim Kardashian West

Username: kimkardashian

Snapchat Signature Emoji: peach

Typical Snap: Her glam squads, Nori playing with filters, and some candids of Kanye West.

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Justin Bieber

Username: rickthesizzler

Snapchat Signature Emoji: prayer hands

Typical Snap: Shirtless selfies; sometimes, he sings

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Chrissy Teigen

Username: chrissyteigen

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Pizza slice

Typical Snap: Lots and lots of delicious food

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The White House

Username: whitehouse

Snapchat Signature Emoji: United States flag

Typical Snap: Behind-the-scenes moments with the Administration

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Paris Hilton

Username: RealParisHilton

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Pink bow

Typical Snap: Her dog and her jet-setting lifestyle

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Ariana Grande

Username: moonlightbae

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Moon

Typical Snap: Videos of her singing

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DJ Khaled

Username: djkhaled305

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Key

Typical Snap: Motivational mantras

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Lady Gaga

Username: ladygaga

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Maincure nails

Typical Snap: Special messages to her fans

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Calvin Harris

Username: calvinharris

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Tiger

Typical Snap: His dinner and studio time

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Bella Hadid

Username: babybels777

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Pizza slice

Typical Snap: Photo shoots and food

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Kylie Jenner

Username: kylizzlemynizzle

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Crown

Typical Snap:Mini-movies and car ride selfies

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Eva Longoria

Username: realevalongoria

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Lipstick

Typical Snap: Makeup chair videos

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Nicole Richie

Username: itsnikkifresh

Typical Snap: Good Charlotte concerts and her clothing line

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Nick Jonas

Username: jicknonas

Typical Snap: Backstage and pre-show videos

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Meghan Trainor

Username: mtrainor22

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Electric guitar

Typical Snap: Glam squad selfies

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Rick Ross

Username: ferrarifatboy

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Pear

Typical Snap: Stacks of money and expensive jewelry

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Kate Hudson

Username: khudsnaps

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Sun

Typical Snap: Breakfast, Pilates, glam squads, and family (basically everything)

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Gigi Hadid

Username: itsgigihadid

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Lipstick smooch

Typical Snap: Overseas jetlag selfies

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Selena Gomez

Username: selenagomez

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Heart

Typical Snap: Announcements for her album

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Shay Mitchell

Username: officialshaym

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Salsa girl

Typical Snap: Gym sessions and hanging out with her friends

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Jared Leto

Username: jaredleto

Signature Snapchat Emoji: Cactus

Typical Snap: California day trips

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Hailee Steinfeld

Username: haiz

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Mischievous devil

Typical Snap: Hangouts with famous and non-famous friends

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Ashley Benson

Username: benzo33

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Lipstick

Typical Snap: #NoMakeup selfies

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Joe Jonas

Username: joseadam

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Purple digimon

Typical Snap: Funny pictures on tour with his band, DNCE

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Ryan Seacrest

Username: ryanseacrest

Snapchat Signature Emoji: Clapboard

Typical Snap: Red carpet videos

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Ansel Elgort

Username: anselelgort

Typical Snap: Singing videos and rugs

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Krispy Kreme's OG Doughnuts Are Getting A Chocolate Glaze For A Limited Time

August 9, 2017, 1:20 pm
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The next total solar eclipse, which happens every 18 months, is just around the corner, and Krispy Kreme is celebrating by doing something much more rare, releasing a never-before-seen (or tasted) doughnut. For the very first time, the doughnut chain is giving its Original Glazed Doughnuts a chocolate-y twist.

The solar eclipse will take place on Monday, August 21, so Krispy Kreme is making its new Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts available for the occasion. That means even if you can't see the eclipse in person, you can eat a doughnut that's "eclipsed" by chocolate. According to a press release from the chain, customers can also try the new treat during "hot light" hours on the evenings of Saturday, August 19 and Sunday, August 20 before the actual solar event takes place.

The very limited-time Chocolate Glazed Doughnut are made by smothering Krispy Kreme's Original Glazed Doughnuts with a rich chocolate glaze, and we can do more than just eat them. Participating locations of the doughnut chain will also be showing the doughnuts getting that chocolate glaze treatment as they’re being prepared. We can see, smell, and taste them, which is fitting since Jackie Woodward, Krispy Kreme’s chief marketing officer, says, "The solar eclipse is a rare occasion providing a total sensory experience for viewers across the continental U.S." She continues, "Chocolate will have the same effect as we introduce a first-time chocolate glazing of our iconic Original Glazed Doughnut. The Chocolate Glazed Doughnut is a delicious way to experience the solar eclipse – no matter where you are – and we can’t wait for fans to try it.”

Find out if the Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts are coming to a shop near you by visiting Krispy Kreme's website. If you aren't close to a shop serving the special doughnuts, grab a pair of binoculars and one of the chain's new Reese’s Peanut Butter Doughnut instead, and you'll still be in for an exciting night.

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Search

Drake's Degrassi Curls Are Back — & It Means SO Much To Fans

August 9, 2017, 1:20 pm
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When a celebrity grows out his or her hair, we rarely bat an eye. Because that's what hair does. It grows. But when it comes to the re-emergence of Drake's glorious curls, it was hard not to take notice.

This week, Drake performed at OVO Fest with a brand-new look that reminds us of his Degrassi days. And fans have a few theories behind the sudden transformation.

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Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images.
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Photo: Johnny Nunez/Getty Images.

As Twitter users quickly pointed out, Drake's beauty evolution often aligns with the projects he's working on. Not only does his facial hair transform from album to album, but so does his fade. Now, coming off the popularity of More Life, Drake is rocking his natural curls and fans think this has a lot to do with his upcoming album. Immediately , rumors started flying that Take Care Part Two is on its way.

"Drake grew his hair back and got that look in his eyes. He bout to drop that primo, sad-boy, please come back music, " one Twitter user wrote. "Drake growing his hair out... real ones know what's coming," another one added.

While the hair change could certainly all could come down to business, as fans are speculating, we have a couple other theories to add. After all, Drake is the king of trolling.

Theory #2: His barber is simply on vacation and can't get to Drake while he's in Toronto.

Theory #3: It's a "break-up cut." Whether that "relationship" with Jennifer Lopez was legitimate or not, we can't imagine it's easy seeing the singer with her new beau, Alex Rodriguez, all over social media. Sometimes, a change is what you need.

Theory #4: He's feeling unstoppable, on top of his game, and looking forward to rocking a new look. Because sometimes, it really is just a haircut.

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↧

The Hottest Movie Sex Scenes, Ever (NSFW)

August 9, 2017, 1:20 pm
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Sex scenes, we've seen a few. The first times that seldom bear resemblance to anyone's real first time. The quick-my-wife-is-out-of-town humpfests that turn us on and off at the same time. The perfect lighting and unrealistic, synchronized orgasms. They make it all look so easy, don't they?

Not that we're complaining. A great cinematic sex scene can really get us going, even if it involves positions straight out of Cirque du Soleil. Who doesn't feel a little warm when "Take My Breath Away" comes on? Who else believes that Michael Douglas must be able to make a woman (or Matt Damon) orgasm from 10 feet away?

Next time you and bae are looking for a little sexual inspiration, consider consulting one of these steamy scenes. Try not to pull a muscle.

Blue Lagoon(1980)

It's alarming to think that Brooke Shields was only 14 during the filming of this controversial movie about two Victorian kids left stranded on an island following a shipwreck. They come of age in paradise.

Deadpool(2016)

Even better than a single sex scene, this montage depicts Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and Vanessa's (Morena Baccarin) love life in a series of creative contortions.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)
They try to fight it, and literally try to fight each other, but there's no denying what they really, really wish they could deny. Powerful and heartbreaking.

From Here to Eternity(1953)

Next time you go to the beach, try reenacting the kiss to end all waterlogged kisses. In this scene, Sgt. Warden (Burt Lancaster) succumbs to an affair with his superior's wife, Karen (Deborah Kerr).

Love & Other Drugs(2010)

After lustily crashing through the front door, Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal are absolutely heedless with the apartment's belongings. A lot of things are ripped and broken.

The Little Hours(2017)

In this indie film, three sexually naive 14th-century nuns try to seduce a strapping young servant in a variety of hilarious, awkward contortions. There's a sex scene a minute, but the funniest is when Kate Micucci's character, poisoned on belladonna, goes after the servant with vigor.

Map to the Stars(2014)

In this surreal moment in cinema history, Julianne Moore seduces her cab driver, played by Robert Pattison. She literally asks him, "Do you want to fuck my holes?" And they he pulls over by the side of the road.

Monster's Ball(2001)

Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) and Leticia (Halle Berry) are an unlikely pair. He, a prison guard. She, the wife of the prisoner he just executed. Still, they seek each other out — as is clear in this scene, where Hank goes down on Leticia.

Wild Things(1998)

Two girls in a pool, and so a legendary movie sex scene is born.

Adore(2013)

Robyn Wright and Naomi Watts have affairs with each other's teenage sons.

The Brown Bunny(2003)

The Brown Bunny gained notoriety for featuring unsimulated oral sex between Chloe Sevigny and Vincent Gallo. But this scene of an under-the-table blowjob during grace is funny and mischievous.

Shame(2011)

Shame generated media buzz due to its prolific sex scenes, many of which are in the nude. But this film, an unflinching look at sexual addiction, is far from a "hot" movie. In Shame, Brandon (Michael Fassbender) sleeps his way through New York in a variety of creative pairings.

Wolf of Wall Street(2013)

Director Martin Scorcese had to cut some of this film's exceedingly graphic sex scenes so that it could keep its R-Rating.

On The Road (2012)
If two-on-one make-outs turn you on, take a gander at this threesome situation unfolding between Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, and Sam Riley.

Don't Look Now(1973)

For the past four decades, people involved with Don't Look Now have been denying that the actors were going at it, for real.

Fatal Attraction (1987)
Before Sharon Stone came along, Michael Douglas' supreme on-screen sex partner was Glenn Close. This film finds them bumping uglies against the kitchen counter, then getting frisky in the elevator.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith(2005)
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are not messing around. We can think of six kids who might be a little grossed out, though.

Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)
There's a lot of controversy surrounding the intense love scenes between Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos. Some critics within the lesbian community have called the film exploitative and the sex unrealistic. Even given all that, it's still hard to not feel something watching these two women fall in love.

A History of Violence (2005)

While this stands in contrast to the initial sex scene between Maria Bello and Viggo Mortensen (which is filled with a goofy sense of marital bliss), the violent undertones bring up a sense of physicality that Cronenberg wants us to relate to sex. Fortunately, however, Mortensen and Bello's chemistry and relationship let us remember that — underneath the secrets — they still really want (and care for) each other. Also, real talk: Viggo Mortensen on the stairs. There isn't much else to say.

My Summer of Love (2004)
One of Emily Blunt's earliest films is this drama exploring the budding lesbian relationship between two friends.

Kama Sutra (1997)
You can't name a film after the quintessential guide to love-making and have it be dull. This Mira Nair film definitely lives up to its sexy name.

300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
As Artemisia and Themistocles, Eva Green and Sullivan Stapleton get very, very rough. Pretty sure we know where he really wants to plant his sword.

Carol (2015)
Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett's characters tiptoe around their relationship for quite some time, but things finally get sexual during a pit stop at a motel room.

Fear (1996)

A rollercoaster and The Sundays' cover of "Wild Horses" make Nicole's (Reese Witherspoon) first sexual experience pretty freaking fantastic. Pity her boyfriend (Mark Wahlberg) is a total monster.

Shakespeare in Love(1998)
Anyone who's really pored over Shakespeare knows that he loved a good sex joke. Here, the famous scribe (played by Joseph Fiennes) actually gets to enjoy a wee romp in yonder sheets with Gwyneth Paltrow's cross-dressing Viola.

Pretty Woman (1999)
The poor pianist who had to tickle those ivories the next day could not be reached for comment.

Anna Karenina(2012)
This steamy scene between Keira Knightley and Aaron Taylor-Johnson should make you regret not paying more attention to Tolstoy in school.

Jamón Jamón(1992)
Current marrieds Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz didn't start dating until 15 years after filming this explosive sex scene. Also: How hilarious is the reaction of the other café patrons?

The Roommate (2011)
Technically, Leighton Meester and Danneel Harris are only kissing here, but there's something so erotic about their lip gloss banter and eagerness to take things to the next level.

American Gigolo (1980)
Richard Gere's male escort Julian must get paid by the hour, because this is the slowest, most painstakingly choreographed sex we've ever witnessed. He and Lauren Hutton are just so pretty, though.

Unfaithful (2002)
Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez demonstrate the undeniable power of soggy make-up sex.

Indochine (1992)
Our Uber driver would not stand for this. By the way, Vincent Perez's character also has an affair with Éliane's (Catherine Deneuve) adopted Vietnamese daughter, Camille. What's French for super-messy?

A Perfect Murder (1998)
Captain Fantastic, indeed. Anyone else desperate for Viggo Mortensen to help them out with a cappuccino?

Chloe (2009)
Julianne Moore plays a doctor who suspects her husband of having an affair. The only reasonable course of action is to hire a call girl (Amanda Seyfried) to test his faithfulness, and then have sex with her, too.

Alfie (2004)
In which Jude Law and Nia Long copulate on a pool table, conveniently ignoring the fact that she's his best friend's girl, and that it's impossible to walk away from this without a nasty case of felt burn.

Laurel Canyon (2002)
Nothing says awkward (but still kinda hot) like making out in the pool with your future mother-in-law and her boyfriend. Allow Kate Beckinsale, Frances McDormand, and Alessandro Nivola to show you how it's done.

The Pillow Book (1996)
Guys, this one is really NSFW. Ewan McGregor's notorious willy has a starring role in his sex scenes with leading lady Vivian Wu. Consider yourself warned... and a little tempted, right?

Risky Business (1983)
If you could not follow Rebecca De Mornay and Tom Cruise's lead on the G train during rush hour, that'd be great.

Taking Lives (2004)
Look away, Brad. Watching Ethan Hawke force Angelina Jolie to suck on his fingers might be a little unsettling.

Derailed (2005)
This extramarital tryst between Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston soon goes very, very badly. Still, there's something about the wet hair and soggy shirts that makes their foreplay fun to watch.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
Though there's no shortage of sex scenes in this film adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel, it's this interaction between Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin (as Tereza and Sabina, respectively) that feels the most intimate and sensual.

Swimfan (2002)
When your stalker accidentally drops the L word during swimming pool sex... and you already have a lovely girlfriend. Awkward. Take it away, Erika Christensen and Jesse Bradford.

Incendiary (2008)
This otherwise heart-wrenching drama includes this saucy striptease, which proves that inviting someone over for fish fingers is hotter than it sounds. Alas, you only get a snippet of the action between Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor in this clip.

Crimson Peak(2015)
Think Taylor Swift will watch Tom Hiddleston's spicy sex scene (complete with a bare bum) with Mia Wasikowska in this gothic thriller and wonder where things went wrong? The action gets underway at about the 4-minute mark.

Kill Your Darlings (2013)
As one YouTube commenter hilariously noted, "10 points to Gryffindor." Former Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe plays Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in this drama featuring one pretty intense love scene.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Rooney Mara's Lisbeth Salander basically jumps Mikael Blomkvist's (Daniel Craig) bones in this saucy scene. Let's hear it for girls on top.

Undertow(2009)
Also known as Contracorriente, this Peruvian film captures the clandestine relationship between a married fisherman with a baby on the way and the dreamy artist he can't resist.

Southpaw (2015)
When Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams talk about two rounds, they're not really talking about boxing. Hot.

Nina Takes a Lover(1994)
Ladder sex can be risky. Then again, so is cheating on your husband with a tall, dark, and handsome photographer.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) say it best when they say nothing at all.

Out of Sight (1998)
If you like your conversation with a little more action, you'll love this sex scene between bank robber Jack (George Clooney) and U.S. Marshal Karen (Jennifer Lopez).

Revolutionary Road (2008)
When they're not squabbling and bemoaning their suburban existence, Frank and April Wheeler (dynamic duo Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) manage to squeeze in some hot sex on the kitchen counter.

Out of Time (2003)
Denzel Washington and Sanaa Lathan prove that you don't have to take your clothes off to have a good time (oh no). You just need a strong back and a willingness to suffer a splinter or two.

Legends of the Fall (1994)
The hair. The bum. The name Tristan. Just overlook the fact that Julia Ormond (Susannah) went on to play Brad Pitt's daughter in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Marie Antoinette (2006)
We definitely would have paid more attention in world history class if we'd known how steamy Marie Antoinette's (Kirsten Dunst) sex life was. And yes, Jamie Dornan's Axel von Fersen is infinitely sexier than Christian Grey.

Troy (2004)
There's a thin line between love and hate. Briseis' (Rose Byrne) attempt to kill Achilles (Brad Pitt) results in the two making sweet, gentle love.

The Hunger(1983)
In the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, Susan Sarandon said the script originally called for her character to be drunk before having sex with Catherine Deneuve's character. But, being Sarandon, she asked to have the script changed so she would only drink one glass of wine beforehand.

"You wouldn't have to get drunk to bed Catherine Deneuve," Sarandon says, in the doc. Clearly.

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
The sex scene between Daniel Day-Lewis and Gordon Warnecke is both comical — given the unsuspecting presence of the latter's uncle — and erotic.

Top Gun (1986)
It's cheesy, perhaps, but the sex scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis still makes us weak in the knees. You can't beat electric-blue lighting and synth beats.

The Lover (1992)
The sex scenes between Jane March (as the Young Girl) and Tony Leung Ka-fai (as the Chinese Man) were rumored to have been real, rather than simulated. March later dismissed the claims, but that doesn't take away from their steaminess.

Set It Off (1996)
If you want to be more than friends, follow Jada Pinkett-Smith and Blair Underwood's lead and bust out the full-body massage complete with oil and a chain necklace.

Stealing Beauty (1996)
What's lovely about this scene is its sheer coming-of-age quality. Innocence is contrasted with desire, and Mazzy Star hums dreamily in the background.

Bound (1996)
Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon have two memorable sex scenes in this noir-style thriller. Pity Joe Pantoliano has to interrupt one of them.

Dangerous Beauty (1998)
Rufus Sewell and Catherine McCormack's love scenes in this obscure historical drama about a courtesan and her lover still hold up nearly 20 years later.

A Walk on the Moon (1999)
God bless Viggo Mortensen and his commitment to performing cunnilingus on-screen.

Cruel Intentions (1999)
Making love to the tune of Counting Crows? Sounds weird, but it is actually perfect and a totally romantic soundtrack for those quiet, quick, afternoon delights.

Love & Basketball (2000)
Everyone should lose their virginity with Maxwell playing in the background. Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan perfectly capture those first-time jitters and still keep it sensual.

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
This is both the plot's literal and figurative climax. The tension between Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna peaks thanks to their mutual attraction to the effortlessly sensual Maribel Verdú. Sex, in this case, is a tool for personal growth rather than primal instinct. Get a hold of the full movie to enjoy; this scene is too hot for YouTube to handle.

Mulholland Drive (2001)
The problem with a straight man filming a lesbian sex scene is that it often feels exploitative. But Naomi Watts and Laura Harring's chemistry is both tender and incredibly erotic. There is love, but also a whole helluva lot of lust.

Sex and Lucia(2001)
This very NSFW clip brings new meaning to the term "mud mask." Go and rent the whole film; half of this Spanish drama starring Paz Vega is devoted to seriously steamy sex scenes.

8 Mile (2002)
This isn't a sexy movie. But the in-your-face, raw desire between Eminem and Brittany Murphy is still hot as hell.

The Dreamers (2003)
If we could, we'd embed the entire movie here, because it's one big sex scene. Instead, here's a compilation of the most important moments in a movie of self-discovery through sex.

Atonement (2007)
This brief moment is enough to doom the characters' lives. Briony's nosiness, jealousy, and naivety ruin the passion that's been building between Cecilia and Robbie. Their entire relationship thrives off this scene. It's their rock as much as it's their demise. Despite all of this, the intensity of their desire is palpable.

The Duchess (2008)
Keira Knightley's Duchess of Devonshire is only accustomed to the wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am overtures of her husband. Lady Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell), who happens to be sleeping with the Duke, convinces the Duchess to take on a lover of her own by showing her just how sensual intercourse can be. What are friends for?

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
The threesome scene gets all the glory, but Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem's frantic kissing is just as hypnotic. Just try to forget that Woody Allen was in the room.

Black Swan (2010)
Fun fact: This scene comes on an hour and nine minutes — a.k.a. 69 minutes — into the film. Aside from that, just uttering the phrase "Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis in bed together" brings to mind the naughtiest of thoughts. Sex and danger make for perilous but exciting partners; this scene is a testament to that.

Blue Valentine (2010)
Though this movie is anything but romantic, the sexual chemistry (when applicable) is on fire. It's unfortunate that couldn't save their relationship, but it is a testament to the incredible talents of Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling.

Free Fall (2013)
These two German cops can't resist getting it on, even though one of them is living with his pregnant girlfriend. Warning: may inspire you to take up running.

The Spectacular Now (2013)
Forget that Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley now play brother and sister. As first-time lovers, they toe the line between awkwardness and intimacy in a beautiful, realistic-feeling way.

The Danish Girl(2015)
Before Einar (Eddie Redmayne) transitions into Lili, his lovemaking with wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander) sensually explores gender roles in the bedroom.

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Emma Stone Admits She Was Nervous To Voice Her Opinions

August 9, 2017, 1:30 pm
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Emma Stone will soon star in Battle of the Sexes opposite Steve Carell, a film that should be noted for his triumphant portrayal of equality, and women kicking ass. The significance of the film, based on an epic tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs feels even more relevant today than it did in 1973. The real-life match would go on to be remembered as a milestone in modern-day feminism because of King's relentless perseverance in proving her worth and talent against a misogynistic sports icon. And with that kind of weight on her shoulders, it makes sense that Stone would be nervous about the role, especially coming off of the sugar-coated musical, La La Land.

In an interview with Marie Claire, the 28-year-old talks about the pressure of playing someone who was a real person (King even advised her on the role) and mimicking her both emotionally and physically. "I have never really considered the physicality of a person or of a character," Stone told MC. "Maybe because I hadn't played a real person — there wasn't someone who looked a specific way or whose hands moved in a certain way. So that was what I focused on more than anything: building from the outside in."

A major message in the film is equality, which continues to be a talking point today, especially when it comes to careers. (Look no further than the whole Google Doc fiasco.) Even someone like Stone, with a huge platform, feels nervous and unworthy of voicing a strong opinion. "There is so much power to our voices, and we need to speak out," she said. "That's something that I struggled with in the past, but it's very hard not to feel galvanized right now, politically or consciously."

Of course, that bleeds over into the world of politics where many see the disparaging acts made daily in the White House. Stone, instead, chooses to focus on the positive, notably those who are still fighting the good fight for equality in all areas of life. "There's so much power and a grace coming out of so many people who have so much to lose, and the human spirit is incredible," she said. "That's worth a fight every day. And I want to learn how to fight better."

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Bored Of Squats? Mix Up Your Routine With These Variations

August 9, 2017, 1:30 pm
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Trainers say if you want to strengthen your butt and legs, you should do squats — lots and lots of them. But no exercise is perfect, and bobbing up and down can get monotonous, so you've got to figure out some way to make squats more interesting. Enter, the squat variation. Making simple tweaks to the classic move (like adding a weight, turning your feet out, or lifting a leg) might not seem like much, but they could make squats a little more fun. Or, at the very least, these moves will hold your attention until the end of your workout playlist.

Need a quick refresher on how to do a basic bodyweight squat? Start standing with your feet slightly wider than hips-width distance apart, with your toes turned out slightly. You can lift your arms in front of you for balance, or keep them clasped in front of your chest. Keeping your chest and back lifted, lower your butt to the floor, as if you're sitting in a chair. Stop when your thighs are parallel to the floor, and make sure your knees don't go past your feet. Return to stand by pushing through all four corners of your feet and squeezing your glutes. That's a squat!

After you've mastered that move, ahead are some squat variations you might want to try next, according to Morit Summers, a NSCA certified personal trainer. Some of these variations make squats harder, and some of them are just a twist on the basic move. If you find these variations to be too hard, the good news is that you can always go back to basics. That's how goals are built, fam.

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Bulgarian Split Squat

How to: Start standing with your feet hips-width apart, then place the top of your right foot on a bench or box behind you. Bring your arms down by your sides. Keep your body upright as you bend your left knee, sweeping your arms up by your ears. Stop when your left thigh is parallel with the floor, then press through your left foot to return to standing. That's one rep; repeat on the other side.

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Jump Squat

How to: Stand with your feet hips-width distance apart, and bend your knees into a squat with your hands in front of your chest. Pause briefly at the bottom of the squat, and then jump up as high as you can, swinging your arms back behind you. Land softly in a squat.

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Curtsy Squat

How to: Start with your feet hips-width distance apart, arms stretched out in front of you at shoulder height. Shift your weight into your left foot, then slowly step your right foot a few feet behind your left foot, so your legs are crossed. Drop your weight into a "curtsy," and lower until your left thigh is parallel with the ground. Press through your left foot to stand, bringing your right foot to meet your left. That's one rep; repeat on the other side.

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Goblet Squat

How to: Stand with your feet shoulders-width distance apart, with your toes turned out slightly. Hold an 8- to 10-pound kettlebell by the handle at chest height, and keep your chest lifted. (If you don't have a kettlebell, you can hold one end of a dumbbell.) Push your hips back into a squat, keeping your elbows in front of your knees. Press through your heels and straighten your legs to stand.

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THIS Is How To Make Your Hazel Eyes Pop, According To The Pros

August 9, 2017, 1:30 pm
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If you're one of the few lucky enough to have hazel eyes, you know that your eye color can change in an instant. One second, a forest green sweater can make your eyes twinkle with hints of vibrant lime. The next, a sweep of moody purple shadow can make your eyes appear dark brown.

Unlike brown or green eyes, hazel gets the best of both worlds. Which is exactly why makeup artist Georgina Graham calls this trait "the chameleon of the human eye color spectrum." How some eye colors can change color so easily has a bit to do with how much light is absorbed, how much melanin your eye naturally has, and other factors — including your mood and the colors framing your eyes, like clothing and makeup.

Moral of the story? We can't boost your mood or follow you around with a beauty ring light, but we can recommend makeup that will make your irises come alive with a rainbow of shades. We chatted with Graham and fellow makeup artist Shara Strand to discover the products they swear by for clients who have hazy greens and browns.

Ahead, they break down their favorite shadows, mascaras, and eyeliners, and explain how each color can change a hazel eye look in the blink of an eye.

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Metallics
Metallic shadows are a staple for any eye color, but they're even more extraordinary for hazel eyes that have hints of gold. Specifically, "Hazel eyes are stunning in gold and bronze, especially when lined with a black eyeliner," Strand suggests.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Eye Shadow Singles in Metal, $12, available at Sephora.

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Why spend a lot when you can spend $3? This subtle taupe shade rivals high end shadows at quadruple the cost. Graham suggests sweeping it across the lid for an easy all-over color or concentrating it in the crease for slight definition.

Covergirl Eye Enhancers 1-Kit Eyeshadows in Tapestry Taupe, $2.52, available at Target.

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When it comes to eye shadow palettes, Graham recommends looking for something that offers a collection of warm neutrals like this recent addition to Urban Decay's Naked lineup. (Hello, sunset eyes!)

Urban Decay Naked Heat Eyeshadow Palette, $54, available at Urban Decay.

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At a lower price point, Graham swears by this option. "This is such a fantastic rage of color, and it contains both matte and frosted finishes," she says. "It's a great affordable buy."

NYX Warm Neutrals Ultimate Shadow Palette, $17.99, available at Ulta Beauty.

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Plum
Another tried and true neutral for hazel eyes is the classic plum. "That slight purple hue on hazel eyes is amazing," Strand says. "It gives color while remaining [subtle]."

RMS Beauty Eye Polish in Magnetic, $28, available at Sephora.

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"This aubergine color by YSL makes eyes appear brighter and more green," Graham says.

Yves Saint Laurent MascaraVolume Effet Faux Cils in Burgundy, $32, available at Sephora.

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Strand swears by this waterproof plum liner from her very own line. "It's super easy to apply and stays all day," she says. "Plus, that shade of neutral plum looks amazing on hazel eyes."

Shara Cosmetics Majesty Gel Eyeliner, $18, available at Shara Cosmetics.

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Charcoal Brown
"Chocolate brown mascaras are my favorite on hazel eyes," Strand says. Her pick for drama is this option from Benefit.

Benefit Cosmetics They’re Real! Lengthening & Volumizing Mascara in Brown, $24, available at Sephora.

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This warm-toned brown is another favorite. "I adore it with lots of black mascara or a clean lash with no product for a bit of a 90's minimal throwback," Graham notes.

MAC Cosmetics Kohl Eyeliner in Teddy, $17.50, available at Nordstrom.

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This Dad Does His Daughter's Hair Every Day — & His Styles Are Epic

August 9, 2017, 1:30 pm
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We've seen our fair share of funny videos of dads trying their hardest to style their kid's hair. There was the adorable daughter who made sure her dad knew he was doing a good job, and the father who tried to remedy his little girl's bad hair day. But now we have Mike, who has been doing his daughter Asia’s hair from day one — and we'd say his styling skills are basically pro-level at this point.

In a video from Redbook Magazine, it's clear the single father and his daughter are inseparable, doing everything from dressing up to going shopping to hairstyling together. “Fathers set the tone in a girl’s life and there’s no greater bond,” Mike says in the video.

Gotta keep my baby right! Hair done...now time to get dressed! 😘

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According to Redbook, Mike picked up his skills from YouTube tutorials and now knows his way around diffusers, braids, and buns. The two even have an Instagram account with over 860k followers where they share adorable photos and how-to videos of Asia’s look of the day.

In an Instagram from last week, Mike showed off his most recent work: a high bun resembling a bow. Predictably, the fans went wild for it. “This is the best one he's done on his daughter!! She looks so pretty! Keep doing what you're doing!! Dad's matter also!” one user wrote in the comments.

As requested from @asialovesdaddy 🎀

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A parent who doubles as a built-in best friend and personal hairstylist sounds too good to be true. Our advice? Don't rock the boat when you hit the teen years, Asia — you have it made.

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Is This The Stealthy Sign Jaime Lannister Survived On Game Of Thrones?

August 9, 2017, 1:45 pm
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Most Game Of Thrones fans left latest episode “The Spoils Of War” at least a little worried Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) had been killed off of the series, which is famous for murdering favorites. The Kingslayer tried to change his nickname to The Dragonslayer when he picked up a spear and attempted to murder Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and her dragon (Drogon) with a single joust. This did not work. Instead, Jaime came face to snout with a fire breathing dragon preparing to prove the “fire breathing” portion of his name. He was only saved by someone who looks an awful lot like Bronn (Jerome Flynn), who dove at Jaime, dragging him into some nearby water. Yet, the episode ended on an ominous shot of the Lannister son drowning as his heavy golden armor dragged him to the bottom of what appears to be an extremely deep pond. Thankfully for Jaime fans and Cersei Lannisters alike, a single preview photo from upcoming episode “Eastwatch” hints that Jaime survived his near-death, near dragon-roasting experience.

On Wednesday, HBO released a supposedly harmless batch of images of season 7’s next installment, one of which features Varys (Conleth Hill) sitting in Daenerys’ dragon-themed war room. As usual, the Westerosi noble family-inspired pieces are set up on the Khaleesi’s massive map-slash-table modeled off of the continent. After weeks of seeing Dany fume inside the room, this should be pretty mundane stuff. But, you will notice in the image at least two dragon pieces, which represent Dany or her literal dragons, are set up surrounding a single lion piece, which would represent the Lannisters. Now you might guess that means the arrangement is a metaphor for Daenerys surrounding Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), but that’s already been proven untrue. An earlier war room scene in the season’s second episode, “Stormborn,” shows there’s an entire separate area of the map made to symbolize King’s Landing, and therefore Cersei. So, the backed-into-a-corner lion most likely isn't the (increasingly more mad) queen.

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So, what do the tiny statues actually represent? It’s completely possible we’re actually looking at the war room’s surrogate for Dragonstone, which is where Dany and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) will both return after the so-called Battle Of Tumbleton, as other preview photos confirm. Another piece on the board, as I confirmed with my fellow Game Of Thrones detective and Refinery29 colleague Anne Cohen, looks like it could either be a howling direwolf or a kraken. It’s bizarrely obscured enough to resemble both mythical animals. Interestingly, the men whose families have taken those exact creatures as a family sigil — Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), respectively — should also be on Dragonstone during the events of “Eastwatch.” Photos from the episode confirm Jon is still there, pretending not to have a crush on Dany, while Theon doesn’t appear. However, where else does this poor broken man have to go?

All of this information points towards the leading theory Jaime is actually alive and taken hostage by Team Targaryen, meaning the Kingslayer is now his little brother’s captive. That would explain why the lion statue on the photo is still standing, placed in Dragonstone, and surrounded by dragons — that is literally what is happening to Jaime. This evidence would also explain why Cersei looks pensive, as opposed to distraught, in the “Eastwatch” sneak peek photo she appears in. It’s likely the queen will have found out about her army’s brutal defeat, and her brother’s mysterious fate, by the time she appears in the episode. Yet, she looks eerily pensive, as opposed to distraught. If Jaime, the final person she loves in her entire family line, were actually dead, a volatile person like Cersei wouldn’t be able to sit quietly on her bed and collect her thoughts. At this point, she would probably burn all of Westeros to the ground with wildfire.

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If Jaime is now hanging out in the dungeons of Dragonstone, this would set up a lot of interesting conflicts for the back-half of Game Of Thrones season 7, and the looming final season. It might even lead to the fulfillment of a prophecy or two. It’s possible, and likely, Daenerys will give Cersei a huge ultimatum with Jaime at the very center of it: surrender and get her brother back or refuse Dany's offer and condemn Jaime to a fiery, fiery death. We can already assume the ruthless dragon queen will be excited to execute the man who killed her own father, after all. If Cersei turns her back on her brother in favor of holding on the Iron Throne, could that lead to the eventual, long-awaited realization of the valonqar prophecy?

If you’re wondering how a death row Jaime could escape Dragonstone to murder his twin-lover, that’s where another prophecy comes in. With Jaime hypothetically sentenced to sure-death this time around, he and Tyrion will have switched completely switched roles since the end of season 4, when the youngest Lannister was to be executed for a regicide he did not commit. Jaime showed his little brother mercy and helped him escape King’s Landing. If Tyrion recognizes he owes his sibling, he could decide to free Jaime this time around. And you know how Lannisters are with debts, as much of the Internet has pointed out. If Tyrion does do this, he would fulfill the final portion of Daenery’s House Of The Undying prophecy, which predicted the queen would be betrayed once for blood, once for gold, and once for love. It’s believed the first two have already happened with the treacherous actions of Mirri Maz Duur (Mia Soteriou) in season 1 and the treasonous machinations of Doreah (Roxanne McKee) in season 2. If Tyrion betrays Daenerys by saving his brother, it would be for fraternal love.

We’ll find out this Sunday if of this ends up coming true, or, whether Jaime Lannister, Kingslayer, king sire, and incestuous sexual revolution leader simply dies in a bog.

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Why A Stranger Asked To Take A Photo Of This Sweaty Mom & Her Kids

August 9, 2017, 2:05 pm
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Jess Wolfe's trip to the grocery store with her four kids this week didn't start off all that great, but it ended up giving her a moment she'll cherish for the rest of her life.

"Sweaty, baby strapped to my back, three year old insisting that her belly hurts and NEEDS her donut that she forgot to eat after lunch, 6 year old using everything in sight as a weapon, 7 year old wanting to spend the only dollar he has. This. This was my trip to the grocery today," she wrote on a post to her Facebook page.

So, she was understandably a little annoyed when a woman approached her and asked if she had "one of those phones that takes pictures."

"Trying not to convey my annoyance to someone else adding to the million questions that make up my day, I replied that, yes I do have one of those fancy phones," she wrote. What the woman asked next seemed a little strange to Wolfe at first: She wanted to take a photo of the mom and her kids, just bagging up their groceries.

Though it does seem like a strange request, the reason the woman asked is actually incredibly sweet.

"She told me that she wishes she had photos of herself doing every day things with her kids," Wolfe wrote. "She validated the fact that a simple grocery trip is hard. She told me that what I do matters. She doesn't miss what made the days hard, but she misses what made them sweet. I will always cherish this picture and the message that came with it."

What the woman didn't know, though, is that Wolfe is actually a photographer and she was dreading what this photo might look like. She was sweaty, her kids weren't dressed up, the lighting in the grocery store wasn't exactly ideal — nothing about the moment was technically picture perfect. But, as it turns out, none of that mattered.

"Once I got everyone out of the store, the kids in their carseat and our groceries loaded in the back, I looked at the photo and I got overwhelmingly sentimental," she tells Refinery29.

Wolfe says that she often feels her family is a "pain in the butt" when they're out in public, since she spends a good amount of time just trying to make sure her kids aren't in anyone's way.

"So, when she asked if she could take the photo I was a little embarrassed because people were looking at us anyway. It was like, 'ummmm sure.'"

Later, she realized how nice it was that someone not only didn't see her kids as a nuisance in the grocery store, but that she took the time to make sure Wolfe would have something to remember. "She gave me something she wishes she would have had with her kids growing up," Wolfe says. "It was really sweet."

Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.

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Ava DuVernay Is Adapting This Octavia Butler Novel For TV

August 9, 2017, 2:10 pm
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Ava DuVernay has another amazing project in the works. Deadline reports that the director, whose most recent creation is an adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, has picked up the novel Dawn by Octavia Butler to be turned into a TV show. DuVernay, along with Charles King's Macro and writer Victoria Mahoney, are bringing the 1987 science fiction novel to the small screen — the first time in Butler's career that her work has made it to TV.

Most notably, the novel (and upcoming TV series) follows an African American woman named Lilith Iyapo who works alongside aliens to bring back the human race following a nuclear war. The book is part of a trilogy, with Adulthood Rites and Imago following suit. It's unclear if DuVernay plans to take on the plot of those books as well, but no one would say no to more of a TV show by and about Black women.

While Butler died in 2006, she spent her life using science fiction to talk about race and gender, and was the first sci-fi writer to be given the MacArthur Fellowship — or, the Genius Grant. She was represented by the agent for the estate, Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House, LLC, with Gary Pearl, for this TV deal. Kim Roth, Poppy Hanks, Allen Bain, Gary Pearl, Thomas L. Carter and Teddy Smith will executive produce, and Macro, Forward Movement, Oil & Cattle and Bainframe will produce. The actual release of the TV show is still unknown.

This news follows the earlier announcement that DuVernay would also be directing a Netflix series about the Central Park Five based on the 1989 case that sent five innocent Black and Latino teenagers to jail. The director will certainly be busy in the coming year or so — and we'll be reaping the benefits.

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This Trainer's Response To A Body-Shaming Comment Is Your New Confidence Inspo

August 9, 2017, 2:15 pm
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When fitness trainer Jessi Kneeland posted a photo of herself stretching at the gym on Monday showing the dimples on her legs, plenty of her followers commented to let her know how much they appreciated her openness. One man, however, saw fit to let her know how "unhealthy" he thought she was — so naturally, she gave him a piece of her mind.

Kneeland posted a screenshot of his message along with a mirror selfie in response, writing, "LOLOLOLOL this comment was left by a hater, on the cellulite photo I posted yesterday. This photo was taken this morning. Sorry dude, I didn't realize I have cellulite because I'm just TOO FAT!!"

"Don't worry though," she added. "Me and my 'unnatural, unhealthy body fat' are just gonna be over here helping women understand that there is NOTHING wrong with cellulite (or anything else about their bodies!) and that trolls like you are ignorant and uneducated. Also I'll keep spinning my body as 'none of your damn business.'"

Kneeland tells Refinery29 that she doesn't actually get comments like this all too often.

"So when I do, it really strikes me, and this one was just the perfect example of the worst of trolling — just like, inaccurate scientifically, overstepping boundaries about whose business my body was, so that's why I shared it," she says.

The most ironic part? The commenter called Kneeland, an actual fitness trainer, "unhealthy."

Kneeland says that she doesn't know if this person actually follows her, but she suspects that he doesn't (his account is private) — which would make it even stranger that he had gone through the effort of commenting on her photo.

It was important for her to post about it, she says, because she knows plenty of people who have to contend with body-shaming all the time, and demonstrate a way of fighting back.

"It felt like a good moment to demonstrate that I don't have to take it personally, I don't have to be offended," she says. "All those things are valid — I understand why people feel them. But I wanted to share that I was choosing to be like, that is absurd and ridiculous. It's really funny that you think you have a say [in my body]."

It's your body. It's your summer. Enjoy them both. Check out more #TakeBackTheBeach here.

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Halle Berry Opens Up About Being Biracial And Going To An All-White School

August 9, 2017, 2:15 pm
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Halle Berry made history when she became the first Black woman to ever win "Best Actress" at the Academy Awards. Her blackness has always been a crucial part of who she is and it's even more obvious among Hollywood's lack of diversity. She opened up to People about what it was like for her to grow up as a biracial child and how that experience shaped who she is today.

When she was a child, one decision basically changed the course of Halle Berry's life. Her mother was afraid of all the violence going on at Berry's inner-city high school. So, Berry recalls, she moved the entire family out to the suburbs.

"Now, all of a sudden we were in an all-white school with all-white kids," Berry said. "I got bullied a little bit...because of the color of my skin and at that time we were 'Oreos.' "

"Oreos," she explained, was a reference to having one white parent and one Black parent. Today, it's evolved to mean any Black person who doesn't fit the negative stereotype of blackness. It was hard for Berry endure that, but she thinks it made her even stronger.

"My need to please and my desire to achieve was because I was constantly trying to prove that I was as good as the other white students," she explained. "I felt very less than and I thought if I could beat them at everything, then I can be as good as them. Subsequently, that taught me how to win in life."

And she's definitely won. Now, she can pass what she's learned onto her children. Her daughter, Nahla, is 9 years old and will love mom's help navigating race issues when she's older. Luckily, Berry has so much hope for the future.

"I think my daughter, who is mixed race, might have issues as she grows with her race," Berry said. "Right now, I don't feel like it's an issue and I feel like her generation, they're not making it such an issue like my generation was. We're evolving and we're growing as humans, I think, in that area."

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A Giant Inflatable Chicken Resembling Trump Showed Up Outside The White House

August 9, 2017, 2:25 pm
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Something unusual happened in Washington, D.C. Wednesday afternoon, and for once it wasn't a tweetstorm from President Trump.

A huge inflatable chicken resembling the president showed up in the park just south of the White House, looking directly at the commander-in-chief's residence. The blow-up animal had orange hair, an angry look on its face, and hand gestures President Trump has made in the past.

The organizers of the Tax Day March, an event aimed at convincing the president to release his tax returns, have used a similar chicken in the past, but it's not yet known who strategically placed it in view of the White House on Wednesday. It didn't appear to have any signs or words indicating why it was stalking 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The inflatable is based off a statue at a Chinese mall, The Hill reports, and there's currently one for sell on eBay for $500. So, the chicken prankster could be anyone who owns a 10-foot tall orange haired chicken.

But while the chicken was staring down the president's residence, Trump was away at his New Jersey golf club. He went on a 17-day vacation while the White House's 27-year-old heating and cooling system is replaced.

Because it was placed in an open park, people were able to take pictures of the giant chicken up close, and one person on Twitter said children were kicking it.

Although the chicken might not get the president's attention the same way it would if he saw it while looking out the window, it certainly caught other people in D.C.'s eyes. I mean, who wouldn't be curious about a giant inflatable chicken that looks like it's giving someone a very stern talk?

If nothing else, it gave everyone a good laugh. Hopefully the intentions behind its random appearance will surface soon.

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