From the Group Chat: “Heated Rivalry,” Spotify Wrapped, and Cynthia Erivo’s Birkin

EDITOR’S NOTE

Happy Sunday. One thing to know about me? I love a win. So I was thrilled to see the internet give Ralph Lauren a gold for its objectively excellent Team USA Winter Olympics uniforms. A few other things worthy of a medal? 

• The renaissance of this Extremely Millennial Color, which I’ve loved, hated, and inexplicably reembraced. Perhaps because it’s the only thing that can cure my Pantone-induced rage. 

• A Cool Girl-approved accessory that elevates my entire winter wardrobe for less than $10? Yes, please.

• This unconventional shower setup, which, I’ll admit, spooked me at first, but might actually be the key to easing my holiday season stress. 

• The mother of all denim styles is once again trending. Not only is it roomy enough for my leggings-under-pants lifestyle, but it’s also at “the chic intersection of comfort and polish.” 

• These viral, three-ingredient chocolate croissants. If they taste as good as they look, they’re going to change my life — and my pastry budget. 

— Jamie Feldman / Writer, Culture & Lifestyle / Brooklyn, NY

👞 We hate to break it to you, but all your favorite shoes probably look like this vegetable. And once you see it, there’s no going back.

🐶  In Exceptionally Upsetting News of the Week, we now know what Ozempic Penis means. And Ozempets may be next. Honestly unclear which is worse. 

🫧 The secret to more good hair days? A “shampoo sandwich” — and it’s not nearly as weird as it sounds.

☺️ If you avoid blush for fear of looking like a Madame Alexander doll, good news: The season’s most exciting makeup trend is the least exciting color.

🍼 Turns out, the best parenting style isn’t type A or type B — it’s this lesser-known, third option. Our inner child would like a word.

Pour one out for The Hunting Wives, which, with just one month left in the year, has officially been unseated as 2025’s Horniest Show™. Enter: Heated Rivalry, HBO Max’s gay hockey romance that came out of nowhere and took the internet by storm. (And yes, that explains why the least sporty people in your life are suddenly hockey experts.) The series — based on the barely in-stock Game Changers novels — follows Canadian golden-boy Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian phenom Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), two rival stars who battle it out on the ice. But off the rink? That’s when the real action happens, in what has to be a record number of sex scenes — some so steamy, they make Bridgerton’s carriage encounter look PG (fine, PG-13). Or, as one reviewer put it, they’re “so filthy it’s amazing they’re allowed on television.” 

Now we’re no experts, but it’s safe to say this collective meltdown, which even the NHL seemingly acknowledged, has little to do with the sport itself. Especially since, outside of some blink-and-you’ll-miss-them matches, there’s not much actual hockey (this X post couldn’t be more accurate). Instead, it seems the worldwide spiral stems in large part from…people having eyes. But also, the leads’ ridiculously palpable chemistry, which has been apparent since day one (see: Williams’s NSFW reaction to their first read) and extends off-screen (the pair pulled an Ariana and Cynthia after filming). Plus, unlike in A Little Life, Call Me by Your Name, and Brokeback Mountain, we’re not barreling towards the usual tragic gay ending — something the show’s creator, Jacob Tierney, has stated clearly: “We deserve a gay show that is sexy and horny and fun.” We couldn’t agree more.

A question for the room: We’re all pushing 70, yes? That is, according to Spotify. On Wednesday, the streaming service dropped the annual humiliation ritual known as Spotify Wrapped, which for the first time included your so-called listening age. For a miniscule portion of the population (at least, based on our totally scientific doomscroll), it was a flex. For everyone else, well, it felt like whatever the opposite of getting carded is. Wondering how Spotify got it so…wrong? Your “age” was based on the idea of a “reminiscence bump” — or the tendency to feel most connected to the music from your youth. Translation: If you listened to a lot of ’70s songs, Spotify figured you must’ve been a teen or very young adult back then — which would put you in your 60s or 70s now. So how Grimes, who had three different Addison Rae songs in her top five, ended up with a number this high is unclear. But if you’re one of the elite few who somehow aged backwards, we’re both jealous and terrified of you (this Threads reaction is 10/10). For everyone else, we’ll remind you of Wrapped’s own words: “Age is just a number. So don’t take this personally.” Too late.

Cynthia Erivo, we need to know: What all do you possibly have in that ludicrously capacious bag? A certain sex cardigan? A portable nail salon?

George Clooney playing a charming, old Hollywood-style movie star? Wow, what a stretch. But in the new Netflix film Jay Kelly, he’s one who’s wondering if his single-minded pursuit of stardom was worth it — especially as he realizes he’s been a disconnected partner and an absent parent whose closest friends are the people on his payroll. Chief among them: His manager Ron (a surprisingly well-dressed Adam Sandler) and his publicist Liz (Laura Dern), who accompany the titular Kelly to Europe to help him try and spend a little time with his younger daughter (Grace Edwards) before she leaves for college. With a supporting cast that feels pulled straight from Clooney’s actual contact list, watching a movie star have a midlife crisis has never been more entertaining.

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