It’s safe to say the 2025 VMAs ceremony was a big night for female artists.
Women dominated almost all of the main categories at this year’s Video Music Awards, with Lady Gaga picking up four awards in total, while Ariana Grande scooped the top prize of the night.
Mariah Carey, meanwhile, picked up the coveted Video Vanguard prize for her contributions over the course of her career, and Sabrina Carpenter also took home three awards.
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As for the male winners, Bruno Mars picked up two awards for his collaborations with Gaga and Blackpink star Rosé, while Alex Warren was named Best New Artist after his breakthrough hit Ordinary became a global smash.
Here’s a quick guide to all of this year’s main winners…
As 2024 starts to wind down, and we all gear up for our New Year’s Eve speculation, many of us will be feeling a little nostalgic and reflective.
Plenty of people will be using these next few days to look back at the past 12 months and their personal highlights – whether that’s in their own lives or just the TV, music and films that made the year for them.
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Others, though, will be using this time to catch up on the key moments they missed out on earlier in the year.
We’ve already rounded up some of the best TV shows from 2024 to dive into now you’ve got some time on your hands, but music fans will be pleased to hear we’ve got you covered, too.
Here are 14 essential albums released in 2024 to check out before the end of the year (in the order they were released)…
Singer-songwriter Nadine Shah had been through a turbulent few years while putting together her fifth album, Filthy Underneath – culminating in the death of her mother, a divorce and a stint in a mental health facility.
On her fifth album, Nadine didn’t shy away from any of this when recording Filthy Underneath. Reflecting on some of her darkest times with frankness, courage and, often, a refreshing sense of humour – most notably on lead single Greatest Dancer, in which she reflects on a night in watching Strictly with her mother during lockdown, while under the influence of her mum’s pain medication, and follow-up Topless Mother, in which she pokes fun a former therapist. There’s also a beautiful ode to her late mum on See My Girl, and a lament about the current climate in the UK on Sad Lads Anonymous.
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Although its heavy themes don’t make for the easiest of listens, the eclectic Filthy Underneath’s production is also a feast for the ears – like a mix of Rahim Redcar and David Bowie, in a Geordie accent.
Ariana Grande has done some of her best work with pop superproducer Max Martin, so fans were overjoyed when they found out the pair would be reuniting in a big way on her seventh album.
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The result was Eternal Sunshine, on which Ariana and the Swedish pop juggernaut worked on all but three of the final tracklisting.
Of course, by the time the album came along, the Grammy winner had a few things to get off her chest after finding herself at the centre of tabloid headlines about the breakdown of her marriage and subsequent relationship with Broadway performer Ethan Slater, who she met while still working on Wicked.
Ari kicked off the new era with Yes, And?, a breezy house-inspired bop where she takes on her critics head-on (“why do you care so much whose **** I ride?” she ponders at one point), while elsewhere she sends up her own reputation on singles We Can’t Be Friends and The Boy Is Mine, as well as album cut True Story.
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There are also personal moments when Ari reflects on romance past and present on the likes of Bye, I Wish I Hated You, the beautiful Imperfect For You and Ordinary Things, which ends the collection with a voicenote from the singer’s beloved Nonna.
After the more experimental sound of her ambitious break-up album Star-Crossed, Kacey Musgraves went back to her roots on Deeper Well, both in terms of its more simplistic and organic instrumentation, but also its stripped-back visuals.
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The title songs sees Kacey reintroduce fans to herself at a new, more reflective stage of her life, while the rest of the album sees the Grammy winner analysing various aspects of her life.
She also asks big questions, pondering the existence of God on The Architect and Heaven Is, before ending on a hopeful note with the pretty Anime Eyes and Nothing To Be Scared Of, as she looks ahead to a new romance.
After capturing her attention with Renaissance, Beyoncé decided to head in a completely different direction with the second part of her three-act musical project.
It may have taken the Texas-born star the better part of a decade, but she eventually issued her rebuttal in Cowboy Carter, after really doing her homework on the origins of country music, and used her album not just to highlight Black performers who are currently excelling in the genre, but also shining a light on those who came before her.
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She also made sure to have the co-sign from some genuine country music legends, like Dolly Parton (whose song Jolene she covered) and Willie Nelson – but never one to limit herself, Beyoncé also tries on other genres for size on Cowboy Carter too, dipping her pedicured toes into everything from gospel and soul to funk and classic rock and roll.
“This ain’t a Country album. This is a Beyoncé album,” Beyoncé said of her eighth full-length release, and it’s hard to argue with that thesis.
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On their debut release, it’s fair to say that British four-piece English Teacher came out of the gate strong.
Described by critics as “chaotic” and full of “surprises”, This Could Be Texas certainly keeps listeners on their toes over its 50 minutes, eventually peaking within the top 10 here in the UK and, crucially, earning them the coveted Mercury Prize title over the likes of Charli XCX, Corrine Bailey Rae, Ghetts and Brit Award winners The Last Dinner Party.
","type":"video","meta":{"author":"Taylor Swift","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqECaJ8Gagnn7YCbPEzWH6g","cache_age":86400,"description":"The official music video for “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)” by Taylor Swift, from ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’.\n\nBuy/download/stream ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’: https://taylor.lnk.to/thetorturedpoetsdepartment \n\nJoin the #ForAFortnightChallenge on YouTube Shorts. Share 14 snippets of your life in one single Short with “Fortnight (feat Post Malone)” by using remix or adding the official sound.\n\nhttps://yt.be/ForAFortnightChallenge\n\n►Subscribe to Taylor Swift on YouTube: https://ts.lnk.to/subscribe\n►Shop Merch: http://taylorswift.lnk.to/store\n\n►Follow Taylor Swift Online: \nTikTok: http://tiktok.com/@taylorswift \nInstagram: http://instagram.com/taylorswift \nTwitter: http://twitter.com/taylorswift13 \nSnapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/taylorswift \nFacebook: http://facebook.com/taylorswift \nTumblr: http://taylorswift.tumblr.com \nWebsite: http://www.taylorswift.com \n\n►Follow Taylor Nation Online \nTikTok: http://tiktok.com/@taylornation\nYouTube: https://youtube.com/taylornation\nInstagram: http://instagram.com/taylornation \nTwitter: http://twitter.com/taylornation13\nTumblr: http://taylornation.tumblr.com\n\nDirector: Taylor Swift\nDirector of Photography: Rodrigo Prieto \nProducer: Jil Hardin \nEditor: Chancler Haynes \nProduction Designer: Ethan Tobman \n1st AD: Anthony Dimino \nVisual Effects: Parliament\nProduction Companies: Taylor Swift Productions & Object & Animal\n\n#taylorswift #postmalone #fortnight #thetorturedpoetsdepartment","options":{"_cc_load_policy":{"label":"Closed captions","value":false},"_end":{"label":"End on","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"_start":{"label":"Start from","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"click_to_play":{"label":"Hold load & play until clicked","value":false}},"provider_name":"YouTube","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q3zqJs7JUCQ/maxresdefault.jpg","thumbnail_width":1280,"title":"Taylor Swift – Fortnight (feat. 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After taking a more outward-facing approach with the songwriting on her hit albums Folklore and Evermore, and looking back on follow-up Midnights, Tortured Poets saw the Grammy winner returning to the more confessional – though veiled – lyricism she was synonymous with earlier in her career.
While much of the album is perceived as a break-up record about her short-lived romance with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy (and the ensuing media furore that it created), she also alludes to her split from her long-time partner Joe Alwyn and looking ahead to her new relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce.
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And with song titles like The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) and So Long, London, The Tortured Poets Department is Taylor at her most unflinching.
Rachel Chinouriri – What A Devastating Turn Of Events
","type":"video","meta":{"author":"Rachel Chinouriri","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmluVMOmrTozqKtRXDz7RXg","cache_age":86400,"description":"The official video for ‘Never Need Me’ by Rachel Chinouriri. Listen right now! https://rachelchinouriri.lnk.to/neverneedme ✨\n\nTaken from the debut album ‘What A Devastating Turn of Events’ that you can pre-order now – out 3rd May! https://rachelchinouriri.lnk.to/WADTOE\n\nFOLLOW\n\nSubscribe to my mailing list 💌 http://rachelchinouriri.com/\nText me! https://rachelchinouriri.lnk.to/textme\n\nhttps://rachelchinouriri.lnk.to/insta…\nhttps://rachelchinouriri.lnk.to/tiktok\nhttps://rachelchinouriri.lnk.to/spotify\nhttps://rachelchinouriri.lnk.to/twitter\nhttps://rachelchinouriri.lnk.to/facebook\n\nLYRICS\n\nA call in the dead of the night\nit’s strange but it’s such a delight\nto hear your voice again\nit’s been a long time\nsince i last saw you\nYou never swim\nyou drown in your drink\nrevealing the secrets you think\nyou need me cos you’re scared\nwhat the hell am i supposed to do?\n\nIf you can’t change\nI doubt that I can help you\nI’ve made plans and sorry they’re without you\n\nIn my head you can do what you like\nOh no I couldn’t care what you do with your life\nI hope you just take it easy\nI hope that you never need me\nAnd maybe I’ll regret not sticking around\nBut how can I swim if you’re pulling me down?\nJust promise you’ll take it easy\nI hope that you never need me\n\nYou say i’m the love of your life\nBut now just isn’t the time\nYou’re doing it again\nthis is why your cycle never ends\nYou’re addicted to trouble you choose\nI’m surprised you’re even confused\nI know you’ll never learn\nwhat the hell am i supposed to do?\n\nIf you can’t change\nI doubt that I can help you\nI’ve made plans and sorry they’re without you\n\nIn my head you can do what you like\nOh no I couldn’t care what you do with your life\nI hope you just take it easy\nI hope that you never need me\nMaybe I’ll regret not sticking around\nBut how can I swim if you’re pulling me down?\nJust promise you’ll take it easy\nI hope that you never need me\n\nI’ll love you if you let me\nI’ll love you if you let me come on\n\nWithout you in my head you can do what you like\nOh no I couldn’t care what you do with your life\nI hope you just take it easy\nI hope that you never need me\nMaybe I’ll regret not sticking around\nBut how can I swim if you’re pulling me down?\nJust promise you’ll take it easy\nI hope that you never need me\n\nAHHHH!\nAHHHH!\nJust promise you’ll take it easy\nI hope that you never need me\nAHHHH!\nAHHHH!\nJust promise you’ll take it easy\nI hope that you never need me\n\nCREDITS\n\nDirected by Jake Erland\nProduced by Jake River Parker\nAssistant produced by Rowan Mackintosh King\nEdited by Laura Cairney-Keize & Alex Gregory \nCommissioned by Francesca Costa\nLabel – Parlophone / Atlas Artists\nManagement – Atlas Artists\n\nStyling (Rachel Chinouriri & Florence Pugh) – Shannon Kelsey Ann\nStylist (Lead Man & Supporting Artists) – Ellie Walker\nHair Stylist (Rachel Chinouriri) – Shamara Roper\nHair Stylist Assistant (Rachel Chinouriri) – Donica Campbell\nHair Stylist (Florence Pugh) – Shon Hyungsun Ju\nMakeup Artist (Rachel Chinouriri) – Georgia Hope\nMakeup Artist (Florence Pugh) – Alex Babsky\nMakeup (Lead Man & Supporting Artists) – Hebe Wallace\nMakeup (Lead Man & Supporting Artists) – Chloe Pack\n\nCasting Directors – Sophie Greetje & Thomas Adams\n\nCast:\nHerself – Rachel Chinouriri\nLeading Female – Florence Pugh\nLead Male – Freddie Dennis \nLead Female – Tara Leonard\n\nSupporting Artists:\nDarren Lee, Georgia Killick, Izzy Dennis, Ethan Joseph, Joe Grey Adams, Em Tunnicliffe, Effie Cherif, Meg Wells, Roisin Salmon, Kit Wyborn, Minna Gladstone, Dimitar Stoilov, Blessing Smith, Abiba Gbane, and more!\n\nAn OB42 Production\n\nExecutive Producers – Polly Millner & James Waters \nProduction Managers – Maddy Williams & Emily Mulkerins \nAssistant Directors – Freddie Wright, Oli Hill & Tyler Richards\nMovement Director – Weronika Szczerek\nDirector of Photography – Jake Hunter\nAssistant Cameras – Jeff Vine & Tom Watson\nCamera Trainee: Luke Gurney\nDigital Image Technician – Rosie Taylor\nGaffer – Connor Adam\nLighting Technicians – Simona Pranulytė, Oliver Craig & Vainius Kotovas\nGrip – Steve Morgan & Ashley Whenman\nArt Director – Katie South\nArt Assistants – Lauren Crockett, Keelin Coyle, Freya Mclean & Hannah Cooper \nRunners – Samad Kunle, Alyciah Vendryes, Pearl Wright & Joe Curtis\n\n#rachelchinouriri #neverneedme #newmusic #florencepugh #freddiedennis #taraleonard","options":{"_cc_load_policy":{"label":"Closed captions","value":false},"_end":{"label":"End on","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"_start":{"label":"Start from","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"click_to_play":{"label":"Hold load & play until clicked","value":false}},"provider_name":"YouTube","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WHDjBjnuZ1s/maxresdefault.jpg","thumbnail_width":1280,"title":"Rachel Chinouriri – Never Need Me (Official 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We’re going to say it – Rachel Chinouriri’s Never Need Me is probably the best single released by a British performer in 2024, and follow-up album What A Devastating Turn Of Events proved there’s so much more that this artist is capable of.
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It Is What It Is and the brilliantly-titled Dumb Butch Juice continue the conversational style first showcased on Never Need Me, as she reflects on past relationship drama in an extremely relatable way, while elsewhere on the album Rachel broaches difficult and – at times – heartwrenching topics in a ways many artists a lot further into their careers would struggle with, singing about everything from body image and self-harm to loneliness and gender inequality with both confidence and sensitivity.
Here’s hoping a support act on Sabrina Carpenter’s 2025 tour can help boost Rachel’s career to the next level as even more people discover this must-listen album.
Billie Eilish returned to the music scene with a quiet confidence in 2024 (we imagine that second Oscar winner probably helped with that), dropping her strongest and most personal release to date on Hit Me Hard And Soft.
Having been in the spotlight since she was a teenager, Billie’s third album introduced the chart-topping singer at a different stage in her life, singing about new themes and diving headfirst into new genres, spawning two of 2024’s biggest hits in Lunch and Birds Of A Feather.
Alright, this is the biggie. The album that pretty much defined 2024, Brat marked the first album Charli XCX put out after renewing her record deal, and it became apparent pretty early on with the uncompromising Von Dutch and 360 – not to mention the album’s acidic green hues – that the British singer was doing things her way this time around.
Once people began to catch on, the era only grew in scale, from the confessional Girl, So Confusing remix with Lorde, the viral Apple dance and the arrival of “Brat summer”, culminating in A-list guest features on the re-released version, an Album Of The Year nomination at next year’s Grammys and even Brat creeping into the US election.
All we can say is, now Charli’s had a massive hit on her hands with something so unapologetically bold and true to her own vision, we can’t wait to see what she follows the Brat era with.
She’s been quietly working away in the music industry for a good few years now, but 2024 was the year it all really paid off for Sabrina Carpenter.
Few can say they’ve had a year as big as her, with three massive number ones under her belt (not to mention an extra two top 20s), and even a Netflix special over the Christmas period, pushing her from a little-known cult figure to a real force to be reckoned with in the music industry.
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Short N’ Sweet might not be a debut – it’s actually Sabrina’s sixth album overall – but it still feels like a breakthrough moment for a young star really discovering what kind of artist they are in the past year.
","type":"video","meta":{"author":"Fontaines DC","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVtO4Hc3qiKScQBad51RAIQ","cache_age":86400,"description":"Taken from the new album ROMANCE, out 23 August on XL. Pre-order here: https://fontainesdc.x-l.co/romance.oyd\n\nStream Starburster here: https://fontainesdc.x-l.co/starburster.oyd\n\n2024 UK & Ireland Tour:\nPre-order* from the UK official store before 3pm BST Tuesday 23rd April 2024 to get early access to tickets. 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Fontaines D.C. took their biggest swing yet on the more electronic-inspired Romance, earning them their best reviews and sales to date, and a legion of new fans.
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The Irish rock group’s fourth album even wound up earning them their first nominations at next year’s Grammys, where they’re in the running for both Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance for lead single Starburster (which saw the band working with music video legend Aube Perrie on the accompanying clip).
This one’s technically a mixtape rather than a proper album, but it’s just so strong we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to exclude it.
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We’ve been championing Doechii for a good few years now, after she proved herself to be one of the most exciting and shape-shifting stars on the music scene. Alligator Bites Never Heal is her strongest work to date, showing off just how capable Doechii is at anything she tries her hand at. When her proper debut album inevitably follows in 2025, watch out.
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Award-winning rapper Tyler, The Creator went back to his roots on Chromakopia which he said was his way of paying tribute to his early life growing up in California before rising to fame as part of Odd Future.
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The album got underway with the elaborate music video for Noid, co-starring Ayo Edebiri, with the boundary-pushing album following a week later.
Like his previous acclaimed releases Igor and Flower Boy, Chromakopia sees Tyler confidently hopping from genre to genre, this time with a seriously impressive bunch of collaborators including Solange, Lil Wayne, British singer-songwriter Lola Young, electro singer Santigold and fellow rapper Doechii.
After stand-alone singles like Not Like Us and Meet The Graham captured the world’s attention over the summer, rap superstar Kendrick Lamar rounded off 2024 with GNX, which gave him yet more commercial and critical success and proved he had the goods to back up what he was saying on those scene-stealing Drake disses.
Next year is shaping up to be another huge one for the Pulitzier Prize winner, who’ll follow his performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show with a mammoth US tour, where he’ll team up with frequent collaborator SZA.
Wicked’s cultural dominance is showing no signs of slowing down.
On Friday evening, the Official Charts Company revealed that no fewer than three songs from the hit movie musical’s soundtrack have soared up the UK singles chart, a week on from Wicked’s official release.
Fittingly, it’s Cynthia Erivo’s big number Defying Gravity (featuring vocals from Ariana Grande) that’s flying the highest, entering the chart at number seven, and becoming the first Wicked cut to make it into the top 10.
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Slightly lower at number 13 is Ariana’s version of Popular, while the duet What Is This Feeling enters at number 17.
Cynthia and Ariana performing Popular in the movie Wicked
Interestingly, this isn’t Ariana’s first time putting her own spin on Popular, as she previously released a duet with Mika way back in 2012, which interpolated the Wicked cut.
Although it didn’t chart here in the UK, it did enter the lower half of Billboard’s charts across the pond.
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Meanwhile, it’s not just the Wicked soundtrack that musicians have to contend with when it comes to fighting for spots in the charts this week.
Yes, we’ve officially arrived at the time of year when festive songs make their way back into the top 10, with Wham!’s Last Christmas making it to number eight just days shy of its 40th anniversary.
Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You has also had a massive surge in streams, bumping it to number 10.
In fact, an additional eight Christmas songs are in this week’s top 40, including tracks from Brenda Lee, The Pogues, Ed Sheeran, Andy Williams, Kelly Clarkson and Wicked’s own Ariana.
By the time you finish reading this sentence, there’s a good chance that you, too, have received yet another email about the new “Wicked”-themed cocktails, or the “Wicked” line of kids’ clothing or the “Wicked” high-top sneakers. Or, lest we forget, the “Wicked” Mattel dolls that were pulled from stores due to a misprint on the packaging that directed consumers to a porn site.
Even the movie’s marketing mishaps catapult to the top of its Google search page.
Each of Universal Pictures’ efforts to guarantee an audience for the movie before it hit theatres Friday have unquestionably worked in its favour. It’s predicted to make at least $120 million at the box office in its first weekend, and you can’t really step outside, especially now during holiday season, without seeing a “Wicked”-themed something or other in a store window.
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Obviously many built-in fans of the same-titled, second-highest-grossing Broadway show ever, and of Gregory Maguire’s book that inspired it, have been devouring every morsel of the movie’s promotions. But there’s also an entire subset of people who are exhausted by all of it and its seemingly yearlong takeover.
On X, journalist Sophie Vershbow posted, “me to the Wicked marketing team” with a meme with the word “ENOUGH.” Another user on Bluesky sarcastically wrote, “I think just another dozen or so exposures to ‘Wicked’ marketing and I’ll be aware of it.”
Even self-proclaimed die-hard fans of “Wicked” and its star Ariana Grande are turned off by the studio’s excessive marketing. Someone on TikTok wrote, “As a massive ‘Wicked’ and Ari fan, I’m scared to admit that the overmarketing of this movie has given me the ick. Why is ‘Wicked’ collabing with literally every single brand? I’m tired of it being shoved in my face 24/7.”
And another on Threads posted, “This is no hate to all who love ‘Wicked’ (I’m happy for y’all), but OMG I’m excited for the day when my eyes aren’t subjected to their marketing campaigns everywhere I look. It’s too much!”
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Does consumer fatigue affect Hollywood’s marketing approach to films like “Wicked” or last year’s “Barbie,” which was just as ubiquitous, and included driving fans to a website to create custom “Barbie” posters and a collaboration with Burger King Brazil on a pink burger?
The marquee for the Los Feliz Theatre features the films “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie,” Friday, July 28, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
via Associated Press
Yes and no, said Saleha Malik, co-founder of S-Squared, a boutique marketing agency. Hollywood is always going to do the thing that fills up their pockets, no matter how much it might annoy some audiences. But the bottom line is: This approach consistently drives ticket sales.
We saw that play out just last year with the twin releases of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” (or “Barbenheimer,” if you will).
“So, it’s not that these marketing strategies aren’t working,” Malik told me. “They definitely are, which is why you can see that for big, juggernaut films like ‘Barbie’ and ‘Wicked.’ They’re using the same playbook again and again.”
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And while it seems like there’s been at least one of these sometimes portmanteau blockbuster marketing strategies for years now, this level of it, Malik said, is a fairly recent phenomenon. So, while audiences might be weary of it, Hollywood isn’t at all.
“Before ‘Barbie,’ you can’t really think of a lot of movies that took it to that scale,” Malik said. “So, I think they are going to continue to do this.”
Studios might be unfazed by consumer fatigue, even at a time when audiences’ interests are especially fickle, and they’re getting bombarded with ads online and IRL all the time, but Malik told me that any studio worth their salt would pay attention to that and adjust their efforts. Or else that bubble could burst.
“Once consumer fatigue starts setting in more and more, they’re going to have to pivot their strategies,” Malik said. “As marketers, you are always aware that the same strategy is not going to work every time. So you’ll pick and choose different aspects of it, but tailor it for the next one.”
Those consumers that currently have “the ick” from the marketing be damned then, I guess.
But they might not be the only ones the studios are not considering right now. Let’s look at this marketing a little more closely and who it’s actually targeting (beyond simply benefiting Hollywood’s pockets, of course). While certain apparel and branded cocktails can accommodate consumers across economic backgrounds, there is an overwhelming appeal to cater to households with larger incomes.
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For instance, a pair of Glinda- and Elphaba-inspired collectible dolls can currently run parents up to $159+ on eBay. A Glinda-sequined bomber jacket is going for almost $90 at Lola and the Boys. Meanwhile, thanks to the “Wicked” partnership with fine jewellery brand Muse, a pair of hoop earrings designed in collaboration with the film’s star Cynthia Erivo costs $8,800.
While Malik maintains that the studio is still blanketing the audience with a wide range of merchandise that caters to a variety of households, she acknowledges that these higher-priced items almost strictly appeal to people within a higher economic bracket. Even more, they’re presented as wish items.
“You want the most people to come to your movies, to buy those limited edition dolls or anything of the sort — you want the most people to buy them,” she said. “So I don’t think this marketing strategy is, let’s exclude people on purpose. But with their strategies, they definitely are.”
The “Barbie” strategy, Malik added, was a prime example of that: “The primary economic demographic that I think was targeted by ‘Barbie’ was the middle- to upper-class audiences. Because, if you look at the merchandising, for example, there were a lot of high end collaborations.”
“It’s not your everyday person that can afford Christian Louboutin heels,” Malik said. “These are exclusive items. But they reinforce that aspirational and luxury positioning that went along with it. So, they appealed to that sort of audience with the mainstream, middle class families.”
Historically, though, “Barbie” has catered to a very exclusive audience that wasn’t diverse at all. While Malik, who is Pakistani, said she didn’t really play with Barbies growing up, she got a pretty good sense of who they were supposed to be for. She acknowledges that while the movie and its marketing tried to be inclusive, even coming out with a doll for Diwali, it often fell back on their tried-and-true audience.
FILE – Barbie-themed merchandise is displayed at Bloomingdale’s, in New York, July 20, 2023.
via Associated Press
“They really did target white and affluent demographics,” Malik said. “So, a lot of the marketing efforts you can see still leaned into that aspirational image of the traditional blonde, which did not resonate that much with audiences of colour who’ve seen historically less representation.”
Concurrently, though, the marketing didn’t completely neglect, for instance, audiences from lower economic backgrounds, Malik quickly added: “They also did things like the ‘Barbie’ Happy Meal, so that it’s more accessible.”
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“Wicked” has less of an issue reaching more racially diverse audiences, partly because its lead actor, Erivo, is a Black and queer woman. But that’s also because the essence of its story is about humanising, as Malik put it, those “who often feel misrepresented or underrepresented.”
“They’re highlighting that underdog narrative [that] centres around misunderstood characters,” she said, “and challenges the societal perceptions of good versus evil, which in today’s world is a valuable theme. Then also it aligns with the lived experiences of marginalised audiences.”
Still, while both “Wicked” and, previously, “Barbie” made admirable efforts to connect with diverse audiences in their marketing, there has been a sort of DIY component that has particularly resonated with online fans who go on to create fan art and their own costumes.
Those might invariably include some who aren’t able to afford to purchase their own merchandise or might feel so inclined to create a, for instance, “Wicked” world that they could be a part of — possibly one they might not be seeing in the marketing.
Malik described more of those efforts: “TikTok challenges, which invite younger audiences to engage with the campaign regardless of their social strata. It’s not things that they need to spend excessively on. There’s more focus on aesthetics, humour and relatability that resonates with someone that is more budget conscious.”
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You can certainly look at that as a more democratised approach to marketing films like “Wicked” and “Barbie,” which obviously has its benefits like racial and economic diversity. But it also puts it on the audience to see themselves inside a movie’s marketing, perhaps because the powers that be in a white and largely affluent Hollywood either don’t have the range, foresight or desire to do that themselves.
Fans stand in the rain waiting for the cast to arrive at the premiere of the film ‘Wicked’ on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in London. (Photo by Millie Turner/Invision/AP)
via Associated Press
This question of effort and exclusivity also makes you think about where smaller, independent films, many that amplify talent of colour, fit into this relatively recent level of movie marketing that largely eludes them in both budget and even the most modest effort.
For instance, a film like “Exhibiting Forgiveness” makes nary a sound as it tiptoes to the box office, while the marketing strategies behind those like “Wicked” and “Barbie” make it hard not to hear them coming from 100 miles away and a whole year out from release. It’s either barely anyone knows a film even exists, or they’re sick and tired of hearing about it all the time. There’s rarely any in between.
It can’t be expected for every movie to get, say, a $150 million marketing budget like “Barbie” reportedly did, but the alternative shouldn’t be barely anything at all, particularly when those films are desperately trying to reach even a moderate number of audiences of colour.
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Here again, people are compelled to consider untraditional ways to connect with marginalised people without the help of a big studio.
Malik offered that some of the most successful marketing campaigns for independent films, while not a foolproof plan, revolve around less conventional strategies. “‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ really focused on word of mouth and grassroots marketing,” she said, “to build authentic audience connections and really prove that smaller campaigns can still go viral.”
She went on to say that other small films have utilised the Academy and other awards circuits to get the word out about the film. While studios often use those press runs to primarily push certain talent or films into the running to win an award, it’s also to build audience awareness for these films when there were virtually no other marketing efforts.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in a scene from “Wicked.”
Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
Another way is through partnering with streaming platforms like Netflix or Max, who generally have more marketing dollars that smaller studios could lean on to get the word out about their films and talent.
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There’s also “cultural authenticity,” as Malik described it, with the storytelling in the film’s marketing that could propel a film directly to its intended audience like how Netflix did it with the Mexican 2018 drama “Roma.”
“They made sure to engage the Spanish-speaking audiences as well, and made advertisements and events that were bilingual,” Malik explained. “And then there’s that aspect of personal storytelling which became a central narrative to the campaign.”
None of this, obviously, amounts to even a fraction of the return films like “Wicked” and “Barbie” have, which Malik fully acknowledges. But it’s not nothing.
“Studios realistically are not going to invest that amount of time and money into smaller films which might be more representative of society,” Malik said. “But at the end of the day, it’s a business. They’re going to invest in movies that they think are going to bring the most return.”
Smaller or independent films, Malik added, “are more of a risk, they’re just not going to do that.”
I winced a bit at the use of “risk” there, not because what Malik said was untrue but because Hollywoodspeak often conflates that word with films that center talent of color, many of which are independent. It’s an exhaustive cycle that points to a longstanding question of whether smaller films are set up to fail while often white-led, corporate and capitalistic brands like the ones behind “Wicked” and “Barbie” are almost always poised to succeed.
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Both of those films are wildly entertaining and have merit (though, more so “Wicked” than “Barbie”) and will, gratefully, bring audiences to the theater at a time when many have abandoned it for a variety of factors. They also serve the same Hollywood machine that, despite its purported advances, still prioritizes an exclusive demographic.
Ariana Grande has confirmed she married her partner Dalton Gomez over the weekend.
On Monday, TMZ reported that Ariana married the real estate agent – who she began dating around a year and a half ago – at her home in California.
A rep for the chart-topping singer has now confirmed this to be the case, telling People magazine: “They got married. It was tiny and intimate — less than 20 people.
“The room was so happy and full of love. The couple and both families couldn’t be happier.”
Instagram/Ariana GrandeAriana Grande and Dalton Gomez pictured last year
The happy couple began dating in January 2020, with Ariana confirming her new relationship when Dalton made a brief appearance in the music video for her Justin Bieber collaboration Stuck With U.
Ariana has largely kept the romance private from her fans, but has shared occasional snaps of Dalton on Instagram, including a special birthday post back in August.
“HBD to my baby my best friend my fav part of all the days,” she wrote at the time. “I love u.”
Last year, Ariana topped the UK singles chart with her solo hit Positions, as well as the Lady Gaga duet Rain On Me.
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