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Martin Cruz Smith (Obituary, 31 July) was clearly a novelist who did his research, sometimes to disconcerting effect. While an American chiefly known for a Russia-set series, his standalone novel Rose not only dispatched its protagonist to Wigan, but showed sufficient grasp of local custom to have him ask whether his expenses would be paid in pies.
Huw Richards
London

Why is the Church of England apparently unable to agree on a replacement for Justin Welby (Letters, 7 August)? The answer is all too obvious. There are several outstanding candidates, but they all have – in the view of all too many members of the ruling body of the church – one drawback that rules them out of the running. I believe we all know what this is.
Linda Evans
Hinton Charterhouse, Somerset

In the photo in your print edition, Kemi Badenoch appears to be flying the union flag upside down in her ice cream stand (Conservatives not close to recognising how badly they are positioned for next election, says Gauke, 13 August). This is generally understood to be a distress signal. Is she asking for help?
Dr Jenny Bywaters
Sheffield

Thanks for offering “champagne” in the Word Wheel on the day that our son turned 50 and our granddaughter achieved three A-stars in her A-levels (14 August).
Ian and Jane Waller
St Albans

My thought for the day is: “What is the best way to annoy Robert Jenrick?” (BBC apologises over Thought for the Day ‘xenophobia’ claim against Jenrick, 13 August).
Ian Grieve
Gordon Bennett, Llangollen canal

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.

This week: A pair of Camp Rock songs re-enter the public discourse, a folk song gets boosted by being declared as the “worst song ever made,” and a dance troupe helps ignite a new TikTok trend.

Demi Lovato’s Surprise Jonas Brothers Reunion Sends Streams Soaring for ‘Camp Rock’ Singles

For those who grew up glued to the Disney Channel, Sunday night (Aug. 10) marked a momentous occasion: during the Jonas Brothers’ homecoming concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., which served as a super-sized kickoff to their 20th anniversary tour, the trio was joined by Demi Lovato, who shared the stage with her ex Joe Jonas for the first time in over a decade. The stadium shrieked along to “This Is Me” and “Wouldn’t Change a Thing,” a pair of songs from their Camp Rock days — and as news about the surprise performance traveled beyond New Jersey, both songs experienced a sizable uptick in streams from JoBros faithful and longtime Lovatics.

On the day after the MetLife performance (Monday, Aug. 11), “Wouldn’t Change a Thing” earned 167,000 U.S. on-demand streams — more than 7 times its streaming total from the day before (22,000 streams on Sunday), according to Luminate. “This Is Me” started from a slightly higher baseline prior to the performance (41,000 streams on Aug. 10), but experienced a major bump as well (167,000 streams the following day).

Interestingly, daily streams for both songs actually increased the following day — 180,000 streams for “Wouldn’t Change a Change” on Tuesday, and 179,000 streams for “This Is Me” — suggesting that, even after the shock of the Demi/JoBros reunion wore off, listeners still wanted to relive the glory days of Camp Rock. 

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ ‘Home’: Does Making the ‘Worst Song Ever’ Yield More Listeners?

“Worst song ever made,” X user Justin Boldaji posted on Aug. 4, with a clip of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros performing their 2010 indie-folk hit “Home.” The don’t-call-it-a-tweet quickly went viral — the embedded “Home” clip now has over 92 million views — with some users defending the song, others re-litigating the stomp-clap era of folk-rock and several others offering their own suggestion for the “worst song ever made.” Meanwhile, Edward Sharpe leader Alex Ebert seems to be having fun with the discourse, recently describing the viral moment to Stereogum as “a good little cathartic moment, and I love the discussion around it.”

All of the chatter boosted daily streams for “Home,” but only slightly. On Aug. 3, the day before Boldaji’s post, the song earned 175,000 U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate; by the end of the “Home”-filled week (Aug. 8), that daily streaming total crept above 200,000. A 14% bump is nothing to sneeze at, although, depending on how many “Home” discussions you’ve had this month, it’s a little short of making you exclaim, “Well, holy moly, me oh my.”

Lecrae x 1K Phew’s ‘Move’ Does Just That, Thanks to Viral Dance Performance

In late July, the Brotherhood dance crew emerged victorious at the International Dance League competition with a mesmerizing performance set to Lecrae x 1K Phew’s song “Move.” The crackling track was featured on No Church In a While, the 2021 collaborative project from the Christian rappers — and while “Move” wasn’t a major hit upon its release four years ago, the Brotherhood routine, and the many choreography homages it’s inspired on TikTok over the past two weeks, are elevating the track in both artists’ respective streaming catalogs.

“Move” earned 23,000 U.S. on-demand streams during the week ending July 24, according to Luminate — but following the IDL performance, that total increased to 47,000 streams the following week (up 104%), and to 104,000 streams the week after that (up 122%). Lecrae himself might have something to do with that latest total — on Aug. 3, he got in on the TikTok fun by dancing to “Move” himself. 

A Mediated Version of “Europe”

The Eurovision Song Contest is committed to its “proud tradition of celebrating diversity through music.” Although the contest’s origins in 1956 were part of a larger strategy to attract greater broadcaster and audience investment in the European Broadcasting Union’s new television network, a romantic narrative of the ‘song to unite Europe’ continues to hold symbolic weight in how states, broadcasters, and audiences approach the Song Contest. Most importantly, the EBU’s vision of a united Europe was and continues to be purportedly apolitical.

However, the idea of creating a unified pan-European audience is not in itself immediately apolitical. Prior to the EBU’s creation in 1950, European nations belonged to two major broadcasting unions: the International Broadcasting Union (IBU) and the International Radio and Television Organization (OIRT). Both organizations dissolved under political pressures. The OIRT, for instance, would become a primarily Eastern European media network as Western European members left at the onset of the Cold War. As such, the EBU has distinguished itself from predecessors by aiming to keep media networks, content sharing, and broadcasting infrastructure independent from state control. Even so, the EBU’s shifting membership, best demonstrated by its merging with the OIRT in 1993, illustrates the evolution in ideas of what “Europe” is and the relationship between the state and media.

Throughout its history, the Eurovision Network has primarily centered Western European cultures and traditions in its programming. This has included tours of the Vatican, coverage of the Montreaux Narcissus Festival, and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. With the recent worsening of relations between Western and Eastern Europe, Eurovision’s western lean has come under increased contention. This is evidenced in the revival of the OIRT’s Intervision Song Contest, set to be held in Russia in September 2025 and organized by Russia’s Channel One in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Last held in 1980, the contest’s revitalization follows years of predominantly Eastern European criticisms decrying Eurovision’s perceived liberal values and politics, particularly in relation to queer rights and identities.

Participation as European-ness

Participation in Eurovision is not predicated on being a “European” country either geographically or geopolitically. Rather, participating public broadcasters—not states themselves—are members of the EBU. More specifically, to be eligible to participate, member broadcasters must be located within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA), which includes transcontinental regions, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. This explains the participation of Azerbaijan, Israel, and, in 1980, Morocco. Meanwhile, Australia, which is decidedly outside of the EBA, participates upon special invitation, rationalized by a long history of screening the contest, a significant fan base, and its own romanticised narrative of a connection to Europe forged via post-war European migration. For the EBU, Australia’s participation provides evidence of their global reach and symbolically underscores the importance of the contest’s shared (Western) values. Yet it also complicates the relevance of the EBA as the central point of eligibility to participate in Eurovision.

Eurovision’s audience is now more global than ever, reaching an estimated 160 million viewers globally each year, but it still holds at its center one idea as its lynchpin: Europe. Consequently, participating or not participating in Eurovision, performing well or poorly, winning or losing, is consistently framed as an indication of relations with “Europe,” its people, states, and their opinions of global events. For example, when Ukraine won the Song Contest in 2022, media commentators were quick to characterize their landslide popular vote as “a wave of goodwill from European nations” in the wake of the Russian invasion rather than an indication that it was the best or most popular song. The contest, therefore, plays an important role in constructing the global imaginary of “Europe,” its culture, and values.

Flying the Flag for Europe

Eurovision’s globalization, devoid of a clear articulation of its political commitments, has created tensions with certain participating countries as its presentation of liberal values is often perceived as imposing a Western worldview under the guise of universality. This friction between liberal and illiberal value systems continue to shape the contest’s political landscape. Over the years, Eurovision has nurtured a strong relationship to queer acceptance and queer identities. Although fans come from across the spectrum of gender identity and sexuality, for many, Eurovision provides an important sense of community and is the only global media mega-event to foreground queer representation and pride. However, not all participating countries hold these same values.

In 2012, Türkiye’s broadcaster withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest, having participated since 1975, initially citing criticisms of the shift to a split jury-public televote voting system. Since, the broadcaster’s leadership has criticized Eurovision’s liberal politics of queer acceptance and inclusion as inappropriate to broadcast “when children are watching,” referring to bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst, who won for Austria in 2014. At the time of Wurst’s victory, Volkan Bozkir, the Chairman of Türkiye’s Foreign Affairs Committee stated, “Thank god we no longer participate in Eurovision.” The Turkish position reflects broader tensions regarding how Eurovision’s values translate geopolitically.

Similar tensions have arisen between Eastern and Western Europe, along a rough queer fault line representing members’ attitudes towards queer sexualities and identities. Russian and Belarusian audiences and politicians were also incensed by Wurst’s participation in the Song Contest and her eventual win. It was a useful rallying point for anti-queer sentiment in Western Europe as well. Moreover, in 2025, the EBU showed signs of acquiescing to these criticisms by banning artists from carrying pride flags and de-emphasizing the queer and camp dimensions of the song contest. This followed allegations from 2024 winner Nemo that they had to smuggle their non-binary flag past strict security.

This shift away from permitting, if not encouraging, expressions of queer pride and allyship by artists may reflect the EBU’s desire to retain participants, especially as the contest faces mounting criticism over various sociopolitical controversies, including allegations of preferential treatment toward the Israeli broadcaster and delegation. Over the last three years, the number of participating countries has been slowly decreasing from a high of 43 in 2018 to 37. For some countries, the decision to not participate is purely financial, but for others, the contest’s reputation as a celebration of queer pride is problematic. Hungary, for example, has not returned to the contest since 2019 due to the Orbán government’s hostility to LGBTQIA+ rights. According to Hungarian media insiders, the contest was deemed “too gay.” This reflects a broader climate of censorship under laws targeting so-called “LGBT propaganda.” In another example, queer rights have also come under scrutiny in the United Kingdom. A recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court limited the legal definition of “sex” to biological sex in certain equality legislation, a decision that critics warn could weaken protections for transgender individuals. In this broader European context, Eurovision’s restriction of artists’ identity expression—limiting symbols such as pride flags and requiring representation only through national emblems—cannot be viewed as neutral. This restriction implicitly supports political efforts to narrow the space of queer expression, making such restrictions deeply political.

Moreover, the restriction on artists displaying the EU flag, like the ban on pride flags, reveals Eurovision’s increasingly cautious approach to political symbolism, even when such symbols claim to represent inclusion and shared identity. The controversy over the EU flag at the 2024 Eurovision Grand Final offers an example. Dutch artist Joost Klein, whose disqualified entry “Europapa” was a tribute to his late parents and celebrated Europe as a “found family,” had prominently featured the EU flag in both his promotional materials and performance concept. While the EBU maintained that the flag ban was unrelated to politics, its decision to prohibit artists, but not fans, from displaying the EU flag reflected a broader retreat from transnational and identity-based symbolism on stage. While the EU plays no formal role in Eurovision, the symbolic weight of the EU flag has made it a site of contestation. Restricting its display underscores how the EBU increasingly polices expression of transnational belonging on stage. Rather than fostering an inclusive pan-European community, the selective regulation of symbols narrows the space for artists to articulate pluralistic or alternative visions of Europe, revealing the limits of Eurovision’s political neutrality.

Media, Politics, and the European Identity

Many of the public broadcasters participating in the Eurovision Song Contest are beholden to at least partial state funding or may have been constituted with the specific remit of representing the country’s culture and identity. Participating in Eurovision plays an important role in achieving this. As many European countries are acutely aware, representing one’s country’s identity and culture, even in something as seemingly innocuous as a song contest, is an important and deeply political act.

By extension, the EBU also plays an important role in communicating ideas. Its purported values of universality, independence, excellence, diversity, accountability, and innovation, coupled with the Eurovision Song Contest’s values of universality, diversity, equality, and inclusivity, are not apolitical or non-political, nor do they provide grounds for moral equivocation. The EBU’s decision-making around who can and cannot participate, which flags can and cannot be waved, cannot be divorced from the context in which these decisions are made.

In line with its value of accountability, the EBU needs to reconcile with the political repercussions of these decisions. Independence from government interference is important for media integrity and the maintenance of democratic processes, and the EBU’s defense of this should be lauded. Rather than separating it from politics, it illustrates what an integral part of politics it is.

As such, the EBU can and should take a clearer stance on matters of political importance. Unlike its member broadcasters, its independence from state interference is more assured. Its decision-making therefore needs to be in greater accordance with its values and with recognition that it is, indeed, a political actor in this sphere. As a political actor, the EBU has the opportunity to demonstrate greater leadership in safeguarding the freedom of expression, rather than becoming complicit in restricting those freedoms along politicized lines in the name of “neutrality.” It needs to expand meaningfully on its statement of values into clearer guidelines on what these values mean in practice, taking accountability for how its current limitations on expressions of transnational identities contravene its goals of protecting freedom of speech and Eurovision’s purported celebration of diversity. In so doing, the EBU can embrace its responsibility in facilitating public understandings of what constitutes Europe—not as a geopolitical space but as an idea that progresses, in the fullest sense of the word, into the twenty-first century.

. . .

Jessica Carniel is an Associate Professor in Humanities in the School of Humanities and Communication at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. She is currently a 2024-2026 Research Fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, which supports her research into Eurovision as a site of participatory diplomacy. She is the author of “Understanding the Eurovision Song Contest in Multicultural Australia” (Palgrave 2018) and the co-editor of “Eurovision and Australia: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Down Under” (with Chris Hay, Palgrave 2019).

Image Credit: David Jones, CC-BY-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

From the jump, Quinta Brunson has been rewarded for doing exactly what Quinta Brunson wants to do, with her ABC sitcom, Abbott Elementary, earning seven Emmy nominations in its inaugural season. This year is no different. 

Brunson received her fourth nomination for lead actress in a comedy series for her performance as Janine Teagues on the workplace sitcom — a statue she took home in 2023, when she became the second Black woman to win the award. She is also the third-most-nominated Black woman lead in a comedy series, behind The Jeffersons’ Isabel Sanford and Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross. 

Abbott Elementary, for which Brunson also serves as creator and executive producer, wrapped up its fourth season by nabbing six Emmy nominations, including best comedy and best writing for a comedy series, which Brunson won for the series’ pilot episode in 2022.

“We were very fortunate to have a pretty killer first season according to both us and critics and the audience,” she tells THR. “So that was my confirmation to just keep cooking.”

After finishing what Brunson said she felt was one of the show’s best seasons to date, and as work was underway on a fifth season, she talked with THR about the success of the show and what the future holds for the teachers at West Philly’s Abbott Elementary.

Does the recognition the show has received add any pressure to how you approach the next season?

I think what’s special is that we start writing our next season before Emmy nominations come out. There’s something nice about that, because by the time they come around we’re already about seven episodes in as far as outlining it. So if nothing else, it makes us want to keep up the good work, but that was a part of the ethos of Abbott in the first place. We don’t want to get caught up in the prestige. Our goal here has always been to maintain an engine that keeps rolling and keeps providing a high-quality comfort sitcom.

We’re so grateful for these nominations, but I think our goal here, and what’s most important, has always been for us to maintain an engine that keeps rolling and keeps providing a high quality comfort sitcom.

It feels like in season four you had one of your better seasons.

I think so, too.

So where do you go as a creative outfit with the show headed into season five?

We were just having a conversation about this in the (writers’ room). The beauty of the sitcom is that you are coming to see a certain thing every episode. You want the hijinks of the school.

As opposed to a prestigious drama where you are following a kind of arc, in a sitcom you want to see this character do the thing you know they’re going to do, and then figure out how are they going to get out of trouble this time? That’s what makes you feel like you’re with your friends.

My siblings and I were just talking about — motivated by Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s passing —the comfort of knowing on (The Cosby Show) that those kids were going to do something that the mother and father in that show would have to deal with. That’s really important and I really value that in the sitcom. I think it’s a unique art form and it’s special and it makes me feel just as happy as I feel like when I used to read Sunday comics, you know?

I was actually thinking before we talked about how perfectly Malcolm-Jamal Warner would have been in the world of Abbott. He just seems like someone who would have made an appearance.

He fits in a lot of worlds. He was a very amazing actor and I think it’s, you know, underrated.

As a creator I have so much respect for the legends it’s even hard for me sometimes to venture, like Cree Summer (who is on the show), working with them. They’re royalty to me. But that was a dream casting of mine, Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

Were there any moments in season four you had been holding on to, giddy to get into the show? Are there any for season five you’re excited to finally get to use?

A big one that stood out in season four was the episode “Dad Fight” with Gregory (Tyler James Williams). That was something I had wanted to do since season one, but it meant so much more to happen in season four instead of happening with [the] character when we don’t know him that well. And everyone was on 10, which was really special to me. To be able to have Zack Fox’s character be part of that story, that’s something we couldn’t have done back then. Tyler did a fantastic job with that. And it was so exciting because I got to have another actor, Langston Kerman, in that. These are my friends. These are my Avengers. 

We definitely have stuff like that this season where we’ve been thinking about it since season one, but now it feels like the right time to do those stories.

At what point do you think you’ll feel you’ve run out of runway?

I feel like my show still has so much life left in it. There’s so much story to tell, and I feel like audiences feel the same way. So that alone is the thing that makes me want it to stay alive. If ever it comes to a point where this feels like we’re not alive anymore, I think that is a sign to let it rest.

But Abbott was created to hopefully run for a long time. There are other shows that aren’t, and that’s OK. It’s something that I hope to do one day and make like a miniseries. There’s beauty in that kind of storytelling, just as much as there’s beauty in creating something that can last forever. 

This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

After the year that Taylor Swift has had—wrapping the 51 city-spanning, highest-grossing world tour in history, writing and recording an album inspired by it, and meticulously plotting its unveiling—we wouldn’t dream of asking her what she does with her “downtime.” But miraculously, the megastar has found some time to herself—and that’s when she’s baking sourdough.

Yesterday, Swift appeared on New Heights (a football podcast hosted by her NFL all-star boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his brother Jason) to officially announce her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. During the two-hour-long episode, she dove deep into her behind-the-scenes experience during the Eras Tour, sharing details about her professional-athlete-level recovery routine following each 3.5-hour performance, her on-the-road relationship with Kelce, and the immense gratitude—and relief—she feels now that she’s able to recuperate at home(s). Specifically, she’s embracing her “granny” side.

“I would say all my hobbies could be categorized as hobbies you could have had in the 1700s,” she said.

Among those nostalgic pastimes, Swift lists sewing, cooking, and painting—but her cyclical baking obsessions clearly have the strongest grip. Currently, as seen in her recent gift basket to Selena Gomez, she’s on a serious sourdough kick.

“The sourdough has taken over my life in a huge way. I’m really talking about bread…60% of the time now,” she said.

Swift is motivated by an intimate sense of consideration for her fans—both in her music and her baking. Swifties revisit her famous chai sugar cookie recipe every fall, she’s been known to surprise her crews with homemade holiday goodies, and several members of the Kansas City Chiefs (including head coach Andy Reid) have praised her pre-game cinnamon rolls and homemade Pop-Tarts. On New Heights, Swift shared that she sent two loaves to Travis (the self-described “luckiest man in the world”) while he was away at training camp, and is currently workshopping a Funfetti sourdough recipe to try out with Jason’s rainbow-obsessed daughters.

While Swift confessed to texting her friends for feedback on new loaves––blueberry lemon, cinnamon swirl, cinnamon raisin, et al.—we’re hopeful that the overwhelming response to the podcast episode will inspire her to share a recipe or two. If you need a Taylor-approved obsession to fill your days until The Life of a Showgirl drops on October 3, here’s an on-theme starter kit.

Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Bread Oven

Anthropologie Calla Cotton Dish Towel

The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More

Now 44% Off

Grace McCarty is a freelance Associate Digital Editor at ELLE Decor, where she covers design trends, shopping, and culture. She previously held a staff position at SELF Magazine, where she focused on beauty, style, and wellness. Her work has also appeared in Glamour and Parade.