Pop Culture

“Sometimes I joke about how I wish the character wasn't named Ramy,” Ramy Youssef says with a smile over Zoom from his new home in New York. He’s just moved in and took a few moments to work out the best place to sit for Wi-Fi so he can chat with ELLE.com about season 3 of his self-titled comedy series. “But I will say, the thing that I do like about it, is that I’m on the hook.”Given the polarizing subject matter of this latest season of Ramy, ranging from...

Spoilers for Severance season 1 ahead. It's fitting that, in this era of return-to-office fatigue, mass resignations, “quiet quitting,” and declining professional ambition, a show about the oddities and horrors of work life would captivate us most. Apple TV+'s Severance took the world by storm after premiering in February, garnering critical acclaim, a growing fandom, and 14 Emmy nominations. But the sci fi workplace drama from creator/writer Dan Erickson and director/executive producer Ben Stiller wowed us not only for its cultural relevance, but also for its compelling premise and A-list...

Getting an EGOT — an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award — is not something that is in the reach of every performer. The people most likely to do it are musicians, since regular actors rarely win Grammys, even the award-winning ones. One person who is very close to the full EGOT is Adele. The musical artist has an Emmy, an Oscar, and 15 Grammys. But she claims she will never win a Tony. The musical artist attended a fan event to celebrate the release of her “I Drink Wine”...

On Saturday, Selena Gomez was enjoying a day out in New York City when she found herself on the perfect street corner. Honoring her Alex Russo character, Gomez posted a tribute to her Disney Channel show Wizards of Waverly Place.“Where it all began,” she wrote in the caption of a photo in which she is looking up at the “Waverly Place” street sign on the corner of the block.In the image, Gomez is wearing an oversized, white pullover and patterned pants with a black bag crossing her body. In 2007,...

The 2012 film adaptation of the musical Les Miserables had a lot of big stars, but not Taylor Swift, though that apparently could have happened. She auditioned to play a role, but according to her it was a “nightmare” experience. Swift recounted the moment while on an episode of The Graham Norton Show with actor Eddie Redmayne. Redmayne was her scene partner in her audition and she was so embarrassed by how things unfolded in front of him.“Basically, I was up for two roles … I had the look of...

Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen announced their divorce on October 28 after being married for 13 years. Before their official announcement, they reportedly worked out their plans for separation and how to share time with their two children, 12-year-old Benjamin and 9-year-old Vivian.“They worked out settlement details and once everything was agreed upon there was no reason to wait,” a source close to the situation told E! News. “They're both ready to move on and move ahead.”They added that the former couple had “agreed on joint custody and dividing their...

When did Taylor Swift become Taylor Swift? It’s not an easy question to answer. Swift is the consummate skin-shedder, forever toeing the line between self-expression and self-creation. In this sense, she’s also the consummate millennial: taught from youth to craft a persona, only for human emotion to blow it up. The difference is Swift, unlike so many her age, seems to thrive on this cycle. As much brand as flesh and blood, as much an inventor as historian (and, lately, re-inventor), Swift typically understands how she’ll be perceived better than...

Beach season isn’t a time of year; it’s a state of mind. With BeachBound, a seaside stay is mere clicks away anytime you want it—and practically anywhere in the world. At the booking site, you can arrange your flight, hotel, travel, and excursions all in one place, meaning relaxation remains the top priority. In your search for the perfect beach, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better spot for a respite than Grenada. Though small, the southern Caribbean island manages to fit all sorts of adventure within its 12-by-21 mile...

It’s finally here. After a years of waiting, begging, and nagging, Rihanna has blessed us with new music at last. Her latest is “Lift Me Up,” the lead single from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack—a grand comeback fit for the superstar and mogul. The uplifting, emotional ballad is meant to be a tribute Chadwick Boseman, the late and beloved star of Black Panther whose loss has been deeply felt by fans and fellow actors, especially his former co-stars in the Wakanda Forever cast. The song was written by Rihanna,...

For those wondering what the state of the union is like between self-proclaimed “twin flames” Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly, look no further than Fox's latest, very public and pretty graphic Instagram comment on his page. After weeks of speculation that the two's relationship was in trouble because they weren't seen out much together, Fox made it clear that she's still deeply enamored with Kelly. After attending the Time100 Next Gala with him this week, Fox wrote on his last Instagram post—featuring photos of him from that night—“Never has...

Netflix's The Good Nurse tells the true story of a nurse named Charles Cullen who was eventually found guilty of killing dozens of patients in his care—though he is suspected of murdering far, far more. In the film, Eddie Redmayne plays Cullen and co-stars with Jessica Chastain, who portrays a fellow nurse at Somerset Medical Center named Amy Loughren. Cullen and Loughren were working together when he was finally arrested, because she helped gather evidence against him.But before the arrest, they actually shared a real friendship, working late nights in...

Ariana Grande is officially a blonde as she continues to work on the film adaptation of Wicked, where she’s playing Glinda. Grande casually shared a first look at her new hair color, writing, “new earrings.” In the first hour since Grande shared the post, over 1.3 million people liked it.Grande has kept a pretty low profile on social media as she works on the film in London. She last shared a photo of her and Cynthia Erivo, who’s playing Elphaba, on October 11 in a carousel of images from her...

Campaigns for a Grace and Frankie spin-off series haven’t paid off just yet, but stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are nevertheless steering the Netflix series’ sizable fanbase toward collective democratic action. On Friday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. EST, the co-stars behind the hit comedy will return to their roles for a table read fundraiser benefitting Fonda’s organization, the Jane Fonda Climate PAC. The committee is devoted to vetting and electing “climate change champions” in all areas of government, in an effort to “stand up to the fossil fuel...

Press Play is a recurring column that looks at (and listens to) the songs that have shaped the life and work of beloved musical artists. For nine weeks in 2012, Carly Rae Jepsen’s inescapable “Call Me Maybe” sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Since that epic run, Jepsen has gone on a winding sonic journey, racking up a cult following and a somewhat inexplicable amount of indie cred, while simultaneously inspiring a seemingly endless stream of joyful memes with her hard-to-pin-down pop interpretation of everything from Laurel Canyon folk...