Celebrity Catch-Up With Trending

Rihanna officially becomes a billionaire

According to Forbes, Rihanna is now a billionaire and the world’s wealthiest female musician. She is now worth $1.7 billion, making her second only to Oprah Winfrey. But it isn’t her music that has made her so prosperous. The value of Fenty Beauty, of which she now owns 50%, accounts for the majority of her riches (an estimated $1.4 billion). Her investment in Savage x Fenty, which is worth an estimated $270 million, and her profits from her career as a chart-topping musician and actress account for the majority of the rest. In a June 2019 interview with Sarah Paulson for Interview magazine, Rihanna said how she didn't plan on developing an empire or being an entrepreneur; it just happened as she pursued her music career and explored other creative avenues.

Is the Met Gala losing its prestige?

In an effort to bring the Met Gala into the social media age, this year's event is bypassing more established fashion industry figures in favour of younger talent. “I’ve been told that a lot of influencers are on the guest list.” The Post spoke with a celebrity agency whose clients have been regulars at the event in the past. “I’ve heard that Facebook and Instagram have taken so many tables, and that’s put a lot of people off going, alongside the mask mandate.” The development of TikTok, the world's fastest-growing social media site, coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike precursor applications such as YouTube and Instagram, TikTok's popularity has spread well beyond the platform, taking its place in mainstream culture and is producing some of the internet's “largest” celebrities. It's evident that viewers aren't excited to see a larger number of influencers attending an event that has traditionally been reserved for huge celebrities — but as more social media moguls break into the mainstream, this could become a trend we see more of in the future, whether we like it or not.

Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’ on Asian representation

Marvel's first standalone film portraying an Asian hero, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,"has been released starring Simu Liu. With a predominantly East Asian ensemble, the film has already sparked debate about whether it can match the cultural relevance of "Black Panther." Debates on the release of this film have become nuanced, with principles like justice, equality and representation being common in arguments supporting the merit of Shang-Chi. The theory is that if Shang-Chi succeeds at the box office, it will demonstrate that Asian American tales are worth investing in, and that viewers want to see Asian American faces on the big screen, and that superheroes of asian descent are just as valid as their white counterparts.

Not So Sweet, Sour Controversy.

After the success of driver’s license, it is no surprise that Olivia Rorigos’s debut album Sour was a No 1 on the Billboard Hits but the surprising amount of controversy associated with it was shocking! From faulty merch that featured misspelt SOUR bracelets and poor quality tops, to the brutal (song on the album) music video’s strikingly similar scenes to that of Rina Sawayama’s XS. In addition to that, fans have noted similarities between ‘good 4 U’ (another song) and Paramore’s ‘risky business’. Admitting she was influenced by the group, Olivia has since made Paramore bandmates and singer Hayley Williams as well as ex-guitarist Josh Farro, co-writers. But this wasn't the first time that Rodrigo had offered writing credits to other artists for their apparent influence on her work — back in July, it was reported that she'd added Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, and St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) to the credits on "Deja Vu," another one of her top 10 hits. Hey, We love a retroactive queen who takes responsibility.

Is ‘He’s all that’, not all that??

Over the summer, Addison Rae made her acting debut in the 2021 remake of ‘She’s all that’ and the public has been divided. The movie, ‘He’s all that’, features a gender-swapped version of the famous rom-com with Addison Rae as Padgett Sawyer, an influencer who looks to transform the school outcast Cameron Kweller, played by Tanner Buchanan, into a teen heartthrob. Despite Rae being excited at her rising acting career, the public begged to differ with overwhelming negative reviews. Some of Rae’s fans are coming to her defence saying she is not to blame for ‘all’ of the movie’s problems. Rae’s co-star, Buchanan, also came to her defence saying ‘she worked really hard’. Fans are already speculating what we will see her in next as Rae signs another contract with Netflix.

Baby on board <3

In traditional Jenner fashion, Kylie announced she is pregnant with her second child via a cute Instagram video that had fans everywhere crying. Although, this did not come as a surprise to true Kylie fans who spent all summer forming conspiracy theories about whether or not she was pregnant. Though she did not disclose any specific details about the pregnancy, the video includes many scenes of her friends and family reacting to the news and even ends the video with a vignette of Stormi, first-child, kissing her baby bump.