Rated Reads this week takes a look at the return of rapper Cordae, the rise and fall of GIFs and an interview with Sydney Sweeney, alongside more.

GIFs Are For Boomers Now, Sorry

Jif or gif? Once upon a time, that question mattered. No longer, though. Bad news, GIF lovers: GIFs, like Facebook and the political establishment, is the preserve of boomers only now. For Vice, Amelia Tait investigates the waning in popularity of those little looping images, which, in a Tumblr world, used to mean something. Now, they only signify age and decay. Everybody TikToks now. Get with it, millennials.

TV’s buzziest shows aren’t trying to trick viewers anymore

Mystery box television: the art of hooking the viewer in with the promise of answers that would likely disappoint them. Once, it was the king of TV, with Lost and The X-Files inspiring forum threads upon forum threads of discussion, in a time when people actually used forums. Now, the tide is turning, and Emily VanDerWerff is here to discuss how the latest crop of popular TV, from Yellowjackets to Succession, are leaving their cards on the table rather than hiding them. Mostly.

Bella Hadid on Overcoming the Anxiety of Getting Dressed Every Morning

 

Supermodels – they’re just like us (sort of). Not that you’d know it from Instagram, but that’s the point. Bella Hadid chats to WSJ about the ongoing issue of matching the glossy idealised images of Instagram life with the awkwardness and difficulty of getting out of bed in the morning, and how she’s tackled her issues with mental and physical health in public.

Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney: ‘I forgot to tell my dad about the nudity…’

Once more, the Euphoria teens – all of whom are in their mid-twenties, but anyway – are taking the Internet by storm. Chief among them is Sydney Sweeney, who put the hard work in on the Euphoria hiatus starring in another big HBO show, The White Lotus. She chats to the Telegraph about those two big roles, her car fixing habit, and the awkwardness of starring on a show where everyone is naked all the time.

‘We’re fed up’: Inside the chaos and confusion of live music in 2022

Take it from someone who had tickets to Wolf Alice for what would have been this Tuesday – live music is a mess right now. Even after shows returned in the second half of 2021, the spectre of COVID has continued to mess with the industry. For The Independent, Roisin O’Connor takes a look at the beleaguered state of live music as Omicron forces another wave of delays. Wolf Alice rescheduled for February, but not everyone’s so lucky.

Cordae on Grammy Love, His New Album, and Going Off the Grid in Africa

Cordae took the hip-hop world by storm with the release of his critically-acclaimed debut album, The Lost Boy, and now he’s back for round two. Complex chats to the rapper about his new tracks, his opinion on the continuing relevance of the Grammys and his soul-searching trip to Africa.