Now that 2025 is officially behind us, we have approximately 36 to 72 hours of peace before an influx of Ins and Outs lists are expected to hit the timeline. Normally we wouldn’t bother contributing to such nonsense, but this year we’re making an exception as we have but one plea for 2026: no more concert gimmicks.
If you saw any major pop star perform live in 2025, you know what we’re talking about. The arrests. The Apple girls. The Sallies. At first, these moments were just harmless, elevated forms of crowd work created in service to a specific section of an artist’s show. Sabrina Carpenter cuffing fans for being too gorgeous, Charli XCX shining the jumbo-screen spotlight on one lucky dancer, et cetera. But too much of a good thing won’t be good for long, and now the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction that we’ve somehow landed on Alex Warren stumbling his way through Zara Larsson’s “Lush Life” choreography at Jingle Ball. Is nothing sacred anymore?
Part of why these stunts are no longer charming is because they feel like brazen attempts at manufacturing virality with other celebrities. In a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, Lily Allen invites Dakota Johnson on stage for a performance of “Madeline” to embody the role of her ex husband’s mistress. Johnson spends most of the song delivering a series of distressed text monologues from behind a sheer curtain before planting a kiss on Allen’s cheek at the very end, a reveal that’s met with uproarious applause from the audience (naturally). Given that Allen is set to take West End Girl on the road next year, it stands to reason we haven’t seen the last of the Madeline girl schtick.
What’s worse, these gimmicks have overshadowed their respective live shows so much that the rest of these concerts now feel secondary to their viral moments. Audience members spend the majority of the night holding their breath waiting to see who will make an appearance, secretly hoping they’ll be treated to an A-list cameo and not just some rando in the pit. Then the moment passes, and that sense of urgency and anticipation dies with it.
Sure, we’ve enjoyed the gimmicks, too (Chappell Roan as the Apple Girl is forever burned into our brains), but the bit has run its course, plain and simple. But before you call us buzzkills in the comments, we’d like to propose a compromise: In 2026, let’s promise to re-normalize good, old-fashioned duets à la Olivia Rodrigo and Robert Smith at Glastonbury or Dua Lipa and Gwen Stefani on the Radical Optimism tour. This way, we still get the excitement of a special guest and a memorable musical moment. Everybody wins.
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