2026 Pop Culture Prediction: My nightmare (and highly likely) prediction for 2026 is that Sydney Sweeney will go full MAGA in the new year. We’re already seeing her being Mar-a-Lago’d in front of our eyes: Her refusal to confirm she doesn’t support white supremacy (and the fact that she does not actually wear American Eagle jeans, because c’mon), her progressively old, white and cancellable boyfriends, the terrible bob and this Tiffany Trump homage on late-night TV. It’s happening people!! In 2026, I think Sweeney, emboldened by the current political climate, is going to completely forgo being “coy” about her politics and make a Candace Cameron Bure-style pivot to conservatism. This time next year, she’ll be dating an up-and-coming Republican politician from a typically progressive state… or maybe even JD Vance.
Runner up: Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and firework Katy Perry elope in Thailand (she already got married in India, so that’s out). It’s a relatively low-key affair. Perry wears a tastefully sheer Danielle Frankel gown, indicative of her pared back aesthetic as she transitions to political spouse/advocate, and our former PM wears linen pants and is, of course, shirtless. They vacation in the country and celebrate their marriage by announcing a joint non-profit.
“Is a full Rihanna album too much for a smurf to ask for?”
Russ Martin, producer, Pop Pantheon
Best: For those super plugged into pop, Lady Gaga’s 2025 comeback was a once-in-a-generation Diva event on par with Tina Turner’s Private Dancer, Cher’s Believe, Madonna’s Ray of Light and Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi. It’s hard to remember now, but a little over a year ago, Gaga was down for the count. Everyone hated Joker 2, signalling curtains on her second act as a serious actress. And her big return to pop, “Disease,” landed with a thud commercially, so much so that her beige Bruno Mars collab, “Die With a Smile” was retro-fit into the lead single for album Mayhem.
Then came “Abracadabra”—a spiritual sequel to “Bad Romance” aimed squarely at millennials who still club like it’s ’09 every now and then. Now, at 38, Gaga has the most popular streaming song on Spotify released by a woman this year. Her Coachella set and record-smashing Rio beach performances both felt like victory laps, but her taking the show on the road was the real reward. I’ve seen Gaga 19 times and this was, quite unexpectedly, her best tour ever. At the show in Toronto, I sat next to a young queer woman and her mother. I told her I’d seen Gaga perform in that same arena the literal year she was born. To see Gaga at the height at the height of her powers nearly two decades into her career made it feel like, amidst a lot of hopelessness, anything was still possible.
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