{"id":213081,"date":"2026-01-02T11:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T11:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/213081\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T11:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T11:31:07","slug":"a-list-of-very-serious-pop-culture-predictions-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/213081\/","title":{"rendered":"A list of very serious pop culture predictions for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BLUE IVY MAKES HER MET GALA DEBUT<\/p>\n<p>With her mum hosting the celebrations, it\u2019d be rude for her not to. We also predict a secret act four to Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s album trilogy, but it\u2019s actually Blue\u2019s debut album titled \u201cIV\u201d (four in roman numerals \u2013 get it?). Before that, however, we\u2019ll get act III, a Beyonc\u00e9 rock album with features including Rosal\u00eda and System of a Down. (IVD)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>WERNER HERZOG ENTERS HIS INFLUENCER ERA\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, the acclaimed director joined Instagram at the ripe old age of 82, using the platform to share behind-the-scenes footage from his new film Ghost Elephants, demonstrate prehistoric weaponry, and show off his favourite stuffed toys (sorry, his \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DSNwWpgDE83\/?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bavarian musicians<\/a>\u201d). Already racking up more than 700,000 followers, a slew of brand deals are surely on the table for the new year: maybe some comfy MeUndies or Manscaped \u201cgroin trimmers\u201d? Use code WERNER for 20% off BetterHelp. Ecstatic truth is brought to you by Shopify. (TW)<\/p>\n<p>BLUE HAIR IS IN AGAIN<\/p>\n<p>Woke is back, baby! (SS)<\/p>\n<p>CHARLI WRITES A SUBSTACK ABOUT QUITTING MUSIC<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Charli soft-launched a pivot to acting after appearing in Pete Ohs\u2019 indie drama Erupjca, and in 2026 she\u2019s set to appear in a great glut of films, including: her much-anticipated mockumentary The Moment, 100 Nights of Hero, The Gallerist, I Want Your Sex, Sacrifice, and Mother Mary.<\/p>\n<p>Her Wuthering Heights soundtrack will be widely acclaimed, but at some point in the second half of the year she\u2019ll pen a Substack with a silly, provocative title like \u201cIs music over?\u201d or \u201cMusic is uncool now\u201d, in which she\u2019ll allude to the fact that she\u2019s planning on focusing on making films for the foreseeable future. (SS)<\/p>\n<p>RACCOON AT THE SUPERBOWL<\/p>\n<p>What the hell, sure. (SS)<\/p>\n<p>TIMOTH\u00c9E CHALAMET GETS AN OSCAR FOR MARTY SUPREME<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s in the bag, surely? The man spent seven years honing his ping-pong skills, for God\u2019s sake. (SS)<\/p>\n<p>NIGEL FARAGE RECORDED SAYING A SLUR<\/p>\n<p>A Guardian scoop that dominates headlines for a week but ultimately blows over because his supporters don\u2019t care \u2764\ufe0f (SS)<\/p>\n<p>PRINCE ANDREW [REDACTED]<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd6f\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>TIMMY AND KYLIE BABY<\/p>\n<p>I actually think a lot of celebs are going to make pregnancy announcements next year, but in his latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vogue.com\/article\/timothee-chalamet-december-cover-2025-interview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vogue<\/a> cover, Timoth\u00e9e explicitly said that he believes that procreation is the reason we&#8217;re all here and that children \u201ccould be on the radar\u201d. Our thoughts and prayers will be with Club Chalamet, if and when this occurs \ud83d\ude4f (HJ)<\/p>\n<p>VEGANISM COMEBACK<\/p>\n<p>Last month, our US Editor, Laura Pitcher, asked \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69135\/1\/where-have-all-the-vegans-gone-wokeness-plant-based-diet\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Where have all the vegans gone?<\/a>\u2019. Well, let me tell you, Laura&#8230; they are on their way back! While veganism has been on the outs in the West,\u00a0just like blue hair, we will see it rise again as wokeness returns, inshallah. (HJ)<\/p>\n<p>RACHEL SENNOTT WILL TRY TO RELEASE MUSIC AND GO ON TOUR<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Cus why the hell not! (HJ)<\/p>\n<p>ESDEEKID REVEALED AS PAKISTANI<\/p>\n<p>When I look into his eyes, I see a real Sufism in him. I feel as though the soul of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has been restructured. Everyone keeps telling me he\u2019s a Scouser, but why can\u2019t two things be true at the same time\u2026 (HJ, with thanks to Zara Afthab)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>SYDNEY SWEENEY REDEMPTION ARC<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re a very fickle culture. One second we (rightly) hate someone, the next we love them. With her return as Cassie in Euphoria, maybe the tides will turn for Sydney Sweeney. One of my friends believes she will start acting in arthouse films, find her niche, and people will start respecting her again like Mia Goth. Who knows! (HJ)<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BLUE IVY MAKES HER MET GALA DEBUT With her mum hosting the celebrations, it\u2019d be rude for her&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1228,36896,32107,36897,36898,36899,36900,36901,156,1438,593,6044,36895,409,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-213081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-art","tag-dazed","tag-dazed-confused","tag-dazed-confused-magazine","tag-dazed-and-confused","tag-dazed-and-confused-magazine","tag-dazedconfused","tag-dazeddigital","tag-entertainment","tag-fashion","tag-film","tag-ideas","tag-ideas-sharing-network","tag-movies","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}