‘If Not Winter' by Wisp Review: A ‘Nu-Gaze' on a Familiar Genre
In 2023, Natalie Lu of San Francisco, then 18 years old, encountered on YouTube a noisy and ethereal instrumental in the shoegaze vein created by a producer going by the name Grayskies. Inspired by what she heard, she wrote and recorded a vocal melody and lyrics that fit the chord structure, mixed the two tracks, called the song 'Your Face,' and uploaded it to TikTok and SoundCloud. Her song, which cost almost nothing to record, drew an audience, and before long it became a massive viral hit. She called her project Wisp, signed with Interscope, and issued an EP last year. Her debut album for the imprint, 'If Not Winter,' out Friday, is both a solid entry in the Gen Z-led update of the sound of shoegaze and an intriguing case study of how music circulates through culture.
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Criminals cash in on TikTok Labubu trend with dangerous fakes
At an anonymous industrial estate on the outskirts of London, a queue of police vans and empty lorries block the usual flow of lunchtime traffic. They are here to seize fake Labubu dolls. Thousands of them. After weeks of work, intelligence that started at a corner shop in south Wales has led Trading Standards officers to a labyrinth of rooms hidden above this retail outlet. Inside, they estimate millions of pounds worth of fake products are piled up, floor to ceiling, but what interests them most are the fluffy, mischievous-looking dolls at the centre of a global TikTok craze. According to Forbes, the popularity of Labubu dolls helped parent company Pop Mart more than double its total revenue to £1.33bn ($1.81bn) last year. They are wanted by children and adults alike, with some telling us they queued for hours or travelled across the country just to secure an authentic one. Adorable or just weird? How Labubu dolls conquered the world Labubu fan fury after dolls pulled from stores However, messages seen by BBC News also suggest scalpers may be buying hundreds of genuine products at a time to resell them at a profit, with authorities reporting a "flood" of counterfeits entering the market. Border Force has seized hundreds of thousands from UK ports in the past few months, meanwhile officers at the London industrial estate believe the dolls grinning up at them from the crates hide a darker secret. "The head comes off. The feet will pull off," explained Rhys Harries from Trading Standards, as one literally falls apart in his hands. Mr Harries first saw dolls like this after raiding a corner shop almost 200 miles away in Swansea, before tracing them back here. "I've found them in the bags where their eyes are coming off, their hands will come off." Mr Harries' team use a plastic tube, shaped like a child's throat, to measure how dangerous objects are - if it fits, it is a choking hazard. "These [parts] will all get stuck and then potentially cause choking," he said. Mum-of-one Jade said she "100%" agreed the fakes were a choking hazard after some fell apart shortly after giving them to her son. The 34-year-old from Caerphilly knew she had bought fakes - sometimes nicknamed Lafufus - for her son Harri's sixth birthday as she could not justify the cost of the authentic dolls. But she felt "obliged to get him one" after all his friends got their own and found knock-offs for just over £10, compared to some genuine ones costing £80. However, just a few hours into Harri's birthday, Jade said the keyring came off, followed by part of one of the feet a few days later. When Harri was swinging his new toy the hook came off the keyring, only for Jade to spot it in his mouth. She said "luckily" her son was old enough to tell her about his toy falling apart, but she warned things could be different for younger children. According to the Intellectual Property Office, the rush by criminals to get fakes to market often results in dangerous materials being used. "Counterfeiting is the second largest source of criminal income worldwide, second only to drug trafficking," said Kate Caffery, deputy director of intelligence and law enforcement. "It's in the interests of these criminal organisations to respond quickly to trends to maximise it, to get on the back of it and make the most money that they possibly can. "So that's why we see it happening so quickly and a complete disregard for safety concerns." Ms Caffery dismissed claims these fakes were made in the same factories or using the same materials as the real thing as "absolutely not true", adding that they "could be made from anything". These range from the inferior to the dangerous, including toxic plastics, chemicals, and small parts that aren't properly attached "that can then pose a chocking hazard". Although fake Labubus are still relatively new to the market, investigators know from previous cases involving counterfeit toys that they can be made with banned chemicals, including some linked to cancers. Authorities say most counterfeit products, including Labubus, can be traced to China, Hong Kong or Turkey and people are being warned to look out for "too good to be true" pricing or packaging that feels cheap and flimsy. TikToker Meg Goldberger, 27, is no stranger to collecting in a market filled with fakes. She has about 250 Jellycat plush toys, alongside her new collection of 12 Labubu dolls. "The more people talked about it and the harder they became to get, the more I needed them. That's why I now have 12," she said. However, pretty early into her search, Ms Goldberger said she realised the odds were stacked against her in her hunt for the real thing. She said she spent about 12 hours over several days waiting for Pop Mart store's TikTok live video, where Labubus are released for sale at a set time, just like gig tickets. "It used to be they sold out within like a minute. It's now like literally two seconds. You can't get your hands on them," she said. Instead, she opted to find someone reselling them online, but also discovered why they may have been selling out so fast. When she asked an eBay reseller for proof the Big Into Energy Labubu series she was interested in was genuine, Ms Goldberger was sent "a screenshot of what could have been like almost 200 orders of Labubus". "These people will sit at home and somehow robots hack the websites and bulk buy them, which is why they go so quickly. Then they'll resell them." Mr Harries said a selection of fake Labubus would be taken from London back to Swansea for use as evidence. The rest will be stored as evidence at a secret location before being either recycled or destroyed. "These were going everywhere," he said. "There were invoice books with them and they were going all across the UK. It's a national issue." Pop Mart has been asked to comment. Labubu firm sees profit soaring by at least 350% 'I was a shopping addict - it needs to be taken more seriously' Found on celebrity bags and in viral videos: The toy fashionistas are loving
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Stephen A. Smith hits back at Michelle Obama, ‘still … salty' at her Trump vote comments
Stephen A. Smith has hit back at Michelle Obama. The former First Lady took a jab at Smith's employer, ESPN, name-dropping the longtime host and saying the network's shows were like watching reality television, namely 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta.' Advertisement 'It's all a sociological study. They think that sports is better reality TV, I'm like, 'It's the same thing.' If I listen to ESPN for an hour, it's like watching the 'Real Housewives of Atlanta,' you know?' Obama said on her brother Craig's 'IMO' podcast. 'It's the same drama, and they're yelling at each other, and they don't get along, you know? I mean, Stephen A. Smith, he's just like every other. . . . 'So, that's why I'm like, 'what's the difference?' It's just, you know, it's just sociological drama,' added Obama. 'I mean, the fact that people over seasons of working still can't get along. They still have the same arguments, you know, and it's not just women. But this happens in sports, too. I find it fascinating.' Those comments found their way to Smith himself, and he used them as an opportunity not necessarily to respond back, but voice his opinion on one of her strategies while campaigning for Kamala Harris last year. 3 Michelle Obama on her podcast 'IMO' talking about how ESPN is reality tv. Michelle Obama / YouTube Advertisement 'When you were campaigning on behalf of the former Vice President Kamala Harris … you said a vote for [President Donald] Trump was a vote against you and a vote against y'all as women. I want to say for the record – I took major offense to that.' Smith admitted. 'I think to this day is the only thing that I didn't like that you said, I didn't appreciate it. Because there's so many things that go into deciding where your vote is going to go. For some people, it's all about the economy. For others, it's all about national security. 'For some people, it is immigration. For some people, it's safety in the streets of America. Long before they think about pro-choice or pro-life.' 3 Stephen A. Smith looks on before the game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers during Game Three of the 2025 NBA Finals on June 11, 2025 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. NBAE via Getty Images Advertisement Smith reiterated that he voted for Harris and 'wouldn't vote for Trump,' but 'wasn't excited' how casting his vote for the former vice president 'particularly after I heard about some of the shenanigans that the Democratic Party was engaging in leading up to the election. 'But I'm talking specifically to you, Madam First Lady. You are not just beloved, you are revered. You are sensational in so many ways. I've been on the record on this show and many others stating had you run for president, you would have beat Trump. I still believe that … I believe if your husband elected to come back, he would beat Trump. That's my personal belief . . .' Smith continued. Smith then got into Obama's comments about ESPN, saying he disagreed with those as well. 3 A logo sign at the entrance to the ESPN headquarters on November 03, 2024 in Bristol, Connecticut. Getty Images Advertisement 'So this doesn't have anything to do with what you were talking about, how sports and reality TV mirror one another, even though we would beg to differ. Because a lot of things on reality TV are made-up situations and scenarios to provoke reactions and all of that stuff. 'We're at sports, that's live entertainment, and you're actually competing against one another is big time. No, reality TV is not like that. You're so wrong about that, about that assertion, but that's neither here nor there. . . . 'You will never hear me utter a negative word about you, but I respectfully disagreed and still remain pretty salty about what you said about us,' Smith said, adding that he felt Obama 'sort of blackmail[ed] us emotionally into trying to compel us to vote one way or another.' Perhaps we may get another episode of this apparent Obama-Smith beef.
Hamilton Spectator
3 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
JP Saxe's North American tour cancelled over low ticket sales despite online appeal
TORONTO - A Toronto singer-songwriter who was set to tour North America this fall says he's cancelled his series of concerts over sluggish ticket sales and the high cost of life on the road. JP Saxe took to social media this week, saying that if he didn't sell about 20,000 tickets to his upcoming Make Yourself at Home tour within 48 hours, it would likely be cancelled. In a follow-up video, he says 2,000 more tickets were sold, but it wasn't enough to save the tour. Saxe says he's grateful for the extra sales, that tickets will be fully refunded and he's looking to make sure similar cancellations never happen again. The Grammy-nominated musician, best known for his 2019 single 'If the World Was Ending' with Julia Michaels, was set to play more than 25 dates, including Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver. The cancellation comes as live music faces mass pressure, compounded by a shaky economy, years of inflation and concert ticket prices that — in many cases — have skyrocketed by hundreds of dollars this year. 'Those 2,000 tickets were a reminder ... of how wonderful it can be to ask for help and watch a community come together, and this really was the nicest the internet has ever been to me,' he said in a video posted to social media platform TikTok. 'I'm grateful to each one of you who bought a ticket, and I'm really sorry.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2025.
