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You might have noticed some of your coworkers are overly excited this week and counting down the minutes until midnight on October 3. No, these are not diehard cinephiles devoted to the 2004 film Mean Girls (which features a joke about the date). Instead, they’re Taylor Swift fans. The Life of a Showgirl, Swifts twelfth studio album, is set to be released late Friday night. (So if the Swifties in the office seem overwhelmed, grant them grace, because this is a big week.) Heres everything you need to know about the albumin case you’re cornered by the coffee maker by someone with a friendship bracelet (the unofficial signifier of a Swift super fan). When and how did Swift announce The Life of a Showgirl? On August 11, Swifts website revealed a countdown to 12:12 a.m. ET on August 12. When time ran out, she announced The Life of a Showgirl and promised more details would be revealed on her later appearance on her fiancé Travis Kelces podcast “New Heights. How did the Eras Tour influence The Life of a Showgirl? During her two-hour podcast conversation with both Travis and his brother Jason Kelce, Swift revealed that the album was inspired by her experiences behind the scenes of the Eras tour. She wrote, produced, and recorded the majority of the album on the European leg in 2024. She would do three days of shows, then fly to Sweden to record. It was hard but rewarding work: I was physically exhausted at this point in the tour, but I was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating, she explained. Who is the creative team behind The Life of a Showgirl? For this album, Swift is teaming up with producers Max Martin and Shellback again. The trio had previously collaborated on tracks such as 22, Blank Space, and “. . . Ready for It?” Former long-time collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner did not work on this album.These guys, theyre just geniuses, Swift gushed on the podcast, referring to Martin and Shellback. Weve never actually made an album before where its just the three of us. Theres no other collaborators. Its just the three of us making a focused album. What do we know about the album’s tracks, titles, and lead single? There are just 12 tracks on the album, which is a big departure from Swifts recent releases. The Tortured Poets Department turned into a surprise double album with 31 tracks. Midnights had 13 tracks, until Midnights (3am Edition) added seven bonus tracks. Because of Martin and Shellbacks involvement, we can guess this will be a more pop-centered album full of big showstopping numbers, and likely more upbeat and less folksy than recent releases.It just comes from like the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life, Swift explained on the podcast. And so that effervescence has come through on this record. The albums lead single is The Fate of Ophelia, referencing William Shakespeares tragic character from Hamlet. Meanwhile, the title track features Sabrina Carpenter, who opened for Swift in select cities during the Eras Tour. She is the only known guest artist on the album at this time.Historically, the fifth track of a Swift album is saved for the most emotional song. This time around, Eldest Daughter gets that honor. I heard there’s also a movie? Swift is a master of public relations and marketing. To coincide with the album release, she is also hosting a movie event. Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl will feature behind-the-scenes footage, the music video for The Fate of Ophelia, and special commentary on the creative process. The 89-minute extravaganza will only be in limited theaters from October 3 to 5. How is Swift promoting The Life of a Showgirl? During release week, Swift is appearing on The Graham Norton Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Late Night With Seth Meyers. Her social media accounts have a calendar listing all the events leading up to the big day. Why are Swift fans talking about the word ‘standby’? One of these events is currently a mystery: Saturday, October 4 is simply listed as standby. Swifties, known for being internet detectives, are desperately trying to figure out what this means. Could it be a tour announcement, or a surprise Saturday Night Live appearance? All will be revealed with time, but one can see how Swifties have a lot to be excited about this week.
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E-Commerce
Rumor has it that soda fountains at a handful of gas stations and convenience stores across the Midwest are serving a thicker, more syrupy variant — with extra sweetness. Aptly dubbed heavy soda, the drink option can be traced back to a singular post on the subreddit r/Soda, and a few TikTok videos. You know when the gas station fountains have this option youre in gods country, creator Kate Boyer wrote in the caption of a post earlier this year. The video has since gained almost seven million view. The drink has recently been picked up by a number of news organizations. Not to be confused with the recent dirty soda or protein soda trends, heavy soda is all about dialling up sweetness and flavor (also rumored to be the secret recipe behind McDonalds Cokes superiority to all other types of Coke). The soda fountain supposedly dispenses an extra blast of syrup, resulting in a sweeter, more concentrated version of popular sodas like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Dr Pepper. Taking it a step further, one TikToker, an employee at a movie theater, even claimed that co-workers skipped the water altogether and drank straight from the Mountain Dew syrup fountain. Some commenters have taken this as an opportunity to dunk on America’s sweet tooth culture. Heavy soda is the most American culture, one wrote. Gods country is the reason we cant have free healthcare, another wrote. Many, however, protested their innocence, claiming theyve never seen the heavy option out in the wild. Ive lived in and been all over the South most of my life, and I have never heard of or seen this anywhere, one Reddit user responded. This must be some very backwoods rural area place. It seems most of the confirmed sightings have been in Missouri. For everyone asking, Heavy Pepsi is a Missouri thing, one wrote. Another responded: Ive seen it in Missouri gas stations south of St. Louis. I tried the heavy Mountain Dew. Its way better than it should be. Another explained that the fountain option is ideal for those who need their Big Gulp to last all day, with the ice diluting the heavy soda over time to the perfect ratio, thereby avoiding a watered down drink by the end of the day. Viral soda recipes? While heavy soda may not have caught on in other parts of the U.S. just yet, companies like McDonalds and Crumbl Cookies are trialling their own versions of viral soda recipes to capitalize on the social media-fueled frenzy for ultra-customized and made-to-order beverages. Beverages have been one of the hottest growth businesses for U.S. restaurants, the Wall Street Journal reported, with sales up 9.6% in 2024, the biggest annual increase of any restaurant category. At Starbucks, one-quarter of the chains custom drinks sold in the U.S. have more than three customer modifications like an extra shot or pump of flavored syrup, a company spokeswoman recently told The New York Times. In an era of personalization and little treat culture, an off-shelf soda no longer hits the same.
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E-Commerce
Tesla has raised lease prices for all its vehicles in the U.S. after a $7,500 federal tax credit that helped boost electric vehicle sales expired, according to the company’s website on Wednesday. The change follows the end of tax incentives under sweeping legislation passed by Congress, which eliminated the $7,500 credit for new EV leases and purchases, as well as a $4,000 credit for used EVs, effective September 30. Tesla and its rivals had been passing these credits on to customers through competitive lease offers. The monthly lease of the electric vehicle manufacturer’s best-selling Model Y increased to a range between $529 and $599, from a range of $479 to $529. Prices of all vehicles, however, remain unchanged. Model 3 lease prices touched a range of $429 to $759 per month, from a range of $349 to $699. Demand for battery-powered models is already showing signs of a slowdown after rapid growth earlier in the decade. Sales could drop after the credits dry up, auto executives and analysts have warned. Reuters reported last month that Tesla’s U.S. market share dropped to a near eight-year low in August, as buyers chose electric vehicles from a growing stable of rivals, according to data from research firm Cox Automotive. Tesla, which once held more than 80% of the EV market in the United States, accounted for only 38% of the country’s total EV sales in August, according to early data from Cox. Nilutpal Timsina and Kanjyik Ghosh, Reuters
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E-Commerce
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