Capsule #93 ft. TheBabeGabe

Hello!

There has been something in the air this week… Moods have shifted… It’s spring of course, but somehow feels more momentous than I remember. I wanted to pause and capture the feeling, so I’ve tried to do that this week and invited you to do the same.

Also super excited to have TheBabeGabe (formerly of BLACKSTARKIDS) on the Hot & Not today! Plus all the good recs for your weekend.

Enjoy!

Holly x

End of Q1 check-in

Every January and September, we have a similar discussion. In January, while lots of people like reflecting on the time just gone and considering what to focus on in the new year (me included, I like this!), there’s a growing call for not putting this pressure on during a cold dark month, as we come down from the dizziness of festive fun. And in September, as summer draws to a close, we find ourselves feeling reflective, craving routine, transported back to the shiny new shoes and pencil cases of our school days. We should set our goals now, a bunch of us say, feeling inspired by the nostalgia of the academic calendar. I often feel the same.

And then this week, I found myself with a similar but different urge. Emails called on me to make the most of the ISA allowance before the new tax year starts. I fell for a bunch of April Fools jokes (that Charli xcx as Balenciaga creative director post shook me for a second), which mainly served to remind me that it was now APRIL, and Pop Base posted something like “2025 is now 25% complete”. I sat visualising the year in these neat quarters, but instead of the New Year’s dread we might feel in January, or the pressure to hit the ground running in September when there are just a few months left, I felt full of opportunity. It’s a spring cliche I know, but it’s real — the weather is picking up, we’ve bedded into the year but the majority of it still remains, each day getting longer until we reach summer solstice.

So what to do with all this feeling? I’m going to attempt to capture some thoughts, feelings, and desires I’ve acquired throughout Q1, then invite you to do the same. I’d love to read yours and share a selection back to you in next week’s newsletter. On we go!

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ Thoughts, feelings, desires  ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

1. The best thing about Capsule is also the thing I struggle most with: coming up with something new to say every week, or a meaningful build on stuff I’ve covered before. Aside from a few exceptions, every new week begins with the familiar spiral about finding a topic to write about. But on the flip side, producing something so consistently has allowed me to make mistakes, to get to know the stuff you are most interested in reading, and generally become stronger at managing deadlines. I like this Rick Owens quote (with a pinch of salt) for the same reason:

2. If I was a musician I don’t think I could hack the Pitchfork system… How grim to work on something for a while and be pleased with what you’ve made, for a publication to be like: 6 🙂. But is this at odds with wanting art criticism to exist? Is it just the number rating that feels savage sometimes? Do I only care when it’s an artist I feel protective towards? Does it bother me because I know they are right and that means I have poor taste if I enjoy a 6-rated album? Much to consider!

3. Points 1 and 2 are blocking Rihanna from releasing music. She’s left it too late to mess up and the stakes are too high. 😪

4. If you’re asking 3+ people to justify to you that something is okay, or not okay, you might want to spend more time exploring why you feel torn up. Are you actually doing something you know isn’t sitting right deep down? Or are you caring too much about other people’s perceptions in a way that’s holding you back? I feel both frequently!

5. I want to buy a pair of black trainers so that when I go out dancing I don’t mess up my boots.

6. Worth the quarterly (or even weekly) reminder: accept the thoughts you have after 9-10pm without judgement but don’t use them to make decisions for the next day. You always wake up different. The energy will come, the mood will shift. It’s comical how many times I lay in bed and think “I can’t do this tomorrow” and then the next morning I want the opposite thing.

7. Treating long films as a mini series is a good way to tick off more of the stuff on your list. I watched The Brutalist in three parts and felt great about doing so.

8. I want a little shelf by my front door to put my keys and AirPods on.

9. It’s nearly always better to send someone an article/song/video/meme/photo than “how are you?” even though they mean the same thing.

10. I want to spend some days in the sun in a beautiful place “returning to myself.” If I had to expand on what that means, I’d say reaching for that calm, optimistic headspace last properly inhabited in the months after my university exams, before full-time work began. That’s a long time ago! That’s not to say I haven’t felt it since - I did in Mallorca last year - but that it needs time and space to be found again.

11. I discovered that I don’t feel comfortable sharing celeb spots in the big WhatsApp groups, especially if it happened close to where I live. Keep the local feeling like a normal place!!

12. It’s never a bad idea to remind yourself to be where your feet are, that this is life, it’s happening here right now.

13. I’m a big placebo person. They work and I’m a fan!

14. New seasons will always make me want to buy new stuff. I’m getting around this by sorting through what I already have, and waiting a few weeks before taking the plunge on anything.

15. Similarly: most of my recent purchasing desires are directly solving for a problem I’ve discovered through months of wear - an itchy seam, a colour not quite right, a fit that makes something awkward to wear in the way I’d like. This is good! Ever evolving!

16. A relatable one: most admin tasks you’ve been avoiding truly take less than 10 minutes. Free yourself…

17. …but not all of them are quick. If not, treating personal projects or admin like serious work can be really fun. I make full slide decks to help myself (and loved ones) decide what outfit to buy and it’s great.

18. Not trying to go full Tech Bro on you but: motivation follows action. I’m sorry. I also need the daily reminder.

And finally…

News you may have missed this week:

• Doechii and Tyla nailed the red carpet at the Billboard Women in Music awards. Also hadn’t realised how well suited Suki Waterhouse would be to Alessandro Michele’s Valentino but yep!!!

• Skiing is about to get even more fashiony 

• Lady Gaga loved the Lucy Dacus cover of ‘Abracadabra’

• Feels like a duty to share when insane new Paloma Elsesser photos drop

• Olivia Rodrigo made a day in the life vid of a tour day. Made it feel weirdly normal?

• Intrigued by the new Wet Leg vibe

• The new HAIM single comes with another meme recreation: this time a paparazzi pic of Kate Moss

• …also enjoying the predictions of what will come next

• Love this new record held by Miley

• Tramell Tillman serving leg for Esquire

• Here to share any and all Lorde-adjacent news until she drops the album. This time, an homage from Dua Lipa

• The Trump tariffs are bad news for the fashion supply chain

• And I think this is a good argument for taking selfies. (Not the sadness, but unintentionally marking a significant moment)

This week, TheBabeGabe popped into Capsule to share what’s 🔥hot🔥 and what’s not 🙅‍♀️ …

TheBabeGabe is a multi-talented artist out of Kansas City, Missouri, who recently released her debut solo project, HONEYPOP. Formerly a founding member and face of the Dirty Hit band BLACKSTARKIDS, who she toured the world with opening for acts like The 1975, Glass Animals, Beabadoobee, she’s now stepping out to reintroduce herself. The new project inks Gabe as the newest member of a storied lineage of creative black artists that refuse to abide by genre-restrictions like Doechii, Doja Cat, Tyler The Creator, Missy Elliott, and Janet Jackson. When she’s not recording or slaying a stage, you can find her staffing her local vintage store Daisy Lee, making sales and curating looks for display and the store’s Instagram.

📺 Watching: Last Swim in the cinema, Magdalena Bay on Like A Version (‘Image’ and David Bowie’s ‘Ashes to Ashes’), and the video for ‘Something Beautiful’, the new Miley Cyrus song.

📖 Reading: This essay on the impact of having ‘main character energy’ in our romantic lives, and this article on the Gen X career meltdown: “just when they should be at their peak, experienced workers in creative fields find that their skills are all but obsolete.” Have we always felt like this?

🎧 Listening to: Glory, the new Perfume Genius album, Little House, Rachel Chinouriri’s new EP, ‘Everybody’s trying to figure me out’, the new HAIM song, ‘End of the World,’ the other new Miley song, and this episode of Everything is Content on Gen Z and the death of the nightclub.

Another springtime trend emerging: searches for “is knitting or crocheting easier” spiked +110% in the past week, and yarn and pattern were two of the top-trending search topics. Frankie thinks it’s cool to see that the appetite for offline, creative hobbies has lasted long beyond the pandemic.

If you’d like to adopt Frankie or one of his friends, click here to learn more.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear how you’re finding Capsule - let me know here. And if you have a friend who might like it, do refer them! 🥺

See you next week 💋

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