What It's Like To Kiss Matty Healy 💋
Omg hello to even MORE new angels who I’m assuming are here for all the deets on Isabella’s Matty Healy kiss (coming at u below!!!) All I ask is that you come for the kiss, and stay because we’re the coolest/funniest/chicest way of getting ur daily news on the planet, and I love having you all as my pen pals!!!!
BEFORE WE GET INTO IT, PLEASE VOTE FOR US! 🥺
I do have one request from you all today (and I will probs request it a bunch more times) but if you could all take ONE SECOND to vote for our podcast Culture Vulture in the NZ Podcast awards that would mean EVERYTHING!!! Liv and I love doing this for you every week, and even though awards are not what we do ANY of this for, it does help a lil independent media company like us 🥺🥺
Here’s what you need to do:
Podcast name: Culture Vulture
Input your email
Link to podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/72xc9QX9dNpcc4rVPUzBcC?go=1&sp_cid=e372c0ff19e79d804df13989ecfcc5da&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1
Leave a lil comment if you want
I think you can vote from anywhere in the world so if you could take one sec to do this for us I’ll love you FOREVER!
Ex-luce-ive (get it? a luce exclusive?) What it’s like to kiss Matty Healy in front of the world
Protests in China continue to gain momentum
Squid Game’s O Yeong-su Indicted for Sexual Misconduct
Is your ‘sick’ bowl the same as your popcorn bowl?
Petition to make Harry Styles do a funnel in NZ
What it’s like to kiss Matty Healy in front of the world
Honestly, it’s moments like this that make me love this job more than anything. When I first found out that Matty Healy had brought a fan onstage during Robbers and KISSED HER, I kinda wanted to die of envy. When I found out she was a member of the SYSCAhood the envy died down a little, and when she told me she’d give me a play-by-play of how it all went, I felt nothing but pride and pure excitement to tell the story. A real-life fanfic for the newsy? Yes please! So without further ado, meet Isabella.
She’s 24, and she’s from Dallas, Texas, but she’s originally from Mexico. She’s a bartender atm, aspiring to be a fashion stylist (seems fitting because her fit is everything), she’s been following SYSCA for “a very long time!” and she started her fandom journey as a directioner (ugh all the best ones do!!)
“yes they are still in my top 5 every year for Apple music rewind 💀”
She’s been a fan of The 1975 since around 2014, and when I asked her if she knew that Matty used to kiss people during Robbers, she said yes, but:
“he hasn’t done it in years so I honestly, like, wholeheartedly thought he was gonna tell me to fuck off or something funny - the fandom bullies him, and he does it back so I just expected him to completely shit on me or just ignore me”
And yes, before we get into it, she’s MARRIED! But her husband has indeed messaged Matty Healy letting him know that he’s just completed his wife’s life.
Now that you’ve met her, let’s hear exactly what happened, in her own words (lightly edited by me, for clarity):
“So there was a girl in the pit that had a sign on her phone that said “play ‘Girls,’ it’s my birthday” and he [Matty] saw it, and said something along the lines of “no sorry, can’t do that, but I can make out with you guys.” So a light bulb went on in my head and I was just like… “okay, noted.” Then he sang ‘Me & You together song’ and the mf looked at me, made some facial expressions to me while he was singing, winked and then looked at my friend and stuck his tongue out at her. At that moment I knew I needed to do something else to get his attention, so I typed out on my phone “So we making out?” and I held it up in between songs (it gets dark and he could really see it from the crowd.)
He came up to me and said “what’s that sign say?” And read it and said, “do you know Robbers?” And I honestly didn’t understand wtf he was saying so I said “huh” and then he asked again and annunciated his words better and I then said yes. He said “ok come here” and when I tell you I jumped the barricade so fast - no one helped me I did it myself lol.
So then I get up there and security told me just to sit on the couch and so I was like ok! So I go to him and he asked for my name and then I sat down and he walked away. When he came back to me, and is on his knees he says “we don’t have to snog if you don’t want to” and I said “oh yes we are, yes.” Then he was like, “ok you sure?” and I said “yes!” and just kept nodding.
He walked away again and then came back and sat on my lap, and when he would leave and come back, he would always tell me “I’ll be over there”. (Side note, this mf smelled like cigarettes.) Anyway, then he pulled me up, we sang together, and then we kissed. It was honestly just a crazy experience that I never thought it would happen to me, ever!”
My final question for Isabella was about the reaction from the fandom, because… it’s hard to see other people living your dreams, and she said:
“So far the fandom has been so nice! I have had some hate comments here and there but it’s mainly from people out of the fandom. And if there’s is hate going around I haven’t seen any, I also don’t care. I used to really care what people think of me but now it’s like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ whatever. This was also my experience of a lifetime and it happened and it brought me happiness and that’s all it matters.”
Honestly, I love this for her, I feel protective and proud bc she’s in the SYSCAhood living out our collective dreams, and I JUST LOVE WRITING ABOUT FANDOM THINGS!!
Protests in China continue to gain momentum
After I wrote about it yesterday, protests against the zero-covid policy in China (which involves mass testing, quarantines and snap lockdowns) have continued to gain momentum and spread to the bigger cities.
Here’s one way people are protesting (though I’ve heard different ways this equation is interpreted):
Another way people are protesting is with blank paper:
Protesters are holding up pieces of blank paper, a symbol that has its roots in the Hong Kong protests in 2020, where activists “held blank pieces of paper to protest against the city's draconian new national security laws” (like banning them from speaking out against the government.)
Some have argued that the gesture is not only a statement about the silencing of dissent, but also a challenge to authorities, as if to say 'are you going to arrest me for holding a sign saying nothing?'"
Johnny, a 26-year old demonstrator in Beijing, told the Reuters news agency that the paper had come to "represent everything we want to say but cannot say".
Police are now out in force, and the BBC are reporting that people are being detained. As always, I’ll keep you in the loop.
Squid Game’s O Yeong-su Indicted for Sexual Misconduct
Damn, I haven’t thought about Squid Game in a hot minute, and this was NOT the way I wanted it to re-enter my thoughts. O Yeong-su, (who played Squid Game contestant Oh Il-Nam - the old guy), has been “indicted in South Korea over charges of sexual misconduct.”
According to Rolling Stone, O has been accused of touching a woman inappropriately in 2017. The woman is believed to have reported the incident last year, only for the case to be closed in April 2022 without charges being filed. The case was reopened at the victim’s request.
O Yeoung-su has denied all charges, and said that he “held hands with the woman to show the way around a lake.” He says he did apologize to the woman but that apologizing does not mean admitting fault. That’s all we know so far.
Today’s mundane poll:
PS who’s gonna make this happen with me'?
FIFA & the Controversies in Qatar, Explained (The Shit Show Podcast)
TicketMastermind (Taylor’s Version) (Culture Vulture Podcast)
Grief Is a Forever Thing (The New York Times)
Jennifer Lopez announces "This is Me" album follow-up 20 years later (Reuters)
What else Qatar has built with its absurd wealth besides the 2022 World Cup (Vox)
Confessions of a Middle-Aged Fanboy (The New York Times)
I think Harry needs to do a shoey not a funnel
i feel like having the same bowl for a sick bowl and popcorn is like a major kiwi thing. i’ve asked a lot of my friends from overseas about it and they all think it’s disgusting and would never do that. but a lot of my friends from nz completely relate and say it’s a common childhood experience.
ALSO love isabella and she truly lived the dream. i wonder if the kissing will uphold until their shows in nz next year??