We’ve got so much to catch up on this week, so I’ll keep it brief and just say I’ve spent the past week becoming obsessed with ice dancing at the Winter Olympics.

It’s got everything, including a Netflix documentary series called “Glitter & Gold”. Filmed ahead of the 2026 Winter Games, it takes you “inside the high-stakes, high-drama world of ice dance as the sport’s top couples skate for gold and glory.” Need I say more?

“Broadcasting rules must keep pace with technology and with community expectations… Listeners want greater transparency about when AI is being used.”
Head of Australia’s media watchdog, Nerida O’Loughlin, has announced new AI disclosure rules for the radio industry. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will now require radio stations to notify listeners when “a synthetic voice” is being used to host a program or news broadcast. It’s the first time AI has been addressed in a national broadcasting code of practice.

3.
The number of pairs in the Olympic ice dance - rhythm dance qualifiers who skated to music from Ricky Martin on Tuesday (Australian time). It’s been a big week for the Latin pop star, who also made a surprise appearance in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show.

Speaking of the Super Bowl… this couple actually got married during Bad Bunny’s historic set. A spokesperson for the artist said Thomas Wolter and Eleisa Aparicio were invited to be part of the halftime show after initially inviting Bad Bunny to attend their wedding. They were married during the live broadcast, with Bad Bunny “serving as a witness and signing the marriage certificate, complete with a wedding cake, turning the moment into a joyful celebration unfolding in real time.”

Sweden’s very own pop princess, Zara Larsson, is heading down under for her first-ever Aussie headline tour in October.

For many fans (and at least one TDA journalist), it’s been a long time coming. For others, Larsson is one of those artists who has dipped in and out of the cultural zeitgeist for the past decade. Until now.

With a Grammy-nomination and songs charting worldwide, Larsson has cemented her place in the pop ecosystem. But who is she, and what’s behind her recent resurgence?

Zara Maria Larsson is Sweden’s all-singing, all-dancing Gen Z popstar. In 2008 (at the ripe age of 10), she shot to fame by winning Sweden’s Got Talent.

Larsson signed to a major label at 14 and released her debut single “Uncover” in 2013. By 19, she’d released two albums and gained international recognition with hits including “Never Forget You” and “Lush Life”.

Following the success of her 2017 album “So Good”, Larsson took four years to release her follow-up, “Poster Girl”. She attributed the delay to a lack of confidence in her artistic identity.

In the years that followed her early commercial success, Larsson struggled to solidify her global presence. As she said in the 2025 documentary ‘Zara Larsson: Up Close’, “[most people] know my songs, but they don’t know who I am as an artist”.

The Zara renaissance kicked off in 2024, when TikTok users began sharing images of animated dolphins alongside demotivational quotes such as “I'm depressed”. Each post was soundtracked by Larsson’s 2017 collaboration with Clean Bandit, “Symphony”.

The singer jumped on the growing trend by sharing the image with the text: “What the f*** is happening.” Her post amassed over 13 million plays and 3.2 million likes in just one day.

The moment drove a massive spike in streams of “Symphony”. The Y2K aesthetics of the dolphin meme (think tropical sunset colours, frangipanis, and airbrush tank tops) also showed up in Larsson’s on-stage costumes — as seen when she opened for Canadian pop superstar Tate McRae on the U.S. leg of her tour last year.

Larsson featured on a remix of the PinkPantheress track “Stateside”, where she sang about the tour’s success. “Who knew opening up would make me a headline?”

On her final day supporting McRae, Larsson released her critically-acclaimed fifth studio album, “Midnight Sun”.

She promoted it with a headline tour across Europe in October. Larsson would bring a fan on stage during her performance of “Lush Life” at each show. One confident fan in Amsterdam surprised the audience (and Larsson) by performing the song’s official choreography.

The viral moment inspired fans around the world to learn the “Lush Life” dance. This moment, combined with a spike in 2016 nostalgia, has seen the throwback track re-enter the Spotify Global top ten.

A performance at the Grammys pre-show solidified Larsson’s comeback glory, with the 28-year-old finally announcing her first Australian tour (with shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth this October). General sale begins tomorrow (Friday) at 10am.

If you’re a new fan, my personal favourite Zara tracks are: TG4M, All the Time, and Midnight Sun - cause summer isn’t over yet.

Reporting by Elliot Lawry.

Somewhere between your third iced latte and running late again, you realise your makeup needs to keep up

Enter Merit’s Signature Lip Lightweight Lip Blush. It’s a sheer, blurred-matte lipstick that feels like a balm – comfy, hydrating and zero-fuss. One swipe gives you that “put together but not trying too hard” look, and you can build it up if you’re feeling bold.

With eight wearable shades (yes, including a proper red), it’s lipstick for real life, not your makeup drawer.

The latest film adaptation of ‘Wuthering Heights’ has been making headlines ahead of its release in theatres today.

The movie, from ‘Saltburn’ and ‘Promising Young Woman’ director Emerald Fennell, stars two Aussies, Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, and features a soundtrack by Charli XCX.

Two issues have drawn attention: the casting of Elordi as Heathcliff, and a necklace worn by Robbie at a premiere event.

Here’s why.

Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ centres on an intense relationship between characters Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a boy Earnshaw’s father brings home from “the streets of Liverpool”.

The novel takes place from the 1770s to the 1800s, when Liverpool was Britain’s main slave trading port.

Brontë describes Heathcliff as “dark skinned,” and uses other terms historically applied to marginalised groups. At one point, a character says he could be “an American or Spanish castaway”.

These details have long informed scholarly interpretations that Heathcliff is not white, and that his treatment in the novel is shaped by race.

Despite this, film adaptations of the book have historically cast white actors, including Laurence Olivier (1939) and Ralph Fiennes (1992). One exception was Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation, which starred Black British actor James Howson.

Elordi stars as Heathcliff in the latest ‘Wuthering Heights’. Some have described the casting choice as whitewashing, including content creator and author Eli Rallo who said Heathcliff’s “racial otherness causes him to be the subject of a lot of racialised violence and dehumanisation… by casting Jacob Elordi, a white man, you are entirely erasing that entire plot”.

Author Moniza Hossain said on X: “I’m re-reading Wuthering Heights in preparation for the movie and it’s so obvious Heathcliff is non-white. The other characters are bigoted against him because of his race.”

Fennell’s response to the backlash was that Elordi “looked exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff on the first book that I read.”

The film’s casting director Kharmel Cochrane also defended the choice, saying in April 2025: “Just wait till you see it… you really don’t need to be accurate… [The book] is not based on real life. It’s all art.”

Attention has also focused on a Cartier-owned necklace worn by Margot Robbie at the film’s LA premiere.

Robbie said the diamond had been owned by actor Elizabeth Taylor before Cartier, telling Vogue the $US8 million piece “had a lot of romantic history and felt appropriate for tonight.”

The ‘Taj Mahal’ diamond pendant originated in the Mughal empire in India in the 1600s. It was first given by Emperor Jahangir to his wife Empress Nur Jahan, and was passed down through the family. The diamond was engraved with Nur Jahan’s name and the phrase “Lady of the Padshah.”

The couple’s son gave it to his wife Mumtaz Mahal, whose death inspired the construction of the Taj Mahal, leading to the diamond getting its nickname.

In the 1970s, The New York Times reported the pendant had been “brought from India” by Rose Marie Kenmore, whose husband owned Cartier. Richard Burton then purchased it for Taylor, his then-wife.

Robbie does not appear to have mentioned the piece’s history beyond its ownership by Elizabeth Taylor on the red carpet.

In a post to Instagram, Indian designer and fashion historian Maayankraj Singh raised concerns about the necklace, saying a “jewel born of Indian soil, Indian hands, and Indian history“ was removed, “it travelled west and was reborn as spectacle”.

Decades later, he said it reappeared “unquestioned” on Robbie. “No one asked why [the necklace] continues to orbit Western necks while remaining unreachable to Indians”.

Singh was referring to a story from the 2025 Met Gala about another Cartier-owned necklace originally made for Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of the state of Patiala, in 1928.

Last year, the Times of India reported Cartier had denied a request to loan the necklace to Punjabi singer Dilijit Dosanjh for the Met Gala. However, the jewellery house did loan a piece of the necklace to influencer Emma Chamberlain for the 2022 Met Gala.

Reviews for ‘Wuthering Heights’ have been mixed. At the time of publishing, the film has a score of 67% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Guardian gave it two stars, and said: “Emerald Fennell’s take on Emily Brontë is an emotionally hollow, bodice-ripping misfire that misuses Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi”.

The Hollywood Reporter called it “pulpy, provocative… sexy, pervy, irreverent and resonantly tragic. Often teetering on the verge between silly and clever, it’s Wuthering Heights for the Bridgerton generation”.

Regardless of what audiences think of it, ‘Wuthering Heights’ is predicted to “soar at the box office”.

Reporting by Pavitra Ravi