contributing editor for the OG celebrity gossip website DListed.com (2005 - 2023)

Style-wise, I’m completely obsessed with Shia LaBeouf. Sometimes, he bolts out of the house to grab a coffee dressed for a Daytona 500 tailgate party; sometimes it looks more like he’s on his way to join the picket lines at a sanitation workers’ sit-in. And then occasionally he just says “screw it!” and mixes lumberjack chic with Day-Glo prints and a greasy rattail, and I’m DONE!

Since I have a great respect for both my time and my ears, I don’t listen to Sam Smith. But it’s mostly because the only thing I think of when I see their face is the time they won an Oscar for singing some James Bond theme song, hopped up onto the stage and proclaimed to be the first gay person to win the award (despite that being so unbelievably not true). So, needless to say, when Sam Smith makes a proclamation that doesn’t come with a CVS-length roll of receipts, I tend to be a little sceptical. But anyway…

It’s been a while since we’ve had a proper musical icon tell us exactly how it is by smacking down the hopes and dreams of a young popstar in real time. The one and only Chaka Khan––10x Grammy winner, perennial Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee, funk/soul legend––has been DOING IT for years. She’s seen it all, she’s heard it all. So, by now, the 67-year-old is comfortable enough settling into a routine that does not involve collaborating with any new hot young things. Luckily for us, she’s not afraid to say so.

And while the tension over this latest “exchange” between Chaka and Ariana Grande is not quite at the level of Aretha vs. Patti, or Mariah vs. J.Lo, or Dionne vs. Beyonce (yet), it’s still delicious and thick enough to drizzle over pancakes.