Bieber Wins Coachella and More Beefy Trends

A spin through the culture with music, Meaties and so many Hollywood sequels

In this post-Easter, pre-summer don’t-wear-white-yet period, ube is the new matcha, the kids are mallmaxxing, and we have most definitely hit peak Zendaya. Check out some of the latest media, marketing and pop culture happenings here:

Who won Coachella?

Rather, who will win Coachella, the desert bacchanal that jumpstarts the summer concert season? Easy answer: Bieber, hands down, and not just because of his reported $10 million payday. No self-respecting festival denizen will miss his Weekend 2 encore on Saturday. Which leads us to the second winner: Get ready for the Couchella live-streaming onslaught, YouTube.

More winners include Hoodie House, the Gap’s first activation, hailed for its limited-run, customizable swag and customer loyalty play. 818 Outpost for its slick, retro-futuristic roadside architecture alone, never mind the Kardashian-Jenners. Popups that dot the endless drive to the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, as well as cheeky billboards that signal a resurgent interest in experiences and physical media. (Redken x Sabrina Carpenter, Katseye, ramen maker Maruchan’s MaruMart).

And the biggest windfall: Coachella itself. In its 25th year, long after critics said it jumped the shark (raises hand), it has come roaring back, monetarily and culturally. The creator-heavy, celeb-studded, Hollywood-adjacent event can’t be precisely replicated—Rivian and boutique hotelier AutoCamp aren’t glamping just anywhere. But brands should be dissecting the collabs for cues on how to build their own IRL adventures.

@besties_mty0 a casi nada de ver ala tropicoqueta KAROLG en Coachella 2026🔥🥥🌴la primera artista latina en encabezar el festival 🫰y ya empezaron a verse Billboards #latina #karolg #coachella #billboards #viral ♬ Tropicoqueta – KAROL G

Get off the ad crack

Tracking numbers are in for The Devil Wears Prada 2 and its cavalcade of cross promos, including Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Grey Goose, L’Oreal, TRESemmé, a ubiquitous Anna Wintour and a killer popcorn purse. Projections call for a $65 million opening weekend. Who needs superheroes? Don’t fret, those come later. The long-awaited sequel is set to be the first summer 2026 blockbuster, putting a female-fronted fashion flick in Marvel’s former May slot.

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But sound-bitey Sony Pictures chair Tom Rothman is the real crowd-pleaser. He told theater owners to “get off the ad crack,” at this week’s CinemaCon. And yet, they won’t. Arrive at showtime and expect to see 30 minutes of trailers interspersed with Claude and AT&T commercials.

ComingSoon noted that all but two of Fandango’s 10 most-anticipated movies of the season are sequels, franchises or established IP, deemed, “a troubling sight.” Not a Blair Witch Project in the bunch? A sleeper could still emerge, even as Toy Story 5 (with an anti-AI theme!), the next Minions and Spider-Man: Brand New Day predictably draw the masses. Hollywood studios, what’s left of them, are Barbenheimer bullish, while not so secretly wringing their hands. Paging Ryan Coogler!

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Beef: It’s what’s for breakfast

First there was boy kibble. Now there’s Meaties, which is like Wheaties, but not. Absolutely not. It’s cereal, as loosely defined, made from dehydrated “100 percent American beef” with flourishes like raw honey, roasted peanuts, cocoa, cinnamon and monk fruit. For small packages—less than 4 ounces—it costs an eye-watering $14. Nope, not a joke. And nope, no longer available because it’s sold out. Check back later on its DTC site. Or for a better use of time, read this highly entertaining review of this product, which pulls a number of zeitgeist-y levers at once. It’s low sugar, high protein, convenient, ancestral eating just like RFK preaches. It’s also “a tsunami of awfulness” that leaves “a wicked aftertaste akin to eating the exhaust of a grease trap,” per The TakeOut. Meaties may or may not have staying power, but the food-as-medicine and supplements-are-king trends aren’t going anywhere. Meal replacement brand Huel, short for human fuel, recently sold to Danone for $1.2 billion. And last week, three-year-old gummy brand Grüns reportedly matched that price in a sale to Unilever. Live long, dig in?