Back in August we asked the question, What will be the hit song of summer 2026? There are a few contenders, and the race is very close, but it would seem to be Tame Impala's "Dracula" (Jennie remix), which is still going strong. But still, in the office, we prefer "Lobotomize Me" by Rat Utopia!
Given the exigencies and erratic demands of the music industry nowadays, it is essential that one hit song be pushed to the top of the pop charts to rule each summer. A pop idol's shelf life could depend on it, or it might make an up and comer's career. This summer is tough because there's no obvious frontrunner. Taylor Swift? Yawn. Olivia Rodrigo has a new album, a new festival (Daisy Chain Fields), and everything she's done in the past has been so promising, but a runaway hit?
Who can win the music biz war battle by battle?
Not to our ears, not this time, not even "drop dead" or "the cure." Does it have to be a new song? Technically not because SAINt JHN had "Roses" due to a remix that went viral on TikTok or Instagram or my littler sister's cellphone and dance class. We used to be able to rely on Lana Del Rey to kick out the summer jams.
LYRICS: Party on the sand/ Bring your van/ Tan girls, macho fools/ Fun!/ Punk outing, people shouting/ Lots of fun/ Drugs and sun/ Fun! [CHORUS:] Beach blanket bongout (bongout, whoa-oh)/ Beach blanket bongout (bongout, whoa-oh)/ Beach blanket bongout (bongout, whoa-oh)/ Beach blanket bongout (bongout, whoa-oh)/ We're having the fun, wasted in the sun/ Purple boards, short hair/ We're outnumbered and we don't care// The hippies, they hate us/ We take their chicks/ They beat us up/ They're still the dicks/ Dicks!/ Surf punks, we're not/ Skateboard, we do/ We have the fun/ We're the new crew/ Crew! [Chorus]
(Aubrey Hobert) I have a new song, guys! It's out Aug. 7, 2026!
(Matt Cullen) The child molesting Epstein Network behind [funding] Ed Sheeran runs deeper than we knew, exposed by the firing of the great [and very mindful] Macklemore
She was smart with many great quotes like, "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap." lol
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The Backwoods Barbie Doll Dolly
At dollypartonsamerica.com, thanks to Jad Abumrad of Radio Lab, there is a 9-part series of interviews on America's favorite bra owner, The Dali Parton, Goddess of Kindness, a kind of cultural iconand bodhisattva (a "being destined for enlightenment/awakening" by the marriage of compassion and wisdom) for the benefit of us all. Feminist, activist, Buddhist Rebecca Solnit says it quite well:
(Whaddo You Meme??) Ariana Grande left hateful, homophobic Catholic Jesus for Jewish Kabbah, Tarot, crystals, witchcraft, saying "I am a literal witch," then this happened
Although formerly Catholic Big Aryan drew criticism for impolite interactions with reporters and fans in 2014 [407], she dismissed those reports as "weird, inaccurate depictions" [3]. Rolling Stone wrote: "Some may cry 'diva,' but it's also Grande just taking a stand to not allow others to control her image" [408]. In July 2015, the diva sparked controversy after being caught on surveillance video in a doughnut shop licking other peoples' doughnuts that were on display and saying, "I hate Americans. I hate America. This is disgusting," supposedly referring to the tray of doughnuts [409] and not the fat Americans who eat them. She subsequently apologized because of her strong backbone and sticking to her convictions, which are not really present. Public image my @ss! More I'm not Satanic [just because I sold my soul, which is not even a thing, so don't say that. And I don't have progeria, because I don't even know what that is, and I don't look like an old lady just out of a concentration camp, and if you say so, that's racist or antisemitic or one of those. Whatever, I don't care what you think!]
Like Korean Buddhism,* K-pop (Korean 케이팝, RR Keipap, "Korean popular music") is a best-selling creation originating in South Korea [2]. The music genre that the term is used to refer to colloquially emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians influenced by Western dance music, hip-hop, R&B, and rock [3, 4, 5].
Today, K-pop commonly refers to the musical output of teen "idol" acts, chiefly all-girl groups and all-boy bands, who emphasize visual appeal and performance [6].
As a pop genre, K-pop is characterized by its melodic quality and cultural hybridity [7, 8, 9]. K-pop can trace its origins to "rap dance," a fusion of hip-hop, techno, and rock popularized by the group Seo Taiji and Boys, whose experimentation helped to modernize South Korea's contemporary music scene in the early 1990s [10, 11, 12].
Their popularity with teenagers led the music industry to focus on this demographic. Lee Soo-man of SM Entertainment, who developed the Korean idol system in the late 1990s, created H.O.T. and S.E.S., the "first generation" of K-pop [13].
By the early 2000s, TVXQ and BoA had achieved success in Japan and gained traction for the genre overseas [14, 15]....
ROSE and PSY perform "APT." (live from Summerswag 2025)
By 2019, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) listed South Korea as the 6th largest music market in the world [116], with boy band BTS alone accounting for $4.65 billion, or 0.3%, of South Korea's GDP [117].
In 2024, IFPI declared K-pop the leading global genre in unit sales, across both physical and digital formats. Seventeen of the top 20 albums on the IFPI Global Album Sales Chart that year belonged to this genre [118, 119] thanks to BTS, Blackpink, solo Rosé, Katseye, and a few others. More
Korean Buddhism began in the 4th century CE during the Three Kingdoms Period. Centuries after Buddhism originated in [Gandhara, now modern Afghanistan] and Magadha [a Buddhist territory later brought into the empire under the umbrella term "India" under Buddhist Emperor Ashoka], the Mahayana tradition arrived in China through the Silk Road in the 1st century CE, then entered the Korean peninsula in the 4th century, from where it was transmitted to Japan.
In Korea, it was adopted as the state religion of three constituent polities of the Three Kingdoms Period, first by the Goguryeo (aka Goryeo) in 372 CE, by the Silla (Gaya) in 528 CE, and by the Baekje in 552 CE [1].
Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what its early practitioners saw as inconsistencies within theMahayana Buddhist traditions that they received from foreign countries.
To address this, Korean Buddhists developed a new holistic approach to Buddhism that became a distinct form, an approach characteristic of virtually all major Korean thinkers.
The resulting variation is called Tongbulgyo ("interpenetrated Buddhism"), a form that sought to harmonize previously arising disputes among scholars (a principle called hwajaeng 和諍) [2].
As it now stands, Korean Buddhism consists mostly of the Seon [Zen] Lineage, primarily represented by the Jogye and Taego Orders. The Korean Seon has a strong relationship with other Mahayana traditions that bear the imprint of Chan teachings as well as the closely related Zen.
Other sects -- such as the modern revival of the Cheontae lineage, the Jingak Order (a modern esoteric sect or Vajrayana), and the newly formed Won -- have also attracted sizable followings [3].
Korean Buddhism has contributed much to East Asian Buddhism, especially to early Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Tibetan schools of Buddhist thought. More
Drop Dead? Bigger than Nazi Barbie Taylor Swift-Kelce? Olivia, what's a daisy chain? Miss Rodrigo, is sex what you meant? What is this, the rebirth of the Lilith Fair? Sarah McLachlan, Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac), Shirley Manson's Garbage, Chappell Roan (Chapel Rowing?), punkers Bikini Kill, The Breeders, Die Spitz, and a little band we like to call Katseye until they get too famous to take our calls once they're on the road opening for Black Pink and BTS. Doechii, Eli, Quiet Light, Santigold, Rachel Chinouriri. What, no Linda Lindas? Oh, and a special appearance by up-and-coming world superstar and Taylor Swift nemesis Olive Rodricklow (aka our favorite female popstar Olivia Rodrigo).
Daisy Chain Fields is an upcoming charitable music festival, featuring a women-led lineup at Great Park in Irvine, Orange County, California, founded by American singer Olivia Rodrigo in 2026. All net profits are to go toward organizations supporting females, both women and girls. (Trans womyn are on their own).
Background
Pop superstar Rodrigo appeared in Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (2025), a documentary about the women-led music festivalLilith Fair, which she cited as an inspiration to her music career.
Lilith Fair co-founder Sarah McLachlan is one of the performers at Daisy Chain Fields. Rodrigo announced the festival on June 22, 2026, concurrently through social media, Pitchfork e-magazine, and radio station 88.5 The SoCal Sound.
In an interview with Shaad D'Souza for Pitchfork e-magazine, Rodrigo said that the festival was inspired by Lilith Fair.
She went on to share, "I just feel like we need something really positive to do and see, and young girls need awesome role models who are supporting other women and who are engaging in something that's really joyful and musical and community-oriented."
Spend it for Olivia, girls. She needs it for girls.
Tickets for the festival sold out within 30 minutes on June 24, 2026, which led to event partner Verizon issuing new tickets on July 9, 2026.
The festival's sponsors are Depop, Etsy, Taco Bell, and Verizon. Rodrigo co-designed a merch collection for the festival [to milk more money out of the event] with ten female entrepreneurs; the collection is available for online purchase exclusively through Etsy and will also be available on festival grounds. [So bring money]. More
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