Friday Five: May 8, 2026

Finally.

Hello gorgeous Consumers! Welcome back to your Friday Five, your weekly roundup of joyful, cathartic content from across the cobwebby corners of the digital universe. I was on a run this morning, dragging, when this song came on and I knew it had to be in today's newsletter.

I remember the first time I heard Teyana Taylor's "Rose in Harlem" — hunched over my laptop at the Glossier offices, doing the Jay-Z head bob within seconds. A minute later, my shoulders and back joined in, and I'd lost my place in the Google Doc I'd been furiously typing in.

I’ve been in awe of Teyana since that moment, watching her leap into new creative directions with every passing year. When I learned she choreographed Beyoncé’s “Ring the Alarm” at 15 years old (in 2006), it became evidently clear she was a generational talent. After her performance in One Battle After Another, she’s getting mass recognition – with Vanity Fair and a few others calling 2026 her ‘breakout year.’ That seems ridiculous given her trajectory, but I digress.

I wanted to give up on this run so badly, and then this song came on and took me home in every sense of the word. I was running through De Beauvoir singing bits out loud —"'What do she do?' I do everything, put that on my wedding ring, put that on my baby name" — without paying attention to a single passerby. I looked up her commentary on Genius about this line, and absolutely loved it:

“The funny thing is, all of my accomplishments were definitely public knowledge, however people who were constantly asking the question when they knew the answer, but opted not to really acknowledge them. Going back to the fact that despite what anyone says, YOU CAN NEVER GIVE UP!!!”

I didn’t give up today, and hope this song gives you whatever boost you might need.

Now onto the next category, a first of its kind: hypnotic fruit slicing. I could watch mango vendor in Lahore on repeat, ideally without the audio commentary calling him a ‘ninja’ but I’ll take any variation of him. I’m going to make an attempt to procure some Pakistani mangos soon.

Next up, a child prodigy. Prince (aptly named) is a musical genius! “What makes me emotional? A minor” — Someone, please mash this up with Kendrick’s A Minor line in “Not Like Us.” Just as I waxed poetic about Teyana above, Prince is another reminder of the power of music and sound to move us.

A birthday to celebrate: Today, Sir David Attenborough turns 100 and when you Google his name there’s a cute animation that pops up — but more importantly he gave a very cute audio note to the BBC about being overwhelmed by birthday greetings from preschoolers and the elderly, when he'd otherwise been expecting a quiet day.

@bbc @bbc ♬ original sound - BBC - BBC

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I listened to this highlights reel of BBC Earth moments while writing this and felt a wide range of emotions — I forgot how much drama is in this series, I’d honestly love for him to narrate an EastEnders special.

As always, wrapping up with joyful internet content:

This bouquet of unripe almonds and plums is tugging at my heart strings. The mini-marathon has done the same!

An important reminder for us all:

More tears with this one, I’m sorry in advance:

Hypnotically slicing fruit,

Roya