Happy Monday!

I know you’re probably tired of Halloween, but humor me because I think you’ll love these costumes. Also in today’s newsletter, Zohran Mamdani’s final push toward City Hall, a strange new boy band on TikTok, a few lawsuits, and bad media news.

The energy this Halloween was so strange. Somehow, it felt like both a wash and the hardest people have gone in a long time. I saw this video from Terry O’Connor last week saying “it’s not Halloween this year,” which I totally agreed with. Yet, I also saw so many people pulling off extremely creative costumes and rallying for two straight nights of partying. It was almost like a massive serve against everyone’s wills. And if that’s not a perfect metaphor for continuing to live life and have fun during these times, what is?

In a year devoid of many lasting cultural moments, people returned to the classics. I’m not just talking about your black cats or angels or witches — I’m talking about iconic memes. The ones that have been seared into our cerebral cortexes with a hot iron. I saw at least two Nyan Cats, two recreations of NeNe Leakes’ “It’s Getting Weird,” two “Is that hyperpigmentation?” costumes, Paint Grandpa, and, of course, Poot Lovato. 

For the extremely online — mostly those of us who are stuck on X (formerly Twitter) — there was no shortage of reaction memes-turned-costumes this year. I saw a Rave Peach, dancing Peter Griffin, Anne Hathaway giving HR lady, and the Address Me elephant. I also saw a couple of slang-based costumes (a chopped unc, a bush on main) and an Italian brainrot group fit. The internet is alive, despite the rumors!

I don’t think, in my years of consuming Halloween content online, have I seen so many people dress as GIFs for Halloween. Not only did these folks dress up like the GIFs, but some also created their own. Even Tyla did it! Some of my favorites included recreations of the jiggling Nailong, the concept of Cynthia Erivo running her nails across her head, Bob from Monsters vs. Aliens blinking, and Abby Lee Miller laughing.

With Election Day coming up tomorrow, Nov. 4, Zohran Mamdani was outside all weekend meeting people. He hit six different clubs on Saturday night to get out the vote. I wanna know who on his team knows ball because he went to Papi Juice at Elsewhere, Mood Ring, Damballa, Gabriela, Caribbean Social Club, and 100 Sutton. 

Mamdani was up the next morning for the New York City Marathon on Sunday and taking selfies with the runners. Then somehow, he made it to Madison Square Garden for the Knicks game at night. He was up before sunrise this morning, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall to give a final campaign message. 

While Mamdani was outside, the online campaigning was fierce. The social blast was inescapable, with many New York City-based creators posting with the mayoral candidate. Across my timelines, I saw Mamdani playing with a bodega cat on Shop Cats, talking NYC foodie picks with Julian Mu, sharing songs with Pop Base, sharing recommendations with Perfectly Imperfect, and visiting a mom and pop shop with Nicolas Nuvan. 

As the race comes to a close, I still find myself impressed by Mamdani’s campaign. The agency that worked on it, Melted Solids, spoke to Adweek about how it was built on a balance of short, fun trends and videos of New Yorkers speaking about how the issues, namely affordability, affected them. All that hard work is likely to pay off, with early polling still projecting Mamdani winning.

TikTok is full of long-running bits that blur the line between reality and satire. Take Kyle Chase  and Veronika Slowikowska, the viral roommates and maybe lovers that no one knows for sure if they are actually dating or not. I recently came across a “boy band” on the app that is clearly doing some engagement baiting to get 1 million followers. But also, they might be genuinely trying to help secure a visa for their bandmate in India?

I’ll back up a bit. Four men named Evan, Zach, Anthony, and Darshan have formed a musical group. They told TikTok that they are the “world’s next biggest boy band” and that they are out to win a Grammy. The band recently christened themselves Boy Throb, as suggested by early fans. Boy Throb said they need 1 million followers to secure a visa for Darshan, who lives in India. They have already amassed almost 360,000 TikTok followers in five days. 

A few people have commented that they sense this has to be a social experiment or performance piece in the vein of Anthony Po’s work (he’s the guy who started the lookalike contest trend). The tone of the videos certainly reads unserious, but Darshan’s posted a TikTok Story indicating he was seriously in Boy Throb. I will be keeping an eye on this so-called boy band as it grows. 

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. After reading the recent Mindless Behavior interview in Teen Vogue, seeing this One Direction group Halloween costume, and finding this “Boy Throb” nonsense, I thought it was a good time to share my 2010s boy band playlist.

In this week’s playlist:

Other things I want to share with you.