First things first: The Grammys happened this week! Beyoncé officially made history (again). With 99 nominations to her name, she finally won Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter—making her the most-nominated and most-awarded artist in Grammy history (but here, we were team BRAT…). She also took home Best Country Album.

Kendrick Lamar swept both Record and Song of the Year for Not Like Us, Chappell Roan was crowned Best New Artist, and Sabrina Carpenter snagged two wins. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift walked away empty-handed for the first time, Charli XCX celebrated her first-ever Grammy wins (three in total!), and The Weeknd made a major comeback after years of boycotting the awards.

In one of the night’s most unexpected moments, members of the Los Angeles Fire Department took the stage to present Album of the Year, a powerful tribute amid California’s ongoing wildfire crisis.

Check out the best performances here and the full list of winners here.

Now, we can continue:

THE MUSTS

World

let’s have a real talk here

 Immigration Could Be the Past, Present, and Future of the US Economy

This week Donald Trump added another chapter to his migration policy: He revoked the extension of TPS for Venezuelans. This joins a list of actions Trump has already taken to harm immigrants and paint them as the bane of the American economy. So today I wanted to note a few things:

For decades, immigration has been a lightning rod in the American culture war, but it has a surprisingly uncontroversial side effect: Economic growth. Despite a slowdown in birth rates, immigration is helping the US population grow — enriching the country’s economy and helping it steer clear of a recession. And talking about the future: It could play an even bigger role in the country.

• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that 3.3M immigrants entered the US in 2023, a trend expected to continue through 2026 — with new immigrants adding $8.9T to the GDP through 2034.

What does it mean? Business leaders like Elon Musk have warned that “Population collapse is a major risk to the future of civilization” citing the impacts on pension systems, global order, and innovation. In spite of that, birth rates have continued falling — forcing more industrialized economies to grow their population and economies with foreign workers. Countries like Germany, Italy, and Portugal would have shrunk from 2000 to 2020 if not for their immigration policies. And by the 2040s, the CBO projects immigration will drive substantially all population growth in the US.

Immigration is a serious issue that should be treated with care, but instead of painting it as the enemy of the world, let's imagine what would happen to all those developed countries if immigrants stopped feeding their industries and economies? If Trump continues to follow his policies, maybe we won't have to imagine and we'll see this business case up close.

What else in on

• Japan: The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark rate to 0.5%, marking its highest level since 2008, as rising wages and persistent inflation pull the world’s third-largest economy away from almost two decades of near-zero rates. (Read)

• Palestine: Hundreds of thousands of people journeyed back to northern Gaza yesterday after Israel allowed entry to the war-ravaged area for the first time since the early days of its war with Hamas. (Read)

• New Zealand: The country eased its visa rules to allow foreigners to work while traveling in the country in an effort to boost tourism, in case your digital nomad dreams include working from a hobbit hole. Let’s go? (Read)

• Germany: After seeing its economy shrink by 0.2% in 2023 and a further 0.2% in 2024, the German government has cut its growth forecast for 2025 from 1.1% to just 0.3%. Things are not looking good for Europe’s biggest economy. (Read)

• Greece: Santorini, the Greek island everyone on your Insta feed has posted pictures of, was shaken by several earthquakes. Residents have been warned to avoid indoor gatherings, and stay away from cliffs and to drain swimming pools to reduce potential structural damage to buildings in the event of a large earthquake. (Read)
  

 Hurry Up Tomorrow by The Weeknd: This is farewell to The Weeknd and a hypnotic beginning for Abel Makkonen Tesfaye. The album transitions across genres while staying rooted in his signature sound: Contemporary R&B. Each track is meticulously crafted, with haunting vocals and impeccable production.

Musically, the album is a Frankenstein of influences. São Paulo jumps from Brazilian funk to a punishing house beat, while Given Up on Me blends a slowed-down sample of Nina Simone’s Wild Is the Wind with a sliver of 70s soul. Even at its most straightforward, the album shines with brilliant melodies and lush production: the George Harrison-esque guitar weaving through Reflections Laughing, the rubbery bassline of I Can’t Wait to Get There, the eerie yet stunning mix of 70s soul harmonies and distorted electronics in Big Sleep.

• If there’s one critique, it’s that lyrically, Hurry Up Tomorrow doesn’t stray far from Tesfaye’s usual themes. Over the course of an hour and a half, his meditations on fame, hedonism, and self-destruction can feel repetitive. But when the music is this good, it hardly matters.

And truth be told, I’ve never sat down to listen to a full The Weeknd album from start to finish—until now. Maybe it’s about time. Better late than never. (Rating: 8/10)

Have you ever heard older generations say that people are getting more entitled and less resilient as time goes on? My mother says this all the time. Normally, I ignore these kinds of generational comparisons —I find them mostly pointless. But recently, I started wondering: What if there’s some truth to it? What if one of the many reasons people feel unsatisfied today is because, in some ways, we are more spoiled?

Think about it. Everything is designed to cater to you. Spotify curates playlists based on your taste. Netflix changes movie covers until it finds one you’ll click on. Instagram delivers only the content it believes you want to see. Even I try to write things you’ll enjoy (or at least, I hope so). It’s as if the digital world functions as our personal assistant, constantly rearranging itself for our pleasure.

• But here’s the catch: This can create the illusion that the entire world should work this way—tailored to our preferences, bending to our desires. Don’t like a song? Skip it. Bored with a show? Drop it. A creator’s outfit isn’t your style? Well, better comment on it, because clearly, that creator should be dressing to impress you. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

The problem? When we never grow out of that phase. Technology and social media keep reinforcing the idea that everything should be customized to us, that our opinions are fundamental, that our desires should always be met. And when that doesn’t happen? We feel frustrated. Entitled. Like something is wrong when in reality is not. We start believing that if something doesn’t please us, it’s a problem that needs to be fixed, rather than just something that isn’t meant for us. Instead of ignoring or moving on, we feel the need to complain, and demand change, as if the world owes us an apology for not constantly meeting our expectations.

• The more we expect the world to shape itself around us, the more irritated we become when it doesn’t.

But here’s the liberating part: accepting that not everything is about you is a sign of maturity. The song you don’t like? It might be someone else’s favorite. The movie you found boring? It could be deeply meaningful to another person. The world isn’t wrong for not constantly catering to you—we are wrong for expecting it to.

So yes, maybe our generation is more entitled. But I’ve found life so much lighter when you start realizing that people and things don’t have to be centered around you. That’s a lot of expectation to place on the world. Let go of it. Take a step back, breathe, and enjoy the fact that even without being the center of everything, it’s still a damn amazing world to live in.

With love,

Micael.

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