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10 New Songs Out Today to Listen To: Vince Staples, Kelsey Lu, and More

There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Thursday, May 21, 2026.


Vince Staples – ‘White Flag’

Vince Staples has previewed his new album Cry Baby with ‘White Flag’, a dazed, despairing song about racial inequity. It follows lead single ‘Blackberry Marmalade’, and the whole record is out June 5.

Kelsey Lu – ‘Comfort’

Kelsey Lu has unveiled ‘Comfort’, a tenderly expansive single from the forthcoming album So Help Me God. It follows earlier cuts ‘Running to Pain’, the title track, and ‘Better Than That’ with Sampha.

Matilda Mann – ‘The Fig Tree’

“I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose,” Sylvia Plath wrote in The Bell Jar, a metaphor that serves as the main inspiration beind Matilda Mann’s new single. ‘The Fig Tree’ leads the singer-songwriter’s sophomore LP, Kismet, and arrives alongside a Ben Harris-directed video.

Opus Kink – ‘The Sweet Goodbye’

Brighton post-punk outift Opus Kink are gearing up for the release of their debut album, The Sweet Goodbye, and today they’ve shared the jagged, theatrical title track. Frontman Angus Rogers introduced it as such: “A man sings a lullaby to his love, his heart’s instrument, his medium of choice on the eve of their parting. Tomorrow they will bid one another goodbye but not before delivering a last message to the world that made them. The big man once said parting is such sweet sorrow… lift the pen, turn the peg, climb the clocktower, take aim, give everything.”

Pinkshift – ‘When We Were Friends’

Pinkshift have unleashed an anthemic new single, ‘When We Were Friends’, along with a self-directed video. “This song was just called ‘Friends’ for the longest time,” the group shared. “It’s a story about getting kicked to the curb when there was a new relationship in my friend’s life. I wanted to share a story about how valuable friendship is, even though we might take friendships for granted. It’s easy to fall into the trap of watering romantic relationships that are exciting and new and leaving your friends out to dry, assuming that friends will always be there. But your friends who have been there with you through everything deserve the same love, attention, and care you would give someone new.”

Petey USA – ‘Kiss the City’

Petey USA is back with a new single, ‘Kiss the City’, which mixes heartland rock songwriting with colourful drum programming and synths. “This song is about the exhaustion of the city grind and a fantasy of dropping everything to live off the land, free from money and obligation. But freedom without people just turns into loneliness,” Petey explained. “In the end you come running back, not because the city got any better, but because you need community more than you need to escape.”

Wiki – ‘Park’

New York rapper Wiki has announced a new LP, Ancient History, out June 12, with the hazily pretty ‘Park’. The record features production from the Alchemist, Nick Hakim, Navy Blue, Laron, Mount Kimbie under his Dom Maker moniker, and MIKE as dj blackpower alias.

Jordan Patterson – ‘Just My Friend’

Jordan Patterson, an LA-based songwriter and producer recently signed to Secretly Canadian, has announced her first release for the label. The Songs From a Valley Girl EP is out June 19, previewed today by the emotive single ‘Just My Friend’, which is accompanied by a sweet live performance video.

Quicksand – ‘Crystallize’

Quicksand have shared a new single, ‘Crystallize’, from their forthcoming album Bring On the Psychics. It comes paired with a video from director Jesse Korman.

Widemouth – ‘Raincoat’

Widemouth’s debut album, No Gasoline, arrives in just over a week, and today the Chicago band have released a gorgeous single from it called ‘Raincoat’. It’s accompanied by a clip that “could be construed as a music video,” per the YouTube description, “but very little planning went into this. So it’s just a video.”

Kelsey Lu Releases New Single ‘Comfort’

Kelsey Lu has shared ‘Comfort’, the latest offering from her forthcoming album So Help Me God. The tender, expansive single follows previous cuts ‘Running to Pain’, the title track, and ‘Better Than That’ featuring Sampha. Check it out via the accompanying video below.

So Help Me God is set for release on June 12 via Dirty Hit.

Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine Season 2: Cast, Rumours & Release Date

Remember Money Heist? The Spanish series became a global phenomenon following its Netflix premiere in late 2017. But while The Professor and his acolytes may have pulled off their final heist, the show’s universe is still expanding.

Most recently, with Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine, the second season of Money Heist prequel series Berlin. With 6.2 million views this week, it’s currently the most-watched non-English show on Netflix, as well as the #1 show in 14 countries. Is another follow-up already in the cards?

Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine Season 2 Release Date

At the time of writing, there’s no official news about a potential Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine season 2. More exactly, there’s no news on Berlin season 3, since each season has its own title.

Still, that doesn’t mean a sequel isn’t happening. The streaming service sometimes waits to assess viewership before making a decision. Berlin continues to be a popular character, so you never know.

As long as Netflix gives the green light, new episodes could arrive in a couple of years.

Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine Cast

  • Pedro Alonso as Andrés de Fonollosa or “Berlin”
  • Tristán Ulloa as Damián
  • Michelle Jenner as Keila
  • Begoña Vargas as Cameron
  • Julio Peña Fernández as Roi
  • Joel Sánchez as Bruce
  • Inma Cuesta as Candela
  • José Luis García-Pérez as Álvaro Hermoso de Medina
  • Marta Nieto as Genoveva Dante

What Is Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine About?

Let’s start with a quick recap. In Money Heist, a criminal mastermind called “The Professor” assembles a group of thieves named after cities to carry out a massive heist on the Royal Mint of Spain.

One of them is Berlin, who stood out as a fan favourite, despite being arrogant and morally grey. As a result, he got his own prequel series, which is set years before the events of Money Heist.

The first Berlin installment focused on an earlier heist in Paris involving $44 million worth of royal jewels. In Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine, the titular character reunites his crew for an elaborate con centered around a famous Leonardo da Vinci’s painting.

However, the painting is only part of the plan. After the wealthy Duke of Málaga attempts to manipulate Berlin into stealing the artwork for him, Berlin decides to retaliate by targeting the duke’s secret fortune instead. The mission spirals into a dangerous (and intoxicating) mix of deception, romance, revenge, and betrayal.

While there’s no news on Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine season 2 as of yet, this second Berlin installment tells a complete story. Any follow-up would likely focus on another daring heist. We’re sure the character’s past can still provide plenty of exciting material.

Are There Other Shows Like Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine?

If you enjoyed Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine and already saw Money Heist, try some of the other action series streaming on Netflix. Recent additions include Legends, Nemesis, Man on Fire, and Bandi.

Matilda Mann Announces New Album ‘Kismet’, Shares New Single ‘The Fig Tree’

London-based singer-songwriter Matilda Mann has announced her sophomore album, Kismet, which is set for release on September 4. It’s led by the breezy new single ‘The Fig Tree’, which comes paired with a music video directed by Ben Harris. Check it out below

“It’s based off the poem by Sylvia Plath; where she struggles with the overwhelming decision of what to do with her career,” Mann said of the track in a press release. “Something we all have to go through and though it can feel hopeless and constantly changing, I wanted to try and write something that made it all feel lighter.”

Introducing Kismet, which follows last year’s Roxwell, she added:

“Kismet” – is defined as destiny; fate. A hypothetical force or personified power that determines the course of future events.The world is so chaotic, full of questions, highs and lows and a lot of the time most of us don’t know what we’re doing. We want to make the most out of the one life we’ve been given and mistakes are a terrifying thing. But I like to think that there’s a comfort in leaning into what the universe has in store, when you start to think of every rejection as a form of being redirected to somewhere you’re actually meant to be. I know that can sound naive or like you’re refusing to see anything negative, but I believe there’s an art in trying to be a positive thinker. It’s hard to do, but over time it’s helped me appreciate the little things and people that mean the most to me. I hope this album can be your escape into seeing life a little brighter.

How Healthcare Sexual Abuse Lawsuits Hold Facility Staff Liable

Healthcare sexual abuse claims arise from a sharp breach of trust during moments of dependence. In St. Louis, MO, and across the Midwest, these claims have intensified as lawsuits expose patterns of staff misconduct inside psychiatric and behavioral health facilities. Universal Health Services, which manages nearly 200 inpatient psychiatric hospitals nationwide, has faced mounting legal action after patients alleged sexual abuse by employees at multiple locations. In Illinois, a former behavioral health technician at Streamwood Hospital was criminally charged for sexually abusing a 12-year-old patient with autism, while at Hartgrove Hospital in Chicago, a staff member allegedly threatened to sedate minors who resisted his advances. Rock River Academy, another UHS-operated facility in Rockford, was shut down after repeated reports of sexual violence, staff misconduct, and regulatory violations.

Patients may need help with bathing, exams, medication, transport, or close observation, and that reliance can place them at risk when boundaries fail or warnings go unanswered. For families in St. Louis and throughout Missouri who believe a loved one was harmed in a behavioral health setting, understanding the UHS sexual abuse lawsuit can help clarify how civil claims hold both individual staff and the facilities that employed them accountable. These cases examine who caused injury, who ignored danger, and whether the facility’s safeguards, training, and reporting systems left vulnerable people exposed.

Direct Acts Create Personal Liability

Personal liability often begins with the staff member accused of sexual contact, coercion, or assault without consent. Liability can attach when a worker exploits authority, misuses access, or takes advantage of sedation, confusion, immobility, or emotional distress. In psychiatric and residential care settings, the power imbalance between staff and patients makes these allegations particularly serious, and courts have shown willingness to hold individuals directly responsible for violations of trust.

Negligent Hiring Can Expand Fault

Hiring decisions often shape later exposure in court. A facility may face claims after bringing in a worker with prior discipline, troubling references, or a disqualifying record. Supervisors can share blame if they cleared placement without checking licensure status, past complaints, or criminal history. Application packets, interview notes, and background reports may show that warning signs existed well before any patient encounter occurred.

Poor Supervision Often Matters

Many lawsuits turn on what supervisors saw, heard, or brushed aside. Boundary problems rarely appear from nowhere. Patients may report lingering touch, unusual room visits, privacy breaches, or off-schedule contact. Managers who dismiss those signals can face separate negligence claims. Courts often review incident logs, witness statements, staffing patterns, and chart activity to determine whether oversight failures allowed harmful conduct to continue.

Reporting Duties Carry Weight

Reporting failures can deepen legal exposure for individual workers and leadership alike. Nurses, technicians, counselors, and administrators may have internal duties, licensing obligations, or state notice requirements after hearing an allegation. The HHS Office of Inspector General has documented cases where behavioral health providers failed to report incidents and provide adequate services, resulting in significant federal enforcement actions. Delays matter because one ignored complaint can leave another patient vulnerable. Investigators often compare hotline entries, email trails, shift documentation, and response times to see whether required steps were taken promptly.

Training Records Tell a Story

Training records often speak louder than policy manuals. A facility may argue that abuse could not have been predicted, yet education files can test that position. Courts ask whether staff received clear instruction on consent, observation standards, privacy limits, trauma response, and documentation. Missing coursework, stale modules, or weak follow-up may support claims that leadership failed to prepare workers for high-risk clinical settings.

Staffing Levels Affect Safety

Staffing levels can alter daily risk in ways juries readily grasp. Thin coverage reduces witness presence and increases isolated contact with vulnerable patients. Locked units, overnight shifts, and transport routes often carry the highest concern. If schedules left one employee alone for long stretches, plaintiffs may argue that the setup invited misconduct. Timecards, assignment sheets, and census reports can help establish that connection.

Records Can Reveal Concealment

A case may widen sharply after signs of concealment appear. Altered chart notes, deleted messages, or pressure placed on patients to stay silent can suggest awareness of wrongdoing. Courts treat that behavior seriously because it points to deliberate interference with the truth. Audit trails, badge swipes, surveillance records, and phone metadata often become central evidence when accounts differ about what occurred inside the facility.

Corporate Policies Do Not Shield Individuals

Written policies do little on their own. A handbook that forbids abuse does not protect a worker who crossed a clear boundary. Reporting rules also offer little cover if supervisors ignored them in practice. Civil claims focus on conduct, not framed statements on a wall. That approach allows liability to reach individual employees while also testing whether the institution enforced its own safety standards.

Damages Reflect More Than Immediate Injury

Sexual abuse in care settings can affect far more than one moment. Survivors may develop panic symptoms, insomnia, depressed mood, self-harm risk, pelvic pain, or deep mistrust of future treatment. Lawsuits commonly seek payment for therapy, medical care, lost earnings, and pain. In severe cases, experts may describe lasting psychiatric decline, functional impairment, and disrupted family relationships tied to the abuse.

Conclusion

Healthcare sexual abuse lawsuits do more than identify one offender. They track choices across hiring, supervision, staffing, reporting, and recordkeeping to determine where protection failed. That process can hold individual workers liable for direct abuse while exposing managers or facilities for preventable omissions. When evidence shows ignored warnings or broken safeguards, civil claims create a path to accountability, institutional change, and safer treatment conditions for patients who depend on care.

Rick and Morty Season 9: Release Date, Trailer

The wait for Rick and Morty season 9 is almost over. Fans are ready for another round of interdimensional chaos, and we’ve been gathering everything you need to know about when season 9 of Rick and Morty arrives and what to expect.

This upcoming season marks a turning point for the show’s production schedule. The gap between seasons has shrunk, and the creative team is making bold promises about the quality of what’s coming.

When is Rick and Morty Season 9 coming out?

The Rick and Morty Season 9 release date is May 25, at 4:00 AM BST on Adult Swim in the UK. New episodes will air weekly through July 26.

Season 9’s release date is the shortest gap between seasons in the show’s history. Season 8 premiered on May 25, 2025 in the UK, making this exactly 365 days later. Fans have been appreciating this quick turnaround as there were seasons where we needed to wait multiple years before the next installment.

Considering Rick and Morty was renewed through season 12 and received major investments, betting on another two-year hiatus now feels like the kind of long shot you’d only find on best odds guaranteed betting sites.

Rick and Morty Season 9 Details: How Many Episodes – Where to Watch

Rick and Morty Season 9 consists of 10 episodes. UK viewers can watch the new episodes on HBO Max starting May 25. The live Adult Swim broadcast airs at 4:00 AM BST on May 25, but we find streaming as the more practical option. Episodes will air weekly in that same time slot through the end of July.

Streaming viewers in the US will find Season 9 on HBO Max and Hulu starting June 15, 2026.

Rick and Morty Season 9 Trailers

Rick and Morty Season 9 has two trailers available, at the time of writing. Adult Swim released the first official trailer on April 7. A second trailer followed on May 12.

You can watch the first trailer here, and the second trailer here. Some fans are already overanalyzing Season 9 with the kind of intensity usually reserved for decisions made on betting sites with world cup group forecast odds.

Besides the trailers, Adult Swim has been hyping up the season with a mission statement, promising fans that they would only find organic human slop in the new season, and no “AI-slop.”

The “No AI slop” declaration is a promise that every frame comes from human writers, animators, and artists, directly addressing the concerns about artificial intelligence in creative industries. This also verifies that the TV-MA rated series will continue to target adult audiences with its homebrew signature blend of crude humor.

Worn With Pride: The Photography of Oluwatobi Ogundunsin

What are we looking for when examining a portrait photograph? Are we looking for a familiar face; do we identify ourselves in it, or do we seek to understand others? Or is it a part of all three? We can see both identity and the celebration of differences as a key part of Oluwatobi Ogundunsin’s photography. 

The series ‘Gele’s Grace’ is based on the gele, the traditional West African head wrap, and the women who wear it. In the lead portrait from the series, the woman stares us down, sporting her gele with the pride that comes with displaying her cultural heritage.  In no way does she play into the idea of the male gaze – we’re not looking at her, she’s looking at us and graciously welcoming us into her world. 

The reflective sunglasses, covered with colourful abstract shapes, draw on the rich tradition of global abstract modernism while ensuring we don’t see her full identity, so she can represent any West African woman from today or generations past. 

In the Talking Drum series, the drum is both an important part of West African culture and a form of communication within community rituals. In both series, Ogundunsin is looking to further lower the cross-cultural boundaries that are already falling due to globalisation and how we’re all now connected through technology. 

The works remind me of Hassan Hajjaj’s striking photographs of individuals in North Africa, which celebrate that region’s cultural diversity. His works also owe a debt to Seydou Keita, often referred to as the ‘father of African portrait photography’, for his black-and-white portraits, often set against ornate backdrops reminiscent of those in Ogundinsin’s work.  I can also see similarities to the stylised portraits by James Barnor and Omar Victor Diop, both of whom celebrate black figures in their oeuvre. 

Outside the above series, we see Ogundunsin becoming more experimental and unafraid to try different styles, including black-and-white photography, a sparing use of colour, and digital manipulation that causes a face to break apart. It demonstrates that he is willing to adopt new styles and that there’s still space for his photography practice to grow and evolve.

It’s not just portraits; he also photographs rural landscapes and urban cityscapes, the latter softened to the point that they look like postcards. Just as Martin Parr captures a sense of British life through his photographs, Ogundinsin seeks to capture a similar slice of life, albeit from a different background and perspective.

The UK’s diverse fine art photography and wider art scene benefit from varied approaches to fashion, style, and composition, and Ogundunsin brings his unique vision to the discussion. The art scene in the UK is constantly evolving, and it’s always great to see fresh new voices joining the conversation. 

More information about Oluwatobi Ogundunsin’s photography can be found on his website and Instagram account.

Author Spotlight: Vincent Yu, ‘Seek Immediate Shelter’

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When the citizens of a small town in Massachusetts receive a false missile alarm, alerting them to their imminent deaths, they react in an array of emotions. Some see it as an opportunity for true love—texting a stranger they met at a bar years ago how they really felt. Some see it as a way to get the last word in, texting their child what they really thought of how they lived their life. And some make a mistake that will carry them to their graves—like flooring it before their wife and child can make it into the car.

Touching, deeply human and bittersweet, Vincent Yu’s Seek Immediate Shelter bounds from person to person, following them years into the future to see the reverberations that one instant can have on the rest of one’s life. OurCulture chatted with Yu about choosing love over fear, crafting Asian identities, and closure.

What drew me to Seek Immediate Shelter was its premise. Did it have anything to do with the 2018 false alarm that happened in Hawaii?

Yeah, it was definitely inspired by that. I didn’t start writing immediately after the alarm happened. I started writing in 2022, I’m not sure what brought the alarm back into my head. It started in the same way that all my work does, as a short story. Eventually, if it doesn’t seem to be fitting within the constraints of that form, it could be a robust enough idea for a novel, and that’s what happens here. 

In your writing, you strike me as someone who believes one single moment can change everything. Is this true?

Absolutely. I’ve always felt that it’s a fallacy to try and put a story or narrative over real life events’ there’s so many things you don’t consider. I still remember reading War and Peace for the first time, near the end when Tolstoy goes on and on, when it starts to become his own historical beliefs. He talks about the Battle of Austerlitz, how Napoleon won this historically significant event, but if he had been sick that day, who knows? There’s so many events that have such a widespread range of repercussions you can never really expect.

Do you think that when the alert hit, it unlocked something potentially liberating? A lot of these characters do things that seem to me they’ve been waiting to do for a long time. 

Yeah, liberating but not necessarily in a good way. When you liberate your instincts, it can lead to things that are selfish. In the final story, Grant is addicted to opioids, when his former fiancée, Millie, appears. Their responses were very similar—both a response to liberation, but in opposite directions. Millie texted this guy she met at a bar one time that she’s never stopped thinking of him. She followed an impulsive decision that leads to nowhere, and Grant feels liberated to finally do something honorable. 

Did you ever think about the difference between characters who acted out of love vs out of fear?

Yeah. I mean, David, from the first story, who drives away and abandoned his wife and kid—even though I try to keep the narration very equivocal—I think he drove away out of fear, or cowardice. I think the next character, Nina, when she sends that text to her daughter—she felt free to be a little bit cruel. Those two had less-than-noble responses, but all the others acted out of a sense of goodness, of wanting to make their presumptive final moments meaningful. 

I was about to ask about Nina and how she called her daughter selfish. Nina, the mother who called her daughter selfish in her last moments. Do you think in these scenarios, they can write it off as something happening during the heat of the moment?

I thought about that a lot. It comes down to: You can understand something someone does, but you can’t necessarily forgive them for it. Forgetting is a whole other thing. I don’t think the daughter would forget her mother texted her those things. Personally, I do think there’s a chance of forgiveness there. You can tell in the later story, a couple months after Nina passed, Kate does still harbor some ill will. But I think going through life gives you so many perspectives, and Kate becomes a mother at the end of that story, and through the course of her life, she might begin to forgive. 

It’s not usually the main tension of the stories, but usually, these characters’ Asian identities play a role in what they do or feel in these moments—tell me about this layer.

That was something I went into, with this book, purposefully trying to do—create characters who are Asian, but almost happen to be that way. If anything, they’re drawn together by their proximity to an alert, and they’re all Asian. I started from there, and there were a couple things I wanted to explore.

A lot of stories right now told of and by Asians Americans are told from the perspective of the second or first generation—the literal act of immigration. I do wonder what those stories will become when we’re at a fourth or fifth generation, after you’ve been several years removed from the immigration that becomes its own legend of the family. I explore this in the Nina chapter, because Dean is a third-generation, and Nina is a second-gen. She believes a big difference in their parenting philosophy came from their temporal separation.

Another thing is that a lot of these stories don’t yet exist, because America is a young country, but we also had the Chinese Exclusion Act. Asians have only been immigrating into this country for a brief amount of time, so I don’t think there’s enough of a literary tradition of, and that’s something I’m very cognizant of as I write.

Let’s say this happens to you. I know we can’t recreate the terror of receiving this alert, but what do you think you’d do?

I mean, cliché thing, call my parents and my little sister. Get a group FaceTime going and let them know everything was chill.

Nothing dastardly?

No, I would be too square about that. I’d go on my company 401(k) and make sure I’d have a beneficiary listed. There’s no way in hell Donald Trump’s government is getting my money if I die in a nuclear attack.

Finally, what are you working on next?

I’m working on a novel about three childhood Asian American friends. Something traumatic happens, and they split up, and two of them reunite over a couple years and try to piece together what happens. I want to explore two big things. Ghosting: a real psychological and emotional exploration of someone who you think loves you very abruptly cuts you off, and how far your desire for closure can take you. And subscriptions: not just Netflix or Spotify, but our increasing disinclination to own physical things and commit to things. That’ll dovetail into the idea that you can never get at the truth of things, everything is a story you tell yourself, and it’s one you’re forced to subscribe to.


Seek Immediate Shelter is out now.

Everyone Wants a Piece of Hailey Bieber: Inside Alaïa & Mango

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Fashion’s current hobby? Booking Hailey Bieber. She’s at the Met Gala dipped in gold and wrapped in Saint Laurent, fresh off her aggressively viral Tangerine Temptation campaign for the house, she’s fronting Alaïa during the final stretch of Pieter Mulier’s era before heading to Versace, she’s landing a fresh ambassador title with Mango, all while Rhode still keeps finding new ways to convince people they need a glazed lip (I too would like to look immune to stress and permanently moisturized).

Hailey Bieber for Alaia Summer Fall 26 Archetypes
@maisonalaia via Instagram

Opening Instagram lately means there’s at least a 78% chance Bieber will appear staring back at you in muted beige lighting, which brings us to her latest campaign streak. For Mulier’s Summer/Fall ’26 Archetypes campaign, the model posed in front of Tyrone Lebon’s lens at Graces Mews Gallery as the Alaïa woman “with effortless magnetism, sensuality, and empowered beauty”. The story continues through sculptural volumes, suede interrupted by skin, and glass reflecting Mulier’s controlled minimalism, everything as clean as Bieber’s own image.

Hailey Bieber for Mango Craft Your Own Story
@mango via Instagram

The photos are always on their way, and whatever luxury brand is behind them rarely does much in terms of shock value anymore. The surprise usually sits in an accessible space, or fast-fashion territory. Mango launched a teaser for their new secret brand ambassador, who remained secret for a total of 5 seconds, before a small ankle tattoo gave the whole thing away. Craft Your Own Story had the model against the Californian skyline photographed by Anthony Seklaoui, wearing those tiny gingham boxers that sold out faster than the comments loaded, vivid shirts, classic windbreakers, ruffled shorts, mini dresses, floral tops, leather sandals (possibly the collection’s best piece), and those very specific bags, either too glossy, or heavily textured, with no in-between.

What people miss most when living abroad: a study reveals three key factors

A recent study identifies three key elements that explain how migrants maintain a connection to their country of origin, even when living thousands of miles from friends and family.

Buena Park, California, May 2026 – What do people miss most about home when living abroad? A new study by Ria Money Transfer explores this question and reveals three key elements that explain how millions of people maintain that connection in their daily lives.

The United States, the world’s leading destination for migrants, is home to more than 51 million foreign-born individuals, representing approximately 15% of the total population.

In this context, the latest Ria Money Transfer study and analysis focuses on how people stay connected to their country of origin despite the distance. We already know that the bond migrants share with their home countries involves sending money, but is there more to it?

Sending money is only one part of the connection people maintain with their country of origin. There is also a cultural and social bond that remains present in their daily lives.”

This study identifies and dives deeper into the three fundamental pillars in this connection beyond sending a paycheck home to support loved ones thousands of miles away.

First, food is a key factor in how migrants stay connected to their home

The familiar smells and tastes of traditional recipes act as a direct link to a person’s roots, making it feel like home is right there in the kitchen, no matter how much distance is between them.

The study highlights examples such as Mexican tortillerías, where traditional processes are preserved, and Colombian and Venezuelan areperías, spaces where food retains its cultural meaning and reinforces a sense of belonging.

These shops and restaurants serve as community hubs where people gather to share stories and stay rooted in their heritage. They also allow individuals to pass down family traditions to the next generation and find a sense of comfort and familiarity within their local neighborhoods, making their culture a living part of their everyday lives.

Second, traditions tend to be a primary way migrants hold on to their culture

Celebrations, rituals, and festivities are another way migrants stay connected to their country of origin.

While many of these traditions adapt to a new environment, their meaning remains. This is the case with Día de los Muertos among Mexican communities or Diwali among Indian communities, which continue to be celebrated in cities across the United States.

Beyond the celebrations themselves, these moments bring people together, allowing them to share experiences and keep cultural practices alive.

Read the full report to discover the third, and possibly most important way migrants stay connected to their home

In addition to food and traditions, the recent Ria Money Transfer study highlights a third key element that shapes migrants’ daily lives in subtle ways. But what role does it play in maintaining that sense of connection?

The full report explores this aspect in more detail and how these three pillars evolve over time, particularly across generations.

About Ria Money Transfer

Ria Money Transfer is one of the world’s leading money transfer companies. With a presence in more than 190 countries and an extensive network of agents and locations, Ria Money Transfer provides fast, secure, and affordable solutions for sending and receiving money internationally.