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The Need to Recognize Domestic Abuse in Divorce Financial Settlements

Domestic abuse impacts every aspect of a survivor’s life, from emotional well-being to financial independence. Divorce proceedings often overlook the long-term consequences victims endure, which leaves them vulnerable during settlements. Advocates in Georgia say family law needs to catch up with reality so that the law can produce fair results for the abused. Fairness balanced with justice is complex but essential, especially as cases become increasingly intricate. This article examines the increasing need for recognition of domestic abuse in divorce settlements.

The Hidden Impact of Domestic Abuse on Financial Stability

Domestic abuse leaves scars that extend beyond the emotional and physical. For many victims, financial control becomes a weapon wielded by abusers, which leaves survivors trapped in cycles of dependency. In marriages where one partner controls the finances, access to money or credit is usually tightly controlled. Victims may leave a relationship with no savings, limited earning potential, or overwhelming debt incurred at the discretion of the abuser. Regaining financial independence after such control is an uphill battle. Abuse can also disrupt careers as victims are forced to quit jobs or miss opportunities out of intimidation and fear. The economic aftershocks may continue long after separation.

Balancing Fairness and Victim Protection in Family Law

Georgia family courts have to balance the need to provide justice for both parties with the needs of abuse survivors. In achieving this balance, they must use thoughtful legal strategies to safeguard victims without compromising fairness. Judges often cannot account for non-economic damages, such as trauma or financial dependence caused by abuse. More specific guidelines would help ensure that decisions reflect these realities, especially in cases where the abuse has had long-lasting impacts on a victim’s stability. It is important to train legal professionals to identify patterns of coercion and control. Greater awareness will enable the courts to make just settlements and support those who rebuild their lives. A skilled family law attorney from the Atlanta Divorce Law Group can help you convince a judge that you need immediate protection.

Legal Perspectives on Divorce Settlements in Georgia

Georgia courts use an equitable division model when dividing marital property. Judges strive to make the division fair, but it does not necessarily mean a 50/50 split, as it considers factors such as income, contributions, and future needs. Currently, state laws do not specifically address domestic abuse as a consideration in financial settlements. However, judges have the discretion to weigh the broader circumstances of each case when making decisions. Abuse may indirectly affect decisions where it has had an impact on earning capacity or financial dependency. There are calls for clearer, more straightforward guidelines to ensure that victims receive fair support.

Challenges in Proving Domestic Abuse During Divorce Cases  

Domestic abuse is often difficult to prove, especially when it involves emotional or financial control rather than physical violence. Survivors frequently lack documentation to substantiate their experiences in court. Judges rely on evidence such as police reports, medical records, or witness testimony. However, many victims never report incidents due to fear or social stigma, leaving their claims unsupported during proceedings. False allegations also complicate the process and can undermine credible cases. Courts must carefully navigate these complexities while ensuring that genuine survivors can access fair settlements without re-traumatization during legal battles.

Advocacy Efforts and Possible Legal Reforms in Georgia

Advocates throughout Georgia are seeking to revise family law to consider domestic abuse in a more appropriate manner. Their efforts emphasize the need for laws clearly recognizing how abuse should affect divorce settlements and broadening judicial guidelines to account for financial dependence and trauma caused by abusers. With better clarity of criteria, courts will be able to deal with such cases in a consistent manner that protects the survivor’s interests. Equally important in reform discussions are training programs for judges and attorneys. Greater awareness better prepares the legal professional to make just assessments of claims without compromising that neutrality so crucial to a fair divorce.

The portrayal of escorts in contemporary film and literature

The representation of escorts in modern media is a topic that has evolved significantly over the past decades. Once relegated to stereotypes and marginal roles, the figure of the escort is increasingly depicted with complexity and nuance in both film and literature. These portrayals often serve as mirrors of societal attitudes toward sex work, gender roles, and power dynamics.

Real-world examples, such as the escort service Kolkata scene, further underscore the diversity and individuality behind the profession elements that are now being more thoughtfully reflected in storytelling. By examining these narratives, we gain insight into not only the characters themselves but also the cultural landscapes that shape them. This discussion explores how contemporary storytelling humanizes escorts, challenges stereotypes, and navigates the ethical boundaries of representation.

Humanization and Complexity of Characters

One of the most notable shifts in recent years is the move toward more humanized and multidimensional portrayals of escorts. Gone are the days when these characters were defined solely by their profession or reduced to mere plot devices.

Films like Maggie’s Plan or The Girlfriend Experience and novels such as Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl offer insight into the emotional, intellectual, and personal lives of escorts. These stories emphasize agency, autonomy, and the complexity of human desires. The escort is no longer simply a symbol of vice but a person with motivations, vulnerabilities, and ambitions—much like any other character.

Stereotypes, Stigma, and Social Commentary

Despite progress, certain tropes still persist. Escorts are often portrayed as tragic figures, caught in a cycle of exploitation or self-destruction. This narrative can reinforce stigma rather than dismantle it, especially when not counterbalanced by diverse representations. However, some creators use these stereotypes as a vehicle for critique.

In reality, communities such as hookers in Belfast challenge these one-dimensional portrayals, revealing lives marked not only by struggle but also by agency, resilience, and complex motivations. For example, the character of Satine in Moulin Rouge! and Lana in American Gigolo reflect society’s discomfort with sex work and the double standards imposed on those who perform it. These portrayals, while not devoid of cliché, serve as commentaries on the broader socio-political discourse around morality, class, and gender.

Blurred Boundaries Between Empowerment and Exploitation

A recurring theme in both film and literature is the tension between empowerment and exploitation. Some narratives, such as Secret Diary of a Call Girl or Pretty Woman, present sex work as a choice that can be lucrative, even liberating. Others, however, expose the vulnerabilities and systemic inequalities that may influence that choice.

The ambiguity in these portrayals reflects real-world debates: is sex work an exercise of free will or a consequence of socioeconomic coercion? By refusing to provide easy answers, contemporary creators invite audiences to grapple with the ethical gray areas of the industry and their own assumptions.

Conclusion

The depiction of escorts in contemporary film and literature has undergone a substantial transformation, moving toward greater empathy and realism while still contending with entrenched stereotypes and societal biases. These narratives do more than entertain they provoke dialogue, challenge norms, and reveal the layered humanity behind a historically misunderstood profession. As cultural attitudes continue to evolve, it remains vital to examine how media shapes our perceptions and what stories are being told or left untold.

Elisa Eugenia Maria Molinari: A Portrait of Grace, Grit, and Global Growth

Elisa Eugenia Maria Molinari is a dancer shaped by movement, meaning, and the world around her. Born in Genoa, Italy, in 2004, she began ballet at the age of four and never looked back. What started as a childhood fascination quickly became a lifelong pursuit—one marked by discipline, deep emotional connection, and a growing curiosity about the world beyond her hometown.

From local studios in Liguria to the international stages of New York City, Elisa’s path reflects the kind of versatility today’s dancers need to thrive. Her story isn’t just about technique—it’s about resilience, cultural exploration, and a quiet determination to evolve with every step she takes.

From Genoa to Florence: The Making of a Dancer

Her foundational years were spent training at Danza Luccoli 23 in Genoa, a school steeped in legacy and led by Angela Galli. There, Elisa was immersed in classical, modern, and contemporary dance styles. Her growing skill earned her invitations to elite summer intensives, including the famed Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where she was offered a place, marking an early milestone in her young career.

At just 13, Elisa made the bold move to Florence to continue her formal training at the Accademia Internazionale Coreutica. Under the mentorship of director Elisabetta Hertel, a former Stuttgart Ballet principal, Elisa honed her technique, artistry, and emotional expression across six intensive years. International workshops and competitions during this time enriched her versatility and laid the foundation for a career built not just on technical skill but on cultural depth and emotional resonance.

Breaking Through in New York

Image: Elisa’s Instagram Dance Profile

Upon graduating in July 2023, Elisa took another leap—this time across the Atlantic. She joined the Ajkun Ballet Theatre in New York City as a Trainee. Her dedication and poise quickly stood out. Within a year, she was promoted to Senior Company Artist in December 2024, a remarkable ascent that reflects both talent and tenacity.

Elisa’s repertoire at Ajkun Ballet Theatre has been both rich and diverse. From classical masterpieces like The Nutcracker, La Bayadère, and Romeo & Juliet to contemporary works such as Tango Nights, her roles have evolved from corps de ballet to soloist parts. Notably, her breakthrough came with her first soloist role in La Bayadère in April 2024—a performance that revealed her maturity as both technician and storyteller.

A Career Enriched by Global Experience

Beyond the stage, Elisa credits international experiences with shaping her outlook and depth as an artist. Her participation in the company’s Kosovo tour in September 2024 was especially transformative. “It was an incredible experience,” she says, “that allowed me to share my art with international audiences and be part of a beautiful cultural exchange.”

Family remains a cornerstone in Elisa’s journey. Her mother, an executive in a medical business, and her father, a professional in the insurance sector, supported her every step, both emotionally and financially. “Even though no one in my family worked in the arts,” Elisa shares, “they always encouraged me to follow my passion for ballet.”

Shaping the Future Through Movement and Mindfulness

Her professional and personal growth has also been enriched by a long list of mentors and role models, from internationally renowned instructors like Craig Davidson and Steffen Fuchs to iconic dancers such as Sylvie Guillem and Marianela Nuñez. But perhaps most impactful are the values instilled by her parents and the resilience modeled by her brothers, one of whom is a two-time Italian karting champion.

Looking ahead, Elisa dreams of gracing the world’s most prestigious stages while continuing to evolve as a multifaceted artist. Her passion for yoga and Pilates—disciplines that support her dancing—signals her intent to one day help fellow dancers improve their physical well-being. “Versatility,” she says, “is not just about adapting to different styles, but about growing as a complete artist.”

In an era where artistic excellence increasingly demands global exposure, emotional depth, and technical adaptability, Elisa Eugenia Maria Molinari stands as a compelling example of what it means to be a 21st-century ballerina. With each pirouette and pas de deux, she continues not just to perform, but to connect, inspire, and grow.

About the Author

Clara Duvall is a freelance writer and culture enthusiast with a focus on human stories in the arts, lifestyle, and international careers. Her work explores the intersections of identity, ambition, and creative expression. She enjoys discovering new artists and sharing their journeys with a wider audience through thoughtful, narrative-driven features.

FlixHQ Alternatives, Mirror Sites & Reddit Updates

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Streaming today is the new version of flipping channels on your cable TV. Anyone can choose where they want to stream. From ad-supported websites to paid subscriptions on streaming giants, users select what they desire. Accordingly, many people prefer free streaming. And FlixHQ is their top platform of choice. It offers unlimited content for free. Unfortunately, its accessibility is far from unlimited. Websites like this get shut down now and then. Subsequently, online streamers turn to other websites to continue the marathon.

Whether you like premium pixels that are worth every penny or infinite drama at zero dollars, there are alternatives for you.

Five FlixHQ Alternatives

  • River TV

River TV is an over-the-top internet television from Canada. More concretely, this platform offers premium programming. Specifically, users can expect movies, sports programs, stand-up comedy specials, documentaries, exclusive series, and concerts. You can try its 30-day free trial before subscribing.

  • KissMovies

KissMovies provides an easy way to watch motion pictures in high definition. Additionally, its wide variety of collections includes blockbusters and classics. Everyone can enjoy content from various genres for free!

  • Vidcloud

Vidcloud is a no-charge streaming platform. No hidden fees, too. Also, this website enables users to stream movies and TV shows anywhere. Moreover, it hosts a vast library of content, which makes it a go-to for movie lovers.

  • MovieUniverse

MovieUniverse offers a catalog of movies and TV series that you can watch or download. At the same time, it has a user-friendly interface that makes free streaming less stressful. Likewise, it contains a dedicated tab for trending movies. This assists users in finding new movies instantly.

  • Sling Freestream

Sling Freestream is a free on-demand and live TV online. Aside from offering thousands of movies and TV shows, there are 600 available live channels. Particularly, these channels cover sports, news, and other entertainment.

Mirror Sites for FlixHQ

There may not be abundant proxy sites for FlixHQ, but here are the two working domains:

  • https://flixhq.to/
  • https://flixhq.life/

Remember that accessing mirrors is like accessing a digital world of threats, like malware, dubious ads, and data theft.

Reddit Insights and Updates

As we have mentioned, access to FlixHQ is not forever. In the same sense, conversations on the r/Piracy thread on Reddit mention the same concern. Several users are asking for a working domain or one that has no ads since their go-to FlixHQ website is down.

The Takeaway

Free streaming is fun until your chosen website goes missing in action. On the other hand, paid platforms can be too expensive for most people. For those reasons, having a list of alternatives is beneficial. There is always something worth watching, whether free or paid.

WatchMovieStream Alternatives, Mirror Sites & Reddit Updates

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Welcome to the golden age of not leaving your house. In other words, the streaming era. Correspondingly, people have the power to choose between free streaming and subscription-based platforms. From freebies to premium dreams, your perfect watchlist lives in both worlds. As for free streaming enthusiasts, WatchMovieStream has been one of the favorites. However, these websites often face takedowns and outages. Consequently, this pushes users to be constantly on the lookout for other options.

From a legitimate paid alternative to recommended free streaming services, here are some top platforms to consider.

Five WatchMovieStream Alternatives

  • Bounce TV

Bounce TV is a digital broadcast network. During its launch in 2011, the platform said it was the first to target African Americans with its 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network. As of now, it offers a combination of classic movies and original series. Plus, there is a seven-day free trial.

  • Movies2Watch

Movies2Watch boasts an extensive library of free movies and TV series. In fact, users can indulge themselves with over 10,000 titles for series and 50,000 films. Also, the website does not require registrations. People can have quick access to its content.

  • Braflix

Braflix quickly became a fan favorite due to its free streaming services. More specifically, it delivers more than 10,000 movies and TV shows to its users worldwide. Without the need to register or pay, you can stream online with zero ads.

  • StreamLord

StreamLord is a streaming service that works through the web. Additionally, users can stream tons of movies and TV programs at no cost. Take note. All of these are available in high definition. On top of that, it has a simple interface for quick navigation.

  • Plex

Plex has evolved from a media server to a one-stop shop for movies and TV series. In connection, it is a comprehensive entertainment platform that is available on any device. Also, it is a free ad-supported website. With Plex, there is always something to discover.

Mirror Sites for WatchMovieStream

It is important to be aware that there are currently no available mirror sites for WatchMovieStream. While it is a good indication that the main website is working, it is much better to be prepared with a list of alternatives.

Reddit Insights and Updates

Similar to the case of its mirror sites, Reddit has been quiet about WatchMovieStream. There are no ongoing discussions regarding the platform. Nonetheless, it is still nice to follow threads like r/Piracy and r/moviefinder to catch the latest updates about streaming.

The Takeaway

With all the available streaming alternatives out there, it almost feels like you will never run out of choices. Accordingly, we have rounded out the five best picks for you to try. All you have to do now is keep your internet fast and your options open.

In the Gap of Meaning: Experiencing ‘Conceptual Erasure’

From May 27 to June 2, 2025, Blank Canvas Fulham Gallery in London became the site of a radical artistic proposition: Conceptual Erasure, a group exhibition curated by Ciro Wang of ArtOrb and presented by Tablab. Featured works by 19 international artists, the exhibition ventures beyond language and representation to create a space in which perception, rather than meaning, takes center stage.

Conceptual Erasure sets out to open a conceptual gap—an intentional void that invites viewers to rethink the fundamental ways in which we perceive and understand the world. The show suspends the machinery of interpretation to ask: What happens when we erase the concept itself? What kind of art—and what kind of attention—emerges when there is no label to guide the gaze? It is precisely in the cracks, gaps, and dissolution of concepts that the curatorial vision locates the essential power of art—not as an explanation, but as an encounter.

Across moving images, sound, installation, and sculpture, the participating artists attempt to access experiences on the edge of the concept or outside it altogether. Their works do not explain—they unfold. And in doing so, they construct a space where perception is more original, raw, and felt. Through this emphasis on conceptual absence, the exhibition foregrounds what often remains unseen or unspoken—what emerges when we no longer seek to categorize, but simply to witness.

Mo Cheng, Strings, 2022

This idea resonates in Mo Cheng’s Strings, an interactive installation that transforms a piano into a metaphorical landscape of emotional tension. Nestled within the familiar frame of the instrument, the work subtly dislocates its function. Here, the piano is no longer a vessel for melody but a living structure that vibrates with the unspoken dynamics of intimacy. As audiences approach and interact with it, Strings reveals not performance, but relation—sound as response, gesture as presence.

Jialin Wu, Unfixed Coordinates, 2025

This atmosphere of unanchored encounters is vividly embodied in Jialin Wu’s Unfixed Coordinates, a four-channel video installation exploring how identity and memory circulate through cultural artifacts. Wu reframes these historical objects as unstable markers—fluid and shifting, never fixed. The work unfolds like a fragmented map, resisting linear logic and inviting a kind of temporal free fall. Identity here is not a noun, but a verb—a process of repositioning within what echoes.

Ziyan Zhang, longitude and latitude: Nangx Eb Jit Bil, 2025

Ziyan Zhang’s contribution extends this ethos through tactile language. Drawing on the visual traditions of Hmong women, Zhang’s work explores embroidery and batik as narrative structures—tools for archiving cosmogony, migration, and memory where words fail. Through thread and wax, Zhang situates her work at the outer edge of conceptual legibility, allowing what is felt, inherited, or unspoken to surface.

Among the 19 exhibiting artists is Jun Rui Lo, recently shortlisted for New Contemporaries 2025, whose sculptural work contributes to the show’s insistence on material estrangement and perceptual ambiguity. Together, these works don’t aim to be understood in traditional terms. They aim to be experienced—at the edge of language, where awareness and sensation precede thought. The gallery itself, spread across two floors, reinforces this sensory openness. Spatial juxtapositions highlight contrast, echo, and tension without ever collapsing into tidy curatorial messaging.

As a whole, Conceptual Erasure is less an exhibition about something than it is an exhibition that asks us to stop needing to know. In a cultural moment that rewards instant interpretation, it’s a risk—and a necessary one.


Exhibition Details

Dates: May 27 – June 2, 2025
Opening: 8:00 PM, May 27, 2025
Location: Blank Canvas Fulham Gallery, 56 Dawes Rd, London SW6 7EN, UK

Participating Artists:
Beiyi Wang, Chaoming Zheng, Derek Miller, Henryk Terpiłowski, Iris Jingyi Zeng, Jiaqi Liao, Jialin Wu, Jing Zhou, Jingyun Guan, Jun Rui Lo, Lin (Ruki) Li, Lingfei Shen, Mengzhu Li, Mo Cheng, Purva Kundaje, Sofia Sanchez, Xinyue Gao, Zesheng Li, Ziyan Zhang

5 Highlights From Primavera Sound 2025 Saturday, June 7

When Primavera Sound announced its 2025 lineup, the big news was that they’d managed to get Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan to headline. But it’s clear that the festival organizers understand convergent fanbases at every scale, which, on Saturday, June 7, meant booking bands like Cap’n Jazz and Los Campesinos! (embracing their emo status), Fontaines D.C. and Black Country, New Road (shaking off the post-punk label), or Chat Pile and Turnstile (transcending hardcore). Yet Primavera is also the only festival where you can hear MJ Lenderman shred just minutes before hearing the guitar solo on ‘Pink Pony Club’, and then from that head directly to the relentless noise-punk of Machine Girl. Here, in chronological order, are five highlights from the final day of Primavera Sound 2025.


Christian Lee Hutson’s Hushed, Heavenly Folk

Christian Lee Hutson
Christian Bertrand

“I’m no shrinking violet/ I just like being quiet,” Christian Lee Hutson sings on ‘Carousel Horses’, just one of the many lines that stood out during his intimate, heavenly set at the Cupra stage on Saturday afternoon. He’s soft-spoken but personable, hyping up his only accompanying musician, violinist Odessa Jorgensen, while shutting down a fan’s claim that the Quitters cut ‘Teddy’s Song’ is the best song ever written. (“I don’t know if that’ true. The best song ever written is, like, ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ or something.”) Playing songs from Beginners onward, he made tracks like the devastating ‘Northsiders’ feel wrapped up in the same universe as his latest album, Paradise Pop 10. More than just lovely, the set was a reminder of how his songs call back to each other, remembering how it all felt.

Los Campesinos! Put on a Hell of a Show

Los Campesinos
Sharon Lopez

Few bands were more psyched to play the festival this year than Los Campesinos!, who called it “our white whale until now.” During their blistering, triumphant set, leader Gareth David mentioned the videos fans sent him of ‘Feast of Tongues’ playing on the PA at last year’s festival, and he seemed to choke up while singing the song. It’s just one of the show’s many cathartic and charged-up moments, which included clapping along to ‘Long Throes’ and howling ‘Romance Is Boring’. While several of their albums were represented with at least one song, the set was heavily focused on their most recent, All Hell. “It’s a banger,” David asserts, recommending it as a starting point for the uninitiated. He stretched his voice to the absolute limit on the opening ‘Psychic Wound’ and cartoonishly wept to the line “The punks on the playlist are crooning for kindness.” (IDLES were on the main stage the previous day. Just saying.) “If any of you leave to see Fontaines after this, we are taking names,” he quips, given that their sets were conflicting towards the end. It wasn’t until the end of their set that I headed over – the two bands had at least one shared message, which was freedom for Palestine – but I’d have stayed twice over.

MJ Lenderman’s Eerie, Ecstatic Guitar Heroics

MJ Lenderman
Credit: Gisela Jané

Everyone’s having a great time, and it’s only soundcheck. This could be the vibe for the entire show, you think, and no one in the audience would mind. They’ve skipped Chappell Roan to see a 26-year-old rising star from North Carolina and his incredible live band, featuring Colin Miller (a producer and singer-songwriter who’s helped engineer MJ Lenderman’s records, among many others in the local scene) on drums, Friendship bassist/keyboardist Jon Samuels on guitar, Ethan Baechtold on bass, and his Wednesday bandmate Xandy Chelmis. There were other indie-leaning choices, too: Squid, Cap’n Jazz. But for those gathered at the Cupra stage (turned himbo dome) on Saturday night, Lenderman is an indie rocker with an incomparably heroic status, and this was the last stop of their European tour, so they were going to make it count. “We don’t give a fuck anymore,” he says before the obligatory “just kidding,” and then it’s ‘Joker Lips’ with “Please don’t laugh, only half of what I said was a joke.”

Any hint of aloofness is deceptive. Lenderman (who also joined Waxahatchee the previous day) cares and his band is absolutely locked in, his endearing awkwardness matched by their collectively steadfast dynamism. The show was ecstatic (‘Knockin”, ‘Wristwatch’, ‘She’s Leaving You’) with an undercurrent of eeriness that ballooned on its final stretch, from the feedback-laden ‘Bark at the Moon’ to the closing ‘Tast Just Like It Costs’. Lenderman indulged in a few theatrics here and there, from dragging his SG Firebrand around the stage to pointing it like a gun at the crowd. It was all about the energy, which the audience matched not just by cheering and shouting along but, at one point, singing “Olé, Olé, Olé” to the tune of “MJ.” Samuels fired off a guitar solo on ‘Rudolph’, Miller sang Karly Hartzman’s backing vocals on ‘She’s Leaving You’, and Chelmis’ pedal sang its lonesome duck walk on ‘You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In’, where Lenderman’s melancholy was unguarded. I’ve never seen anyone rock out on the tambourine like Chelmis did during ‘Tastes Just Like It Costs’, and I hope we get to hear him screaming on the next Wednesday record. “Best show of all time, I think,” Lenderman remarked, circling back to a promise he made to someone backstage. Please don’t laugh, etc.

Chat Pile Rattling Off Train Movies at Trainline

Chat Pile
Credit: Christian Bertrand

Chat Pile on the Trainline stage, kicking ass. Raygun Busch, wearing a shirt in that photo, which is deceptive, because it didn’t take long for him to take it off. Chat Pile on the Trainline stage: Raygun Busch rattling off train movies. Unstoppable with Denzel Washington. The Train starring Burt Lancaster. “This is all for you, Trainline.” Train to Busan, maybe the best zombie movie ever. “I’m in an altered state.” ‘I Am Dog Now’. Ever read The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau? “Why do people have to live outside?” Mystery Train. The First Great Train Robbery. All out of train movies. We’re by the beach though, right? The Beach. Leonardo DiCaprio. Some guy’s favorite movie. ‘Tropical Beaches, Inc.’ Old by M. Night Shyamalan. Fuck Old. Of course this guy has a Letterboxd account. Wonder how much shorter their set would be if they were on the other side at the Schwarzkopf stage – would love some hair movie recommendations, though. ‘Funny Man’. Free Palestine. Chat Pile. Trainline. Kicking ass.

Commencing Turnstile Summer

Turnstile
Credit: Gisela Jané

A year ago, Charli XCX kicked off what would soon be known as Brat Summer with her late-night set at Primavera Sound’s Amazon Music stage just days before the album’s release. She returned to the festival this year to celebrate Brat‘s one-year anniversary, but not without previously suggesting “Turnstile Summer” would be a worthy successor, so it’s only fitting that the Baltimore outfit would play the same stage at 3:00am on the final night of the festival. The crowd was thrilled to hear them just a day after the release of Never Enough, the follow-up to their 2021 breakthrough Glow On, erupting on every single song from that album yet already palpably familiar with the new material. The balance turned the show – bookended by footage of waves crashing on the beach – into something breezier, more meditative, and vulnerable than their 2023 Primavera performance, but no less buoyant. As soft and pensive as their music can get, it’s an entirely positive energy we could feed off for months to come.

6 Highlights From Primavera Sound 2025 Friday, June 6

Compared to the sweltering, brattily chaotic first day of Primavera Sound 2025, Day 2 went by like a breeze. The performances I saw were a bit more all over the place, with feeble little horse appearing on the same stage as Wolf Alice and Sabrina Carpenter succeeding Beach House – but unified by the idea of simply putting on a good show. (Which, in both Carpenter and Haim’s case, included strong affirmations of the audience’s hotness.) In chronological order, here are six highlights from the second day of Primavera Sound 2025.


A Litte Bit of feeble litte horse, A Bit More Wolf Alice

Wolf Alice
Credit: Sergio Albert

It’s crazy to think that feeble little horse and Wolf Alice played the same stage just an hour apart, perhaps weirder still to juxtapose their sets. The two bands have little in common beyond wild animals in their names and a grunge-inflected sound, which they harness in wildly different ways. I was only able to catch the last few songs of feeble little horse’s show, which was frantically abrasive, playful, and offbeat, probably the most daring band I’ve seen take the Estrella Damm stage this decade. By contrast, Wolf Alice’s set, which I caught starting with the confident new song ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’, was only occasionally rowdy, surprisingly glammy, and stood out for its vague traditionalism – a point underlined by them suddenly blasting into ‘Seven Nation Army’ and ‘Iron Man’. Sandwiched between those riffs were two of the band’s most poignant songs, ‘The Last Man on Earth’ and ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’, the latter of which capped their performance with a glorious sing-along over the setting sun.

MJ Lenderman Joins Waxahatchee

Waxahatchee
Credit: Gisela Jané

It was somewhat to be expected: with MJ Lenderman set to take the same stage on Saturday, it was a great opportunity for Waxahatchee to bring him out during their early evening set at Cupra. Lenderman sang and played guitar on their duet ‘Right Back to It’ and ‘Burns Out at Midnight’, while guitarist Liam Kazar took up his backing vocals on the earlier highlight ‘Evil Spawn’. The whole band – also featuring Spencer Tweedy on drums, bassist Eliana Athayde, and multi-instrumentalists Cole Berggren and Colin Croom – was graceful yet impassioned, letting Katie Crutchfield’s showmanship – not necessarily a quality you hear on record – take the spotlight (at this hour, literally just the sun beating down on her). Her show was solely focused on songs post-Saint Cloud, which made sense, given that her journey into sobriety began in Barcelona – “It was during Primavera 2018,” she once said –  a fact she highlighted by dedicating ‘Oxbow’ to the city. Her joy reverberated through the crowd: “I put on a good show for you,” she sings, smiling, on the closing ‘Fire’. Pretty great, in fact.

Haim Find Their Way Back

Haim sisters
Credit: Gisela Jané

Charisma beams out of Haim as soon as they enter the stage, making a great case for quitting as the most glorious way to return. With their new album coming out at the end of the month, the group interspersed three of its singles – ‘Relationships’, ‘Down to be wrong’, and ‘Everybody’s trying to figure me out’, plus an unreleased country rock song called ‘Blood in the Streets’, which was unnerving and charged with a fiery guitar solo – alongside hits from throughout their discography, reframed in the context of I quit. Their stage banter alone would be engaging, but Haim introduced another element to their show, a “sassy, sassy sign” that at one point prompted their saxophone player, Nick Ellman, to deliver a “sexy, sexy” sax solo. “I quit giving up,” the sign read during ‘Don’t Wanna’, negation as a means of living it up; offered hilarious contextual clues on ‘Relationships’ that entertained even the uninitiated; served as a kind of Magic 8 Ball; and proclaimed that “your audience is hot.” ‘Summer Girl’ captured the atmosphere of the whole night, almost in opposition to the previous day’s Brat. Everyone was having one hell of a time, and none of the non-musical bits of entertainment were enough to distract from the fact that Haim were still the center of attention.

Beach House’s Cosmic Minimalism

Beach House
Credit: Gisela Jané

Not much has changed in the Beach House universe since the band played Primavera in 2022, which was also my first time at the festival. One of the biggest differences was in the setlist – last time, about half of it was dedicated to Once Twice Melody, which remains their most recent album, while this selection was more well-rounded and evened out between records – with the notable absence of anything from 2023’s Become EP and a heavier focus on Depression Cherry and 7. There was also the strange absurdity of them “opening” for Sabrina Carpenter – espresso was hardly this crowd’s stimulant of choice, though many of them did stick around for the headliner. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally’s stage presence remained subdued yet totally enchanting, and with them taking the main stage this time, there was something resplendent about their low-key, high-intensity affair – whose simple visuals included a candle burning, an eye, pink hearts, and other basic psychedelic imagery – echoing out into the Forum. Its effect, too, was virtually unchanged and naturally elevated. “We would like to figure out a way to play both small, intimate shows, with setlists of deeper cuts, as well as bigger shows, like the ones we are playing now,” the duo recently stated. This was the final one scheduled for 2025, and what a way to go out.

Sabrina Carpenter Asks: “Why So Sexy If So Dumb?”

“And how survive the Earth so long?” Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining performance coincided with the release of her new single ‘Manchild’, which she performed for the first time at the festival. The singer was able to bring her variety show-themed show and setup and make it land at the Revolut stage, but it was her own sense of humour, cheeky and cheesy in equal measure, that kept it entertaining. It wasn’t necessarily an easy task – unless compared to Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, and FKA twigs’ extravaganza, just over an hour is hardly Short n’ Sweet. Carpenter had to fill it out with plenty of banter and another live debut, this time a cover of The Weather Girls’ ‘It’s Raining Men’, at which point the whole thing started feeling like glorified karaoke. But with ‘Please Please Please’, ‘Juno’, and ‘Espresso’ all tucked at the end, though, Carpenter went out with a bang.

Screaming With Wet Leg

Wet Leg
Credit: Christian Bertrand

Maybe it was a matter of timing – all those people flooding in from the other end of the Forum – but the Wet Leg show at Cupra, the same stage they played in 2022, was wildly overcrowded. Splitting their set almost equally between their beloved self-titled debut and the upcoming moisturizer, their return was exhilarating, and the hecticness started making sense alongside the music – especially when they instructed the audience to let out a scream. Of the unreleased songs, the ones listed as ‘pillow talk’ and ‘jennifer’s body’ are the ones I’m now most excited to hear on the record, and closing with their oldest and most recent songs – ‘Chaise Longue’ and ‘CPR’, respectively – was a great choice. Graduating to the main stage did not seem like a concern, but at this point feels like a certainty.

Sabrina Carpenter Shares Video for New Song ‘Manchild’

Ahead of her headlining performance at Primavera Sound today (June 6), Sabrina Carpenter has shared a new song, ‘Manchild’. Produced with Jack Antonoff and co-written with Antonoff and Amy Allen, the single arrives with a music video directed by Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia. It includes lines like “Why so sexy if so dumb?/ And how survive the Earth so long?” Check it out below.

Earlier this year, Carpenter released a deluxe version of her 2024 album, Short n’ Sweet.

5 Highlights From Primavera Sound 2025 Thursday, June 5

Warmed up by Caribou’s celestial, pitch-perfect set on the opening day of Primavera Sound Barcelona, the first day of the festival proper was all about feeling the heat. Charli XCX, the first of the headlining Powerpuff Girls – whose statue is among the first things you see when you enter the Parc del Forum this year – would take the stage late into the night, preceded by Jamie xx, FKA twigs, and sweltering guitar-driven sets by the likes of julie and Momma. In chronological order, here are five highlights from the first day of Primavera Sound 2025.


julie Whip Up a Storm

julie
Credit: Eric Pamies

I walk down toward the sound of screeching guitar and uproarious drumming introducing the Los Angeles band julie, who maintain their shadowy demeanor under the scorching sun. Despite technical difficulties, their set was tightly balanced between dynamically paced iterations of grunge, shoegaze, and punk, whipping up a storm but letting you catch your breath, even in moments of atonality. “There’s a low hum,” Keyan Pourzand says at one point, and clearing it up recharges the group into highlight ‘pg.4 a picture of three hedges’. Though vocalist/bassist Alexandria Elizabeth’s presence was one of dark nonchalance, it grew more animated on songs like ‘lochness’, and a different emotional resonance when Pourzand joined in on vocals. (Her ribboned instrument was a nice visual touch.) Together, they were aching yet fearlessly hypnotic. I’d enjoyed julie’s debut album, my anti-aircraft friend, but hadn’t returned to it much; their live show not only reminded me of, but crystallised, its strengths.

Cassandra Jenkins, Breaking Open

Cassandra Jenkins
Credit: Gisela Jané

Cassandra Jenkins played Primavera a la Ciutat a few years ago, an intimate, breathtaking set still etched in my memory. “Did I see any of you in 2022?” Jenkins asks the crowd standing before her at the Amazon Music stage, acknowledging the lines were long. What a delight it is, then, to see her grace this much bigger stage at the main festival, though not without slyly taking a jab at its name. (“That one goes out to all the billionaires in Texas,” she says of ‘Aurora, IL’, which references William Shatner’s Jeff Bezos-funded trip to space.) Her remark led to a string of older songs from An Overview on Phenomenal Nature that were given the space to breathe and shine by Jenkins’ live band, especially as the sax lit up a still-incredibly-moving rendition of ‘Hard Drive’. The new songs from My Light, My Destroyer sounded resplendent, from the distortion ratcheting up on ‘Aurora’ to the stirring guitar work on ‘Omakase’, where her vocals were featherlight and gorgeous. In a live setting, I hear echoes of Jenkins’ Dead Oceans labelmates: Mitski’s subtle theatricality as she acts out the line “punch the clock in the face” in ‘Only One’, Wednesday’s jagged guitar soloing on ‘Petco’. “Gotta play an ocean song,” she says as she looks out at it, launching into ‘New Bikini’: “The water, it kills everything.” Jenkins’ music – not cold, but doggedly warm and open-hearted – can certainly get your blood moving, too.

Momma Turn Up the Heat

Momma
Credit: Christian Bertrand

As the temperature starts to drop, I head back to the Trainline stage to hear Momma turn up the heat with ‘I Want You (Fever)’, one of the most infectious songs of the year so far. With a punctuated low end courtesy of bassist and producer Aron Kobayashi Ritch (drummer Preston Fulks was a force of nature, too) – the band ripped through highlights from their recent album Welcome to My Blue Sky and 2022’s Household Name. While pulling from a lot of the same reference points as julie, whose set they were quick to praise, Momma’s show was hookier, gutsier, and often breezier, though not without Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten maintaining an undercurrent of frustration and longing. It didn’t get more hypnotic than their revved-up, deeply felt cover of Elliott Smith’s ‘Christian Brothers’, which recently debuted on Amazon Music (you could imagine them up on that Primavera stage – give it a couple years). Finishing off with ‘Speeding 72’, they had the crowd singing along and ready to drench in sweat, if they hadn’t already.

FKA twigs, Finally

FKA twigs
Credit: Clara Orozco

It was time to head to the main stages, but I was tempted to stick around. This Is Lorelei’s Nate Amos was greeting the crowd in the adjacent Schwarzkopf stage, and I was already bummed his set conflicted with FKA twigs (not to mention Magdalena Bay). It would be so easy to stay and sing ‘Dancing in the Club’ instead of going to hear music actually meant for dancing in the club. Maybe MJ Lenderman, also booked for the festival, would show up for their joint version of the song. Life could be so easy. But I ate my dinner in the dark, in a lonely summer breeze – I could be singing those lines, too – and braced myself, pacing alongside legions of fans determined to live up another Brat Summer.

I couldn’t miss FKA twigs. She’d cancelled her appearance at Primavera Sound twice in a row, and this time she was going to bring Eusexua to the stage. ‘Perfect Stranger’ set the vibe, which was broodingly extravagant and immediately entrancing, showing the audience what the titular word – which she spent so much of the rollout trying to define – is actually about, live in the flesh. More than a form of liberation, twigs and her dancers used their movements as what seemed more like a kind of exorcism, blurring lines between the sensual and the otherworldly. Such was the focus on dance that it threatened to overshadow twigs’ equally acrobatic singing, though most often they felt perfectly entwined and capable of riling up even the tamest fans in the distance, be it through pole dancing or sword choreography.

Among the Eusexua cuts, highlights included the booming ‘Drums of Death’ and freakily extended outro of the title track, while Caprisongs‘ ‘honda’ and ‘papi bones’ served as the show’s melting point. its ballad-heavy third act, dubbed The Pinnacle, required total silence to fully translate – zeroing in on each pause and quiver in her voice – which seemed impossible from where I was standing. Yet it was clear that hundreds of fans were still aching to hear her 2019 hit ‘cellophane’, which wrapped up the show. I’d try to put it into words, but I get overwhelmed.

For Every “It’s So Over”…

Brat fatigue is real, but at this point, I was less interested in assessing the state of a cultural phenomenon than my own physical stamina. Having stayed at the Estrella Damm stage through Jamie xx’s transportive set – which I’d recently caught in a much more intimate venue – I was pretty much tapped out. This was the third time I was going to see Charli XCX at Primavera Sound, and last year was a special one, timed as it was right before the release of Brat. It was all about anticipation, while this show, back at the main stage on the album’s one-year anniversary, was billed as a celebration. Charli had been hyping it up, posting “We’re so back” ahead of the 1:15am performance – during which both her and Troye Sivan’s refrain was more like, “We’re so drunk.” (It was Sivan’s birthday, too.)

As an exclusive European showcase of their SWEAT show, it was more about the interplay between the two stars and the scale of the audience (the biggest crowd Sivan’s played,per his estimation) than Brat itself. Sivan’s set was as gasp-inducing and expertly choreographed as the previous year, but it was a delight to actually hear them singing ‘1999’ together this time. As for Charli, the most exciting moments, at least for someone who was there last year, weren’t necessarily the biggest – except when Chappell Roan revealed herself as the ‘Apple’ girl – but the ones that pushed Brat to the edge. ‘Von dutch’, ‘360’, ‘Guess’, ‘Club classics’ – all those songs were still fun, as were her older hits. But it was the outro to ‘365’, slithering into mania, that was most thrilling; the buzzing frustration of ‘Sympathy is a knife’ and ‘Girl, so confusing’ (nicely bleeding into Sivan’s ‘One of Your Girls’), then unreleased. And most of all, it was the echo of ‘Everything is romantic’, debuted at Primavera so many months ago, and newly determined to prove we’d all keep feeling the heat, time and time again.