Green for Spring

Some nice plant recommendations

Elley Atchison, Junior Editor

With Spring coming up on us, it is the perfect time to add some green to your house by adopting some houseplants. Not only do they enhance your home with some nice colors, but they also have some health benefits. Studies have shown that houseplants increase your home’s air quality, reduce people’s stress, and improve emotional wellness. Here’s a fun list of some beautiful plants to perch somewhere in your home.

Ficus Ginseng

Care: This tree requires a lot of sunlight and can remain outside during the summer months- as long as it is above 60 degrees Fahrenheit. This plant is great for Alabama summers because they love humid air. This tree can handle occasional over/ under watering. Really, you should just monitor this plant’s level of dryness every few days; if the soil is looking dry, give a generous amount of warm water.

Care: This plant needs a pot that will drain very well. The soil should be mostly dry between watering times, but do not be shy to give extra water during the summer months. If this plant has some droopy leaves, add some more water.

Spring Playlist

Beth Burleson, Staff Writer

Care: If you are looking for a larger item to fill your empty space, this is the plant for you. This tree requires a lot of sunlight to thrive. Keep the soil moist, but be careful not to overwater and let pooling occur in your pot.

Care: This is a type of succulent and relatively small plant. So, this plant requires very little water. Many sources say this plant thrives on “neglect.” Just put it by a sunny window and enjoy its minimal needs.

Care: This plant needs regular pruning to ensure proper growth. If you prune this plant regularyly, it will grow pretty long. If you’re looking for a smaller plant, then you shouldn’t prune it much. The heartleaf only needs occassional watering.

Care: This plant needs to be placed in front of a window and requires a lot of natural sunlight. You should water thoroughly once every week, giving the top few inches time to dry before watering it again.

7.) Jade Plant Care: This plant needs to be indoors under very bright light. You should water it when the first 1-2 inches of the soil is dry. You also need to prune off dead parts of this plant. You can grow more jade plants by breaking off pieces and sticking them in soil so they can form roots.

If you have trouble remembering to water your plants, I recommend you give them a name- you will always remember to water a plant named Fergus. Also, the summer months bring gnats; if you decide to get a house plant, remember to place a vinegar-soap mix by the plant for a week or so to get rid of them. All in all, plants are a wonderful thing to have to embellish your home, so enjoy!

At this point there's no denying that we have all imagined what our life would look like if we were Tik Tok famous. Would you be in the Hype House? Or are you more of a Sway person? Who would you date? Would you make a diss track? Start a podcast? Or maybe that’s all bogus to you and you just want to pretend your dog talks and your cat has the personality of an old southern woman. Some of you are confused right now because you're just now realizing not everyone’s FYP consist of iconic pop culture moments; old vine compilations; whatever “dubaloons'' are; Pedro Pascal edits; Taylor Swift theories; Trisha Paytas memes; cooking videos (and fails); older sibling trauma bonding; bad acting; soulmate scenarios; thirst traps; makeup transitions; zodiac horoscopes created by 12 year olds; Livvy Dunne; cleaning murder scenes; OOTDs; and AI filters ruining people's self esteem. Anyways, just like Spiderman said “With great power comes great responsibility” and if there's one thing Tik Tok stars lack, it’s responsibility. Before I tell you about the juicy scenarios, I want to introduce you to some of the people that will be mentioned.

Josh Richards (26.0M)- Originally from Ontario Canada, 21 year old Josh Ricahrds got his start on Musically by lip syncing various audios and collaborating with other users in 2017. He gained his 26 million Tik Tok followers from doing elevated thirst traps. Today, Richards cohosts an infamous podcast entitled BFFs alongside Dave Portnoy, and Briana Lapaglia (Brianna Chickenfry). The podcast discusses all things pop culture, celebrities, influencers, and Tik Tok, keeping fans informed on (and stirring up) various scandals within the community.

Dave Portnoy (2.8M)- Dave Portnoy is an American blogger and the founder of Barstool Sports; where he undeniably got his start. When social media began to excel, Portnoy hopped on the train and published videos of himself reviewing pizza around the world on a show he called One Bite. He soon became known as “The Pizza Guy.” In October of 2020 Portnoy contacted Josh Richards in efforts to start a podcast that would join together their audiences. Thus the BFFs Podcast” was born.

Charli D’Amelio (150.0M)

Charli’s fame honestly came out of nowhere. Just like every other teenager on the app in 2019, Charli posted a video of herself doing the “Renegade” (a popular dance at the time), however her video received over 11 million likes and gave her an entire career. Nowadays Charli has done pretty much everything in the book. She has a reality TV show on Hulu

Olivia Britton, Staff Writer

that features her family and their crazy life. She also has come out with music, a clothing line, makeup line, perfume, been a background dancer during the superbowl halftime show, WON Dancing with the Stars, and many other things. She is also supposed to star in an upcoming thriller film Home School. In September 2022, she and her family announced a new project, D’Amelio Brands, which would launch and operate its own brands, focused on fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. Charli is essentially the face of Tik Tok for a lot of people, so when it comes to keeping up with the “Tik Tok drama,” it’s important to know her.

Dixie D’Amelio (57.4M) Dixie is Charli’s older sister. She pretty much lives in Charli’s shadow and collaborates with Charli on things like her clothing and makeup lines. Dixie originally blew up on Tik Tok because of her relationship to Charli, but then started creating content of her own in order to stay relevant in such a fast paced industry. Dixie released her debut album A Letter to Me on June 10, 2022. She is set to be one of the opening acts on the “Forever Tour” for American boy band Big Time Rush to promote her debut album. Dixie previously dated internet personality Noah Beck, but their two year relationship ended in November of 2022.

Landon Barker (4.8M) Landon Barker is an American singer and songwriter. Landon is the son of Travis Barker, the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He is currently in a relationship with Charli D’Amelio.

Chase Hudson (32.0M) Chase Hudson, better known as “Lil Huddy” or “Huddy” on social media, has a somewhat controversial online personality. Huddy is a singer and actor, known for co-founding the Tik Tok collective the Hype House, and popularizing the e-boy fashion style. Like Josh Richards, Huddy got his start on Musically, but he rose to fame again when he began dating Charli D’Amelio in 2020. However the relationship was short lived, and Huddy soon became an average internet personality and musician again.

Selena Gomez (51.5M, but 391M on Instagram) Selena is an American singer, actress, and producer who began her acting career on the children’s television series Barney & Friends. As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring as Alex Russo on the Disney Channel television series we all know and love, Wizards of Waverly Place which is where most of our generation knows her from. In September 2020, she launched her own makeup line, “Rare Beauty” where the famous liquid blush originated. The majority of drama involving Selena originates from her teenage relationship with Justin Bieber. They dated on and off from 2010 to 2018, then Justin married his now wife, Hailey.

Hailey Bieber (11M) Hailey

Rhode Bieber (formally Hailey Baldwin) is an American model, media personality, and socialite. She has been featured in major ads for Guess, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger. Hailey and Justin Bieber had briefly dated from December 2015 to January 2016, then reconciled in June 2018. The couple got engaged in July 2018, and confirmed in November 2018 that they were married.

Kylie Jenner (52.4M) Kylie Jenner is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. Her fame came nearly as a birthright with the release of her older sister’s infamous… film. She first “debuted” in her family’s reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Today, Kylie is most popular on Instagram with over 380 million followers. She is the founder and owner of cosmetic company Kylie Cosmetics. She was also named the youngest billionaire in 2020 because she became a billionaire two years younger than the Facebook co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who took the title at the age of 23 in 2008.

Justin Bieber (26.6M) Justin

Drew Bieber is a Canadian singer that rose to fame after he signed with RBMG Records in 2008. Following the release of My World, Bieber’s first EP, the teen idol became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Throughout his teenage years, Justin publically dated Selena Gomez on and off from 2010 to 2018, then Justin married his now wife, Hailey.

Jeffree Star (4.5M) Jeffree Star is simply his last name, a star. He is an American YouTuber, makeup artist, and former singer-songwriter. Star is also the founder and owner of Jeffree Star Cosmetics. Jeffree Star’s social media fame started on MySpace in an attempt to further both his music and fashion design career. Using MySpace like a blog, Star shared his personal life, while also sharing his social commentary on “self-image and confidence.” Star already had a built-up fan base who signed up to join him on MySpace, giving his profile a large number of friends and followers. His MySpace photoshoots would frequently gain over 50,000 comments (which was a lot back then). Today Jeffree lives iconically on a ranch with yaks and chimes in to social media randomly to give his opinion on the beauty industry and its influencers.

Mikayla Nogueira (14.6M)

Mikayla Nogueria is a social media star and make-up artist, known for posting makeup tutorials on TikTok and Instagram with her thick Massachusett accent. Nogueira has received criticism about her “Boston accent.” Critics have posted interviews and videos of her before her popularity on the internet, claiming she “talks different.” In response to this, Nogueira states: “I went to school for Communications with a primary focus on radio. So over the years, I created this voice that I would use when I was on the radio or at my internship. Everyone has a customer service voice, right? So, when I first started making my Tik Toks, I would use my radio voice because it was professional. It was my first time putting myself on a camera to tons of people so I was wicked nervous because my voice has been this topic of discussion my entire life and I didn’t know how people would react.” Mikayla has worked with various designer fashion and makeup brands since her Tik Tok fame, however she has since lost trust with her fans after lying in a product review.

Tayler Holder (20.0M)- Tayler

Holder is an actor, singer, Tik Toker, and social media personality. He rose to fame for his funny lip-sync videos on Musically. In August 2018, he released his debut single “Fallback,” but not much came from his musical career. Tayler is mostly known for his various roles on Brat TV. Recently, Tayler has been facing various sexual assault charges after a content house he created flopped.

Mads Lewis (12.6M)- Mads is known for posting lips syncs and viral dance videos. Her TikTok handle is @mads.yo. She portrays Birdie Kaye on the popular web series Chicken Girls on Brat TV. Mads has undeniably achieved enviable fame across diverse platforms. Mads has been involved in plenty of scandals throughout her social media fame, and some might say that she starts it. Whether she creates it or not, Tik Tok drama follows Mads wherever she goes.

The Drama >>>>

ARE JOSH AND DIXIE… JIXIE?

Fans are convinced that Josh Richards could be Dixie D’Amelio’s new love interest after the two were spotted alongside Charli and Landon Barker at the Super Bowl. The four stars were all sitting together and made it seem that they were on a “double date” to some fans — but that’s not the first time this rumor has come up in the last few weeks. The two were also seen together at a Sports Illustrated party prior to the game. On top of their gameday date, Dixie also attended Josh’s birthday party, and even hosted an afterparty at her place. On BFFs, Josh addressed Dixie coming to his party. “I don’t got to say much,” Josh said of the rumors. “The afterparty was good, though,” Josh said to Dave with a wink. Per usual Josh is gatekeeping the juicy details.

LIL HUDDY IS A LIL PETTY!!!

The drama never ends! Chase Hudson released his song “All the Things I Hate About You,” which fans are speculating is about Charli D’Amelio. At one point in the song, he calls Charli a “homie hopper,” which is an obvious dig at his ex after it was revealed she was dating Chase’s old friend, Landon Barker. Some other lyrics in the song that are most definitely about Charli are: “Stabbed me in the back like nothin’, never even saw this comin,” “You’re a showstopper, bad liar, homie hopper, and drama starter.”

“...We all got you in common, you’re so fake and everyone should know about it,”

“You could’ve had a rockstar but you chose up on a bumstar / Bootleg version of me, that’s your loss,”

Needless to say, Lil Huddy is a lil mad about the fact that his ex got with one of his best friends, and their relationship has lasted longer than his…

Hailey Has Kept An Eye Out For Selener

In case you have been living under a rock, Hailey Bieber is obviously jealous of her husband’s eight year teenage relationship and fans are starting to call her out on her various actions. All of this drama started the last week of February when Selena Gomez shared a video of her accidentally over- laminating eyebrows (she still looked amazing of course), and Kylie Jenner shared a story that was most likely intended to make fun of Selena.

Kylie Jenner shared a selfie of herself with laminated eyebrows and the text read “this was an accident?????” People believed this post was a hit because Selena recently surpassed Kylie in Instagram followers, making Selena Gomez the most followed person on Instagram. And because it involved making fun of the unproblematic queen Selena, Hailey had to join in. Kylie then posted another Instagram story, except this time it was a picture of Haliey’s eyebrows, which Hailey reposted to her account. However Kylie and Selena commented on the rumors and said that fans were reaching. “this is reaching. no shade towards selena ever and i didn’t see her eyebrow posts! u guys are making something out of nothing. this is silly.” commented Kylie. Selena replied to her comment saying “Agreed @kyliejenner

It’s all unnecessary. I’m a fan of Kylie!” (ugh isn’t she the best?!)

Then Taylor Swift was brought into the mix, so the drama was clearly going to be stirred up again. An anonymous fan account posted an old clip from the show Drop the Mic where Hailey gags at the mention of Taylor’s latest album. Selena commented on the video saying “So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game.” Selena and Taylor have been long time besties and always supported one another. Selena didn’t stop her commenting there. A fan posted a video essentially saying how sorry they were that Selena had to go through such petty girl drama as a grown woman, to which Selena simply commented, “I love you.” Selena then announced she was going to get off all social media to regroup her thoughts and clear her mind (#relatable); however she quickly got back on (once again #relatable).

Fans are also speculating Haliey threw shade on Selena again when she reposted a picture of a Rhode beauty package using the song “Calm Down” but specifically NOT using the track Selena is featured on. Overall, Hailey’s past is coming back to prove the present: JELENA FOREVER. Stories like the 2015 New Year’s conspiracy theory where Kendall Jenner (Kylie’s sister) invited Selena Gomez to Dubai for NYE in order for Hailey to spend the night alongside Justin, are resurfacing. Tik Tok fans are now doing deep dives into every instance where Haliey has copied Selena and let me tell you… it’s a lot. Hailey, as a teeanger, was a fan (and stalker!!!) of Justin and Selena. Photographs have came out of her posing with magazines they were on the cover of, and old tweets using the hashtag #Jelena. Haliey was so obsessed, she would DM Jelena stan accounts to figure out what hotels Justin and Selena were staying at. Fans are also pulling up instances where Haliey copies Selena like wearing the exact same outfit, hiring the same nail tech, hiring the same makeup artist, using similar lingo, and even going as far as getting the SAME TATTOO as Selena (a small cursive “g” behind the ear).

This controversy has had the internet in shambles, and many celebrities are beginning to take sides. Pia Mia, a close friend of the Kardashian/Jenner family, has recently posted videos of herself to both Selena and Taylor’s music. Jordan Woods also posted on Snapchat using a lip liner (Kylie’s iconic product) by Rare Beauty (Selena’s makeup brand). Lady Gaga even showed her support for Selena commenting on a post calling Selena beautiful “on the inside and out.” The timing of the post was not accidental-- it was intentional. Besides, not many people are endorsing Rhode Beauty (Hailey’s makeup brand) right now. Since all of this started, Hailey has lost over a million instagram followers (now 49.9 M) and Selena has simultaneously gained 10.2 million (now 395 M). This drama is ongoing, and until Haliey, Selena, or Justin say anything about it, fans will continue to speculate.

It Only Took One Check To Lose A Fanbase

April 2022, Mikayla Nogueira was one of the biggest emerging names in the TikTok beauty world. She has a reputation for posting makeup reviews with a personal feel and her signature Boston accent She was even dubbed “the realest influencer on TikTok” by Glamour Magazine. However, that title no longer reigns true after a recent controversy regarding one of her makeup reviews. Nogueira posted a paid review of a L’Oréal mascara as part of a partnership with the brand. In the Tik Tok, Nogueira applied a coat of mascara and showed viewers the lengthening effect. She then said she was going to apply a second coat. Suddenly, the footage cut to a different angle, showing visibly longer and fuller lashes. Nogueira told viewers the mascara creates an effect that “looks like false lashes,” but many speculated she had actually used fake eyelashes to help better promote the brand. The video has since been viewed 48.1 million times and had huge amounts of backlash. The video has also done something many deemed impossible, awoke Jeffree Star from being digitally dead. This marked his first return to makeup reviews since his announcement that he was quitting YouTube. Star showed an unfiltered and zoomed in look at the application process. He noted that he previously saw some influencers accept brand deals for up to $250,000 for a positive endorsement of their product, although it is unclear what kind of partnership Nogueira was in with the company. “It’s really pretty, the bottom lashes look stunning... it’s cute, it’s very affordable, I love that it’s $15, it separates the lashes.” Star added, “But is it the greatest thing on the planet? No, but I’m not getting paid to say that.”

As expected, Mikayla took a break from social media when the scandal first happened. She has since returned and begun doing makeup reviews once again.

A CEASE AND DESIST CAN’T ERASE THE TRUTH

Mads Lewis has spoken out against Tayler Holder and the multiple alleged sexual assault rumors against him. While discussing her rocky friendship with influencer Charly Jordan — Tayler’s onagain-off-again girlfriend— on an episode of the BFFs podcast Mads said she doesn’t understand how Charly could get back together with Tayler after “everything that’s happened in the last few years.” The Tik Toker continued, “If I’m saying something on social media, … I’m telling the truth,” Mads said about the rumors. “So you’re saying all the Tayler stuff is true?” asked Dave Portnoy. “Absolutely,” Mads replied. She went on to say that she “didn’t get a cease-and-desist” because “you cannot email or text the victim a cease-and-desist. You’re not allowed to do that.” Many fans believe this statement possibly implies that Mads is an alleged victim of Tayler’s herself. Tayler has been embroiled in controversy since February 2022 when fans noticed that the 25-yearold had been unfollowed by major influencers including Charly Jordan, Bryce Hall, Loren Gray, and Daisy Keech. He was also reportedly unfollowed by some people on his professional team. While no one directly addressed the situation at the time, some of Tayler’s former friends began posting cryptic Instagram stories, leading people to believe it involved allegations of sexual misconduct. Tayler appeared on the BFFs Podcast to address the issue, during which he did not provide any reasoning behind his friends unfollowing him, nor did he make the situation any clearer. It’s unsure what this will turn into, but legal action most definitely will take place and the truth will come out, as long as the victims are willing to share their story.