❤ LOOSEY TURNS THREE 🎂 HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY ❤
i guess we're out of the honeymoon phase, huh?
Happy Valentine’s Day! I am writing this newsletter on the longest commercial flight in the world – eighteen hours! – from Singapore to New York. When I told my friends that I was going to Singapore for work, they asked me what I was most excited about, and I told them that I was most looking forward to the flight. It’s not that I don’t love Singapore – I do, I lived there in 2019 on a long-term assignment, and believe that the taste of chili crab could heal the world – but there is something about a long-haul flight that feels ripe for reflection, writing, and reading. Oh, and sleep, too.
I am an only child, so keeping myself occupied has never been a challenge. I’m listening to Charli xcx’s new Wuthering Heights album while I write this, and have Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby for later. I have downloaded the first episode of The Pitt, but I probably won’t watch it. I’ve always been interested. Because time is fluid as I course through the sky, I am incapable of maintaining a schedule; the ‘optimize every day’ button in my head turns off. I lose track of time and submit completely to my interests.
Last year, two years into my newsletter journey, I announced that LOOSEY was a newsletter for interested people. Because interested people live interesting lives. In the past year, I have taken you and this newsletter on many long trips, to places like São Paulo and Seoul, to New York Fashion Week and Miami Art Basel. I’m curious where you take it. As LOOSEY turns three, on this day of love, I wanted to recap the highlights we’ve had together and cheers to what’s ahead ❤
This Year’s Most Popular LOOSEYs – RANKED
2026 Ins, Outs, and Predictions – The anticipation for this list grows every year, and it’s worth the hype because it’s incredibly fun to write, and even more hilarious to hear your responses. As a snobbish rule, I rarely publish lists on LOOSEY, but when I do, I try to pull different levers than my essays. It’s a different skill, one that is more voice-driven and, as a result, more comedic and dry. It’s evidently more accessible. I’m not surprised to see this one at the top. Oh, we love a laugh, chile.
Has Fan Theory Replaced Plot? ‘The White Lotus,’ ‘Severance’ and the Conspiracy Economy – I remember being nervous to publish this because it does offer some sharp critiques of beloved shows, shows that I love, too! I do think it’s important for audiences to clock how lazy television writing has become now that studios can rely on social media to fill in the gap. When shows are seemingly produced to be clipped and dumped on Instagram, I have to call it out.
Dressing the Surveillance Era: The American Promise of Palantir’s Sold Out Merch – I know that tech bros love wearing Yeezy and Patagonia, so this was a fascinating dive into the surveillance giant Palantir’s efforts to enter the lifestyle brand category with ‘streetwear’ that, surprisingly, seems to be working.
The MET’s Superfine, ‘Sinners’, and the Cost of Living Forever – I was lucky enough to be invited to the MET’s press preview of ‘Superfine’ with LOOSEY, the exhibit coinciding with the MET Gala’s theme of Black Dandyism. It was an honour to be invited, but I honestly did not feel any imposter syndrome when entering a room stacked with star journalists from legacy publications like Vogue and GQ. I remember not knowing where to sit, and then, in a split second, deciding that I was to be seated right up front in one of the ‘reserved’ seats because if not me, then who? Don’t answer that question. I sat next to a gentleman who designed Prince’s blouse on the cover of Purple Rain and Aurora James. I wrote about what I saw in the exhibit, the 2025 MET Gala, and legacy institutions’ vampiric tendency to feast on Black talent, with the help of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. I am tremendously grateful to the MET’s press team for the invite, and believe it’s a recognition of the growing influence of independent writers using platforms like Substack.
Are Influencers Ready For The Warfare Economy? – Crazy that I just published this and it’s already in the Top Five of the year. This year, I became fascinated with how our frayed geopolitical landscape would impact how we present ourselves online, and the results were rather dystopian. Gas masks on TikTok Shop? Get ready with me for the Civil War!
My Favourite LOOSEYs of the Past Year – UNRANKED because I love all my babies
Tyler Mitchell Wants To Haunt You – I don’t like to say that I have a favourite essay of the year, but this is my favourite essay, perhaps tied with the above ‘MET Gala x Sinners’ essay, where I felt like I was writing at the height of my power, across a subject I care deeply about. In early 2020, right before the pandemic and a year before I moved to New York, I travelled from Toronto and saw Tyler Mitchell’s photography at the Aperture Foundation. Later that day, I saw him at the Essex Market and introduced myself. When I eventually moved to New York, I was given his photography book as a surprise by a close friend for my first birthday in the new city. Having the ability to interview him for LOOSEY about his show at Gagosian felt destined. Tyler was a generous interviewer, and I am proud of the form of the essay, how it blends art analysis with his candid responses.
Do Dream Jobs Even Exist Anymore? – a meditation on whether you should ever make your passions your primary source of income. “Things I once enjoyed… just keep me employed” teas with a review of AppleTV’s The Studio.
Would you be happier if you were a bit more stupid? – The Perks of Being Stupid and in Love, featuring analysis of Love Island, The Materialists, and Bonjour Tristesse. The perfect read for Valentine’s Day, I think!
“This Isn’t Sex and the City” – my version of ‘party reporting,’ a dynamic Day in The Life during New York Fashion Week, featuring the always excellent Eckhaus Latta show, a surprise Audrey Hobert concert at the Cherry Lane Theater, and partying with Usher at a Ralph Lauren private event. Oh, and I wore a kilt.
Hot Girls Don’t Geotag – the hottest thing someone can do is disappear. Take it from the baddies who are always overseas: Onijah Robinson, Solange, and Dua Lipa, all referenced in this essay.
Fiction became more central to LOOSEY this year. This came to fruition, largely, through my serialized novella Come If You Want, a four-part comedic thriller about Palmer, an avoidant yet hopeful romantic who meets his match, Hank, a ventriloquist sock puppeteer, after being cosmically linked through a TikTok tarot card reader. It’s exciting to test the genre of fiction in the format of a newsletter and introduce new types of writing to LOOSEY. I am so grateful that you read along, and I am really thankful for Tell the Bees, Emily Sundberg, Nic Marna, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Daniel Docs, and Ochuko Akpovbovbo for covering the novella and sharing the work with your audiences. It means a lot. More soon 🙂
In addition to the novella, I also wrote about the books I read this year and couldn’t stop thinking about. After being tapped by Service95 to write a companion essay to Dua Lipa’s September Book Club Pick, Percival Everett’s The Trees, I wrote about Everett, Toni Morrison, and the Black imagination for LOOSEY. Finally, to cap off the year, I channeled my inner #BookTok influencer (or is it #BookStack on here?) and reviewed the best books I read this year. If you’re looking for something good to read, consult this roundup.
Thanks a lot for reading along this year. I maintain that interested people live interesting lives, and LOOSEY is a newsletter for interested people. For people who are curious about how culture, art, politics, and technology are connected, and believe that a thoughtful read of these intersections can not only tell us about ourselves but also where we are going.
Happy Valentine’s Day. LOOSEY loves you. If I wrote something you enjoyed this year, please share my newsletter with someone you love. I have another banger lined up for you tomorrow, so stay tuned.
With love,
Brendon
LOOSEY is a newsletter about culture, art, technology, and the way we live. If this is something you like, consider subscribing and sharing. Let’s be friends on Instagram.
So enjoy reading your newsletter Brendon! It sets the gears in my brain in motion and allows me to experience life from a different perspective. Here’s to continued success!
to many more years of Loosey!!!