Selena Gomez is giving ‘Sixteen Candles’ a comedic Latina twist
Selena Gomez, along with creators Tanya Saracho and Gabriela Revilla Lugo, have teamed up to develop a TV show based on John Hughes’ beloved 1984 coming-of-age comedy, “Sixteen Candles.” Only this time, Latinas will be the stars. The original “Sixteen Candles” starred Molly Ringwald as Sam Baker, a sophomore approaching her 16th birthday, only to…
Selena Gomez, along with creators Tanya Saracho and Gabriela Revilla Lugo, have teamed up to develop a TV show based on John Hughes’ beloved 1984 coming-of-age comedy, “Sixteen Candles.”
Only this time, Latinas will be the stars.
The original “Sixteen Candles” starred Molly Ringwald as Sam Baker, a sophomore approaching her 16th birthday, only to have her own special day forgotten thanks to her older sister Ginny getting married.
It seems like the remake will be more of an ensemble story, delving into slightly different (yet very important) themes.
Deadline reports that “The half-hour series … follows four young Latinas starting high school as they overcome their feelings of invisibility while exploring what it means to leave childhood behind through the lens of the traditional female coming-of-age rite: the quinceañera.”
Which is why the show’s title was appropriately renamed “15 Candles.” Brilliant.
Princess Xv GIF by Moda 2000 Inc <a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/moda2000inc-m2k-m2kmodels-model-j3Dag6JESxi02WJM49">Giphy</a>
A quinceañera is part religious ceremony, part social celebration that marks the passage from girlhood to womanhood. I, of course, have never participated in one (sad), but I have catered about a million quinceañeras. The dresses alone make it feel like something out of a fairy tale. But, as with every family function, there are multiple opportunities for pure comedy gold.
Deadline added that Saracho, a playwright and TV writer, co-founded the Untitled Latinx Project, which aims to “increase Latinx representation in television, broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms through content created by Latinx writers.” Her organization has been described as a “sisterhood” for the way it celebrates fellow creators.
Selena Gomez GIF <a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/gomez-popcorn-6IpZXE1PhYCuk">Giphy</a>
Movie reboots can often feel flat at best, and downright cringey at worst. But when done well, they can offer fresh perspectives to classic stories, especially when told through a different lens.
Take “One Day at a Time” or “Cheaper by the Dozen” for instance. These remakes allowed underrepresented families to be portrayed in the mainstream. This is more than for entertainment’s sake. Representation matters on a deep level, and a lack of it takes a toll on mental health—especially for kids and teens.
Though normally the announcement of (yet another) Hollywood remake makes me question if there really are no more ideas left in the world, I’m actually excited about this one.
In March 2023, after months of preparation and paperwork, Anita Omary arrived in the United States from her native Afghanistan to build a better life. Once she arrived in Connecticut, however, the experience was anything but easy.
“When I first arrived, everything felt so strange—the weather, the environment, the people,” Omary recalled. Omary had not only left behind her extended family and friends in Afghanistan, she left her career managing child protective cases and supporting refugee communities behind as well. Even more challenging, Anita was five months pregnant at the time, and because her husband was unable to obtain a travel visa, she found herself having to navigate a new language, a different culture, and an unfamiliar country entirely on her own.
“I went through a period of deep disappointment and depression, where I wasn’t able to do much for myself,” Omary said.
Then something incredible happened: Omary met a woman who would become her close friend, offering support that would change her experience as a refugee—and ultimately the trajectory of her entire life.
Understanding the journey
Like Anita Omary, tens of thousands of people come to the United States each year seeking safety from war, political violence, religious persecution, and other threats. Yet escaping danger, unfortunately, is only the first challenge. Once here, immigrant and refugee families must deal with the loss of displacement, while at the same time facing language barriers, adapting to a new culture, and sometimes even facing social stigma and anti-immigrant biases.
Welcoming immigrant and refugee neighbors strengthens the nation and benefits everyone—and according to Anita Omary, small, simple acts of human kindness can make the greatest difference in helping them feel safe, valued, and truly at home.
A warm welcome
Dee and Omary's son, Osman
Anita Omary was receiving prenatal checkups at a woman’s health center in West Haven when she met Dee, a nurse.
“She immediately recognized that I was new, and that I was struggling,” Omary said. “From that moment on, she became my support system.”
Dee started checking in on Omary throughout her pregnancy, both inside the clinic and out.
“She would call me and ask am I okay, am I eating, am I healthy,” Omary said. “She helped me with things I didn’t even realize I needed, like getting an air conditioner for my small, hot room.”
Soon, Dee was helping Omary apply for jobs and taking her on driving lessons every weekend. With her help, Omary landed a job, passed her road test on the first attempt, and even enrolled at the University of New Haven to pursue her master’s degree. Dee and Omary became like family. After Omary’s son, Osman, was born, Dee spent five days in the hospital at her side, bringing her halal food and brushing her hair in the same way Omary’s mother used to. When Omary’s postpartum pain became too great for her to lift Osman’s car seat, Dee accompanied her to his doctor’s appointments and carried the baby for her.
“Her support truly changed my life,” Omary said. “Her motivation, compassion, and support gave me hope. It gave me a sense of stability and confidence. I didn’t feel alone, because of her.”
More than that, the experience gave Omary a new resolve to help other people.
“That experience has deeply shaped the way I give back,” she said. “I want to be that source of encouragement and support for others that my friend was for me.”
Extending the welcome
Omary and Dee at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Vision Awards ceremony at the University of New Haven.
Omary is now flourishing. She currently works as a career development specialist as she continues her Master’s degree. She also, as a member of the Refugee Storytellers Collective, helps advocate for refugee and immigrant families by connecting them with resources—and teaches local communities how to best welcome newcomers.
“Welcoming new families today has many challenges,” Omary said. “One major barrier is access to English classes. Many newcomers, especially those who have just arrived, often put their names on long wait lists and for months there are no available spots.” For women with children, the lack of available childcare makes attending English classes, or working outside the home, especially difficult.
Omary stresses that sometimes small, everyday acts of kindness can make the biggest difference to immigrant and refugee families.
“Welcome is not about big gestures, but about small, consistent acts of care that remind you that you belong,” Omary said. Receiving a compliment on her dress or her son from a stranger in the grocery store was incredibly uplifting during her early days as a newcomer, and Omary remembers how even the smallest gestures of kindness gave her hope that she could thrive and build a new life here.
“I built my new life, but I didn’t do it alone,” Omary said. “Community and kindness were my greatest strengths.”
Are you in? Click here to join the Refugee Advocacy Lab and sign the #WeWillWelcome pledge and complete one small act of welcome in your community. Together, with small, meaningful steps, we can build communities where everyone feels safe.
This article is part of Upworthy’s “The Threads Between U.S.” series that highlights what we have in common thanks to the generous support from the Levi Strauss Foundation, whose grantmaking is committed to creating a culture of belonging.
The Sound of Music has been beloved for generations, partially for the music (and Julie Andrews’ angelic voice), partially for the historical storyline, and partially for the love story between Maria and Georg Von Trapp. The idea of a nun-in-training softening the heart of a curmudgeonly widower, falling in love with him, and ultimately becoming a big, happy family is just an irresistible love story.
But it turns out the real love story behind their union is even more fascinating.
Maria Von Trapp (left) was played by Julie Andrews and her husband Georg was played by Christopher Plummer in Photo credit: Public domain
The National Archives has collected information about what’s fact and what’s fiction in The Sound of Music, which is based on a real family in Austria named Von Trapp. The film was generally based on the first section of Maria Von Trapp’s 1949 autobiography, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, with some of the details being true and others fictionalized for a movie audience.
For instance, Maria was actually hired on as a tutor for just one of Georg’s children, not as a governess for all of them. The children, whose names, ages and sexes were changed, were already musically inclined before Maria arrived. Georg was not the cold, grumpy dad he was portrayed as in the beginning of the film, but rather a warm and involved parent who enjoyed making music with his kids. Maria and Georg were married 11 years before leaving Austria, not right before the Nazi takeover. The Von Trapps left by train, not in a secret excursion over the mountains.
But perhaps the most intriguing detail? Maria was not in love with Georg at all when they got married.
Sound Of Music Flag GIF by The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization Giphy
It doesn’t initially make for a great Hollywood romance, but the Von Trapp love story began with marriage for other reasons and evolved into a genuine love story. Maria wrote that she fell in love with Georg’s children at first sight, but she wasn’t sure about leaving her religious calling when Georg asked her to marry him. The nuns urged her to do God’s will and marry him, but for Maria it was all about the children, not him. When Georg proposed, he asked her to stay with him and become a second mother to his children. “God must have made him word it that way,” Maria wrote, “because if he had only asked me to marry him I might not have said yes.”
“I really and truly was not in love,” she wrote. “I liked him but didn’t love him. However, I loved the children, so in a way I really married the children.”
However, she shared that her feelings for Georg changed over time. “…[B]y and by I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after.”
The idea of marrying someone you don’t love is antithetical to every romantic notion our society celebrates, yet the evolution of Maria’s love for Georg has been a common occurrence across many cultures throughout history. Romantic love was not always the primary impetus for marriage. It was more often an economic proposition and communal arrangement that united families and peoples, formed the basis of alliances, and enabled individuals to rise through social ranks. Some cultures still practice arranged marriage, which limited research has found has outcomes identical to love-first marriage in reports of passionate love, companionate love, satisfaction, and commitment. The idea of marrying someone you don’t already love is anathema to modern Western sensibilities, but the reality is that people have married over the centuries for many reasons, only one of which is falling in love.
Maria’s marriage to Georg actually was about falling in love, but not with him. She loved his children and wanted to be with them. It definitely helped that she liked the guy, but she wasn’t swept off her feet by him, there were no moonlit confessions of love a la “Something Good,” and their happily ever after love story didn’t come until much later.
Ultimately, Maria and Georg’s love story was one for the ages, just not one that fits the Hollywood film trope. And it’s a compelling reminder that our unwritten rules and social norms determining what love and marriage should look like aren’t set in stone. Do marriages for reasons other than love always evolve into genuine love? No. Do marriages based on falling in love first always last? Also no. Should a marriage that starts with “like” and develops into to a genuine, deep love over years be considered “true love” in the way we usually think of it? Who can say? Lots to ponder over in this love story.
But Maria’s description of learning “to love him more than I have ever loved before or after” is a pretty high bar, so clearly it worked for them. The Von Trapps were married for 20 years and had three more children together before Georg died of lung cancer in 1947. Maria would live another four decades and never remarried. She died in 1987 at age 82 and is buried next to Georg on the family’s property in Vermont.
This article originally appeared last year It has been updated.
Twelve years ago, this unassuming couple went viral for the greatest gas station karaoke performance ever. – Photo credit: Monifa Sims (used with permission)
When Will and Monifa Sims stopped to get gas in Burbank, California, in 2013, they had no idea they were about to become a viral sensation. What began as a little “go-with-the-flow” singing on the spot at a gas station altered their lives forever.
Here’s what happened: Will began pumping gas when suddenly actor Tim Stack (playing newscaster Jack Rafferty) appeared on a tiny TV above pump 16. What Will didn’t know was that this was one of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’s pranks, where a fake newscast appears. The fake newscaster then asks a gas station patron to perform some type of wacky stunt or sing their favorite karaoke song. In exchange, they’re told they’ll get free gas.
The setup
After Will hummed a few bars of a song to himself, Stack suddenly addressed him. “You at pump 16 in Burbank. You’ve got a real nice singing voice.” It took Will a few seconds to understand what was happening, but he soon laughed and expressed gratitude. Stack continued, “Do you do that professionally?” Will answered, “No, just karaoke.”
It was then that Stack made him a proposition: “Guess what? We’ll pay for your gasoline. How ’bout a little karaoke from you?”
Will was totally game. He didn’t hesitate for a second. “Okay! What you want?” It was determined that Will was an “eighties kid,” so he liked Bon Jovi. They decided “Livin’ on a Prayer” was the way to go, and Stack asked, “Do you need the words?” Will answered emphatically, “No, I know ’em, baby.”
He started singing the 1986 hit with all his might. “Tommy used to work on the docks / Union’s been on strike / it’s tough / So tough.” He went on, nailing every note, even hitting the falsetto parts in the chorus. “Ooooh, we’re halfway there / Oh, oh! Livin’ on a prayer…” We then heard another voice on the “TV” note, “The girl in the front seat is just dying.”
Will finished strong and asked, “How was that?” Stack asked if it was his wife in the car, and Will didn’t miss the opportunity to ask if she should show off her skills as well. “Want to do it as a duet?” Monifa wasn’t quite ready, so Stack continued complimenting Will while he improvised, “Oh, oh! Livin’ on a tank of gas! Livin’…for…the…gas…whoa!”
Other customers at the station began gathering to see where the “pumpcast” was set up. Perhaps they’ll get lucky too. But it was Monifa who Stack and the gang had their sights on. And somehow, they convinced her.
“‘Sweet Dreams’ by the Eurythmics!” she says boldly. Stack gets the words up on his laptop, shows them to the camera, and away she goes. “Sweet dreams are made of these / Who am I to disagree / I travel the world and the seven seas / Everybody’s looking for something…” Like her husband, she is 100 percent on key and outstanding. Will chimes in every once in a while (especially on the “Hold your head up / Keep your head up” part), and they finish perfectly.
It’s then that Stack informs them enthusiastically, “You’re gonna be on Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.” Now what started out as an unusually awesome day just got even better. They both scream with delight, “Oh yeah! Tell Bon Jovi I love him!”
The pair did joyously make it onto The Tonight Show, wherein Leno admits, “It almost seems like a plant. We had no idea these people would come to the tank.” Monifa jokes there’s no way she could have known ahead of time, because she’d have prepared. “I wouldn’t have looked like that! That wasn’t my best look after working out.”
Leno asked how long the couple had been married. They answered, “Twelve years this year!” They then shouted out their daughter in the audience. Of course, the appearance wouldn’t have been complete without a song. This time, they got an entire band backing their duet rendition of “Livin’ on a Prayer.” Once again, it was absolute perfection.
People are loving the viral revival
The original clip is making the rounds once more, and, as one might imagine, social media is loving it.
On YouTube, it continues to spark joy. “I come back to this video every so often for the past few years…always puts a smile on my face,” one person wrote. “This couple is so cool and down to earth…not bad singers either.”
One fan on Facebook wrote, “This couple will be retired, 90 years of age, re-watching this beautiful clip on some new platform. This is LOVE right there.”
Where are they now?
That prediction seems to be true so far. Upworthy had the chance to chat with Monifa, who gave us a bit more information about that fateful day.
“It happened in Burbank, California, where, believe it or not, lots of good things used to happen like this, so it was not uncommon at all,” she said. She shared that it was a no-brainer to take the challenge. “We’re always up for a good time, so a good time paired with a free tank of gas was easy.”
She said the virality of it was surprising:
“We were absolutely shocked about how viral it went and still continues to be. That was made 12 years ago. It was on the cusp of YouTube becoming really big. There was no Instagram or TikTok. Once it was over, we went home and didn’t even think twice about it until The Tonight Show reached out to us about how funny they thought it was. I always say editing really helped it to be funny, but obviously, you can only edit what you have.”
As for where they are now? Still happily together and working.
“I am a host on QVC. Will is bicoastal (works in LA a few months of the year, so he travels back and forth). Most exciting? Right now, we are in our year of 25! We are celebrating 25 years of marriage in July, but we have been celebrating all year long. We started off the year with an amazing trip to Phuket, Thailand, and Bali! We will be celebrating more this year with friends and family as well.”
They’re creating more consistent content and trying to grow their brand. “I wrote a cookbook,” Monifa shares, referring to Life in Full Flavor. And as for their karaoke songs? “They really have not changed, but we sing a little bit of everything to keep it spicy!”
Vincint Cannady, who uses they/them pronouns, recently opened up about the grieving process a year after losing their mother. On the podcast Tell Me Something Messy, the musician explains that the loss of their mother came four years after the death of their father. “It is the strangest feeling not having them here,” Cannady says.
Losing a loved one is an unfortunate part of life that most people will experience. No two people grieve the same, but some things about grief remain consistent for everyone. Grief is not linear, and it can show up unexpectedly. But for viewers of the podcast, Cannady’s analogy about grief moved some to tears.
Admittedly, the grieving child did not create the analogy, but read it somewhere and found it helpful. The singer explains that losing your parents takes away a certain amount of joy that you don’t realize until you experience it.
“I read something the other day that I thought was really beautiful,” Cannady says. “Grief is like glitter. I don’t know about you, but I hate glitter. It’s lovely at first in small doses, but like grief, you don’t know when it’s coming. You don’t know how much of it is going to be there, but like glitter, glitter gets everywhere.”
They go on to explain that, like after coming into contact with glitter, you find grief everywhere. “It comes in doses, and you’re overwhelmed, and you hate it, and you want to get it off, and you don’t know how to, but it’s there.”
As time passes, the person wearing the glitter showers some of it away, but some still remains. No matter how much you try to rid yourself of it, glitter still shows up. The same goes for grief. No matter how much you try to rid yourself of grief, it still pops up in unexpected places.
It’s then that Cannady shares something beautiful. After fighting with the sticky, sparkly grief for what feels like an eternity, it’s not as present.
“And then days pass, and weeks pass, and months pass,” Cannady tells the podcast host, Brandon Kyle Goodman. “And then someday you’re in your closet, and you pull out a coat or a jacket, and a bit of glitter falls on your hand, and you get sad because you remember what that glitter means. But it’s not as heavy as it was before, and it’s not as messy as it was before.”
As time passes, glitter is found less often. However, Cannady explains that glitter is part of you now: “Even though it is annoying at times, and sometimes it gets in your eye, but you get it out, and you move on. You remain shiny. It’s just a remembrance of a lot of love.”
The singer shares advice for those experiencing grief, saying that people should give themselves grace. They encourage others not to focus on how other people feel about how you feel about your grief. Grieving is personal, but talking about it with others is therapeutic, according to Cannady. They share that pouring grief into other things, like work or creativity, can be helpful.
“You have to find ways to pour your grief into other things,” they advise. “You pour your grief into your work. You pour your grief into life. You pour your grief into your friends and your relationships, and you make sure that they know how much it means to you. Because it’s not just grief, because before it was grief, it was love. It’s still love. It’s just love in absence.”
When the clip was shared to Instagram, people were moved to tears.
One person comments, “Whew, and just like that — my glitter is back.”
“Whew, I think I have a piece of glitter in my eye because…. I lost my father in July and it truly changes you,” someone else writes.
“I remember I couldn’t say my mom died out loud,” another person shares. “If I did, I would burst into tears. It felt too real!! Saying it out loud almost 2 1/2 years later, it still feels unreal, but it doesn’t hurt as much. I still cry a little while saying it.”
Everyone’s heard of Staples. But now people are actually going there in droves thanks to one employee affectionately known online as the “Staples Baddie.”
Back in January, Kaeden Rowland, a Staples employee, filmed a brief clip of herself during a work shift. Donning the recognizable red shirt and lanyard, she quipped, “You finna need something printed? I gotchyu.”
That single video quickly turned into a mega-viral series. It’s a fun combination of slang-filled humor, nail-clacking ASMR, and genuinely helpful tutorials and insights. The content is breathing new life into the brand and being hailed by fans and experts alike as “marketing genius.”
A major aspect of Rowland’s shtick is explaining certain lesser-known services you can get at Staples. In one particularly popular video, she quips:
“It’s come to my attention that y’all don’t really know the full scope of what Staples, like, does. We can make ornaments. We can make mugs, shirts, backpacks, signs, posters, whatever you could need. A banner that’s like eight feet long? Sure. Why not?”
In another video, she explains the difference between Staples’ direct-mail services. One is for business and can generate a mailing list based on a target demographic. The other is for personal use, like wedding invitations. Though she jokes that either service is too pricey for committing “evil against your ex.”
Other times, you might catch her letting you know when certain things go on sale: “You’re not getting your shawty a 40% off mug from Staples? And men wonder why women cheat.”
She also dissects the different personalities of the printers (the Xerox PrimeLink C9200 has “clean girl” vibes, apparently). Finally, she hits a groove showcasing some of her favorite stationery products. At the moment, she’s very into a tiny botanical planner that fits into her small purse.
Despite not having any formal marketing training, Rowland has made an undeniable impact. A company struggling to stay competitive now has fresh enthusiasm. Folks are getting their personalized mugs there. They’re switching suppliers. They’re even using Staples to supply their best analog life. The best part is none of this is because of an expensive micro-influencer, but someone who actually works there.
In a video analyzing the Staples Baddie, marketing analyst and PR expert Katie Omstead said, “Just a scan of the comments on any of these videos will show you that people are thinking about Staples more than ever before.”
Rowland is just the latest in a growing trend of people who happened to share their creative ideas at just the right time, somehow skyrocketing to full-blown brand collaborations. Think back to Romeo, whose silly Dr Pepper jingle went viral.
MarketerMilk calls this “human-first media,” where corporations rely on the fact that “people buy things from people they trust, not from businesses.” This can look like companies “leveraging their existing employees to become influencers.”
This, of course, can also look like corporations trying to recreate something organic, thus squelching its spark. One Staples employee lamented on Reddit that their team is being encouraged to replicate the Staples Baddie moment in their own stores.
On the bright side, Staples has shared their appreciation for their resident “Baddie.” Not only have they sent a care package Rowland’s way, according to Fast Company, it’s also “exploring opportunities to collaborate and continue supporting her creativity and engagement with the community.”
We very well might be seeing much more of the Staples Baddie in the future.
When people refer to artistic or creative geniuses, we often praise them as rugged individualists who pursued a singular vision. But many times, that story is too simple. In reality, great artistic achievements are made through collective effort. This is especially true in film and television.
One artistic genius who changed the world by empowering his creative partners and giving them credit was Muppets creator Jim Henson.
Henson helped create some of the most popular TV shows in the ‘70s and ’80s, including Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Fraggle Rock, as well as iconic films such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
Henson shares the secret to his incredible success
Actor Alexander Polinsky recently shared rare insight into Henson’s creative process and how much he owed to his collaborators in a TikTok post that received over 650,000 views. Polinsky played Adam Powell on the TV show Charles in Charge from 1987 to 1990 and has done voice acting on shows such as Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!, and the Ben 10 franchise.
Polinsky was seven years old in 1982, when Henson’s dark fantasy film The Dark Crystal was in theaters. His mother worked at a gallery hosting an exhibition on the film. Henson was there when young Polinsky was visiting, and his mother pushed him to ask the creator a question:
“She pushed me in front of him. I was the only kid, besides my two other friends, that were in the whole place that morning. And I said, ‘How did you make this stuff?’ And instead of saying ‘hot glue and learn to sew,’ he said, ‘First, gather a group of people around you that you love and that love you. And give them an idea that has enough empty space in it so that they can take it on and make it their own. And when you get it back, it’s more beautiful than you ever thought possible.’”
Polinsky ended his video by saying, “So make art with the people that you love.”
Henson loved to collaborate with people who thought differently
Steve Whitmire, a Muppet performer who eventually took over as Kermit (Henson’s signature character) after his death, told D23.com that Henson believed in the power of the ensemble. A great example was when The Muppet Show won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy–Variety or Music Series in 1978.
“I remember Jim’s Emmy acceptance speech very well because he made eye contact with me,” Whitmire, who was newly hired at the time, said. “I was in the third row, and he was looking at me. He was kind of uncomfortable onstage as himself to some degree, but he said, ‘I just want to let everybody know that this is not about me, it’s about our group and our group dynamic.’”
“‘Appreciate each other for your differences and not for your similarities’ was a theme that went through all of his work,” the creator’s son, Brian Henson, added. “Clearly, this was a wonderful message that got picked up all around the world. Everyone got it, everywhere.”
Henson’s belief in providing space for his creative partners shows that he had an astonishing lack of ego—rare in the world of entertainment—and an incredible amount of faith in his collaborators. But it must have been a lot easier for him to keep his faith in those around him because their relationship was based on a power even greater than artistic integrity: love.
Head anywhere in the Southern United States, and you are likely to hear one distinct word: “y’all.” “Y’all,” which combines the words “you” and “all,” may be predominantly used in the South—but not for long.
Paul E. Reed, a linguist at the University of Alabama who studies Southern American English and Appalachian English, told NPR in 2025 that “it’s expanded much more outside of the South” thanks to Americans under 40. (Add it to the list of Gen Z slang.)
How “y’all” entered the English vernacular is a fascinating tale. Linguist Danny Hieber, PhD, explained the origin story of “y’all” to his TikTok followers—and it stems from a surprising language.
According to Hieber, present-day English doesn’t have a plural form of the word “you” like other languages. In Old English, there were three forms of “you”:
Thou (subject)
Thee (object)
Thine (possessive)
Hieber goes on to explain that “you” became singular thanks to French. In French, “you” translated to:
Tu (singular)
Vous (plural + polite)
“After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, French had a huge influence on English,” he said. “So English speakers started borrowing that pattern into English and used ‘you’ to politely address one person.”
He added that over time, this became the default way to address a single person. Along those same lines, the word “be” also followed suit.
“It used to be that the verb ‘be’ was conjugated like this,” explained Hieber, with the plural use becoming “are.” “That singular verb got pulled along into the singular too, and now the conjugation of ‘be’ looks like this:”
I am / we are
Thou art / you are
He, she, it is / they are
However, it created a “gap,” and “English speakers have been trying to settle on a ‘you [plural]’ ever since,” said Hieber. Enter: y’all.
There are many theories as to how y’all infiltrated American English in the 1700s, per NPR. One theory states that it has British origins, where the words “ye” and “aw” were combined and used in the British Isles. From there, Scots-Irish immigrants brought it to Appalachia in the U.S.
The other theory is that it originated in West Africa, and when enslaved people were brought from there to the South, it began to spread. After the Great Migration, Black Americans brought the term north with them, expanding its use.
However, the term “you guys” is still commonly used in most Northern states. There are also many regional variations throughout the country, including “yinz” (used in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and “youse” (used in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
Americans respond
Viewers had lots of opinions on Hieber’s video, including how different regions have termed the plural form of “you”—and their thoughts on y’all:
“Sorry… y’all is singular all y’all is plural.”
“In the upper Ohio Valley, we also say things like, ‘All yinz guys,’ a sort of amalgamation of Pittsburgh’s ‘yinz’ (we’re an hour away), and the Midwest ‘you guys.’”
“From CA but living in the south..I just cannot bring myself to say y’all..feels so unnatural.”
“Washington born and y’all made it into my vocab.”
During her Adele Live 2016 tour stop at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on June 1st, she did what she often does between songs: she invited a couple of kids from the crowd to come up on stage. Two young girls clambered up. Adele hugged them, crouched down to their level, and started chatting. Names, where are you from, the usual warm Adele small talk. Then one of the girls said she was from London.
Adele paused. She glanced out at the crowd and saw a man she recognized.
“Oh my god! No way! I knew you from when you were a baby!” she gasped, as Today reported in its coverage of the moment. “Her mum plays for me. She plays the cello. You were like two weeks old when I first met you.” She then rattled off four OMGs in quick succession, trying to process the fact that the small child she’d last seen as an infant was now standing on her stage at a sold-out arena in Amsterdam, having been pulled from the crowd entirely at random. “That just freaked me out,” she told the audience. “You were like 2 feet tall when I first met you.”
The girl’s mother plays cello in Adele’s touring band. Her father, who’d brought the girls to the show, was the familiar face in the crowd that gave it away. The girls, nicknamed Daiz and Roo according to an Instagram post captured by NME at the time, had no idea any of this was coming.
The video, originally captured by a fan and shared on YouTube, has been resurfacing regularly ever since. It’s easy to see why. In a single unscripted minute, it captures something you don’t often see from artists at that level: genuine surprise. Not performed delight, not a rehearsed crowd moment, but the specific look of a person trying to reconcile the baby they once held with the kid standing right in front of them. The whole arena got to watch Adele put the pieces together in real time.
This is something of a pattern. In a separate concert moment shared on TikTok by user @hannnny3, Adele spotted a young boy in the audience mid-performance, walked over to him, and sang directly to him as he visibly welled up. She brushed his cheek gently and kept going. No announcement, no setup. Just attention, fully given.
The Disney movie The Lion King was released in 1994, and it had a soundtrack full of bangers. Produced by Hans Zimmer with assists from Elton John, there are so many songs that remain classics—including “Circle of Life.”
The song begins with the iconic Zulu chant by singer and composer Lebo M at the start of the Disney film, as the sun rises and baby Simba is lifted into the sky by Rafiki: “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba Sithi uhm ingonyama“
And more than 30 years later, people are finally learning what it translates to. On the One54 Africa podcast, Zimbabwean comedian Learnmore Jonasi shared with hosts Akbar Gbajabiamila and Godfrey Daneschmah (and the rest of the world) the meaning of the Disney tune’s chant—and it’s hilariously underwhelming.
“I’ve seen The Lion King 100 times,” Gbajabiamila says, before giving his own soulful rendition of the chant. “What did I say?”
Jonasi tells him he said “nothing,” adding that it’s Zulu, a language from South Africa, and that it translates to: “Look! There is a lion. Oh my God.”
The three burst into guttural laughter. Gbajabiamila and Daneschmah react in disbelief, saying, “You are joking! That is not what that means!”
Jonasi assures him that’s exactly what it means, and they can’t contain their laughter.
“This whole time I thought it was like this beautiful, majestic [thing],” Gbajabiamila howls.
People react to Zulu chant meaning
On Reddit, people did not hold back their shock and hilarious disappointment about the song’s iconic opening:
“And here I thought it was some majestic phrase about life 😂.”
“It does. It does mean that. I found this out and had the same reaction. I f**king howled. ‘Oh look, here comes a lion, father a lion’ or something was how I was told it was. I was amused and somehow disappointed. But like… it’s accurate.“
“I mean it works in the song too since all the animals look at the lions at this part.”
“You know what… I’m okay with this.”
“See? This simpleton answer actually fits. Try and think about the sheer amount of people who’ve run around shouting this phrase in public looking like idiots (myself included), and then match their idiocy with the simplicity of this answer!!!”
“Okay so quite mundane and hilariously so.”
How “The Circle of Life” was made
The film’s composer, Hans Zimmer, “tapped Lebo M, a then-exiled South African composer living in the U.S., to help with the music,” according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Zimmer and Lebo M “riffed” together to come up with the film’s opener, along with Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, but struggled to nail down an idea until inspiration came to Lebo.
“Then, suddenly, Lebo cried out ‘Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba,’ and all present agreed—instantly—that the chant would open the film,” the publication noted.
“Circle of Life” was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 1995 Academy Awards but lost to another of the film’s iconic songs, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?”
