This Ain't A Debut!: TikTok Shutdown (and Revival?), Hope Tala's Survival, and One of Them Days

Except it totally is.

Welcome to the debut of Culture Yap with me, Layla B-C!

I couldn’t help myself starting this new journey with my newsletter without the iconic KATSEYE reference. Without further ado, let’s begin the yapping session!

The Culture Edit: You Call That A Shutdown?

Last week, on January 18, TikTok effectively suspended its services in the United States after ByteDance refused to divest before the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act deadline.

As a Gen Z “elder,” TikTok was the shot of serotonin I needed to get through my day whether I was studying for finals in undergrad, after my long reporting days at Medill, or even to reward myself for finishing edits for stories at the Chicago Sun-Times or the Chicago Reader.

After the app went dark, I decided to delete TikTok. Only for it to come back on January 19 not even 12 hours later. Before you get on me about deleting the app that is a source of all things news, I believed this was another Vine situation.

Though many people kept the app and still have access and others are scrolling through on our laptops, many influencers came out of the woodwork about the content they’d produced being fake under the guise that the app was no more after Saturday.

An example of this was Meredith Duxbury, who confirmed she did not use up to 10 pumps of foundation on her face. Duxbury rose in popularity by using up to 10 pumps of foundation in her content for her makeup routines and essentially built her career off of her style of content. Duxbury's TikTok on the matter can be found here.

Many of these influencers are currently working to do damage control to save their remaining careers on TikTok as we speak, and for many, it has come into question about the trustworthiness of the influencers their audience is actively supporting and giving their time to. However, TikTok is not the first platform where the phenomenon of faking content is new.

Niki Demartino, who was a part of the popular YouTube duo from the 2010s, Niki and Gabi, also has made endless videos exposing how she and Gabi’s content was achieved. More to come about this side of the Internet soon.

That being said, do you know who did a better shutdown than TikTok and have not ruined their careers? BLACKPINK.

Now Playing: Hope Tala

Since graduating from DePauw, I have missed giving my music recommendations to an audience. With Now Playing, I want to go back to my roots and bring back what brought me into the world of journalism in the first place.

For this first segment, I would like to introduce you to Hope Tala.

Tala is a British singer-songwriter who crafts music in bossa nova, R&B, and neo-soul genres. She first started to sing at age 15 and wrote her first compositions during her study of music at her high school’s advanced subsidiary level in the UK. Most of her original demos are posted on SoundCloud from her initial experimentation with Logic Pro.

I discovered her at the end of 2024 and became a fan, and I am impatiently waiting for her debut album, Hope Handwritten, to arrive on February 28. Her low vocals and mellow beats immediately pulled me into her album like the R&B and soul lover I am.

Out of the singles she’s released, I keep going back to “Survival.” The song is a reflection of endurance and growth and celebrates resilience despite the despair life may have. Though the song can apply to modern-day struggles, Tala doesn’t hesitate to lean into the historical aspect of struggle as she reflects on how her ancestors survived the period of slavery.

Though there are only six available tracks out of sixteen, I recommend her to fans of Cleo Sol, UMI, and Orion Sun to name a few.

Latest Screens: One of Them Days

I would be amiss not to highlight the latest movie I caught opening weekend in this newsletter which was “One of Them Days” with Keke Palmer and SZA.

Though I have reviewed this for the Chicago Reader (which is coming out soon!), the debut of One of Them Days in the sphere of Black female-led buddy comedies is an agenda that needs to continue to be pushed.

If you haven’t seen it yet, One of Them Days follows a similar plot to J. Gray Gray’s movie “Friday” with both Dreaux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) having to come up with their rent money before the end of the day after Alyssa’s boyfriend blows it all.

There are a few references reminiscent of “Friday” throughout the film, but this movie doesn't only stand on the shoulders of nostalgia for its inspiration.

“One of Them Days” stands on its own two feet, exhibiting the growing pains of the mid to late 20s and how friendships can be a part of these growing pains as individuals adjust to the people they are leaving behind from their early 20s.

The film also highlights Black female friendships and the love they have. It made me cherish all the relationships I had with the Black women I had in my life whether they be family members, friends, mentors, co-workers, etc.

“One of Them Days” is bound to be added to the lineup as one of the many movie pillars in Black culture.

Be in Touch!

Thank you for taking the time to read the debut of my newsletter!

A newsletter was always one of the many editorial ventures I wanted to start as I finished graduate school, went on to freelancing, and worked my internships at both the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Reader.

Culture Yap was the brainchild that came from the long-time idea and was further pushed to fruition after a conversation with the one and only Kayla Grant and further sparked after Kenyatta’s newsletter debut of Chronically Online.

Kayla and Kenyatta, thank you for your mentorship and guidance in this industry! Be sure to check out, subscribe, and read Chronically Online by Kenyatta and The Diamond Report by Kayla.

Now, as I look for full-time work, I’m planning to continue to share my voice with my audience between my freelancing gigs and any other side quests that come along the way. That being said, I’m looking forward to this journey of talking about current news, all things both known and niche in pop culture, and more. With that said, be in touch!