The new year is well under way now (and, judging from the news cycle, it’s going to be a doozy – Lord have mercy!). I thought it would be fun to think of some resolutions, some things I hope to either continue or change from how I engage with pop culture. So, after my usual roundup, I’ll do just that.
Roundup
Music
The 2025 new music calendar ended early, and it feels like 2026 is getting off to a slow start. While some interesting singles are trickling in, the only noteworthy album I’ve encountered so far is yesterday’s new release from country star Zach Bryan, With Heaven on Top. I’m not a huge fan of his music, but it’s a solid album and well worth checking out.
Albums
- With Heaven on Top (Zach Bryan)
Songs
- “Games” (Ian Harrison)
- “Tell Me It’s Over” (Solya)
- “girl get up” (Doechi)
Reading
After my amazing re-reads season, which re-entrenched some old favourites as all-time favourites, returning to normal reading felt a bit like dropping from heaven to earth. But, after a bit of a wobbly start, I’ve had some great wins so far:
- Murder at the Vicarage, by Agatha Christie (1930)
- Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri (1999)
- Before I Forget, by Tory Henwood Hoen (2025)
- The Book of Luke, by Lovell Holder (2025)
- Role Model, by Rachel Reid (2021)
- God and Sex, by Jon Raymond (2025)
- Days of Light, by Megan Hunter (2025)
In Focus: 2026 Pop Culture Resolutions
2025 was a fun year for me in my engagement with pop culture. It was a strong but not spectacular reading year for me, and while the dominant narrative surrounding the music released last year was pretty negative, it was a deep year that gave me probably my favourite year-end playlist.
Looking ahead to 2026, I don’t want to change much in my reading life. I’ve been in a good groove of balancing out intentional reading with my mood reader sensibilities. The only things I’d like to be a bit more intentional about this year is reading more classics and getting back into African fiction, which totally fell away for me in 2025 (not for lack of trying; I think I had about 8 novels or collections from Africa that seemed excellent but I just couldn’t get into). I’ve really enjoyed pushing myself to find more translated fiction the past couple years, so I’d like to continue that. And, my December re-read season was a huge success again, so I’ll definitely be keeping up with that.
In terms of music, I really enjoyed keeping up with weekly music releases, but I don’t think the volume of music I was trying to engage with was sustainable. So I’ll keep up with that, but with less of a completist attitude. My deep-dives into different years’ music were also great fun and I’d like to keep that up too. (I’ll be starting to publish my 2010s posts on my other blog soon.)
For various reasons, scripted tv / movies have largely fallen off for me, with the odd exception. One can’t engage with everything, so I think that will just have to be okay for me. And it mostly is.
Matthew Root 