The Pop Culture Debrief Season Finale: Breaking Down September Issue covers

September is for back-to-school, changing weather, and apparently a LOT of celebrity magazine covers.

For the Season 1 finale of Pop Syllabus, Christiana picks up the September issues and takes us inside their biggest covers and most interesting stories. From Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere on Vogue to Rihanna, Usher, Charli XCX, and a powerful Essence cover celebrating Black women, she explores what these magazines choose to put on their covers, what they leave inside the pages, and what it all says about pop culture right now.

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01:30 Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere on the cover of US Vogue 

02:42 Regime change at Vogue 

03:30 Nepo babies 

06:00 US Vogue cover 

07:16 Rihanna on the cover of Elle

09:35 Rihanna’s relationship with Dior 

10:47 Elle editorial with Rihanna  

12:08 Jermey Strong on the cover of GQ 

14:21 GQ editorial with Jeremy strong

16:33 Nicole Kidman on the cover of British Vogue 

18:43 Brad Pitt on the cover of Esquire

20:04 Esquire editorial with Brad Pitt

26:18 Sanaa Lathan, Nina Compton, Mara Brock Akil and Nikole Hannah-Jones on the front cover of Essence 

27:50 Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on the back cover of Essence 

28:09 America at 250 

30:00 Seeing Black women with mature skin and gray hair 

31:30 Isan Elba 

32:01 Hair styles and product recommendations in Essence 

35:38 Mardi Gras 

36:00 Essence editorial with Sanaa Lathan, Nina Compton, Mara Brock Akil and Nikole Hannah-Jones 

37:19 Terrence Jenkins and Mikalah Sultan

39:12 Essence editorial with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

40:57 “Letters to America” in Essence

41:30 Afro-optimism 

41:52 The American flag and who gets to own it 

44:20 Christiana’s relationship with England and the English flag

46:19 Black women and reproductive health in Essence 

46:42 Usher on the cover of Architectural Digest

49:25 A feature on decorative plates in Architectural Digest

49:58 Usher’s Architectural Digest feature 

52:58 Charli XCX on the cover of Rolling Stone 

54:40 George Michael feature in Rolling Stone

55:00 Comparing Rolling Stone to other magazines

55:13 Shaboozey in Rolling Stone

55:40 James Comey profile in Rolling Stone

57:00 Charli XCX editorial in Rolling Stone 

57:40 Afroman in Rolling Stone

59:00 Keke Palmer editorial in Rolling Stone

01:00:18 Adam Friedland in Rolling Stone 

01:00:42 The Legend of the Plaster Caster in Rolling Stone

01:02:16 A man who wants to help people print guns in Rolling Stone

01:02:30 Assessing Rolling Stone 

01:03:12 Star Magazine

01:10:00 How to keep up with Christiana

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