Lucky Break brings it home.

Upon entering Night Club 101 before the show, I immediately felt that this space was for someone looking to build community through music.

Not only were the Lucky Break fans in attendance that night so lovely and willing to talk to a stranger, hugging the wall, but it also felt like a space where new fans are made.

Night Club 101 is known for staging new artists and musicians who are still finding their sound, or artists who have already established their base and are looking to host a space a safe space for other user music lovers to land.

That's why this venue was perfect to host Lucky Break’s East village show ahead of her tour across the U.S. Lucky Break played an amazing show that indeed captured the vibes of nostalgia, family, hope and most of all fun.

Inside night club 101

Before attending the show, I sat down with Emma of Lucky Break to chat about her new album, her tour and what’s in store for this new creative chapter. 

Ann Tankersely: You came out with your new album, made it!— Why now (for this album)?

Lucky Break: This album is an accumulation of me (at ages) 19 to 23. So I really wanted to take my time, and I wanted to jump into the visual world of Lucky Break as a character first.

AT: Why did you take this album on tour?

LB: That’s what it’s all about for me. The live aspect is the most important part of the whole equation. My mom was a singer/songwriter, and I grew up watching her play bars around here (in the East village). Watching her connect with people live solidified for me that being in a room with people is really the center of the musical experience and the job of the musician.

AT: You grew up here (in the East Village). You're here tonight with your friends. How do you feel about tonight’s show versus the rest of the tour? 

LB: It does feel like a homecoming, and it’s celebratory being with my friends. I get really nostalgic coming to the East village, I know it by heart. I feel so connected to this place, and it’s so essential to who I am. It feels like coming home, it feels really good.

AT: Are you traveling with the band on this tour?

LB: It’s just me and my guitar. I started this by playing at SXSW with tracks. I realized I just like playing with my guitar, I have more direct access to people. I like how intimate it feel, and it’s so essential to the kinds of artists I listen to. I like the “no-frills” aspect; it’s so simple.

Lucky Break on stage

 The character of Lucky Break bleeds through every song from the album and provides an interactive yet transcendent experience for every listener.

If you have the chance to go see Lucky Break on their tour, don’t delay your plans. Not only are there sounds to blast all Summer long from a hyperpop idyllic landscape of their album, but there is also the awesome indulgence of the Lucky Break character in the world that has been built for them. 

Follow their journey at linktr.ee/imyourluckybreak, listen to their album made it! streaming now, catch them on tour with upcoming dates in Memphis and across the U.S. this Summer, and check out their super cute merch on Bandcamp or at the show!

Lucky Break CD, Stickers, and Post Card

Lucky Break T-Shirt

Consume Everything, Synthesize Everything, Make Art: The Ideology of Zola Simone.

Zola Simone is a name you’re going to want to know in 2026. A Boston native turned Brooklyn local is bringing a completely new vibe to the queer music scene in New York City. Zola considers her genre of music to fall into the “Queer Pop” category, yet carries heavy notes of RnB in everything she creates. Zola has been perfecting her sound and musical platform since the age of 12, growing her foundations in Boston and carrying them with her back to NYC. I must say, they are doing an excellent job in showcasing their musical experience and tying it together with natural talent, creating something truly extraordinary. 

Photography by Isaac Wheatley

With over 20 singles, 4 EPs, and 2 full albums available on all streaming platforms, I asked Zola if she always knew music was something she was going to pursue career-wise. Her response is what all of us creatives hope to feel in one way or another: “I was recently asked this, what I would do if music wasn't an option, and I couldn't think of an answer. I can't see myself doing anything else but this”. In my opinion, this is what truly makes an unforgettable artist. Yes, you may hold love for other hobbies and niche interests, but someone who is entirely committed to the art they create and what they output into the world is one who deserves the recognition.

Photography by Isaac Wheatley

Luckily, Zola grew up around music and was surrounded by the encouragement of their loved ones to pursue music. This gave her an upper hand in getting involved in the music scene sooner than others. She mentioned that she had the opportunity to perform live at Boston’s top Pop radio station at the age of 10, just by being persistent with her need to perform. This then opened a door of opportunities for her. By 12, she was offered to be a part of Boston Music Project and their “Teen Empowerment” program. This gave young local artists a chance to collaborate with a recording company to record songs and music at no cost. This is what changed perspective for Zola Simone and reaffirmed her desire to pursue a career in music. 

New York City is home to millions of amazing artists and musicians, known and unknown, so why should we know Zola Simone? This is Zola’s response to that question: “Take away that you’re not alone, whatever you're feeling there is someone out there who understands you in some capacity. Music is needed and so important for mental health. I want them to know there is still hope and that human creativity is essential and inevitably inescapable. Music is about connection, community, and is a shared experience between the artist, music, and the audience. It is essential that we can all connect in some way and take away what we need from music.”  She carries this philosophy in her music and in how she writes her songs. When an artist can have the ability to create while also using factors of their environment to influence the art they produce, that is something to be paid attention to. 

Check out her two albums, Now You See Me and Kaleidoscope, available on all streaming platforms. My favorite song of hers is “Pirouette” off the Kaleidoscope album.Pirouette (Sped Up Version) be sure to give that a listen, I highly recommend! They have new music coming out this summer and are always finding ways to perform. Find them on all social media as @ZolaSimone. 

Awards Season: Stan Twitter's Super Bowl

Everything has become stan twitter, and stan twitter has become sports fandom. Here’s how it’s affecting awards season. 

The 2025 awards season has finally come to an end. From discourse around Timotheé Chalamet’s Marty Supreme marketing campaign (and everything else about him), to stan wars erupting from the results of every major awards program, social media has become a hostile hellscape. But since when did social media have this much of an impact on major awards ceremonies? Why does the prestigious nature that these events seem to have had in the past no longer exist? 

Simply put, everything has become stan culture. While this may be a broad statement, it seems that the notion of shows like the Grammys and the Emmys have become hubs for fans of every individual nominee to fight and compare why their favorite nominee has to win and why any other nominee cannot. The Grammys in particular have become saturated with categories, leaving room for more nominees. It has become more embarrassing for your fave to not receive a nomination than it has for it to be an honor. 

Musicians such as Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish have developed intense fanbases that tend to believe in awards supremacy. Eilish, who holds 10 wins with 34 nominations with her career being less than a decade old, has slightly stirred the pot within the past few years of the awards. Evidently, becoming a darling of the Recording Academy rarely goes home empty-handed. In the 2025 awards, Beyoncé won Album of the Year, arguably the highest honor of the night, and stans of the 24-year-old musician were incredibly displeased. Arguments of who had more streams and track virality piled against Cowboy Carter, the winner of the award. Fandoms began to point fingers at one another, the Beyhive alleging racism against fans of Eilish for the outrage of her win, Eilish fans concluding that the award was paid for by Roc Nation. What neither seems to consider is that experts and knowledgeable members of the Recording Academy simply saw Cowboy Carter as the album of the year, plain and simple. However, fans could find some sense of peace after the 2026 ceremony, after Eilish re-released the track “Wildflower” as a single, well after its initial May 2024 release on the album. To have qualified for the 2026 Grammy Awards, music had to have been released between August 31, 2024, and August 30, 2025. Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft " was only eligible to be nominated for the 2025 Grammys, and she released “Wildflower” as a single on March 4, 2025, nearly ten months after it had already been released with the rest of the album. There are no rules against this per se, but the song won the “Song of the Year” award for the 2026 Grammys, which left some viewers upset with the snub of other songs in the category, such as “DtMF” by Bad Bunny and “Luther” by SZA and Kendrick Lamar. 

Alas, Eilish has now won a Grammy for the previously “snubbed” 2024 album. This culture of stans demanding higher numbers, more wins, and better statistics is highly reminiscent of sports culture. Variety reported that for the 2026 Oscars, betting on the awards has become a $100 million business, with bets wagered on who will win. Kalshi and Polymarket ads are difficult to ignore, with the amount of commercial time betting platforms had during the broadcast of the Super Bowl and when the latter partnered with the Golden Globes to integrate live odds into the ceremony. While online betting forums have been around for years, they gained massive popularity right before the U.S. 2024 Presidential Election. Once players bet correctly on Trump’s win, sites such as Kalshi and Polymarket have entered the mainstream for various events. Online predictions do not necessarily count as gambling (which is regulated by a few states in the U.S.), which is why these sites are able to promote their platforms as heavily as they do. 

Stan culture and betting are intertwined has turned the awards season into a gamified event. Press and publicity have been around for as long as Hollywood has, but now more than ever can a potential smear campaign or just saying an ill-worded statement on ballet and opera can change the public’s perception of “deserving” the award. Chalamet’s Best Actor campaign for Marty Supreme was nothing short of interesting, to say the least. From standing on top of the Las Vegas Sphere as an orange ping-pong ball to tapping slightly into method press, becoming Marty, embodying greatness, and desiring to be at the top. Many have been turned off by his behavior as it drastically opposes his previously indie-darling persona from the late 2010’s/ early 2020s. Recently, he has found himself in hot water with his comments about ballet in opera while in conversation with former Interstellar costar, Matthew McConaughey. Major ballets and operas across the world have given their two cents on the matter, dissing Chalamet in any way they can. This event has caused a major setback in the public’s view of who should win Best Actor, leading many to one: root for and two: bet on Michael B. Jordan to win. Ultimately, the award went to Jordan, not without some ballet and opera jokes thrown Chalamet’s way during the ceremony. 

The prestige of the award remains partly in its title and the doors it may open for performers and filmmakers. However, the run and the “competition,” so to speak, is no longer a test of the “best performance,” it's a game of numbers. This is where I believe stans across the board would do well in sports fan culture. Once awards and streams became a commodity within stan culture, the direct correlation became blatantly evident. The awards season has now become an amalgamation of stan wars and morality olympics. Does Chalamet deserve an Oscar ever because of his comments? Should movies with bad characters playing antagonists win Best Picture? Can Beyoncé or Taylor Swift win another Grammy? They’ve already won plenty! 

Numbers have no place in the space of honoring art. If you want to bet on winners or compare stats, watch a sport.