Not to call anyone. Not to check anything. Just to document. Just in case. Just because the light is good and the table looks right and somehow a meal that nobody photographs feels like it didn't fully happen. The photo dump was supposed to be the antidote to performative social media. Somewhere along the way it became its own kind of performance, just with blurrier photos and a more convincing alibi. Today we're asking whether any of us actually knows how to just exist anymore.

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

TechCrunch reports that AI-generated tracks hit 90,000 uploads per day in June 2026. This crossed the 50% threshold of all daily uploads for the first time. Despite that, AI music accounts for just 3% of actual listening time, and 85% of those streams are fraudulent. Deezer is now removing AI tracks linked to streaming fraud or left unstreamed for six months.

The picture is pretty clear here. Nobody asked for AI music. Nobody is listening to it. And the people uploading it are mostly trying to game royalty payments. Deezer is done being the platform that hosts it.

In a story that keeps getting more interesting by the day, TechCrunch reports that prediction market platform Kalshi sent Netflix a cease-and-desist letter demanding the takedown of the trailer for "Instadocs: The Prediction Games" - a fast-turnaround Netflix documentary about the rise of prediction markets. Kalshi claims the trailer is "defamatory" and features a screenshot of a Kalshi bet that misleads viewers into thinking it was placed in Nevada, where Kalshi is currently banned.

Netflix says the footage is real and the bet was placed in May 2025, before the ban. The documentary drops Sunday. Sending a cease-and-desist to Netflix 48 hours before a documentary airs has historically done wonders for a film's viewership.

And finally, a brand ambassador partnership that makes a lot of sense once you know the show. Marketing Dive reports that Under Armour has named François Arnaud - star of the wildly popular hockey romance series Heated Rivalry - as a global brand ambassador. He'll be headlining a new "For When It's Hot" campaign for its HeatGear franchise. Arnaud's character in the show is already a committed Under Armour wearer. So really, the partnership feel organic rather than manufactured.

Under Armour is pumping an extra $30 million into marketing this year as part of a broader brand turnaround. CEO Kevin Plank put it plainly: "I don't feel like we've been living up to being a brand with great storytelling." Arnaud suggests they might be finding their way back.

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

Well, I mean, of course it’s yours. But there’s this sense of like, pressure. Pressure to perform to an audience that is always covertly there, waiting for your next perfectly curated moment. And the pressure to capture it is almost inescapable.

This is what I call the curse of the photo dump. And sure, to you that might sound ridiculous.

But spare me a moment of your time, and I promise you may start to see things a little differently.

Which is ironic, seeing as the whole premise of the dump began as an antidote to over-edited and highly curated insta posts.

Well, antidote it is no longer. It’s become a just as potent part of the poison, evolving into a new beast of curation entirely: the "casual performance."

Blurry photos and half-eaten meals are specifically chosen to signal authenticity. It’s curation disguised as clutter, the aesthetic "mundane" if you will.

We document things that communicate “I am creative, and chic, and effortlessly cool. Oh and busy, don’t forget about busy.”

This is our perceived identity. And it’s entirely in our hands. But it’s also changed our behaviour drastically.

Fine dining is officially out. Messy natural wine pours, half-eaten pizza, brickwork and messy candelabras covered in wax… ugly-chic culinary experiences are now that b*tch. And it’s all because they fit so perfectly with this internationally undone aesthetic.

Spaces are also now evaluated for their background appeal. They must fit the lifestyle narrative we’ve assigned ourselves to.

Do they have visual storytelling value? No? Ew. We’re not spending our afternoons doing that.

Reading physical books, playing vinyl records, taking pics on our super vintage super chic 35mm film camera, maybe even dabbling in some crocheting? Now those have tactic, photogenic proof of a slow and intentional lifestyle.

It’s even infiltrated social circles.

We increasingly socialise with people, intentionally or not, who share our visual style and digital boundaries.

We must always have the candid "prop" friend included in the dump, captured in a candid, laughing, motion blurred shot to signal we are loved and socially active and not posting from some basement somewhere with absolutely no motion.

I’ve even seen Reels where there’s literal fights or friction. All because one person wants to experience a moment while the other is busy collecting assets for their next dump.

It’s made us perform our whole lives.

This is not coming from a place of judgement. I’m right here on the stage with you.

But maybe it’s ok to sometimes just exist. There is no real audience. There is just you.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The sound is a remix by DJ Mgod that mashes up Sabrina Carpenter's soft, melancholic "Nobody's Son" with Migos' chaotic, high-energy "Stir Fry." Yep, two tracks that have absolutely no business being in the same room together, let alone the same song. The result is gloriously unhinged. And creators are using it to describe situations that feel exactly the same way. Some of my favourite examples:

Film or photograph yourself candidly and add whatever chaotic, contradictory situation you're currently living through as your on-screen text.

A few ideas to get you started:

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

Hey Tomás!

There's no magic formula to staying consistent! At some point, you just have to carve out time and get it done. But one thing you can do to make that a bit easier is to come up with an easily repeatable content style. This is a content style that is easy to produce, and, ideally, one you can create in bulk. It should also be something you can do over and over, only changing one factor for each video.

This should fit your niche, but could be something like street interviews, simple games, reaction videos, or answering FAQs about your industry. When you've got this content style, you'll no longer need to reinvent the wheel every time you need to create content. You're essentially taking 90% of the thinking out of it, which makes it much more likely you're going to post more regularly. Then, remember that done is better than perfect. You will learn as you go, and that's ok.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.