TR.BIZ: 11.4.2025

From Teen Vogue's closing to Mariah Carey's offensive holiday drop, this is your early-mid-week check-in ✨

Welcome to The Trend Report: Business Edition™, a midweek look at top stories, trends, and more of what’s happening online and off by Kyle of The Trend Report™. Today, we’re looking at an art trend forecast, disgusting steaks, an awful AI musician, and why the creator economy is ending.

👀 Trend Watchers: A look at 2026 in art

What is this moment in contemporary art? I’ve been wondering that for some time, as I wandered ARCO thinking about excess and art-needing-function to the more recent SWAB feelings that artists wear the weight of the world: this time is about the psyche of the artist as much as it’s about the output — or so I’ve been thinking! That’s why the Artsy Vanguard drop is always so interesting, as the digital art hub has long felt the pulse of what contemporary art is now. (Examples: 2022’s edition featured Michaela Yearwood-Dan who went on to have a Hauser & Wirth show this year alongside Sasha Gordon who just wrapped her David Zwirner debut, while 2020 featured the now iconic Tomashi Jackson and Salman Toor.) The brand recently shared their 2026 edition, featuring ten artists for its eighth edition. It’s a great mix, from Noelia Towers’ gripping images of complex femininity to Geoffrey Pithon’s mesmerizing “acting” paintings. But what are these artists saying about these times? What are the “trends” represented in this group? I had to ask, and was fortunate enough to get a thought from Casey Lesser, Artsy’s Editor-in-Chief and Director of Content. “The 2026 Artsy Vanguard artists reflect where the art world and market are heading: toward emotionally resonant work that prioritizes connection, meaning, and storytelling,” Casey shared. “They’re speaking to collectors who want more than aesthetics — they want to understand the people and perspectives behind the art. Whether through deeply felt figuration (Noelia Towers, Emil Sands), mythic ceramics (Heidi Lau), interactive video game worlds (Danielle Brathwaite Shirley), or joyful collaborations with brands (Geoffroy Pithon), these artists expand what art can mean and where it can live. Their growing visibility — from debuting fresh work at major fairs like Art Basel Paris and Frieze London to mounting major museum shows like Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s current exhibition at Serpentine Galleries — signals a shift toward art that challenges, comforts, and inspires us to imagine what comes next.” This I can agree with — and see too, as a few of the artists included prove a few theories I’ve been covering for years: first, works that go “beyond the canvas,” questioning what paintings or ceramics even are in our increasingly bigger years, as best represented by Élise Peroi’s delicate woven paintings and underscored by Sayan Chanda’s tapestries and ceramics that carry personal and cultural histories; second, works that conflict with technology and posit a greater alien-ness, as Heidi Lau’s ceramics exaggerate and venerate traditional form into monstrosity and Manyaku Mashilo’s use of natural materials to depict the celestial. Peep the full list of artists here, then tell me what you think they say about this moment in time.

🩹 Branded, I: Mariah Carey’s “Stop Being Poor” Christmas

As expected, Mariah Carey officially returned with a TikTok that went wildly viral, all to declare “It’s TiiiIIIIMMmEEE!!” in the way she does every season to ring her time of year. What’s most interesting about this year’s video is it’s a commercial for Sephora, which is boring and expected, a capitalist holiday seeing Ms. Carey evolve her brand to money grab. Lest we forget: people on SNAP have lost their benefits, prices are overly inflated, and ongoing boycotts represent how people are reclaiming power. That’s one thing, made even weirder by the commercial featuring an elf played by Billy Eichener who goes on strike from being over-worked — only to be punished by Mariah (and Sephora, by extension), forced to celebrate. That is…a terrible look given the song’s anti-capitalist premise, which has had people pointing out how the ad makes fun of their struggles and circumstances, hence boycotts. Pair this with the upcoming Black Friday Business Blackout, many are questioning if Mariah is the reason for the season — or if she’s becoming more Scrooge-pilled. (Wanna keep the haunted holiday going? Enjoy Coca-Cola’s new AI holiday ad, which they’re boasting about.) (But wanna peep an actually good ad? The John Lewis holiday ad is very inspired.)

🩹 Branded, II: Abscesses from Texas Roadhouse

Don’t click these links if you’re about to eat but there are a few videos swirling about people finding abscesses in foods from Texas Roadhouse. It is gnarly, a pus-y surprise within steaks and chicken wings. The brand wants you to know it is not an abscess though: “Our meat cutters hand-cut steaks every day in our restaurants so guests receive high-quality fresh product,” the brand shared with The Takeout. “These steaks were over-tenderized. When the over-tenderized steaks sat covered in the to-go pan, they continued to cook until they were very overcooked. It resulted in the soft texture seen in the video.” Sure. The first thing to come to mind for me is last year’s listeria outbreaks, which were tied to Trump’s deregulating safety items within food systems. Paired with ongoing food safety concerns this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is actually a really gross something. Stay tuned! Luckily for Texas Roadhouse, the brand has another conversation ongoing on TikTok: a split-the-check trend around what people will do with butter to get a meal covered (or not).

📲 Tech Talk: Is the creator economy about to explode?