Taylor’s Victory

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Welcome to a new week, Future Party. You know the will-they/won’t-they rollercoaster of the tariffs has gone mainstream when even Spirit Halloween is struggling. The ubiquitous costume depot had to cancel its annual grand opening at its flagship store in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, citing “international disruptions and supply chain challenges.” The company promises it’s still on track to open 1,500 temporary stores starting in August… but can you imagine a world where Spirit Halloween itself got Spirit Halloweened?!

Taylor Swift has officially prevailed in her quest to own the masters of her first six albums in a nine-figure deal with Shamrock Capital, making it one of the top ten biggest catalog acquisitions ever… and likely the biggest re-acquisition by an artist.

Why It Charts: Swift’s six-year journey to re-acquire her music led her to re-record her first six albums in a gutsy, time-intensive move, so she could profit off the music — not other rights holders. The bet paid off, with the Taylor’s Version albums becoming bonafide hits on their own, inspiring the record-breaking Eras Tour, minting Swift a billionaire, and influencing other artists to request control of their early masters.

Behind the Music: Let’s call this album Victory (Taylor’s Version).

Last Listen: The war for Swift’s Big Machine albums (the first label she was signed to) has been the biggest rights dispute in modern music. When Swift left Big Machine for UMG in 2019, Big Machine turned around and surprisingly sold her catalog to music mogul Scooter Braun (who Swift is no fan of) without allegedly giving her the chance to make an offer. Braun’s Ithaca Holdings flipped it to Shamrock in another deal that Swift was iced out of.

Ironically, Shamrock’s deal likely wasn’t as lucrative as they hoped it would be after Swift’s re-recordings succeeded beyond expectations. The firm couldn’t exploit the catalog for ads and film and TV licensing (Swift still controlled the publishing rights to the music).

Prediction: Expect streams of Swift’s original albums to explode in popularity this year, putting them all back on the charts.

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Luxury hotels in the US and Europe are increasingly offering small, single-occupancy rooms to cater to solo travelers, who are willing to sacrifice space for experience.

The Small Picture: Post-pandemic, taking a vacation has become very expensive, so travelers — especially solo ones, which Kayak estimates will account for about 50% of American travelers this year — are looking for any way to save while they explore. Catering to that clientele could become a top revenue stream for hotels.

Behind the Door: Pack your bags, solo traveler.

Checkout: These rooms have become extremely popular in vacation hotspots with a high density of young visitors: Los Angeles, London, Lisbon, and Portland. It’s okay that the room is tiny — people are there to be out and about, or at least to enjoy the hotel’s amenities beyond the room, like the lobby, bar, and pool.

But just how popular are we talking? WSJ reports that Hoxton’s eight hotels worldwide offer only 6% of their rooms as small, single-occupancy spaces, and they sell out just as frequently as standard double-occupancy units.

Prediction: Expect some new luxury hotels to offer only single-occupancy rooms in an effort to become a unique hub for solo travelers.

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51.3% of you voted Yes in Friday’s poll: Do you trust robots to handle package deliveries?

“Already have a little robot food delivery on our college campus. Seems to work pretty well.”

“I believe package deliveries are a good place to start for humanoid robots that are task-based!”

“At least when they sling my package across the yard onto my porch, the throw will be accurate.”

“It feels like they’d be... inconsistent. There are a lot of stairs up to my front door — could it make it? Can it navigate obstacles in the road or on the sidewalk? Will some people purposefully destruct or detour them? These are just some of the hesitations I have. I do wonder if my dog would bark less at a robot versus the mailman, and for that reason, I’m intrigued.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🪖 Meta and Anduril are partnering to develop cutting-edge mixed-reality headsets for the US Army that they’re calling “EagleEye.”

👀 The Trump administration has tapped data analytics firm Palantir to merge information about Americans from different federal agencies.

☎️ A startup called Prepared is developing a way to bring text, photo, and video capabilities to 911 calls.

📦 Amazon has a program called “Bend the Curve” that automatically removes unproductive product listings from the ecommerce site.

👟 John Hoke, Nike’s chief innovation officer, is retiring from the company after 33 years.

🧢 Born X Raised is collabing with New Era and the LA Dodgers on a new capsule collection.

📱 X is rolling out a new DM feature called XChat, which includes features like group messaging, end-to-end encryption, and file-sharing.

🦈 Pinkfong, the creator of the ubiquitous Baby Shark, is looking to IPO in South Korea.

🤳 The battle of the beige Amazon influencers is likely headed for a court dismissal. Hilarious.