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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Good Charlotte Is Entering a New Phase: ‘We Don't Give a F-ck in a Great Way'
In April 2023, Good Charlotte played their first show in five years in one of the most improbable places: the vast, luxe halls of the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in the South of France. Wearing Doc Martens and black suits with tattoos peaking out, Joel and Benji Madden, bassist Paul Thomas, and guitarist Billy Martin brought their pop-punk attitude to the swanky space and delivered high-energy versions of their 2000s hits for Sofia Richie's wedding afterparty. Yes, that Sofia Richie, the model and internet personality, who is also Joel's sister-in-law. 'Sofia and Elliot [Grainge] asked us to play their wedding,' Joel Madden says on a Zoom call. 'They grew up on our band, so it was a really special moment for us to be able to bring something we love that they love.' More from Rolling Stone Good Charlotte Announce First Album in Seven Years Luke Combs Closes Out Stagecoach Set With Garth Brooks and Good Charlotte Pop Punkers in the Boardroom: The Madden Brothers on Their New Lives While videos of Richie dancing barefoot and singing along to 'Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous' went viral, the occasion marked a pivotal moment for Good Charlotte. In the South of France, a long way from Los Angeles and their Maryland roots, brothers Joel and Benji looked around and saw just how many of their dreams have come true. 'We wanted to grow up and have happy families, and there we were, having this unforgettable night with our extended family of 19 years,' Benji Madden recalls. Good Charlotte knew they had tapped into something they hadn't in years; something worth exploring for the first time since 2018. 'We had such a great night, and we were all sitting around, and we were like, 'Should we do an album?' The whole band was like, 'Fuck yeah, yes, let's do an album,'' Joel says. Now, Good Charlotte are gearing up to release Motel Du Cap, the band's eighth LP and first full-length project in seven years. The album's lead single, 'Rejects,' is out today, marking the official start of the band's new era. Rolling Stone caught up with the Madden brothers to talk about Motel Du Cap, the possibility of touring the album, and what it's like to return to Good Charlotte. Why did you choose to commemorate that memory of the wedding at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Rock with the album title, ?Benji: We were like, 'When would Hotel Du Cap ever have Good Charlotte play at Eden Roc?' Joel: Yeah, that juxtaposition of us at this fancy hotel. We couldn't name the album after the hotel, but we could make it our own thing. Benji: Motel Du Cap feels more appropriate. There's always a little colored sarcasm in our music, there's a little tongue-in-cheek, but then there is always some really deep meaningful subject matter on our records, too. It felt very appropriate to commemorate such a meaningful, beautiful night. It's one of my best memories. The album's first single, 'Rejects,' reminds me a bit of your early track 'Little Things,' energetically and sonically. Did you guys go in with that mentality? Joel: You're feeling that exactly right. It's really full-circle because when we made the first record in '99, we didn't know any better than to not give a fuck. We didn't know you were supposed to give a fuck. We thought it was the greatest thing ever to make a record and to say whatever the fuck we wanted to say. Then you get into the game of the music business and get a little spun around. We came full-circle back to where we're all in really good places in our lives where we don't give a fuck, in a great way. We certainly care about people and our fans. But our families are really the center of our lives. So Good Charlotte is something that we get to be totally free in. We don't necessarily need it to perform. We actually just need it to be itself. Benji: Now, when we write we only set out to do one thing: express ourselves. We don't premeditate any songs. We write a stream of consciousness. It's something we kind of learned over the years as we thought back to when we made our first couple of records. We came all the way around to what was the best thing for us, which is just to let our feelings out and not try to control it too much. You don't need to write 50 songs for a record; you need to write 12. Whatever came out in that moment is the whole portrait. We made this record completely unconsciously. We didn't meditate, we made it. We just said, 'We need to get some things out,' and we hit record. What made you guys choose 'Rejects' as the lead single?Joel: I don't even think 'Rejects' is necessarily the most obvious single type song, but it's the one we feel like people should hear first. We think it's a really great start and a representation of the record and the music. Benji: This record is the kickoff of Act Two and everything that came before that was a journey of a lifetime. Lyrically, 'Rejects' is super honest, touching on some dark thoughts. What went into writing lines like that hook 'Sometimes I wish I wasn't born at all'?Joel: We all feel that way sometimes. It's OK to feel that way. When I say, 'Sometimes I wish I wasn't born at all,' I don't mean it where I want to be gone. I am not suicidal and, thank God, I'm not depressed. But I've had times in my life where I was, and I had to figure that out, and it was a lot of work to figure out my own mental health and self-esteem. I'm still working on all of it all of the time. We're all a work in progress. Sometimes you have moments in life where it's really fucking hard. It has nothing to do with your family or your success or your failure or whatever. But it's a moment of aloneness, and you question stuff, and even have to give yourself the room to feel OK with those moments. That line, that just came out of me. I feel like everyone can relate to it, no matter who they are. They have those moments where they have to take a knee or let out a deep sigh or whatever, and then just keep getting on with it. Benji: 'Rejects' is very meaningful. It flips back and forth between you and your inner child. To me, the chorus is the inner child screaming back at you because we leave our inner children behind. When we can find our power in life is when we can get reintegrated with that kid. Joel, you fully just never wrote the lyrics down. Joel: Yeah, I don't write lyrics down. Benji: It's just boom, boom, boom. How does it feel to be creating new music more than 20 years into your career as a band? Benji: It feels really good. We learned to do things in our own time and just follow the feeling, and it just feels right. We both felt like we had an album in us, and then we started to feel like 'We need to get this out.' The beautiful thing about where we're at now is it really is about the process. It's a nice thing when you are just able to create from this very inspired and content place. It allows us to share it with people in a very 'no expectations' way and let people have their own experience with it. Joel, have you ever been happier with an album process? Joel: This band is so unique to itself and we are constantly discovering what it means to be in Good Charlotte, especially in 2025. It's funny, because in some ways I could say, 'Yeah, it's the best I've ever felt.' In other ways, it doesn't feel like the world is on my shoulders. We set out to make a great record, and we love it, and it's also filled us up in a way that we want to go on tour, which is a feeling we haven't had in a long time. This is a record we can take around the world. Are there plans to tour the album? Joel: We are going to do a world tour in '26, and I don't know if that means it's 20 shows or 40 shows or 60 shows, but whatever it is, it's a number that we feel every show has to feel unique and special, just like the album does. We want each moment to feel unique. The wedding show we played felt unique. It felt special, it felt meaningful. We all caught that and said, 'This is how we want to feel every time we go onstage.' It's interesting. People haven't actually gotten a lot of opportunities to see us live. We just haven't toured in a meaningful way in probably 10 years or so. There's so many people that will be seeing us for the first time, and we want to make it special and exciting that they finally get to see us. It's going to be a really fun show with lots of cool little surprises and things that make people happy. Hopefully, it just feels like a big fucking wedding party every night. Some fans online have been asking for an throwback tour of some kind. Do you plan to shape the tour like that?Joel: We are going to hit every era, but we're trying to figure out how long a show should be. Two hours is too long but we're not sure if an hour-and-a-half will work. When we tried to fit everything into an hour and ten minutes in our headlining set at Welcome to Rockville, we still had to cut five songs that people wanted to hear. It's crazy. Some shows might just have to be a little longer depending on where and what, but it's going to be a lot of fun to hit all the eras of GC live, and then the new stuff is going to be fun live, too. You brought out Wheatus during Welcome to Rockville, and even joined Luke Combs during his . How did those appearances come about? Do you hope to bring more guests out at shows?Joel: We're lucky because Good Charlotte works with lots of genres. We're in this weird space where we could go heavier, we could go poppier, we can even go country with Luke [Combs]. Those moments mean so much to us. 'Teenage Dirtbag' is one of my favorite songs, and to have Brendan [Bernard Brown] come out and do it felt like giving him his flowers for writing one of the greatest songs. It's also always a goal of mine to have a big sing-along. I don't care if it's our songs or someone else's songs. I just want it to feel like a throwback night where you're with your friends and you're living right now and remembering back when. Benji: It's just really fun, and we've made all these amazing friends over the years, and it's so cool to share the stage with people. If we go anywhere, we're bringing someone fun with us, or we're bringing some kind of crazy production. It's fun to surprise people. You played When We Were Young a couple of years back. Would you be open to joining this year or ?Joel: I don't know why Warped Tour D.C. didn't work out this year. We love Warped Tour, but again, if we're going to do 20 shows over a year, every single show has to be something that people are going to get their money's worth, and they're going to see Good Charlotte and hear our full set. I'd still pop up and do one. We'll see. Benji: Logistically, this one couldn't work, but I have no doubt we'll be back at a Warped Tour sometime. What friends did you call up for collaborations on ?Joel: One of my favorite artists is this new guy from Maryland, he's got a real place in our hearts. His name's Luke Borchelt and he's a country singer not far from where we're from in Maryland. We did a song with him that I'm really excited about. I'm such a fan of his album. He just got off the road with Shaboozey, who's also from the DMV area. It's so cool to see people from home making these big impactful musical moments. We also have a feature from Wiz Khalifa. It's been a long time coming. We've been friends a long time, and we've been talking about doing something, and we finally got to. Benji: I love the Wiz song. It'll be one of the more memorable songs in our catalog when this record comes out. It's a really cool song. Joel: We wrote a song with Matt Koma from Winnetka Bowling League, who's one of our best friends and plays with us live. Who else did we write with Benj? Benji: Jordan Fish. We also wrote with a dear friend of ours that I think would surprise people too: Charlie Puth. Charlie produced it, and I think there's some sneaky Charlie vocals in there in the mix. It's not a feature but you'll hear it. Joel: He snuck them in there for sure. Who else produced the album?Benji: We got to do a majority of the record with Jordan Fish. When Jordan joined Bring Me the Horizon, I immediately was like, 'Whatever they did there, that's really special.' Now that Jordan left the band and he's producing full time, I knew I wanted to make music with him. We made most of the record with Jordan and Zakk Cevini and me and Joel together. It allowed for us to have a place to be really vulnerable and just try and sing about things that you don't know if this is going to turn into a song. If you're in a room with a bunch of people that are thinking about hit songs, it ain't going to make it past the first verse. To have a space where no one gives a fuck, it's not about anything other than let's just do something special, that's when things can happen. Good Charlotte's last album was 2018's The band took a between albums back in the . What's the biggest advantage of allowing this time between releases?Benji: It's like we lived a lifetime before we made our first record, from when we were born to all our experiences in early childhood and adolescence. We've played out those insecurities, those great moments, and we did it as young people in front of the world. We took our lives back. We nurtured our own growth and spent valuable time with our families and loved ones. It's like we've been living and filling the gas tank up with more experience, more lessons, more self-realizations, more explorations in order to be better and be able to give back to fans now. Joel: It's a little less-is-more type of thing, where I actually really get to move through the world now at a pace I could sustain and interact with people and have memories and meet people. It's a nice little pace. I actually prefer to live that way. Even going and doing a big festival like Welcome to Rockville was still at a pace where we could interact with everyone and make a memory versus running in and doing a million things. With , you've become mentors in the pop-punk and rock scene. How did that role inform this album?Joel: At MDDN, we work with these amazing bands, and we get to interact with and participate in their lives in ways that are really fun for us. It's more meaningful to me to watch them shine and see them accomplishing all their achievements. As artists, they're just making really great music and they're incredible to watch. It's so fulfilling. Benji: It's also very healing and it's such a blessing. We don't take it for granted. We really cherish and appreciate that we get to tell them things that we wish people would've told us. Joel: They teach us things that no one told us, too. There is a real true collaboration of age and perspective and experience. What was the scariest part of returning to Good Charlotte?Joel: The only thing we're always ever worried about is how much time any of it will take away from our families. Thank God, we have such supportive wives and kids. It's a really nice situation where everybody's on board with just figuring it out together. What we don't want to do is make it at the cost of them. The only thing we've all ever talked about is to have successful family lives. We're trying our hardest, and everything we do is going to be measured by that. What's interesting about Good Charlotte is we are a part of this generation of people figuring out how to live life and not take the old information we were fed as kids, and try to figure out how to be dads, how to be husbands, how to have families. It is actually a big broad span of a couple generations of people who come from that high divorce-rate generation, and we can all relate to it. We actually want to get our personal lives right and hopefully have success in the world, but not at any costs. Benji: Genuinely, the only thing that matters to us is successful family lives, and the rest will just be additive. Joel: We're at a nice place where we are not really that worried about anything other than the people that want to enjoy the album will enjoy it. Whoever hears it will hear it, and we'll do as many shows as we can, and we'll be happy with it. Whatever we show up for, we're going to give it everything we have. Benji: We're making not-broken homes. We started going to therapy and we started working on our self-esteem because when we were young, we had low self-esteem. We really needed to be validated. But once we fixed that, the need for validation just went and doesn't motivate us anymore. For us, we're motivated by experiences, by doing things that feel special, and by sharing these with the people we love. 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Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Is Cannes the last truly safe place for celebrities?
CANNES, France — The French Riviera is one of the most photogenic places on the planet. At the Cannes Film Festival, the already gorgeous art deco architecture and placid beaches were dotted with celebrities and common folk alike, dressed to the nines to attend the ritzy premieres. I expected to see a yachtload of influencers. Why couldn't I find any? I went on the hunt: My first stop after landing in Nice was Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, a luxury oceanfront hotel, in nearby Cap d'Antibes, where Sofia Richie had her wedding. I had lunch — a €105 buffet — with the most Instagrammable view imaginable, overlooking a pool packed with bright-white umbrellas that overlooked the expansive blue bay. I didn't see a single influencer, though. Just a lot of rich people. 'Are you going down to the festival today?' one wealthy businessman, the kind who says he 'dabbles in this and that' like Walton Goggins' character in The White Lotus, said to his friend, who was just in from Dubai. 'Why would you leave this place?' the friend replied. Their much younger companions debated if they wanted white wine or red, and whether they'd recommend staying in Monaco for three days or five. One of the women, who wore her hair in a tight bun and sported pink high heels, explained that her partner had a tough week because he 'had to fire a bunch of people.' These were just run-of-the-mill rich people I was overhearing, not influencers. Full of canapés and salted fish, I walked to the hotel's legendary walkway, where an iconic photo of Harrison Ford was taken in 1982. There wasn't a single fancy person in sight — just me. Days later, A-listers and Cannes stars Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal would parody Ford's photo. Even in the most Instagram-friendly spaces, celebrities clearly outnumbered over influencers. Over the next few days, I went to noted influencer hot spots looking to find the social media savvy at places I surely thought they'd turn up: snapping selfies in glamorous hotels, showing off their outfits on idyllic beaches and scrolling through their timelines in exclusive restaurants. Expensive people were all around me, but none were eager to post. Dozens of fans lined up with cameras and pens outside the Marriott where I conducted interviews for The Phoenician Scheme, but they weren't there to spot social media stars. They wanted to see a celebrity. Any celebrity would do. Though I was surprised to find myself in influencer-free territory, the French film festival is apparently one of the last places where social media-first behavior is frowned upon. I couldn't even get a selfie on the red-carpeted steps to a premiere that I had a hard-fought ticket to attend without getting my phone swatted out of my hand by a security guard. They flanked every other step of the theater on both sides. That's by design. Sarah Schmidt, a celebrity and influencer brand expert, told Yahoo Entertainment that 'Cannes is one of the last major cultural events that hasn't gone fully digital-first.' 'That's what makes it iconic — but it's also what makes it incompatible with how most creators operate. There's no general admission, no creator integration and no built-in audience crossover. It runs on scarcity and tradition,' she explained. 'And that's exactly why the [return on investment] for influencers is so low. You can spend ten grand to get there and still walk away with a few pretty photos and a tired caption about 'feeling honored.'' Schmidt said that influencers are 'accessories, not insiders.' If they're there, they've been invited by a luxury brand or a social media company. 'Cannes celebrates art-house cinema, global auteurs, and prestige storytelling. The event isn't built to drive viral content,' she said. 'The red carpet is stunning, yes, but the substance doesn't connect.' Cannes, as it turns out, is a 'cinematic sanctuary — a place intentionally out of sync with the algorithm-chasing energy of the creator economy,' Megan Balyk, vice president of Jive PR & Digital, told Yahoo Entertainment. 'It's not that influencers aren't cool enough for Cannes — it's that Cannes, with its velvet ropes and elite profile, remains deeply rooted in the talent and artistry of film,' she said. 'It's not built for [influencers], and honestly, that's the beauty of it. In a world where every event is trying to be everything to everyone, there's something quietly radical about a festival that knows exactly who it is and who it's for. It's not exclusion; it's intentionality.' In my quest to find influencers on the ground, I heard that TikTok had brought a few of its creators to the Croisette. The social media app was one of the festival's official partners, so creators got great access — some spoke to Denzel Washington on the red carpet, and some met Tom Cruise. 'The creators they're spotlighting are film-obsessed, not just content-obsessed — a subtle but important distinction,' Balyk said. I was kindly invited inside TikTok's creator lounge, where I saw plenty of familiar faces from FilmTok, a community of movie lovers on the platform, chitchatting with each other in an airy, luxurious space with a bar. I spoke with Zainab Jiwa, who said her goal was to make her audience, a cool 590,000 followers on TikTok, feel like they were at the festival with her. She wants to make the prestigious festival seem more accessible. 'It's crazy, isn't it? It hits me every few minutes that I'm here, because we all know Cannes is a film festival — high-caliber stuff. It's a big deal,' she said. 'You need certain things to be here. But you're also surrounded by so many creative people in the industry and you're inspired by everyone you meet. You talk to people, then you're like, 'I need to make something! Now!'' Jiwa's energy was infectious. She was thrilled to be on the Croisette — she was particularly excited about seeing early screenings and catching talks with directors on the beach — but even more thrilled to share with her audience how they could follow in her footsteps 'Be passionate and say yes to everything,' she advised. 'If you're not passionate, what's the point?' When I met Jiwa and her fellow creators at the lounge, they were all getting ready to go to a screening of Wait, Your Car?, a short film written and directed by TikTok creator Reece Feldman, also known as @GuyWithAMovieCamera. He made a name for himself sharing his experience working as a production assistant in the entertainment industry, and now he's using his platform to make movies of his own. 'As a movie lover, [being at Cannes] is like a dream. You're just surrounded by people that like movies, and everyone has opinions, and it's nice getting to speak this universal language with everyone regardless of their actual language,' Feldman told Yahoo Entertainment. 'It doesn't hurt that it's the prettiest place on the planet.' He said it was a massive honor to have his short screened on the Croisette — and people 'laughed where I wanted them to laugh.' 'The theater wasn't big enough to house everyone, which is upsetting to me, but also just in a roundabout way, like if I'm looking at a glass half full, that I'm like, wow, what a privilege that people want to watch something that I've made — the first thing I've made,' Feldman said. Feldman has mingled with celebrities on the red carpet at the Oscars and the Met Gala. When he goes to these exclusive places, he's always thinking, 'What's a cool, fun thing I can show from this perspective?' As a testament to the way he's always thinking about his audience, he asked if I wanted a movie recommendation when I told him I was feeling sick. He recommended two films from his favorite French filmmaker, Eric Rohmer — The Green Ray and A Summer's Tale — and Mr. Bean's Holiday, which is largely set in Cannes. While tastemakers in their own right, creators known for their film recommendations and access to industry events are different from what people might think of when the word 'influencer' is uttered aloud. Rebecca Whitlocke, a PR specialist based on the French Riviera, told Yahoo Entertainment that 'audiences that follow cinephile influencers are there for reviews and inside tips about production and the film industry in general; they are not as obsessed with the influencer being 'famous' or 'known.'' Evan Wray, who leads strategy at influencer marketing company Later, told Yahoo Entertainment that influencers typically aren't a part of the 'celebrity and cinephile … world unless they're crossing into film or entertainment journalism.' 'The real issue is ROI. What's the content opportunity? A red carpet photo? That's not driving engagement or sales,' Wray explained. 'For creators, time is currency. If it doesn't lead to more growth or better brand deals, it's just a flex.' Influencers yearning to post from the gorgeous beaches of the French Riviera need only wait a few weeks before it's their time to shine. Cannes Lions, an annual creativity festival, takes place in the same theaters and stages in mid-June, but it spotlights the creator economy rather than the entertainment industry. 'At Lions, creators are the stars. At the film festival, they're in the nosebleeds,' Wray said. Since the two Cannes experiences are so starkly divided, celebrities at the film festival are free from clout-chasers to bask in their fame, shaking hands with influencers who adore their craft. Cannes Film Festival might be one of the last truly safe places for celebrities to separate themselves from content creators, safe in their silos of traditional stardom. That is, for now.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Is Cannes the last truly safe place for celebrities?
CANNES, France — The French Riviera is one of the most photogenic places on the planet. At the Cannes Film Festival, the already gorgeous art deco architecture and placid beaches were dotted with celebrities and common folk alike, dressed to the nines to attend the ritzy premieres. I expected to see a yachtload of influencers. Why couldn't I find any? I went on the hunt: My first stop after landing in Nice was Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, a luxury oceanfront hotel, in nearby Cap d'Antibes, where Sofia Richie had her wedding. I had lunch — a €105 buffet — with the most Instagrammable view imaginable, overlooking a pool packed with bright-white umbrellas that overlooked the expansive blue bay. I didn't see a single influencer, though. Just a lot of rich people. 'Are you going down to the festival today?' one wealthy businessman, the kind who says he 'dabbles in this and that' like Walton Goggins' character in The White Lotus, said to his friend, who was just in from Dubai. 'Why would you leave this place?' the friend replied. Their much younger companions debated if they wanted white wine or red, and whether they'd recommend staying in Monaco for three days or five. One of the women, who wore her hair in a tight bun and sported pink high heels, explained that her partner had a tough week because he 'had to fire a bunch of people.' These were just run-of-the-mill rich people I was overhearing, not influencers. Full of canapés and salted fish, I walked to the hotel's legendary walkway, where an iconic photo of Harrison Ford was taken in 1982. There wasn't a single fancy person in sight — just me. Days later, A-listers and Cannes stars Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal would parody Ford's photo. Even in the most Instagram-friendly spaces, celebrities clearly outnumbered over influencers. Over the next few days, I went to noted influencer hot spots looking to find the social media savvy at places I surely thought they'd turn up: snapping selfies in glamorous hotels, showing off their outfits on idyllic beaches and scrolling through their timelines in exclusive restaurants. Expensive people were all around me, but none were eager to post. Dozens of fans lined up with cameras and pens outside the Marriott where I conducted interviews for The Phoenician Scheme, but they weren't there to spot social media stars. They wanted to see a celebrity. Any celebrity would do. Though I was surprised to find myself in influencer-free territory, the French film festival is apparently one of the last places where social media-first behavior is frowned upon. I couldn't even get a selfie on the red-carpeted steps to a premiere that I had a hard-fought ticket to attend without getting my phone swatted out of my hand by a security guard. They flanked every other step of the theater on both sides. That's by design. Sarah Schmidt, a celebrity and influencer brand expert, told Yahoo Entertainment that 'Cannes is one of the last major cultural events that hasn't gone fully digital-first.' 'That's what makes it iconic — but it's also what makes it incompatible with how most creators operate. There's no general admission, no creator integration and no built-in audience crossover. It runs on scarcity and tradition,' she explained. 'And that's exactly why the [return on investment] for influencers is so low. You can spend ten grand to get there and still walk away with a few pretty photos and a tired caption about 'feeling honored.'' Schmidt said that influencers are 'accessories, not insiders.' If they're there, they've been invited by a luxury brand or a social media company. 'Cannes celebrates art-house cinema, global auteurs, and prestige storytelling. The event isn't built to drive viral content,' she said. 'The red carpet is stunning, yes, but the substance doesn't connect.' Cannes, as it turns out, is a 'cinematic sanctuary — a place intentionally out of sync with the algorithm-chasing energy of the creator economy,' Megan Balyk, vice president of Jive PR & Digital, told Yahoo Entertainment. 'It's not that influencers aren't cool enough for Cannes — it's that Cannes, with its velvet ropes and elite profile, remains deeply rooted in the talent and artistry of film,' she said. 'It's not built for [influencers], and honestly, that's the beauty of it. In a world where every event is trying to be everything to everyone, there's something quietly radical about a festival that knows exactly who it is and who it's for. It's not exclusion; it's intentionality.' In my quest to find influencers on the ground, I heard that TikTok had brought a few of its creators to the Croisette. The social media app was one of the festival's official partners, so creators got great access — some spoke to Denzel Washington on the red carpet, and some met Tom Cruise. 'The creators they're spotlighting are film-obsessed, not just content-obsessed — a subtle but important distinction,' Balyk said. I was kindly invited inside TikTok's creator lounge, where I saw plenty of familiar faces from FilmTok, a community of movie lovers on the platform, chitchatting with each other in an airy, luxurious space with a bar. I spoke with Zainab Jiwa, who said her goal was to make her audience, a cool 590,000 followers on TikTok, feel like they were at the festival with her. She wants to make the prestigious festival seem more accessible. 'It's crazy, isn't it? It hits me every few minutes that I'm here, because we all know Cannes is a film festival — high-caliber stuff. It's a big deal,' she said. 'You need certain things to be here. But you're also surrounded by so many creative people in the industry and you're inspired by everyone you meet. You talk to people, then you're like, 'I need to make something! Now!'' Jiwa's energy was infectious. She was thrilled to be on the Croisette — she was particularly excited about seeing early screenings and catching talks with directors on the beach — but even more thrilled to share with her audience how they could follow in her footsteps 'Be passionate and say yes to everything,' she advised. 'If you're not passionate, what's the point?' When I met Jiwa and her fellow creators at the lounge, they were all getting ready to go to a screening of Wait, Your Car?, a short film written and directed by TikTok creator Reece Feldman, also known as @GuyWithAMovieCamera. He made a name for himself sharing his experience working as a production assistant in the entertainment industry, and now he's using his platform to make movies of his own. 'As a movie lover, [being at Cannes] is like a dream. You're just surrounded by people that like movies, and everyone has opinions, and it's nice getting to speak this universal language with everyone regardless of their actual language,' Feldman told Yahoo Entertainment. 'It doesn't hurt that it's the prettiest place on the planet.' He said it was a massive honor to have his short screened on the Croisette — and people 'laughed where I wanted them to laugh.' 'The theater wasn't big enough to house everyone, which is upsetting to me, but also just in a roundabout way, like if I'm looking at a glass half full, that I'm like, wow, what a privilege that people want to watch something that I've made — the first thing I've made,' Feldman said. Feldman has mingled with celebrities on the red carpet at the Oscars and the Met Gala. When he goes to these exclusive places, he's always thinking, 'What's a cool, fun thing I can show from this perspective?' As a testament to the way he's always thinking about his audience, he asked if I wanted a movie recommendation when I told him I was feeling sick. He recommended two films from his favorite French filmmaker, Eric Rohmer — The Green Ray and A Summer's Tale — and Mr. Bean's Holiday, which is largely set in Cannes. While tastemakers in their own right, creators known for their film recommendations and access to industry events are different from what people might think of when the word 'influencer' is uttered aloud. Rebecca Whitlocke, a PR specialist based on the French Riviera, told Yahoo Entertainment that 'audiences that follow cinephile influencers are there for reviews and inside tips about production and the film industry in general; they are not as obsessed with the influencer being 'famous' or 'known.'' Evan Wray, who leads strategy at influencer marketing company Later, told Yahoo Entertainment that influencers typically aren't a part of the 'celebrity and cinephile … world unless they're crossing into film or entertainment journalism.' 'The real issue is ROI. What's the content opportunity? A red carpet photo? That's not driving engagement or sales,' Wray explained. 'For creators, time is currency. If it doesn't lead to more growth or better brand deals, it's just a flex.' Influencers yearning to post from the gorgeous beaches of the French Riviera need only wait a few weeks before it's their time to shine. Cannes Lions, an annual creativity festival, takes place in the same theaters and stages in mid-June, but it spotlights the creator economy rather than the entertainment industry. 'At Lions, creators are the stars. At the film festival, they're in the nosebleeds,' Wray said. Since the two Cannes experiences are so starkly divided, celebrities at the film festival are free from clout-chasers to bask in their fame, shaking hands with influencers who adore their craft. Cannes Film Festival might be one of the last truly safe places for celebrities to separate themselves from content creators, safe in their silos of traditional stardom. That is, for now.
