“Make History, Not Hype”: How The Converse Weapon Is Having A Resurgence
You’re Not Ready For Young Royals Season 3
Young Royals Season 3 is finally here, queer, and going to break your heart.
Spoiler alert: This contains spoilers for Young Royals Season 1 and Young Royals Season 2. If you haven’t watched those, I envy you. Your life is about to change. No spoilers for Young Royals Season 3.
I’ve been obsessed with Young Royals since it crossed my Netflix recommendation list. Marathoning episode after episode of Young Royals Season 3, I couldn’t stop thinking: Teens today are so spoiled.
Everybody says it, but it’s true. Teens have it so much easier. Sure, they must have unique problems. But queer teenagers have one thing I didn’t have: an abundance of queer cinema.
In high school, I watched every contemporary queer film available to me. With Tumblr as my launch point, I started with actual queer films like Blue Is The Warmest Color and then moved on to films with achingly intense queer subtext like Black Swan.
As for television, my life changed alongside everyone else’s when Ryan Murphy released Glee, the most unhinged and revelatory show I've seen to this day. Rewatching that show is more absurd each time — but no one was doing it like they were. A gay character that had an actual storyline including, but not limited to, his sexuality? It was the blueprint.
I also watched every single other show that Tumblr gave the stamp of approval for having queer storylines, even if they were merely in the background. It’s the only reason I watched Shameless to the end — which you may know as the launchpad for Jeremy Allen White - but I know for its groundbreaking queer relationship.
Between episodes of shows like Shameless and Eyewitness, I expanded to foreign films and TV. Not like a pretentious indie boy, but as someone starved for queer content, I’d take what I could get. I watched brooding Norwegian films like Jongens and North Sea Texas alongside soapy shows like SKAM because they were all I had.
Now, queer teens have Heartstopper, Everything Now, Sex Education, and more — and those are just the gay shows on Netflix. But some things never change: International queer TV is still top tier. After watching Young Royals Season 3, I can confirm that this season has some of the best episodes of TV I’ve ever watched. Tense and tender, Young Royals works because it leans into the messiness of adolescence, the idealism of youth, and the beauty of queerness to paint a portrait that feels grounded in reality but also infinitely hopeful.
When Will Young Royals Season 3 Come Out?
After months of commenting on @NetflixNordic Instagram posts (guilty), fans finally got an answer to their most pressing question: “When does Young Royals Season 3 come out?”
Alongside the Young Royals Season 3 trailer, we got not just one release date, but two.
Young Royals Season 3 is out now on Netflix. The first five episodes of the third and final season dropped on Monday, March 11th. But the show isn’t over yet. The final episode of Young Royals Season 3 will be released on Monday, March 18th.
Watch the Young Royals Season 3 trailer here:
Young Royals: Season 3 | Official Trailer | Netflixwww.youtube.com
Maybe teens today do have it hard — their dopamine-deprived brains have to wait a whole week for an episode of TV.
Season 3 will be released alongside a documentary, Young Royals Forever, about the making of the show. The show will chronicle the journey of this certified queer classic from casting to the final line of Young Royals Season 3. After that, it will truly be over.
Watch the Young Royals Forever trailer here:
Young Royals Forever | Official Clip | Netflixwww.youtube.com
What is Young Royals Season 3 about?
In a 2023 Netflix Nordic interview with Edvin Ryding and co-creators Rojda Sekersöz and Lisa Ambjörn, Edvin said, “We never problematize sexuality. We never problematize what is outside the norm. But rather, we problematize the norm.”
And it’s this problematic, normative world that Young Royals Season 3 explores. Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) — Crown Prince of Sweden and king of grand gestures — ended Young Royals Season 2 by telling all of Sweden about his relationship with Simon (Omar Rudberg). But now that the world knows about their relationship, the world can intrude. Suddenly the two are battling Instagram comments as well as the centuries-old expectations of the Swedish monarchy. And unlike candied representations of boys-vs-monarchy we’ve recently seen (ahem, Red, White & Royal Blue), the powers that be put up a formidable fight.
The Season 3 teaser trailer (which I watched an unspeakable number of times), saw Wilhem and Simon together for the first time in the Palace. Season 2 began in the palace too. The Wille we found there was battling grief and betrayal, dreaming of a relationship with Simon that seemed out of reach. He references these dreams to Simon in Episode 1 of this season, saying: “It’s not how I imagined it.”
Indeed, the season that follows is not how Wille could have imagined it. Nor any of us. None of the fan theories and predictions have even scratched the surface of what ensues in Young Royals Season 3. And that’s to say nothing of the finale.
How does Young Royals Season 3 end?
For years, fans and critics alike have applauded Young Royals for representation. It was cast with actual teenagers (though they’ve grown up over the four years since the show began), and small details like showing textured skin and normal outfits (as normal as the old-money Hillerska crowd gets) set it apart from teen shows like Riverdale, Euphoria, and even the Spanish hit Elité.
Mental health is also a major theme of the show. Our troubled protagonist Wilhelm has been struggling with so much in just one term at Hillerska — thank goodness he goes to therapy. Over the last three seasons, Edvin Rydings has put on a masterclass in portraying characters with mental health issues. The progression of how Wilhelm externalizes his anxiety is also telling of how the plot develops. Every choice is intentional, from the subtle lip-biting to the gut-wrenching screams. In Season 2, he was finally starting to connect how the outdated traditions he is beholden to contribute to his mental state. In Young Royals Season 3, will he finally figure it out?
For Simon, social class has always been an obvious barrier between him and the privileged Hillerska elite. But unlike his sister Sara, he doesn’t feel the need to change himself to fit in with his upper-class peers. Despite their taunts, he stands up for himself and speaks his mind. Season 3 asks: can he still do this under the watchful eye of the Royal Family?
The only critique I might have had of the representation in Young Royals Season 1 and Young Royals Season 2 was its quiet examination of race. Was it too quiet? Too subtle? Small gestures were obvious to me, a keen-eyed viewer who was also one of very few non-white students at a tiny boarding school. Things like Felice changing her hair from pressed to curly — and experiencing microaggressions because of it. Or Simon and Sara being ostracized not just for their class, but for their race.
In Young Royals Season 3, it becomes clear that the creators were building a foundation to thoroughly explore in this concluding act. From Felice’s racial disillusionment after being used as a token Black student to Simon's thrust into the spotlight and being dubbed a “typical Latin lover,” race is foregrounded in a new way this season. All these things create a world that becomes unteneable for our two protagonists to navigate. And how they stumble across it, experiencing friction at every turn and unable to communicate what they mean without who they are getting in the way, reflects so clearly the pitfalls of youth.
Is Young Royals Season 3 good?
The test of a good show is if you can stick by its characters even as they frustrate you. I, an adult woman, want to shake these Swedish boys all season. I want to force them into a room to really talk, to make them explain how they see things so that their differences stop surprising them. They have moments where they come to small revelations. “Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing,” Wille says of their differences in a Season 3 episode. “Aren’t we supposed to learn from each other?”
But moments like these are obstructed by what Young Royals Season 3 portrays so well: the inherent selfishness of youth. Even as they try their best to be there for each other, all the characters are clearly motivated by their own urgent, teenage desires. They’re also blinded by their teenage insecurities, thinking every problem they face is somehow their fault. Cue the miscommunication trope. In the words of a now-bygone TikTok trend: It’s a canon event, I can’t interfere.
And while we don’t know how it ends — we’ll have to wait for the finale for that — whatever happens, it will have been bold, brilliant, and beautiful. Young Royals Season 3, don’t break my heart!
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Get Your Irish On With This St Patrick’s Day Playlist
Skip the shamrocks - Hit play on this playlist
Green beer is passé, trite, and, frankly, shameful. So is any kind of headgear featuring glittery shamrocks.
This Saint Patrick’s Day it’s time to shake things up musically. We put on our thinking caps – sans shamrocks – and compiled a Paddy’s Day Playlist with 10 tunes that are sure to please connoisseurs of Irish-inflected music.
Sheila Chandra - Speaking in Tongues II (live at World In The Park 1992)
Of Indian and Irish descent, Chandra fused eastern and western musical traditions. Initially, with the group Monsoon and then in a distinguished solo career, which was sadly brought to an end by a rare illness called Burning Mouth Syndrome. Fortunately, Chandra recorded extensively, and we have fantastic recordings like “Speaking in Tongues II” to enjoy.
Rónán Ó Snodaigh – Cad eile le rá | Live by the Sea (2016)
Ó Snodaigh is a diamond in the rough, a wild and wooly percussionist and singer/songwriter who can drive a crowd wild with the sheer force of his personality. This is a fine example of his skill as a bodhrán player, and please note he’s singing in Irish.
SOAK – B a noBody
Bridie Monds-Watson, better known as Soak – a combination of “Soul” and “Folk” – hails from Northern Ireland. Dreamy, contemplative, flecked with darker tones of sorrow, their music has struck a chord with fans around the world.
John McCormack – The Rose of Tralee
McCormack (1884-1945) was at home in the opera and on the concert stage. He’s best remembered today for his renditions of Irish folk songs and popular tunes. Admittedly, the material is old-fashioned and sentimental, but McCormack’s depth of feeling renders such distinctions moot.
Susan McKeown – No Jericho (Live - 2012)
Grammy Award-winning, Dublin-born McKeown is a first-class singer equally at home with contemporary and traditional material – just as she divides her time between Ireland and the States. This self-penned number is a lovely intro to a luminous musical presence.
The Dubliners – The Wild Rover
The original bad boys of Irish Trad music. They may look like your great-granda but they partied like the business. The Pogues would be nowhere without them. The Dubliners are the band that launched a thousand pints...
Sinead O'Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U (Live)
O’Connor’s public wrestling with personal demons tends to overshadow her music. Which is a shame because, at her best, she’s a powerful and transformative singer. Nothing Compares 2 U was written and composed by Prince and helped catapult Sinead to international superstardom when it was released in January 1990.
The Pogues – A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day
You knew these lads were going to show up, right? Shane MacGowan is the poet laureate of the guttersnipes. But we’d rather focus on the group’s less raucous side, epitomized by their erstwhile bass player Cait O’Riordan’s version of this traditional number.
Elvis Costello and the Voice Squad – Full Force Gale
Costello – ne Declan Patrick McManus – and friends cover this number written by bard & mystic Van Morrison. They slow it down, use no instruments...and make vocal magic.
Hozier – Jackie and Wilson
Andrew John Hozier-Byrne and friends record under the first part of his surname. Whatever you call him, this boy from Bray struck it big in 2013 with “Take Me to Church.” Those with a taste for great riffs coupled with idiosyncratic lyrics will relish Jackie and Wilson.
There 'tis, lads. However you celebrate St. Paddy’s Day, do it safely. And let this playlist lift you into the mystic.
Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!
Interview and Photos by Jordan Edwards
Last month, Allie X performed a secret show to celebrate her new album Girl With No Face. The Canadian singer-songwriter performed tracks like "Black Eye" and "Off With Her Tits" at 1720 Warehouse in Downtown Los Angeles. The industrial setting matched the dark synth pop of her set.
Since her debut EP in 2015, she's continuously evolved musically and aesthetically. Her latest recalls the sleek early '80s sound of acts like Eurythmics, Gary Numan, and The Human League.
We caught up with Allie X to talk about the new album and creating her striking visuals.
Congrats on the new album! How did making this compare with previous projects?
Much more insane process. And probably more fulfilling.
Where did the concept of Girl With No Face come from?
Well it’s the name of one of the songs. Then I decided it sounded right for the album name. I think of the Girl With No Face as the entity that was in the room with me. Something I conjured up in the isolation of the experience.
Which track from the album was the most fun to make?
Maybe "Galina." That one came together the fastest. Or "Hardware/Software." Those were probably the only two that weren’t torturous to complete.
A lot of recent pop has leaned on the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Lately, your music has more of an early ‘80s synth-pop influence. What draws you towards that era?
The experimentalism. The attitude. The sonics. The limitations. It’s my fave.
Visuals are a big part of your work. How do you collaborate with designers, stylists, videographers, etc. to bring your ideas to life?
I am good at curating and making mood boards. Selecting the right people and instructing them is what I do. Then their talent shines through. It’s about having a vision and taste.
One thing that’s remained consistent with your music is really cool synth sounds. Do you have a favorite synthesizer?
Umm of the ones I’ve used, maybe a Jupiter? Or a Prophet. But there are so many divine ones I haven’t used. Or so many complicated ones I don’t have enough knowledge to get a sound out of.
How much of a perfectionist are you in the studio? The production and mixing on this album is really great.
Wellll I actually think perfection in music is boring. But I need it to be right. And trying to get this album to sound right was incredibly hard. But I kept going and going till it clicked in my head.
You grew up in Ontario. Who’s your favorite Canadian artist?
Hmm, Neil Young is pretty cool.
Now that the album is out, what’s next?
Just announced a tour. Putting that together will be my focus.