Back of the Closet 003: On Friendship, Grief, and Sundays

How Wicked, Charli XCX, and Megan Thee Stallion reminded me what really matters

Ever since I went and saw Wicked: For Good, friendship has been sitting heavy on my chest — in that quiet, emotional way where you don’t realize how badly you needed the reminder until it hits you. Watching Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo sing “For Good” to each other, after an entire movie full of chaos, betrayal, and diabolical behavior (over a man, might I add!), really put things in perspective. At the end of it all, it wasn’t about power or pride or winning — it was about love. Friendship. Your person.

Life is hard. Like, unbelievably hard sometimes. Relationships, money, school, work, self-image — it can all suck, and lately a lot of it has sucked for me. But sitting there listening to “For Good,” I felt something I’ve been feeling over and over again: none of that is the point.

The point is who you’re doing life with. Your family. Your friends. Your chosen people.

Charli XCX said something similar on The goop Podcast with Gwyneth Paltrow: “It’s really just the people in your life that matter… the people that you spend your Sundays with.” Advice she got from her husband, George Daniel of The 1975. That line has been living rent-free in my head because it’s so true. The people you spend your Sundays with — the boring days, the nothing days, the days where you’re not dressed up or impressive or “on” — those are your real ones.

Especially right now, when everything feels heavy. For me, for this country, for this world. Now feels like the time to hold your loved ones close and stop pretending we don’t need each other.

Then, as if the universe wanted to drive the point home, Megan Thee Stallion’s “Best Friend” had me full-on crying in the car yesterday. I know it sounds ridiculous, but the second that bridge — “me and pretty bitches speak the same language” — came on? Done. Wrecked. Gone!

Is it silly to cry to that song? Maybe. Do I care? Absolutely not. Because the message is real. Friendship matters. Being seen matters. Having people who get you matters. And if that realization hits you through a Broadway ballad or a rap song about your bestie — so be it.

I’m emotional. I’m sensitive. And I’m finally okay admitting that the best parts of my life have always been the people standing next to me — for good!