What Kind of Barbie Are You?

🧘‍♀️ Zen Note

What’s up, Ken? I don’t know about you but I am genuinely excited to take the trip to Barbieland this summer. As someone who grew up watching Barbie, falling in love with a Barbie movie more than a decade later, feels unreal. The visuals, colour scheme and dialogue are totally worth raving about – even when the trailer reveals nothing about the plot (side eye). Still, could it have been out sooner?

This week, social media has been in a frenzy, meme-ing and sharing Barbie posters and they’ve all got me rolling my eyes at the main character energy on display (but in a good way). Amidst all of it, this Barbie writing to you 'needs a break from everything that comes with being a 20-something-year-old'. 

- Edisana Stephen, Newsletter Editor

🥳 Z Brand Spotlight

SINCERELY ACCRA is a well-known Ghanaian podcast focusing on urban life in Ghana's national capital, Accra. Hosted by Joseph Nti and produced by Kwame Asante, the podcast features alternating episodes between vox pops and in-studio interviews primarily conducted in English with a sprinkle of pidgin, Twi, and Ga.

Sincerely Accra was a recipient of the Spotify Africa Fund last year along with its host, who was one of thirteen African creators selected for the initiative. The podcast consistently boasts an array of colourful personalities, with lively and diverse discussions driven by pop culture news and the personal perspectives of its speakers. 

✍️ New on Kenga

🔥 Hot Topics

• Gen Z doesn't like milk... apparently. (via The Hustle)

• Puma opens up new sustainability initiative to Gen Z scrutiny. Are they ready? (via Vogue Business)

• Over 66% of Gen Z are 'nepo workers', study shows. (via Fortune)

• Gen Zs and Millennials cause a streaming spike of country music. (via Variety)

• Recent poll reveals Gen Z derives more joy from seeing their pet happy than their partner. (via New York Post)

• This Gen Z activist went on a hunger strike to advocate for the health of his community. (via YR Media)

• Gen Z creators are using Fanfix to monetize content and interact with fans. (via Tech Crunch)

• UK employers compromise to meet Gen Z workers' demands for work-life balance. (via Bloomberg)

• Gen Z and Millennials drive increase in gold investments. (via Proactive Investor)

• Millennials and Gen Z dominate cannabis industry. (via Cannabis Life Industry)

💡 Z-Lang

FINESSE - this term means to trick or manipulate someone to get what you want.

😮‍💨 Weekenda

• 📖 Return To Source, a book by Araba Ofori-Acquah

This empowering call to journey takes you on an indigenous trip to rediscover lost African-centred wellness practices, music, movement, the natural world, and magick.

• 🎬 Who Were We Running From, a Netflix TV series

Follow along with the fugitive mother-daughter pair in a chronic, tense crime mini-drama.

• 📖 The Poppy War, a book by RF Kuang

Abandon reality in this escapist, evocative fantasy story of war, vengeance, power and mythology — critically dubbed 2019's 'Potter'.

• 🎪 Anube, a fashion show by Kofi Maako at Treehouse restaurant, Osu

Kofi Maako promises a glamorous affair of style, music, and networking at the house's new collection unveiling.

• 🖼️ Bitches Brew, a exhibition at Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg

Three female South African artists mix the toxicities, anxieties and risks of being a woman in modern South Africa, in a beguiling show about defiance.

• 🎭 Sunday Funk, an event at Alley Bar, Osu

Get a funky refresh at Alley Bar's revival of the feel-good genre.

The Kengaroo is a weekly newsletter that curates the latest on Gen Z culture in Africa and around the world. Subscribe to be among the first to get the next issue when it’s up.