How Heated Rivalry Broke the Internet: Inside the Internet’s Biggest Breakout Fandom

Taylor Lorenz’s Power User · Mar 25, 2026 · 41m

This show created one of the fastest fandoms ever.Support my independent journalism:🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz 🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co Over the past few months, a series born from a niche, self-published Canadian romance novel became one of the biggest cultural phenomenons on the internet. In this episode of Power User, I dive deep into the explosive rise of the Heated Rivalry fandom and why it has the internet in a chokehold. Fandom expert Allegra Rosenberg and writer Katherine Dee joined me to break down how the "subculture to…