The Most Explosive Stories You Can't Miss This Week

In 2016, the mainstream looks and sounds like this boundary-pushing Canadian sister act. Now that the former outsiders have survived misogynist critics, a fickle industry, and each other, the stars are aligned for them to become two of the biggest names in pop. Read it at BuzzFeed.

Using images stolen from across the web, sketchy retailers are selling ultra-discounted clothes to women on Facebook. Sapna Maheshwari and Beimeng Fu investigate these shops, revealing that many are linked to one of China’s richest men. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

Peter Aldhous and Charles Seife reveal that America is being watched from above. Government surveillance planes routinely circle over most major cities — but usually take the weekends off. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

Carrie Battan offers a sharp examination of why celebrities ranging to C-list to A are paid tens of thousands of dollars simply for showing up at the club. "You may not think that hanging out in a nightclub four nights a week qualifies as work, but it does, at least as far as the IRS is concerned...Somehow lots of people decide the excruciating toll is worth it." Read it at GQ.

After Reggie Ugwu's brother died and his father was partially paralyzed, his family traveled 7,000 miles in search of an old home, a new house, and the things they'd lost on the road in between. Read it at BuzzFeed Reader, a new home for essays, poetry, fiction, and cultural criticism.

A painstaking exploration of New York City's most destitute neighborhood by Kevin Heldman. "Is it possible to renew, rehab, reform an area that for so long has been designated as the city's wasteland?" Read it at Digg.

David Noriega travels to Tennessee, the "buckle of the Bible Belt," where for decades — and even after 9/11 — Muslims felt at home. Then it became one of the most hostile places in America. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

Director Karyn Kusama's debut movie "Girlfight" was a critical knockout in 2000; her latest film, "The Invitation," is opening to raves. Yet, as she tells Adam B. Vary, to get from that point to this one has been "like open heart surgery without the painkillers." Read it at BuzzFeed.