In this week’s episode, we weigh in on the NYC influencers debate. Inspired by the viral TikTok from @martinifeeny, we wonder: What makes these new-age influencers so ‘boring’? What’s with all the beige clothing? We discuss the true New Yorkers we love to watch, the heyday of 2016 influencers and the insidious nature of gentrifiers.

Links:

Madison Huizinga, “Influencer Migration” (Substack)

@martinifeeny

Dutch

Sam Shekian

Aiyanna

@cupofjasmine

Alex Consani

ur mom ashley

Sinjin Drowning

Aisha Rae

Reddit Thread

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Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

2010s LA Influencer 00:14

2020s NYC Influencer 04:03

@martinifeeny’s TikTok 08:09

Not Boring NYC Influencers 14:20

Gentrification 19:38

Lack of Brand Diversity 26:56

The Algorithm 31:04

Matcha 35:42

The Future of Influencer Migration 37:20

Outro 40:59

We’re SO back. In this week’s episode, we share our favorite Grammys looks and performances, debate whether or not a musician needs to sing well to be taken seriously (Dylan, we’re looking at you), and defend some of Stan Twitter's least favorite pop stars. We know you missed us, but as always, we are filled with opinions.

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Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Favorite Red Carpet Looks 00:14

Album of The Year 01:41

Celebrating the Music 03:16

Benson Boone 05:08

Tate McRae 07:48

Charli xcx’s Performance 08:45

Pop Girl City 09:29

Chappell Roan’s Speech 09:58

The Vocals Debate 10:34

Toxicity and Misogyny on Stan Twitter 14:14

Benson Boone Continued 16:12

Laying it on Too Thick 17:57

Hypothetical Question 19:05

Courtney LaPlante is Poppy 20:11

Outro 21:25

As the leaves turn brown and the fall equinox approaches, we reminisce on the infamous brat summer that spawned from Charli xcx’s 6th studio album, BRAT. We determine if BRAT has a place in the alleged “Indie Sleaze” revival, condemn toxic stan culture’s war on artistry, and applaud Charli’s panache for marketing. Will a U.S. presidential campaign and cultural phenomenon give BRAT the push that gets Charli back to the Grammys? Could a remix album lead us to a brat autumn? Join us in exploration of this lime green-colored, club-infused era.

Links:

Spotify Playlist

Charli xcx, “BRAT” (Google)

TikTok Collection

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Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Indie sleaze 01:03

Album cover & toxic stan culture 09:41

Vibes & themes 17:09

Marketing 21:51

360 music video 25:29

Charli & the mainstream 28:19

Kamala 30:21

Brat summer to brat autumn 33:47

Qs 40:46

This week, we dive into the extensive transformation that Instagram underwent in the year 2016. Starting off with the infamous makeup trends that defined the era, we discuss Kylie Jenner Lip Kits and James Charles’ bold eyebrows. We ponder the “Instagram Baddie” and how influencers shaped 2016’s “Girlboss Feminism." Listen along as we dissect how the birth of the algorithm and Instagram Stories contributed to the platform’s commercialization, and advertisements being found at every swipe and scroll. Is social media still social?

Links:

Pinterest Board

Ashley Reed, “The Rise and Rise of Instagram in 2016” (Medium)

Mike Isaac, “Instagram Takes a Page From Snapchat, and Takes Aim at It, Too” (New York Times)

Taylor Loren, “Instagram Year in Review: Top Trends from 2016” (Later.com)

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Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

2016 Makeup 01:31

2016 Fashion 08:19

Instagram Stories 11:58

The Algorithm & Commercialization 14:55

App-Hopping Influencers 22:25

2016 Election & White Girlboss Feminism 23:14

Blogging 25:17

What did we post? 25:28

Instagram Themes & Old Trends 28:06

Outro 31:01

If you’ve ever dressed as a musician to see them in concert, dutifully sewn metal band patches onto a "battle jacket," or decorated a cowboy hat to wear to a show, you’ll feel personally seen by this episode. This week, we discuss modern trends in concert fashion and how the threads we choose to brandish can display our fandom. Through the lens of pop and metal culture, we converse about early displays of fan merchandise and debate which fan base may have originated the cowboy hat decorating trend. Most importantly, we ask the age-old question: Are you a poser for wearing a band t-shirt to a gig? We shall see…

Links:

Pinterest Board

Carrie Brownstein, “Concert Outfits: A Brief History” (NPR)

Lauren Alex O’Hagan, “'My Musical Armor': Exploring Metalhead Identity through the Battle Jacket” (Taylor & Francis Online)

Madeleine Schulz, “Did the arena tour kill festival fashion?” (Vogue Business)

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Watch ⁠this episode⁠ on YouTube

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Did the arena tour kill festival fashion? 00:17

Fan-Artist-Fan Connection 01:48

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour 02:44

Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts Tour 05:17

Carrie Brownstein’s “Concert Outfits: A Brief History” 06:02

Early Concert Fashion and Fan Merchandise During Beatlemania 08:52

Madonna Lookalike Contest 11:13

Chappell Roan’s Concert Themes 12:15

Battle Jackets in Metal Culture 13:13

Cowboy Hats 16:23

Band T-Shirts 21:42

Are you a poser for wearing a band t-shirt to a gig? 23:39

Rave Culture 26:14

What artist do you own the most merch for? 27:17

Outro 28:35

BLINK THREE TIMES WHEN YOU FEEL IT KICKING IN…

This week, we come to the consensus that the pop girlies are entering their ‘wellness eras.’ Gone are the hedonistic exploits and glamor of their prime; and welcome the newly-reformed, stripped-back songstress, complete with a bare face, neutral clothing, and an aura of calmness that looks too good to be true. Looking towards Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well, Ariana Grande’s eternal sunshine, Dua Lipa’s forthcoming Radical Optimism, and more, we trace the roots of ‘pop wellness’ to country and folk, give Lorde’s Solar Power the flowers it deserves, and discuss how girlboss-era feminism may be responsible for the inevitable shift from pop stardom to granola girl-chic.

Links:

Spotify Playlist

Pinterest Board

Christine A. Kelly, “Singing Out Between Tradition and Rebellion: Folk Music, Folk Womanhood, and American Feminism in an Era of Social Change, 1954-1985” (Fordham University)

Chris Richards, “Kacey Musgraves made a wellness lifestyle album that isn’t Goop-core” (Washington Post)

Chris Willman, Lorde’s ‘Solar Power’ Finds a Once-Dark Star Tripping the Daylight Fantastic: Album Review” (Variety)

Nina Raemont, “A Year Later: In Defense of Lorde's ‘Solar Power’” (Substack)

Albums Referenced:

Ariana Grande, eternal sunshine (Google)

Dua Lipa, Radical Optimism (Google)

Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well (Google)

Lorde, Solar Power (Google)

Miley Cyrus, Endless Summer Vacation (Google)

Outro Audio: @billzremix on YouTube

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Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

What’s a Wellness Album? 00:18

Hedonism vs. Wellness 03:19

Lorde’s Solar Power 04:13

Ariana Grande’s eternal sunshine 09:25

Retreat From the Mainstream 11:36

Pop Star Goes Country 12:27

Singer-Songwriters & Folk Music 14:20

Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well 20:32

Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism 25:00

Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation 29:25

Wellness Album Favorites 30:06

Outro 31:07

Tierney has called this emergency meeting to address the pervasiveness of AI. We discuss the ways that AI is affecting kids’ development, our perceptions of ourselves, aesthetically, and the potential removal of our autonomy. With the prevalence of AI-generated music, images, and artificial conversations online, we’re forced to ask: Is there an ‘end-goal’ for this technology? Or, are STEM bros just jealous of creative people? 

Links:

TikTok Collection

Teachers Reddit Threads: 

Kids don’t know how to read??

Why don’t they know how to use computers?

Mika Koivisto and Simone Grassini, “Best humans still outperform artificial intelligence in a creative divergent thinking task” (National Library of Medicine)

Kish Lal, “The Uncanny New Generation of Filters Uses Machine Learning GAN Technology to Regenerate Every Pixel on a Face” (Dazed)

Aisha Malik, “TikTok is experimenting with a feature that uses AI to create songs based on prompts” (Tech Crunch) 

Ava Sasani, “As AI tools get smarter, they’re growing more covertly racist, experts find” (The Guardian)

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Watch ⁠this episode⁠ on YouTube

Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Children and Technology 00:46

AI Face Filters on TikTok 03:45

AI Bandwagoning 07:19

Racism in AI 11:00

The Creative Economy vs. AI 13:19

AI Music 17:27

Deepfakes 21:12

Overconsumption 27:51

Corporate Social Media 28:52

Outro 30:19

In part two of our Rockstar Girlfriend series, we branch off from “I’m with the Band” and discuss the groupies that followed: the hair metal girlies of the 80s, the it-girls of the 2000s, the MySpace scene queens, & more. We question where & why the downfall of groupie-dom occurred, and how the modern-day iterations of the so-called “Rockstar Girlfriend” aesthetic may or may not suffice.

Links:

Spotify Playlist

Pinterest Board

TikTok Collection

Alexa Chung, “It” (Google)

Alexa Chung, “Muse Collection Interview | ALEXACHUNG” (YouTube)

Pamela Des Barres, “I’m with the Band” (Google)

Pamela Des Barres, “Let’s Spend the Night Together” (Google)

Pubali Dasgupta, “The troubling life of Lori Maddox, the 'baby groupie' of the stars” (Far Out)

Thea De Gallier, “‘I wouldn’t want this for anybody’s daughter’: will #MeToo kill off the rock'n'roll groupie?” (The Guardian)

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Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Baby Groupies 00:16

‘80s & ‘90s Groupie Culture 07:10

The Girlfriend is the Rockstar 10:27

The House Bunny Interlude 18:09

Rockstar Girlfriend Aesthetic 18:49

Scene Queens of MySpace 25:17

Muse vs. Groupie 29:28

K-pop Fansites 36:27

Devon Lee Carlson 40:45

Outro 43:39

This week, we tackle a trope that is very near & dear to our hearts (for better or for worse): the “Rockstar Girlfriend.” In the first of our two-part episode, we discuss the history of groupie-dom, led by Paulina’s insistence that the group consult *the* sacred text, Pamela Des Barres’ “I’m with the Band.” We reminisce on fangirls’ roots in Beatlemania and the heyday of LA groupie culture, debate our fixations on tortured artists, and dissect how misogyny and controversy led to the groupie’s demise. 

Links:

Spotify Playlist

Pinterest Board

TikTok Collection

Alexa Chung, “It” (Google)

Joli Jensen, “Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization” (PDF)

Mayrav Estrin, “Why Have We Fetishized the Tortured Artist? My Thoughts Post Sam Levinson's ‘The Idol’” (Cinephile Princess)

Pamela Des Barres, “I’m with the Band” (Google)

Sadie King, “Where Did All the Groupies Go? The Rise and Fall of the Good-Time Girls of Rock” (Strand)

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Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

When Did We Hear About “Rockstar Girlfriends” & “Groupies”? 00:42

What’s a Groupie? 03:29

The Emergence of Groupies 07:31

Misogynistic Backlash 09:50

Pamela Des Barres’ “I’m with the Band” 11:55

The Tortured Artist 15:56

What’s the Fixation with Tortured Artists? 17:50

Humanizing Rockstars 25:43

The Former Accessibility of Rockstars 27:53

Rock ‘n’ Roll Divorce 32:56

The Extinction of Groupies 35:28

A Groupie’s Lifestyle Aspirations & Aesthetic 37:26

The Pain of Loving Artists 43:54

What Band Would We Be Groupies For? 45:49

Who Are Our Favorite Beatles? 47:29

Outro 49:52

This week, we travel to the backrooms to discuss eerie, yet somewhat familiar, liminal spaces. Our resident expert, Tierney, takes us through dreamscapes, grungy corporate wastelands, and abandoned childhood playgrounds. Under the guise of ‘corecore’, we discuss how existentialism and fears of growing up have translated into these uncanny valleys of the internet.

Links:

Spotify Playlist

Pinterest Board

TikTok Collection

THE Edits

RAMCPU, “Liminal Spaces: The Era of Realizing False Promises” (Medium)

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Timestamps:

Intro 00:00

Liminal Spaces 01:28

The Era of Realizing False Promises 09:04

Nostalgia 15:02

Corecore 18:29

THE Edits 25:07

The Future of Liminal Spaces 28:52

What Are Our Corecore Edit Audios? 31:41

Outro 32:33