Culture Club

Happy Tuesday, folks! 

We start off this week with a discussion around Zac Efron’s surprising new look, how Geordie Shore’s Charlotte Crosby is calling out a British TV channel and do we really need four Britney Spears documentaries? 

Next, we break down Demi Lovato’s beef with an LA-based frozen yoghurt place (yeah, don’t ask). 

After all of the greenwashing we saw during Fashion Revolution Week and Earth day, we chat about H & M’s celebrity ‘Global Sustainability Ambassador’, Maisie Williams. 

This then leads us onto a discussion around how some TikTok videos are highlighting the trend cycle and how sustainable fashion brands and bloggers are falling into a fast fashion mentality. 

Jasmine references her own article “Why Are We Dressing Like It’s 2003? This is How Trends Come Back Every 20 Years” for Zee Feed.

Maggie recommends another Disney+/ Marvel TV show Falcon and the Winter Soldier while Jasmine recommends the novel Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. 

Our jingle, editing and production is by the talented India Raine. You can email us at [email protected], find us on Instagram at @cultureclubpod, or on our personal accounts at @jasmineeskye and @yemagz.

Lots of love,

Maggie & Jasmine xx

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Hello lovely listeners, 

Strap in for another big news week on Culture Club. We start off with a catch up on Jasmine’s holiday before obsessing (like the rest of the internet) over Troye Sivan’s Melbourne home featured in Architectural Digest. 

A number of news sites got caught out by a Chaser prank who created a fake petition to change the name of Fairy Bread. This sparks a conversation around the media industry’s constant churning machine. 

In another instance of cis-men getting involved where they shouldn’t, German company Pinky Gloves received a bunch of backlash over their patronising period gloves. 

We discuss why we think they did this (when no one asked) and if there’s even a need for this product on the market. We will point out that at times we use the term ‘women’ synonymously with people who menstruate in this segment. We recognise that not only women menstruate.  

After this chat we move on to a breakdown of the TikTok Tramp Stamps drama. The band received huge criticism over their “fake” aesthetics, lyrics and old tweets.

Through this drama we discuss what the term ‘industry plant’ actually is and why it has roots in sexism and nepotism.

Indigenous social enterprise, Clothing the Gap, has received (another) cease and desist letter recently from American retailer The Gap and now have to change their name. Please support the amazing work they do by buying their old stock before they fully rebrand to Clothing The Gaps. 

 Jas is recommending new political podcast, Old Boys Club, by journalists Justine Landis-Hanley and Matilda Bosley and Maggie recommends The Weekend Briefing with Benjamin Law by The Briefing. 

Our jingle, editing and production is by India Raine. You can email us at [email protected], find us on Instagram at @cultureclubpod, or on our personal accounts at @jasmineeskye and @yemagz.

Phew! See ya next week. xo

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Hey friends,

For this month's Culture Club chats, we are joined by the inimitable Lillian Ahenkan, otherwise known as Flex Mami. She's one of Australia’s most loved digital personalities and DIY furniture projects, colourful gradients and chaotic memes fill her Instagram feed. 

She’s well known for her work as a presenter, influencer, DJ, podcaster and business owner. But she’s now adding author and reality TV star to her repertoire – makes sense as someone who makes a living off of being a professional opinion haver.

We reference this Guardian article and chat all about her new book, The Success Experiment. Pre-order a copy here from Booktopia.

You can follow Flex on Instagram at @flex.mami.

India Raine is our wonderful producer and composer of our jingle. Email us at [email protected], find us on Instagram at @cultureclubpod, or on our personal accounts at @jasmineeskye and @yemagz.

Chat to you next week,
Mags & Jas x

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Hey listeners!

Today’s episode is filled with pop culture popcorn bites of fun! We begin by learning more about the love story origin of actors Adam Brody and Leighton Meester on the podcast Anna Farris is Unqualified. 

18-year-old pop queen Olivia Rodrigo released her new single ‘deja vu’ and we are obsessed. This spurs a conversation about female pop artists seemingly copying one another. 

Britney Spears has (supposedly) spoken out about the documentary Framing Britney Spears on her Instagram. However, her former makeup artist Billy Brasfield says she doesn’t write her own posts. Listen to our episode rundown of the documentary here.

Bridgerton has announced that actor Rege-Jean Page who plays the Duke of Hastings will not be returning to season two. While there are many rumours speculating about this, Rege told Variety that it was always a one-season contract. There are also rumours that actress Phoebe Dynevor aka Daphne Bridgerton is dating comedian Pete Davidson.

Tom Hanks’ son Chet Hanks has declared it to be ‘White Boy Summer’. We receive more intel from Page Six, including allegations of domestic abuse.

This leads into a discussion of what being a man means. We have the pleasure of having writer Brandon Jack read out an excerpt of his piece, “Men, be brave like young Asher, and help him redefine masculinity” for the Age. 

His debut book titled 28 is coming out in August and is a memoir about his lifelong relationship with football, giving insights into the mind of the millennial male in regards to topics such as sexuality, binge drinking, entitlement and vulnerability. 

Then, beauty influencer James Charles posts a YouTube apology video for exchanging illicit photos with underage children.

Jasmine recommends the novel The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Maggie recommends the documentary, Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: A Schitt’s Creek Farewell.

 Our jingle, editing and production is by India Raine. You can email us at [email protected], find us on Instagram at @cultureclubpod, or on our personal accounts at @jasmineeskye and @yemagz.

Lots of love,
Maggie & Jasmine xx

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Hi pals!

Welcome to one of our longest eps so far! Let's get into it.

First up we have a chat about the Suez Canal drama and how it's birthed a million memes which led to us asking if that's how our generation copes with crisis. 

We then go quite deep into the allegations against the infamous David Dobrik and the vlog squad. We reference this Business Insider article where "Hannah" first reported the sexual assault, this article from The Verge, as well as David's apology videos.

Lil Nas X has released a new single that has got Christian conservatives up in arms. We discuss how this music video is a new chapter for Black and queer representation in pop music and journalist Adam B Vary reads us an extract from his Variety article titled 'Lil Nas X’s Sexed-Up ‘Montero’ Video Has Changed Everything for Queer Music Artists'.

For this week's recommendations, Maggie discusses a YouTube video by media analyst Tiffany Ferg called 'Why Do Popular Youtubers Stop Uploading?'. This analysis discusses how many YouTubers become popular before stopping due to the pressure which leads to a conversation about content creators' audiences.

Jasmine recommends the Netflix documentary, 'Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal'. This film tells the story of the 2019 College Admissions Scandal where a number of affluent parents became part of a fraud ring to get their kids into Ivy League schools.

Our jingle, editing and production is by India Raine. You can email us at [email protected], find us on Instagram at @cultureclubpod, or on our personal accounts at @jasmineeskye and @yemagz.

Catch you next week,

Mags and Jas x

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Hey sugars,

We’ve got a big episode for you today! The Grammys were on so of course we chat about king Harry Styles and queen Dua Lipa. Dua’s performance led us on to a talk about internalised misogyny and this TikTok video. 

Billie Eilish unveils her new blonde hair and breaks an Instagram record while she’s at it. We then talk about whether celebrities have an onus to speak up about political issues online.

Former Disney star Demi Lovato has created a four-part documentary series titled Dancing With The Devil that will be released for free on YouTube this week. Content warning for this segment as it deals with themes of sexual assault and substance abuse.

We unpack the major revelations that have been revealed in the trailer. This leads to a conversation about ‘the Disney Curse’ and Jas references this article by Mara Wilson.

Then, Alexi McCammond, who was chosen to become editor in chief of Conde Nast’s Teen Vogue, resigned amid outrage over racist and homophobic comments. Here is the original letter from Teen Vogue staffers, here is the strange follow up message, here is Alexi McCammond’s first note and here is the post confirming Alexi’s resignation. 

After the tragic Atlanta shootings, Mahalia Chang wrote a Vogue piece called, “We can't talk about anti-Asian racism without talking about misogyny” which she kindly read us an excerpt from. We also play a snippet from an IGTV from Asian-American actress Ashley Park.

This week, Jasmine recommends the 13th season of the US Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Maggie recommends Shameless’s podcast episode, “IN CONVERSATION: Grace Tame”.

Our jingle, editing and production is by India Raine. You can email us at [email protected], find us on Instagram at @cultureclubpod, or on our personal accounts at @jasmineeskye and @yemagz.

Catch you next week,

Mags and Jas x

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Hey friends!

Gee whiz, this is an exciting episode. We are proud to release our very special LIVE episode recorded as part of this year’s Melbourne Fashion Festival. Presented by Fashion Journal, we took to the public stage and talked about all things fast fashion, greenwashing and influencer culture.

Here are some of the resources we reference. “Your brand new returns end up in landfill” by Harriet Constable for BBC Earth, “The Psychology Of Influencer Marketing” by Bradley Hoos for Forbes and “Young affiliates: nearly a fifth of British children aspire to be social media influencers” by Paul Skeldon.

We were lucky enough to have Christina Hewawissa, the founder of Rosa Rosa the Label, join us on stage. Check out her funky, ethical fashion at rosarosathelabel.com.

Our jingle, editing and production is by India Raine. You can email us at [email protected], find us on Instagram at @cultureclubpod, or on our personal accounts at @jasmineeskye and @yemagz.

We’ll be back with our regularly scheduled episode next week. 

See you then,
Maggie & Jasmine x

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Hey dears,

What a week in pop culture! Some of our fave OG British YouTubers are having babies which sparks a conversation about life milestones and expectations. Maggie references The Cut’s podcast episode, “Thirty, Flirty and Thriving”.

Then, we discuss the tell-all Oprah interview with Harry and Meghan. At the time of recording, the episode had not yet aired in Australia but we draw from this Guardian article and this Sydney Morning Herald piece. 

Dolce & Gabbana have filed a defamation suit against fashion watchdog Diet Prada. We reference The Fashion Law’s piece on it and refer to this GQ piece, “In Fashion, Who Will Cancel the Cancelers?” 

This week, Maggie recommends the YouTube channel Emergency Awesome’s breakdown of Wandavision episodes. Jasmine recommends  “I think I speak for a lot of Australian women when I say I’m so tired after this week” by Anna Spargo-Ryan for The Guardian. She also recommends the biography, And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready by Meaghan O’Connell.

Our jingle, editing and production is by India Raine. You can email us at [email protected], find us on Instagram at @cultureclubpod, or on our personal accounts at @jasmineeskye and @yemagz.

We hope to catch some of you at our Melbourne Fashion Festival live podcast recording this Friday the 12th, from 2–2:45pm at the Lonsdale St entrance of the Emporium.

Ciao for now,

Mags and Jas x

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Hey friends,

We’ve got a jam-packed episode for you today! We discuss 27-year-old Margaret Zhang being appointed Editor-in-Chief at Vogue China, a major milestone for Asian-Australian representation. Then, is Emma Watson’s career dormant? We put the rumours to rest.

Actor Jonah Hill took to Instagram to clapback at the Daily Mail’s fat shaming. This sparks a conversation about the lack of male body positivity in our media and the problem with the funny, fat sidekick trope. 

We then dive into the meta drama involving Reply All and Bon Appetit. This article gives you a good rundown and this is the viral Twitter thread that stoked the flames.

There are rumours that the classic 00’s TV show The OC is getting a reboot! We chat about what the rise in reboots has to say about our culture. We read from Bonnie Stiernberg’s piece in Inside Hook.

Jasmine recommends Liat Kaplan’s piece for The New York Times, “My Year of Grief and Cancellation: What was I trying to accomplish with my anonymous Tumblr?” as well as Dolly Alderton's recent column for The Sunday Times. Maggie recommends the podcast, Goes Without Saying.

In very exciting news, we’ll be hosting a free live recording of Culture Club for Melbourne Fashion Festival! Major! It’ll be on Friday 12 March, from 2–2:45pm at the Lonsdale St entrance of the Emporium. If you’re in town, come watch us discuss greenwashing, influencer culture and all that good stuff. We’ll also be joined by Christina Hewawissa, the Gen Z owner of Melbourne ethical brand, Rosa Rosa the Label. 

Our jingle, editing and production is by India Raine. You can email us at [email protected], find us on Instagram at @cultureclubpod, or on our personal accounts at @jasmineeskye and @yemagz.

Love ya,

Jas and Mags x

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Hi pals, 

On this month’s guest episode we’re chatting with the hilarious and super talented, Samantha Andrew! The comedian and TikTok star is a bundle of energy and joy while also having some very important things to say. 

From her tips and tricks to getting noticed on TikTok to her journey with her sexuality and sharing her partners’ journey to freeze his eggs for a future baby, we cover a lot on this week’s episode. 

During our chat, Sam recommends the film Seahorse, a moving documentary about a trans man’s quest to fulfil the desire to start his own family. 

Sam is also performing at the 2021 Melbourne Comedy Festival in No Hat, No Play! The Cabaret with her creative partner Mel O’Brien and we’d really recommend heading out to support local talent if you’re in town. 

To buy tickets, follow this link here and don’t forget to follow her on Instagram and TikTok. 

We really hope you enjoy this chat and we’ll speak to you next week! 

Jas and Mags xx

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