Welcome back to another cultural debrief gang! This week, Ellie interviewed the icon that is Kesha for the Telegraph ahead of her brilliant new her album Gag Order, out now, and gave us all the behind-the-scenes gossip and juicy talking points, specifically: did Kesha really have a vaginal ghost exorcism?  Plus we both reveal our own experiences with the paranormal, featuring Kathleen’s mum’s run-in with a hag at the end of her bed and Ellie’s unexplained sleep paralysis...
Then, we debrief on Lily Allen’s new show Dreamland, prompting all kind of existential questions, from whether you can ever innocently party with your friend’s partner, to what counts as an unforgivable betrayal, and why filming such scenes were so triggering for Lily, who cheated on her former husband with female escorts. 
Finally, we get into why everyone is watching Jury Duty right now, as well as all the ethical implications of Amazon's reality hit. And finally, our thoughts on Hailey Bieber’s interview with The Sunday Times Style, where she said that public hate makes her scared to have children, and whether she’s really as “calculated” as Selena Gomez fans would have us believe. 
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Kesha’s ghost exorcism, the genius of Jury Duty and the Hailey Bieber dilemma

The pop culture podcast with no filter, brought to you by besties and journalists Kathleen and Ellie.

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Fiona Harvey, the woman unearthed as 'the real-life Martha' by internet sleuths following the wild success of Baby Reindeer, gave a highly controversial interview to Piers Morgan on his YouTube channel last week, so of course we had to debrief. Was she lying? Was Piers wrong to interview her? What are the ethics of all this? Plus, since we love an age gap, we discuss Kate Moss holding hands with a 27-year-old Skip Marley, while Ellie has read a brilliant memoir on living a single life and has many wise nuggets to share with us all. 
DM us your thoughts on Instagram @straightuppod, and let us know what you’d like us to cover next week! And as ever please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, lysm!
Thanks so much to our amazing partner:
London Nootropics, our fave adaptogenic coffee that naturally actually boosts mental clarity and physical energy, while also easing anxiety, all without any of coffee's usual jitters. We are obsessed and you will be too! Get 20% OFF YOUR BOX with the DISCOUNT CODE straightup at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠londonnootropics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Reccs this week: 

 This Is Not A Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan 
 The Split, BBC
  Dark Matter, Apple TV
  Arrangements in Blue by Amy Key
  Sex and the City Season 6, Episode 9: A Woman's Right to Shoes
  Dear Dolly: ‘My boyfriend of 12 years doesn’t want to get married’, The Times
  One Pot, One Portion by @good_food_mood__ on TikTok
  Piers Morgan Uncensored interview with Fiona Harvey 
  New Moth cocktails – Paloma and Cosmopolitan, www.mothdrinks.com 


Piers Morgan’s Baby Reindeer interview, Kate Moss and celebrating singledom

Dua Lipa’s third album came out last week, huns, and we had such high hopes. So why has Radical Optimism fallen a little flat for us? This got us discussing the general ‘mood’ around the superstar: is she reaching her potential? And how authentic is her media empire, Service95, At Your Service podcast and her new production company Radical22? Plus, we’ve both watched the much-hyped new Anne Hathaway rom-com, The Idea of You, which explores the relationship between a 40-year-old divorcee and the 24-year-old frontman of a superstar boyband (Nicholas Galitzine), based on the hit 2017 novel of the same name. And finally, Kathers gives us the lowdown on the new season of Pandora Sykes’s new podcast, How Do We Know If We’re Doing it Right.
Thanks so much to our amazing partners:
London Nootropics, our fave adaptogenic coffee that naturally actually boosts mental clarity and physical energy, while also easing anxiety, all without any of coffee's usual jitters. We are obsessed and you will be too! Get 20% OFF YOUR BOX with the DISCOUNT CODE straightup at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠londonnootropics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
AMBL, the London reservations app that finds you incredible restaurants and bars in real time, tailored to you, from vibe to cuisine to cocktails and live music! Search Ambl in the App store;⁠ ambl.co
Recs discussed

 Dua Lipa, Radical Optimism (album)
 Dua Lipa, Service95 (newsletter)
  Dua Lipa, At Your Service (podcast)
  Dua Lipa Manifested All of This, Time magazine
  Dua Lipa on pop, psychedelics and proving her haters wrong, The Guardian
  The Idea of You by Robinne Lee (book)
  The Idea of You, Amazon Prime
  Anne Hathaway Is Too Hot for 'The Idea of You', The Cut
  The Mother (2003), Amazon Prime
  Anne Hathaway on Tuning Out the Haters and Embracing Her True Self, Vanity Fair
  How Do We Know If We’re Doing it Right podcast, Pandora Sykes
  Decolonising My Body, Afua Hirsch
  Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging, Afua Hirsch 
  Omnilux contour face mask



The Idea Of You, Dua Lipa and Pandora Sykes’ podcast

Bridge will soon be back on our screens with a new love interest we are VERY excited to see: young Leo Woodall. Do we like this 28 year age gap for our fave clumsy hun? We discuss! Plus, why everyone is talking about the steamy new psychosexual film Challengers, and why its star Zendaya is becoming one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. Also: our thoughts on Billie Eilish’s highly candid Rolling Stone interview, why J Lo’s is having some personal PR problems, and a debrief on Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper’s wedding.

Thanks so much to our incredible partners:
Innermost Nutrition, our favourite new plant protein that's actually really good for you, full of immune-boosting ingredients, a whopping 31g of plant protein and no nasty additives. It's stocked in Ocado, John Lewis, and Soho House, or visit⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠LiveInnermost.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
London Nootropics, our fave adaptogenic coffee that naturally actually boosts mental clarity and physical energy, while also easing anxiety, all without any of coffee's usual jitters. We are obsessed and you will be too! Get 20% OFF YOUR BOX with the DISCOUNT CODE straightup at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠londonnootropics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
AMBL, the London reservations app that finds you incredible restaurants and bars in real time, tailored to you, from vibe to cuisine to cocktails and live music! Search Ambl in the App store; ambl.co
Reccs discussed
Bridget Jones Diary 4: Spoilers, cast, trailer and plot, elle.com
Zendaya talks Challengers, talks to Serena Williams and considers her future, Vogue
Jimmy Carr: "There's A Crisis Going On With Men!", Diary of a CEO 
Challengers, in cinemas now
Dune: Part Two, Netflix
'Challengers' Star Josh O'Connor Is Filthy in Every Movie, Vulture 
3 Body Problem, Netflix The Last of Us, HBO
Blue Lights, BBC
Billie Eilish Would Like to Reintroduce Herself, Rolling Stone
Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut, Netflix
Meet Emily English, the nutritionist everyone’s talking about, The Times 
The Truth About Nutrition With Em The Nutritionist, Working Hard, Hardly Working podcast 
Yuka app 
The Call Her Daddy breakup, Shameless podcast 
Inside Alex Cooper And Matt Kaplan’s Intimate Beachside Wedding In Riviera Maya, Vogue 



Billie Eilish’s erotic advice, Zendaya and Bridget Jones 4

Baby Reindeer is of course our main talking point this week, huns, as we debate the deeply ironic investigation undertaken by internet sleuths trying to uncover Martha and Darrien’s real identities. Sure, to uncover the ‘truth’ behind the chilling story of stalking is tempting, but is it fair to speculate when Richard Gadd has asked us not to? Ellie has also watched Nicola Peltz Beckham’s toe-curlingly vain attempt at filmmaking, Lola, and we mull over whether it could ever be OK for a billionaire’s daughter to write a screenplay from the perspective of a working class stripper. And of course we had to give our verdict on Taylor Swift’s new record, including an inside look at the power moves of her longtime publicist Tree Paine. 
Please do send us a DM @straightuppod or email hello@straightuppod.co.uk. We absolutely LOVE hearing from you and so appreciate it. LYSM! 
Thanks so much to our amazing podcast partners:
Innermost Nutrition, our favourite new plant protein that's actually really good for you, full of immune-boosting ingredients, a whopping 31g of plant protein and no nasty additives. It's stocked in Ocado, John Lewis, and Soho House, or visit⁠⁠ ⁠⁠LiveInnermost.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

London Nootropics, our fave adaptogenic coffee that naturally actually boosts mental clarity and physical energy, while also easing anxiety, all without any of coffee's usual jitters. We are obsessed and you will be too! Get 20% OFF YOUR BOX with the DISCOUNT CODE straightup at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠londonnootropics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠


Reccos discussed this week: 

 Baby Reindeer, Netflix
 ‘I was severely stalked and severely abused’: Richard Gadd on the true story behind Baby Reindeer, the Guardian
  Baby Reindeer review – Richard Gadd's solo theatre debut is a haunting hour, the Guardian 
  Richard Gadd: how I turned my stalking nightmare into a Netflix drama, The Times
  Nicola Peltz Beckham, a billionaire’s daughter, made a movie about abject poverty. It’s as bad as you think, the Guardian 
  Memmo Alfama terrace bar, Lisbon 
  Magnolia restaurant, Lisbon 
  Mama Shelter rooftop, Lisbon 
  Praia da Adraga beach (one hour from Lisbon) 
  Nat's nourishments harissa potatoes 
  There Are Plenty of Power Publicists. But Only One Works for Taylor Swift, Wall Street Journal




Baby Reindeer, Nicola Peltz Beckham’s mortifying movie and The Tortured Poets Department

The new Amy Winehouse biopic is finally out, but Back to Black has bitterly divided critics and fans. Some are disgusted by the ‘sanitisation’ of key figures such as her dad Mitch Winehouse and former husband Blake Fielder-Civil, while others are delighted to see a film that doesn’t revel in the sordid details of her drug addiction. We get into the thorny debate around the Sam Taylor-Johnson directed ‘love story’, starring Marisa Abela and Jack O’Connell, as well as the wild recent reporting on how Mitch is currently suing two of Amy’s best friends for auctioning off items she gave them. First, though, we give our verdicts on Netflix’s Scoop, the thrilling dramatisation of Prince Andrew’s car-crash Newsnight interview from 2019, told from the perspective of BBC celebrity booker Sam McAllister, played by an excellent Billie Piper. How accurate is the show when spotlighting the inner workings of celebrity booking? 
DM us your thoughts on Instagram @straightuppod, and let us know what you’d like us to cover next week! And as ever please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, lysm!
Reccos discussed:

 Scoop, Netflix
 Prince Andrew would 'scream and shout' if his 72 teddies were not put back properly, Express


 Wendy Ide on Scoop for The Guardian
 Clarisse Loughgrey on Scoop for The Independent 
  Peter Bradshaw on Scoop for The Observer
  Off the Fence newsletter on Scoop, Substack (9 April edition)
  Sam McAlister, Emily Maitlis and the drama behind Netflix’s Scoop, Telegraph
  Civil War (in cinemas now)
  My Amy by Tyler James
  A Private War (film and book)
  Back To Black (in cinemas now)
  Sam Taylor-Johnson on art, age gaps and Amy Winehouse, The Guardian
  It’s a grotesque insult for Back to Black to suggest Amy Winehouse died of heartache over her childlessness, Laura Snapes for The Guardian  
  The Amy Winehouse I knew — by our critic, Will Hodkingson for The Times 
  The row raging between Amy Winehouse’s father and her best friends, The Times
  Emily The Criminal, Netflix 


Thanks so much to our amazing podcast partners:

Innermost Nutrition, our favourite new plant protein that's actually really good for you, full of immune-boosting ingredients, a whopping 31g of plant protein and no nasty additives. It's stocked in Ocado, John Lewis, and Soho House, or visit⁠ ⁠⁠LiveInnermost.com⁠⁠⁠
London Nootropics, our fave adaptogenic coffee that naturally actually boosts mental clarity and physical energy, while also easing anxiety, all without any of coffee's usual jitters. We are obsessed and you will be too! Get 20% OFF YOUR BOX with the DISCOUNT CODE straightup at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠londonnootropics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠



Kesha’s ghost exorcism, the genius of Jury Duty and the Hailey Bieber dilemma

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