By Amanda Montell & Isa Medina
A podcast about the modern-day “cults” we all follow. Each episode asks the culty questions we’re all wondering… Do you think SoulCycle is a cult? What about Elon Musk stans? Or the Royal Family? W
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The podcast currently has 129 episodes available.
Learn more about host Amanda's Italian writing "cult" ;) It's a Live Your Life!!!
https://trovatrip.com/trip/europe/italy/italy-with-amanda-montell-oct-2024
If you’ve ever seen a suburban lady wearing a tee shirt that reads, “I wine because he whines” or “I’m not a normal mom, I’m a wine mom,” then you have likely born witness to a follower of this week’s “cult.” Wine moms may have nailed the merch aspect of modern-day fanaticism with their culture of “rosé all day,” and there’s certainly valid solidarity in venting about the hardships of American motherhood over a glass of Prosecco or two. But… ten? At the kids’ soccer practice? Is any group that aims to cutesify alcoholism en masse ever not at least a “Watch Your Back”-level cult??? To help figure it out, please welcome this week’s special guest, survivor of both the wine mom cult AND the cult of MLMs (no small feat!!), author and sobriety coach Emily Lynn Paulson.
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell
To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here. To subscribe to Amanda's new Magical Overthinkers podcast and/or watch full episodes on YouTube, click here :)
Thank you to our sponsors, who make this show possible:
From TV executives abusing kids on sets to Scientology's "Celebrity Center," the cult of the entertainment business can getcha from about 6,000 different angles. After all, what other mainstream American industry is glamorized and lusted-after to this extreme degree, only to betray its most successful acolytes with financial and physical exploitation, social isolation, dehumanization, and a destroyed sense of self-worth to the point that entertainers dying early tragic deaths of despair is not only accepted, it's practically a meme??? This week, host Amanda offers a lil history lesson on the cult of Hollywood before getting into some juicy personal stories and an analytical discush with the one and only Maria Bamford, iconic comedian and author of Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere. Who are Hollywood's true "cult leaders," and do their worst behaviors earn it the title of a GTFO-level cult? Tune in to find out!!!
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell
To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here. To subscribe to Amanda's new Magical Overthinkers podcast and/or watch full episodes on YouTube, click here :)
Thank you to our sponsors, who make this show possible:
Listen to Isa's new podcast: I'm Right You're Wrong! Isa is the co-creator and former host of Sounds Like A Cult<3
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Botox & Filler: Right or Wrong?
Does getting botox and filler contribute to unjust beauty standards? Or are women literally not allowed to have anything anymore? This week, your perfect little hosts, Isa Medina and Lydia Keating, discuss whether it's right or wrong to get botox and filler. Are we making things worse by not aging naturally or are we just trying to survive the dang patriarchy? Can women even make mistakes? Factually speaking, no. But your hosts are here to look at both sides! In classic fash, they debate the extremes and chit chat about life as perfect beautiful women. xx love you!!
Subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts and listen to other episodes covering topics like: Friendship Breakups, Tipping Culture, Nepo Babies, Stay at Home Moms and more😘
Follow Isa on Instagram: @isaamedinaa
Follow Isa's new podcast on Instagram: @ethicalgirlies
You culties preyed and preyed for us to analyze the cult of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, and at long last, host Amanda Montell and coordinator Reese Oliver are blessing you with one of our favorite episodes in a very long time 🥲 To the undiscerning eye, Netflix’s new “America’s Sweethearts” series may look like an innocent little feature on the NFL’s most treasured cheerleading squad… but to us, this was a true crime documentary about a profoundly conformist, exploitative, isolating, hyper-patriarchal, physically perilous, but also inspirational and glamorous CULT. The question is not if the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading team is culty—I mean, hello, duh—the question is how bad is it??? Tighten your Kelli knots and spritz another coat of hairspray, because we are not holding back this week 📣
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell
To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here. To subscribe to Amanda's new Magical Overthinkers podcast and/or watch full episodes on YouTube, click here :)
Thank you to our sponsors, who make this show possible:
Catch Sounds Like A Cult host Amanda Montell, Theydy Bedbug, Rara Darling, and other special guests on tour!
PAST EVENTS BELOW (MORE DATES COMING SOON):
July 13: Minneapolis, MN — The Big Magical Cult Show at Cedar Cultural Center (buy tickets here!)
July 14: Chicago, IL — The Big Magical Cult Show at the DEN (buy tickets here!) DATE & VENUE CHANGE
To subscribe to Amanda's new Magical Overthinkers podcast and listen to (or watch!) the rest of today's episode on monogamy, click here :)
If we can love our children and friends separately but equally, why not our romantic partners? Such is one of the many compelling thought exercises in favor of polyamory, a relationship structure that is by no means new, but has experienced an explosive recent surge in popular media—everywhere from New Yorker thinkpieces to Succession plot lines to reality shows like Couple to Throuple. Some questions, though: Is polyamory really more "natural" than monogamy? Why do some people make being "poly" their whole personality? Who even has time for multiple partners? (And is it prude to ask such things???). This week's episode is actually a feed drop from the Magical Overthinkers podcast (because host Amanda is *not* a podcasting monogamist ), featuring the brilliant philosopher and host of the Overthink podcast, Dr. Ellie Anderson. Listen for a sparkling discussion of romance, jealousy, history, and media, and consider subscribing to Magical Overthinkers wherever you get your pods!
To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here.
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell @theydy.bedbug @mxraradarling
Class is in session and boy oh boy is it perturbing. Teaching is not just a profession, it's a calling to shape young hearts and minds—one that looks all wholesome on the outside, but once you're lured in, actually comes with labor exploitation, emotional manipulation, weird power dynamics created by the tenure system, and other sinister qualities that high-key resemble a cult. The cult of teaching is perhaps our single most passionate and consistent listener request in Sounds Like A Cult history, and to help us bring it to life, we're doing another "Interview A Listener" episode, featuring current New Jersey public school teacher, Charlyn Magat. Today's topic is of course massive and complex, and this conversation is just a small piece of it, informed by Charlyn's individual experience. We'd love to continue exploring the topic further, including potential episodes about the cults of Teach for America, boarding school, etc.!
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell
To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here :) To subscribe to her new Magical Overthinkers podcast click here!
Thank you to our sponsors, who make this show possible:
Catch Amanda back on tour this summer!
July 29: The Age of Magical Overthinking book talk at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, WA (free!)
Imagine you’re a little kid and your parents are actually your bosses. Now imagine that, as your professional superiors, your parents' job is to engineer and exploit every single precious moment of your childhood for millions of people on the internet to behold, all in exchange for clicks, comments, and ad dollars. Sometimes they prank you, embarrass you, and/or produce a whole ‘nother sibling purely as a career move. Now imagine if your parents manage to figure out at some point that this dynamic is power abusive and manipulative, and they decide to stop sharing your face with the world, scads of strangers who’ve gotten parasocially attached to you since before you were born start flipping the f*** out. Such is the uncanny experience of a kid born into the cult of family vloggers, this week’s culty a$$ subject, featuring journalist Fortesa Latifi, who is currently writing a book about parenthood and content creation.
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell
To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here :) To subscribe to her new Magical Overthinkers podcast click here!
Thank you to our sponsors, who make this show possible:
Listen to Isa Medina NEW PODCAST – I'm Right You're Wrong on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or wherever! Isa Medina is the Former Host and Co-Creator of Sounds Like A Cult Podcast. Follow Isa on IG @isaamedinaa for info about her live stand up comedy and her new podcast @ethicalgirlies.
The episode preview ended at 23 min 40 seconds if you want to start where we left off and finish the episode <3
Right or Wrong? Nepo Babies: This week on I'M RIGHT YOU'RE WRONG, your gorgeous hosts, Lydia Keating and Isa Medina, debate nepo babies. Is it ethically right or wrong for nepo babies to have easy access to coveted careers just because their parent(s) work in the industry? Lydia argues that nepo babies are WRONG. Isa argues that they are RIGHT. They discuss the different types of nepo babies out there (it’s not all Hollywood, honey!) and if there is even an ideal way to be one… After they debate the extremes, in classic fashion, they open their dialogue up to a broader and more honest convo. Are THEY nepo babies?? (no, lol but they do get real about their own privileges). Lydia ponders creativity—is it something innate to the fibers of your being? Was Reese Witherspoon’s son born to be a DJ in the West Village? Isa talks about her boy drama and how men should never complain about being tired. Lydia acknowledges her annual spring/summer glow up. Both hosts agree that ebbing and flowing in one’s hotness is wayyyyy better than being consistently hot all year round, which would actually be so boring. And finally, they talk about WHO is to BLAME for nepotism? (and it’s not the nepo babies or their parents! It’s something far more insidious…) Enjoy the episode! Love you so much.
Catch Amanda back on tour this summer!
July 29: The Age of Magical Overthinking book talk at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, WA (free!)
WE TRIED OUR BEST not to get too roasty in this long overdue episode, where host Amanda and her special guest, music journalist and host of the Songs My Ex Ruined podcast Melissa Locker, examine the cult of jam bands from Phish to the Grateful Dead. Where freewheeling guitar solos, acid trips, tape-trading, endless noodling, and oodles of exclusive lingo reign supreme, this world of die-hard fans who dedicate their whole life and personality to following their faves around the country is nothing short of a musical religion. Jam bands are definitely, ahem, a culty vibe to say the least... the real question is how destructive are they?? Tune in to this lol-worthy chat as Amanda and Melissa try and figure that out.
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell
To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here :) To subscribe to her new Magical Overthinkers podcast click here!
Thank you to our sponsors, who make this show possible:
Catch Amanda back on tour this summer!
July 29: The Age of Magical Overthinking book talk at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, WA (free!)
Time to Milky Jelly™ cleanse your souls, culties. If you were alive in 2017, and anywhere near our same millennial pink corner of the internet, then you KNEW what a Glossier girl was. The emblem of relatable-but-aspirational coolness helmed by cult leader… ahem, CEO… Emily Weiss (of The Hills fame) was so much more than a cosmetics line. Glossier was a lifestyle, a uniform, an identity template, a cultural phenomenon, a religion? Come on, those pink bubble wrap pouches??? If you had one, it meant you’d reached a certain kind of ~enlightenment~. Alongside the likes of other rare brands like Starbucks and SoulCycle, Glossier was a ”cult-followed” company through in through… but was something more sinister lurking underneath? Why did the brand take off as astronomically as it did? And what is the status of the “cult” now? At long last, host Amanda is (over)analyzing the spiritual movement that is Glossier with none other than beauty journalist Marisa Meltzer, author of the New York Times bestselling book Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier (out now in paperback!).
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod @amanda_montell
To order Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here :) To subscribe to her new Magical Overthinkers podcast click here!
Thank you to our sponsors, who make this show possible:
The podcast currently has 129 episodes available.
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