This week, we’re deep in our feelings—and our closets. We’re revisiting a favorite: body image, beauty standards, and the wild ride of growing up with 90s and 2000s fashion rules stitched into our self-worth. From bridesmaid dress drama to the scent of Noxzema triggering both shame and nostalgia, this episode goes there.

From our emotional baggage we're unpacking:

• How self-worth was often tied to a dress size

• The complicated politics of Twin Day and bridesmaid fittings

• The glow-up of Miss Congeniality (yes, Sandra Bullock was doing feminist work and we missed it)

• Spanx as both support garment and emotional prison

• What it means to wear the damn bikini—at age 16 or 44

We also play a fashion-trend guessing game (spoiler: chunky highlights were not the flex we thought they were) and reflect on aging, hot flashes, and why Pamela Anderson’s no-makeup red carpet moment meant more than we realized.

💬 Subscribe, leave a review, and send this to any friend who’s ever changed an outfit because “they might think I’m trying too hard.” We see you. We were you.

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🔍 Google Along With Us

Because context is queen. Here are the pop culture references and key terms we mention—click to dive deeper:

• Noxzema

• Rebecca Gayheart

• Cardigan Sweater Symbolism

• Dickies vs Dockers vs “Dookies”

• “The DUFF” movie

• Bella Swan / Joey Potter

• Kanye West “They want me to be great…” quote

• Miss Congeniality (2000)

• Solar Plexus-Instep-Nose-Groin (SING!) scene

• Alicia Keys no makeup movement

• Pamela Anderson’s makeup-free red carpet statement

• Money Piece Hair Trend

• Glitter Gel from the 90s

• Love Island (U.S.)

• Ariana Madix

• HDTV and Makeup

• Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Melissa Joan Hart)

• ColorStay Lipstick

• Y2K Fashion

• Jane Fonda

• Perimenopause

• Heroin Chic

• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

• Urban Outfitters vs Thrifting

• Rachel McAdams age in Mean Girls

  
  

#TheAirWeBreathe #PrettyPrivilege #SpanxSaga #MillennialFashionFiles #FunnyWomen #BeautyCulture #AgingOutLoud #NoMakeupNeeded

🎙️ Episode 107: Appropriation, Beyoncé, and Fox-Colored Glasses

Did Beyoncé really make a country album? And why are so many people mad about it?

In this episode, Tracey and Lauren unpack the cultural firestorm around Beyoncé’s Grammy win, Cowboy Carter, and the thin line between appreciation and appropriation. From Diddy distractions to Texas Hold ‘Em jukebox protests, we’re taking off the Fox-colored glasses and digging into the real issues.

We talk about:

• Whether Beyoncé deserved Album of the Year

• Why white folks are big mad

• The difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation

• Elvis, Madonna, and Adele—who paid homage and who just took

• Identity, representation, and who gets to define “country”

Plus: cornrows in Cleveland, cross colors, and a trip to a Belizean block party

🧠 Plus, we answer the age-old question: is it appreciation if it’s just good fashion? (And yes, we define appropriation—because some of y’all are using that word wrong.)

📲 Google Along With Us

Wanna follow the breadcrumbs from this episode? We got you. Here’s your click-worthy cheat sheet. Trust us — it’s a ride.

🎤 Beyoncé – Cowboy Carter

Wikipedia: Cowboy Carter

🤠 Texas Hold ’Em (song)

Wikipedia: Texas Hold ’Em

🧊 Jay-Z

Wikipedia: Jay-Z

🧻 The Tik Tokker We Played

kay_dub_h

🕵️‍♂️ Diddy legal drama

Wikipedia: Sean Combs – Legal Issues

🎭 Cher’s Oscar snubs – Mask vs. Moonstruck

• Wikipedia: Mask (1985 film)

• Wikipedia: Moonstruck

🎶 Post Malone

Wikipedia: Post Malone

🐴 Lil Nas X

Wikipedia: Lil Nas X

🕶️ Shaboozey

Instagram: @shaboozey

🎸 Darius Rucker

Wikipedia: Darius Rucker

🎉 The Hora (Jewish wedding dance)

Wikipedia: Hora (dance)

🐶 Doja Cat + Hound Dog

Wikipedia: Doja Cat

Wikipedia: Hound Dog (song)

👑 Elvis Presley

Wikipedia: Elvis Presley

💃 Madonna + Ballroom Culture

Wikipedia: Vogue (Madonna song)

Wikipedia: Ball culture

💄 RuPaul – “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag”

Wikipedia: RuPaul

🎭 Rachel Dolezal

Wikipedia: Rachel Dolezal

💢 Chet Hanks

Wikipedia: Chet Hanks

🛍️ 🧡 Basic Halloween Stores (Satirical Ad)

It’s almost Halloween again!

You know what that means:

🎃 Get your single turkey feather headband!

👑 Your Arabian princess costume!

🎯 Everything you need to be ignorant and basic this Halloween.

🧋 Free pumpkin spice latte with every purchase!

Basic Halloween Stores. Be basic.

🏳️‍🌈 Women’s Place Magazine (Satirical Ad)

This month’s cover story: It’s Not Appropriation If You’re Hot

Tips on how to wear chopsticks in your hair without a conscience.

Women’s Place Magazine. Be a woman who knows her place.

📺 Martin – Sheneneh

Wikipedia: Martin (TV series)

👖 Cross Colours (fashion brand)

Wikipedia: Cross Colours

💅 Real Housewives – Dorit Kemsley

Wikipedia: Dorit Kemsley

🥥 Adele’s Bantu Knots Controversy

The Guardian article

👘 90s Kimono Trend

Wikipedia: Kimono

🥢 Chopsticks in Hair (and why that’s a no)

Wikipedia: Cultural Appropriation – Examples

👀 Check out our YouTube for a bonus video segment featuring Chet Hanks, Rachel Dolezal, and one truly unfortunate snake charmer outfit.

🔗 Follow, subscribe, and leave us a review if you’ve ever side-eyed someone in a feather headdress.

🎧 The Air We Breathe — funny, fiery, and unfiltered conversations about the fog of bias we’ve all been breathing.

#TheAirWeBreathe

#PodcastLife

#BeyonceCowboyCarter

#CulturalAppropriation

#CountryMusicDrama

#RepresentationMatters

#BlackCountryArtists

#FoxColoredGlasses

#JayZConspiracies

#AppropriationVsAppreciation

#TexasHoldEm

#BeyHiveBuzz

#GrammysControversy

#RealTalkPodcast

#PopCulturePolitics

This week, on a very special episode, Lauren and Tracey dive into the Season 8 reunion of Netflix’s Love Is Blind—and y’all… the fog of emotional immaturity is THICK.

Lauren went in completely raw (zero prep), and Tracey gleefully walked her into the chaos. From dead-eyed apologies to dime-store OJ Simpson cosplay, from Gen Z women with receipts to grown men sweating bullets under studio lights—this reunion had everything.

We unpack:

• 📺 Why real accountability is the new drama

• 🧠 Emotional intelligence gaps so wide you could drive a truck through them

• 💅 The Cool Girl effect and weaponized incompetence

• 😭 Pretty girl privilege, red pill energy, and the moment each bro realized their “Riz” wasn’t Riz-ing

• 🧾 Screenshots, sweat stains, and savage truths

• 👀 Sister sabotage and the unresolved Oedipus complex

Cast members discussed:

Devon, Ben, Sarah, Joey, Monica, Madison, Meg, Mason, Alex, Molly—and yes, Joey Burgundy-Jeremy and Alex's rosacea makes a cameo.

Referenced Episode:

🎧 Ep 106: Cool Girl Feminism & Lord Hermione Granger — recommended listening before this one!

Watch the Love Is Blind Reunion here:

📺 Netflix: Love Is Blind Season 6

Follow us for more reckless insight:

📸 Instagram: @theairwebreathepod

📘 Facebook: @theairwebreathepod

🎵 TikTok: @the.air.we.breathe.pod

📺 YouTube: @theairwebreathepod

Leave us a 5-star review if your Rosacea flared up just watching this trainwreck! 💥

#LoveIsBlind #LoveIsBlindReunion #RealityTVRecap #FeministPodcast #PopCulturePodcast #TheAirWeBreathePod #EmotionalMaturity #RedFlagEnergy #MessyTV #NetflixRecap #CoolGirlEffect #ReceiptsWereBrought #ModernDating #PodcastsOfInstagram #BlackPodcastExcellence #GenZEnergy #WomensVoices #PodcastRewind #PodcastComedy #CultureCritique

🔹 Intro

• Meet Bud, the fairy godfather (or god-dog?) producer!

• Kicking things off with some… uh, light choking humor.

🔹 The Myth of Feminist “Choices”

• Feminism told us we could be anything… but somehow, it still feels like we’re catering to the male gaze.

• Archetypes of women in relationships: the Damsel in Distress → Gold Digger.

• Has the Cool Girl replaced the Tomboy? Or is she just a rebrand with hot-girl privilege?

• The evolution of the self-sacrificing mother: June Cleaver → The Trad Wife.

🔹 Pop Culture Deep Dive

• Who fits these tropes?

• Anna Nicole Smith: Gold Digger or Sugar Baby?

• Cameron Diaz in There’s Something About Mary: Effortless Cool Girl or… something more?

• Carol Brady: The Trad Wife we could actually respect?

• Leeloo from The Fifth Element: Supreme Being… or Born Sexy Yesterday?

• Hermione Granger: Smurfette or the real deal?

• Bella Swan: The ultimate Born Sexy Yesterday?

🔹 Feminism, Performance, and Authenticity

• Are we authentic, or just picking from a pre-approved list of standardized female identities?

• The “girl group categorization” phenomenon (Sex and the City, Golden Girls, Gossip Girl).

• Do men get to pick their identities, or are they just given them?

• What happens when women refuse to play the game?

🔹 The Ultimate Call to Action

• It’s time to flip the script. Let’s all agree to:

• Boo bad sex.

• Stop moving out of the way for men.

• Dismantle the male gaze in real-time.

• And most importantly: if you’ve ever strutted on a moving sidewalk at an airport pretending to be a Cullen, drop a 🦌 emoji in the comments.

📸 Instagram: @theairwebreathepod

📘 Facebook: @theairwebreathepod

🎵 TikTok: @the.air.we.breathe.pod

📺 YouTube: @theairwebreathepod

🔥 Follow us and let us know: Who’s the realest female character in pop culture? And which trope have you fallen into?

🎙️Episode 105: Six Lies & VHS Tapes 🎙️

Dear Breathers, let’s talk about the bold-faced lies pop culture told us as kids. From VHS tapes to Saturday morning cartoons, we were out here believing we’d wake up with magic powers at 16 (looking at you, Sabrina) and that every high school party looked like aShe’s All That house rager. Spoiler: neither happened.Apologies for the sound glitches! We're still learning and trying new things with our recording. Be kind! Rewind!

In this episode, we unpack:

🔹 Thereal trauma of finding out we weren’t secretly witches after watchingThe Craft

🔹 Why pop culture had us thinking driving was as easy as reading a manual (Twins, we’re looking at you)

🔹 The absolute audacity of movies making high heels look comfortable (Dorothy, Cinderella… explain yourselves)

🔹 HowFerngully was actually telling the truth, and we just ignored it

🔹 The after-school special drug panic that had us believing dealers were lurking on every corner (spoiler: they were not)

Also, Lauren shares a childhood fire-related incident that proves stop, drop, and roll was NOT as reflexive as they wanted us to believe. 😬🔥

We’re also reading listener call-ins, so if you’ve got a pop culture lie that shaped (or shattered) your worldview, slide into our DMs or leave us a voicemail at (312) 772-5725.

🎧 Listen now and let us know: What’s a pop culture lie thatreally did you dirty?

💬 Follow us:

📸Instagram: @theairwebreathepod

📘Facebook: @theairwebreathepod

🎵TikTok: @the.air.we.breathe.pod

📺YouTube: @theairwebreathepod

and join the conversation!

In this very NSFW episode, we dive into the insidious ways misogyny permeates our favorite pop culture moments—from Elle Woods’ uphill battle in Legally Blonde to Will Hunting’s instant respect in Good Will Hunting. We question why women must constantly prove their worth, while men often get the benefit of the doubt.

We also reflect on personal stories of subtle and overt sexism, examine media narratives like Friends, Sex and the City, and The Notebook, and ask: Why is one person’s grand romantic gesture cute and another’s “crazy”? Of course, we sprinkle in laughs, sarcasm, and more than a little banter about celebrity gossip, unexpected gender dynamics, and a certain “bend and snap.”

Join us as we dissect the stories we’ve been breathing in for years, challenge implicit biases, and, most importantly, laugh through the discomfort. No diggity, no doubt—this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Let’s talk body image! We examine the beliefs we were breathing while we bopped to Madonna and watched Fat Monica dance. Let’s talk Nair, Delia’s, and Sir Mix A Lot!

Check out our show notes on our instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/theairwebreathepod/