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Charli, Chappell & Jade image

Charli, Chappell & Jade

E38 · POP THEORY
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249 Plays6 months ago

DJ John Michael returns to discuss all the important questions currently permeating the pop music zeitgeist.  Who will be featured on Charli XCX's rumored "Brat" remix album?  Will Chappell Roan ever release "The Subway?"  Will Tyra Banks ever put "Shake Ya Body" on streaming?  When will JADE release the follow up to "Angel Of My Dreams?"  Plus, Zach tasks Kelly Rowland to put out a forgotten banger onto streaming.

Transcript

When Should Holiday Festivities Begin?

00:00:00
Speaker
Well, happy holidays, everyone. Welcome back to Pop Theory. ah We're joined today again with DJ John Michael from Peloton. Hello, hello. Hello, hello. um that Yeah, the holidays. i i for Personally, are you a holiday girl? Are you a Christmas girl? You know what I like?
00:00:19
Speaker
I like Christmas music. i The holiday itself is fine. I think it's like everything else in you know when it comes to holidays. We're a little bit over capitalized on everything. It's a bit much. you know I think it starts too early now for my liking. like When people are like, before Thanksgiving and they're all like, we're doing it. I'm like, no, we're not doing it yet. We're we're not doing anything until Mariah says it's time. Exactly. She has to say it's time. That is it. Until then, I don't want to know nothing about your Christmas.
00:00:46
Speaker
a Right, right for me I've definitely and I've mentioned this even with you I think on the podcast But I am such a seasoned person now when it comes to music and things I really like things to have their special time I feel like any anything if you it can overstay its welcome.
00:01:04
Speaker
right And you can just kind of like get sick of it. And so I'm very much with you. I like to start my Christmas festivities and and getting into the spirit. Typically, Christmas music, I will allow the week before Thanksgiving if it's cold and snowing here in Michigan. Oh. in in late But lately, I mean, it kind of is hit or miss, but like there's a lot of times where it's like it's been warmer, and I'm just not in the mood for it.
00:01:32
Speaker
And so but but typically Thanksgiving week I will allow the listening of Christmas music. Yeah, I can't do it before then. I can't either. It's it's it's I don't know there's like not once I mean like don't look don't get me wrong I love the Mariah of it all but yeah even her like maybe like Joy to the World is something I would listen to throughout the year just because David Morales other than that I don't write yeah there's not many other Christmas things that I'm like I can't wait to listen to this. The David Morales remix of Joy to the World is so good. It's it is the joy the world needs.
00:02:04
Speaker
It really is. oh my guess we Why are we talking about Mariah again when Jeff's not here? I know, seriously. like he always This always happens. Jeff's not here and all of a sudden Mariah, Mariah, Mariah. Oh my God, seriously. Well, let's switch gears

Excitement for New Music Collaborations

00:02:19
Speaker
though really quick. because ah so There's been a lot of new music releases, and Jeff and I touched this on on this in the last episode, but There's just so much coming out right now. And on the last episode we were talking about, we were like, oh, we think something's coming from Brat. And we just don't know what yet. And then shortly ah after we recorded that, it was announced that the guest remix with Billie Eilish came out. And and there it is. And there it is. And we've got Ms. Eilish on a Charlie XCX song.
00:02:47
Speaker
I got to be honest. I love it. I do too. It's so good. I've already made a Billy edit of my extended edit. I just got to put that up on SoundCloud. I love, oh my gosh, because you made a brilliant and extended edit. So thank you for that. Thank you for your service. Yes. Yes. So as soon as I heard it, I was like, download, we got to put Billy in. I was like, it has to be in there. Yeah. All the kids are going to want to hear that. Oh, absolutely. i So I'm typically not a huge fan of like someone calling something a remix and just having an artist to hop on. Right. But once in a while it works for me and this does work for me. Because she brought something different. And I think that's why it doesn't always work. Because like if you're just coming on the song to sort of like sing the same thing, but maybe just be a different person. I don't know if that really works as much for me. like i
00:03:36
Speaker
I wanted so much more, and I always use this as an example, I wanted so much more from the Dua and Kylie Minogue collaboration. Yeah, I know. I wanted so much. Dua had the opportunity to really kind of go there and do something with this great pop song on Real Groove. And I was like, we didn't get a lot of vocals out of you. That wasn't enough. Right, yeah. That's what I was worried this was going to be. And I'm very glad it's not.
00:04:02
Speaker
Right. Yeah, I am so curious if they're going to do I'm curious if they're going to do like remixes of the remixes by any chance. um I feel like Guess is the one song for sure that lends itself to some great remixes. And so if you are out there in the sound of our voices and you are not familiar with the artist Peaches, but you love Guess by Charli XCX, you should fall down that rabbit hole because as soon as I listen to the album,
00:04:29
Speaker
And I heard Guess. I was like, oh. I was like, this is giving me immediate Peaches vibes. I was like, and this is my favorite thing I've heard on the album. Oh my gosh. Peaches would be an amazing addition to the Brat Ring X album. I can't even allow myself to think about it. That would be, that's like, that is exciting to even think about. Jeff and I have just been going nonstop being like, we think so and so should be on it. We think so and so should be on it. We think so and so. And that is an amazing addition. It would be so good. And I feel like it's like Peaches is the original Brat.
00:05:01
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I will go on record and say that. So I feel like just that energy, like I'm dying to see who the other features are going to be. Who have you and Jeff picked so far? Like, who do you think? So we were saying it would be really fun to have Chapel Roan on something. And we think that she is. Which I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure she is going to be on something. I said Kasia would be really fun for Spring Breakers. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Charli XCX's Journey and Influence

00:05:26
Speaker
And then we were talking about the, like we were, we were kind of like, cause you know, there's a lot of speculation on the internet right now. Rosalia is ah expected to be on everything is romantic. I believe Jeff said Troye Sivan would be really good on rewind. Oh hell yes. Oh my God. Yeah. Or even talk, talk would be amazing to have. Yeah. Just one of the more really upbeat.
00:05:46
Speaker
Well, I know the internet really wants Carly Rae Jopson on Talk Talk. That would be really good, too. That would be really fun. That would be so good. Yeah. And so we've just been playing these gussing games. I was like for Back to Back or B2B, I was like, who could be on that? And I was like, maybe this is me just being me, but I was like Madonna, just because of the kind of the Housebeat Vogue-ish beat of it all. But I could definitely see her sticking her nose into any of these, to be honest, because I yeah feel like it's it's it's very, very her spirit. I just I mean, i you know, now that Billy is on guess, I just feel like Charlie has now set herself and and and that being on the heels of the Lord remix of Girls So Confusing, Charlie has now set herself up for like, OK, what else? Who else is going to be on this? Right. Well, not even that. But I mean, you want to talk about somebody who's got their finger on the pulse.
00:06:42
Speaker
Like she's finger in it. Like she is like. And that's why Billy was the perfect person. to Yeah. shit Charlie absolutely has a finger on the pulse. Yeah. Jeff also said and I thought this is brilliant. Lana Del Rey on Mean Girls. 100 percent. Right. Yes. Yeah. I was like, oh, man, that would be. absolutely So I think that that would be amazing. I know that the Internet really wants Caroline Polacek on Apple. Mm hmm. That feels right.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, it feels like very right. I want to dream big for like Gaga on sympathy is a knife. Like that. I don't even know if my brain could handle it. But that's the one that I'm like, I hear it in my head.
00:07:22
Speaker
that would be amazing. And I just, and and maybe this is me, I don't know, just being like, not really knowing the deals that and whatnot that goes on behind the scenes, but I'm like, uh, you kind of owe her a remix because Charlie XCX and AG cook did the remix for 911 on the chromatica remix album. Okay. So a bridge has been formed. Yep. So Gaga, let's cross that bridge. Right. We loved you at the Olympics, but It's time to put the big band away and get back into the studio and be a dirty little pop slut. We need a dirty little pop slut. It's time to be a dirty little pop slut right now. Please. Oh, my God. Yeah. No. i you know And I will gladly welcome. I mean, i'm I'm sure that Charlie has some tricks up her sleeve. For sure. I mean, we know that the 365 remix with Shy Girl exists.
00:08:07
Speaker
so I'm assuming that that will come out at some point. Yes. um Gosh, but yeah, I mean, the possibilities are endless. I mean, there was at one point before Billy was announced, we were like, it would be so sick if like Daft Punk got on gas. I would die. I mean, really, like that would be absolutely ridiculous. but Yeah. Yeah. No, it really is. I think one of the best tracks I've heard in 2024, to be honest. Yeah. Yeah. It's something that like when I go to listen to the album, that and sympathy is a night for the two that I mostly go for. And I just I have not been able to stop listening to them.
00:08:38
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Charlie, I got I really I got to hand it to her like it's so crazy because I never would have imagined 10 years ago, the effect that this would have it's just the right time for everything.
00:08:51
Speaker
It really is the the way that everything just kind of lined up the way that she, I mean, the way that her career has kind of turned and just like formed throughout the years. I mean, starting off kind of very avant garde, no one really knew who she was. And then she hopped on fancy and then she came out boom clap, super, super successful. And then kind of.
00:09:11
Speaker
went back into this, I don't want to say unsuccessful, because that's not necessarily fair to say, because she's she kind of intentionally went down this road of being an unconventional pop star. Right. I feel like it's this like because as I've been watching more and seeing the interviews more and like hearing how much of a fan she is of like the underground dance scene. It all feels right because it's like she came out, had this big mainstream thing, and then she went back down a little bit underground and was like, OK, I got to figure out what the next move is.
00:09:40
Speaker
and then kind of came back out and was like, here's this, and now I'm gonna have the song with Rina, and it's gonna be huge. And then I'm gonna kind of take a minute, because I mean, if you think about it, that was the last album, right? Was Beg For You? Crash. Yep, with Beg For You, yep. What a departure from Beg For You to anything on Brat.
00:10:00
Speaker
oh Absolutely. So it's like that is such a like I don't know if it's if it's AG cooks influence or whatever but it's like it really is such a departure and I feel like Again without being cheesy I think that this is why she's being so successful because it feels the most authentic that I've seen from her Yeah, like when I see her because like if you're telling me you're a pop star and you're gonna do a boiler room set my immediate reaction is like I don't know. I was like, okay, I hope you can DJ. I hope you could do it. But when I watched her do it, I was like, oh, this is 1000% natural. Yeah, like this is just who she is. And it feels like she's being so true to herself

Chappell Roan's Emerging Stardom

00:10:39
Speaker
and succeeding. We love that. I love that. And it's just, you know, time and time again, we see when musical artists are true to themselves, we see them have these huge successes. So I think that the music industry needs to fucking take note for once and like,
00:10:55
Speaker
learn this like you see you see and sign these artists that below up Chapel Rhone is the perfect example of this right now. yeah Ms. Rhone has been going at it for years. I just right before we hopped on was watching this video of someone where she was performing. Yes, I just saw it this morning. Yeah, where she was performing it at like this empty festival something there was like no one there was that one person And then it cuts to her most recent, I think, Lollapalooza set. Which I think they said was the biggest Lollapalooza set of all time. All time. All time. All time. Like, and what? Yeah. And of course, now that, you know, of course, with success, there comes the naysayers and the people who like try to do those think think pieces, quote unquote, whatever. So you've seen a lot of people kind of be like, well, she's playing festivals, of course, there's going to be a lot of people there.
00:11:50
Speaker
Lollapalooza specifically, because we saw those drone shots where you saw the crowd you saw this close up of like the people doing the hot to go dance and then you see it zoom out and you see that entire area doing the hot to go 80,000 people. It's our new YMCA.
00:12:08
Speaker
It, oh my God, someone said that today. Someone said that today at work. They were like, it's ah it's like the more recent sexier, like YMCA. And I was like, yes. If I go to a wedding and I see this happen, it's that's it's a done deal. Yeah. Absolutely. Good for her. No, I love this. Like it really is. When I saw ah Lady Gaga on the Joanne tour, I think it was, she was playing. I don't know what she was playing. She was sitting at a piano and she basically was just riffing and she was like, you know,
00:12:38
Speaker
I didn't, all I did was just work. She's like, for 10 years, I put my head down and just worked. She's like, and that's how I became an overnight success. She was like, so that's what you have to do. She's like, it's not going to happen overnight. She's like, but I was doing this forever before anybody cared about who I was. Forever. It's true, and it's it's it's really wild.
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah, and it's like and it's like you get it's like kind of like kind of like it was everything in life, right? You kind of take two steps and then you have a couple of steps back. Come on, Paula. Right. but Who I'm going to see on Thursday. What? Wait. So good so I totally got an invite from ah there from the record label going to the New Kids on the Block Show. And I was like, you know what? I was like, absolutely. I was like, I've never seen them in

Nostalgia and Concert Experiences

00:13:24
Speaker
concert. I've always wanted to. The only chance I've ever had sorry for everybody who's younger is listening to this but yeah um I went to go see Debbie Gibson and Joey McIntyre from New Kids in Vegas and they were amazing and Joey super sweet and whatever but I'd never seen like New Kids and they were a group that I grew up with so I was like you know what I was like I'm gonna say yes I was like and I'm just gonna see him whatever and then the the label was like oh you know we have to change the
00:13:45
Speaker
The day, you know, we want people to come, you know, to hear whatever. So I'm actually making the trip to Jersey. But anyway, yeah, when they said I did, I said yes to go see New Kids on the Block. I did not know that Paula Abdul and DJ Jazzy Jeff are opening. Oh, my God. That's going to be amazing. I was like, I've never seen Paula Abdul either. So I was like, oh, my God. I was like, this is absolutely incredible. You bring a sign and like have it say like Paula, play sexy thoughts.
00:14:11
Speaker
I'm just going to be there in a t-shirt that says, my love is for real. and My love is for you. My love is for real. I'm here to hear hear that one song that you put out, Paula. Oh my God. Follow it up with hoedown. Right. Give me some, hit me with some crazy cool. it Seriously? Oh my gosh. People will be like, what are these songs?
00:14:31
Speaker
but she She might even be like, what are these songs? right i do i Yeah, that do you know that she's done? Maybe I mentioned this to you. She is the reason kind of like in my head that I wanted to even start this podcast, because I was like, I would love to interview Paula Abdul and only talk about her deep cuts.
00:14:48
Speaker
Yes. No, you didn't mention this, but I'm so here for this. I want to talk with her. So Paula Abdul, if you are listening, I want you on this show and that we are going to talk. We're not talking about straight up. No, we are not talking about we might not. We might touch on vibology because that is one of my favorites. Have to. But but I only want to talk about the deep cuts that no one else knows specifically from the head over heels album. Yes. Yes.
00:15:11
Speaker
Yes. Oh, my God. Because that's a great album. It really is. It's really great album that people did not give it the chance that it deserved. There are so many things. I feel like there was a right. There was it was like that weird time in the 90s where I feel like the pop girls didn't really know what to do and the labels didn't know what to do with them because like, yeah, I feel like Cyndi Lauper had the same issue for like the Hatful of Stars album Sisters of Avalon, like that whole era. Like I felt like it was the label didn't really know. And it just kind of fell to the wayside. And there was so many good songs.
00:15:40
Speaker
But I will also say to tie back to chapel, she encapsulates in a pop girl what I feel like Cindy Lauper brought. the eccentricity. So there's like somewhere between Gaga and like Cyndi Lauper, Kate Bush. There's like all these different sprinkles in this like big Chapel Roan cigarette. Yes, you know, and it just feels like like because when I hear good luck, babe, like that sounds like Stevie Nicks stand back to me.
00:16:11
Speaker
yeah It's very like similar production, similar synths and stuff. and i just i she she really like I think that she's nailing it in ways that I got so excited. and Finally, we just announced today that with Peloton, we're doing our Chappel Ron Artist Series.
00:16:26
Speaker
Hell yeah. Very excited. Oh, that'll be so much fun. Yes. I have never I've actually never done an artist series yet. So or or maybe I have. what What does that mean when you guys do an artist series? It's just classes around one artist um oh catalog. Yeah. OK, so then I have them every Thursday because I did I was that then when you and Cody did the DJ live Madonna one. Yeah. One of my favorites still. It's.
00:16:52
Speaker
Any time, like when we were talking about that, I was like, look, I said, I think that the only way that we're going to be able to make this class different than all of the other classes, because we did so many throughout that, was to do like, I was like, let's just do all remixes and just take everybody to the gay bar.

Innovations in Music Remixes

00:17:06
Speaker
It's essentially what we're doing. And you did it. Yeah, it was so fun. i yeah I look forward to hopefully doing another one because there's too many Madonna mixes.
00:17:14
Speaker
too many. How can you possibly fit all of them in the class? right You did a really good transition in that too. And I'm trying to remember, I want to say it was from frozen. it was from Was it from sorry to frozen? Probably. It was like so smooth and I was like, whoa. I remember like writing and I had goosebumps and I was like, okay, here we go. like it was It was so good. It was so good. Thank you. No.
00:17:38
Speaker
But back to Ms. Roan. So I mentioned to you also like right before we jumped on, I was like, she has an I just learned this yesterday, that she has been performing a new song during her live sets within the last month or so, called the subway.
00:17:53
Speaker
And it is so and the way I found this out because I was of course scrolling through social media and someone had posted her another clip from her performing at Lollapalooza and she was singing the outro of that song where she like kind of really kind of goes off in the last part and she gets really high and I was like oh my god I was like what song is this from the album I was like I don't remember hearing this and then I like looked it up and I was like oh this is an unreleased track And so I was like, i I need to hear the full thing right now. So I looked it up online. Thank God someone has ever like, ah very, I mean, it's not super clear, but it's like, almost quality. It's really good quality, like no crowd, like from probably from one of her sets, maybe I don't know. But anyway, and when I listened to it, I was like, this is so good. And then when that outro hits,
00:18:42
Speaker
That was a cappellas. Oh, the way that they harmonize harmonize her vocals in that I cannot wait for the studio version. Absolutely. I have a feeling we're not going to get it for a while, because I feel like her label's riding high on the success of Good Luck Babe and her album. Oh, yeah. The amount of emails I get about new versions of her vinyl releases, I'm like, oh, they're like in full gear right now trying to make up on all of this. Oh, yeah. They are milking it. And good for her. Good for her. Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:19:15
Speaker
But the subway, the way I was going to describe it. So the outro kind of reminds me of two things. One, it kind of reminds me of Celine Dion in a way. There's the harmonies. I don't know. I can't put my finger on what song it is or maybe if it's just like it just in general. But it kind of gives me some Celine Dion vibes. However, what it reminds me even more of is it makes me think of the song. No pressure over cappuccino by Alanis Morissette.
00:19:44
Speaker
Ooh. And the reason why I think of that is because Alanis Morissette has this beautiful ballad, again, called No Pressure Over Cappuccino. She performed it on, I believe was her it was her MTV Live Unplugged album. And I'm sure she's done it so many times since and in live shows, but she's never released a studio version. And it is this stunning ballad that ends in a similar way where it's just like this like beautiful balladic outro.
00:20:14
Speaker
and And so the songs themselves aren't very similar necessarily. right But the way it's structured and the way that it's kind of like harmonized at the end, I was just like, and the fact that this song is currently unreleased. And who knows if she will release it or not. Right. Because apparently there's also rumors that she's not planning on releasing it. But I'm like, I'm like, don't do that to me.
00:20:36
Speaker
Please don't do that. I just listened to it before this podcast, and it's really good. It's really good. And it's like four minutes long. Right. Can you imagine? It's what a lifetime in this insane age. What a world. I was like, bring back four minute songs. Wait. Speaking of lifetimes.
00:20:53
Speaker
Happy early lifetime. Has someone heard the song? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. I've heard it. And allegedly, it's a bop.
00:21:07
Speaker
Allegedly, I'm really excited to hear it. I have not heard it yet. By the time this episode is out, the song will officially be out to the world. And so I cannot wait. I have been really excited about it. i It feels like from the makers of Yes And, we give you lifetimes. like it It feels like it has that same type of production. so Totally. yeah yeah I'm here for it. I'm here for it. Just like we need the cool kids and and you know the brat summer of it all, we need just fun pop. Yes.
00:21:43
Speaker
and uptempo fun pop.

Current Pop Music Landscape

00:21:45
Speaker
so here So here's the thing. I don't want to be a hater. I don't want to be known for like dissing artists and whatnot. And in fact, like i i even the artists that I don't enjoy, like I respect you and I understand the hustle and whatnot. One song I have yet to get behind, and this might sound sacrilegious. This might sound sacrilegious. so I have not been able to get into Espresso by Ms. Carpenter. OK. OK.
00:22:11
Speaker
And the thing is, is that like, like, it's like, I have a feeling that, and maybe it, I will retroactively start liking it. Like maybe not this year, but next year, right? Like when summer rolls around next year, I'll probably be like, Oh yeah. It reminds me of last summer. Right. Right. Right.
00:22:26
Speaker
But like, it's not a song that I particularly and it's not even that I dislike it necessarily. It's just, it's too same of just like what has already been out for a while, just that like kind of mid tempo disco style. It reminds me of like, say, wait, what was the Doja Cat song? Say so. Say so. yeah say Say so kiss me more because they're almost the same song.
00:22:49
Speaker
literally. So it just feels like a sister to those. And I guess what I'm just trying to say is like, that's probably like kind of considered like the fun pop right now. I just need something a little bit bigger. Right, right. I think that, you know, espresso to me, if ah if out of the two songs that I feel like she's released, I think Please, Please, Please is the better one.
00:23:10
Speaker
If I'm being honest, I like that more than Espresso. But Espresso to me, even though it's having such a thing right now and it's such a huge song and everybody loves it, whatever, feels like it will go the way of Despacito, which is always my ah marker for this. A song that you absolutely cannot avoid, couldn't avoid, was literally everywhere. Everybody, your mother, your grandmother, everybody knows it. And then two years later, you never hear it again.
00:23:36
Speaker
You're like, what song? What song? Oh, yeah, Spresso, yeah. and I remember you mentioning it. Not even in a bad way. I just think that she's going to end up doing bigger, or bigger, or better. And that that's going to be looked at as such like a fluff, like the first one. But I just, yeah, that's my suspicion.
00:23:53
Speaker
I remember you mentioning that before. And when you brought that up, I was like, Oh my god, I have not heard Despacito anywhere. Where? and year Where? Years. No, where? No, where? Once, once in a while, maybe at like a wedding.
00:24:10
Speaker
or maybe I'm not going to the right bars. Maybe but maybe maybe I'm going to the right bars. maybe Depending on who you ask, but no, yeah it's just one of those things where it's like, it almost feels like it's it gets so big that What do you do? like it's just It just goes away because it burns so hot for the time. When was it honestly Old Town Road? I was just going to say Old Town Road. I was going to say same exact thing. Longest number one single in our in the US. s and when When was the last time you've heard it anywhere? Couldn't tell you. Right. Couldn't tell you. That's what I mean. so i'm like it's it's and Again, I think this is new in the digital era. I want to say because
00:24:50
Speaker
Like there are songs from the 80s, 90s, 2000s that I'll still hear pretty frequently, but like yeah when you get to like 2010s onward, it seems like the bigger the song, the more removed it becomes from society because you just don't. Like even Billie Eilish, Bad Guy, couldn't tell you the last time I heard that. Oh my God, you're right. I, you know, wow. I think that you're hitting on something here because it just feels like We're obsessed with like the Spotify wrapped of the year, right? We're obsessed with the Apple replay of the year. We want to see where our favorites land. yeah It's kind of like our own version of billboard, if you will. yeah And I do feel like a lot of people, myself included, I found myself doing this, which is so why I'm trying and to intentionally no longer do this, is that because you want to see your faves at the end of the year and do the whole joke of like, oh, I'm so gay, like whatever.
00:25:46
Speaker
Like you, you intentionally kind of, we are obsessed with like doing that, but then also that is now the new way that people like chart and whatnot. too So people, fans are, of course, are also like stream so-and-so for clear skin. And for me, it creates that over overkill. It right fizzles and burns out kind of like that Beyonce is like what she's saying about the music and she's like they put out a single, it burns out, puts out a single, it burns out. I feel like we have brought that that up in every single podcast we have recorded.

Music Longevity in the Digital Age

00:26:19
Speaker
And maybe it's because we need to drill it into people's heads. We are going to make this burn out.
00:26:24
Speaker
No, but it's true though because it's like I don't know like I There's so many of these songs that I feel like and if we really sat down and thought about it we could probably come up with a very big list of songs that were so huge that you just don't hear anything about because it's not even like a one-hit wonder used to be where like a song blew up and then you never heard from the artist again and It's like yeah, these songs are so big and I feel like this is part of the problem With the push in the digital areas, which is why I always say vanity metrics because when the labels and the marketing is so like most pre-saved song most
00:27:01
Speaker
biggest song in Albuquerque most biggest whatever like the most ridiculous stats that you've ever heard of your it's so much to keep in everybody's face that when we do move on we never look back because it's like oh I heard so much about that I just don't even I can't even listen to it anymore and I feel like that's what's happening now is that it's sort of like conditioning this burnout cycle in our brains when it comes to music and I don't like it. Absolutely. Yeah. Speaking of metrics, you don't want to hear a crazy stat that I saw on Twitter from Rhino records. Oh my God. that This blew my mind. I was like, I was like, that's it. And I'd mean that so respectfully because this song deserves to be like 10 times platinum into the groove by Madonna with certified gold.
00:27:46
Speaker
Wow. Gold. What? Yeah. I was like, I was like, gold? Gold. Because gold is what, 500,000 copies? I think so. Platinum is a million and then double platinum. And then when we get to diamond is something ridiculous. Diamond is, ah I think, 10 million copies. Yeah. And so obviously so obviously in this streaming and digital era, like right that that is very different than you know the days of having to go to the store and purchase the CD single or purchase the record or purchase the cassette tape. Oh, I bet you it's because it was on a soundtrack.
00:28:25
Speaker
Right, because it was from the the was that desperate desperately seeking Susan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So way it was the double A side to Angel, right? so So. Well, I was going to say it says Warner Brothers did not give into the groove an official release in the United States, thus making it ineligible to enter the Billboard Hot 100. Let that sink in. And there it is. God damn it, Warner Brothers.
00:28:50
Speaker
that is great Because that is but obviously one of Madonna's most notable singles from the 80s. She's performed it on seven of her concerts. On seven of her tours, she's performed the song, right? So it's like, how is this not, right? That's crazy, gold? Wow. Isn't it gold? So yeah, I saw that on Twitter like two days ago and I was like, this feels, feels a little homophobic. It feels, I was just like, because you, again, you think of these songs that are like, you know, 10 times platinum and you're just kind of like,
00:29:28
Speaker
ah In fact, Madonna has a lot of singles. I will say this, Madonna pre-digital era has a lot of multi-platinum singles, which was very hard to do. Not everyone has that, to quote Mariah Carey.
00:29:42
Speaker
by Um, you know, now that the the digital era, because Madonna hasn't really, I feel like it's finally starting to happen, but I feel like she didn't take off in the way that like Mariah Carey blows up every Christmas, right? Or like Michael Jackson has a lot of streaming numbers. Rihanna has a lot of streaming numbers still. Well, to be fair, to be fair, she hasn't really done anything that's bridged a gap. And I feel like whereas like,
00:30:10
Speaker
Mariah has been with Ariana and mariah has like she's sort and she had the remix with Money Long and she's done things in the digital era to sort of like place herself I guess in in things and yes with would Lotto and then you know obviously the Christmas stuff every year helps whereas like Madonna She hasn't really done that. you know like it's there's no There's no big crossover that's happened. like there's I feel like it's only recently with the celebration tour that she's really paid so much attention to her catalog as well as Warner Brothers. So I feel like it it will still happen. I think that the Deadpool and Wolverine sink is very, very good for her. And this is one of the ways that I think this happens with the next generation.
00:30:53
Speaker
yeah Because even now, and what's crazy, someone on my team brought this up today and I had to look to see if it's true. And I don't like that they've done this, but I understand why they that they've done this. So on streaming now, and I don't know if they did it for everything, for every song, when you look up NSYNC's, Bye Bye Bye. So if you haven't seen the movie Deadpool and Wolverine, there's a big fight scene, whatever that that song is playing in.
00:31:17
Speaker
that song on streaming they've updated the metadata so now when you look up bye bye bye it says bye bye bye from the Deadpool and Wolverine soundtrack even on the no strings attached album yeah it says that and I'm like oh wow I was like we're really trying to teach kids okay it's it's smart I like it but I think that the like a prayer thing too will be good for that movie I was watching an interview with um ah zach Zach Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds and they were saying that Ryan Reynolds was saying that we had to go to Madonna's house to present
00:31:51
Speaker
what we wanted to do and how we wanted to use the song and to get her approval. And he's like, and I'm kind of freaking out because how often do you go to Madonna's house? He's like, and I'm just sitting there trying to plead my case to say, hey, Madonna, you know, this this would be really perfect. We want to use this as whatever. but but but And she said that she they said that she watched the scene and she said, OK, this is good. And I think that it's great. But I think you should change this, this, this and this.
00:32:16
Speaker
And Roy Reynolds was like, and we went right back into the editing room the next day because if Madonna tells you to change something, you change it. He's like, and when we changed it, we realized she was right and it's better. He's like, so thank you, Madonna. Right. Right. So he's like, thank you, Madonna. We appreciate it.
00:32:32
Speaker
Oh, my God. i yeah I have yet to see Wolverine and Deadpool. It's hysterical. I really want to

Madonna's Cultural Impact

00:32:40
Speaker
see it. And I heard that is the version of Michael like a prayer that they use in the movies at a remix? I keep hearing people say it's a remix. It's a remix, but it's more like a so it happens in a really big like epic moment. So they kind of took the original version and like re orchestrated it. There's like a new orchestra that's playing like a much more epic string section throughout it and there's more of the like you know how when they do like trailers and it's like that epic sort of ba ba ba ba they did a lot of that to it they did that got it yeah okay but like how it comes in at first and it's you'll you will love the that part it's really really great do they use the album version or like the shut putter bone uh they use the album version but it seems to come in with like the churchapella
00:33:22
Speaker
Okay. So like you come you come in and you hear that first because of how it's all happening. And then ah because like as soon as it happened, I like sat upright and I was like, here we go. Here we go. Oh, my God. i Yeah. Well, as like I said, they even have a lady Deadpool with Madonna's like blonde ponytail where she's like completely covered. Yeah. And it's like Lady Deadpool. They call her Lady Pool. Lady Pool. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. Which was wow actually played by but ah Blake Lively in the movie. You don't see her face ever, but it was Blake Lively.
00:33:50
Speaker
I love that. Oh my God. That's fun. that's why I love little things like that. That's so good. you took Me too. Me too. Fun. yeah no i just you know I'm glad. It feels like for the first time in a long time, people are finally appreciating Madonna for who she is and what she's achieved and what she's done. I feel like for a really long time, there was a lot of online slander, which I did not appreciate. and I still don't appreciate when I do see it. but um Yeah, I just feel like her music is just so obviously you and I are biased. We are huge Madonna fans. We recognize that she's our mother, Jeffrey Beach, if you're listening. um And but like I just, you know, I was revisiting Ray of Light today again. like I mean, that's one of my favorite albums of all time. But I was just like every song that I'm like listening to, I'm like, God, this is you just don't get music like this very often anymore. And it's it's just it's just breathtaking. I don't know what else to say.
00:34:45
Speaker
So there's this guy on TikTok that, I don't know if you've ever seen him where he does this thing where it's like, he's in a dark room. I think he's laying down on his side and he'll be like, how he gets you is like, remember that time in the nineties when Michael Jackson did a song about blah, blah, blah. And it's like this whole thing. And like, it's like a series. This is just what he, the content that he posts on TikTok. I can't think of his name, but I have to send it to you. He did one for frozen recently that came up and it was something along the lines of remember that time in the nineties when Madonna was making meditation pop. And I was like, Oh my God. That is so good. I was like, I am forever going to use that as a genre now. Meditation pop? That's brilliant. Meditation pop. Brilliant and perfectly describes the album. Perfect. I was like, this is exactly what this is. Yeah.
00:35:32
Speaker
There was some lore that I've also seen on Twitter lately. Twitter has been, I've been like going down some like deep, dark alleys on Twitter lately. And yeah, but like good ones, like like pop culture, like pop music lore and whatnot. And apparently when she was promoting the Ray of Light album, she did a stop at the Roxy and performed Skyfitz Heaven, Shanti Ishaanji, and then allegedly a 10 minute version of Ray of Light at I think it was, I want to say it was the Victor Calderon remix. Was it? Okay, that would make sense. Yeah, I think it was because I think Victor was actually playing that night.
00:36:10
Speaker
oh that Okay, maybe you just answered because people are because everyone on Twitter is like, I need to know if there's footage that exists of this. There's most likely not. Most likely not because it was 1998, which at that time in my life, we were very high tech. right Reflecting back, we were not. We were not. We were not. we we were not Nobody had cell phones then.
00:36:33
Speaker
Right. Yeah. There was no cell phones when this happened. So there just wasn't. Yeah. And even that, because like I went to the Roxy to see Cher perform and that's when Thunder Post was there and it was just ridiculous. And I have like one photo from it that was in like a magazine, a local gay magazine, but that's all I've got. Like there's no footage. I've never seen anything for it. But yeah, wild. Wow. Back yeah back when the girls used to do that.
00:36:57
Speaker
and show up at the gay clubs, right? Show up at the day club, they the day clubs, the gay clubs. just play Play the unreleased music that no one's heard of. ah Take me back. Take me back. And this is, I mean, we could we could do a whole episode about this too because it's like, I think that for a long time, I think growing up as a gay man and not really understanding what the connection is with like, why are the divas Why are we so attracted to the divas? Why is that such a thing? why What's with the female pop love? like I don't know why. And it's yeah it's got to be something that is... I don't even know how to explain it because it's so innate to so many of us that we all do this and we all have our girls. But like in the 70s, when you had the first gay clubs happening in the city,
00:37:44
Speaker
A lot of times what the girls on Broadway would do like Cheryl Lee Ralph and like all of like Betty Buckley and all of these like older women, now they're older women, but like she was Betty Buckley was in Cats, the girls from Dreamgirls, Patti LuPone, like all of the Broadway girls that knew all of the gays in the 70s.
00:38:00
Speaker
they would go do their two shows on Broadway, and then at two o'clock in the morning, go down to the East Village, perform at the Gay Club, two, three, four o'clock in the morning, and then go right back and do a Broadway show the next day. They were there every weekend. So there's always been this sort of symbiotic where it's like, we've welcomed them in, and we've done whatever, and it's like we've loved them, and then they come and they perform at the clubs, and I feel like the girls don't do that like they used to, and it was like just part of what it was, that that symbiotic relationship.
00:38:29
Speaker
I feel like somebody like Chappell would be like the right person to do that. I mean, obviously she's a lesbian, but like yeah that would be amazing to have that sort of, I mean, it would probably be hysteria now because I have, who knows if you could pull something like that off, but like when Madonna showed up at Stonewall. Right, yeah.
00:38:46
Speaker
You know, like that sort of stuff. Like, I love to see all that. So, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. No, I i completely agree. I didn't think that you touched on it too with like the hysteria of it all. we just With the way that everyone does get kind of so starstruck now, people whip out their phones and chase people around. It is just a different time now.

Lady Gaga's Album Leaks and Rumors

00:39:07
Speaker
yeah And so that it it would make it really hard and too with just the way that things, the way that we even deliver music now digitally, like that would just be such a risk to, you know, leak something. Totally. Which, you know, I'm actually shocked that we actually haven't had any league Lady Gaga leaks yet. Right. I'm like really surprised.
00:39:28
Speaker
I because she's she is one who I remember like, I think that chromatica stuff was leaking before the album came out. I think I think it's happened with every album of hers for the much. So I'm glad I mean, I'm glad that it hasn't happened. I know. Gaga, I will never forgive you for not giving us Brooklyn dreams. It kills me all the time that and then and the share do it.
00:39:51
Speaker
I'll never forgive DJ White Shadow for teasing an art pop 10 year anniversary edition and then being like, never mind. Kidding lol. I was like, maybe let's not tease fans for an entire year that that's going to happen. Right. And then be like, oh, sorry, it's not going to happen. Like, come on. Right. Normani. Oh, sorry. but Sorry. Just saying what album? Right. We gave you the keys.
00:40:20
Speaker
We gave gave you the keys and you let them rust. I feel like the Tyra Banks, like we were rooting for you. We were all rooting for you. Oh, wait. So how about today? We were talking. So at work, obviously, if you don't know, I work on the music team at Peloton. And so my group, my team has like a group Slack that we would that we all just like share like ridiculous things all day in.
00:40:41
Speaker
My team was entirely unaware of Kim Kardashian's solo smash, Jam. Jam. So I made sure that everybody knew what that was today. And then when they couldn't believe their ears, I was like, wait a minute, I'm not done. I was like, because this we needed in the world. And here's Tyra Bank, shake your body.
00:41:00
Speaker
oh I was like, but this one's actually good. Yeah, no, Shake Your Body is so good. And we need that on streaming immediately. Girl, with the girl who works next to me, Colleen, she was like, um she's like, okay, so she basically listened to Beyonce's Dangerously In Love album and was like, let's get in the studio. Mm hmm. Yep. She sure did. but She sure did. She was like like, let's get in there really right now. Yeah. Oh, shake your body, body, move your that. I mean, it's it's really good. I'm sorry. It's great. It really is. It's like the that is like qui to me quintessential gay pop. One hundred percent. Yeah. That's like the nonsense like like that. I feel like most gay friendships like this are built on. Yeah. It's like, yeah man.
00:41:45
Speaker
Yeah, if you have not out there heard Tyra Banks Shake Your Body, go look it up on YouTube because there is an actual video for it as well. Literally. Yeah. Well, I mean, that brings us to the iconic segment that is songs we don't talk about enough. OK, I got to pull out my list because I keep one now because of you. Good. I'm glad. And I'm not even going to lie. Santa's list. Right. the The first song on my list was Tyra Banks' Movie Body. No way. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm not we've already touched on that. OK, love that. I was going down an Enrique Iglesias rabbit hole. Yeah.
00:42:22
Speaker
just like you do randomly, because I've been sitting here, I've been, for anybody who doesn't know, again, as I work on the the music team at Peloton, I deal with a lot of relationships with record labels, and I meet with label reps all the time to talk about just anything that's involving an artist catalog. A lot of times I will try to, if I can, say, you know, can we get some of these remixes that are missing from streaming, whatever, whatever, so I had this idea that I was gonna do this for Enrique, and I had 1,000% forgot about his duet with Calise.
00:42:52
Speaker
Not In Love. Oh my God. Not In Love. Wow. I love that song so much. It's so good. It's so good. Wow. Blast From The Past. That was from what, like 2003, 2004-ish? Yeah. It's definitely 2000s, for sure. Yeah. And like the Day of A Day remix is incredible. I was going to say the Day of A Day. I want to say, was it Armin van Beeth? No. Armin van Helden. Van Helden. Yep. Did a remix. Yep.
00:43:21
Speaker
ah Holy smokes. And the her version was the single version. Yes, that that was the album version is just solo him. Right? No, no, no, but it's it needs to be the duet. It needs to be the duet. Yeah. Wow. I love that song. and The video is so good, too. So it's so it has to be like 2004 because that is I want to say that video. It has like kind of like that, like turquoise green. Yes. You owe it, which is very of that time. and We just discovered that color at the time. We really did. We were brand new color. And this is the color of everyone's skin now. Anytime you want to be sexier in the dark, everybody wants to be a little green. Everyone's a little green. In the words of Ariana Grande and Wicked, you're green.
00:44:06
Speaker
like I'm going to need you to do that impression for me every day. Okay. Jeff loves it too. He loves it all. He's like, he's like do it, do it. You're green. I can't wait but yeah wait. So that is mine.
00:44:26
Speaker
I love that. It's a great selection. That's a great selection. Um, I am going to go with, so I was inspired by, so I had come up with a meme series and I actually deleted it because it was a flop meme. I thought that for sure that this was going to go off and people are going to love it. And it only had this Amazon. So stupid right now, but it only had like 500 likes, which is not a lot for me. Right. For me. That is like, that is a very underperforming engagement. Right.
00:44:55
Speaker
i was doing ah I did a whole main series of songs that need to be on streaming. right and i The song that made me be like, this needs to be on streaming, because I was going through my files, not my not my Apple music, but my actual files that of songs that are on my phone.
00:45:12
Speaker
And I came across Shake Them Haters Off by Kelly Rowlands. Girl, when you sent me the meme, I was like, where did this F slur pull this song out of? Because I have not thought of this in like decades. Just saying this song fucking slaps. I'm sorry. Shake It Off by Taylor Swift found dead in the ditch.
00:45:38
Speaker
because this song shake them haters off. I want to say it was from like 2010 2011 ish. It was when Kelly Roland when it's in her dance era. She had success with when love takes when love takes over.
00:45:51
Speaker
yeah mander a mander we knowt totally that one enough We really don't and she had another song like forever in a day that was released in Europe um She was she was really like recording a lot of dance music and I think that she was even ready to record or put out a dance album Got it. for Whatever for whatever reason it got shelved. I wonder if it was because of leaks but Shake Them Haters off. Just made me think of another song for next next time. Sorry. There we go. There we go. um I want to say Shake Them Haters off was officially released at one point. I want to say it leaked, but then I want to say it was officially released in like some capacity, but then since removed, like I guess they canceled it and then they moved on to other things. Oh, I got a look. I got a dig.
00:46:37
Speaker
Yeah, I want to say because a single cover art was made, I want to say that there was even like, remember when they would do like promo only CDs and it would be like the single oh yeah like the instrumental and whatnot. I want to say a couple of those were commissioned. And I i could have sworn it was on iTunes at one point. But i anyway, long story short, Calendria, Roland,
00:47:02
Speaker
Get your ass up and put shake them haters off on streaming. but Put it on streaming, give us a dance album, and for God's sake, do the Donna Summer biopic. Please, for the love of God. Please, there is no one else on this earth who could do this as well as you could, Miss Kelly Rowland. Please, I beg of you. That would be amazing. And I'm sorry if this is the part that goes on social media. I just had something to get in my eye that we're talking. No, it's totally OK. But um yeah, I said sitting here, like, squiggling. The one thing that we have to touch on, though, before we leave? Yes. Jade. Jade. Jade.
00:47:39
Speaker
Holy shit. Like, oh my god. What an entrance into the solo music. And the video. The music video. Oh my god. Everything that has been missing from music videos lately. Yes. It's a fun. She's got looks. She's got looks. She told a story. Which is really hard to do with a three minute song. But yeah also thank you for a three and a half minute song, Jane. For real. For real. Thank you.
00:48:06
Speaker
i I love it. I love, I love the direction. I love how weird the song is. yeah i I love that she gave us something that was out of left field, something memorable, right? Whether the song becomes a huge success is yet to be determined. I know it debuted at number seven on the UK charts. Oh, wow.
00:48:27
Speaker
But um I mean, the song is a song that people will remember as an entrance into the music industry, you know, as a solo artist. Yeah, I think that it's it's if this is like an indication of things to come, then I think that we're in a really good spot.
00:48:45
Speaker
Yes. And speaking of Donna Summer, she I want to say Donna Summer. Oh, no, sorry. It was Diana Ross. She said that Diana Ross was an inspiration for the album. Beautiful. And which I was like, Amen, girl. Great. And then at a fan like she was due it was like kind of like a release party for Angel of my dreams. She premiered a little snippet of the next single. And cro I got to be honest. Good.
00:49:12
Speaker
i It's allegedly called It Girl. i She said in an interview recently that it's not called that, but... It's a little bratty. Give it to me now. Right. It slaps. It hits. It slaps so hard. And and from...
00:49:28
Speaker
What I've been reading about the album is that insiders are saying that Angel of My Dreams was intentional to be like slap in the face. I'm here as a solo artist. Let's fucking go. Right. And then the second single, which is presumably the song allegedly called It Girl.
00:49:45
Speaker
i was going to be like the like hit of the album. Like it was going like this is the song that people are it's and it it did not disappoint. Like this like clubhouse stomper. Right. That is the entire 30 second snippet that's floating around on the Internet right now is so infectious. Yeah. But you know what, though, I think the girls are just like they're going to Ibiza like the girls are going to the club like because we saw Katy Perry was a black coffee. I just saw a video this morning Rita Ora.
00:50:16
Speaker
in Ibiza with black coffee. So I'm like, the girls are just there. The girls are at the club. So it makes sense. They're going to the club. They are going to the club. They're going to the club. And it's time that we all join them because amen and like i I am here for it. i It feels just really exciting. It feels like an exciting time for all the new music releases that have come out this year. There's been a lot of great ones, but there's also been a lot of I feel bad saying duds. It's just stuff that it's, and part of it is just the overwhelming that we've talked about time and time again, is that this is so much. It's too much. It's too much. And then when you, and when your your song is only two and a half minutes, I mean, how is, how is anyone going to remember? Well, and this is, this is again, I like, we could, we could sit here and go back and forth all day about this and the, the, the industry of it all. But it really is just like, there are so many things that I see that are just symptoms of the problem. And this is just this short,
00:51:11
Speaker
song length is just part of it and it's like I know you're trying to keep people on the app and you're trying to get streams up like I get the whole game of it but it's like When we look back 15 years from now, what are we going to look back and see? like what's goingnna be the I don't know. What's going to be the prevailing hit? I just need to make a TikTok edit, then. put make it Make a streaming edit instead of a radio edit. Make a streaming edit. You know make you know what it is. And and the more that i I'm in this, the more that I think it's and I think that this is just a ah ah corporate thing in general where
00:51:44
Speaker
you have the creative people come and make this body of work and then the label sort of comes in and they're just like, wow, that data says that the songs need to be shorter and the data says that these songs, that this is what's trending and this is what's happening. And so you get all these other voices that sort of come in and are just like, well, this is the corporations and it's people who are not creative that are giving like, we've,
00:52:08
Speaker
culled the data and this is what we see is trending in Mexico City. so And it's it's that, whereas I feel like it's so much less about the artist fucking it up and more about the system fucking it up. So it's like, somebody like Jade, I feel like she's going to give an album that the gays are going to love and be here for. I don't know that I, I mean, unless something happens, I don't know that I see her as like bursting through the stratosphere as like a um a main pop girl.
00:52:34
Speaker
But I think that she's got a chance. like i think To me, like you're going to have the solo career of Jerry Halliwell. yeah you know you're gonna like you're gonna It's going to be like that level of... you know like I think that it will do obviously do very well in the UK. I think the gays will love it. but yeah Will she have an espresso? I don't know. I don't know. But you know what? I'm here for it. i'm i I've never been, or I shouldn't say never, but i've I've been very excited for this. I've been looking forward to this particular little mixer debut. um I feel like it's been a minute since there's been like a pop girl that I'm like, yes, give me a solo album. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. So I'm very excited for this because I saw i don't know the producers really, when I look at all of the
00:53:17
Speaker
I think she said it was Mike Sabbath, was the one that produced Angel of My Dreams, um which I believe she also worked with on Wasabi, which she's famously like her favorite Little Mix song ah from LM5. His is the only name that I really know. Like everybody else that's on the album, like the writers and stuff, I don't really, I'm not that familiar with, but.
00:53:36
Speaker
I want to say that she, i in an interview, she said that she's worked ah working with M and EK again. Oh, thank God. Yeah, which I love him so much. Same. Yeah, which I know that they've worked on the songs together in the past, and it's always worked out really well. And so, yeah, and I think she also said she's she's worked with to the loo as well.
00:53:55
Speaker
So, yep. She's getting her out. I'm very excited. Hopefully that means more slutty pop. Let's do it. Yeah. So my guys, slut pop, slut pop, not Kim Petras. Just kidding. We love you, Kim. We love you, Kim. Well, on that note, everyone, thank you so much for listening. John Michael, always a pleasure to have you. Thank you for coming on in. Anytime. And everyone have a blessed day, night, morning, wherever. Peace out. Bye.