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00:00:01
Halftime Show 2025
116 Plays1 month ago
🔥 This week on HOMOPHONIC, DJ John Michael is back to break down Kendrick Lamar’s history-making Super Bowl Halftime Show! We’re diving into his next-level visuals, that legendary Samuel L. Jackson cameo, and the double standards male and female performers still face today.
But that’s not all—
🚗 We rev up for Tate McRae’s scorching new single “Sports Car”
🎶 Get into the latest banger from Bentley Robles & Zee Machine
✨ Unpack the mystery of Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra”
🎧 Give LeAnn Rimes’ underrated remixes the love they deserve
🎉 And, of course, we celebrate Janet Jackson Appreciation Day!
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Transcript
Podcast Intro and Theme Song Ideas
00:00:00
Speaker
Okay, here we go. Oh, actually, you know wait, wait, before we start, im go I wanna ask you two because I was thinking about this the other day. yeah So what do you imagine when you think of ah like an opening intro song? like What comes to your mind? What type of, because I was trying to put something together and I'm like, I don't even know, I was like, I wanna make sure that it's not, I don't wanna make something and then you're stuck with it because you feel like you should do it because I did it. I wanna see like where, like do you Take the time and okay give me like a playlist, give me like a Spotify playlist of like five short examples of things that you like. Okay. Okay. I'll do that. Yeah. i think That's a really good question. Yeah. I have a, that's a great question. Cause I'm like, I have no idea what that would even be. Like what it would be. Because a lot of times like I listen to other podcasts and I'm like, some of the music is really cheesy and I don't want it to be that, but it, it, it, it's got to serve a server purpose too.
00:00:56
Speaker
Right. yeah so yeah Yeah. I know. i i ah Initially, when when Jeff and I were doing Pop Theory, I was like, what if I did a beat box as like our, is like our not that I can beat box well, but like I was like, just like ah i was like what what if I just did like a like my impression of instincts pop, like the end the outro of that. And right. Right. you And they did that. And he was like, no. And I was like, OK. Right. So that's like the only that's like the furthest I ever got with like what could a theme song be? I also feel you know what actually a really good example would be is speaking of beatboxing. It's kind of beatboxing, but not you know the um how I roll by Britney Spears. Oh, yeah. Oh, no
00:01:51
Speaker
And there it is. We've got it recorded. And welcome back to Homephonic. Welcome back to Homephonic, everybody.
Humor and Fashion Talk
00:02:01
Speaker
and that And then just that a whole laugh the entire time, too. Right. It's just me. I'm just going to take this audio and sample it. Perfect. Perfect. I love that. yeah yeah So maybe something like that, but like honestly, i that's a great question. Let me marinate on that a little bit okay and then and I can get back to you. I might even keep that in the episode because that was really funny. Welcome back to Homophonic, everybody. It is your host, Zach Rickle. We're joined once again by John Michael, DJ extraordinaire of Peloton and then some. Hello, hello.
00:02:31
Speaker
Hello, hello. He's got his yeah he's got his ah beautiful or I almost said orange. Why do they even say orange? It is not orange at all. It's a green sweater, green sweater, my podcast sweater, his podcast sweater and nice little cable net. Yeah, I've got a nice little like crop. It's actually a crop top, but it's a crop top sweater with a What is it? What is it? Shoulder pads. Yeah. And we are just, we're, so we said sweaters. She said it's February in Michigan. Why not a crop top? Why not a crop top with no sleeves? Right. Have you considered sleeveless? Have you considered sleeveless? And let me tell you why I always consider sleeveless. I run so hot though, yeah that like, like that's why I love cold weather so much. People are like, why do you love cold weather? I run so hot all the time.
00:03:21
Speaker
I don't mind heat if it's dry. And that's why I love the desert because like I can go out and do the desert and dry heat and be totally fine. But as soon as you introduce even just like a drop of humidity, I'm out. I'm out. I'm drowning. Right. They're like, it's June. Let's go to Miami. I'm like, you are out of your mind. Out of your mind. I see men when I'm like driving to work all the time in the summertime, men in like or driving home from work, I should say, like walking around downtown and bag business suits. Yeah.
Weather and Wardrobe Challenges
00:03:51
Speaker
I don't understand how they are not just just completely wet and just like, like because i would be just look I would look absolutely filthy. And these are like light gray suits. I'm not talking about like a black suit, right? That you maybe can't see sweat stains. These are like light gray, light blue suits. And I'm just like, you guys are just walking around like no big deal?
00:04:10
Speaker
And they all do it and I see it all the time, all throughout where I work and in midtown Manhattan. it's It's just nothing but like finance bros and like puffer vests and like the whole animal in suits. And I'm like, I don't get it. Does it get really human in New York?
00:04:24
Speaker
Uh, it does during, in the summertime. Not right now, right now. I mean, it's freezing, but it's, it's, yeah, it's, it's really, it's crazy here. And that's why when people come in the summertime, I'm like, what are you thinking of coming here in the summertime? Yeah, it gets really humid here in Michigan. Yeah. I don't know. It seems very unenjoyable to me, especially for a place that's so expensive. I'm like, you really want to enjoy that.
00:04:44
Speaker
Right. Yeah, so exactly. Yeah, there was a there was like a Fourth of July a few years back my when my friend Landon lived here in Grand Rapids, he and his partner Bobby would always have like garden parties for like Fourth of July or whatever, or like they just have people over. And I remember one year I was like, I love you guys. I can't do the outside today.
00:05:07
Speaker
I was like, it is just too humid. Absolutely not. I was like, if we want to go inside and and enjoy that air conditioning, let's do it. ah i like Let's get crispy and cold. Like, let's go. But yeah, it gets it gets pretty wild. So, you know, I sweat too much. And you would think that I would like the cold weather because of that. But I feel like what the winter is to me now is I arrive everywhere.
00:05:32
Speaker
drying off because I'm like three layers in I'm sweating underneath and now it's like everything that I'm three layers everything is soaking wet I'm like I'm just ah And that's my problem too. yeah right i went i On my lunch break today, I went on my on a walk ah just outside and that's exactly how it was. so i was like I had a hoodie and ah and a puffer jacket on. By the time I was back, I was super sweaty underneath. I was like, I can't win. I can't win right now. no And then there's the days where I'm like, you know what? It actually doesn't seem like it's that bad outside. I'm just going to wear a little bit less. Maybe I'm not going to bring the hoodie and I'm just going to wear like a normal jacket. And then as soon as I'm like on my way to the train, I'm like, this is a mistake.
00:06:08
Speaker
This is a mistake. I'm going to be absolutely freezing on the way home tonight. I was like, and there's nothing I can do about it. Got to keep going is what it is. I know. I miss un-prepared. Typically when I go to work,
Kendrick Lamar's Performance and Social Media Reactions
00:06:19
Speaker
I bring, I bring, so I usually, cause I work at a health and wellness facility. We'll just say that. And for the, for those of listening and, um, I, uh, I usually like when I go to work, usually it's like really early in the morning cause I work out before work. So I am like,
00:06:37
Speaker
<unk> bring my long ass puffer coat that's like down to my ankles and I'm in my snow boots and then I bring my workout clothes. I have my work clothes with me and then I have a second pair of workout clothes because I like to, on my lunch breaks, I like to do just like a quick, nothing crazy, but it's like, usually I'll do like maybe a little bit of cardio. I usually do a Peloton core class.
00:06:56
Speaker
something like that just to kind of break my day up just to kind of get me moving a little bit but it's it so much that they bring with me and I'm just kind of like and sometimes I bring like two coats because I'm like I don't know if it's gonna be warmer or cooler today maybe I don't need this in this gigantic puffer jacket I don't know. but i Well now I have this thing because I've been I've been trying to find like I've been having this obsession lately with doing like a hot tub and a cold plunge and then a hot tub and a cold plunge and kind of like the back and forth of that. I really like, like I've got this weird thing happening in my neck and it makes it feel better. and oh good yeah um So I found a spot that I've been going to not too far away, but like I'm so like bundled up that like the lockers are so small that I'm like stuffing things in there trying to get out of place. It's just, I'm just a mess all winter. All winter she's a mess. Crazy. i I feel that. I feel that. yeah and um Speaking of mess, no. so like just Starting off, Kendrick Lamar is a halftime show like that. People would go nuts. Oh, my God. Oh, God. you can And it's so crazy, too, because like it's it's the discourse. I feel like this is the problem with social media now is that the discourse about any performance is I feel like I already knew what people were going to say before it even happened.
00:08:06
Speaker
Absolutely. As soon as I saw Samuel L. Jackson, which cool cameo. Right. And also like Uncle Sam, like get it like. Yeah, exactly. Like I was like, I was like brilliant. And I was like, as soon as I saw him, I was like, oh, conservatives are going to lose their fucking mind. Right. Right. Right. Oh, my gosh. My Uncle Sam ain't black. Like. Right. but i know And it's it's all the outrage is just so predictable.
00:08:32
Speaker
It is, it is. At this point, at this, and this is what's funny. Like, I don't know if you feel this way. I almost feel like most perform, I don't know what I need to excite me during a performance now, but there's a lot, I like kind of, I can predict what is already kind of, kind of happen.
00:08:51
Speaker
As far as like who's gonna get outraged and I'm like at this I was like this outrageous people I'm like why doesn't it outrage me I was like why I want to be I want to feel something i I feel something I just want to feel something well
Artistry and Influence of Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé
00:09:03
Speaker
because and I saw I saw somebody post something once and it said something like um You know all art is political. You're just bad at media analysis Yeah, and that's what this is. That's what I feel like this is where we're at now where it's like, I don't I don't I don't know what to tell you like people are going to have things to say. It's like it's I don't know. I don't know. It's just it's so predictable and it really is like the outrage is so performative. Yeah. it's
00:09:29
Speaker
and i do have it yeah I do have a critique, we can get into that in um in ah and a minute, um but it's not about Kendrick Lamar per se. right But I have a critique, which i don' are people but I'm sure people might already guess what I have to say. but i yeah I don't have, like I think that when it when I think of, like I didn't judge this Super Bowl performance based on other one's past. I'm not expecting the same thing from Kendrick Lamar like I was expecting from Madonna. Right. you know like These are gonna be very- He comes in with 300 gladiators. It's just Kendrick Lamar being brought in by a bunch of shirtless men. Oh my God, I would have died. That would have been so good. The surprise of the night, Kendrick just bogs the house down. Oh my god. I would be so here for this. That would be wild. When he came out with his bell bottoms on, I was like, OK, miss, you better work. I was like, I see you with your bell bottoms. OK, now. I was like, that's definitely going to be a spike in the in the and the trend. Oh, for sure. Yeah, but i've been seeing a lot of I've been seeing a lot of positive reactions regarding that. Yeah, no, absolutely. But it but yeah just in general, like I think that he did exactly what I thought he was going to do.
00:10:40
Speaker
Like I don't know what else people thought like if they thought they were gonna get like the showy-ness of like a Rihanna but like Well, interesting that you say that. I felt like when I saw this this performance, obviously they were different, but I did feel like there were several similarities to her performance. And I don't know if it's just like the minimalist staging of it all is what maybe kind of reminded me of it. Obviously she had the floating platforms and whatnot. But and I think that Paris, once again, again,
00:11:12
Speaker
choreographer of our dreams. Like, right, right. I'm sure that she choreographed
Challenges and Pressures in the Music Industry
00:11:16
Speaker
at least part of this. um But there and then just the way that like the dancers I loved the way that the dancers were dressed in like the red, white and blue. So good created and created the flag. But all the formations. Yes. The um outfits that they were wearing kind of reminded me of like the all white
00:11:36
Speaker
outfits that the dancers were wearing for Rihanna. So I'm not saying that they're identical by any means, but they were just certain parts of it that I was like, Oh, this reminds me of this, this reminds me of that. But yeah, i um I, I completely recognize I am not the target demographic for this particular performance. Right.
00:11:53
Speaker
And so so I also went into it because I was like, I had completely forgotten that the Super Bowl was even happening. And so did I. So did I. Completely forgot, which just kind of shows like when there's a pop diva performing, I'm like tuned in. I am like counting down the days. Right. to go Right.
00:12:10
Speaker
And like no shade to come Kendrick Lamar, but he's just not an artist that I typically gravitate to. um But I recognize that he's hugely successful, obviously just off of two major Grammy wins. Did he win more Grammys than the writing song? yeah Yeah. So I mean, gri what a week for him. Like, congratulations to you, Mr. Lamar.
00:12:32
Speaker
um But I thought I thought that the staging was incredible. I was blown away by that blown away the camera work. Again, rap is not my go to genre by any stretch, but. I do love the way that he like is it. I don't know if it's this his cadence. I don't know if I'm using terminology, but like the weight rhythm. Yeah, the way his rhythm, his swagger, whoa his flow and like he just he really.
00:13:02
Speaker
I just, the way it sounded, I was like, okay. I was like, it's, this isn't necessarily for me, but I was like, he's, he's doing it right now. No, I mean, the man is brilliant. He really is. And I, I've only begun to just like start to sort of dig into like the symbolisms of stuff. Yeah. And I still haven't gotten through everything. And I feel like I'm sort of waiting for people that are like way smarter than me to sort of figure it out. And then I'm just going to kind of say, but, um, I don't know. It just, he, it,
00:13:30
Speaker
I feel like when I watched him, I was like, this there this is the reason why Beyonce works with you. yeah This is the reason. like it just It makes sense. like when i see like I feel like we spend so much time in like the Beyonce verse Taylor Swift discussion when to me, and I don't even want to say verse because I feel like verse is such a stupid thing, but like I don't see Beyonce and Taylor as peers. They are on certain levels when you talk about money, success, albums, whatever, like what they do, they are definitely peers, but they are nowhere near the same artist, but like to me,
00:14:04
Speaker
Kendrick and Beyonce, that is a much more interesting conversation to have. They they seem much more similar to me than Taylor does. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know how to better eloquently state this, but the taste that Beyonce has visually seems to mirror Kendrick's taste visually. Yes. There's just certain elements about the visuals of his performance yesterday that I was intentionality. It's intentional. That's intentionality. But then also just like. I don't know if it's again, the camera angles, the the the staging, the there's just certain a certain taste that you an elevated taste, if you will, that you have to have, you have to know
00:14:51
Speaker
your sense about fashion. You have to know your sense about staging. You have to know your sense about lighting. You have to know these things and to know what works and what doesn't. And I wish I could. I feel like I should sit be able to talk about this better because I'm a videographer by day. But like I just there's something about it where it's kind of like you can tell the difference in quality.
00:15:17
Speaker
Well, you know what I think it is? I think when you get down to it, when it comes to people like that, it's... There is, when they do things, there is a reaction on the outside of people talking about it. Now we've got all the nonsense with people, but everything is DEI. And, you know, they're talking about, well, oh, well, this is why, you know, and she she did all this, and this is all women, and this is all, you know, all black designers, and this is all this produces, and this is all with this. Like, she's doing things that she knows will be successful in the mainstream regardless, but I don't feel like,
00:15:53
Speaker
How do I explain this? I feel like I'm getting tripped up. um I feel like when it comes to Beyonce and some and someone like Kendrick, like they're so a part of the culture that it's not a matter. There's not a discussion of, well, we have to make sure that we do this two we have to do this for this. They're already in it. like it's just It's happening all around them. They're just a part of it. Whereas everybody out on the outside is just like,
00:16:16
Speaker
Well, why does this happen? And why is that? Why are they doing this? why is it like They're just doing this because they're intentional artists. like They are making the culture. The culture is happening around them. They are they are following you know people within their community already. They know who the next people that they're looking to for the next generation are, who they are, designer-wise, producer-wise, lyricists. like all of the You know what I mean? like I don't know if I'm making if i'm explaining that right.
00:16:43
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, I think that you did that great. I think that you your spot on is that they are they are like not only commenting on current culture, but they're also creating culture. They are, you know? like it's It's like they're aware of what's happening. They're looking forward. They're looking ahead. like Because I feel like we've gotten to this space where everything is so like, well, this era this and this era this. And I'm like, i don't like when I look at a career like a Beyonce or even like a Madonna, like I see Madonna throughout all of it. I see her trying things on and letting things go, but there is a clear through line that if you pay attention to anything this woman says or does, you can clearly see what she stands for and what she chooses to bring into her art. I feel the same way about Beyonce. I feel the same way about Kendrick Lamar.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yeah, I completely agree. There there are non-negotiables. There is a standard. there is ah There is a level at which they work. There are things that are non-starters of how they feel about what they bring to their craft and what they're trying to say with their platform and their voice. I'm sorry if I'm rambling, but it's like, I just, there is this through line that I see. And that's why I think that the conversation with like Beyonce and Taylor seems stupid because it's like Taylor is doing her own thing with her own fans and that's totally great for her. But like,
00:17:56
Speaker
When you talk about like people that get it, like Beyonce and Kendrick, that feels more like an apt discussion to me. Right. Yeah, and absolutely. No, no, and nothing to apologize for. I mean, speaking of Taylor, it was wild to see people booing her yesterday. right But but that's that's stupid sports fans. Yeah, for sure. But it was just like one of the. Yeah, it was one of those things where I was like that that lo it was interesting to see what was kind of going, quote unquote, viral with regarding Super Bowl in general yesterday. Like that that really took off people booing her like that clip of people booing her.
00:18:32
Speaker
um The people seems to be really surprised in a way that Kendrick performed not like us. I'm like, y'all, that's his biggest hit that he just won multiple Grammys for. Yeah, like people would like seems genuinely shocked. And I was like, either I'm like way too connected to music and like how this all works or I don't know, maybe I'm missing something. But I was like, right, because like the even The New York Times wrote like ah had a had like a dumb, stupid think piece from, I don't know, some other random white man.
00:19:01
Speaker
that was just you know talking about how he sort of missed the moment. And I'm like, I don't know. Actually, I think you missed the moment here. I don't think it's him. I think he actually did what what I sort of expected him to do. And yeah, I don't know.
00:19:16
Speaker
Yeah. And then and SZA made it her appearance. Looking phenomenal. I loved her little pose that she did during Luther. Yes, she's so good. and Yeah. Yeah. I'm not a huge SZA fan, but I do appreciate her. um I thought that she did great. What I know like what I realized about SZA and what I realized is that I.
00:19:40
Speaker
I feel like while I don't generally go to listen to her music as much, like to stream so much, she is somebody I'm always interested in watching perform live. Oh, interesting. What is it about her that you like to see perform live? It's just everything. Like she's so in it. Like I randomly went to Jingle Ball. I think it was either last year or the year before. I think I've been two years ago when Cher was there. Of course. That's why I went. Of course. I'm right. And so it was like Cher, Sabrina Carpenter, SZA, the Jonas Brothers or whoever. I don't know. It was a bunch of people. And Cher was amazing.
00:20:13
Speaker
but When SZA came out, she was so i people went wild for her, and her dancing was so good. Her vocals were so on point. The mic was on. Love. We weren't sure if it was yesterday, but that's OK. I'm not hating. You know what? TV broadcasts being what they are is what it is.
00:20:31
Speaker
Yeah, I literally li like that's been a that has been a conversation piece today that people were like, oh, her mic was even on. And I'm kind of like, honestly, I don't even care. I like I'm sorry. You don't have to prove anything to me. It's the Super Bowl. Right. I was like, most people lip sync or like if they're playing instrument like I remember the Red Hot Chili Peppers when they played with Bruno Mars, people were like, if their guitars aren't playing or whatever. And then it's like they've got literally what 20 minutes if that 12 minutes to set up the stage. Mm hmm.
00:20:59
Speaker
And then um'm I'm sorry, but like, what who is performing at the Super Bowl that you feel needs to prove themselves. Right? Yeah, that has been given the chance to perform at the Super Bowl. And also what people need to understand, because I think that people were like, like to be like, well, back in my day, people didn't lip sync or sing live. whatever Yeah, they did.
00:21:18
Speaker
That's they did exactly the Beatles when they were on what was that? i mean was an american ban first well this one tell people all the time American Bandstand ran from something like 54 to like 80 88 or something like that not one performance not one single performance was done live on American Bandstand not one yeah Top of the pops in London. All lip sync, I think there was like maybe one or two performances on top of the pops that were not lip synced. Trust me, it makes things so much less complicated if you're not singing live for these people. Right, exactly. and it's like people don't and If I'm remembering correctly, I believe even part of Whitney Houston's famous i think national anthem. Whole thing.
00:22:03
Speaker
lip sync. Yeah. People are just really good at at faking it. Right. They are performers like theres like you are. This is their job. Right. But you are a human being like just like any athlete like you cannot do it all the time. You cannot sing all the time. You cannot run all the time like You have to, there's times where you have to actually give yourself time to rest, but people still want to see you. Right. You know? So it's like, if you're on vocal rest and you're going to go lip a performance, I don't, Celine Dion, I don't, I'm, what am I going to be mad at you for doing that on Oprah? Okay. Like, no, you're Celine Dion. Like, what do you mean?
00:22:39
Speaker
right exactly it's like it's this isn't this isn't like some sort of situation where it's like Milly Vanilli is trying to pull the wool over our eyes right you know like it's like this these people can sing there are just situations like as you just eloquently stated like They just can't for whatever reason. And that's fine. Like, well, and I also think that there's a people don't realize how intense like a pop star schedule can be like, you know, just because you see somebody doing a a performance or an interview on The View, like,
00:23:10
Speaker
you know, there's American press, there's Canadian press, there's the UK press, there's the Asian market, there's, you know, like, there's so many different things. And, you know, when I tell you I have seen because working where I do, where we have been a stop on a press tour, where it's like, you know, you get an artist come by for a little bit, and you're going to record a liner, and they're going to record and say, okay, this is what we want you to say, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever, whatever.
00:23:34
Speaker
And they're going to do that and then they're going to do it like five, six, seven times, however many times get that done. And then there are times where there are times built into artist schedules where from 12 to three, they're signing albums from three to five, they're recording cameos from five five to six, you know, like whatever, like there's so many different things that people have to do in a day.
00:23:55
Speaker
And I don't think people realize that. and It's crazy. It really is crazy because like that's when I started noticing, like even in the early Britney years, that's when I think I really started to understand this. When I started seeing like clips as the internet became a thing of like people freaking out in Japan over Britney Spears and like freaking out and and in all of these different places over Christina Aguilera. And it's like, oh my God, like there's so many people around the world who know who these people are.
00:24:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's when when people bring up stories about like, Oh, I met so and so or I saw so and so when they weren't very nice, or they were kind of cold or whatever, I'm like, I have to remember and I have to remind them that I'm like, these people are going nonstop 24 seven, a lot of the times. And I was like,
00:24:38
Speaker
They're trying to get from A to B. I'm sorry that they didn't stop and have a full conversation with you, right? Like, that if they had to do that with you, they'd have to do it for everyone. And I was like, it's not personal. I know it feels personal because that person's made a huge impact on your life. And maybe they were even a little bit snippy or rude to you. But they were also probably up for 15 hours because they had a video shoot one day and like you just said, like the press tour and all this stuff. It's like,
00:25:05
Speaker
Like I can't imagine, like I had a pretty intense day just mentally for whatever reason. I can't imagine being asked to be like a super nice bubbly person like to 2500 random strangers right now. If someone was like, you know what I'm saying? right Like it's I.
00:25:27
Speaker
I don't know, like, like, so this is like a random story, but this is that I swear that has a point. So my brother was in a band in high school and um I think that they were called Ryan Patterson. And they opened ah for Stacy Rico.
00:25:43
Speaker
work.
00:25:46
Speaker
In my hometown that in my hometown, we used to have this thing called the Venetian festival every summer. And she came to perform she clearly booked this gig before she blew up like mainstream way right before the blow up on TRL. So I was stoked. I was like, Oh my god, my brother's opening for her. I was trying so hard to meet her. I did not get a chance to meet her. but I was front row at the concert and I was like super excited. The security guards were like, sir, you need to calm down. Like, like I was like, okay, I got it. I got it. I got it. And my brother said that she was in her tour bus all day. Didn't say anything to anyone. And then she like, when she was like leaving to go up on stage, he like yelled out to her, Hey, Stacy, don't suck. And then she was just like, okay.
00:26:31
Speaker
Oh, no. and i But I was, you know, and that at the time when we were younger, he was all like, oh, like trying to imply that she was like being rude or whatever. But I'm like, no, she was probably on tour like she was on tour. Right. So so she probably I don't even know where she was the day before, but she has to rest. She has to and then she has to get her makeup done. She has to do her warm ups and things like that. they Like you have to have your own face. And while this while this is all happening, there's still meetings happening. There's still emails that she's got to respond to. Like you think that just like you become famous and all of a sudden you don't have to take part in in what your career is like. Right. You know, and even if you listen to like Trixie Mattel talk about like she just took a three month break recently and she was like, you know, she's like I took a three month break where I would have one one hour every week
00:27:18
Speaker
to go through with my team to catch up and say yes no whatever to sort of go through everything like and that's not usual for her like normally she's much more hands-on involved and it's like you This is ah when you see things going wrong and you're just like, oh, you know, why is everything going wrong? it's Maybe they don't have a great team around them or they're trying to make them do too much. like There's so many different reasons for so, like, I don't know, I don't know. I've been i've been involved in all of this for too long now. Right, right, but yeah. I feel like I've seen too much where I'm like, every time, like, to go back to your point when somebody says, you know, that somebody wasn't nice and in my first thought, in my mind is, how did you approach them?
00:27:54
Speaker
right How did you approach them and what did you say? Did you go up to them with a camera in your hand? Was your phone open to take a selfie? like like What did you say? Because I think that there's ways to do to for everybody to win in the situation. But I think a lot of it has to do with that. And I think that in that moment, people don't even realize how they act sometimes. yeah And I think that sometimes their nerves really get the best of them. That's why I always say, like i I would love to meet Madonna. I think it would be probably the the most insane moment of my life. I yeah also think I don't want to meet Madonna. ah Right. Same. Because I just don't think that i I don't think it would be good for anybody. Right. i i i would need If it were to happen, I would love it to happen in the right moment. Right. I would never approach her like that. Right. right i would I feel like I would have the wherewithal
00:28:51
Speaker
to be respectful for sure and like but I'm I Don't know well how physically I will react right and that's kind of how I feel I feel about her and maybe like Cher I think would be the two that I'm like I don't it's probably for the best for everybody that I don't meet you Right. Yeah, cuz like when when I thought I was meeting Cher when it was just a drag queen back when I was like 15 years old right my knees began to buckle right so I If Madonna were approaching me, but oh my God. So Billie Eilish was on TikTok maybe two days ago and we happened to catch it. We were here and she was just an like picking random people that were on her live and that were just like commenting and just like inviting them in and it was like these random
00:29:36
Speaker
young girls that were just sort of like literally flipping out this girl the entire time that and like she invited her in and Billy's like hey how are you you know like what's your name like what are you doing and this girl is just going
Impact of Fame on Artists
00:29:56
Speaker
and so Billy's like okay just take a breath she's like you're fine like dude just tell me like what's your name like how are you like you look so cute like you know what's going on blah blah blah and she was just
00:30:06
Speaker
And I'm like, girl, get it together. You literally have all of this time and all this space to say whatever you want and tell her how much you love her and how much it's meant to you. And I mean, look, she's a young girl. You know what it is, but it is. But I was just at one, but one after the next, so many of these people got on and were just completely couldn't speak, couldn't say anything. And I'm like, see, I think that would be me with Cher. That's why I don't think it would be a good thing.
00:30:33
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like that. Yeah, that would be me with that would definitely be with Madonna. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. You met Kylie, though, right? I did. And or you like took a photo with her. I don't know. I've I've I've I met her once backstage of from her Vegas show and she was literally the nicest person ever. Like and I and her team was like, don't ask for a photo if she want if she you know, she's got really she's got a lot of things going on. but ba but And I was like, yeah look, I said, I'm just happy to say hi. I said and tell her that I think she's wonderful. You know, I don't really it's got to got to be a thing.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah, within seconds. She was like, do you guys want to take a photo? And I was like, i I'm like grabbing my phone. I'm like, Yeah, yes, yes. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. You're like, actually, Miss Minogue, your team told me not to take a photo with you. right So fired, fired everybody. but No, and like amazing. But that's, ah you know, i've I've met her a few times. And they've always been like meet and greets and different things like that. But yeah Gracious, lovely, fantastic, like never anything less than, like she's just she's she's amazing. But yeah, so I don't know. there are certain people If you're gonna go up to people, just have something prepared or say something, like introduce yourself, tell them what you love about them, like what the work is that inspired, you know what I mean? Like just like start from a place of like, I don't know,
00:31:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's very chaotic to start from a place of tears. Yeah, there was I was looking um there was a clip that I saw into it because Christina Aguilera I think was in Brazil for just recently. I love her there. And while there is there is a clip of her signing and ah like there are people surrounding her. She was signing an autograph for a fan and then a guy came in and kissed her on the cheek. And then like and then like her bodyguard kind of like pushed him. She like didn't even flinch. I mean, she clearly looked overwhelmed for sure. But it's one of those things where it's kind of like. Yeah, like I I. You like ah in my head, I'll be honest, like I've always wanted to be famous. I've always wanted it. I know that it's not cool to say that anymore. I've always wanted to be famous. I've always wanted people to like grovel over me. but bla bla Maybe I'm narcissistic, whatever.
00:32:35
Speaker
But seeing these types of scenarios now. Nah, you don't want it. And even experiencing just the tiniest. I don't even call it fame, but it's just like when I get recognized out in public, it's cool, but it is strange. It's just strange feeling. Thankfully, everyone I've met has been very respectful and very kind, right? I don't know if I could handle like something like that with Christina. What I don't want is, you know. Yeah. ah You know what it is? It's.
00:33:02
Speaker
Not only is there nobody, nobody can tell you how to navigate it, but it's specifically a loss of anonymity that you don't know how to handle and you don't know what to do with. And I think that that's where I think people trip up the most. And I think that now having experienced it on the small level that I have and do, i when I see things or when I see like celebrities act out or if I see like something that looks a little crazy or messy or even in hindsight looking back at like situations and different things and different child stars and whatever, like
00:33:40
Speaker
I get it and I totally see how things happen and I totally understand and it's sort of like I'm gonna not speak about that because you know what something's happening here I don't know what it is but there's something going on and I feel like I'm it's taught me to be a little bit more kinder about it now because it it is such a bizarre thing and it is yeah it is really weird I don't know where she was, but Ariana Grande was just somewhere over the weekend and she was saying that she thinks that, you know, whether you're an actor or a singer, if you are someone in the entertainment industry and you're about to get signed to something, they need to provide therapists and therapy for sure for you that you need to see multiple times a week because your life
00:34:25
Speaker
is about to change. Right. And I completely agree. And I think that piggybacks perfectly off of Chapel Rhones speech at the Grammys the other week. Like, I really who would have thought liveable wages and therapy. Like, what a wild concept, right? It's almost like everybody's asking for the same thing.
00:34:46
Speaker
nuts, absolutely nuts. Like, come on. Like, I thought that was brilliant. It was brilliant. And what was so crazy to me how almost instantly there was a response from an an an executive. Right. Of course. Like, ah ah within like days, there was a response. And I'm like, you've got to be joking me. And I'm like, I know, of course. And again, she called him out and went back at him. And I'm like, brilliant, brilliant. Like, you've got no leg to stand on here. Like, I'm sorry. There's no the amount of money you're making on the backs of these people is obscene.
00:35:15
Speaker
It's crazy, especially to like which is when you look at streams and you look at like how much songwriters make per song, per stream. Like you have to make you have to have millions if not billions of streams in order to make any sort of livable anything. Like I was watching an interview with Justin Tranter with Toby Gad. He's so so brilliant. Yeah. And he look and he was saying that it took months months for him to get his first, what's it called, residual residual check from, and I don't remember what song it was. It was like, I don't think it was one. Sorry. had royalty check or sorry royalty check Royalty check. Yeah. It was, I think that it was some song that he had written though for someone. And then he said, he was like, it took
00:35:59
Speaker
ages for it to get to him. So he was like, I had this song that was racking up millions and millions of streams, but he was like, I didn't see anything. I was still broke. And I was, and I was like, that's the crazy thing about this industry. And it's super common. Yeah. Oh, yeah this is, this is like, this is, this is just what is like, what you, what am I trying to say? Like that this is just the norm. Right. Right. And so that's why I think like someone like myself,
00:36:26
Speaker
is so scared to ever chase something like that because I've lived a life of poverty for like 10 years. right And it was awful. yeah And I was like, I don't want to experience that again. No, it really is crazy. Like when you go when you go through like, you know, how they advance money and that you have to recoup and they have to make their money back. And it's like, this is why so many artists like when you hear they they got dropped by the label, they whatever, like if the things aren't moving like they're on to the next, like they they want it to hit instantly.
00:36:54
Speaker
You know, and there's not a lot of ton of trying. That's why I get very excited when I see indie artists sort of doing their own thing or starting their own labels or whatever. Like I'm very like, okay, let's support that. Because I love that you're doing this because again, you deserve like there's so many artists that are still fighting for their masters and fighting for publishing and yeah you know, who's waiting for catalogs to be sold here and whatever. Like, there's so much that I hear behind the scenes from so many artists that it's it's really, it's crazy. Yeah. I have no idea how we got here, but I want i just, so i I wanted to bring up, I did have a critique about, it's not about Kendrick Lamar. Oh.
00:37:28
Speaker
This is back to the back to the halftime show. We just do it. Do it. I don't even know how we got into this tangent, but let's celebrate that. That's what this show is about. That's what this show is about. um One thing that I wanted to say about Kendrick Lamar's halftime show, and again, this is not about Kendrick Lamar himself. I
Gender Double Standards in Music
00:37:45
Speaker
did when I was watching the performance and after it was done, I thought to myself, I cannot help but wonder.
00:37:53
Speaker
how people would react to this performance if this were the exact same scenario and performance, but if he was a female. Oh, and I just feel like the way that we compare, because I have seen that, you know, the controversial takes from the conservatives and all the racists out there who are like predictable as hell. Right. But I've been seeing a lot of praise for his performance. Right. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve the praise, but I do know that like ri when Rihanna performed pregnant on these floating stages, there was a lot of conversation about how she didn't give enough energy, how she seemed, quote unquote, bored, whatever, whatever. And this is why, again, I would I kind of looked at these performances as similar to one another in a way where I was like Kendrick Lamar
00:38:43
Speaker
clearly had lots of swagger throughout, and he did some choreography. He worked with the dancers really well. I thought that his movements were very fluid. I thought he moved really well, but he wasn't giving Tate McCray choreography, if you will, which we'll get to her in a minute. right But um I, you know what I'm saying? And so it's it's it's one of those things where I was like, if this was Megan Thee Stallion right now and gave the exact same performance,
00:39:10
Speaker
well i should say if this were megan the stallion she would be expected to not only have all the dancers and everything that was currently going on but she would have had to done all the choreography hitting it hard if not harder than all the other dancers combined with costume reveals with costume reveals i mean he again we talked about the bell bottoms but i mean he was just wearing bell bottom jeans and ah and a moto jacket with some gloves and it and what looks like maybe a t-shirt or something underneath. And not, I'm not trying to shit on it. It's just, I i just, I noticed this time and time again. I know actually I i said Megan Thee Stallion, but I think it was actually Megan Thee Stallion herself and Dua Lipa who had brought up years ago that like female performers have to work
00:39:52
Speaker
two, three, four times harder for any sort of live performance right than the men do. and And I do feel like this holds true to that. I think that this holds true to everything about a woman in society. yeah yes you know I think that it if you really want to boil it down to brass tacks, we expect more from women than we do anybody else in society, let alone black women.
00:40:21
Speaker
you know so exactly right so it's like it's i I think that when I went into the performance last night, I was not going in it with any ah expectation of seeing like ah Madonna or even Rihanna type level of performance. Same, yeah. You know, I just didn't think that was gonna happen. um But I think that it also speaks to like how women are set up as pop stars and how men are, because even if you look like, let's say you look at a video from Justin Timberlake's most recent tour, you know, when he's got that whole thing with the harness and he's floating on that thing above, whatever, and that's all fine and good and whatever, but like, it's pretty stark.
00:41:07
Speaker
It's him, it's the floating thing and that's it. There's not really anything else happening. You see Drake on his last tour and he was up on that elevated stage and he was just sort of running around on that and the lights were happening and it was just that. Yeah.
00:41:22
Speaker
So it's not really out of line with what they're doing normally, whereas I feel like the pressure is always on women, pop stars, female pop stars to sort of level up and level up and try something new. Because again, we have the, well, now it's this era and it's this era and this era. And I'm like, well, maybe it's not an era. Maybe it's just them because sort of continuing being the great artist. you know like everything Everything has to be sort of like put in this finite box so that way it's marketable for each era, each thing, each variant, each whatever. like it's it's yeah And I feel like the men just don't have that. Like Kendrick's album came out, there aren't nine million vinyl variants for this. right You know, I think there's like maybe three different ones. right It's like a black one and maybe like two special edition ones that he signed or whatever. right So I think that it it's just how the industry treats women in general. But again, I think that goes back to how we treat women in general.
00:42:11
Speaker
I agree. That is very well put. I completely agree. yeah Completely agree.
Young Artists and Industry Influence
00:42:16
Speaker
Because then too, with like women, it's like, if they were to do, I don't know, I always see these critiques about like, people don't need all the bells and whistles. They just need the like their, their guitar and like their piano, whatever. Okay. But I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, people like what they like, right? Like I can appreciate an acoustic performance. I personally gravitate more to the theatrical. And And my thing is, too, is like when people do those types of criticisms and they're like, like, oh, they don't need a million dancers or whatever. I'm like, this is just a different type of performance. I was like, don't knock all of these dancers and stylists and lighting experts and all of these people who are putting on this show because you think that it takes
00:43:00
Speaker
more talent to sit on a guitar on a stool with a guitar and sing a ballad or I don't know. Right. Right. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like, no, totally. It's it drives the insane. It's like. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's just in general, people think that pop music is easy and that, you know, that all of the stuff that like a pop star is just very simple to sort of pull off. And I'm like, you would not last an hour. An hour. An hour with their schedule. It's crazy. I mean, look, I've yeah i've been seeing that i but ah for 10 years at Peloton, where people have every I've seen so many people write so many things about the coaches, myself and whatever. And it's like, you have no idea
00:43:35
Speaker
what it takes to make these things happen. And it's like, none of you would last an hour doing this because I, that was the first thing that I always felt like I was so struck by was being on stage with these coaches and watching them work out, like do a workout, but also like engage with me, engage with people in the room and still like find moments to say something inspirational and have like a fully cohesive thought, be able to speak clearly and loudly and being, like that's the thing that blows my mind when I was, that was the first day I'm like, I, because if I'm working out, I cannot speak. I cannot sit here and give you a lecture. I cannot tell you a story. yeah I can barely keep myself together. Like I get that they trained for this and I understand that, but it's not easy is what is what I'm trying to say. And it's like, so I think that the assumption that this is just, that they make it look easy should be an indication to people more that this is their talent.
00:44:33
Speaker
Right. Exactly. That is making it easy or look easy. Exactly. That's their talent. It's their hard work. It's so it's all of the inner time and energy that they've put into this. Absolutely. If it looks effortless, right there's a lot of work that's went into it. I put a real up on my Instagram from my New Year's Eve class with Jess King that we just did. um The amount of comments and DMs that I got from people that were like, oh my God, I had no idea that this is what goes on behind the scenes. And I'm like, well,
00:45:02
Speaker
Do you think like we with there's camera operators, there's PAs, there's wardrobe, there's mate like there's so many different things. like And it's so crazy that people think, oh, well, they just go to work. And what do you think we do all day? Right. Yeah. It's crazy. People at my job, so I'm the only videographer right that that works for my company. And I am tasked to do all of the video work.
00:45:26
Speaker
I do finally this year we are starting to hire some external vendors to do certain types of projects thank god because I have been saying I'm like I I've been kind of saying I'm just like I can't just be the only one doing this right you guys want me to be your videographer but you also want me to be your photographer you also want me to be your digital signage manager, you want me to be doing all of these things simultaneously. And I was like, I was like, now that we're we've started diving into testimonial work in the last couple of years, I was like, even when I'm sitting down and doing a quote unquote, simple testimonial, we've simplified it, I have refined the process, it is it is
00:46:01
Speaker
to me now like quote unquote easy but it still takes time to coordinate schedules and then sit down and make sure the lighting is good make sure the audio is good making sure no one's interrupting and walking around and that was like we have to get someone who's we have to get someone who's actually doing the interviewing we have to have like lights set up we have to there's it's a whole thing I was like it's not just sitting down with your iPhone And you know what's crazy is that what I've also realized too, as we have all of these discussions about AI now and everybody's talking about AI and what it can do and what we're trying to do and what it can train, whatever, no one who has ever offered AI to me as a solution for anything has ever done anything creative.
00:46:44
Speaker
Right. So yeah to me, what that is saying is that not only do most people or ah do people not understand the role of the artist and what it is that they do to create art, but that you're not actually interested and you just want to sort of wave the wand and make the thing happen because you don't really get it and you don't understand. And it's, you don't have that creative bone in your body like that. And again, that's fine that everybody's meant to do these things, but I realized that too recently because I'm like, no one that I know, any of the artists that I know, anyone who is involved in any type of creative venture has ever come to me and been like, Oh my God, AI is, good but i I use AI for this and AI for that. No one, no one I know is using AI for that. Like there's ways of people that are using it in music for certain things and getting stems and whatever. I understand that I use it for that.
00:47:32
Speaker
but yep not for a creation standpoint. Not that I'm going to put my name on it. We use it as a tool, right just like we would use any other type of tool. right But it's not the, oh yeah, we'll just do this instead. right you know yeah Oh my God. yeah anyway Anyway, well, speaking of that. You know who's not you know who's not using AI? Who? Miss Tate McRae.
00:47:57
Speaker
ah Well, maybe. Who knows? I have no idea. I have no idea. But let me tell you. So i'm I've been creating a playlist on my Spotify that I'm just calling Strut, period. And it's specifically songs at like a very specific BPM that I can sort of want to stomp as I'm walking through New York City. Uh-huh. From the second that Sports Car started, I was like, immediately add to playlist. This is Strut. This is a Strut song. It is. it It's the first Tate McRae song that I absolutely love. like Like, I loved Greedy, but this is the one.
00:48:37
Speaker
and This is the one, I mean, I don't, I mean, what I was gonna say, I don't know what it is about it. I think I know exactly what it is about that I love. um I mean, it is basically kind of like a sped up 2025 version of buttons, if you will. Totally, totally. And I'm completely okay with it. Buttons 2.0, and thank God.
00:48:56
Speaker
I think arrived right on time. Sure, it certainly did. Because let me tell you what this song, the production, I was listening to it and I was working out today. And like that, like, like, I don't know, it's like almost kind of like a goatish type of background vocal. That is so cunty. And just the whole song is cunty. Like, and it's also it's like there's there's something that I love about it.
00:49:23
Speaker
about it being a Ryan Tedder song. Yeah. Because I feel like he's just one of these like straight men that just somehow manages to like squeeze out the gayest songs ever out of him. And I love it. Right. Yeah. I yeah i would love to know the creation process of this song. Is is he the one that being like, Tate, maybe you should say like ah i I don't know because I feel like that that does feel very like Julia Michaels is very clever when it comes to the lyrics of stuff. True. Like she's very like I got to give her credit like and I love Julia Michaels, but it's it's yeah, I think that's a that's a talk about a combo. Ryan Tedder and Julia Michaels. I mean, Jesus.
00:49:58
Speaker
Yeah, but also this music video ah is really great, too. It shows a new side to Tate that I think that we've all been waiting for. Right. Because I think that we write we have recognized in the past that Tate is an incredible dancer. I mean, that's how she got her start. Right. Yeah. um I think that
Remix Culture and Industry Politics
00:50:17
Speaker
and i don't I can't speak for you, but for me, I think the music that she has put out thus far I think part of it is just that it just didn't feel like it was it was her clearly but I was like this could also be someone else and I would be like oh yeah absolutely right right like I feel like it's
00:50:36
Speaker
they I didn't really know what her sonic identity was. Right. And it does still feel like she's figuring it. It feels like it feels like with this album, it is a little bit more solidified. Totally, totally. And and and look, and I totally get that maybe in 2025, you're not trying to just peg yourself as like, you know, the video vixen girl like and I get that and you want to be deeper and I bet that she writes music and I'll totally like I've seen Ryan Tedder speak very, very passionately about her songwriting and how involved she is. So it's like, um you know, sure, like I agree, like on whom I say no, but it's yeah. um I don't know. I think that there's if if you're really trying to get the gals, like you really like this is this is the right move. And I feel like it's.
00:51:21
Speaker
I don't know. When was the last time that we had somebody really like whisper in a song like that? Right. Yeah. Like it's been a minute. Like whispering for the chorus. And I thought about that when I was like listening to it, I was like, this is so interesting that she's not even talking on the chorus. She's whispering.
00:51:38
Speaker
i I love it. It's so good. And I felt I felt almost ashamed to like, talk about how much I love the song. Oh, no, because as soon as I had headphones on for the first time, and I heard it in my headphones, I was like, Oh, bitch, oh, bitch. I was like, this, this is it. This is it. It's so good. It's so good. So thank you, Tate, for delivering like, ah we and again, like, I, I You know, I spoke earlier about, like, you know, how we expect women to do the most. Right. Right. And I and I really try. I've i've realized. In my younger years, I definitely was that person where I was like, I hate this person and I hate that person. For sure. For sure. I don't want to be that person. And like I but I still want to I want to give criticism where I feel like I can. But I've also just recognized that, like, especially young artists,
00:52:34
Speaker
They have very little control over their careers, right? I would as I would assume that Tate right now is in a phase where she I'm not saying that I don't know, but I would assume that she is not in the full creative wheel of her art. I would say that she's probably has a say, but I would say that also Ryan Tedder has a say. I would say that her label has a say. And there's a team of people around her suggesting certain things. For sure. i So anyway, all that to be said, any sort of criticism that I have with people isn't always necessarily about the artist. It's about the industry itself. Right, right, right. And so, um yeah, I love this song.
00:53:22
Speaker
I love it. I really, really do. I have nothing but good things to say about it, and i'm i'm now I'm very much looking forward to the album. Yeah, I am too, I am too. I think that, I feel like 2025, I mean, it's a little early to say, but like, 2024 was a great year in music. Great. Yeah, yeah, it was. ah we had We had a great year in music, and at least with, ah we had a ton of releases, right? We had a ton of releases. This year's shaping up to be really great, so far. So far. Music-wise, music-wise. Right, right, right. Music-wise, let me clarify. But you know what though, I feel like that sort of happens.
00:53:58
Speaker
I feel like in a time of like societal strife, we should say we could say, but I think that that sort of happens. it it kind of and I think even I myself have been sort of like down a little bit lately, and I'm kind of kind of coming around now where I'm like, you know what? You kind of need to be louder than ever.
00:54:17
Speaker
yeah you know you need You need art, you need to put sort of push these things out. so it's yeah I think that we're going to see a lot of that. Yeah, absolutely. Because I mean, like, Abra Crud, Abra, completely put a spell on all of us. I did not expect it to be the phenomenon that it is. At all. and i like i just i can't like Watching everybody's reaction, seeing it happen online, like she has been so involved and so and commenting on people's social media posts and stuff. It's been so wonderful to, whether it's her, whether it's someone on her team, I don't know. I believe it's her. It seems like it's her. I'm gonna think that it's her, but either way, it's just, I don't know. It's just, it's nice to see. And I'm glad that that she's sort of taking the extra time, but dear God, I'm obsessed with the song. It's like 90% of what I'm still listening to every day.
00:55:02
Speaker
Same. i I've listened to it like three or four times during my workout this morning, and I was like, it's it's been a minute since I've had a song like this on repeat that I haven't been like, like, oh, I'm kind of getting sick of it now, right? Like, I'm still like, give it like, give it to me. I'm obsessed. Every time it gets to that part where it's the feel the beat. I'm fine.
00:55:23
Speaker
Exactly. I feel like I could run through the wall. Same. Yeah. Same. Same. And I also want to shout out ah Bentley, Roblase, and Z Machine released a song called Lock Me Up. Yep. Their first official collaboration as a new group called Tears and Gears. Speaking of women who are just getting it together.
00:55:43
Speaker
getting it together. WAM found dead. That's it. WAM 3.0. WAM 3.0. I'm obsessed with it. I love. I'm obsessed with it. And a surprise to no one. Right. You're right. Yeah. It's fantastic. For those of you that have not listened to the song yet, I would say sonically, it lives in the same world as maybe dancing on my own. Lady Gaga's stupid love. What is that that like synthesizer machine that they use in it that creates that sound that like it's an arpeggiator is basically what it's called. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. This song is amazing. Their voices sound spectacular together. Oh, yeah, like, and I've been waiting for this for a minute, because I feel like that there is something very sort of symbiotic about both their voices.
00:56:28
Speaker
Yeah, and so I've had that song and abracadabra almost kind of and sports car kind of like the three of them just kind of playing on loop. It's it's really kind of nuts. Yeah, I really can't like and it's it's not even that I've been streaming abracadabra. I've been like watching the video on YouTube over and over. Same.
00:56:48
Speaker
Like it's been like kind of nuts. Like it's not even Spotify that I'm like obsessed in. Yeah. Same. It's like, and it's. Cause I mean, like to say I was watching that video and I was like, you know what? I take back it everything I've ever said about nerd tech. I take it all back. take it all I take it all back. It is all worth it. It's part of the hero's journey. It really is. And that's it. So you know what Gaga, I'm so glad your headaches are gone because they,
00:57:11
Speaker
look like your headaches are gone. your Her headaches are gone. Recession pop is back. Yes. Oh, wait. And I saw you listen to, was it Grant Kanoke? Yeah, love I love him i that was so good. So this is so I think that when we were talking about it, I think I said it gave me some like Michael Jackson vibes. It also to me, did you listen to the song Big by Usher on his album last year? Oh, I don't know. I probably it was I probably have, but I probably don't know by name.
00:57:40
Speaker
To me, they live in the same universe. OK, I got to listen. And yeah, it's just very it's I think it's just that that that that's what it is, is that Michael Jackson asks type of melody um that it it and it like they're all kind of like that. Yeah. And um yeah, no, very good. You know what? And I think that we should do at some point. And I'm just saying this on the part right now. But I think that as we get closer to pride, I think we should do an episode that does all of these like Oh yeah. Gay pop stars because I have so many. You better believe it. You should absolutely do that. That would be so much fun. Because because I have to say Grant, I actually, do you remember that? I don't know if you saw during the pandemic, they did this this show called the American Song Contest, I think it was called. No. And it was like, it was Kelly Clarkson was the host and
00:58:28
Speaker
I was it Snoop Dogg, maybe? This sounds vaguely familiar. I want to say i don't i i feel like um i maybe I'm misremembering, but I feel like it might've been that, because it was something chaotic like that. Anyway, he was on it, and that's where I first discovered him. Wow. And it's been sort of like five years I've been like watching his kind of journey. like Good for him. Yeah, and like coming out, sort of coming into his own and like you know figuring out who he is and everything. And did you, wait, did you even hear? Now he's on autopilot. Right, and David Archuleta's cover of George Michael's Freedom,
00:58:56
Speaker
I saw that he covered it, I did not listen to it yet. Oh my god, my I love me some days without a shuffle. I love, and look, there's nobody who's gonna be George Michael, no one who's gonna be George Michael. It's super cute, it's super cute. um Is it six minutes long? it I don't even know, because it just came on shuffle when I was... Cause if it's not six minutes long, then I'm not listening to it. It probably isn't. Let's be honest. Cause the original is like six minutes long. i like it Yeah. yeah yeah ah Talk about a great fucking pop song. Damn freedom. That used to be my closing song when I would DJ for quite some time for a few years. That's a brilliant closing song. Yeah. and It's been ain't nobody by Chaka Khan, uh, George Michael's freedom. And, but for the most part, it's been Madonna's take a bow. Oh, that's fun. Yeah. I play that at the end of every night.
00:59:42
Speaker
Oh, that's so cute. I love that. You're really educating the children. I'm trying. I'm trying. The ones i love that get it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, John Michael, it comes to the time of the show where we talk about a song. We don't talk about enough. This is the section of the show. I've noticed that when I've listened back to the episodes,
01:00:01
Speaker
I need to be better about kind of reminding people what the segment is, is that like we just say, sounds like we talk about it enough. This is the segment where we talk about a song that, yes, is obviously not talked about enough, but we like to bring up songs that like are very maybe just unknown, rare. And um so that's the whole point of the segment. So John Michael.
01:00:23
Speaker
I texted you about this a few days ago. and You certainly did. and i yeah And it's so weird because I feel like this artist, she's one of these people that I don't listen to normally very often, but it will just take something that will make me think of one of her songs that I like, I'll listen to it, and then I'm in the spiral immediately.
01:00:42
Speaker
and then it just jumps from this to this to this to this because I'm like oh and then there's this song oh and then there's this song on this remix and she is that person and it is Leanne Rimes and it feels like I love this song so much I actually should have been more prepared to know what year this was um I want to say it's 2007 I'd say right I think you're right and it feels like um but it was on her whatever whatever we want to album I think was And 2006, the song came out, the album was 2007. Okay, got it, got it. But yeah, so this song, the vocal performance is phenomenal. It's a really great pop song, although I guess when I listen to it now, it would be adult contemporary pop, they would say. Right. you know um But the remix was actually the so the way that I found the song first. Hightack did that remix of it, and I was absolutely just in love with that. but
01:01:31
Speaker
She kind of became like one of these random remix queens. I know we were talking about this too in our text messages. we She did. And she she, I mean, I would love to dedicate an entire episode to this, but like Leanne Rimes, Dan Stiva, not even kidding. right She has an incredible remixography.
01:01:49
Speaker
I'm from an entire remix album, right? She has to remix out oh work. She has ah she has one that was kind of released internationally like along with like her greatest hits that came out back in like the early 2000s. And then she did a second one.
01:02:04
Speaker
I was going to say a few years ago, but I probably was close to like 10 years ago now. But like, what is time? But honestly, and she's got a great relationship with Dave Aude. And so he does a lot of her remixes. And but honestly, this song and it so again, for the listeners that maybe didn't catch it, it's called And It Feels Like.
01:02:23
Speaker
And it was the lead single off of the, as you mentioned, the, whatever we want to album. Yes. The album was only available in like UK and like think select part of ah the Europe for a really long time. Like it was only made available on streaming in the US in, I want to say within them the last couple of years.
01:02:40
Speaker
It says the album was released and promoted exclusively in Europe, Taiwan, and Brazil. It was originally slated to be released in the US and even appeared in the US iTunes store briefly. However, the release was pulled due to the success of her single from the This Woman album, um Something's Gotta Give, which peaked at number two on Billboard's Top Country Songs, leading to an increase in sales of This Woman. Wild. Right. Yeah.
01:03:03
Speaker
So she had this whole album, cause the ah and like as you mentioned, the Hi-Tac remix, I loved the Friday Night Posse remix, which is like a high energy, like Cascada style remix. Well, and it's funny that you say that because I'm like, let's draw the connection here. Cascada covered Rascal Flatts, What Hurts the Most, and one of the co-writers of this song, and it feels like co-wrote What Hurts the Most.
01:03:27
Speaker
And there you have it, folks. There you have it. Three degrees of cascada. Oh my god. Well, Lea at Rhymes, we fucking love you. Love. She has so many good songs and so many good remixes. And I feel like we just don't talk about her enough. But this song, and I went in my spiral, not only did I watch the music video, which is also very, very good. Needs a remaster, by the way.
01:03:48
Speaker
um But I even found a reaction video, some queen reacting to this to like a live performance of her doing it somewhere in, I don't know, some live performance. And I was like, look at this. I was like, the girls are okay. The children are gonna be fine. The children are gonna be okay. They're gonna be fine. Well, let's manifest this now, Leanne Rimes. We would love to have you on this show. Friend of the Pod, Leanne Rimes. Friend of the Pod, Leanne Rimes. We'd love to have you on this show to exclusively talk about your dance remixes. I i will roll out the red carpet.
01:04:17
Speaker
Would that not be just such a fucking serve? The gag. The gag. No, Leon, we are not talking about how ah how how do I live. Well, you know what? Only the Mr. Mig. Right. Only the Mr. Mig remakes this. Because like I would like to know, like clearly now, she has much more of a say in like what she's doing. And I think she might still be with Curb Records, which I feel like she's been with her entire career. They have a very, very big long-lasting relationship. But either way. yeah um Like, did you have a say in that? How did it happen in the earlier days versus how you're choosing that now? Like, I would like to know that sort of journey. Right. I would love to know that too. Oh my gosh. We're putting that out in the world. Manifesting. Manifesting. Okay. My songs we don't talk about enough. So I'm a bad Janet Jackson fan because I completely forgot that
01:05:09
Speaker
traditionally now on the Super Bowl, it is Janet Jackson Appreciation Day. So this is my making up for that. OK, I love it. By not by not posting anything yesterday about Janet Jackson Appreciation Day. I am going to go ahead and say I was like mulling around this all day long. I was like there was three Janet Jackson songs in mind. I was like, which one do I want to bring up? And I am going to go ahead and bring up one that I famously love. It's a collaboration that got No love, no light for the longest time. It had a $2 million dollars but animated video. um It was a collaboration with Black Street. The song was a giant flop, but then she performed it on her Together Again tour. I think this was, oh my gosh, was it two years ago now? 2023.
01:05:55
Speaker
And it was the same year as Renaissance Tour. um The song is called Girlfriend Boyfriend. It also features Ja Rule and Eve on the rap in the middle of the song. The song it is so good. It's so good. This is on streaming, right? I just want to make sure. It is it is on streaming. it's yeah I believe it's on Black Street's Finally album. See, like this is one of those moments because I just typed in Janet Girlfriend and nothing came up.
Song Credits Controversy and Praise
01:06:22
Speaker
Of course, that's homophobic right there. Homophobic, there it is. She's not even credited on the track. Right, yes, that's the issue. What? That she is not credited on the track. So whoever is involved with this song, this is fix it. Fix it, fit fix it. I said fix it. Wait, this is Interscope Records. I know someone's getting an email. Okay, good, good, because that needs to get fixed. That's crazy. Nuts, but this song,
01:06:50
Speaker
is a complete bop. When I have played this song for people, they're like, Whoa, this is like really fun and really like the it's just like a I, would would you call this song like a new Jack Swing style? Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Like it is just, it is funky. it It makes you want to dance. I was the only person at my concert screaming, screaming the lyrics. I was like, people were like, um, what is this? And I was like, you don't know this classic but from 1999. I've got to be honest, everybody, and when I saw it too, had no idea what was going on.
01:07:26
Speaker
No idea. Yeah. Uh, blowing up blowing up my page because she's ready to bone. I mean, name a better lyric. Look, and if anybody was ready to bone at that time in that year, it was Black Street. It was Black Street and Janet. I mean, was I'm kind of here for it. Yeah. Yeah. So let's celebrate that. Right. So Janet, love you. We love Janet Jackson. We love Janet Jackson. Appreciation Day. Her
Celebrating Janet Jackson's Legacy
01:07:49
Speaker
her new Vegas residency looks really fun. yeah Let me tell you, like I She's so dialed in now. yeah you know like And I feel like the last two tours I saw, and I haven't seen this most recent one, although I think they're all pretty much somewhat similar, um but she looks great. like The costumes are different. She snatched. The body looks great. And I'm like, girl, like come on. But like it's so not even a question. like Is she going to give a good show? Because like it's just second nature. It's just an extension of her. like I've never seen somebody so fluid when they dance like that.
01:08:24
Speaker
a born performer stage presence. I mean, you don't find it. I mean, true kind kind of invented stage presence, to be completely. I mean, like she when she saw got on that stage and just like stared into the audience, I was like losing my damn mind. I was like, right. Like, oh, my God. And she's just literally just standing there. And I'm like, I'm like, yes, mom, do nothing. yeah like and do it for 10 more minutes. Like it's so good. And I just love her and talk about, I mean, like for Super Bowl, like honestly, it's time I say, I say, I mean, there's a lot of people that I would like to perform in the Super Bowl halftime show, but while she is in the great condition that she is in, it's time to re-invite Janet Jackson back to the Super Bowl and to have her could do the halftime show. I would love for her to do it solo.
01:09:14
Speaker
I think do it solo, but you know what? At this point, take both your titties out. take but and Either take both the titties out or bring Justin Timberlake out and pull his dick out. right
01:09:26
Speaker
Just saying. Just let's do it. Let's do. We're going to do it. Let's let's really do it. Let's just really do it or like have like. Oh, my God. Oh, it would just be honestly, though, like truly. She has so many great songs. Her set list lately have been absolutely sickening. Right. Like she has been. I love how she's been really giving the deep cuts to the fans lately. Songs that she's never performed live. Like she's doing slow love on this residency right now. Like.
01:09:51
Speaker
Let's celebrate that way. Come on. So I just I just feel like she could do such she has such an incredible catalog. She could really do it justice because when she performed last time controversy aside, she only did Rhythm Nation and all for you. right So and then did the the little bit of rock your body with Justin Timberlake. So this time I would love for her to do it completely solo. Give us like, you know, eight to 12 songs, mashups, whatever.
01:10:17
Speaker
and just show the world the fucking goddess that you are. Right, because it's ridiculous. like there is it's it's She's so successful on tour, but I feel like she's not getting anywhere near the cultural recognition that some of the other people are getting, and it just doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, so... Yeah, I don't get it. There there there needs to be like either some sort of...
01:10:41
Speaker
because the industry is so weird with this sort of shit, I feel, that there's gotta be some sort of songwriter hall of fame, something industry related that they've gotta bring her into to sort of kickstart this sort of social consciousness again. So it's gotta be something like that. There's gotta be some sort of lifetime achievement, whatever. There's gotta be something that's gotta get her. Let's invent an award. Right, right. They do it for everybody else. And this is actually somebody who's deserving of it.
01:11:11
Speaker
yeah yeah i don't know that would be kind of amazing though it would be it would be a serve and it would make the world right again at least for that you know 13 minutes and 20 seconds yeah as far as i'm concerned the super bowl is a cursed cursed thing that we do every year until then your lips to God's ears or whatever the phrase is. I think I
Podcast Closing and Farewell
01:11:31
Speaker
said that last time I was like, what is that? Still don't know. Still don't know. Still don't know. Well, until next time, thank you again for joining us. Thank you. And until next time, everyone, have an amazing day, night, week, moment, whatever. Peace out. i