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M&M: Mariah & Madonna (with DJ John Michael)
166 Plays23 days ago
This week, we’re diving deep into two pop royalty icons: Mariah Carey and Madonna! DJ John Michael returns as we unpack the scorching-hot takes you, our listeners, submitted on social media about Madonna’s “worst” song—and trust us, some of these opinions are wild!
We also take a moment (or several) to shower Mariah Carey with love as she approaches a major anniversary. And, in classic HOMOPHONIC fashion, we detour into some delightful pop culture rabbit holes, including a little-known story about Deborah Cox’s “Stupid Like U” and celebrating 25 years of NSYNC’s No Strings Attached.
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Transcript
Welcome and Introduction of John Michael
00:00:10
Speaker
welcome back to homophonic and agree and I can't even speak. Everybody. yeah We're trying. We're trying here. From the top. From the top. Welcome back to homophonic, everybody. don't know what that was. ah We're once again joined by John Michael, friend of the pod. More like, more like.
00:00:32
Speaker
I don't even know what's beyond friend at this point. Friend of the pod. I don't i don't know. pod um I have to think. Co-host. I don't know. Yeah. like I mean, it does seem to be that.
00:00:42
Speaker
It does seem to be that. And I and have no other way.
Lady Gaga's TikTok Antics
00:00:45
Speaker
um But i i almost feel kind of like naked without Z right now. we should i know, right? where we oh Especially because all we've done is talk about Lady Gaga for the last week and a half.
00:00:56
Speaker
All we've done. and I'm not mad about it. am not mad about At all. Because the entire internet has been talking about it, it feels like. I know, which is great. I love that. Oh, yeah. I am thrilled that she's been receiving this love and this acclaim and just getting her flowers. I don't know. yeah Yes, but I will say the thing that has been making me laugh so much on TikTok is so every time somebody puts up a piece of content that seems to go viral around Mayhem or anything Gaga right now, she's been reposting and she's been talking about how she's been seeing all the content and sharing and commenting and whatever, and it's been totally her and I love her and whatever.
00:01:31
Speaker
Yeah. What I've also noticed is that when people put up content that maybe isn't great content or maybe it's just somebody's trying, but they're not just there yet. and Instead of people writing lady Lady Gaga reposted in the comments when she does, it'll just say Lady Gaga reported.
00:01:48
Speaker
Ha ha ha! It's been making me laugh so hard because I'm like, that's such a funny way of doing that. It's just like a gentle shade where it's like Lady Gaga reported. Lady Gaga reported. She was like, I don't know about this one. Not this one. Not this one. Not this one. Keep trying.
00:02:07
Speaker
Keep trying, you guys. Oh, my God.
Debating Madonna's Worst Songs
00:02:10
Speaker
Well, you and I posted or a few episodes back, we had gotten into, you know, what is Madonna's worst song?
00:02:19
Speaker
oh i am i have the I have the answers pulled up. And I was, so do I. And I was like, I feel like we need to kind of go into this a little bit because we kind of talked we talked talked about it briefly in the last episode, but there are some opinions.
00:02:36
Speaker
Well, and I think that so far this, it seems to be this post is the runaway post right now for the podcast. It really is. Yeah. Right. And so, like, I'm trying to think of, like, who's next? Right.
00:02:48
Speaker
Well, every every few days I get, like, a comment where it's, like, such and such tagged six other people. And I'm like, oh, boy. I was like, here we go. Mm-hmm. I know. it is It is truly the gift that keeps on giving. so i mean...
00:03:02
Speaker
ah I'm just I'm gonna start kind of from the beginning I don't know yeah would you like to start somewhere or no no no I mean I think it's fine because it's like there's there's there's a lot of double ups for sure a lot of people definitely have the same opinions about certain songs um which is which is fine there's a lot that I do agree with um yeah comments too absolutely I want to start out with this this person valid this this thoughts I don't ah valley wait valley des de thoughts I'm not even seeing Let's celebrate that. Let's celebrate that name.
00:03:35
Speaker
they this is their This is their comment. Trashing Hey You has become a recurring basic boomer joke amongst M fans. No surprise there. And I'm just kind of like, okay. Like, taking it so seriously so quick.
Madonna's Ever-evolving Career
00:03:49
Speaker
um But then they said, let let's smith let's make it interesting and talk about ah Till Death Do Us Part, Some Girls, Miles Away, Devil's Prey, or excuse me, Devil Prey, and Batuka. Which... are, in my opinion, all excellent songs.
00:04:02
Speaker
That's a, that's well, so that's, that's kind of what I wanted, what I wanted to say and talk about because it's like, I realize that this is all very subjective and it's all, obviously these are just our opinions, but like,
00:04:14
Speaker
Till Death Do Us Part? You think that's one of Madonna's worst songs? Like, hold on a second. Like a song that's about like domestic violence. First of all, and it's like the most cheerful song about domestic violence that I've ever heard. Literally, yeah. Because it's like, almost sounds like a video game. And it's arguably one of my favorite Madonna songs.
00:04:33
Speaker
and is arguably one of my favorite madonna songs Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, and then some, okay. So I can, I can understand some girls because it's from MDNA. That's a, that's a controversial album.
00:04:47
Speaker
I personally like some girls. i love like all the hidden lyrics and and voice notes in the song, but miles away. Like that's crazy to me. That was crazy.
00:04:59
Speaker
Crazy. Devil pray. Another fan favorite from rebel heart. Yes. Yes. That's actually one of the ones that i like from rebel heart. And I love Batuka. i thought I do too. I thought Batuka was such a cool song.
00:05:11
Speaker
And it was so good in the live show as well. And it's funny because I feel like what I started seeing people write about Madame X specifically in the comments was like how I feel like most people feel about Madame X is sort of how I feel mostly about MD&A.
00:05:25
Speaker
sure And it's like, I really enjoyed Madame X, I think because I took it for what it was understanding that this is not Madonna giving us like a pop album. This is her giving us like a concept piece of art.
00:05:37
Speaker
Right. know there yeah Something was was going on. There was a deeper story. There was other things happening. Yeah, she she was very inspired. I remember her saying something like she was inspired by living in Portugal, being a soccer mom right ah to David.
00:05:51
Speaker
And the thing that always gets me, and I say this to Brian all the time, is that when it comes to Madonna specifically, if you are a casual fan, somebody that knows like the 80s hits or even the 90s hits or whatever, even you know confession stuff.
00:06:04
Speaker
you're not going to really understand all the sort of peaks and valleys. And if you are a serious fan, that doesn't mean that you have to also like everything that she does. But I think that when people question how we got here or why this happened, I'm like, all right, well, clearly I'm very plugged into this woman's life.
Madonna's Global Influence
00:06:20
Speaker
and yeah And I sort of, I guess I understand it on some levels, but it's like nothing about Madam X really was shocking to me where people were like, what is she doing? What is it? And I'm like, I don't know if you sort of pay attention. She kind of tells you every time.
00:06:34
Speaker
Right. Same. Right. That's a perfect way of putting that because I was like, I was like, oh this is very Madonna. Like this is very her. Like it didn't feel it's it's left field in the sense of like it's an artistic album, but it's it.
00:06:51
Speaker
It's very on brand for her. Totally. And you have to be very unplugged from her. To think that this is out of just out of nowhere. Right. Right.
00:07:03
Speaker
Like the woman that gave us erotica, the woman that gave us ah American life. Right. You know? and look I look and remember I was I remember texting my friends, Dan and Ryan. I was in the MoMA, I want to say, in New York City and Dark Ballet had just been released. And we were I was literally sitting in the middle of the museum with my headphones on listening to the song. And I'm like, what on earth is this woman doing?
00:07:30
Speaker
I was like, I have no idea. and i just And we're all texting each other and we're all trying to make sense of it. And I said, you know what? I was like, I am going to trust that she has a bigger vision than what my brain can can handle right now.
00:07:42
Speaker
I said, and I'm just going to roll with it. This doesn't feel like a standalone, but. Right. Here's what I will say about Madam X is that it was the first Madonna album that I have said publicly, um but really, truly the only Madonna album where I was like, none of the singles really captured me.
00:08:04
Speaker
right in any In any which way. Medellin definitely grew on me. um I loved the remixes that they did. and and ah Like many Madonna songs, I felt like a lot of the remixes either amplified or made the song better.
00:08:18
Speaker
um and so i felt that way about Medellin. Then there were remixes for um I don't search I find but that came out at like after the album yeah I'm out but leading up to the album excuse me leading up to the album she had released Medellin Crave I think that she released I rise she released and then you think that she released future as a promo single yes and and none of them were really doing anything for me So i I personally was worried that I wasn't going to like the album. And I was like, oh, no, this is going the first Madonna album that I don't like.
00:08:54
Speaker
But then it saved me with, like, God Control. It saved me with – the song – there's a song on there that I feel like a lot of people hate that I actually thought was really fun. It was the other song with Maluma, Bitch I'm Laca. love it I love it.
Underappreciated Madonna Singles
00:09:08
Speaker
I kind of feel like it should have been the first single. i agree. Because it's a lot more radio-friendly. It's a lot more pop. It's very – ah you know, in that, you know, Latin inspired, I don't know if it's full on regga, I don't think it's reggaeton.
00:09:22
Speaker
Is it? I mean, I guess it's sort of, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is in that it's, yeah, it's definitely in the reggaeton style and I guess because Maluma's on it, but you know, right.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah. don't I, know I, to me, it feels crazy that she had the track, uh, Faj Custoso with Anita that was not a single. I'm like, if there was anything from the album that was going to really could have taken everything and just sort of elevated it, it would have been that one for me.
00:09:49
Speaker
Right. Do you feel like it's because like Anita was only starting to really take off around the same time, at least outside of Brazil? Yeah. i You know what? i I actually think that she had such a specific, because it felt like everything about this project had her hands in it.
00:10:09
Speaker
You know, where it's like other things, like, not that not that they never do, but like. Hard Candy, it didn't felt like it didn't feel like she was leading the trend. It felt like she was catching up to the trend. And I think that's why a lot of Hard Candy didn't really work so much for me because I'm like, well, I don't know. like Four Minutes is a great track and I always love it and I love the remixes and everything. But a lot of the album just felt like, I don't i don't know.
00:10:32
Speaker
This to me felt like it may not all be for me and I don't know how much of this I'm really going to love. But it just I don't know. There was just something that was so like she had a vision that I was like all right, I'm going to follow you and I'm going to see this whole thing.
00:10:45
Speaker
We're going to start with the trailers and the teasers. We're going to do the singles. We're going do the videos. going to do the whole show. We're going to do the whole experience with you, Madonna, and see how we go. And honestly, one of the best Madonna shows I think I've ever been to. I loved it so much.
00:10:59
Speaker
I'm so jealous. Yeah. Because it was just different. It was just so different. Like, it was the complete opposite of anything that you'd expect from her. And I'm sure that her label didn't love this. ah Right. And had no idea what to do with it, you know, because it's like...
00:11:13
Speaker
But I mean, you look at even Medellin, like people saying that it's one of her worst songs. The song has 73 million streams on Spotify alone. Yeah, that's lot. You know, that's that's a lot. Like, especially for somebody this far in her career. Like, even the one with Anita only has 49 million streams.
00:11:29
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. So it's like, and I don't know. I just, I think she looked great in the videos. I thought that she, I don't know. I was just really, really here for it. And I know, again, not popular opinion by any means.
Madonna's Pop Culture Relevance and Criticism
00:11:41
Speaker
And I mean, what is she supposed to do, honestly? Because it's like, you know, people in the comments a lot of times, too, will be like, oh, she's flopping or this, that, and the other. and its But it's like, she's in her 60s now.
00:11:54
Speaker
We all are fully aware that she is not going to get played on radio the way that the young girls are. um But I don't think she cares. i don't think she cares either. But, like, why are we constantly expecting...
00:12:08
Speaker
She doesn't I guess what i'm trying to say is she doesn't need to play on their play on their playing field. Right, right. She is on another level now. And she is put in the time and and, you know, we can talk about how maybe her singles aren't performing well commercially in the sense of like, you know, going top 10 on Billboard Hot 100.
00:12:26
Speaker
But let's not pretend like just about every song that she ever releases goes number one on the club charts. Right. I mean, she's a woman. Right. is it's it's It's the fact that that the the ah will ah what I always say is that the fact that we even talk about her relevance is proof of relevance to me.
00:12:44
Speaker
Yeah. Because if she wasn't, we wouldn't care. Yeah. I think that I've said this to you before, and I've attempted making this as social media post, and I deleted it. This is like in my early days of my meme page. Do you remember what I said? feel...
00:12:59
Speaker
This is like but borderline controversial. So going to, I'm going to scale back and say that I had a conversation with my friend at a Shola one time at a bar here in Grand Rapids.
00:13:12
Speaker
And we were going, and this is, I'm also want to preface. This is like before Kanye West became the Kanye West that is today. Right. This is long before that. This is roughly around the time that he released black skinhead.
00:13:25
Speaker
um What was that album? Jesus. Is that the Jesus album? Yeah. Okay. think so And so we were having this conversation of who was more relevant or, and more impactful Madonna or Kanye West.
00:13:40
Speaker
And so we were going back and forth, back and forth. And i said to him, I go, listen, Go up to, i want i was like, what I want you to do is I want you to go up to people the next time you're like out and about and ask them what they think of when they hear the word Madonna.
00:14:02
Speaker
And see what they say. And I go, I guarantee you nine times out of 10, they are going to say something in reference to the pop star. And he kind of looked at me kind of like, what? And I was like, Madonna is the Italian word for the representation of the Virgin Mary with child.
00:14:19
Speaker
Right. I was like before Madonna, the pop star. That most people in Western cultures. Yeah. understood that that representation. They didn't have to be Catholic to know that, right? Right.
00:14:34
Speaker
I was like, when Madonna the pop star got into the picture, she blew up, she became so big globally That she is now synonymous with that word, which is her birth name, by the way. but most people think that it's a stage name. That is her birth name.
00:14:52
Speaker
they People think of the pop star over the Virgin Mary. I'm sure that there are areas of the world where that's an exception, right? Italy, probably, you know? even Yeah, but even in Italy.
00:15:04
Speaker
But even in Italy, you are still going to think you... ah because So I did this once at my job ah back in 2017.
00:15:14
Speaker
I said... i put up on a sheet of paper. i just said, write down what you think of when you hear the word Madonna. And I got everything from like... Vogue, cone bras, just music symbols. I got like all this iconography referring to Madonna, the pop star.
00:15:36
Speaker
I think that I had 52 people participate, two people reference the Virgin Mary. And one of those two people referenced said both. They were like, this is, I, both things came into my head. And that person was also very Catholic.
00:15:48
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So I was said to him, I was like, to me, this would be like if a rapper today it was named Jesus or Messiah and became so big that that if you ask people what they thought of when they heard the word Messiah, they would reference the rapper over the son of God.
00:16:12
Speaker
but I know people are probably like rolling their eyes right now, but like, but I'm being serious. Like this is, this is how big she became and still is. But you still hear, even beyond that, you still hear the pop girls of today will still reference her and will still talk about like her performances and her different things because it's like, while they may not have been around for any of that sort of any of the buzz or any of the hype or other the the craziness or the high points of these people's career, it's like,
00:16:42
Speaker
you realize that TikTok is a thing that exists, right? And like, I see tons of things on my newsfeed where it's like iconic performance 1990 Madonna at the Oscars. And it's like, you know, and these things are still coming across the algorithms and the news feeds. It's just a new way to share this stuff. So just because you may not see it, these young girls are still seeing it and they're being influenced because they also recognize that their direct favorites, which may be the more Gaga, Beyonce, whatever,
00:17:07
Speaker
They mention and recognize them in their music, in their performances, in their interviews. So it's like the chain is always still going on. And it's this woman, no matter if she's 112 or whatever, like she'll always be relevant. Again, you don't have to like everything that she
Madonna's Albums: Favorites and Controversies
00:17:24
Speaker
does.
00:17:24
Speaker
right Somebody else said birthday song is cringe. I kind of agree. It's not one of my favorites. I don't love that I know. I used to play it all the time. On my birthday, I would always be like, it's my birthday, son. ah I know. Yeah, I don't that one, Body Shop, is another one. Somebody said I agree with that. and There were several people who said Auto-Tune Baby, which I was like, oh, yeah, I forgot that existed. because And there's a reason.
00:17:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, because that was like on like the super deluxe version of Rebel Heart, right? Which, i if I'm going to be honest, was too much. Yeah. Yeah. It was a bit too much. By that point, I was like, all right, it's like 25 songs.
00:18:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot for any album. Yeah. I know. And like it's funny because like as a kid, I used to be like, I want all the songs. like Give me every single one. Why do they cut them?
00:18:17
Speaker
Yeah. but now as an adult, like it's like, don't get me wrong. i'm I'm always interested to hear- Yeah. the unreleased and the demos and things like that. But I'm also growing up is, ah is understanding why those songs were left on the right. Right.
00:18:32
Speaker
Somebody, I saw that there was some demos and stuff that leaked from Kylie's tension sessions, like songs that didn't make it. And I was like, and I listened to them and I'm like, some of these are cute and some of them have cute ideas, but I get why they weren't on the album. It's fine.
00:18:45
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So many people said B-Day song. Yeah. Yeah, lots of B-Day songs. There was so also a lot of Spanish lesson, which I thought was interesting. Yeah, i don't I don't love that.
00:18:57
Speaker
Okay. That was a skip for me. Yeah, like, don't get me wrong. I'm not running back to listen to Spanish lesson, but I liked it at the time. and And so, i'd like, if it came on, like, I would listen to it. i Because I love the, like, the work part in the background, like, work. And I think Peter Rauhofer even did a remix of it. Yeah.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yeah. yeah which This comment I like because it's all of Rebel Heart, half of music, all of American life, 80% of hard candy and 98% of MD&A.
00:19:26
Speaker
I'm like, girl, that is so specific. Jesus Christ. I listened to Somebody commented, and what's the 2% of MD&A that you like? ah was Literally, I want to know.
00:19:37
Speaker
MD&A gave us Girl Gone Wild. Gave us Girl Gone Wild. Wait, like okay. So what songs do you like on MD&A? Girl Gone Wild. I like one Gang Bang is okay.
00:19:50
Speaker
Okay. In theory, I like it. um You don't like Love Spent? It's fine, but it's not like there's nothing about that album specifically that ever made. Girl Gone Wild is probably my favorite. I turned up the radio is fine, I guess. I didn't like Gimme All Your Love In.
00:20:07
Speaker
Oh, I love, love, love, love love Masterpiece. Love. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Absolutely love. yeah Yeah. I didn't need any of the... I fucked up is another one I don't like.
00:20:20
Speaker
Yeah. Don't like it bird beat a B day song. Don't like a beautiful killer. Best friend. Don't like them. Okay. No, but masterpiece. No, don't like them. Masterpiece. that was fantastic. I think the album kind of suffers from what a lot of music of that time suffered from, which it was so produced in the style. It was like the peak of the EDM craze.
00:20:41
Speaker
yeah And unfortunately, like the the following years when it really started to trail off. And so... it just it became almost dated as it was being produced.
00:20:53
Speaker
Right, and that's what I mean. Like, I think that was another album of hers where I felt like she was running after this trend a little bit and it wasn't getting there. Like, Girl Gone Wild was the best that I think she was gonna get out of that moment.
00:21:04
Speaker
And the video is one of her best videos, I think, of all time. And I will go on record saying it's so good. She looks phenomenal. The guys in the boots and the heels dancing, doing the whole, it's so good. I love everything about that.
00:21:17
Speaker
i I, you know, and and I think that you're right, too, because I mean, also, we have to remember that her kids were kind of growing up at that point. um And I remember William Orbit being in an interview saying that like, it was a very different process than when he worked on like Ray of Light and music with her. Right.
00:21:35
Speaker
um Because she her kids are. you know Some of them are like entering adulthood at that point, and so they're you know she's busy with them and busy raising the other kids, and she had and think she had all six kids at that point.
00:21:48
Speaker
And so you know trying to juggle all of that while also making an album, like yeah, it's going to be ah a lot different. And so I'm sure that her headspace was in a different place. At that point.
00:22:00
Speaker
But I will. But I i mean, i liked MDNA. um I loved I'm Addicted. um i love that. You're like. i it's its know it's not It's not bad. I mean, it's just again, it's it's just not a. It's not bad.
00:22:15
Speaker
Yeah, she exists. Many things can be true at the same time. That's very true. That's very true. um but yeah, I mean, superstar from that album on the standard version is like that.
00:22:29
Speaker
That was a delete for me. For sure. And even but even on Hard Candy, I thought that there were things that that were great that she did. doesn't really get the credit for. I think Dance Tonight is one of her best songs. Oh it's so good. It's so good. And it's just, I think it's perfect the way that it is. And even though my, you know, distaste for Justin Timberlake in recent years has become a thing. um I love Devil Wouldn't Recognize You. i was a big fan of voices.
00:22:56
Speaker
I don't like Incredible, but I loved Heartbeat. Yeah. and that's that's a little sort of quirky one, too. But – Yeah. See my booty get down like – down, yeah down, up, up. By that point, I was getting a little like – I was like, I don't know, Emdala? I don't know about this. i was like, what are we doing, girl? What is this?
00:23:16
Speaker
Right. Well, you know, and it's interesting, too, because like, you know – Madonna really is the blueprint for the era of it all. i mean, no other pop star really was doing the era thing where when so, you know, people always reference Taylor Swift to now with the era's tour.
00:23:36
Speaker
um But Madonna was the one who really paved the way of like reinventing oneself for each album, changing up your
Reflections on Madonna's Legacy
00:23:43
Speaker
sound, especially like, especially starting with like a prayer and then going from like a prayer to I'm breathless to erotica.
00:23:51
Speaker
to Bedtime Stories, to the Evita soundtrack, to then Ray of Light, right to then music. Like, when you listen to those albums, I mean, I see people in Stan Twitter and Stan social media all the time be like, you know, the versatility when they're talking about their favorite artists. And I'm like, ah listen to Madonna. Right.
00:24:10
Speaker
The versatility in her music is absolutely crazy. And she does it. She's able to seamlessly and effortlessly...
00:24:21
Speaker
take on all these different styles. Well, and it's always, i was going to say, I feel like it's always too, like, there's so many times, and I'm sure that age obviously has something to do with this too, but,
00:24:33
Speaker
There's so many times that I see or I've seen people go back to things that she would get either panned for or criticized about and then be like 10, 15 years later, oh, she was so ahead of her time. And I'm like, y'all, you were just so late. Like you had bad media analysis then, you have bad media analysis now, and we've all been waiting for you to catch up.
00:24:53
Speaker
right isn't it crazy to see that i feel like every few weeks or every few months of this goes viral on something where it's that newspaper or like magazine clip of her from the girly show and it says like calm down grandma she was like what's 35 at the time 35 right like it's just crazy because i say and they do it with share too like i've been you know this woman has had more ups and downs in her career than anybody and now it's like you get to a point in society where it's like, you've reached this sort of, ah you know, this age where now it's like all these iconic things they did. And they keep pulling like the same, like 10 to 15 things throughout Cher's career. And I'm like, there's so much that you overlook. And there's so many where she was just so uncool.
00:25:35
Speaker
You know, there's been times where Madonna has been so uncool, where Mariah has been so uncool. And it's like, i don't I stopped fighting years ago with people because it's like, you'll be back.
00:25:48
Speaker
You say you won't, but you will. Exactly. You'll appreciate it again. They yeah always come back. They always come back. um I do have to call out, and I'm going to say this person's username because we should shame them a little bit.
00:26:04
Speaker
ah The Gospel of Quinley says, unpopular opinion, La Isla Bonita. Oh, wow. That wasn't even the one that I was talking about in the comments. This deserves to be shame, too. I was like, there's shame.
00:26:17
Speaker
Shame in the in the Game of Thrones of it all. Right. like this This just feels like my childhood, this song. Yeah. It just really does. And also, I think that...
00:26:29
Speaker
Again, all of this is subjective, right? We all have different tastes. But, like, the question that was presented to us was, what is Madonna's worst song? Not the song that you dislike the most.
Madonna's Ballads and Emotional Impact
00:26:42
Speaker
Right. Because there's plenty, because we we're going on and on right now about all the songs that we dislike. But, like, to sit there and say La Isla Bonita... is one of Madonna's worst songs.
00:26:56
Speaker
Shame. Shame. And also the person who said, is it hanky panky?
00:27:02
Speaker
not shame Not in my house. not Shame. No, no. That has gone double platinum with my aux cord. i Literally. I'm not even kidding. My MacBook computer that's sitting behind this Right.
00:27:16
Speaker
Triple Platinum. No, absolutely. Especially the Bare Bones single mix. Let's celebrate that. Let's celebrate that. Let's celebrate that. And even this guy, i don't know what... Complicated name. I got a complicated order.
00:27:29
Speaker
I got a complicated order. I never liked Secret. Still don't. Okay. But is it her worst song? Is it her worst song? I don't know. what Would you put Secret as her worst song above B-Day Song?
00:27:45
Speaker
Look at us and right in the eyes. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. Look at us right in the eyes and say that Secret is worse than Autotune Baby. Right. Like, come on now. let like Let's be serious. but Literally. Like, come on. Right. And like, and and I'm sorry. Like, Madonna...
00:27:59
Speaker
pretty much invented mmm like she she I don't know if I'd say that I think I think that the the Hindu people would probably have something to say about that well clearly she was Hindu during ray of light well she is all things to all people obviously she's omnipotent right ah But I mean like i mean we got the mmms in Secret we got the mmms in Frozen we got the mmms in Isaac there's another one that I'm forgetting right now um but like Secret is such her voice on that that whole Bedtime Stories album is so rich oh yeah so lush we were talking about this with Z um
00:28:40
Speaker
i love I followed up with him ah via text to be like, I didn't ask you on the episode. I was like, what is your favorite song from Bedtime Stories? And I want to make sure i'm not misquoting him. We can't have a misquote. that is We are scientists. We don't do that here.
00:28:54
Speaker
um Okay, let's see. He said... did it did did did did do I want to say it was the title track, Bedtime Story, which I was shocked by. i was like i was like, that's the favorite one?
00:29:05
Speaker
Okay. Oh my god. My favorite will always remain Forbidden Love. Forbidden Love is so good. it's It's so good, and it's it's another exemplary... um just a perfect example of why baby face and Madonna worked together.
00:29:21
Speaker
Yeah. It's just his background vocals, the whispers, the whole thing. It's just, ah it's so good. yeah It's so good. It's so good. Yeah, he said, really like the title but title track, also Secret.
00:29:33
Speaker
And then he also liked Sanctuary. Oh, so good. I was like, taste, come Yeah, no, absolutely. Taste, yeah. and somebody else said, wait, are our arnal Arnaldo Carpio said, please, what about American Life?
00:29:46
Speaker
I'm going to say, maybe unpopular opinion, I loved that album. I didn't love it, I don't think, when it came out. And I think it took me a minute. I also felt that way about music, but I really like, I ended up loving a lot of that love profusion. I absolutely love mother and father. I love nobody knows me love.
00:30:04
Speaker
um there And there were so many remixes of these songs going around at the time, but I ended up really, really liking American life way more than I thought. And that original video that she did, the one that they ended up pulling one of her best.
00:30:17
Speaker
And again, ahead of her time. way ahead of her time. Yeah. right So one of my followers, Tommy Boom, shout out Tommy. ah He also hates American life. He was like, get the album or the song, the album. as i get He's like, when she goes for that guitar, I'm running. And I was like, and i general in general, I agree.
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah, and I was like, I get it, but I was like, I personally, I don't know. And maybe it's because I kind of grew up with experimental Madonna. Like, when I got into Madonna was like Ray of Light, right? So I was already getting into a Madonna that was outside of just strict dance pop.
00:30:57
Speaker
So I was kind of like, I knew that she was going to shape and shift ah accordingly, right? that Just given whatever. Yeah. But I really liked American Life.
00:31:09
Speaker
And I'm with you on the remixes because that album saw a completely different and new life through all of the remixes and in club culture.
00:31:21
Speaker
like Like you were talking about a couple episodes ago how we used to get these remix packages and it would be for all the different types of clubs and different types of vibes and things like that that people were going for.
00:31:32
Speaker
that This album provided so much of that. Oh, yeah. I mean, we had great remixes for American Life, great remixes for Die Another Day. We had great remixes Hollywood and Nobody Knows Me and Mother and Father.
00:31:46
Speaker
And Nothing Fails and Love Perfusion. And I mean, there was there was some that I don't think were officially put out, but there was remixes done for Ecstatic Process and for Easy Ride and for Mother and Father.
00:31:57
Speaker
i think almost every song. think maybe I'm So Stupid and Intervention might be the only two tracks that I don't know remixes. Sorry, Flops. You didn't get remixes. Flop Tina.
00:32:08
Speaker
um Flop Tina. Someone said I'm So Stupid is one of her worst songs. And i i go, I disagree. don't know. It's not one of my favorites. I loved it. I loved Stupid-er than stupid. bed i don't know. I don't know. I don't know. i I loved it. i What I loved is... i don't remember the what they exactly what they did, but they froze her vocal. It wasn't just like a... It wasn't like how in a lot of remixes they will kind of like take a snippet of the vocal and kind of repeat it.
00:32:43
Speaker
Yeah. They said that that whatever... technology they had is that they actually froze the vocal which is why it goes right yeah and ah i mean it just i it does it have the least amount of streams i'm like looking on the out no actually the least amount of streams is intervention but interesting yeah uh no well no no no it's easy ride that's a shame i love that song I love Easy Ride. Yeah. Tracy, almost said Tracy Chapman. Tracy Young.
00:33:15
Speaker
Tracy Young did a great remix of that. She did. Yeah. Tracy Chapman. Tracy, Tracy Chapman, that, that famous remixer. Famous remixer. ah Famous remixture remix. Remix and making those dance remixes for American life. um And I did see a couple comments saying ah Jimmy, Jimmy.
00:33:35
Speaker
Look, it's it's it's a fun track. I don't know if it's one of her worst songs. It's definitely not one of her best, but I get it. It's it's silly. It's like a like a Dear Jessie sort of.
00:33:47
Speaker
And I have to say, i fucking love Dear Jessie. I love Dear Jessie, but I'm saying it's like it's that loved cartoony type. Yeah. She gets in her cartoony bag. Yeah. I especially love the end of Dear Jesse when the violins just really are the strange just like start really start going. like Oh, so my God.
00:34:04
Speaker
It's so fun. um What else? someone Someone said die another day. i don't. Actually, well they said did another day. that's So sorry, you don't know her. and but if But if you mean die another day.
00:34:18
Speaker
it's just it's Elton John from his burner account. still get that bitch. i still get that bitch Literally. I just saw someone post the ah like like the illustration that was made back during the reinvention tour days. Remember when she won best live show at the Brits like ah around 2004?
00:34:39
Speaker
um Elton John was publicly was like, best live show. I didn't know that lip syncing you could get best live show or whatever. I was like being all bitchy about it.
00:34:50
Speaker
And so someone made an illustration... that had him doing like the backbend crawl thing that she does during that show, and her arms folded going, now sing.
00:35:01
Speaker
Very that. Very that. For those of you that are listening that don't know what I'm talking about, in Madonna's Reinvention Tour, she opens the show. ah Well, first of all, it's a video projection from a Stephen Klein photo shoot to her Beast Within, which is...
00:35:16
Speaker
her reading from the book of revelations over the beat of justify my love iconic. But then when she comes up on stage, it's her performing Vogue in this, like, what century is that? I'm so bad with history. I don't even know. Like, like it's like Baroque.
00:35:33
Speaker
Yeah. Like Baroque inspired costuming. And in the middle of the song, after actually it's after the breakdown, after the rap part, they like do this crab walk, like upside down.
00:35:47
Speaker
And i it it was, ah I remember seeing, I was so lucky to see that live and blew my mind. It's so crazy. mind It's so crazy. And she's like, what, 40 something years old the time? Yeah.
00:35:58
Speaker
I could not do that now. I'm like 39 years old. don't know that I could do that any at any at any point. literally same i think and at that time i tried doing it and i was like how the hell right right right right crazy crazy but somebody said superstar is an absolute abomination not my favorite um my favorite either funana is so bad i actually like that but again that's that's my whole oh i just lost the light that's all right um It's my whole penchant for loving Madam X. Turn up the radio is dire. Y'all are really harsh. Dire.
00:36:31
Speaker
words. Dire. Right? Oh my gosh. They really pulled out that that dictionary for this. Okay. okay this one
Madonna's Artistic Risks and Fan Reactions
00:36:38
Speaker
this one felt personal. they there They listed off a bunch, but this one specifically spell felt personal to me um because this is one of my favorite Madonna songs.
00:36:49
Speaker
And it's just so fun. ah Don't Stop from Bedtime Stories. Oh, I love it. I'm like, how do you hate her? She's so sweet. Right.
00:37:00
Speaker
What a random song to dislike. Yeah, to sit there and say that's her worst song. Crazy. Right. Let's see. it They also said incredible. They also said nobody's perfect. oh that took me a minute, but i ended up liking that.
00:37:14
Speaker
Yeah. I wasn't sure. I felt the same way about like Paradise, not for me. I was like, i don't know what we're doing here, but I'm i'm kind of into it.
00:37:23
Speaker
We yeah i was like wow and know we were all just like, look at us. I was like, we're learning a new language. Let me tell you what. Madonna, the Rosetta Stone of pop stars.
00:37:35
Speaker
Literally. To this day, I still like to brag about the fact that I know every lyric to Shanti Astanji.
00:37:44
Speaker
Like, I'm like, yeah, I know an entire song in Sanskrit. I was like, what? And what now? I was like, and what? Let's say I won't sing it right now. You're like, sir, this is an Arby's.
00:37:57
Speaker
yeah they're like They're like, so are you going to send your email or not? right i'm like I'm like, you know. I love how somebody said this great this is utter blasphemy. Me saying that Hey, You is Her Worst Song is utter blasphemy. That's wild.
00:38:11
Speaker
Y'all are wise wild. It wild. Yeah. are real wild. So the thing is, I liked Hey You for what it was, but again, it's not my it's not my favorite song. And also, it was her first collaboration with Pharrell before the Hard Candy album came out.
00:38:26
Speaker
And so it's like, but know, it's one of those things where it's like, you don't collaborate with... I don't go to Pharrell for a ballad. Right, right. you know? Right. So i know that this song was for live earth, um which was that like huge concert, someone, something kind of like live aid where they were trying to save the planet and do all that. planet. They were saving the planet. Yeah. no i love that.
00:38:53
Speaker
But you know what we, you know what we can celebrate for live earth? That incredible performance of La Isla Bonita mixed with Lele Palatuce. hu Oh my God. One of my favorite Madonna performances well So good.
00:39:08
Speaker
With Gogo Bordello. Yep. Yeah. I have a coworker who loves Gogo Bordello. Am I saying their name right? I think so. don't know. I feel like I'm switching that up. Anyway, they ah love them and they had brought them up one day and I was like, oh, Gogo Bordello? And they were like they were like, you know who they are? And I go, they performed with Madonna and at Live Earth.
00:39:35
Speaker
So yes, I do. Six degrees of Madonna in every aspect of your life. Exactly. it's funny because it's like people think that like, I don't know, people think that Madonna, again, is just this like silly pop star, like a casual person. And I'm not saying my co-workers like this, but like they don't understand how much Madonna loves different cultures and interesting.
00:40:00
Speaker
so inspired by all these different things and it's like so even the songs that I like I don't necessarily love I still really appreciate the fact that she you know takes her time to learn these different cultures learn the different styles and experiment and explore and I don't know it makes a better artist I think that's what all of the best ones do yeah there's nothing different than what you see Gaga or Beyonce or anybody that's at the top of their game doing this right now you know it's it's yeah
00:40:31
Speaker
I do have to say one thing because I cannot let this one go because this is absolute and insane in ah insanity to me as this is one of my most favorite Madonna songs of all time. And i will say that I do believe we do not, she does not get anywhere near enough credit for her ballads.
00:40:48
Speaker
And I'm sorry, the fact that there is somebody here and I am going to name you Dr. Anders, that song from the closing credits of A League of Their Own, Are you talking about this used to be my playground? Are you trying to tell me that this used in the year of our Lord and Savior 2025 that you are going to come on Beyonce's internet and say that Madonna's worst song is this used to be my playground? No.
00:41:16
Speaker
No. Absolutely not. That is crazy talk. That's crazy talk. They are just rage baiting us at this time. Right. You have to be because I cannot. They knew exactly what they were doing to get us to engage and to make this episode and so and drag them for filth.
00:41:32
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's fucked up. That's insane. It's arguably one of the best songs I think she's ever done. at Definitely one of my favorite collaborations with Shep that she's ever done. The last one, actually, to be exact.
00:41:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's so good. And, you know, it's funny, you know, that like the whole thing about like gays and their English teachers and just like and how they, we you know, we love each other. um My English teacher, Liz Dorado ah from high school, I had written we had to journal every day in our English class.
00:42:02
Speaker
um And I had written about Madonna for some thing. I mean, when wasn't I writing about Madonna? And she always would respond to the journals and she wrote that her favorite Madonna song was This Used to Be My Playground. and i never felt And I never felt more close to my teacher.
00:42:21
Speaker
I never felt more loved. And yeah. Yeah. I can't believe that someone would say that. That's wild. It's wild. I love that song so much. I love that movie so much. But that it's ah the melody is so good. It just really is. just It's like the best of... could You could not have closed out on a better collaboration for those yeah those two.
00:42:41
Speaker
Yeah. It's so good. Phenomenal. Did she perform... That at all on the Celebration Tour? Not that aware of. Not even for one day? Because I feel like... I know that she performed Rain, and then she switched it up for Frozen for a few shows. I was one of the lucky recipients. I was so excited for Frozen.
00:43:01
Speaker
um and then she performed Take a Bow a couple times. I would have died. I know. I would have died. i love that song. I would have died. i have been closing my DJ sets with Take a Bow for... i It's got to be like almost 15 years.
00:43:17
Speaker
I love that. Yeah. Like it used to be at Chaka Khan's Ain't Nobody, but then it it went to Madonna's Take a Bow. For a little while, I had Mariah Carey's Get the Fuck Out. I love that. Every once in a while when I have a night, I'm like, right, everybody.
00:43:31
Speaker
This one. Everybody up. Get the fuck out. I love that. month yeah Well, you know, and then in the last episode, we were talking about vanity metrics. And something, you know, again, fans want to sit here and bitch and moan about streaming numbers and number one singles and things like that. Don't get me wrong. I i want my artists to succeed. I want them to have their success. I want them to have their number ones and everything.
00:43:55
Speaker
But something to think about is that Madonna's longest running number one single, seven weeks at number one, is Take a Bow. And it's not really a song that people typically go to when they talk about her biggest hits, even though technically it's her biggest hit.
00:44:11
Speaker
Right. And if you look at the ah ballad compilation, something to remember, it's not even the most streamed ballad that she has. What's the most streamed ballad? Crazy for you. 158 million. Right. Take 67 million.
00:44:25
Speaker
um right take about only sixty seven million Less than half of that. that's crazy Right, so that but that it just illustrates the point of like how things change in different eras and where the audiences may or may not be. Because if you're saying that that's Madonna's longest number one, but yet the streaming numbers would never reflect something like that, but yet you would have had to have done, played, listened to, purchased so many of Take a Bow back in the day to get to that point. You know what i mean? like It's like these things don't always, they're they're hard to translate when you deal with artists with this big of a ah catalog.
00:45:00
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. so i think At the count of three, let's both say our favorite Madonna ballad. Okay. Oh boy. This is really difficult. i Let me know when you have it and then we'll count to three. oh Okay. I'm going have to say it, but yeah.
00:45:15
Speaker
Okay. One, two, three. This used to be my playground. Okay. Yeah. I love that. I do love I'll remember. I'll remember makes me emotional.
00:45:28
Speaker
I'll remember has more streams than this used to be my playground. Wild. Good. i mean, I love that. i write mean i love I love when my faves succeed. ah but um But I would say, like, again, all of these songs not necessarily talked about.
00:45:45
Speaker
Again, because Madonna's more known for her dance pop, her dance music. Sure, sure. Right? And I think that she herself prefers her dance music now. um But, like, ah the version of I Want You on that album?
00:45:58
Speaker
So good. That music video. Shook's phenomenal. I love that. Like there's so many good ballads. I mean, really this whole album is, I know it's a compilation, but it really is one of my
Madonna as a Cultural Icon
00:46:09
Speaker
favorites.
00:46:09
Speaker
And i love the addition of one more chance, that little acoustic number. I think somebody else said in the comments that they didn't like that. Right. Yeah. I was like, okay, just shit on David Foster, whatever. Whatever.
00:46:22
Speaker
um I have to say ah something about I Want You where it's more about it So that's a collaboration with Massive Attack. I'm not super familiar with Massive Attack. But I was like just going kind of down a rabbit hole one day because one of their songs, their biggest song, what is it called? Teardrops?
00:46:40
Speaker
Teardrop. um Teardrop. That was being used in one of the body balance classes that I take. Oh, yeah. I was like, oh, what's this song? And so I looked it up and I was like, just kind of going down a rabbit hole and learned that that song was actually originally presented to Madonna to sing vocals on.
00:47:01
Speaker
Hmm. And I was like, interesting. could see that. Yeah, because I want to say that was roughly Ray of Light era. Right. And I don't remember if it was either that she like just didn't have it in her schedule to do it, or if they had preferred the original demo demo vocals. Hmm.
00:47:21
Speaker
Because sometimes that happens. Oh, yeah, for sure. um But, just like, I love those types of, like, moments where it's, like, in an alternate universe somewhere. we we would have... In an alternate universe, we would have had Massive Attack featuring Madonna on Teardrop, and then we would we would have had Madonna as Catwoman in Batman Returns.
00:47:37
Speaker
Can you imagine... crazy to think about. Can you imagine? can't. And I'm so curious as to how that would have been because, I mean, Michelle Pfeiffer like... i Right. As much as I love Madonna, I don't know that Michelle Pfeiffer... don't know. That's hard to beat.
00:47:53
Speaker
Yeah. yeah I mean, you you really can't beat Michelle Pfeiffer, but I would have loved to have seen what Madonna would have done with Catwoman. Hell yeah. Just give me a couple of outfit shots. Are you kidding me? In that costume? ah And that body? Like, come on. that Like, that is something to think about.
00:48:11
Speaker
not for sure. Something to marinate on. But yeah, interesting. i you know I mean, who should be next on our, like, who has worst song list? ah Do we just put one in here now in this moment and then this is the clip that we put on social and we ask people or do we just do we just name an artist? I mean, this could go any any any which way. you and We can do whatever the fuck we want. this is ah and This is America.
00:48:38
Speaker
All right. Where all of our rights are getting taken away. Right, right, right. ah well So while we still have the right to talk about these people, um I mean, I don't even know. It's it's really hard because I don't – how often do I think about somebody's worst song or what I think their worst song is? Right.
00:48:54
Speaker
I mean, it i i would – I hate to do it because, the again, the conversation is – we're constantly comparing them. It negative. Right. It becomes negative, and we and we're constantly comparing these two already. But, like, do we say Lady Gaga since she's released a new album? Right.
00:49:08
Speaker
I mean, God. Who's the most rabid fan base? Do we ask the Swifties what Taylor s Swift's worst song is? I mean, that's one way of doing it. I don't know that I'm actually well equipped enough to talk about that, to be honest. because Same.
00:49:28
Speaker
I actually, i i know plenty of pop Taylor. right i don't know kind of I don't know country Taylor. i don't care to know her. But not even that, I just don't know that I, like I've listened to all of it.
00:49:39
Speaker
I've heard every bit of it, but I don't know that enough of it has retained for me to be like, oh, this one was worse for me than this. And this one was not this and this, you know, like it's only in the moment that I feel like, and maybe it's because I sort of had to have a crash course in her discography really quickly.
00:49:59
Speaker
When I did listen to it, that I was like, all right. I was like, let me just sort of get through this. That I was only picking out the things that really stood out to me. Yeah. That I was just like, oh, these are things that I would recommend to people. Right.
00:50:11
Speaker
But, I mean, i see because now I'm thinking like, okay, so if we even said, what is Mariah Carey's worst song? How, where would I even...
00:50:22
Speaker
where Yeah, where do you even start with that? this is ah this Because this is the thing. it's like like I don't know. like madonna Madonna's done things that have been cringy and like experimental, but that's just sort of like the artist that she is. Mariah's like this vocal Bible that I'm like, what song have you put out that I've been like, hmm?
00:50:42
Speaker
I mean... I don't know if I can say it's her worst. The first thing that came to mind was that song that she did with Busta Rhymes. And it was a huge hit.
00:50:53
Speaker
It was her. It was a huge hit for her because. Yeah. Really? I said that. Baby if you give it to me. yeah Oh my God.
00:51:03
Speaker
think it's just because i don't like that vocal. Controversial yet brave. I know. I know i know. i just, yeah.
00:51:14
Speaker
i I'm going to say I stand by it. Again, i'm I'm not saying it's her worst. It's not my personal favorite. Got it. By any stretch. i If I had to pick the first two that come to come to mind are sort of ah kind of in the same-ish era, and then not that long ago, is um from 2017, that track I Don't with YG was ah Yeah. It was fine.
00:51:42
Speaker
It wasn't bad. like some of her vocal bits, but i didn't
Mariah Carey's Discography Highlights
00:51:46
Speaker
I didn't love the track. And then the other one that I never really got into, no matter how many ways you remix it, Triumphant was fine.
00:51:54
Speaker
Okay. It was okay. was fine. You know who's going to be up in arms about that? John Duff. He loves Triumphant. It's not a bad song, but I'm saying if you if you if i'm if the task is, what do you think her worst song is? Like, that's...
00:52:09
Speaker
What is her worst song? Like, it's hard for me to This hard. Because there's not really like, it there's nothing that she does that I think is objectively bad. It's just sort of like a, has that's not really for me. I mean, I say her song from the movie Tennessee, Right to Dream.
00:52:26
Speaker
Does anybody even know that song but me? Right. was going to say, like, I barely even know that song. Right. That's what I mean. Like, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, You know what she would say? She would say her worst song is probably Almost Home. from i And I know that she would say that and I don't agree with it, which is why I didn't bring it up.
00:52:42
Speaker
love that song. liked it too. I liked it too. But you could tell it's not a Mariah Carey song. Right. Yeah. She probably like, she probably, they probably gave her the track. She like helped write extra verses for it. And then, yeah, right sealed the deal.
00:53:00
Speaker
But that's what mean. like There's not really anything because even even if we were to point towards like Glitter, I love that soundtrack so much. oh i could do an entire episode about that. like Jeff and I, before one of the Pop Theory episodes, just to warm up, he was like, let's each do our top five Mariah Carey albums.
00:53:18
Speaker
And so we were going through it. And we were like, so and i had said I had put Glitter on my top five. And he was like floored. He like could not believe it. He was like, really? Not that he hates the album, but he was just like, you're going to put that over. Because I think that I put it over.
00:53:34
Speaker
i think I might have put it over Emancipation of Mimi. Yeah. And don't get me wrong, but but I would almost agree with you as far as albums that I revisit.
00:53:45
Speaker
I love and i have always loved the glitter soundtrack yeah and you mentioned earlier in this episode about you know periods when when artists weren't really cool mariah carey from from like 2001 or two was that 2001 2001 when she released glitter up until she released we belong together mariah carey was not very cool not at all it was it was it was not cool to like mariah carey No, I mean, it was about a good four, because it was really, was it was Don't Forget About Us? Was that first?
00:54:18
Speaker
No. um So she, so in between the Glitter era and ah Emancipation of Mimi, she had Charm Bracelet. Right, which I loved. But that wasn't the last single from that Bring It On The Heartbreak?
00:54:29
Speaker
And then we went to. That was. And then, yeah. And then so we went to Emancipation of Mimi's, which the lead single was shake, or not shake it off. It was, it's like that. i' like that. Which was like a moderately successful single. I think it was like a team. Oh sure.
00:54:42
Speaker
For sure. Yeah. But then she released We Belong Together, which obviously became the enormous hit that we know. And then it exploded her back into, you know, you know relevancy and and whatnot. But, yeah.
00:54:54
Speaker
But that was that was ah that was a rough time for her. And it was... And you know what? And I... I was there in the trenches defending her. Don't matter. But I guess so I mean, like, it's very, very difficult to, to look through her catalog and be like, this is your worst song, Mariah Carey.
00:55:11
Speaker
Right? Yeah. I mean, topical, since someone has an anniversary, an anniversary coming up. Actually, it'll be coming up right right after this episode is released.
00:55:22
Speaker
um I mean... i am grateful for your being all always, always Mariah Carey. Thank you. love you, Mariah. I mean, you i would say your favorite Mariah Carey song is the Heartbreaker song.
00:55:35
Speaker
ah The Junior's hard remix is definitely, yeah, I think it's, I mean, as far as remix goes, yeah, definitely one of, I think, her best vocals. I know ive we've obviously talked about this. I mean, i could do a whole episode just on her remixes.
00:55:46
Speaker
Yeah. But it's tough. Like, she's she's one that I have a hard time pinning down, like, favorite tracks. Because they vary so much, like... And a lot of them are like the more deeper cuts. Like now that I know on Music Box, it's such like a, it's like the the the unsung dance smash of her catalog that no one ever talks about.
00:56:06
Speaker
It really hurts my feelings that it was never released as a single. Terrible. Absolutely terrible. So for for real, for real, like it's it's absolutely terrible. But then I like like, the really like super Mariah ballads of like after tonight on the rainbow album, like the really ridiculous dramatic. And I love that. And her version of against all odds is phenomenal. And it's,
00:56:26
Speaker
ah Okay, wait. I don't think this is one of her worst songs. and In fact, it's one of my favorites. But you might feel differently. What are your thoughts on Did I Do That? I love it. No, I love it. Okay, good.
00:56:37
Speaker
Okay, good. Yeah. No, it's phenomenal. Jeff doesn't like it that much. No, the skip for me on Rainbow was ah How Much With Usher was fine. Bliss, I didn't. and so It's fine.
00:56:49
Speaker
But that was really it. i like I love the rest of that album. I was such a Rainbow fan. I know, me too. That whole era. Yeah, I feel like in today's music climate, maybe it just needs a little bit more time to to marinate, but I feel like people don't revisit it as much as an album in the way that they do with others.
00:57:08
Speaker
But it was such a... Such a stamp in time. And definitely like her trying to capitalize on that Y2K trend of music. yeah. I mean, Ex-Girlfriend. Hello. So good. It's so good. I love that song.
00:57:22
Speaker
know. It's so ridiculous, but I love it. Oh, my God. It's so good. And i' just i like now I'm going through all of my like one of my favorite Mariah Carey songs. I mean, Close My Eyes from Butterfly.
00:57:33
Speaker
The Roof. I mean. when Whenever You Call with Brian McKnight. I love that so much. Sweetheart. We don't talk about that one enough. Sweetheart is such a good song.
00:57:45
Speaker
Her, which I only recently, in recent years learned that that was a cover. Sweetheart. Sweetheart is a cover. Yeah. Yeah. um Which was like a freestyle song, right? Yeah. from the eighties.
00:57:56
Speaker
can't think of. She seems, she, I think Mariah Carey loves herself some freestyle music. Oh, well she did backup for ah Brenda K star. Oh, is she a freestyle singer? Yeah, I mean, pop, yeah, but mostly freestyle. Okay, I didn't know that.
00:58:10
Speaker
I mean, I knew that she was a, I didn't know, I didn't know much about Brenda K. Starr. I just knew that she was her backup singer. Wait, is Sweetheart, am I thinking of the same, it's Sweetheart a cover? Wait. Sweethearts a cover, yeah.
00:58:22
Speaker
I am like, wait a minute.
00:58:25
Speaker
We can share a storybook romance. I love that music video. Sweetheart. Yeah. I mean, Oh, Rainy Davis. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:58:36
Speaker
Oh my gosh. No. So there's a, there's a Mariah. Did she put it out? I don't know if she did. Wait, Mariah Carey weakness.
00:58:46
Speaker
No, she didn't. So there was a demo that leaked years ago of her, um when she was doing backup for Brenda K star, Brenda had a song called weakness of the body. And then I think Mariah did a like a cover version of it for a demo. I don't know she did demoed it for Brenda or if she just demoed it on her own, whatever, but there's like a full on like freestyle track. Even, um, was it prisoner prisoner to me on the first album. That's a freestyle song, right? Yeah.
00:59:11
Speaker
Like that's a hundred percent of freestyle song. And I would have died for more freestyle Mariah. Oh my gosh. I know. I mean, I've been saying for years, I think Mariah Carey should put out a dance album. For sure.
00:59:22
Speaker
sure. I feel, I feel like, cause I feel like she's at this point in her, obviously, you know, Christmas is bringing her, her coin until, you know, made, you know, until the rest of her life, which hopefully is not for, for a very long time. Right. Right.
00:59:35
Speaker
um But I mean, you know, anything that's not Christmas related, i feel like she really could capitalize on the fact that she has a slew of gay fans and,
00:59:47
Speaker
and she's known for her remixes i think a dance ah like a house album from her would be so sick house album give me a disco like just any of it like it would just be so good and i feel like it would it would fit her voice especially where she is right now so well yeah and it's like it would be so good i mean bring i mean have david morales produce it That or even like, girl, even if you want to make it more like, because I feel like what she does, like, um ah she'll she'll bring in these like classic songs that you have, Heartbreaker, and If You could ah ever if you Should Ever Be Lonely.
01:00:20
Speaker
She did, um what is it? ah Heartbreak. Was it Heartbreaker with Love Hangover? Yeah. well She did that for the Divas Life performance. Right, right. Like, there's like there's always ways to to make that, like a whole album of things like that, where she's doing two at one. Yeah.
01:00:37
Speaker
I would die. I would die. Mariah, if you're listening, friend of the pod, please. ah Yeah. Mariah Carey, friend of the pod. Please. If you'd like to come on your- And talk about your remixes. Could you- I'm not even kidding. Could you imagine- Yeah.
01:00:50
Speaker
If she was like, yeah, let's talk about my remixes. Like, we're not talking about Christmas.
Speculating Mariah Carey's Dance Album
01:00:55
Speaker
No, we're not talking about- no any of We're not talking about of- We're talking about number one singles on the dance charts. right Like- Oh my God, that'd be so much fun. And that's, I feel like, right. These are the, this is the, these are the interviews that I want to see at this point in the career. These are the interviews that I want to see share.
01:01:10
Speaker
I want to hear about the remixes to believe. I want to hear about the remixes from living proof. I want to know like, were you involved? What do you do? Like Mariah, I know you're involved. You're rerecording the vocals. Right. But it's like, you know, Mariah, you had an entire dance remix album for memoirs that never came out.
01:01:26
Speaker
literally let's talk about that and what happened what happened yeah because she was calling it angels advocate right and it was going to be one disc was like the r&b hip-hop remixes with a bunch of features and then disc two was all remixes by the and this is a moment in time the jump smokers not the chain smokers the jump smokers which look for what it was at the time it was very cool now very cool ah You know what?
01:01:57
Speaker
Some of the remixes still hold up. They do. yeah Some of them. they yeah they did So that project leaked. And you know what? So side note, I did one of those like ask me anything anonymously question things last night.
01:02:09
Speaker
And someone asked me, I didn't answer it on Instagram, but someone asked me, like what are your thoughts? like like How do they word it? They said, i'm just going to read it because i want to get it right.
01:02:20
Speaker
um They said, can you speak on the ethics of downloading unreleased music? You mentioned a lot of demos and unreleased stuff, and it feels like in an invasion of privacy.
Ethics of Unreleased Music and Leaks
01:02:29
Speaker
But lots of stans pride themselves on having those MP3s, so I must be in the minority. Yeah.
01:02:35
Speaker
And so to you, fine person, oh I want to say that one, I'm not the person who's leaking the music. So I want to start there.
01:02:46
Speaker
But two, the majority of the unreleased stuff that I've heard and or listened to now is on YouTube, uploaded by some random stranger that the artist in question, nor their record label are doing anything about taking down.
01:03:01
Speaker
Right. And believe me, they're aware. They are aware. Believe when I tell you they are aware. All of these artists, all of their teams, they are very aware of the things that are on the internet. Yeah. They have every, and this is why I, so I so i've think I've said this before on the podcast. Like i don't understand why, like we live in this capitalist society.
01:03:23
Speaker
You know, that these songs are and so on YouTube, just release them and put them officially on streaming and then you will get your coin. i you know, put together a rarity's album. I don't know. Like any, anyway, um,
01:03:37
Speaker
But there's so many like weird things no there's so many weird things that happens when it comes to this stuff. So I randomly... I don't even know if I should say her name. I guess it doesn't really matter because who's going to care about this? But um years, and I mean years, like 20 years ago when I went to KTU, our local radio station, had a show, what was it called? KT, not KT, Palooza. I can't even remember what it was called. It was like some some ridiculous festival. Anyway, and they would have all these like freestyle artists perform, people from the 80s, current artists, whatever.
01:04:06
Speaker
And Debra Cox was going to be there. And I was going there with my friend Joseph. And he had just done like a portrait of her. And like he was going to backstage to bring it to her. And was like, you know you come with me. you know We'll go backstage. We'll meet her.
01:04:17
Speaker
And I was going to meet her and Lisa Lisa. And I was like so excited. So this is like early two thousand and just as the internet was really becoming a thing, a song by Deborah Cox called Stupid Like You had leaked out onto the internet.
01:04:32
Speaker
And I loved the remixes that I had heard from it. And I was like, where did this song come because it was like listed as like fanatic featuring Deborah Cox. And I was like, I don't know what this is. I don't know who whatever. So when I saw her, I brought it up. And I was just like, Hey, I was like, just out curiosity. I said, you know, found this track, whatever, whatever.
01:04:50
Speaker
And she was like, oh, she was like, I know. I just heard that it leaked on the Internet. And I was like, oh, I said, is it a leak? I said, is it not real? And she's like, no, it was real. She said it was part of a some producer in Germany or whatever, some new producer that she was working. it was part of a larger project.
01:05:04
Speaker
And she wasn't even like a featured featured voice. She was like part of like a larger group of voices on this. And the producer ended up. like running out of money and the project wasn't going anywhere. And he took all the other voices that except hers and like put it out on the internet. And that's how it leaked.
01:05:21
Speaker
And she was like, it was never really meant for it to be a thing, but we're going to try to see if we could pick it up now that it's building up steam and maybe do some remixes, whatever. So it's like, that was my first time hearing something like that from the artist and realizing,
01:05:32
Speaker
okay, so this is how things like this happen. Like sometimes projects just run out of steam and they run out of money. Sometimes it's not, you know, like you just can't always get the project over the finish line. And sometimes it's just not meant to be.
01:05:45
Speaker
And sometimes the artist doesn't even own the thing. Right. You know, so it's like, you don't really know, like when you hear these unreleased songs and demos and stuff, it's like, oh, Madonna may not own this or this person may not own this. You know, you have no idea. Right.
01:06:00
Speaker
And I started realizing that. I, first of all, love that you brought up Stupid Like You by Fanatic featuring Debra Cox. First of all, let's celebrate that. So good. Second of all, had no idea that that was the story behind that song because I remember seeing that track and having...
01:06:18
Speaker
that and i think all the remixes that exist i don't know if any of them were officially commissioned i think they commissioned them but they didn't put them out because i think that they were saying at the time that they were going i don't know if it was eddie baez and jason nevins maybe i don't remember who did the remixes but i think they were commissioning some and yeah i don't remember i'd have to really dig Yeah, but it's been a minute since I've even heard anyone mention that song, but I just remember, I think it was maybe the bridge of the song that I loved, where she was like, made your bed so lie down. Like, I was just like, and it was such a song that just like, if I ever felt angry, was like, oh, yeah, I'm not stupid like you. Right.
01:07:00
Speaker
Because they got Junior new to do remixes. I think ah one of the remixes that he did, I think, was on one of his compilation albums. I think a White Party album that he did it was released on. Oh, cool. Yeah. So that one's out there somewhere. I don't know if it's on streaming, though. But I don't know if any of these are on streaming. Maybe they're not.
01:07:15
Speaker
um But yeah, so it's like there's so many different ways and things that happen. And... if the artist really wanted them taken down, they could, they have it within their power to do so.
01:07:27
Speaker
So if the team is not really paying attention to it and the algorithms haven't been programmed to catch it at this point, I mean, i don't know. like it Am I for somebody actively trying to hack into someone's server to get unreleased of? Absolutely not.
01:07:43
Speaker
Right. Same. Yeah. Right. but Absolutely not. But like if it's already out there, like yeah, I'm going to listen to it. Yeah, I'm
Madonna vs. Music Piracy
01:07:50
Speaker
going to listen to it. I'm a curious little cat. Right. i need I need to listen to all every little nook and cranny that oh yeah gets out there.
01:07:59
Speaker
And some of it's good and some of it's not good. And that's fine. Exactly. And and I completely understand too. I mean, I remember when Rebel Heart leaked and Madonna was really upset about that. um I remember you know Ariana Grande being upset when some of her demos leaked for the music that she had written for a show or something like that. I'm sorry, but the most iconic thing ever was when Madonna, when ah they were trying to get the tracks for American Life to leak and she just made all the tracks like a specific like time length and it was just the audio. Every time you clicked on it was her going, what the fuck do you think you're doing?
01:08:31
Speaker
yeah that I was like, that is so iconic to be able to flood tracks like that of your own to the internet. Yeah. You better work. my God. Yes, literally. Because that was back when, you know, LimeWire and Napster were at their peak. Like, ah what a time.
01:08:49
Speaker
Right. File sharing services, just risking your family computer to get one song. Risking everything. ah Risking everything because God knows how many viruses you got on that between that and porn.
01:09:02
Speaker
Right, right, right. Dear Lord. And then also like with dial up like having it would probably take like 30 minutes for one song to download. That's I remember doing that for Oops I Did It Again.
01:09:15
Speaker
I think same. I think I was trying to find the, um it was the VMA performance of whoops, I did it again, because i again, i I think I've said it before. I'll say it again. i would love, I don't need new music from Britney Spears, but I, what I would love is the studio versions of the remixes that she did for her award show performances from those days.
01:09:35
Speaker
i think that would be so cool. That would be such a such a slay. I would be so into that. I know. So if you're listening, Britney, I know you're listening. Brittany is absolutely listening to this podcast. Friend of the pod, Brittany Spears.
01:09:49
Speaker
she's She's like, those homophonic boys. Right. but They know what's up. and And by demand, I'm going to release that Oops, I Did It Again and Wade Robson remix. Right.
Britney Spears' Unreleased Works
01:10:01
Speaker
I wonder if they're on good terms at all. Oh, I have no idea. I would assume that they're probably they probably don't speak. Right. Well, this is going to be, this is the anniversary for Oops, I Did It Again this year. Isn't this 25 years? Yeah.
01:10:15
Speaker
god it is yeah oh my god it is that's crazy yeah so expect that's gonna be a thing yeah oh my god well you know i am very curious why and you know i mean maybe you touched on it earlier like you know curious why she's not on the reissue trend it seems like i don't know i think I would think that there would have to be a buy-in at some point from her because like, yeah it's how many times can you continue to put money behind something that the artist isn't promoting?
01:10:56
Speaker
Right. Yeah. You know, like I'm sure that if you sure if you because they keep doing this like every once in a while where it's like, oh, and now, you know, femme fatale is out on yellow wax and blackouts on red wax and this. And I'm like, but that's it's the same album. You just pressed it in a different color. Like that's not that's a cash grab. I don't love that.
01:11:14
Speaker
um Right. And there's definitely has to be. things and from the studio that never got out. Like they, they were recording so much music then. Like, it just seems, I don't know. It seems highly unlikely. I just don't get it.
01:11:27
Speaker
Yeah. And if anything, like you can take the B sides. I mean, the oops, I did it again. Remixes aren't on streaming. So like you can put those on streaming,
NSYNC's Potential Singles and Industry Shift
01:11:35
Speaker
like Rodney Jerkins did remix of oops. Yep. um All those rip rock and Alex G ones.
01:11:40
Speaker
I love those. Let me tell you. there i love Back in ninety ninety nine two thousand nothing got me more titillated than seeing Rip Rock and Alex G on a remix. I never felt more futuristic. Right, right, right.
01:11:55
Speaker
These guys are going to take us into the future. I mean, they did with NSYNC Space Cowboy. they They sure did. I don't know it's a futuristic song. Let's celebrate that. Let's celebrate that.
01:12:07
Speaker
I have to say, like, I was absolutely gutted that Space Cowboy was never a single. Right. Because that was a song. i the way that The way that this episode is going right now is not at all how we had planned, by the way.
01:12:23
Speaker
I had said, I said, you know what, John Michael? I was like, let's, let's do an episode where we're talking about, you know, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, ah Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, and Celine Dion, because I like, their birthdays are all next week. But so when this episode comes out, that everyone's going to be celebrating their birthdays.
01:12:39
Speaker
We touched on Mariah. Right. And that's about it. yeah And that's about it. Anyway, in sync, the way that that no strings attached album rollout was going, i thought that was going to be like six singles deep.
01:12:51
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I thought for sure we were getting a video for Digital Get Down. I thought we were getting a video for Digital Get Down, Space Cowboy. um It makes me ill. Yes. And they stopped at this is or this I promise you.
01:13:05
Speaker
That's crazy. That's crazy to me. Listening to No Strings Attached and stop. And then there was the the European single, I'll Never Stop, which was like not even on the US version of the album. Right. But I felt like they also failed Celebrity as well.
01:13:19
Speaker
There were so many good songs on that album and they really, how many? Two? Three? Three. was it? Three singles? eight I think it was Pop, Gone, and then Girlfriend. Yeah. Yeah. But I guess music was changing back then. i it was so It was definitely starting to become more hip hop focused.
01:13:35
Speaker
I felt that, and I think that they were they were really trying to like throw these kids out on tour at that point. And were just like, yeah send them on the road. Make all the money. I mean, these they were everywhere. so Yeah. it is i'm I'm so curious, too, because the song Pop, probably one of my favorite songs all time.
01:13:53
Speaker
but it probably I think it would make my 100 list. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, I love it I mean, love it because... i love it because The song is great, but I also just love the idea of the, like, it's it's this boy band, this, like, cheesy, quote-unquote, sugary, bubbly boy band working with BT. I know. ball The most random.
01:14:16
Speaker
The most random. And BT and then Wade Robson was also a producer on it. i The song is sickening. And... Truly, i would say ahead of its time, but I don't really know if there's anything really like it per se. it's It definitely has its Michael Jackson influences.
01:14:33
Speaker
For sure. but but it's like somewhere between like Michael Jackson and like the Fat Boy Slim, the Crystal Method. Like it's just all that sort of. Yeah, it's just a really cool song, but it didn't chart very well.
01:14:46
Speaker
yeah And so i'm so that's probably where the record label was like, o let's let's figure this out because the song didn't try. I mean, the album still sold over a million copies in its first week. so I feel like I remember Gone being a bigger album.
01:15:02
Speaker
It was a bigger hit. Yeah. i think it peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. And
Backstreet Boys' Nostalgic Reissues
01:15:06
Speaker
then Girlfriend, the remix with Nelly, peaked at like number five or something like that. Yeah. I dare you to check me on that. and ah yeah Look, i my brain does not work that way. So you win that one.
01:15:20
Speaker
Yeah. but But to your point, I mean, I think the song Celebrity should have been a single. Oh, yeah. um I loved... loved Just Don't Tell Me That. Just Don't Tell Me That. I loved... What was the other one?
01:15:33
Speaker
was another Max The game is over. Yes. Yes. That little rewind bit in the beginning. Yeah. oh the um Oh, the... that's the one. Oh, my God. What's the one? I know what you're talking about.
01:15:44
Speaker
Tell me, tell me, baby. Tell me, tell me, baby. That's the one. I love Why? why do Tell me, tell me, tell me. my God. It's the most Swedish. Yeah. It's the most Swedish. It's the most Swedish.
01:15:58
Speaker
There were some bonus tracks for that album, too. Like the like European bonus tracks that were really good. ah't don't remember the names off the top of my head. I remember... um ah No Strings Attached, there's a bonus track called Could It Be You. I think it was the B-side to buye Bye Bye Bye.
01:16:14
Speaker
That was really fun, and I love listening to that song. Well, I will say, since we're in boy band era, um now that this is going to be 25 years of Backstreet Boys' Millennium, which is my favorite Backstreet Boys album, I'm to For the first time ever, they are doing it the right way. And I hope everybody else pays attention.
01:16:33
Speaker
All of the CDs that I had to import and find from different stores from Japan, from this place to get all of the bonus tracks and all of the different remixes, they are putting out a 25th anniversary edition of it with all of them in it.
01:16:47
Speaker
No way. Yes. Are you serious? Yes. I don't think it's out yet, but it's millennia. Let's see. Oh, that's so cool. And I'm like, thank God. backstreet. Sorry, everybody. If you're not paying attention, I'm looking on Spotify. I love this. No, not yet, but it's coming out.
01:17:07
Speaker
My friend Tara, right before we started recording, texted me saying that she got tickets to see them in Vegas. So I'm dying to go. I don't know if I'm going to go yet. i haven't. I don't know. It's expensive, but I, I love this album so much.
01:17:18
Speaker
They did release one single, which was an additional song, I think from the album. at the time of the report that they never put out. Oh, really? Yeah. Like a little like. like So called Hey. Hey, hey, hey. hey how y'all doing?
01:17:36
Speaker
Oh my God. I'm looking this up. There was like a whole bunch of like tracks that were that were just like on the import singles that I loved. And I like I've had them ripped in my Dropbox forever that I would listen to them. But this is the first time they're actually doing the thing and putting them all out. I'm so excited.
01:17:52
Speaker
Oh, that's so cool. Okay, I see it now. Yeah. Fun. i love this. Yeah. oh Oh, and that I wanted that way with alternate lyrics. Okay, wait a minute. Did I speak about this on the show?
01:18:04
Speaker
i don't know. Did you? Oh, I might have. Okay. So I want it that way. I was talking about this with someone. The version on the album, I believe was technically the writer's demo of the song that got leaked onto the internet and they played it on the radio stations and it just went like wildfire.
01:18:24
Speaker
So they just went with it. I believe i want it that way with alternate lyrics that's going to be making it on here is actually the rewritten version Because when you listen to the word version that we know, the lyrics don't really make sense. Right.
01:18:38
Speaker
They don't really make a ton of sense. Right. I believe that they had done that for the writer's demo to really kind of piece together what the song's going to be. The song that that's going to be coming out was supposed to be the intended version.
01:18:51
Speaker
Oh. So I was right. Oh my God. and That's so cool. Oh my God. Fun. Yeah. So I'm excited for this and I feel like this is going to be a great, a great, um, 25th anniversary.
01:19:05
Speaker
Yeah. do What's your, what is your favorite song from the album? Oof. first instinct is to say Don't Want to Lose You Now.
01:19:20
Speaker
I love song. I love that one. I love the one. Yeah. um That's my favorite. I love that song. and Pablo Flores remixes were excellent as well.
01:19:32
Speaker
yeah ah Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely I think is a phenomenal song and also had really good remixes by Soul Solution. um There was also a really fun remix by Jason Nevins. I believe it was like a crossover remix. It was like a a little bit more R&B, urban, yeah pop-ish style that they used to play on their radio station in my hometown all the time, but it was never released on a CD. So
Critique of Vinyl Variants Trend
01:19:54
Speaker
remember like being like trying to like be by my radio and with my little tape cassette player trying to hit record when it would come on. But there's one of the bonus tracks that they're, that they're putting out is now we've talked about him before and I will always go to bat for him.
01:20:10
Speaker
I love an AJ McLean vocal. So there's a song that was out on, I think on the Japanese version called, if you knew what I knew where AJ's vo ah vocals are featured and it's so good and it's one of my favorites. And that's, that's the one that I would always keep in my Dropbox to listen to.
01:20:25
Speaker
I'm very excited. I'll be there for you is also really good. That's going to released too. So it's like four bonus shows. I'll be there for you. My heart stays with you. If you knew what I knew you wrote the book on love, which I think is a Howie vocal that I love as well.
01:20:37
Speaker
um Love. Yeah. I love the Pacture Boys. Right. And they i have to say... I know that we're running over time, but I have to say when it comes to the boy bands of like the 90s, early 2000s, it was so fun to be a fan of this music at this moment because yeah There was so many different versions. There was like hidden tracks here. Go and get this edition. This one was this.
01:21:02
Speaker
And it was like you were always on this constant scavenger hunt trying to find these things and just be resourceful and and and and find as much as you possibly could. And yeah now it's like it's just vinyl variants and it's just like it's just expensive and it's like not that much is different. And i'm like, I don't want different artwork. I want different songs. Give me more music.
01:21:21
Speaker
You know, we don't. if we don't care about the ah first press demo vocal recording from your phone live from Paris in the studio closet. No.
01:21:34
Speaker
No. ah No, but give me, like I said, give me all the bonus tracks that were out around the world. Give me all, like, you want to give me some live performances? That's cool, too. But, like, it's just, yeah,
90s Music Nostalgia and TRL
01:21:44
Speaker
like you said, give give me the studio performances of the, of the stuff. Like, you know, the they were famous for this stuff where they'd put out one version and the video version would come out and then that would be the hit. And so then it's like, ah give me all that.
01:21:57
Speaker
I remember when they premiered the Larger in Life video on TRL. Iconic. And that extended dance break that they did. Yes. And like the music video was like super high budget. think it was like $2 million at the time or something like that, which was huge in that era.
01:22:13
Speaker
Yeah. And, oh my gosh. So good. So, so good. ah Well, I mean, we covered a lot of tracks that we don't talk about enough, but we've come to the famous...
01:22:24
Speaker
part of the show where we talk about a song we don't talk about enough dj john michael do you have one or no i i do okay you go first then because i have to i had one that i was gonna pick because i knew we were talking about madonna and it was gonna be a madonna song but we kind of already talked about it a lot so i don't want to bring it back up okay so because i was going to talk about miles away Okay.
01:22:49
Speaker
Because I love that song so much. And there was also for as many remixes as they did do, um Junior did remixes of it that never were put out, and they were so phenomenal. That's why I really love that song. But anyway, um but you go. Love. Pick yours. Okay.
01:23:01
Speaker
I am going to go. So this is super random, super like no one's going to know what this is, but I love it because – so a couple months ago and to note to shock to no one i went down this like electronica rabbit hole where specifically i was looking at like past remixes by bt um and sasha um and i think it's because i think you sexual did that to me i think that you sexual was very much inspired by like 90s electronica and so i was kind of going down all these deep dives but i was like searching out tracks and remixes
01:23:35
Speaker
I never really explored before in my youth. And one that I had found that was on YouTube was a song called Freedom by Shiva. i had never heard of I had never heard of Shiva. I had never heard of this song.
01:23:48
Speaker
But
Billy Ray Martin's 90s Dance Contributions
01:23:49
Speaker
BT did a remix called BT Subconscious Freedom Interlude. Also bring back really wild remix titles. Bring, bring them back. I love, like when you go back and look at BT's remixes, they have all these weird titles to them and there's it's so fun.
01:24:06
Speaker
But what I found really interesting is that. So when I had like, was looking through all of these songs and discovered this remix, which is again, it's, it's a 12 minute remix. Let's celebrate that.
01:24:17
Speaker
And yeah, it's like a blend of house music and electronica that's what i find really cool about it like it starts as kind of like a piano house vibe but then kind of morphs into this like more techno electronica moment um but what was interesting is it was like one of those songs that was like only on youtube for a while because again pre-streaming release well thanks to pop activism. Do you follow them? Pop music activism?
01:24:44
Speaker
I do, but they never come up in my feed. But yes, I do follow them. They ah posted that this was on finally put on streaming. Oh, wow. I was like, there is a God. like Oh my God. so um I literally just added this to my phone on Sunday. i was grocery shopping when I saw that it that it was posted. so Anyway, people are going to be like, okay, cool, Zach. No one cares. one cares.
01:25:08
Speaker
ah So you know what, I will I will sort of meet you halfway with a song that nobody's going to care about except for us, maybe. okay So in 1995, I want to say, ah Billy Ray Martin had a very big dance hit with um your loving arms, which I think most people know you maybe don't know it by name, but it's you definitely know the song.
01:25:30
Speaker
It was a very, very big, probably her biggest hit of her career, but she had an album um that came out that the song that this album is from is called Deadline For My Memories. If you at you specifically have not listened to this, there's a few tracks on here that I think you would really like that I think will tie into your sort of 90s remix rabbit hole.
01:25:46
Speaker
But there is a song on this album called True Moments Of My World that I think is, as far as like her dance songs from the 90s, her epitome of what I love about her for dance music. It is...
01:25:57
Speaker
They call
Listener Engagement and Episode Close
01:25:58
Speaker
her the first lady of like electronic soul because her voice is just so like she's known for the dance stuff, but it's unbelievable what her voice can do. And this album really showcases it was a really big I think she was on Warner. I think she owns the masters herself now. But um yeah, it was like a really, really big thing for her. But True Moments of My World Junior did remixes back in the 90s, too, that never really got.
01:26:20
Speaker
um put out, unfortunately, but there's a few tracks from here. Running Around Town was, I think, the second single. um Imitation of Life was a single with Brothers in Rhythm remixes, which were also great. I'm losing everybody that's below 40 years old right now. It's fine. I'm totally okay with it. This is my entire life.
01:26:37
Speaker
ah But yeah, so Billy Ray Martin, if you are unaware, go check her out. I'm telling you, she's got an amazing catalog of dance music, an amazing catalog of just experimental stuff. She really is just so phenomenal. I cannot say enough about her.
01:26:50
Speaker
And even though Your Loving Arms is the big hit, go for True Moments in My World. Try running around town. Phenomenal stuff. I love you forever, Billy Ray Martin. I love that. And just like that, Billy Ray Martin's going be on our episode next week. Friend of the pod. Friend of the pod. No, I definitely want to check her out more because she, BT did a couple remixes of hers. Yeah. And so, which are... That's why feel like... No, feel like he did. think you're on seeing it, but...
01:27:16
Speaker
I feel like he might have been the one of the ones that did running around town from this album. I think that's what made me think of it. He did something. I don't remember. this yeah like i see He did two remixes. I remember, I remember one of them was called space oasis. And I yeah remember other. Yeah. And then one maybe the song that you were just talking about, but yeah.
01:27:32
Speaker
Yeah. um Space oasis is also from the same album. Oh, okay, cool. Yeah. It's literally, it's all the stuff from this album. You would, I think you would absolutely love. Like there's like ballads and stuff on here too, but the the dance tracks is just like, by the ballad once in a while yeah but like premiere 90s dance and actually for anybody um who likes fred again he used this he did a song called billy your loving arms that's who he's talking about oh cool it's this it's a take on your loving arms and it's that's the original version for anybody who likes fred again sorry love that oh my god excellent well another incredible episode we really we really went down some rabbit holes all over the place i hope y'all like this
01:28:09
Speaker
I hope that everyone likes this too, because there's nothing better than going down a great hole. So. Well, and i and also I have to say the thing that's been really, really fun about this is watching everybody engage on Instagram and seeing like you guys sort of like see what you want to either see us talk about or what we are talking about. So please engage there and like comment, yeah say whatever you, if there's like a specific episode, things you want to dive us to dive into.
01:28:36
Speaker
I would love that because I saw somebody talk about that they wanted to do either a remix episode or I know if it was just Mariah remixes, Madonna's or whatever, 90s remixes, whatever. Like we do it all day. Oh my God. Absolutely. Z machine would be like, abs I'm tuning out. Right, right, right. We'll get her. We'll get her on another one.
01:28:55
Speaker
We will. We will. Absolutely. Well, thanks again for joining me and everyone. Thanks so much for listening. And until next time, peace out. Bye.