Every Single Album - A Summer Pop Mailbag | Every Single Album

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

Nora and Nathan open up the mailbag to answer a few questions about our year in pop music so far. They make some predictions about who will win the Big Four Grammy Awards (Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year) (1:00), discuss Kamala Harris's campaign's adoption of "brat summer" (26:47), and debate whether Taylor Swift will rerelease 'Taylor Swift' and 'Reputation' before the end of the Eras Tour (59:22). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard Producer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Greetings, it's now. Call your banners because it's time to head back to Westrose for House of the Dragon, season two. The ringers dragon riders will soar alongside you each week with a heron-hall-sized slate of conversations. The dragon has three heads, and on Sunday nights immediately after Hot D concludes, Chris Ryan, Joanna Robinson and I will be with you for Talk the Thrones. Then on Mondays, two more shows away. Van Lath and Charles Holmes, Steve Allman, and Jomea Denneron, aka the Midnight Boys, Pugh!

Pugh! We'll head to the tourney grounds to share their reactions. And of course, Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald will sip the Arbor's finest vintage on the watch. Then on Tuesdays, Joanna and I will head to the bowels of a pleasure den for our House of our deep dives. Then on Thursdays, Joe, Neil Miller, and Dave Gonzalez will gather the Ravens for trial by content. In this season, full episodes of Talk to Thrones, House of Ar, and the Midnight Boys will also be available on video on Spotify and the new Ringervverse YouTube channel. Podcast episodes available on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to every single album.

I'm Nora Prynciatti, and as always, I am joined by Nathan Hubbard. Hello, Nathan. Hello, Nora. How are you? Confused. This is really fun, your vibe lately. What's going on? What's confusing you?

What are we doing today? Okay, this can't be your new bit where you pretend you don't know what we're doing on a podcast or doing a mailbag. You've known about this for a long time. Well, I've known we were doing a mailbag. I've known the questions. You re-tweet. the question prompt.

I did. That's true. I've known the questions that were selected for a short period of time. So this is going to be Night at the Improv for Nathan. We're going to let her rip. Do this. It's because people sent in so many good questions, but they were coming fast and furious. First of all, to everyone who sent in a question asking for visual or physical representation of our song drafts, I have made playlists.

By the time you are hearing this, the playlist will have been posted. Outstanding. Not going to include any of those questions, but they have been noticed. They have been received, excited by the enthusiasm, and we will be putting those out there. By the way, I feel like we never really talked about the outcome of the song draft. What do you mean we never talked about it? I'm going to say that I think people thought that you won. I think it was like 60, 40, but I'm going to be honest and say that I think in the comments and the replies, there was a little bit more enthusiasm for your draft than for mine.

I saw a lot more enthusiasm than I expected for your draft over mine. But I think your assessment is right. And I think, you know, if I can just Monday morning quarterback it, I think you really got wrapped around the axle of the black dog. And you got so laser focused on the black dog that it caused you to get all up in your feelings and lose sight of the black dog. of drafting a comprehensive team. But, you know, 40% of people disagree with me, according to you. So what do I know? Nothing. Well, but I also, you know, I drafted the team that I wanted. So ultimately, what matters is that I'm happy. But I'm, I'm telling the truth. I think there was a little bit more enthusiasm for your draft than for mine in the comments. So, so I congratulate you. Oh, thanks.

But I also congratulate me for having the black dog on my team. Well, you did it. And, uh, it still is, listen, I miss it every day when I go and look at the songs that are up on my trophy case in the wall and I don't have the Black Dog, I miss it. But hopefully I can come over and watch it. When you open up Spotify and you go to listen to The Black Dog and you know that you can't, you can't press play because it's illegal. Right. Under the very important and very stringent rules and regulations in the every single album song draft. Yeah, exactly. Maybe I can watch the lyric video. That might be legal. I don't know. I'll think about it.

What are we doing today? And we can, I'm so mad at you. What else came up? Another thing that came up a bunch of the questions and we can, we can hop into it. I took 10 questions. I will try to answer more on Instagram because there were, as is always the case, because we have the best listeners just like so many questions and so many good ones. I picked 10.

But one thing that was interesting to me is we got a lot of questions about the Grammys, which is, smart because we've just spent this spring and most of the summer talking about all of this music, which means that it's going to be a pretty stacked Grammys, I imagine. So this is from Nick Picks. Big Four Grammy predictions for Noms and winners. So the Big Four Awards being Album of the Year, Song of the Year, record of the year, and best new artist. Obviously, there are some entries that we haven't heard yet, but what's your lay of the land? Yeah, I mean, well, let's just go category by category and let's talk about it. I think, should we start with album of the year?

Yeah, let's do it. I think, I mean, look, last year, seven of the eight nominees were female artists. The eighth was John Batiste and one of the weirdest nominations I've ever seen in my life. I think... People love them some John Batiste. It's going to be a pretty... similar ratio this year, but I think it's maybe going to be six and eight female male, or six of eight. And I think that the two male artists who are going to have a nomination for album of the year are Chris Stapleton. And I think they're going to give some love to Zach Brian, because I think they heard blowback last year. And I think the Zach Bryan album is terrific. there are some fair criticisms of it. But I just have a sense that this Grammys is going to coalesce around,

less about sort of like erudite critic nose snobbiness and more around like what really is moving and making culture. So I think we're going to see Billy nominated. I think we'll probably see Taylor nominated. We're going to see Beyonce nominated. I mean, I think the Chaparone album is going to get a nomination. I think that it is possible, especially if this Kamala Harris re-injection of Brat Summer. Sorry, you meant the Kamala Nominon?

Yes. Continues its momentum online that that will probably push it to a nomination. What do you think? Wait, that will push what to a nomination? Charlie X-E-S's album. So you... So Brat is going to win Kamala Harris, the presidency of the United States. And Kamala Harris is going to get Brat nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys.

This is synergy like we have never seen it before. It will be the second best, you know, two for one since Taylor won the Grammy and Travis won the Super Bowl within a week. 2024's Taylor Travis is Kamala and Charlie. Yeah. Listen, I'm not ready to declare. who's winning the presidency yet. It's still early. We got a long way to go.

The consciousness of the nation seems to reset every seven days. But I do think that the Charlie X, X, X, X, record is going to be, or album is going to be nominated. Spoken, like someone who is existing within the context of all that came before you. I will, we do have a question about Kamala is Brat and Pop Girl Summer transitioning

into election fall, we will get there. I just have to say, if you, like, the way that I choose questions is I'll go through all of the answers and like pull out things that seem interesting to me that seem to sort of cover a wide swath of the things that people have enthusiasm for talking about. But then, you know, I'll just scroll through all the things to see if there's anything I missed. And if you scroll through all the responses on my Instagram right now, just half of them are like, Kamala is brat Kamala nominon

How coconut Pilled are you And it was very funny It gave me a lot of chuckles During the day So we will get there But I just wanted to let everyone Know what that looked like

It's a moment It's certainly a moment There will be others And don't forget You still got a Sabrina Carpenter record coming Right Album coming in August

You got a Katie Perry album coming You've a post-Malone album coming. You got a post-Malone album coming, and that's the one for me. It could be five and three. It could be the post-Malone album. You could get a Morgan Wallin nomination in there for sure. So I think there are a lot of potential artists who are going to make this thing.

I personally think we are, whether you want to be or not, and I tend to understand the case, But I think we're going to get, we're going to get slowly but surely funneled into a Beyonce album of the year. I think it would be really hard for her not to win. Yeah. Now, I do think that it seems less of a slam dunk than it did when that album came out. Just because I don't think, and I loved Cowboy Carter, I still love Cowboy Carter. I feel the way that I did about it when it came out just in terms of its quality. I don't know that it was, you know, it doesn't win the zeitgeistie award for album of the year.

It didn't have that kind of tale. Now, that's not what Grammys are for, but it was going for that in certain ways and didn't quite get there in the way that when we talk about Chabble, when we talk about Brat, we're talking about things that were very sort of organic and organically collected a certain type of energy. and I think sometimes you see things like that awarded, I think the album of the year conversation will essentially be, is there something that feels a little bit more like that that's worthy of displacing Cowboy Carter? I just simply think that's a close to impossible task. One, because it's an excellent album,

and two, because of Jay-Z's speech last year, because of the history, because of the fact that that album musically is, I think you said this when we covered it. The way that she is weaving in all the musical elements that that tell the story that she's trying to tell, but that also happened to be the types of things that the Grammys tend to favor and tend to praise and award, it's just a dare. Like it just, the thing feels like such a huge, I dare you to not give me album of the year for this.

And I don't think that, I don't think they want to take that. I just can't imagine that that's, that Beyonce doesn't win the album of the year of Grammy. But that's how I've felt at other times, and I have been proven wrong, would be a fairly fascinating moment if she did not, probably even more fascinating than if she does. But did I forget anybody?

Well, no, just the other thing that's interesting is, you know, particularly if Post Malone snuck in there, if there were three men, five women, someone along the lines of an Ariana Grande might not even get nominated, right? And then you're talking about... Yeah. Or it could be Charlie, right?

Like, something has to give there. And then you're either talking about, you know, Ariana Grande and Max Martin, like people who the Grammys know and love know very well or something that was really, really potent and grassrootsy, which is not to even include, you know, I don't think Casey Musgraves is going to get nominated, but that's a person the Grammy's love.

And there's just, this is when we talk about the sort of embarrassment of riches of this year, there's going to be some names that get left off. I think Ariana threw in the towel with her post that she was just going to be focusing on all things wicked. So you think she's out. You think she won't get nominated? I think it was akin to,

Yeah, Biden backing out of running again. I think she just took herself out of it. Interesting. Interesting. I still think that would be a little bit dramatic, just in terms of like the Max Martin of it all feels hard to not see the Grammys being at least somewhat interested. But again, the math has to math. All right. Song of the Year. Yeah. I think that Song of the Year and Record of the Year are going to go to two.

people. And I don't know exactly who's going to win which one. But I think Sabrina Carpenter's espresso is going to win one. And I think Kendrick Lamar is not like us is going to win the other. I'm going to do my stuff. Why are you trolling like a bitch, ain't you tired? Trying to strike a chord and it's probably a minor. And it's going to be the ultimate sort of Drake,

the Drake humiliation, possibly, of Kendrick. going up and collecting for this one. I just am not sure how they're going to make the distinction between the two. What do you think? I think probably record goes to Sabrina. Yes.

And song goes to Kendrick. Yes, I agree. I think record that just, I don't even know if I can explain it. That just feels right. I think espresso, there's something about espresso

where you don't even want to think of the construction of it. Like, I don't want to think about them writing espresso. espresso emerged out of thin air. Espresso is just sort of like this light airy phenomenon. There's something about not like us because so much of the narrative of that beef had to do with, okay, who's working on whose songs, who's on whose team, who's helping who and the construction

of these things and the writing of it. And obviously the lyrics matter in terms of who contributed to them in a way that I think probably befits a songwriting award while espresso is just espresso. So that would be my guess. I can see, like, I'm interested to know

what Billy songs get nominated in these categories. I don't think, I agree with you that those are the two songs that I would pick to win. The Billy question is interesting to me because I'm just not, I don't,

know. It could be lunch. I think it's going to be lunch. Not your fave? I mean, I'm on the record saying that Birds of a Feather is my favorite song on that album. But I understand why lunch would be the one that sort of makes its way through. And I think you'll see, you know, you'll see Cowboy Carter in there, probably Texas Hold on. But I think, yeah, I think you might see the Shibuzi. song in there. I think you'll probably see I had some help, the Post Malone Morgan Wallin song. Oh, yeah. I think you're probably going to see good luck, babe, here. And I think you might see,

like, if they don't give Zach album, they'll probably put, like, pink skies or 28 in song. What from tortured poets do you think we'll go in the song categories? I mean, you're going to hate it, but I think it's Fortnite. It's going to... Oh, God. You're right. Why? Why do we have to do this?

I don't know. But, I mean, I wish it was the Black Dog, but it won't be. It'll be Fortnite. And it's going to be a very posty... Posty Grammys. He's going to be participating. You could see a... That's okay.

I like Post Malone. I just... Can we start a petition to nominate the Black Dog? How you don't miss me in the Black... dog when someone place the starting line and you jump up. I mean, we should. It should get it, but... Okay. If anyone wants to organize, go knock on some doors, get boots on the ground. I'm available. Yeah. Yeah. But I think that's probably what happens. And so if it's song, it's going to be

not like us. Song, not like us, record of the Eur espresso. Okay. What about best. new artist, potentially another space to talk about Sabrina. Yeah. I mean, I would also say that I think in one of those categories, we're going to see Benson Boone and probably beautiful things. And I think he will certainly be in the best new artist category. I will riot. Why?

Because it's not that I think that song is bad, but I don't really think it's good. And I've heard it on TikTok so many times that when I, I hear it play, I want to throw my devices out of a window. And so no disrespect to him personally, but I deeply hope that it is not awarded by the recording academy. Well, look, this is such a weird category is best new artists, because the rules are like a little bit nebulous and that it just recognizes an artist who like achieved breakthrough into the public consciousness, which means that Sabrina Carpenter is eligible. Even though this will be her sixth album.

Yes, but it means that Tate McCrae, who's been nominated three times, is not. That's actually so funny. Yeah. Not nominated three times. She's entered into the category. Which just means that she and her people have submitted the paperwork to say, You should consider Tate McCray as a candidate for nomination for Best New Artist. Yeah.

Yay, correct? Yes, it's been like put in by the labels, yes, as they've submitted for bid. So, look, I think you're going to have artists like Shibuzi for sure. You're going to have artists. I mean, Chapel will be here, and this is where I think Chapel wins. as much as I actually think her album ought to be considered, I think this is where Chapel sort of kind of runs away with it. I think if I'm Sabrina,

I don't actually want this one because it's weird to be in there when it's your sixth album. Just because she doesn't feel new. Yeah. I don't think winning this would be bad for Sabrina. Right. And I don't, I think that's a fair fight, but I would guess

Chapel over Sabrina because it does feel like there's more of a newness. But I think it's fair to say that Sabrina Carpenter entered the, had a breakthrough in the public consciousness this year that is demonstrably different than anything

that had happened before. Well, you might... So the rules are weird, but by the rules. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You might have Dasha. You might have Teddy Swims probably.

you might have Tommy Richmond I don't know but I think it's not really a contest it's going to be Chapel I will take Tommy Richmond over Benson Boone seven days a week well you don't get to make that choice

yes I do I get to make it for myself I get to make it on this podcast all right I think that's how I feel as well. Did we miss anybody? Sexy Red?

Maybe? When we back, filled with bands now, sexy, do you're not totally new, but could be a best

new artist candidate. I think you said Shibuzi. Tommy Richmond was a good shout. But I really think that's Sabrina versus Chapel and probably Chapel.

Yeah, the only real disruptor in this is It's going to be hard for me if Billy Elish walks away without a Grammy in one of these categories. Because I just think so highly of this album. And it wouldn't surprise me, given how much the Grammys have previously loved, both Phineas and Billy. Which is interesting what way that cuts. She could win song.

She really could win song. Song feels the most open. Song feels the most like I could, you know, I could see it. I could see Beyonce winning. I could see post Malone winning. I could see certainly could see not like us winning. But if an Ariana... Like, if we can't be friends won,

I wouldn't think that was crazy. If a Billy song won, I wouldn't think that was crazy. Look, I think... I think what we're circling here is a big four of the Grammys where Taylor gets shut out. Which, honestly, to me, feels like. likely. But if Fortnite snuck in there as Song of the Year, it wouldn't be the craziest thing.

To me, the other ones feel like, if I were a betting woman, I would feel comfortable making a wager on Beyonce album of the year, Chaplain, Best New Artist, Espresso, Record of the Year. Yeah. There might be some weird, like, dark horse entries like a vampire. Weekend or even Pearl Jam. Oh, true. I forgot about that album. Vampire Weekend. The Pearl Jam album is really good. I could see somebody winning that stuff. Not winning, but getting a nomination.

It's not funny, but if Pearl Jam beat Beyonce. It would be fairly Grammy-esque. Don't do it. All right. From Hannah, next question. Yeah. What pop girl spring song should be Kamala Harris's intro music? Well, I mean, it's it's 360. Yeah, 360.

It can't be 360. Yes, it is 360 because she just has to change the lyrics to like, I'm everywhere, I'm so Kamala. Uh-uh, uh-uh. Just replace Julia with Kamala. Wait, 360 or three? 360. Okay, 360, 360. I get, I get confused sometimes. Okay, slightly less full of lyrics about doing cocaine than 365. So you're actually a little bit more on track. Just think about the intro there. And then she walks out after that intro. It'd be fucking awesome. It would be incredible. I do think like there's a fine line of allowing me. culture and pop culture to do work for you and just letting that happen and acknowledging it a little bit too much. Well, what are you going to say? You're going to say feminine. I'm not sure I'm not sure.

I say the words Brat Summer. I'm not sure that's a good idea. Well, I'm sure it's not, but she's going to get asked about it. And the reason that she's in this chair now is because she can actually go out and do all the shows and answer all the questions and say all the things. Somebody's going to ask her about this at some point. I mean, look, it's true. It just, the introduction of, Charlie's tweet was, first of all, so brilliant. And then it just took down CNN. It just, they might as well have folded the network for the next two hours

when they just had the most old conversation about what is this. Somebody's reading off a piece of paper. They have no idea how to talk about it. that's black. And for those who don't are not in the know way I am, that is a cool thing. It has a color.

Chartreuse is the color. And Kamala Harris... They're all playing that clip of Charlie being like, she's a potty girl, but she's maybe having a little bit of a breakdown, but... And like trying to... Wolf Blitzer just got out from brunch.

Right. He's been drinking. Like, they just needed to play the VIII. video and be like, this is it. And they'd be like, oh, yeah, okay, got it. In fairness, I'm actually not sure the video is fully legible to the CNN audience. They just needed to play it instead of that just failure of a conversation that happened at the nerd news desk about this, like political correspondence, Gen Z correspondents being like, well, let me tell you, just shut up, just play the video. That's the point. It's a word that doesn't have definition. It's why it's so fucking It's whatever you wanted to be.

Yes. I don't think it should actually be the intro music. What do you think it should be? Well, there's a lot of it. So she's using Freedom. She's using Beyonce's Freedom, which I think is really, really, really good. That's a great pick.

I went through our whole big playlist that we had for the draft and was finding stuff. You've settled on the Black Dog. No, I want her to do the Bolter, actually. It's the bolter. She comes out to the bolter. Everyone immediately falls asleep

and votes for Trump. Kamala Harris should take the stage in Delaware to do a leapas what you're doing. In this essay, I will. Look, there's a lot of Cowboy Carter that would be great. I mean, I think, yeah, yeah, would be awesome. Let me tell you something.

You're trying to reach suburban white voters, specifically about 20,000 people in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Virginia, North Carolina, and Nevada. Maybe one other state. So maybe not Charlie X-XX. So probably not 360. Not 360. In that case, like, what are you doing? Let's see if Zach Bryan's down.

Let's, you know, all-night revival. Chapel Roan, Mike Angus Karma. Hot to go. I mean, yeah. Super graphic ultra-modern girl. Look, Kamala Harris could do the hot-to-go dance credibly. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, she could also do the Apple dance credibly.

I'm just not sure that she should. Like, I just, I think it's, I think it's quite possible to overdose on these things. Yeah, yeah, you got to let the meme just live, live a life of its own independent of you. I agree. I also think that this. This is a pertinent dynamic to one, Taylor Allison Swift, as, while I certainly hope that Taylor is active during this election cycle, I do think that there is a tendency in culture right now where whenever anything is going on in any arena, there is an instinct to question,

could we add Taylor Swift to this? Yeah. And it's probably a little overused. So I think like if I were, you know, I don't think I have a lot in terms of strategy or advice to give to the Harris campaign or Kamal Harris herself. I have just one thing that I would say between, we're recording this on July 23rd. I think between now and when the month of August ends. I think she should say the phrase Taylor's version one time, just one time, only one time, just once. It's too far away from the election.

She's got to save that, and this is, I say to all of the people on the left who are like, Taylor, when are you going to weigh in? It's not time for her to weigh in. Let me tell you when it's time for her to weigh in. It's time for her to weigh in when she's in the states, in the fall, leading up to the election. First, she can weigh in on making sure that everybody's registered to vote, which she will definitely do, educating people on a state-by-state basis when the deadlines are to vote. But then you need that Taylor just gift when she's on national television every Sunday, except a few, when she can't get on the plane from whatever show she played in Indy or Toronto or Miami and get to where the game actually is. But you need her when she's at the peak of her powers again and there's all the questions about the chief and is Travis too old and all this stuff, that's when you need her. So don't pressure her right now.

I'll tell you the other way that you could do it, Nora, and this will never happen. This was a thing about... Well, no. If I'm Kamala, I call her up and say, you don't have to do anything. You don't have to make an appearance. You have no job.

You're going to run for vice president with me. You don't have to go out in public seat. This is the Trump assassination. By January 20th, she will be. She'll be 35. When can she run? It's by inauguration. day. Who gives a shit? The rules are out the door. Well, the Constitution, which we're like trying to

protect some semblance of. Details. Details. I'll tell you this. The Trump assassination was a attempt was a terrible, terrible thing, terrible for the country in all kinds of ways. And one of them is that there's no way Taylor Swift is running for office. Because they are terrified that somebody's going to come after Taylor. I'm just not running for office, nor should she have that. I'm just telling you that anybody who was holding out hope that that was going to happen, there's no way. Like, she just, she wants no part of that shit. Okay.

I think the 22 hat, I think her last show in the United States happens to be the last show before election day. I think it is more likely that Kamala Harris pops up out of a little dive-in hole in the stage. And does the Travis Kelsey portion of... Where is it? Vancouver? So the last one before... No, Vancouver is the end of the tour. However, an interesting note is that her last show in the U.S. is November 3rd.

Right. So it's her last show before the election. And the election happens and she's fleeing to Canada. Yeah, she's smart. Yeah. Maybe we'll join her. Yeah. I'm not saying, you know, however Taylor engages, I hope it is vigorous.

I agree with you. It should be a little bit, it's most powerful a little bit later along in the cycle. I'm just talking about if the nominee is to make sort of winking allusions to, I'm in the fan club, I know you guys, I like you guys, we get along. Don't overdo it. Okay. I will say if you want your Taylor Swift for VP proclabation. to come true.

If Jady Vance keeps talking about miserable childless millennial cat ladies bad call buddy. It's not a good

idea. Really bad call. I know one of those. Yeah. She was on the cover of Time magazine with her cat. Yeah.

People actually almost made, you know, attributed, what was that terrible movie that everybody had the rumor was her

that she wrote? Argyle. Argyle. Starring Dualepa. Yeah, oh God. Oh, God. It's definitely Brad Summer. It is definitely not Dua Summer. And I love Dua. This should have been... I think in Croatia, it's Dua Lepa Summer. I don't. I mean, literally it's Brat Summer in Croatia. They're rocking that whole album there. By the way, have you seen Katie out there now? Katie Perry now, like, showing up in Abiza and previewing the next song, because, God, we got to get away from Woman's World, which did not even cry. the Billboard top 60 this week

in its intro. I have seen that Katie Perry is in Santropay. Yes, passing out shots and shit. Oh, that I didn't. I just saw that she was like paddled boarding. Oh, no.

She was in like a Bisa, I think. Like literally passing out shots to people in a club. Like, she had a tray full of, it looked like, I'm not kidding you, 50 shots on one tray. And she was just holding

the same face, like sort of staring off in the distance, and one by one, passing them out to the crowd without actually looking at who she was handing them to? And at first I was like, wow, that's a very memeable moment. And then I was like, she's trying to make a memeable moment. Yes. It's all trying too hard. This is the lesson of don't acknowledge Brat Summer. Let Brat Summer acknowledge you. Right. Don't try to make a meme. When you try to make a meme, you're already losing. Also, with love, because I do respect that Katie Perry has been a politically active person throughout her career. Not sure that that's the phone call.

They should be picking up first. And I imagine that it's coming. Yeah, appreciate it. We want you to sit this one out. Thank you. Would be so grateful if you'd cut a check. Yep. We're much more apt to answer the phone from Chapel.

from Taylor and from Beyonce and and Anne. I mean, Chapel, look, Chapel's out there politically and obviously Chapel is not afraid. Well, Chapel might not do it. Well, Chapel might not do it.

Chapel is on Kamala Harris. Though obviously she leans dem. Chappell's got Midwest roots. Like, there's an authenticity there that would be very cool to see her tap into. Yeah. She was pretty,

pretty clear at Gov Ball. She's not coming to the White House until, and she had a long list of demand. So, who knows? We'll see if this changes her mind. But I'll give you the last one. Sorry, we're still talking about this, but it is like, it's the moment. Using you don't own me might be a cool kind of wink nod to the pop girlies. You don't own me. Don't try to change me in any way. And that would be, that's like a, I'm not saying the walk-up song, but, you know, you know, they have a bunch of songs that they play at these events over and over. And that's a cool, if you know, you know, that's also a song that's sort of fitting.

Yeah. Well, look, you're appealing to those 20,000 mostly white people in those Midwest states and a few southwest states and maybe Virginia and North Carolina. That's the audience. Figure out their playlist. Go get on Apple or Spotify and look at the streaming data. and make some choices. Okay. Don't come out to a woman's world. Oh, good. Yeah. Never mind.

Did you even tell us what song? Well, what, did you tell us what song you think she should come out to? My real answer is I think she's doing the right thing. Like, I don't, I don't know that it actually think you want something that's not so immediately current just because you want something that sort of like existed in the public consciousness for a long time. But yeah, yeah, could be cool. I'd like so sick of dreaming on that playlist.

I think that would be fun. What? That's not a political message. Doesn't matter. No, but like the last time a song really took over a campaign was Clinton's Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow by Fleetwood Mac. That was like a defining message. And if Harris is going to get back in this thing, she's got to do more than

prosecute the case, which she will do a much better job of doing. Right. She's got to also like sort of paint a vision of future and differentiate herself and all that. And so whatever she picks needs to be a wholly optimistic, fun, positive song. Boy, bye, Ariana Grande. Yeah. We can't be friends. This is what I'm saying to you is I think because of, for all those reasons, my actual answer is that I think freedom is actually an incredible choice. If you go strictly through the Pop Girl Spring list. I don't know that there's anything that that exists quite on that level. I don't think that 360 as much as I love it

is getting you the Midwestern mom's demo. But... Just wait. It would be fun to hear some of these... I'm so come up. Somewhere. In what is sure to be a very... political fault. Okay. Laura from Australia, will we see the release of TS1 and TS6 reputation before

Taylor wraps the era, which I'm taking to mean the era's tour? Yes. What do you think? Do you think that she's going to walk off stage in Vancouver and give it? I think yes. I don't know if it'll come at the very end. I don't know if it'll be one and then another. I really that I don't feel like I have my finger on the pulse of she has flummoxed me time. time and time again. But the thing that I do feel is that I think the Ares Tour, as originally conceived, had more to do with the re-recordings than it has felt like. I think it has become such a phenomenon that it is just its own thing. But I think when Taylor was planning the Ares Tour, she thought about it as something very reflective of the journey that she has gone on through her.

career and also the journey that she has gone through revisiting her career through the re-recordings. I think that's why, you know, a song that I just mentioned, you don't own me is, is like that really juicy lead-up song. I think that's why, you know, I'd seen pointed out that the first surprise song was Tim McGraw, which was her first song. And the last one of the first leg of the tour was New Year's Day, which was the last one that she didn't originally own and that there was sort of like a symbolism in that. I actually then read that those were the first and last piano songs and Tim and she actually played mirror ball and guitar first and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I don't know. But my basic point is that I think to her, the Erez tour and the re-recordings

are tied together in a way that like maybe the public hasn't picked up on quite as much as she thought. and I think that's just because the tour has just been such a big deal but to me that says she will put these things out before it ends and also just frankly if she does that then she gets to stop working for a little bit which I can imagine

would be nice at this point yeah but that's why I'm torn because I actually think it depends on how the next six months go for her because there is an argument that these re-recordings let her stay in the public consciousness without having to work. And I, like you, think she's probably looking at a break.

She's probably looking at spending Christmas in Kansas City and then disappearing for a little while. Although it's not really in her nature to take that break, I just would submit to you that she just went through a summer in which she did not get to spend a lot of time with this person that she seems to be deeply in love with and that she may actually look for some normalcy in the year 2025. But she is, as we have documented endlessly on this podcast, a commercial animal. And her instincts about how to stay in culture are second to none. And I suspect that she might use those re-recordings as a way to buy some time for people to be listening to and talking about Taylor Swift while she is basically in an off season around the same time that her significant other is in an off season and potentially retiring. And that she might just use it to buy time but stay present.

It's going to be very telling what she does. To that point, it'll be very telling in terms of where her spidey senses are. Right. If it's time for her to step back, if people actually maybe don't want to be thinking about and talking about Taylor Swift, can't relate. But if the general public would like a breather. Because like it or not when she does something, when I say like it or not, I mean, if she likes it or not, it's impossible for her to do something right now without it. it feeling overwhelming. And I think to some people

sort of suffocating. And so she could see that and say flood the zone until the end of the tour and then go dark for a little bit. Just hang out. Just don't be asking people to stream or pre-order or buy or do any of that stuff.

Or she might choose to do that. She might say, let's get as long of a tail of this thing as I possibly can't. And to your point, I think it'll be interesting to see which one of those things she chooses. Here's the only other factor. And we've spoken a bit about politics on this pod. I can tell you that almost every other artist that I can think of

is making decisions to not put out albums in the fall. Because they believe that the tenor... The spring that we got of this election is just too scary to try to compete with. And if she's going to make a statement and put out an album, like this, she would usually do it in the fourth quarter and she would probably come out in October or November and or maybe around her birthday. So maybe she says for my birthday, I'm giving you this gift. But I do wonder if that, you know, we've seen many, many artists before move their shit so they don't put out an album around the same time as Taylor Swift. I do wonder if Taylor Swift

maybe thinks about that so that she doesn't put out an album when the American consciousness is focused on something so intensely different than entertainment and music. That's interesting. All right, even more forward thinking than that. A question from Sam, best long shot candidate for Pop Girl Summer 2025? It's Miley Cyrus. I put her down too. It's Miley Cyrus. What's she up to? More than I'm going to tell you. But what I will say is... What the fuck, Nathan? No, Miley Cyrus knows when to be present and when not.

Miley Cyrus doesn't say yes to a lot of shit. If you want Miley Cyrus to play the Chris Cornell tribute, she will go fucking crush that for you. If you want Miley Cyrus to show up at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and get slimed, she's fucking out. Like, Miley is... Miley Cyrus rules. Well, but when she shows up, she wants...

Her brand is when she's there, it matters. It's a little bit like Madonna at this point or, you know, 20 years ago. It's like it's a moment when Miley's there. And maybe it works. Maybe it's controversial and gets lots of chatter. Maybe in the end, history judges that it didn't work. But when Miley's there, it's going to matter. And so I think in this moment, Miley is studying.

And Miley is aware that she is a microgeneration ahead. of this surge of young women who are making noise on the charts. And she does not want to Katie Perry. And so she is studying and thinking and creating. And I don't think she's going to be gone for much longer because I will just tell you that, like, there is a lot of Miley music that has not been performed live. And I would be stunned to not see Miley go out at some point here

and do arenas or something even big. but there's an reintroduction of a full swath of music that is to come. And I just think she's probably sitting this one out because she knows that she knows what she doesn't know. And she's still trying to figure out how do I fit into this moment? One of the questions that we got that we didn't have time for, but I thought it was very funny was very good question was if there's an artist or an album that we would want to cover, but we don't think the audience is there for.

And the basic question to that is no. Like, I think a lot of the stuff that we're interested in, we have great listeners and would just put out and see what people wanted to engage with. The one thing that I would have said as an answer to that is that I want everyone hearing this to know that, like, once every three months, Nathan goes, we should do Miley Cyrus and her dead pets. 1,000 percent we should. One thousand. Long, long, long, never going to happen? Long shot candidate.

Rihanna. Okay. But I want to talk about Pablo the Blowfish. It's one of the most ridiculous songs ever recorded. And I want to talk about Miley Cyrus and are dead pets. Maybe we'll do it. Maybe we'll do it. P. E.T. Z.

I swear this comes up so often. I really want to talk about Pablo. Anyway, that's what's doing. It's Miley. Is there anybody out? I mean, it doesn't matter. It's Miley. I told you long, long, long, long shot Rihanna,

even though I don't believe it's ever going to happen. Yeah, it could be Rihanna. And the other possibility for me is Willow Smith. Don't take your eyes off Willow Smith. Will Smith. is quietly, but I think effectively making a bit of a comeback at the moment. And I think they've kept Willow a bit under wraps, although she did a pretty interesting tiny desk.

And the album that she did was a little bit left to center, I think, for mainstream. But Willow Smith is a star. And it wouldn't surprise me if she reintroduces herself to the world in 2025. I will say that the slightly not these people are. are not underground by any means, but the bubbling below the level of the artists that we typically cover and have covered this spring and summer, whose names got shouted out the most in our audience saying,

would you ever talk about what's going on and so-and-so? Would you ever talk about what's going on with so-and-so? You're all there on Griff. You're all there on Maisie Peters. And a lot of you are there on Pink Panther. So we shall see. I mean, the person who we're going to be talking about next summer is Harry Styles. We got a bunch of questions about...

We're getting a Harry record. HS4. It's coming, and we're going to talk about it. That's a person who I'm very curious to take a thesis from, based on whatever he does next, on what his takeaways were from this summer. Because I can see him running, you know, obviously it's been a lot of women and not lot of men, but I do think that Harry Stiles exists

within the ecosystem of pop, maybe even more so than he's musically engaging with pure pop, but I can see him running from this, and I can also see him running toward it. I wonder if he hears a song like espresso and goes, that has absolutely nothing

to do with me, or I wonder if he hears it and goes, what's my version of that? Or he goes, let's make a movie. Let's make a movie. All right, from Danielle. Out of everything you guys have reviewed this year, what album has been your favorite? Mine is Brat.

Yeah, I think mine is The Billy has hit me hard and soft. I think. It's one of the two. I mean, no, that's not true. I'm sorry. That's not true. What am I talking about?

I think Brat is third. The one that I struggle, I think it's rise and fall of a Midwest princess. That's what I thought you were going to say. Yeah, I do. But I really, I think, and that's why I said, I think, I wish it would be considered. But I think it's, I think it's rise and fall of a Midwest princess. The Billy record, I find the Billy record to be, I don't know.

I think, I think it's just a brilliant piece of work. I really do. I think the, I think Rise and Fall is a pop masterpiece. I think the Billy album is a musical. masterpiece. I think the Billy album is basically a no-notes album. I still struggle to articulate why

I appreciate it a little bit more than I truly, truly love it. My two are Rise and Fall of Midwest, Princess, and Brat. But Brat has just been so fun. Speaking of which, Hannah Keene, most Brat summer thing you've done so far this summer.

I bought my college-age daughter White Clause. So, Julia. Does that count? I think that counts. Can I get arrested for saying that on a podcast? I think it's fine. I think you're going to be fine.

I don't know. Kaya can weigh in. Will that pass legal? Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. It's Brat Summer for legal, too. Okay, okay. Also, college age can be 21.

I've had a lot of olives. That feels kind of brat to me. What? I've had a lot of olives. That's your answer to that question? I don't know. I went to Dime Square last week. You got engaged.

Is that Brat summer? It happened in the summer. That's true, but I mean, I guess Charlie also, did they get married? No, they're still engaged. Charlie engaged. Maddie Healy got engaged. I got engaged.

Yeah. I'm practically in the 1975. Olives is your answer. I just feel like olives are kind of brat. Like, first of all, they're green. Second of all, they go in martinis. Not how I consume them, but they do chronically. And there's something about just, just before dinner, a little castrolvano.

Olives is one of the craziest answers you've ever given to a mailbag question. I really think, like, to me, that's Brat Summer. That's my Brad Summer. Do you think when Charlie tweeted Kamala is Brat that she was thinking olives? Kamala is olives. I bet Charlie X-E-X loves a good olive. The heck was that answer.

You are so much better than that. No, I really stand by this. Sometimes in the summertime, you want to have a crisp glass of wine and you want to have some olives. And to me, that's Brat summer. Okay. Uh...

I took a mirror selfie in the bathroom at Kikis. But better. We're getting closer. We're moving on. Sophie Middleton has what's been your absolute top of the list highlight as a musical moment of this year? Oh. I'm so Julia. Olives, Sophie.

It was olives. I really think. for me... I think the olive don't fall far from the tree. I think it's... Look, it's two things for me. It was the absolute

internet meltdown over the new tortured poet set in the Erez Tour and everything around that. And then honestly, for me, it was the Kendrick Drake

disc track off culminating in a lot like us. I really think that's the right. answer. I think that's the right that's the right answer broadly. Like, for me personally, it was the Erez tour.

But I think Kendrick Drake is number one. I was curious. The Girl So Confusing Remix with Lord dropped basically while I was getting engaged so I wasn't as tapped in on that one, but I do think that that was a big moment. Well, honestly, I was

I mean, again, that was brat. I don't think that was that brat. I think olives are more, like, I'm, brat is not, I think brat is great, but like, brat is not symbolic of all things good. But I frankly think that olives are more brat than matrimony. Interesting. Yes, you're right. You're right.

But I mean, olives are, but, again. Getting engaged is more brat than olives. Interesting. I have to think about this. I have to think about this. It's fine. I think for me personally, Ares Tor,

tortured poet set, or like surprise song energy. I have a runner-up. I think Travis on stage is a contender. That's a good one. My runner-up is you incorrectly manifesting the bolter. When I heard whips of it float through the Edinburgh sky. Oh, it was so good.

All right. Forever Tins the season. What's the last mashup on the Ares Tour going to be? Well, it's so long London, isn't it? I stopped CPR after all it's no use. The spirit was gone. We would never come to. With anything.

But she's going to sing so long London. as the last one. You're thinking about the last one in... I'm thinking about this as pertaining to Vancouver. Oh, okay, okay. I was thinking about the end of the... I am. I am. The international dates I was thinking about...

What's she going to play in Vancouver, the very last one? You tell me, what's the mashup there? I mean, I wonder... I guess I would have said, like, I wonder if she will do the Tim McGraw New Year's Day thing again, like that would be a cool mashup

if that is a real thing that she was sort of trying to bookend that she just did it's time to go as part of a really incredible mashup with Better Man.

Yes, that was one of my favorites. That seems up there. She probably won't do long live just because it's been part of the show. but I do love that as a tour closer. It's an interesting question. But I'm sticking with Tim McGraw on New Year's Day. Well, when you think Tim McElroyd's song,

I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day. Okay. I think she's going to surprise us and she's going to give us the next album teaser and play an unreleased song. Whoa! All right, we have two more questions. One is more serious.

One is, it's not that it's not serious, but it's sort of fun. More serious one, Sarah, are the days of affordable concerts gone? Did the Erez Tour seal this fate? No, they're not gone. And it's not the Eres Tour's fault at all. I mean, I think, if anything, Taylor Swift kept tickets way lower than she could have. You could have had... I think probably, I'm guessing, if I'm guessing what she means by this,

which is something that, a dynamic that I relate to. It's, there's something about the Erez tour. And I think the Renaissance tour a little bit as well. And even Olivia Rodriguez tour, it has created a consumer mindset where I now think it's kind of reasonable to pay sums of money to go see a concert that pre-pandemic. You never would have paid. I just thought would have been like sort of unfathomable, just sort of not what it cost. to go see a show, not what it costs to go see a really popular show. And I do think that that framework has shifted a little bit. That's what you think buying eggs at the grocery store right now,

too, probably. Sure. The cost of everything is kind of up, is my point. But on this front, I think there's a couple things. One is that the cost of touring has gone up. All of the logistical support, the trucks are more expensive. Like, there's demand for equipment and staging and lights and all that stuff because there's more artist touring and Brexit has made it more expensive to go across Europe and all this stuff.

So the cost of touring is definitely up. Number two, the expectation of the concert goer is massively up because of these tours because everybody's trying to create like a really meaningful, memorable experience and that that's the expectation

of every fan that shows up and that costs money and you can look at what happens. happened at the sphere in Las Vegas, whether or not the business model there is the long-term thing. But like, it definitely has turned the venue into a canvas, part of the art. And that is an expectation of fans, you know, going out and doing this. But look, if I draw the pie chart of an artist's revenue, like 80 to 85% of their money is coming from the road. Because, and it used to be the opposite. It used to be that they'd make that much money from recorded music. But Napster and the

digital music, they just, they make fractions of pennies every time you stream on Spotify. So the money comes from the road. That's what supports their lifestyle. And I think artists coming out of COVID reclaimed permission to charge a price that is at the intersection of supply and demand, which is to say to charge a price where the money that you are willing to pay goes into their pocket instead of half of it going into their pocket and the other half of the money that you pay going into a scalper's pocket. So I think that's where we are in the business. And yeah, it's going to be a while.

That said, all these artists now are trying to create buzz. So you're going to see things like Maggie Rogers doing small pop-up shows for not a lot of money where you have to go wait in line to buy tickets and you get to meet her. You're going to see a lot of this guerrilla marketing stuff where if you are loyal to your favorite artist and they have your personal data, meaning your email address and your cell phone number, and you're in on the fan club stuff, and you're active.

More than ever, you've got a chance to see them for nothing, right? That's the Taylor Swift, come to my living room and listen to me, play the new album stuff. So I think there's going to be stuff for the masses and stuff for the diehards. And if you really give yourself to an artist and show that,

you're going to be more rewarded than ever, I think, going forward. I wish I had this in front of me now, but I do think, I feel like I've read stories recently to the effect of there is a little bit of softness in the desire for concert after concert and live events. And I don't know if that's just drawing too many conclusions from like J-Lo, Justin Timberlake, some of these things that haven't gone particularly well, but maybe aren't representative. of the actual current generation. But my question is if people start thinking a little bit harder about who those artists are that are willing, that they are willing to go to that extent for. Because there's been an energy of these concerts. There's such a big deal and you see them all over social media that everybody wants.

wants to go to every single one of them. And something that I've even noticed myself doing is saying, like, I don't need to go to Noah Khan. Like, I just, there are other shows I want to go to a little bit more, and they're all a lot of money, and I'm going to pick and choose. Whereas I think immediate, like in the first wave of tours post-COVID. And so this was certainly, you know, Harry Styles, I felt like this dynamic existed.

Obviously, the Aeros Tour is the Paramount example. I think there was this like, everybody wants to be at every show. Yeah. I feel a little bit less like that. I feel a little bit more inclined to be choosy, even though I love going to concerts. Well, I mean, in fairness,

you think Brat is olives. So I think you're right. I think that here's what it is. If I'm on somebody's top five artist list, people are coming to see me. If I'm on somebody's top 10 artist list, but I'm down in the 6, 7, 8, 9 range, and 1 through 5 are touring,

I'm a little more worried. And I think that's what happened to J-Lo. I think people like J-Lo, but she wasn't the must-see. And when everybody is out and artists are like, whoa, I've got an insatiable appetite for me being there in person. I'm going to go meet that demand.

You're right that fans ultimately, have to start choosing. Somewhere in the back of my head, there's a feeling that the festival business, if you're not Taylor, Beyonce, Harry, a number of others across other genres. I mean, I just said Pearl Jam.

Like, if you're not like an artist that can really undeniably carry a full arena show, that making appearances at those festivals, there are probably some fans who are like, okay, I've seen it. Right? I don't need to go out and see the full show.

So I don't need to immerse myself in that experience. So we'll see. There's probably a reckoning still to come. I think you're probably right that going to the top 10, having to go out and see the top 10 is probably changing. I still think that the share of wallet for live music is going to continue to grow. And that will be because you're going to go see your top five. You're probably going to pay more to those top five instead of spreading it across.

your top 10. Sure. Well, because, and again, if there's a growing inclination to be a little bit choosy, for 70 bucks, I'm a lot less choosy than I am for 400. Yeah. The Rolling Stone's just played SoFi Stadium multiple nights. Motherfuckers, 80 years old, absolutely killing it, running around stage. And people paid thousands of dollars to see that. So I think, again, the graph of the amount of disposable income that people are putting to live events and in particular live music is going to continue to grow.

All right, last question. Lady Brabara? That's the username. Who won Pop Girl Spring? Oh, I thought that was the question. I thought the question was Lady Brabara. I was going to be like, don't know. Yes, my answer is yes.

Nora, who won Pop Girl Spring? If you fucking say all this, Do not say olives. Or sorry, there's three, there's really only three possible answers to this. Okay. I think Charlie did. I think Charlie XX won Pop Girl Spring.

I'll tell you who won Pop Girl Spring. It's my son. He had ear surgery yesterday. He's okay. But it was like a two-hour thing. And he came out of the anesthesia. And it took him like an hour and a half to get out of it. And my son happens to be very musical and a music fan. And he in his sort of loopy,

I'm coming out of anesthesia stage, gave me like an entire concert of songs about waking up. So he sang, whams wake me up before you go. He sang Katie Perry's wide awake. And the nurse was like, is that Taylor? And he goes, Taylor, it's Katie Perry Tuesday, Miss. And so he completely does not remember any of this. I have some so awesome videos of him just going through the entire catalog of female pop stars with songs about waking up. His mind was alive. His mind was literally alive. His mind was alive.

And I think you're probably right. I'll say this. I actually think it was Sabrina. I think Sabrina Carpenter had just two songs that pierced through the consciousness of really the world. And I think Brat is for insiders. It's like the inside joke that the cool kids are in on. And I think that the Sabrina album won the masses. I think that's a really reasonable point of view. And perhaps actually the correct one, a week ago. I think everything you just said was true. In a strange way, when they started talking about Brat on CNN,

I do think it penetrated a different type of public consciousness. Yeah, I don't know. I think you have a bunch of people scrambling, now that you've defined it as olives, CNN, CNN, I mean, I literally tweeted this out like yesterday. Hey, CNN, Nora Princiotti is right here to give you an answer to this question. never am I going to have to delete a tweet so quickly is when we get off this podcast

because if they call you and you get on there and they go, what is Brett? And you go, olives. Jake Tapper's face is going to melt. No, Jake gets it. Jake totally gets it. He's going to be like, oh, Calamata, Castrovano.

Yeah. Well, all right. Your classic green olive? Here's the thing. With so much of this discussion, it's the middle of summer. We still have five good months of this year to go. Let's hope they're good months.

We still have some releases to come. And we still have ways to measure the impact that all this music will have on culture. And that's what's so fun about the brat stuff. I'm thinking about olives right now. It's what's so fun about the Sabrina Olympics commercial. Her album is still going to drop. There's going to be more stuff on that. We've got lots of surprises still in store for us.

And Nora, that's why we keep coming back every week, isn't it? It is. And we will be back. This has been every single album. Thank you so much for submitting all of your great questions. We'll try to answer some more on social. Thank you, as always, to Nathan Hubbard for joining me on this episode and to the fabulous Kaya McMullen for producing.

We'll talk to you soon.