Every Single Album - All Things Go Recap, the Short n' Sweet Tour Kicks Off, and Where's Taylor Swift?

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

Nora and Nathan talk about Chappell Roan's last minute decision to drop out of the All Things Go festival, as well as some of the other standout performances from the concert series (1:00). Plus, they discuss Sabrina Carpenter kicking off her Short n' Sweet tour (32:37) and speculate as to where Taylor Swift might be after not being seen out in public for the past few weeks (44:00). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard Producer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Look, it's not that confusing. I'm Rob Harvilla, host of the podcast 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, except we did 120 songs. And now we're back with the 2000s. I refuse to say aughts. 2000 to 2009. The Strokes, Rihanna, J-Lo, Kanye, sure. And now the show is called 60 songs that explain the 90s, colon the 2000s. Wow.

That's too long a title for me to say anything else right now. Just trust me. That's 60 songs that explain the 90s, in the 2000s, preferably on Spotify. Hello and welcome to every single album. I'm Nora Princiotti, and I am joined, as always, by the one and only Nathan Hubbard, who really put in the work to be with us this week because Nathan, you know, we talk and I follow your Instagram stories.

I know what's going on in Hubbard land. And you've had quite the weekend, haven't you? I am deceased, but I'm here. I'm back in Los Angeles after a whirlwind. Back to back to back, to back, red-eyed kind of night weekend. And yeah, let's see if I can string some sentences together. It was great. It's good.

It was so fun to be amongst the people and to just go out and be in front of a bunch of live music. Some stuff that I knew, some new discoveries, all kinds of really wonderful music. It feels so good to be out and not just listening to it as you and I sometimes have to do on our exercise sessions or, as we're doing whatever we do around our places. But to actually go out and experience it with a large group of people is just so fun. It's just the best. We're all chemically wired to be together. And it's fun to slip into that every now and then.

So, and you jump in if I'm getting any of this wrong. But Nathan went to all things go in both New York and D.C. And to see Sabrina Carpenter at the Shorten Suite tour this weekend, right? That's how it went down? That was my Saturday, Sunday, Monday, in order. New York at all things go on Saturday, D.C., all things go, and then back up to New York for Sabrina and Brooklyn last night, Monday. Okay.

Thank you for giving the synopsis, because I was interested in the logistics when you showed up back in New York. Like, what are we doing? Are we taking Amtrak? Are we doing the shuttle flight? I want to hear your answer to that. But just to set the stage here, it was a big weekend in terms of live pop music. Nathan was present for so much of that.

We're going to talk about those experiences, everything you saw, everything you learned, everything you took away. And also, that happened to sort of dovetail with a couple, you know, big and medium-sized stories in the pop girly world, one being Chapel Rhone, who ended up pulling out of all things go and, you know, has been in the news for political statements, for the fact that she seems to be struggling mentally and is just going through a lot. Obviously, her arc and how she's sort of dealt with that over the last, however many months has been such a, you know, big story that we've covered so much. So I want to hear-

For being parodied by Mu-Dang and Bowen-Yang on Saturday Live. Not being parodied by Moong-Dang, parodied by Bowen-Yang as Moodang. Fair enough. You up on Moodang? I mean, I know he bites the dude's knee a lot. No, she. She's just a baby. She's just a baby girl, Nathan.

Don't misgender Moodang on this podcast. She is a baby pygmy hippopotamus, but let's not get off subject. And then Sabrina Carpenter, who, you know, just, it's great to check in with that tour as she's kicked off. And also this hysterical, weird thing with Eric Adams that I just have to find a way to work. work into this show. And then we're going to talk about Taylor Swift for a minute because, of course, this is every single album. But first, let's start with all things go. Where's Waldo? Where's Waldo? That's what I have to say about Taylor. All things go. We'll get there. All things go.

Yeah, I mean, look, so, you know, full disclosure, do a little bit of work with that team. And Thursday, we got some indication, very late. We got some indication that Chapel was not going to be able to play. And I think there was a lot of scrambling because the general tone of what we heard was just concern from everyone around her team. And so, you know, in those moments, you have to think about, like, what is your North Star? And in this case, the North Star was, we're going to support this artist. This artist is a treasure and she can't go, she can't go. And so we need to make it as easy as possible for her to take care of herself in whatever that means.

We don't need to know anything else. And I think if you followed the social stuff over the last week, yes, there was the politics. And, you know, we can all debate. Should she stop reading the comments? Should she, you know, not feel like, I don't, I don't really have a position on that other than it looked to me independently as I was watching her post those videos that she was struggling. I just think there's no other way to read it. She's been really overt about some of her own struggles with mental health. And I make no assessment or judgment about where she is in terms of, you know, the current, the current brain chemistry impact on the way that she, like, I don't. I don't care. Like the point was she couldn't go. And so our job was to make sure that at a moment in time in which, you know, the great thing, we say this a lot, but the great thing about social media is that it gives everyone a voice and the awful thing about social media is that it gives

everyone a voice. And if you're not careful, you start listening to the fringe sections of people who may not even be real people. I mean, at this point, there's so much nonsense on social media that is being generated by bad actors who are either sort of anarchists and stirring up shit or foreign agents like doing weird stuff. Like you should just be as vigilant as ever about what you see there.

And that includes like responses to things that you post. But we were just concerned because there had been a pile on chapel that clearly was having an impact because she was responding to some of those corners of the internet that were criticizing her.

I think in all of these cases, there's usually a massive silent majority of people who don't even care and don't know. There's definitely a massive silent majority of people who are supportive. And that was what I think the All Things Go team really felt, is that what's special about that festival is the community. It's a community that supports artists first and foremost, and in particular supports female and LGBTQ artists and those allies around them. And it just felt like this was a moment to capitalize on the power.

of that community and just shut down the negativity and just say it doesn't she can't go we support you chapel we love you take whatever time you need we're here and we're going to celebrate you and the good news about the all things go festival is the lineup is awesome and the community is awesome and so it goes on without her and you know i'm sure in some some way if she saw any of the great stuff that happened this weekend including muna covering one of her songs including a full-on drag queen dance party in a stadium of 13 plus thousand people dancing going absolutely bananas to a full set DJ set of chapel stuff. Like she might have had some FOMO and it would have been great to have her there, but the community and the support goes on.

And so that was the message that the festival put out in parallel with her comment. And, you know, I'm really proud of that team and what they did because I think it just set the tone that was like, no, no, no. Yes, some of you, I'm sure there were some people who were going to travel to see Chapel. And that's a bummer. and I'm sorry and I'm sure the chapel feels terrible. In this moment, it's actually not what it's about. Like, this is a treasure of an artist,

and what we have always talked about with her, Nora, is that some of the intrigue and some of the fascinating part of chapel is her fragility. And whether, just forget all of the public pressure of being famous, as she said, the VMAs. I've been famous for one month, like, stop yelling at me. You know, whether she's, how she's going to be able to navigate it.

And this is part, this is, This is part of her story. And I think she's going to learn and there's still ways and I don't know how she's going to handle it. Maybe she needs to go away for a long period time. Maybe this isn't for her.

It doesn't matter. The point is that I think an artist who gives so much of themselves to you, like she does, deserves that support in a moment of crisis. And so that's just what we tried to do.

And I think that was the tone that, well, that's what that team tried to do at all things go and I think that that was the tone that set the weekend. and it really made for a very, very powerful two days of support from people to artists, artist to chapel,

and just that bond between the performer on stage and a passionate fan in the crowd. Were you at both the drag show that filled in in New York and Muna in D.C.? Yeah, and I mean, I just have to... What were those like? Well, I just have to say, like, I, like in Tanchet, like, I am a very...

very unimportant part of their team. But in that moment, I made a few phone calls, right? Like, I checked in on Lord. I checked in on Doja Cat. I checked in on Phoebe. I want everyone to know that I pitched us to Nathan. Yeah, you did. I think maybe we'll do a live show there next year. I mean it. Like, they would be so fun or the day before, you know, something early. I was like, hear me out every single album live on stage. Give the people what they want. Yeah. Like we checked in on cash. We checked in on a host of artists just to try to fill the slot, right? Because your first instinct is, oh, shoot, you want to get somebody up on stage. And you got to fill that slot. But, you know, with less than 24 hours notice, like, you can't blame anybody for being like, man, I just don't even know how to pull this together, to be honest, right? I mean, Maggie Rogers, huge supporter of all things go in the community and has played it before and would have loved to have done it. But like, she's getting ready for her own arena tour. Like Billy Eilish, we checked in on. Like, she was getting ready to start this awesome tour in Quebec. Like, I get it. You know, Sabrina. Sabrina was playing MSG Sunday and

Monday. And like all of these artists, you know, sent back. Sabrina is cooperating with an ongoing federal investigation into, in battled New York City Mayor Eric Adams. She's a little busy right now. Yeah. So all these artists, you know, they sent their like support and love and appreciation, but it's just hard to like drop everything and get to New York and pull together a show that, you know, you feel comfortable putting out there and that everybody's going to see. So, but even before that happened, there was a really interesting idea, which was to, what if we just make it a dance party? And like, let's have Chapel be there, even though she can't be there. And let's go bring in some drag queens from New York and

make it as fun as possible and just celebrate her because there's going to be people there who, you know, are bum that Chapel's not there, but it doesn't mean they don't love her. And it doesn't mean that they're not going to celebrate her. And it ended. And it ended. up being the best possible idea that that team had. And it was so damn fun, Nora, when I just tell you, like, the whole place was going bananas and doing the hot to go dance. And there just was this just energy and aura of love and support for this artist. And I hope she saw some of the social content, but being in that building in Forest Hills to see all of these people. Again, and if you just believe what you read online,

everyone was like, what the fuck, chapel, like, that is not how the fan base feels. It's not. And if you're part of that group, cool, those are your feelings, but you are a minority relative to what I think was overwhelming support and appreciation for this woman who has come a very, very long way, and who has shaped the soundtrack of people's lives

for the last, you know, nine months. Here we are September, or September being over, October 1st. So it just, for me, it was just a wonderfully redeeming and energizing thing to watch happen and to just be in the room where you can feel that electricity of positivity and elation. That's what the live experience is supposed to be about. It's what's so special about live concerts. It looked really fun. I have to say, I had some fomo, even though it was rainy and gross in New York City. And I'm just going to

navel gaze for a moment, like a few weeks ago, or maybe even more than that, someone was like, do you want to go to all things go? You should go to all things go. And I was like, I really want to. This is just like coming in a stretch in my fall that is too busy. And I need to say no to some things. And I need to just like pare down a little bit. And I maybe that was still the right choice for me. But I felt so good about it until I was like scrolling through Instagram. And I felt really good about it because I was like, you know, no offense. But I was like, oh, it's, you know, I would be standing in the rain, whatever. And then I was clicking through everything being like, shit, that looks fun. Yeah. That looks. That looks.

looks awesome. No, it was fun. I'm happy for you. It was fun. I'm happy for everyone who. Yeah. And there was more. You know, Muna showed up and they played good luck, babe, and bodied it. And that band is like lesbian in 1975. Like, they are really, that was one of the most eye-opening. What did they call it? Welcome to Lesbo Paloosa. Yeah. Yeah. But like, that band, Katie is a rock star. I love Moona. Katie's a rock star. And They sold those songs live. I really was impressive. I mean, Katie came out with Holly Humberstone earlier on Saturday and sang with her.

And I was like, whoa. And we can talk about Holly in a second. I was like, whoa. Like, I think Holly probably learned a thing from that. Like, Katie just brought that song to life. I was like, yes. Holly Humberstone, of all of the breakthrough female performers in this past year, I think Holly Humberstone has, is top three in terms of the music.

music. Her 2022-2020 releases, both of them are just exquisitely gorgeous. And I think the live show she's still getting there. The band is really good. On Saturday in New York, I thought, you know, it was rainy.

The place wasn't totally full yet. Katie came out and sang with her, and it's like a switch flipped. And the back part of that set was incredible. And then in D.C. on Sunday in front of a packed B stage, she destroyed it.

And it was the last show of the tour for her. She said it was her favorite show that she'd done. The crowd gave it to her. So it was just, again, it is such a safe space for artists. And if you put it out there, the crowd gives it back and

Holly did that. So Moona did that. Like even Delwater Gap took a moment during his set to talk about the chapel thing and, you know, talk about his own struggles with mental health. And again, understanding that it's not like a linear thing where you just get better. It's a thing that you always have to deal with. And again, I think that just was part of the educational process for the fan base to be like, right. The first and

most important thing is the health and well-being of this person. And let's start there and think if you keep that your North Star, then we'll make right decisions as a fan base, as, you know, businesses and festivals that are built around what she does. But the world's a better place when chapels in it. So let's make sure that that stays it that way. I think sometimes it's, you know, in our extremely discursive times, it's easy to make what is ultimately a simple situation or a simple decision seem really, really complicated when it isn't. Yeah. And that's not to say that there isn't a fairly complex conversation centered in part around Chapel right now that has to do with sort of, you know, of the boundaries that a star should be able to impose and what the responsibilities of

fandom are in that and what is okay and what is not okay and what degree of kind of gratitude or even performative gratitude do we force artists into and there's like there's angles to that. But that actually sort of doesn't have as much to do with the fact that this is a young woman who was in a moment of crisis and needed to impose a limit and get herself something that she needed, get herself some help that she needed. It feels related, but it's actually not related. And it seems like the festival did a really good job of just sort of. And the vast majority of people who were there did a really good job of ultimately recognizing that. So that's just nice to see. Yeah. And I think, look, personally, you know, now what comes next? I mean, she's supposed to play Austin City Limit soon. If she comes back from only a few days or a week away, you know, okay. But then you start getting into the territory where you're not sure ever if she's going to take the stage or not one night to the next. That might be not the best for business.

But if that's how she's got a role, then that's how she's got a role. You know, personally, I hope we don't see her again until... Did you just slip into a... a southern accent? I don't know. Did I? Personally, I hope she takes the stage. I'm so sorry, you were on a roll.

I just, like, Kaya, did you hear the twang? Was there a palpable twang? My grandmother's from Mississippi. The ACL. That's what did it. Oh, well, there you go. So every now and then I, I'm not, yeah, every now and then I, every now and then I, I'm so sorry, now you're self-conscious of it.

I let my non-Yanke hang out for the rest of the podcast. Yeah, every now and then I let my non-Yanky hang out. But whatever, look,

it will be interesting to see what time she takes. I just think, again, I think she's surrounded by people who are going to do

best by her, who are worried about her well-being, and I think she's worried about her well-being. She was wise enough to know when she was like, I was,

you know, she'd just come back from London. I'm sure she was in jet-lag state and everybody's piling on on the internet and maybe she's responding in ways that probably aren't super healthy, so, you know, whatever. As a fan base,

I hope everybody just gives her the space because she is fragile. It is part of her existence and not tearing that very thin and delicate fabric is the key to continuing to allow her to deliver this amazing art. And if you push too hard

through that fabric, it will tear. And again, she is not Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is a unicorn in her ability to handle this. And even Taylor Swift has been telling you through her music how hard it is to manage the unrealistic expectations and demands of a fan base that feels like they own you in this moment in time where fans have more access than ever to the artist, but also more of a voice than ever. And where bad actors have more of a voice than ever. and the human brain really isn't evolved to be able to filter those things out

and separate the signal from the noise. So look, I do want to talk about a couple of other things from all things go just to say it. I mean, the first is that we have not talked about the bleachers on this podcast in terms of covering their music. You have been an advocate for that, and Jack and the bleachers destroyed it

in D.C. on Saturday. They turned that place. they turned 20,000 people into almost like mania. I've heard this from many people. And he has just, he has an affinity with that audience, in part because he has been, you know, behind the mixing board and the production of so many of the artists that that audience feels so close to.

But he also, like, don't sleep on that band. That band is unbelievably fun. And they're going to play MSG on Friday. I may be going back for it, Nora. I may be turning around and flying back for it. Let's just, we'll see about that. But that band is one that I think we need to pay a lot more attention to. I think it gets swept away as Jack's little side project

because we think of them as the producer for Lana and Taylor and Sabrina and on and on, 1975. But like that band itself can move people. So that's the one thing I'd say. Have you ever seen them live? I was just thinking about this. I don't think I have. when you started to say that I was like,

oh yeah, I've seen Blagers in concert. And now I can't place where it was. Where are you doing Friday? I actually don't think so. You want to get together for the fifth time in person ever? Let's be in touch. Okay, we'll be in touch. So that's one.

You know, I'd say a couple of the things that are worth noting from the weekend. I mean, Julian Baker was there, did her set. Phoebe and Lucy were there in the little sideboxes watching. There was some hope that Phoebe was going to come out with either Muna or maybe come up

with Julian, maybe we'd get a little boy genius thing. But I think those three, I think those three are now back very much in their solo work, which is great for us. I mean, don't forget, Phoebe Bridgers was as big as they come a couple years ago. And that was before Boy Genius catapulted her even further. I think they're back into their solo work and that we won't see the Boy Genius thing for a few years. And I think that's good. I think Phoebe has this instinct that she needed to go fully away. That there was, just like Taylor has had that instinct through the years, oh shit, I got to disappear,

I'm getting oversaturated. I think Phoebe felt like it's time for me to go get in the studio, make new stuff, start a new era, because she'd been playing Scott Street for a very long time. But it was cool to see them all on site, and it was Julian's birthday, and there were a couple cake videos of them

on the bus altogether, and it's just, that band matters and it's wonderful to know that they can sort of fall into and out of being a band as they need to and go back into their solo projects. There are not a lot of bands that can do that and stay close and much less, you know, the fact that Julian seems to be on Lucy's lap a lot. So they're navigating a lot of those dynamics very well. It's always good when the boys are back in town. We love to see it. I have a question for you. Yeah. I'll phrase it this way. Renée Rapp question mark. So I'm so glad that you asked that, because if you hadn't asked that, I might not have commented on it. And I saw her both nights. She was the closer headline in New York on Saturday. And I think

that was really her biggest headline show ever. And then she was the last female performer. in the big stage on Saturday in D.C. And like, yeah, it's all there, Nora. It's all there. And I think she's got a lot of the Disney support that propelled Miley into this superstardom icon space. She has all of the confidence.

She knows how to work a camera. She knows how to work a stage. her voice is badass. And I think if I'm being like brutally honest, the next record is I'm hopeful and I believe going to be the best A&R partnership that she's had and going to find that song.

You know, I tweeted this and I still mean it. Like I sort of haven't in my head that like she doesn't quite have that song, right? I mean, of all of the other big... When you were running through the list of all the things she has going for her, I was sort of cataloging going like, yeah, like, when is this going to click what's missing? And the first thing that pops is like, the catalog doesn't feel that deep. Right.

In the kitchen... So don't try this at home... Is the shit. And she sings it, and it's somewhere between Beyonce and Mariah and Renee. And so, like, every time... I say she doesn't have the song, I hear her play in the kitchen. I'm like, holy crap. But it is all she needs is a song, and it's going to be just add water to the best meal that you've had. I mean, she is so ready to explode. She has every bit of the tool. And if you watched her in New York

and D.C. in front of those crowds, she has diehards. There are people who love her and who are all in, and they know the songs, and I don't know that she's that many people. people's favorite artist today, but she's in their top five. And if she can deliver the song, this woman is going to be as big a star as you can imagine. And it's why she was booked as the headliner on a lot of these festivals over the last six months that Chapel was the, you know, basically opener for Renee on. Yeah. And, you know, obviously Chapel just sort of exploded. And I thought Renee handled all of that with grace and support and confidence that in other cases you might expect an artist to not be able to handle. So it is right now, it feels a little bit Disney,

but in a good way. And I just think the next album is going to deliver a song or six that tip it. She's the one to watch. Well, and she's so funny. Hilarious. We talked about it with Sabrina. Chappell has it in her own way. Like, the music is absolutely there, and the two people that I just mentioned have the catalog. even if they are on the outset of something. But they also have these really strong personalities that in different ways are super gripping. And like any time I watch a clip of Renee Rapp

talking to a camera, talking to an interviewer, it does make me think about like, huh, is she going to have a real true breakthrough where she catches fire? Because it, you know, talk about serving C, as you like to say. Like that is her energy. Yeah. And it is so present in culture right now.

It just seems like if everything clicked, everything would click. So that's cool to hear. Yeah. Watch this space. I think it's just a song. And there's one of the artists that I want to talk about that I had heard a little bit about but really fell in love with at this festival. And it's an artist called Medium Build.

And his real name is Nick. But he has an album called Country. that has me upside down and turned inside out. And live, he was spectacular. The band was just awesome. He has just this, like, incredible, like, he has this incredible energy on stage where he's able to oscillate between a growly,

almost grunge rock voice, immediately back into this sweet, heavily depressed, ballad voice that he integrates those two things into the same songs at times, seamlessly. And the album is spectacular. There's a song on there called Say It Back that I have had on repeat since I saw him

while trying to sleep, just listening to this song over and over again. And he has a song coming this week that I was privy to that's going to come out on Friday that to me I think might send him into the stratosphere. So pay attention to medium build. This is one that it's coming

and he's also very close with Phineas and Phineas has been supportive and said a lot of good things and they've done a bunch of work together. So there's that connection to some of the elite in pop music. This guy is more rock alternative pop, but it's

special. And it was again, one of those experiences where you see it live and it instantly connects you to the music. Those are the best performers who can, Chapel does that, right? Chapel, I think Good Luck Babe is a good song. When you see Chapel perform Good Luck Babe and she hits that, I told you so, it's over. That's why that song took off in that way. And in the same way that I think Holly, who you can fall in love with her albums, and then you see her live. And, you know, obviously, if you saw her on Saturday night, you would have thought, okay, it's good.

She can keep going. I mean, she's young. She's got a lot more growth to do. And then you saw her on Sunday and you're like, holy shit. Like, I get it. Medium build came out and sang with her that night. But that isn't why you felt that way, right? So anyway, good stuff.

A reminder that if you're a fan of music, go out and see it. I think we should institute like a siren or something when a male artist is. discussed on this podcast. Thank you. Thank you for bringing up Medium Build. That's great. That's great to add to our collection of every single album faves. It's good stuff.

He's in good hands. He's on the same label of Chapel and Sabrina are on. So he's in good hands. Well, speaking of Sabrina, I want to move on to Sabrina. But before we do that, just in case some of our listeners are not listening to Medium Build or not listening to Holly Humbersstone, give us like two Holly and two medium build tracks or live performances that might be on YouTube or whatever that people should be. Medium build, I mean, I would just go, it's only 30 minutes

plus, so I would just go push play on the album country, but there's a song called In My Room, which is spectacular, and I would listen to say it back and then listen to everything in between when you're falling in love with those two. For Holly Humberstone, boof, I mean, Scarlet Can you afford to lose me Ghost me There's just Paint my bedroom black

That entire album From start to finish to me Is really special Sweet Love a little every single album Reck moment Good stuff Yay

Okay Sabrina Carpenter time Sunday and Monday sold out shows in New York City tour is underway you went Sunday I went Monday I went to Brooklyn you went Monday

yeah talk to me well the conversation that you and I had after we heard that album I mean you remember what we said we said this album totally surprised us for me personally

my favorite stuff on that album was not the two or the three singles like I think taste is great I think espresso is incredible I think please, please, please, please is incredible. You and I talked about, I told you I thought, please, please, please might be bigger than espresso. Might not have been right about that, but I was pretty close, right?

I mean, she has these absolute chart-topping hit. She's got three songs in the Billboard Hot 100, Top 10, and she still has them. I mean, it's just incredible. But for me, it was, hey, how are these songs going to translate live? Is she going to be able to deliver them and sell them? Because the catalog isn't massively deep. So let's see how she does. And so I really was looking forward to the tour to just see it.

And the first thing that I will say is this show 100% delivers. It is fun. It is horny. It is smart. She is funny. All of it is there. It is short and sweet. You're never like, oh, God, you know, how much longer is this thing?

Like, it is just great. And so she delivers the songs well. The set list is good. there's enough spontaneity. Like, it's some like 60s, 80s throwback stuff. But she just, she glows. The audience was so much different than I expected, Nora. Like, I, and in hindsight, it's exactly what you'd think.

But it's this mashup of, call it, you know, 18 to 30-year-old women who are there for the fun. They're there for the snark. They're there for the horniness. They're there for what position. is she going to get into in Juno? Oh, we're going to talk about Juno. Yeah, yeah, no, we are. But there is also

the, like, Disney on Ice Show crew that's there, meaning, like, moms and their very young daughters. And, you know, again, meanwhile, is asking you about a sex position on Juno or the Bedchem scene, which is awesome, and it's sort of filmed from above, and it's on the screens,

and literally at the start, of it, there's a parental advisory note up on the screens, which I think is part of the sort of of creative joke of it, but it's also like legit. Like they're in the front row, I mean, there were some six-year-old girls in the crowd. And so to get those moments of unity in the crowd is actually hard. Like, most people are staring at her like she's a zoo animal. Very few people have seen Sabrina Carpenter perform before, right? So she's this sort of new star, and she's out there and she's five foot tall. She's tiny as hail.

Maybe she's five feet tall. She's tiny as hell out there. She's compact. I'm so sorry, but you did it again. You just said, tiny as hail. Well, now I feel like you're insulting my grandma. I love your grandma. I'm just, I'm just flagging.

I'm telling you what I hear. All right. All right. All right. Well, so, but like, it is really hard to thread the needle with that crowd because people are there with very different backgrounds, very different comprehension of what they're seeing. And they're seeing her for the first time. And so to bring everybody together and get that audience moving is difficult. And she's selling it and she's doing a good

job. She's at her best when she's instructive and sort of commanding the crowd to do stuff. And they respond instantly. And they do. And that sort of brings the energy together where people either are waving their arms or they're dancing. You know, they respond instantly to espresso, of course, and to please, please, please, and to taste. The others, I think people, you know, there's less like of a dance party, even though I think there absolutely could be. It's just the diversity of the crowd in terms of age range and intent on being there and background with Sabrina and comprehension of what she's singing about.

was really, really interesting. But look, the merch lines were crazy. Both nights, I know, you know, I'm not going to sort of spill the beans, but like the merch numbers are incredibly impressive. The merch is actually really cool. But that's a really good signal of whether people are passionate.

They've paid a lot of money to come to this show, not as much as they could have, by the way, because she kept ticket prices relatively low, and we can talk about what's next there. But when people are buying merch in large quantities, it's a really good signal that they're deep fans. So it's fun to see this artist who has these hits. You're never quite sure if the hits translate to streaming

to ticket sales, and you're never quite sure if the show itself builds up long-term passionate fans. And she's planting all those seeds right now right in this moment. Notice a couple things on TikTok. One, when she... She gets to, I'm working late, because I'm a singer. And a little bit with the motherfucker line on Please, Please, Please. People scream those in the way that they scream, one, two, three, let's go, bitch.

Yes. That's a great, that's a very great analogy. Yep. There are already there's some inside jokes with the fan base. Yeah. And call and response stuff. Yeah, she let the crowd do a lot of that singing. And yes, she backs off, she backs off saying the worst of the words on occasion

and allows the crowd to do that. And I think it's because there's a moment where she's hilarious up there, by the way, and she does more interacting with the crowd than you can expect. I mean, last night, she saw it. There was some, like, small pocket of the crowd that was super fired up for her Christmas Netflix special that's coming. And so they were all dressed up in Christmas shit. And she, like, had them pass up.

One girl was wearing like reindeer ears, you know, so she had them pass them up. She put them on. Like, she is funny as heck. And looking out at the crowd, she saw some very small kids and she talks to them. She's like, oh, my gosh, you're so small. You know. So up there, like how you manage and handle that crowd is not easy. And the fact that she is a born pro at this point, this is not her first rodeo.

She's been in front of crowds of mothers and daughters for a lot of her life under different circumstances. So she knows how to interact in that way. In a way that I think a first-time arena tour pop star in most cases would be pretty dear and headlights-esque. The rest of the crowd is the deer in the headlights on this show because they're sort of seeing her for the first time. She glows. And in some cases, they're not exactly sure what to do. And when she tells them what to do, man, she's got them in the palm of her hand. She's authoritative.

All five feet of her. Four foot 11, because I'm still not quite sold on the five feet. she's an authoritative woman. No, she really is. But there are those great things. You talked about, like, just like you never know what the surprise song is going to be

at the Taylor Show. She has now turned this thing and I don't know whether it was her or the internet and her paying attention to it. But I mean, every night, she is introducing a new position on Juno,

and it's going to be a fun tour in that capacity. Just in case, this actually didn't get to my feed until yesterday. So in case someone's missed this, when she's performing Juno, you know, a la the Taylor Surprise song moments, a la the way that the nonsense

outros used to become these moments that kind of differentiated shows from one another. When she's performing Juno, when she gets to the lyric, want to try out some freaky positions, and then she says, have you ever tried this one?

This one? She gets down on the stage and, like, puts her body in a different position every night. Yeah. Nathan just got finished telling you about how many, like, mothers and Disney on Ice Daughters are attending the show. Yeah. Yeah. And so there is, it's a little bit, like, back in the day, Sesame Street, like, whether you understood it or not. And they do this sometimes in some of the Disney shows, like, victorious.

I heard they do this shit. Like, I didn't watch that show. But, like, they put a lot of stuff for adults in between the lines, right? And that is the line that Sabrina's walking here. You know, you can't avoid... Yeah, sort of. You can't avoid saying the word motherfucker in front of six-year-olds. Well, and also, like, a six-year-old might not hear the word positions in that line and connect it to anything.

Exactly. But, like, she's still doing the wheelbarrow. Well... It's a party. It's a party of a collective of humans. There's people who are there for a good time in the aggregate. It's worth seeing. And I just have to say, I mean, it just was so clear from the lines outside, from everything. And even from the people, the guest list both nights, right? You've got some, she is in the middle of culture and she is a respected artist, not just like a, you know, a two-bit pop star that may or may not go away. So I... Well, and she's, and it's a place to be. Like, it was clearly a place where people wanted to let people know that they were in the room and that they were seeing that happen. To me, there's always, like, you get that spighty sense of certain events that become that. Obviously, the Ares Torres-Tor is like that on eight bagelion steroids. That's it.

But it had a little bit of that energy, which I thought was cool for her. Yeah. And I don't know, I don't know what she wants to do, but she could play a lot more shows if she wants to. Because the demand is just obviously there. Like, I mean, there were hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of people who were hanging out outside hoping that the box office dropped some tickets last minute. Like, and again, this is New York, but like there are a lot of markets she could go play if she wants to. She could absolutely come back and do many more shows in some of the markets that she's playing. So we'll see.

She is a multi-hyphenate, multifaceted creator. We'll see what she wants to do. But the show holds up. It's worth seeing if it comes to your town for sure. she's a star. Sabrina, please come back to New York and please schedule the show on a night when the National Football League is not

active and in operation. Thank you very much. Would appreciate it. Nathan, you're welcome to pass that message on to any of your contacts, just from a friend. Well, she might hear it. You never know.

Okay. Last subject for the day. And this is one that I messaged you and Kaya our rundown earlier today. And Nathan just replies adding one extra item, which is, where is Taylor Swift? Talk to me about what you wanted to make sure we hit here. You tell me.

I mean, this is two Sundays in a row, admittedly on the road in Atlanta and Los Angeles, where Taylor Swift has not been on site supporting Travis during a time in which she ostensibly is on a break. from her tour, which picks back up this month. So you tell me, I mean, I'm interested in your thoughts first, and then I'll give you my take, hopefully, with a sparsely Mississippi accent.

Okay. First of all, use the accent as sparsely or as frequently as you would like. I support you. I'm just going to point it out when I hear it because I just am interested in following this vocal journey for you. This is fine. Quick detour. and then I will answer your question, I think, in the way that you're thinking about it. But specifically to answer the question, where is Taylor Swift?

Can we at least throw out the possibility? And I discussed this with my wonderful colleague, Juliet Littman, who had me on her podcast jam session this week. And we talked about this a little bit. So if people want to hear more about this, they'd go check that out. But I want to talk about it with you, Nathan. Is there a possibility that Taylor Swift was at Lana Del Rey's wedding? to an alligator tour guide last week in Louisiana. Of course there is.

Do you think that's her in the picture? So I will tell you what I told Juliet, which is that when I looked at the fuzzy long-lens paparazzi camera photo of three people in the crowd at Lana Del Rey's wedding, who the internet is speculating, are Jack Antonoff, Margaret Qualley, and Taylor Slift. I felt in my bones that just everything about the body language, like how they were sort of standing and just the shape of shoulder outlines and whatever, I felt so just,

yes, that is Jack Antonoff and that is Margaret Qualley. I have to be honest, as someone who's looked at a lot of, you know, photographs and imagery of Taylor Swift over the years, I didn't have that reaction. At the same time, I would kind of assume she would go to that event. And if she did, I would kind of assume that she would hang out with those people. So the blonde woman of approximately Taylor Swift stature with approximately Taylor Swift hair talking to definitely two close friends of Taylor Swift at the wedding of another close friend of Taylor Swift, yeah, I guess it seems like it probably was. but I'm just telling you my honest experience with this photo,

which was, yeah, that's definitely Jack. Yeah, that's definitely Margaret. I don't know if that's Taylor. And that's, I'm speaking my truth. Well, it would mean a number of things. First of all, the jet tracking, I know a lot of people have feelings about that. The jet tracking would not have picked up where she was.

It also did not... She can't get on Jack and Margaret's charter? Well, there you go. but this speaks to the larger question of where's Taylor right now? There were not a lot of guys around her with the Fannie Packs, which we're used to now in large numbers. And I think to just dial that out, I mean, you're asking the right question to where's Taylor been?

I think there's sort of two options, right? The first is she is woodshedding right now trying to get reputation out before the end of the year. and assuming it's reputation and not a new reputation or yeah I think reputation's kind of in the bag and there was a little bit of people innuendo

that you know read a little bit like a tree statement that maybe suggested that's what her focus was coming out this week that's the first thing is that this woman never stops working and even if that means that she doesn't go to Atlanta or Los Angeles because she's in the studio in Nashville finishing reputation or because she's in the studio in New York finishing reputation. But we haven't even seen her out on the street, right?

There was a noticeable decline in paparazzi shots after really the New York stuff with Travis. She went to see him in Kansas City and that was it. And to me that is more notable than the fact that she's, hasn't gone to the last two Chiefs games. Because last year, she went to the home games.

She went to, you know, she went to the playoff game in Buffalo. Like, she would go to something that was away if it was a meaningful game like that, or she went to Monday Night Football in New York City.

So a place where she lives. I think they had a game in L.A. that she didn't go to. But if I remember, maybe it was, it was the Grammys or it was some event. Yes. It was. She doesn't usually go to their random Saints road game.

Like, that's not a typical whatsoever. Saints were a bad example. They play the Saints this upcoming week at home. That's why they were on the tongue. If she's not at that game, I'll raise my eyebrows a little bit. But I don't think it's odd at all that she hasn't gone to the last couple of games. It's more interesting that she just, you know, there aren't unless this one random kind of grainy photo of her. at Lana Del Rey's wedding

to an alligator tour guide. Can't stop saying it. Love it. Wish them all the happiness in the world. It's the only time, if any, that we've seen her basically since the U.S. Open and the game shortly after that. And the endorsement. And that's going to be the second possible situation,

which is that over the course of last month, we had all the stuff in Vienna that caused her to cancel. and wait until after the London shows to even acknowledge it because she was trying to protect everybody, the crowd, her crew, herself. She then came out and made a fairly strong political endorsement in a moment of division in the country,

in a moment of pretty high boil, in a moment in which there's been some political violence. and, you know, we have seen through some of those New York experiences that she was out and living and that was great and there was a lot of security. I just think that behind the scenes, you don't know what these people live with every single day. And, you know, giving somebody the certainty that Taylor's going to show up at a specific moment in time and a specific location is not the sort of thing that security teams love. And so I, there is a part of me that thinks perhaps, you know, behind the scenes, there are, celebrities deal with death threats on an ongoing basis. Taylor Swift is the biggest star in the world must have credible death threat after credible death threat on a daily, if not multiple times a day basis. Like that's just probably part of her existence. And as we've talked about a lot on this podcast, it's part of her courage that she gets up in front of 70,000 people,

night in spite of that. But I also think, like, you don't need to tempt fate. And she always has her finger on the pulse. And there is a read on this that is like, hey, Kansas City, we know the situation. We know the security crew there. We know exactly what box we're going to be in. We've probably done everything that we can do to protect us there. Who knows what happens in Atlanta? We're not exactly, you know, we played six times at so-fi, but that doesn't necessarily mean that getting in and out of there is easy and why do that? Why draw the attention in this moment? That might be a part of it. The optimist in me thinks Taylor Swift is being Taylor fucking Swift. She is woodshedding, working like the manic, just obsessed, you know, workaholic that she is

trying to get reputation ready because she's going to go out on tour basically until her birthday, starting in a few weeks. And this is the last time that she's going to have, save for a few days in between that tour to actually get this thing done and out. And I think she's going to give it out as a birthday gift to the fan base before the end of the year. Whoa. We love a prediction. It can also, like, it can be both, right? It can be a little bit of both.

It can also, I'll just throw out another one. This has been an immensely public relationship. And I think that's been something that, a lot of people have found really wonderful. I think there's some joy in seeing her comfortable living in her own skin, living her life and going and doing all the things that she wants to do.

You've just outlined a couple of the reasons why that is simply incredibly hard. And if we're being honest, it's probably unsustainable. I think that's right. And... Yeah. It's probably not a coincidence.

She went out and did the U.S. Open and all the parting stuff right before. Then she did the endorsement and was like, okay, I'm going to go away for a little while. I'm going to step back. And I think, you know, I don't want to deny her any of the happiness of like being out and about

and having all her fun with Travis and that's great. Or to say that like she can't have that because it's all, it's all priorities. It's all what risk or inconvenience or anything you're willing to take. I just, you know, I find it hard to see how someone

that famous, someone who is just subject to that much scrutiny over time would be able to deal with that day and day out for a matter of like years. Right. And, you know, they've been together for a little over a year at this point. That's coincided with a period of time that's just been so, so, so, so, so huge for her. Yeah. I wouldn't find it shocking if she felt like, man, I'm saying. glad that we lived it up. That was an amazing experience. It's hard and it's cumbersome in certain ways.

Yeah. And I need to tone it down a little bit. I need to, I need to sort of reprioritize keeping some things in-house. Yeah. Not everybody has to see me drinking. What's the name of the drink of the U.S. Open? The honey deuce. Yeah. Not everybody needs to see me drink honey deuses all the time and it's probably taxing to be out and do all that stuff and they're having fun and by the way Travis is really focused on work right now too

this is a team trying to three Pete in the Super Bowl and you know we've seen Travis that team that team from an offense perspective I'm going to let you describe what's happening there that's your job best having a little bit of a girl at home go of things right about now but they're still great.

I mean, you know, they've won every game, they'll be fine. Yeah. It's okay. Don't worry about it. I just, I want to...

35-year-old tight ends, not a great track record, but that doesn't mean they can't be loving, supportive partners. Yeah. I still have this, like, I still have this vision that,

you know, we're going to get a little bit of a break and that these two, that maybe this is Travis's last season and Taylor's going to finally hang up the touring hat and maybe reputation comes out, by the end of the year and that buys her some cycle time and that the two of them can just sort of go off and be never can it be a normal couple but that they can maybe hide out and yeah we'll

seem a little bit here and there but that they can just have like a somewhat normal existence for the first time in the history of their relationship and that yeah that's that that's my wish for her is is a little bit of a return to normalcy because man it's got to be hard and and what we saw from chapel is is just a reminder that What is special about Taylor Swift is that she's actually able to manage it in its own way. But speaking of managing celebrity in its own way, we went through the whole Sabrina story without talking about what she said at MSG on Saturday night, which was acknowledging that perhaps she played a role in the downfall or the indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams,

and you have now written a piece on this that you published not long ago. So I want you to explain what on earth is going on. And did, in fact, Sabrina Carpenter's video in the church, naughty video in the church, lead to the indictment of the mayor of New York City? So I think the short answer is no. Oh, really? But I tried to trace down like where this came from. And it said, look.

What in tarnation? In the same way that every Eric Adams story reads like a madlib. And because that is true, it like in some ways it would be the least crazy thing about all of this if this were true. Here's what I think happened. As far as I can tell. So what we know is that last year, she films the

feather music video in part at this very historic church in Brooklyn and she'd gotten permission to film there she paid them

five grand which I can't tell if that seems like a lot or a little I'm pretty sure it seems like a little but that's fine that's neither here nor there

it's not so much that she paid to film in the church it's what was happening on film It was a digression on my part, just because, like, it's sort of one of those details that's been lodged in my brain. She goes, she films in the church. There's a lot of men who, like, sort of leer at her, and then they want her and they chase after her, but then they fight each other.

They fight to the death. They're all very bloody. And then they all, like, she puts them in pastel coffins and she is in lingerie and, like, dances around the coffins. And one of them says, RIP. and the Catholic Church wasn't thrilled about this. Yeah. On reflection, it's not a surprise that there was some objection to some of the content. Yeah.

And so there was one particular priest who was demoted and kind of put on suspension by the diocese because of this, because he was the one who'd given her permission. he said that he'd like Googled her and stuff. It didn't really seem like he had because he said that he thought it was going to be clean, which I don't know how much, I don't think you have to do that much Googling about Sabrina Carpenter to know that she keeps it a little bit raunchy.

But he gets demoted. And it's not totally clear what degree of investigation into this guy, the church or anyone else, launched after the fact. But it turns out that this particular, this guy, his name is Monsignor Jamie Gigantielo. And he turns out to be really good friends to their guy. Jay Jiggy, as I call him.

J. Jiggy. Jiggy and Eric Adams have known each other for a while. They are friends through this guy, Frank Corone, who's a longtime friend of J.J.J.Giggy. Jiggy and Frank Corone used to be Eric Adams as chief of staff. A while back, Jay Jiggy. I know, it really is a caper. Jay Jiggy and Frank Corone are subpoenaed by federal investigators for information about various, like, business dealings that they'd had with Eric Adams.

They're not like accused of doing anything wrong. Also, they don't come up in the actual Adams indictment. but the feds are like, hey, Jay Jiggy, hey, Frank Caron, like, we need to know what business you were getting into with Eric Adams. J.J.G.E., just like, maybe neither here nor there, but like, he's a bit of a wild guy. He sells like a pasta sauce. Awesome. And he's just like, he's posting a lot.

I don't know. It seems sort of like an interesting dude. But anyway, where this all comes back together is that as far as. as I can tell, Politico and the New York Post, both when they were reporting on the indictment, like very strongly implied that after the feather incident, the review of Jay Jiggy's decision to let Sabrina Carpenter kill some men and wear lingerie in the church, like broadened into a bigger investigation into his conduct. Okay.

It's unclear to me in either one of those reports where the feds got involved. And like neither one of those outlets has a great example of how that happened. And some of what the Post said to me was illegible in terms of the fact that they connected this statement that church officials gave them saying that they like couldn't comment on an ongoing investigation. and somehow to the New York Post that meant that it was both about the Sabrina Carpenter thing and the Eric Adams thing. I have read their reasoning like 50 times and I can't figure out

how those two things necessarily have anything to do with each other. And they also do later say that it just like implied that and you know, it's the New York Post so it's not like they take zero liberties. So this is how rumors get started. That said, great fucking rumor. And I love that she talked to

about it. Don't believe you. I'm all in on Sabrina Carpenter bringing down City Hall. I've, like, so first of all, she could, and maybe she will. By the way, can I do think, go ahead. No, I'm just going to tell you that she literally has a piece of merchandise that says camaraderie on it and then has the like, you know, phonetic spelling of it that if you read it, it says come right on me. It's fantastic. She's got great merch. My point is she's clever enough to bring down City Hall. That's for sure.

Even if unintentional. Totally. Totally. And I also, like, I am, okay, I am a petitioning team Carpenter for one more favor. What's that? Again, the first two, New York City again on a non-football night. That would be great. Please and thank you.

And also, like, bring back the nonsense outro just one time. now that the words subpoena and probe are like being invoked in news stories that have to do with her. It's just this is a rich text. The nonsense outro's not gone. There's a funny part in the show. Well, we won't spoil it. But, you know, if you're paying attention online. Yeah, you've seen.

You've seen. All right. Well, thank you for digging. Thank you for your journalistic integrity on that. I choose to maintain no integrity on this story and just believe that Sabrina Carpenter was the butterfly wings that created the sandstorm

that turned into the massive hurricane that brought down Eric Adams. You know what? I'm with you. I love it. All right. Nathan, go take a nap or like, I don't know. Say your Taylor Swift jet lag is a choice mantra 20 times into the mirror.

or something because you've been excellent. You've provided dispatches from multiple states, many time zones, and we appreciate it. This has been every single album. I'm Nora Princiotti. As always, he's Nathan Hubbard. Thank you to Kaya McMullen for producing this episode

and to you for listening. We'll talk to you next week. See y'all real soon.