Every Single Album - Daisy Chain Fields, Harry Styles's MSG Residency Begins, and Checking In With the Rest of the 1D Boys

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

Nora and Nathan check in with some of the major summer concert moments happening right now, including Olivia Rodrigo at Daisy Chain Fields (1:00) and Harry Styles beginning his 30-night residency at Madison Square Garden (21:44). Then they break down recent releases from the rest of the One Direction boys: Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn (52:16). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan HubbardProducer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca. Welcome to every single album. I'm Nora Pinciotti, and as always, I am joined by my pal Nathan Hubbard, the other daisy in the chain of this podcast.

Ethan, you would look great with a flower crown. How are you doing? I'm doing great. You want to hear with the text that I got from a guy roughly in my age demo from the festival? Absolutely. I was just trying to get a little boots on the ground report. Here's what he said. Festival is very polite.

Well done. Sort of place you leave your wallet and show up two hours later and it's still there with maybe more cash in it. I said, how are the sets? He goes, great. Doors had $30,000 in. Sort of showcases probably the first festival for many of these young girls. Endearing. Attentiveness.

No one passing out on whippets. That's the report from the ground. That is awesome. As discussed, a lot of nice young ladies went to Daisy Chainfields over the weekend, which by most accounts seems to have gone really fantastically well. And so we are going to spend some time talking about that today. We're also going to spend some time. Really what we're doing this episode is we're checking in on. two big names for us, who are Olivia Rodriguez and Harry

Stiles, who are both sort of like at these moments of live events in their summers and in what they're doing right now. Harry, of course, has started his 30 nights at Madison Square Garden, and I think that's going to give us a chance to just check in with each other on where we are with that album and what this show is looking like and the ways in which it seems to be changing for this big residency in New York City. And then checking in on the One Direction Boys in general has been something that we've meant to do for a bit. So hopefully we'll get to do a little bit of that as well.

But I do think that we should start with Olivia Rodriguez and Daisy Chainfields. I love that review. I think that's great. It sounds like people had a wonderful time. That is my kind of fun. I am enormously impressed with what transpired. I mean, I think here's a way. woman who put out what I think is the best like straight pop album of the year. Here is a woman who has been courageously political in a moment in time in which it's apparently difficult for artists to feel comfortable being so. And she gathered all of these legends, both new and iconic, and delivered a pretty significant cultural moment that by all accounts was pulled off without a hitch. And the reason that I am impressed with that, I mean, she picked the right partners.

There are, I mean, think about from Firefest all the way to Bonaroo, which has said they're going to take a year off after just getting pounded with weather and other challenges. It's hard to put on a festival. And the Bonaroo people are, some of the OGs are still working it. who've been there for as long as, you know, you can remember. Some of the people who went to Daisy Chain have been alive. And so it's really hard to get the logistics of a festival right. You've got to have security.

You've got to have the entrance right. You've got to make sure everybody's able to eat and drink and go to the bathroom in the right way. And just like the trash situation and training staff for how you're going to make the operations flow when people haven't walked those grounds before. It's hard to do in year one. Now, it helped. It sounds like that nobody was. passing out on Whippets and you had a very malleable.

Do you think they should put that on the poster for next year? Yeah, I mean, for sure. But I, and then when you add in the fact that she raised $20 million plus for charities that she cares about in the first year, I mean, this is, you know, I mean, I said this on socials, but like, this is what leadership looks like. I mean, she's really ascendant. And I'm hugely impressed with what she has pulled up. here. She really does feel ascendant. And I think there's been so many conversations that we've

had about Olivia that have always been grounded in this like, well, she's Olivia Rodriguez. Everything that she's put out album to album has been really strong. We've liked all of them. She seemed like she sort of had a little bit of the shadow of being like a phenom coming out of driver's license and coming out of the way that so many people discovered her. Like, it is a little bit of a tricky proposition for a young artist to figure out, okay, how do you sort of step out of that? I think she's been past that for a little bit now. But I think, like, we've always had these conversations that are so positive around

her and so impressed by her. And it's just been like, okay, so there was this, like, big ebb to the beginning of the career. And then she's been really solid and, like, where's the next one? And I just, this feels like a triumphant summer for her. And I think the album is really good. But like it's the album plus just like putting her stamp on culture and who she is and what she cares about that I think has made this feel like more than, yeah, she's really good. She does consistently good work.

The songs are catchy. she seems smart and cool. It built on that in a bigger way to me, I think, with this. Yeah, I'm going to give you a little bit of inside baseball on her, which is that she's changed managers twice in the last couple, let's just call it within the span of the last year. And I think currently she's technically without manager, and she did that festival technically without management, I think.

Now, she has been showing. Sheppard did at every stage of her career by all accounts by John Janick, who runs Interscope Records, who is like a legend and incredible and like one of the great artist champions in the business. And I think, you know, he's certainly played a role in her career. But I say all that because like she's driving a lot of the bus here. And at least that's what it looks like from afar. I have no inside information. But like if you're changing managers twice and then all of this is still being pulled off, like, you. you have good instincts, you're making really good choices. And so she, it's even more impressive that this all happened when she's still looking for the right people to be fully on the team with her. It's fascinating. And it pushes her more, even more towards the sort of Taylor Swift piece, which is to say she seems to be an amazing artist who also has these great instincts for business and culture.

as opposed to just somebody who's showing up making music. I mean, it really, having Chapel Rhone open and having Stevie Nix and Alanis and come out and perform with you is pretty special. Where do you want to, is there a performance that you want to start with? I want to hear yours because it's not like I watched this thing was like, oh my God, that's an all-timer for me. personally. For me, it was more about the moment and the positive energy and artists coming together,

Sarah McLaughlin, obviously getting the rightful acknowledgement of somebody who, through Lilith Fair created a lot of the sentiment behind this thing. But, you know, what's the way to say it? I mean, it's almost like, I had lunch with a manager today who said he went. to see Olivia Dean. And he brought his significant other. And his significant other was like, why is this working? And his answer was just like, look,

like the world needs some positivity right now that doesn't take a whole lot of work to access. And that's what this event felt like to me. It just was like easy and positive. And I mean, you've been on site for all things go, which had some of that same energy, right, at the festival, which is like nobody's getting in a fight. You don't have to worry about what, like, it's just, like, positive community with

purpose. And I think that's what it was about, but I'm interested to know if there's something you saw. I mean, look, we got to talk about the chapel stuff for sure. But what grabbed you? And we've seen Stevie perform landslide before with many of the greats, right? She's come out with Harry. She's come out. She's like, this is a song that everyone wants to sing. It's almost like a write of passage. You need to have that as a checkmark on your resume. I mean, she's so generous, Stevie. She's so generous with her time and her attention. It's not, this particular instance doesn't make me think that

because if I were in her position, I would definitely want to be a part of this, but just you listing all the different ways in which, you know, everybody invokes like this great relationship that they seem to have with Stevie Nix. What moved you from a performance perspective? I think, I mean, the first one I think is Chapel. Just because she's been under the radar, we don't totally, you know, she's,

we don't totally know what her next steps are going to be and when she might be back more around. And I think there was something about just like watching a Chapel Roan performance and one that it seemed like she was so therefore and committed to and just like, eating up the moment of it. And she said afterwards, like, this kind of reignited, a love of performing. I felt like even just as me consuming this through clips,

you could feel a bit of that. And you could see it in the crowd, too, when she's doing hot to go. And, like, everybody is just sort of going crazy. Like that, there was, it had been a moment since I stopped and thought about what it looks like and sounds like and seems to feel like. when that person, that artist, is like really on fire in front of a crowd.

And I thought that was cool for that to just sort of reenter a little bit. Chapel's that, she's that one. And it sets up for me, this second album is going to be one of the most watched and most fascinating second albums of all time. And I know that she had something that sort of was, you know, she got fired by Warner. But like this is really going to be the second. album. And I don't know that there's much historical precedent for it, right? I mean,

Alanis Morissette probably is the best cop. But, like, Lauren Hill, I don't know, she'd won a ton of Grammys and she had been, you know, obviously in Fuji, so it wasn't so much that. This is just, this is going to be a massive second album that is either going to like establish her as like an all-timer, or, you know, it could be an Alanis moment, which is to say, like, I thought the second Atlanta's album was good, but like there's a great ringer documentary about how hard it is to just follow up that moment

of incredible superstardom. And, I mean, Chappell made a no-skip album. She just did in Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and it has translated live. I think as well as any album that's come out in the last four years. Like, it is just the way that it moves crap, is unbelievable. And that, yeah, here she comes out with the Bob and she's still chapel and she's still

firing on every single cylinder. And, you know, hot to go is YMCA for this generation it is. And that is saying something. Yeah. Well, and I hope it did, I mean, I hope it did kind of remind her also what that energy. is like and how cool it is and how special it is because she's obviously had a fluctuating relationship with her own stardom. Yeah. And so it just seemed like such a positive, it just seemed like such a positive thing. I mean, the whole thing seemed like such a positive thing. You know,

they raised a lot of money. As you said, everybody's having a good time, having good clean fun. Melinda French Gates coming to the table with, you know, what I think was a major gift. So I just, it's just so great to see, you know, we're in at this moment in time where there's a lot of talk about ticket prices and artists taking, you know, demand out of the market and all that stuff. And it just, this just felt like everything that is good about live music. And again, I, I don't know that anybody really understands how difficult logistically this was to pull off. And so it's just very, very impressive that it was handled in the way that it was. Yeah, I mean, you think of all the horror stories you hear. about various things where it's, you know, crowd control and, I mean, I think the weather was I think it was very hot.

It was really hot. No, it has been brutal in Los Angeles, like brutal in Los Angeles. And I know lots of the performers were you know, making jokes or just actually issuing sincere reminders to stay hydrated and cool off if you needed to.

But like it seems like they took care of people and people took care of each other. And I think that's really lovely. I mean, I would say the other thing that stuck out to me in terms of the non-Olivia people was like the fact that she got so much buy-in from like having Sarah McLaughlin there and kind of like making it a thing that feels like it's in the legacy of Lilith Fair and having Alanis come out and having like, you know, putting bikini kill in front of the audience that's sort of like there for her. All of that felt really cool. And it felt like

it felt like a co-sign of what Olivia is doing in a way that I think is really awesome for her. But I also think that there's so, it's so often I feel like we see kind of intergenerational warfare and people are like yelling at each other about our version was better. This version is better. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm going to repeat myself that. that just felt like it wasn't present. That was another thing that just felt really wonderful and positive about the whole thing. And then, yeah, just the third takeaway for me is what I said before about, like, I feel like I'll remember the image of her standing on the headliner stage,

kind of talking to the crowd, and, you know, whether it was when she brought out Alanis, when it was when she brought out Melinda French Gates to talk about the fact that they would raise around $20 million. Like, I just will kind of remember that vignette of Olivia Rodriguez as a point in her career and just in sort of her presence in the public eye where it felt like there was a leveling up going on. Yeah, it's interesting you say that. I mean, I agree.

And that that was the ascendance part of it. She still comes off as almost awkwardly uncomfortable and, humble in the way that she speaks to crowds. Like, she doesn't carry herself with as much confidence as I feel like she has earned. And that may just be that I miss it. Am I wrong about that? Like, I just, I think, I don't know, she sometimes has a, I'm slightly embarrassed to be the subject of your worship vibe to the way that she speaks.

It's endearing. Yeah. But like she could carry herself. I'm not asking her to carry herself a different way. It's not so, oh my God, me, who me? Could it possibly be meeting? No, it's very genuine. It's very genuine.

It's like she has so much more gravitas than I think she seems to give herself credit for in those conversations. And some of it was like, you know, she almost was like embarrassly reading how much money she had raised. And some of it was, I think she was overwhelmed emotion. like she got really teary as she was talking about that and I think they're you know she as she put out on social afterwards like she definitely this was like a career highlight for her and so I think there was probably just a lot of emotion around it but I mean oh my gosh if ever there was a moment to like

pound your chest a little bit this was it and and still she didn't and um there is again something super endearing about that she doesn't have the I'm a star like you walk in a room and you can Miss Olivia Rodrigo, if she's standing in a bar. It's true. She doesn't have the, like, aura that circles around some of these super famous people. And I think, I think that's some of the reason I have come to believe that's part of the reason why people love her is because she still has a part of her that is just the normal, she's just a normal young woman. I was in a, did I say this at some other point? Stop me if I did.

I probably did. But I was in an exercise class a week or two. two ago and someone played Ballad of a Homeschool Girl. And it just like really hit. And I've been listening to that song a lot lately. And, you know, lest we forget, that's part of the perspective that she comes from. I also think that I think I like that she, you know, even though she does it and in this case she absolutely should do it, I like that she gets a little uncomfortable talking about

the commerce of it all. Like, this is absolutely the right place for someone in her position to be putting their energy. And it's still, like, even when she's, even when she's making an announcement that they've raised all of this money for charity, like, there is something about her where she's like, this is so weird. Like, I'm inviting Melinda French Gates up on stage to talk about $20 million, like, I write songs. And I kind of, there's something about her that clearly she's so smart that she, is going to do these things and she knows how to do these things and she knows how to like pull off

the logistics of the event and work with people and work with the right people and also I hope like has sort of stays a little bit grounded in this is not writing songs in my room and I don't know I find that to come through

in a way that's very real from her so I just was totally charmed by the whole thing I didn't really know that it was possible as it approached, but in arrears, this was, as you said, a major leveling up moment for a Leverie Rodrigo, like an ascendant thing. And I'm actually interested to watch the streaming over the next couple weeks just to see if people come back to and re-engage with an album that has gotten a shitload of streaming, but deservedly so. If some potential new demos, in particular, slightly older than the young women who originally

sort of brought her to the forefront pay attention because she just got co-signed by some of the champions of the 35 to 55 or really even 35 to 75 year old demo. Yeah. I also by the way,

I quite like Serena Joy, which was sort of a bonus track that she released in conjunction with the festival. I think it's really fun. Yeah, I get why it's not on the album because it sounds different. But I like it too.

Yeah. It's good stuff. Very positive Olivia week. That is for sure. Okay. Elsewhere in live events. A British man wearing a tie has taken up residency at my local music in sports hall for quite some time. MSG, the home of the champion Nix.

And they also do weddings. And they also do weddings, he said. Madison Square Garden. Home of the world champion New York X. And they also do weddings. All time much. Cheegy, Harry. It's so good.

It's so funny. It's so funny. I mean, what was the other, he said, what was the other thing that he did, not this past weekend, but a few weeks ago? earlier this summer he made some joke on stage about Taylor well there was some sort of wedding reference yeah and so I don't know look not to get all philosophical about it

but one of the things that I'm I was struck by watching the clips from this past weekend is how difficult it is to hold attention for 30 dates and how difficult it is to make everybody feel like you're getting something special on that night. And, you know, one of the things that came out of the 1975 tour that came out of the Erez tour

is like you're not just playing to the crowd every night. You're playing to the people at home. And so ostensibly, if Harry got up there and played the same set every night for 30 nights at MSG, like after the first couple, we'd see nothing online. He has to, in an authentic way, inject something almost every night, right? And going there, he walked all the way up from Brooklyn. Kind of cool, you know? The little subtle thing. I'm not saying that it was like for the viral thing, but like he needs to change the set list as he did. It's very funny. It's hilarious. And, but he changed the set list coming out of the gate and, and put some new songs in the mix. I am reminded after this week where you and I went back and revisited the Nile and the Louie and the

Zane most recent music, that he has not. not been playing One Direction stuff. And that was a big part of the last tour. And so I wonder if on this 30 date stand, there'll be a night or two where he surprises us with these things. I just think it's harder than we understand to hold attention for 30 nights. And I appreciate that he is willing to inject his own sense of humor into this and keep it light.

It's very funny. Yeah, I mean, I think the reworked set list is really exciting. I think seeing him do some songs like, you know, Disco Kiwi is really, really cool. Yeah. I don't know, you know, it's hard to know how much of this would be different if we were in Europe. And even if we, or in Mexico City or somewhere where he's been, even not specifically where he's been on prior stops on this tour set. of residencies, whatever we're calling it. I have felt like since this started in my feeds, all of a sudden it's like back. He's been doing shows other than a couple moments. I haven't

seen a ton of it. And then all of a sudden over the weekend, it was like, oh, hairy everywhere. Yeah, that's what I, I mean, I saw too. And it's going in the right way. Like, as we talked about at the start of this. Ticket prices are in the secondary market are coming down. You can get in at a reasonable price, you know, towards the end. So people who are coming last minute are not having to pay an arm and a leg. And that was the point of this. Like, everybody was up in arms, but the point of this was actually to give people an opportunity to see this. Yes, you have to travel to do it. And I was on a flight from L.A. to New York that got diverted to Boston. And there were five young women on that flight having a panic attack on Thursday that they were going to miss

the show. They eventually got to New York and they went to the show and so it's all good. But yes, you know, you had to eat a plane ticket, but I think you also are going to get something that's special and unique and the band and Harry at their best in a moment of comfort. And so I think it looks to me from afar, like just as they have for the entirety of his solo career, he has been well managed. He has made great decisions. And I think it's a really special event. I mean, I would not be surprised if in a couple of weeks there actually are people who are feeling the FOMO and migrating to New York and being like, man, why wouldn't I go to New York in September and October and go see this Harry show? Because it's, I'm with you. It's starting to light up social.

And I think he's going to have some more surprises. I know nothing. But like I expect that he will keep it fresh so that everybody who comes out doesn't feel like, well, Wednesday and Sunday nights were just kind of totally interchangeable. There's going to be something unique and different each night. And that doesn't mean that you go to 12 of them, although I'm sure some people will. But it just means that you know you're not just going to see a Broadway show. You're seeing something that is fresh and vibrant and that feels in the moment. Or at least that there's, like, I don't think that he has to do something different every single show or have a special show. Or have a special surprise every single show.

I'm with you. I agree that, like, I feel like he will definitely have some things up his sleeve. And the trick is reaching a critical mass of shows where something exciting happens such that you feel like any show could have, like, some cool, crazy thing happen. And then I think if it doesn't, like, the show is still good enough that people aren't going to be like, well, man, why did I go to that? Yeah. But to your point, like, I do wonder if there is a little bit of risk in how long this is.

Because I, like, I'm seeing them now. But when he was abroad, I wasn't seeing this everywhere. And I don't know if that's good or bad because, like, I don't know if I'm, if I'm, you saw a lot of it. Okay. I saw some of it. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I hear you.

You think the risk is... As you said, it's a long time to keep people's attention. But doesn't he just look like hairy fucking styles on stage right now? Yes. Yes. Like, he's so damn handsome and charming. And, like, he's dancing as well. Like, it...

There was a criticism I read somewhere the first night that, like, vocally he hadn't totally gone for it or something. But I thought he was... I mean, he sounds great. He looks great. Like, fuck, yeah, man. These hairy fucking styles. Nobody since the last album has been able to come for the crown.

And he's distancing himself from any other male star. And that's evident from the daisy chain thing. It's like there are lots of potentially big stars on that side of the ledger. It's only Harry right now, as far as I can see. So I totally agree with you that, like, he looks like Harry. I think the show looks really cool. I think the stage is awesome. I think the way that they're leaning into the DJ sets and just that whole vibe to it,

it looks really, really fun. It looks like a great place to just, like, go and have a ball and dance and just be part of that crowd. I'm really excited to be there towards the end. I'm going in October. I do think that there is a difference, like, yes, no one has come for the crown. I think that is in part because, like, at least in my opinion, the challengers haven't been that exciting. Yeah, that's true.

And this is not me. Like, I think the show looks really cool. I like the album. I continue to listen to the album. I do think that there is, like, a, I don't know. He used to feel like he had a. force field around him to me where it was just like Harry Styles is made of magic

stardust and he is the you know the he is the male pop star and that's sort of like an impenetrable thing I don't feel like the conversation around him is as positive as it used to be and I don't feel like he is as

I'm not sure he feels as big as he used to like there is something where he has started to feel like he's in a slightly different zone to me. And I think that is what I'm responding to in asking, if he's coming from a place of slightly diminished powers, is asking yourself to keep people's attention for 30 days of shows over the course of several months? Is that like a, is that a high bar to set for yourself? And I think the answer to that. Like, I'm not saying I don't think that he can pull it off. I just, like, I have a little bit of, I'm just sensing myself being a little bit like, hmm, I hope this goes

well in a way that feels a bit surprising to me, given who we're talking about here. Man, I'm just not worried about it. I think you got paparazzi following him walking from Brooklyn to MSG, like he's still Harry Styles. And I don't know. I mean, some of that, I don't know, what have you seen that makes you feel like it's not all positive? Like is there, what's the blowback on Harry that you've seen? Maybe I'm still like coming a little bit from the reception to that, to that album not ever like really taking off. Yeah, I just think that it, I agree that it's not like the biggest thing since sliced bread, but there's nothing about it that it's not like that was like the Katie Perry album. Like it continues.

continued to add to the lore of him as a highly credible solo artist that does interesting things, even if people didn't latch on and freak out over a watermelon sugar. I don't think anybody who listened to that album was like, well, this could have been done. But it still felt like a Harry Styles album. It felt left of center to me, which is the parts of it that I loved. I just like, I love, it did nothing to diminish the credibility of him as a solo artist. and if anything to me, it only added to it, because I think he made the album that he wanted to make.

He couldn't repeat an album that won album of the year. And so he just sort of pushed further into the forest. And I love that about him. But if that means that temporarily, you think it takes some of the shine off his star? I think it changes his scale a little bit. I really liked the album. I do think that like...

30 sold out dates at MSG. We're splitting hairs here. Harry Styles is going to be absolutely fine. I just, like, I'll give you one example. I was chit-chatting with, like, the group of people that I'm going to the show with. And a couple people were like, oh, yeah, so excited. And like, these are fans of Harry Seiles. We're like, oh, yeah, so excited.

Like, can't wait. I've still got to listen to that whole album. Yeah. And that was a little surprising to me. Like, it just feels like, it just feels like. little different, not in a way that, like, he is the reigning king. No one has, no one has come close. No one is in the same zone at all. And I think the work that he's doing is cool. I think it's interesting. I really like it. I think it looks really good on stage. I'm just interested in this

moment as a person whose star is still extremely high, but seems a little bit diminished. to me, taking on, by the way, entirely possibly by choice, right? Like, a lot of what I felt from that album was, here we have this guy feeling a little bit ambivalent about the idea that, like, he's going to share things with this audience and that he's going to, like, just completely give everything all the time. And maybe he would like to pull some of that back in. And if he's very effectively done so, if that's the case, I'm just interested in that point on the curve as one from which to take on this very ambitious 30 shows. I think of it a little bit like Dua, which is to say, like, Dua's album was fine.

It didn't have, it didn't feel like it had any smashes. But if she took that thing out on the road, she came out of that tour as big or bigger of a star as she was. And some of that was the sort of relationship stuff. Some of it is just that she's like so articulate and thoughtful and cultured in the book club and all that stuff that she does that I think she just presents so well. I suspect that when your friends leave that arena, they're going to think differently. And you too. I think you're going to think differently about that album than when you go in because I think they seem to be managing to turn MSG into a clurb.

Yeah, it does look like the clurb. And I think it's going to feel differently. You're going to feel differently about the songs when you come out. And that's what I meant because I think people came out of the duo shows feeling differently about some of those songs when they'd seen them perform live. Just like they did. The Gaga album is probably also a comparison, which is that people came out of there. Like the songs held up live.

They worked with the aesthetic. And when you saw the full experience with the visuals, you sort of understood it better. And that's my guess. Well, now there's been this whole thing just because you brought up my girl, Doolipa. Like, training season, all of a sudden at the end of the summer has, like, had this whole resurgence. Yeah. And I get it. It's, you know, it's late August.

People want to. So is the one that got away. Thank you, TikTok. for all of the wonderful things you bestow upon pop songs by giving them a second life. I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm so happy to commune with Dulea in any way and certainly during the summertime. And so I've just been very happy to see that.

And you gave me an excuse to bring it up. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join the... thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca.

There was a New York Times piece just about the residency of it all and like whether or not it is a model that is just going to become more and more ubiquitous and also sort of like what the pros and cons are for fans. What do you like I'm just curious what your thoughts are? I think it's not for everyone, but I think it, I think there's a very real argument to be made that it allows an artist to make a home and to show up as their best self every day. And to reduce the cost of touring and that the incremental cost of fan travel is offset by taking a lot of the or by flooding the market with supply, which out of the gates did a bunch of brokers buy up the tickets? Yeah. And I think they did, you know, they did everything they could to get tickets into the hands of fans,

but invariably brokers capture some stuff and that's what's in the secondary market. But it doesn't look to me like brokers are making a killing right now. in fact it looks to me like if you are coming in and you're in the city like in the last few hours that you can get in at a benchmarking to other shows that you can get in at a fairly reasonable price

and I think that that was premeditated and thought about by the camp and I think it's super smart and I like it as a model I really do look more macro level I have a sense that over the course of the next couple of years. The venue is going to continue to become the canvas, part of the canvas of the show.

That's what we've seen at the sphere. That's what we're starting to see with these residences is you can put in technology and lights and that sit there and that you don't have to disassemble every night and travel with. So it just opens up more opportunities to earn the ticket price that you charge and to deliver and over deliver and delight the fan. and create an amazing experience. And I think that is at the core what this decision to tour was about. It wasn't, hey, how do I go out

and make the most money possible touring? There are other ways that Harry Styles could have done that. No way. This was, how do I present myself in the best possible way every night for a global fan base and put on the best show possible? I really think that's what this was. So I'm really interested in it as a model.

I feel for the kids in Topeka, who have to get on a plane and come. And I get that, but it's also like... Well, and also, like... Harry wouldn't come to Topeka. So you're going to have to go somewhere because he's a non-scalable resource. Yeah.

Yeah, no, I don't, I don't fault... I don't fault the artists for choosing it. I think there are some real upsides. I also think of so many... I mean, so many horror stories of artists who, you know, struggled mentally, struggled with addiction. And I feel like a lot of them you hear, like, oh, it was particularly bad on the road. Always.

Because it's sort of like it's this, it's not a normal way to live, right? It's not a normal life environment. And like you can see how that can be difficult for people and not healthy for people in so many different ways. I think the thing that it's like, it's the feeling for the kid in Topeka, not just because, okay, yes, you have to get on a plane, you have to have the money to get on a plane and have a place to stay and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

It's also just like, I think the one thing that, I don't know, I don't know what the fix is, but the further delineation of where certain parts of culture can exist and can thrive and like where they can't, there's a little bit of a two Americas to that that is maybe inevitable, but I think is a little bit of,

a little bit sad, like this implicit idea that these things can only exist in L.A. and New York, and like they're not part, or he's not going L.A., but like they're not part of the cultural fabric of other places. I wish that didn't feel like it had to come hand in hand with all of this.

Would you feel differently if he'd posted up but at the arena in Oklahoma City? Yeah, I think, like, yes. If he'd done 30 dates in Oklahoma City instead of New York, would you have felt differently about it? I mean, I think. Honestly, yeah. I mean, but that would be sort of crazy.

Yeah, I mean, the other thing about New York is that it has the infrastructure to, I mean, there's, it has the infrastructure to host that many people coming in from out of town when there's parallel events happening. Right, because you can get a direct flight from most places. If you're in Oklahoma City, all of a sudden, and everybody's traveling to Oklahoma City, like, that is much more cumbersome. The place doesn't have the infrastructure for it. So, like, that's not what I'm – I think that's sort of why I acknowledge I'm not sure what the fix to that is, or if there really is one in the modern events environment. I do – I mourn a little bit the idea that anybody has – like, not just could have access, but could feel like where they're –

from gets to be part of this thing. Yeah. Well, you know, Morgan Wallen doesn't come to every big market in the U.S. So there's the inverse. There's the inverse side of that too. I mean, he's playing a couple stadium shows a year. The measuring stick for me is real fan accounts on social media who are coming out of this show. I have not seen one person be like, well, that wasn't fucking worth it. Yeah. Like they're coming out delighted. And nobody's like, geez, I wish I hadn't flown and to go see the show.

They're coming out ecstatic that they got close and that they feel like they got an experience that was worthwhile. So to me, that's the measuring stick. The travel element of it, if you do have the resources and, you know, the time and people who want to do it, like, when all those things, things come together, I think those can be some of the most magical live events experiences that a person can have, right? Because you're like, you're really making it a special thing. And so, like, that can be awesome. It just, it, there are just, there are a lot of tradeoffs. It's also, you know, a pilgrimage of sorts that you can do those five young women on the, on my flight were traveling to go see it together. And that's kind of the point that Harry's

been stressing is there's a togetherness to it and a community and a celebration. And again, listen, anytime you set up a thing like this where you ask the fan, you introduce friction to the fan that they have to manage, you better deliver the experience. And the Erez Tour did that. This tour is definitely doing that based on the feedback that's coming out of it. People who go see the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere are coming out. happy, right? I mean, it's incumbent on the artist to deliver that. And if you don't, the great thing about this era of open communication is that fans are going to speak the truth, and you're going to get waxed for it. And you're going to deserve that. But it is perpetually upping the bar. And so I think people are watching very closely how this goes. It's not for everyone,

because, again, you have to be one of the brightest and highest stars in the sky to get people to actually travel and do it. But as you said, it is also a very, very stressful thing for an artist to go out on tour as much as it looks glamorous. Like I can just tell you, man, I saw an artist who had played a major city and the next night, two nights later, they were playing in a very rural part of America. and to get up there after the, all of the just chemicals in their body firing on all cylinders, all the dopamine hits of being in the big city under the big bright lights to then go out

and really have to convince those folks that they were just as excited to be there as they had been a few nights. Like that was work, man. And they were exhausted, but got up and put on a killer shift. like that's a lot of work. And I just think that we're in this era where fans have really high expectations and artists want to deliver on that.

And in some cases, the best way to do that is to not make everybody 50 trucks literally pack up the stuff the night before, move it and reset it up in a city that you can deliver a more consistent experience that meets that bar if we, you know, pitch a tent and stay a while. Yeah. And I guess it's also like worth saying that not everybody does this, right? But it is, it's the superstars who more and more, I think, use this model and are going to use this model. And I think people can take some personal responsibility too, right, for like, I'm sure there are, there are shows in everybody's area. It might not be Harry Styles. It might not be Taylor Swift, right? But like, I don't know.

I just, I like the idea of their. being some amount of vibrancy around like arts and culture and music and live performance everywhere. And I think it ends up having to be a two-way street of like, go see a band that's performing it at wherever's local to you that maybe you're not already obsessed with, but you'll get something out of that. I'm most interested in where we go from here with the venue itself. Because we have these stadiums and these arenas that are purpose built for sports. what does a world look like in which we're more about the sphere than we are about,

hey, how do we fit into the basketball owner's arena and try to make a show out of that? What would you actually do? If you think about the art direction that happens inside right now, you're going to see Casey Musgraves and the sparkly genitalia. Think about if... Disco balls! Yeah. Why can't they make the...

plane out of the entire plane out of the black box like it's the same thing we can we make the entire arena purpose built for something music and that is part of the art itself i think that's where we're headed and um how that manifests itself in geographic location i don't know but um but the the intermingling now of music and the visual component being really inseparable both in short and long form is going to create sort of a really interesting future of touring and Harry in doing this residency, I think, is the furthest down that path, but we are in the beginning of the beginning of the beginning.

There was a Hits Daily Double report that, or just, you know, sharing of a rumor, I suppose, that he might do a stadium thing next summer that caught my eye. I thought that was an interesting, I just thought that was an interesting proposition coming from this. That's all I get from you is. Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, yeah. One of the things that could be cool about this residency thing is if it does, you know, allow him to conserve energy, maybe, who knows? I don't know. I mean, he can do whatever he wants to do from here. He's hairy fucking styles. That's kind of my point. Interesting.

Watch this space. The other thing that I can't believe that I didn't mention at the top of this is our friend Miley Cyrus, friend of the pod, is now a mononym. She's just going by Miley now. Yeah, she's going by Miley and she's announced a couple shows at the Hollywood Bowl. Yes. That's cool. Which is super cool and super exciting because anything that gets Miley Cyrus closer to playing shows,

I am all in favor of. So it's going to be pretty cool. Yeah. So she has an album on the way coming out, September 18th. It is called Bass Persuades. I think the title is very cool. Yeah. I think the visuals around this album are going to be pretty cool, too.

She's, this is going to be another. I think the last album was a thing to be taken together, right? It was an album. Yes. And then this is an artist who, at times has been more singles than albums. And I think, yeah, I'm excited to hear it. I'm excited as well.

I just wanted to make sure that we didn't miss that news. I just, I really can't stop saying in my head and out loud, bass persuades. So watch this space. I'm sure we'll have more to say about that. It's like Bobby. Bobby! Bavy, Bays Persuades. It's really, it's just, it's two words that you say as one continuous word.

It's a good album title. Okay. So before there was like all of this news and all of this happening, we had envisioned spending more of our time today, just doing a little like one direction check-in. Something in particular that I know we have not been able to spend. spend as much time as we want to on is dinner party by Nile Horan, the album that came out in June, which I quite like. There have just been so many, like, the releases have come fast and furious, and I was out for a long time, and we kind of, like, didn't have the moment, and then it passed, and now here we are in September. But is there anything that you, like, talk to me about where you are with this record.

I like it Every time I hear a Nile album I'm just happy to hear it I thought I mean from this in particular Was there anything like San Francisco That grabbed me by the throat I mean I don't know

Boys Are Fun is pretty awesome I love that song Yeah And I assume end of an era Is his Liam song I'm not sure Yeah But he just

There's not It's just not never hard to hear the Nile song. I will say this. Like, so this is a, like, Julian Bonetta and John Ryan work across this whole album. Yes. I still feel like. Which, like, continues the, continues something that we've talked about with him many times is like, Nile is carrying the torch for the band.

Well, he is, except I think, if you ask me, I actually think that the Louis Tomlinson album sounds more like what I would have expected the direction of one direction to be at this point in time. Nile has his own acoustic... He's got sort of his own wing,

and I like it. I appreciate it. Like a Nile album sounds like all the other... It sounds like a Nile album. Yeah, yeah, stylistically. And that doesn't mean it's repetitive at all. I just mean like, I value that he is an artist in a lane,

not just pouring himself into, you know, whatever direction pop music is going in at the moment. And I think, look, I think it works to his credit. And I think sometimes, like, I like this album quite a bit. And I like the single, I like Tastes So Good. I think that's a fun song. I think it's catchy. Sometimes with that, like, particularly when I just heard that,

I had a little bit of this, like, you know, yeah, this sounds really nice. He's so winning. I've heard Nile'll do this before. And, like, I think there is an undeniable element of that. But it's so... Yeah. It's so pleasant. That's what it is.

But it's also, like, it's cheery. Like, it's cheery to its core in a way that's not at all grading. Like, he just... There's something about this, like, this guy who... He just seems like he's happy. Like, he just seems like a good... dude. And I don't know. Maybe that's like not a high enough bar to ask of someone who is really genuinely very talented. But there's the thing that I always find myself kind of relishing when I

listen to his music is just like, wow, it's a little bit like the Daisy Chainfields thing. It's like this is so nice. It's just like a nice young person seeming like he's having a good time and enjoying his life. Yeah. I, there's a few moments across the album. There's there's a moment in which I got a little worried that he was trying to do the role model song and there's a few things here and there. But like I, yeah, I think the question for me, it's like the Taylor Swift question. Why isn't Charlie Puth a bigger artist? Why isn't Nile Horan a bigger artist? Like, does it coming out of a boy band situation like this, does it always have to just be Justin Timberlake or Harry Sondi?

styles, or is there space for sort of multiple artists to be successful? That's the part for me that maybe he just, some of it is he just doesn't make music that is, because he's in his lane, it's, it's, I mean, and I think this album got decent reviews, all things considered. It actually got quite good reviews. Yeah. I don't know that it was like widely consumed or like penetrated culture in a significant way. But I actually think it. Like critically, I think it was very well received. I think he carries on the positivity of the 1D moment or movement. And that that's why the audience will always be there for him.

Is he going to be an arena act around the world? Probably not. But the music is good. And I value that he continues to put out stuff that feels, I don't know. To your point, it feels pleasant. Well, he's the least, he's the least sort of tortured by the history of being in the band. And even just the fact that, like, yeah, he likes to reflect on it. Even the fact that he, you know, and working closely with those guys can write a song that is explicitly about Liam and put it on the album to close the album.

Like, I think he just is kind of comfortable in front of people talking about the other guys and talking about what that experience in its highs and in its very lows for all of them has been that like, I don't know. I think you see the other ones and this goes for Harry too, maybe even Harry most of all, kind of wrestling. with like how much do I want to talk about it? How much do I want to make it a, you know, part of my front facing self? How much am I sort of a bit wounded by the idea that like so much of privacy and childhood kind of got taken by, like, I think you just see them grapple with it in a way that you don't really see, you just sort of see Nile be like, this is what it is and, you know, here's what I think about it. And that. in and of itself, I think gives him a particular quality.

Feels like Tastes So Good is the biggest song on the album. Yeah. Dinner Party is the biggest song on the album, but... Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, I would have said, I would have guessed Tastes So Good. That's interesting. Yeah, Dinner Party is streaming the most of the songs on the album. Yeah, I think Tastes So Good is second.

But Boys Are Fun is punching above its weight. Look, these are all, like, in the aggregate, you know, streaming on Spotify, whatever, 10 to 15 million a day, Taseo Goods streaming 30 million a day, dinner party streaming 40 million or 40,000, excuse me, 30,000, 40,000 a day. I was like, wait a second. Yeah, yeah, no, no, but the reason that that matters is like, this town, slow hands are billion plus streaming songs that still, to this day, are streaming in the hundreds, couple hundred thousand. So it's just a question of like how vibrant is the audience on an ongoing basis. But he continues to make music that I got to believe these people enjoy. Yeah, and he's touring.

He's going to start touring towards the end of September in Europe. And then he doesn't get to the U.S. until it looks like next March. But he is going to be, I'll tell you. who might be in Toledo. Me? No, Nile. I know. He's playing a lot of venues.

He's playing a lot of venues. He's playing a lot of venues. Somebody tell me how San Francisco is his 37th most stream song. San Francisco fucking rules. It's not for lack of trying from this podcast. Come on, people. Get with a program.

Well, maybe it would be nice to see some of these songs get a little bit more traction when he takes this album on the road, which they very well may. I think historically that has been a good, like not in a have things pop off so that there are huge, huge mega hits. Like I don't think that's what we're dealing with here,

but when he has toured in the past, I think people have really liked those shows. There's been like a cool cohort around him and maybe it'll help boost some of that even more because I like it. I think it's a good album. Yeah, he goes out and he's willing to play the, amphitheaters and the sheds. And like we talk about it.

Nile Horn goes out and does the work. So he's going to play, listen, when he comes back, he's playing United Center. He's playing the arena in Columbus. He's playing the place where the Pistons play in Detroit. Like, he's playing Barclay Center in Brooklyn. He's playing Barclay Center. Yeah. He's playing

TV Garden in Boston. So these are not... It's a mix and there's some big venues. I'm into it. All right. Are you into the Louis album? Oh. Well, maybe that was a little bit revealing. I liked it when I heard it. I can't say that I... It was better than I thought. Yeah. I can't say that it's something that I feel like I've really dug into all that much. But I had a positive first reaction to it. It's called How Did I Get Here? Yeah. I thought this... I mean, again, I think it feels like there's maybe a Liam song called Dark to Light on there.

that palaces is is the song from that album that to me feels like the most one directiony song and just contrasting the two albums i was like okay now kind of picked elaine louis seems to be carrying on a little bit more of one d legacy even though these are not the same producers and it's different people it just sounds a little more one directiony poppy to me yeah um but easy on the ears, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I think, like, yeah,

it does seem like he's pulled back more towards that type of sound and a little bit more of a brighter thing. And a little bit, I mean, it's still a lot of, like, electronic and, and those touches. But he does feel like he's going a little bit back in a more mainstream poppy direction. and I think I'm looking a little bit for, I don't know, I guess the why in that, like what these choices mean to him.

But this is one that I need to spend more time with for sure. Yeah, it's not, it hasn't really pierced true the narrative around what this is and why. It was also, it was also a while ago, too. Yeah. We're talking about the first singles came out almost a year ago. So it's been a while for this one. Album came out at the beginning of the year. I don't know.

I think it does, even if I don't totally understand. what it means for him musically. Like, there's also a brighter quality to some of these songs for him, too. And I just,

I just want these guys to be okay. It's like, a lot of where this comes from. Kind of. Maybe not with... It's going to sound awful. I was going to say, maybe not with Harry,

which is not at all to suggest that I don't want Harry to be okay. I think just because he is a different scope of star and scale of artist that I think about it a little bit differently. but they've been through a lot

and as we know the boy band the sort of like the ex-boy band trajectory is not always an easy path to walk. Did the Zane single move you at all? It did not. Okay.

Did you think it sucked? I think it... No, no. I just didn't... I don't know. It just didn't move me. I think... I'm from a single?

perspective, Zane has some of, Zane has bigger hits post-1D than Nile or Louis. Totally. Totally. Some of which I think are like absolute smash hit songs that are awesome, that are like

amazing pop songs. And maybe it's because a little bit like I, I even subconsciously hold him to that standard a little bit. Like I, I, even if it hasn't all been that,

there is something that when I hear Zane, I kind of have a built-in expectation, at least that that's possible. I do, his voice is special. And continues to have like a loveliness that is really, really cool to hear. I just, I don't know. I didn't click with the song.

Okay. The song that is like featuring him, like the R-star version is like streaming half a million a day it's not small. Yeah. That's also, that's what I thought

we were talking about. Yeah, just as opposed to the one that just is him without the feature. But yeah, it's, it's doing okay. I mean, listen, it's streaming more than either the other guy's songs. So there is some like, I mean, I think he is a singles artist.

more than an album artist. But... Yes. I think that is absolutely true. He does have... Guys got some hits, man. Totally. I'm just hoping

everybody's having a nice time. There you go. I get it. That continues to be... After Daisy Chain Festival, you've settled in a place that it's all about the vibes. And so we wish those same vibes

on all of our wayward Wendy friends. I agree. And to everyone. To all the... to all the nice girls not doing whippets, to you, Nathan, to Casey Musgraves and her disco balls act, you know, we just, we just want everybody to be having a good time. This has been every single album. As always, I'm Nora Princeati. He's Nathan Hubbard. Thank you to Kaia McMullen for producing

this episode. And to you for listening. We'll talk to you next week. Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca.ca.