Every Single Album - WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA | Every Single Album: Slayyyter

Episode Date: October 16, 2026

Break out your beat up Chanels, it's time to talk about Slayyyter and her new-ish album, 'WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA.' Nora and Nathan talk about this year's breakout pop star and her initial breakout on the festival circuit (1:00), the intense hyper-pop sounds she's playing with (16:00), and whether or not Slayyyter is poised to break through to another level of stardom (27:40). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard Producer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Try the Google Pixel 11 Pro. Check it out at store.gogle.com. Hello and welcome to every single album. I'm Nora Princeati. And I'm joined, as always, by my pal Nathan Hubbard for a conversation about Slater that we've been wanting to have for some time. We. We, maybe me, maybe more me, but you've been a wonderful willing. You've been an enthusiast along with me.

But I have been really interested in Slater since this spring, which is when her third album, Worst Girl in America, which is what we're. we're going to talk about today, came out and also when she did a daytime set at Coachella that totally brought the house down and was really crazy and was like definitely for me, the moment that I really clicked in. I wanted to find a moment to talk about this album pretty much ever since. And then last week, she went and announced a follow-up sort of companion album, worst man in America that is going to be coming out December 4th. I'm sure we will get to cover that in a more timely manner.

But it made for an excuse for me to be like, okay, Nathan, get in the saddle. We're talking about Slater. That is what happened. I want to know, you know, since you said, okay, I'm in, I'm on board, how has that been for you? What, like, what did you know going in?

how have you spent your time getting to know Slater a little bit better in the weekish since you said yes to this project? Well, I knew a little bit about it just because I was tracking her on the festival circuit this summer for sure. But I was not listening to the music. At least, I didn't realize that I was listening to the music. because 58 seconds into dance, I was like, oh, yeah, I've been listening to this music because I've heard that fucking clipped all over the internet.

And there was some discussion amongst people who book festivals, let's call it in June, as they were thinking, because that's really, I mean, I know that's when all the festivals start to happen over the summer, but by then, offers are already going out for 2027.

Right. And the business of music is such now, as everybody understands, that shows get put up a year in advance. And so you've got to get those offers out to figure out who's going to play your festival. It's why the fact that Coachella has not announced the headliner is so interesting because, but it feels like it's taking...

There's a lot of that going around. I was just having a conversation with some. someone about how strange it is that the Super Bowl halftime performer isn't out yet. That's it. Yeah. I mean, more than Coachella, I don't think Coachella is taking a long time. This is about their schedule, but there's been some chatter about who's actually going to do it. And same thing for Super Bowl, right? So the point is offers have been out and the conversations have been happening for a long time. And in June, there was some chatter about, geez, do we think this Slater thing is going to continue? Like, is Slater going to be a thing?

Kind of the same conversation about Adela. And nobody's having that conversation anymore because the answer is yes. Yeah. I'm not sure that the streaming numbers actually reflect it yet, but there definitely is, I mean, this isn't the chatter about the pop star from Missouri that, or the pop star that I expected the chatter to be about anyway, the pop star from Missouri?

like Chapel Rhone on line one. I know that you are somewhere, hopefully in a studio getting ready. First of all, she's going to play some shows in L.A., which is going to be awesome. But I sort of think about her as like the quintessential Missouri pop star, but geez, here is Slater sort of almost unintentionally. And we'll have the discussion about how this album came about. But here she is making some noise and doing it in a way that, does feel like her own lane, Nora.

I mean, you tell me, this is some electropop stuff that maybe its closest cousin is Charlie X-E-X, but it doesn't feel anything like Charlie X-E-X in spite of its messiness and in spite of its reliance on some dance and electro-hooks, huh? Yeah, well, so she's, she is, she, you could at least claim that she's in the, she's a branch on the Charlie tree. She opened for Charlie on tour in 2019, you know, like pre-brat, but she was someone who, in an earlier era, was on Charlie's radar. And they are at least interested, I think, in things like hyperpop and this type of electropop. So there's a kinship there, even if I think to the extent that there's a derivation, it's more about, you know, she says that this is an album based on.

on iPod music. What do you think that means? It's the like Y2K thing where it's, it's Nelly Furtado, it's Gwen Stefani. You know, she cites Gaga and Kesha as like really major influences.

She's also toured with Kesha. And I hear both of those things, but I got to say like the artist from my youth where I just like can't stop thinking about the songs when I listen to this album is Gwen Stefani. And I don't know how Slater would feel about that comparison. but that is the one that jumps out to me. But it's like a mid-2000s, very like genre fluid.

There's hip-hop. There's some EDM. Like, it's a little all over the place. But I do think that she finds a way to be credible as a continuation or like as an homage to that era and those influences. Without it sounding too derivative. Derivative. I agree. Like she feels really new to me and fresh, which I think.

which I think for something that wears that nostalgia, like so plainly on its face, I think is a real danger of that. And I think it's one that she mostly sidesteps. So, like, you mentioned we should talk a little bit about how this album came about. It is her third record, plus she had a self-titled mixtape that she released independently in 2019. The first two were definitely smaller. And she also didn't release them with Columbia, which is the case with this album. And by the time she got around to writing this, she had decided that it was going to be maybe the last thing that she ever did. It was kind of going to be a, if I can't get this to stick, then I'm done.

I'm leaving the industry. I'm out. And so I might as well, particularly after Starfucker, which is like, so funny that that's the title. and I'm about to talk about how it's a little bit more palatable. It's a little bit more of like a synth pop, less aggressive sounding record. Maybe she felt like some of that was a bit of a concession. She decided that with this one, like, she's going all in.

And so I think, I wonder if part of the reason that she's able to do something that is a little bit derivative but still sounds like really her own and really fresh, is that it is. Like, it is, this is, at least by her telling, this is a pure reflection of the artist that Slater wants to be. And who that is is someone who is like very aggressive, very brash. It is garrish. It is loud. It is like this jagged club record.

It is, I don't even want to call it horny. It's like downright erotic. It's not something to put on in the car with your mom. And I think that's kind of the point. Yeah. Well, it's not, and it's definitely not for everybody, not just moms, but that's why I'm wondering what grabbed you. Is it because you have a not-so-secret obsession with those early 2000, you know, pop girls? Is it, what was it that sort of roped you in? Because you have been talking in our

sort of private conversations about Slater for months now, and I felt the inexorable wave mounting I knew we were going to have to cover her at some point because it just seemed to really matter to you. And I'm curious what got you. Was it all of the stuff that, I mean, this was like a TikTok memeable album that sort of the marketing almost happened accidentally. I'm not so sure that Columbia,

although there's awesome people at Columbia, I don't know if this was a Columbia marketing thing so much as just like the internet grabbed it and ran with it. But what was the sort of, beacon on the hill that brought you in? So I know the moment that I was in was she did crank at Coachella. And that was one of the songs that from that set went pretty viral online. And like, I think just looking at that and watching that felt exciting to me and had an energy that made me feel like, okay, I want more of this.

I'm interested in this. I'm I'm thirsty for something that's going on here. Was it the performance or was it their crowd reaction or what did you see? So I think it's the performance and the, it's how the crowd responded to her. But I think like I wouldn't say that crank is my favorite Slater song. No. At this point, brand new Chanel's, which is part of the companion. piece of this album that's going to come out in December.

That's my favorite Slater song. And that song actually does put her aesthetic and put the things that she is good at doing in a package that is a little bit hookier and a little bit popier than the average track on this record. And I am partial to that. I like it when it comes in a package that's like a little bit easier to sink your teeth in too. Can we just talk about how there is a song on this record in all cap, well, almost everything on this record is in all caps. Everything's in all caps. There's dollar signs. There's, I mean,

that's very mid-2000s. But isn't the difference between Taylor Swift and Slater, basically Cleveland exclamation point versus all caps, cannibalism exclamation point? Well, I think like that's a very good way to, well, I don't know if Taylor is maybe the, the right way to make this point. But there's something about that that gets me back to why I think Crank made the strongest first impression for me is that there's a lot of music that we've talked about recently where I think, like, I think there are a lot of pop artists who in the last couple of years have sort of had to navigate this idea of taste. And that's something that came up a lot in our conversations about Harry Styles, where...

What do you mean? Maybe because we're all like online together. I think there's a fairly homogenized idea of quote unquote like cool, good taste. And there have been some records. And again, like Harry's is the one that comes to mind. First for me, where I like it, but it feels very polite. And it feels very catered to an idea of. of good taste that's like had a lot of the edges sanded off from it. And it loses something in that. And I think the reason that crank was a good entry point for me is that Slater is the antidote for that.

This is an impolite record. It is like nasty. And again, garish. And it's not, it's not going to be something that you can put on at a tasteful dinner party. and I think that offered a counterpoint to me to a lot of things in music more recently that I've liked but haven't loved.

And so to hear someone make a counter argument to that, I think was really, really satisfying. I also think like there are some pretty good bars in that. So like Slater is a chosen name that's a reference to the days and confused character, Ron Slater. And the Richard Linklater, he want to fuck Slater rhyme in that song is like, I think that's pretty funny. So it just made an impression on me because of how aggressive it is.

Hmm. Do you love this? Do I love it? You just said that, you know, you haven't loved some of the stuff. It makes me feel something. Like, it makes me, it affects me in a very visceral. way. I don't know if love is the right scriptor for it. What's the right

place to listen to this? In the club. In the club. Totally in the club. I mean, again, like, I think that is why I... Pansiotti in the club. Well, look, there are songs on this album, like, I'm actually kind of famous. I'm never going to listen to that in my house. That's not a song for my house. house. I fucking like that song. There's people who don't like that song. I love that song.

If you were, like, if you were out and that song starts playing, it would go off. Yeah. It would absolutely go off. And so I'm into, like, I'm into it for that reason. I, the flip side of that is like, that's the reason that I'm more into brand new Chanel's than anything that's on this, because I do think that it's, it's, it's nice that she can accomplish something that is closer to a midpoint and a little bit more accessible without losing what makes herself in it. But I think on this one, you have to just kind of like appreciate that it is a club record and that it is cathartic and it is aggressive, even though there are a couple songs. Like dance is a good example. And that actually, I think because I was like taken by crank initially, I thought that was

the song that had. been the biggest from this. It's actually dance. Yeah. I think it's that moment. Which is a little softer. Yeah, I think it's that moment. I think it's just been clipped so much at that moment about a minute in when it hits the sort of main thing. But you're bringing up a point, which is that there were five singles that were released over a long period of time from like August to February. And when you look at dance, I mean, brand new Chanel's is now, again, yeah, it's going to be part of the, whatever this second coming is going to be Brat part two. As is Crank. There's the, there are three singles from the follow-up that are out.

It's Brand New Chanel's Crank, too, both of which are paired with songs from Worst Girl in America. And then last week she put out, I think he's got a girl. Yeah. I think it's... But the singles that they put out, they dance, crank, brand new Chanel's... Well, that's a new one. Beat up Chanel's.

Yeah. Those are all massively outstreaming the rest of the album. This album falls off a little bit. Well, so that's my question. Is this like a cohesive thing in your mind? Or... I mean, we talk about Miley a lot, and we love Miley. Miley's last two attempts to make a sort of cohesive album,

I think have been interesting, but they've been absent a single that really resonated. This, to me, feels a little bit like the inverse, which is, as you say, there are becoming the soundtrack to people's moments because of the way that they're making their way around TikTok and online. Is this an album that you go put on front to back, or is this a song that is a soundtrack to a moment at a party at the club somewhere else?

Like, how do you think about this as a piece of... Like, look, for the basics out there. Fucking spin class. Yes, or going for a run. Right. Like, you'll run fast to this album. I felt okay playing this in the gym. I didn't feel like a total weirdo.

Yeah. Yeah, it's a great gym record. I think it goes pretty hard and pretty effectively from dance. through crank. Okay. Gas Station is a pretty sad song about her father. And I give a lot of credit that she is able to round out some weighty things about a personal backstory in an album like this that's not really about doing that. Right.

I do think that's probably where you cut for the running playlist. And then I think it becomes significantly more hit or miss. from there on out. My cuts are, yes, God, I sort of start to zone out there. How is prayer not your first? You hate these interludes.

I do, yes. Obviously, I do not find that effective. I actually don't mind the sentiment of it. It's kind of like, you know, a prayer to absolution via looking up from one's own navel. And I think that's a nice, I think that's a nice sentiment. I do not find a 36-second interlude effective in a shock to no one.

So yes, I would also cut that. And then the other one that I would cut is what is it like to be liked? Okay, I think I agree with you there. It just doesn't have the same kind of energy. Yeah, it feels like a filler. Yeah, I agree. It's probably the most Charlie. It's maybe a little bit more Kim Petrus than it is Charlie,

but it's probably the song. on the album that feels the most connected to those influences rather than the 2000 stuff. I like St. Luzer. I also like that, you know, she has the line in that song about, I get the low bill, but I'm the fucking main event, which is kind of a cool self-referential thing. And obviously that came out before Coachella, but it feels like it's just cool that it builds the mythology that way.

I'm not going to listen to. I'm actually kind of famous in my house, but I do think it's a cool song. I do too. And then old flings and unknown lovers, there are pieces of those songs that I get a lot from. I think the chorus of Unknown Lovers is really good.

That's like one of the most Gwen Stefani moments on the album. Yeah, I agree. What do you make of Britney Murphy and can you just sort of give me the context for why that is on this album, why it's the last song? It clearly means something.

Help me understand it. Well, I mean, it's, you know, it's sort of a, it's a song about contemplating suicide. Like, it's, yeah. The emotionality of it lands a little awkwardly for me, if I'm totally honest. Like the, I think there are some lines where she's really just talking about herself. But there's the moment where she says, you know, is it just annoying? And there's part of me that's like, wait, are you calling, are you calling Britney Murphy be annoying? And if so, hold on a sec. Like, there is something about it that feels a little awkward.

But I also think that there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of fear. It can be kind of a whopper in that way. And I also think that there's a pretty good hook on the do you notice all I've done part. So I'm, I don't know, it's a big swing. Is it reverential in any way? Yeah, I think it's very, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's like what does it mean to idolize someone who also represents a really deep fear that you have for yourself. There's a lot of drugs, a lot of mess all over this album, a lot of sex, a lot of drugs, a lot of... Indeed.

Dance. Indeed. How much of this do you think is a character versus her? I think that there is I don't know I don't know how like I don't know how many drugs Slater has done over the course of her life

and that's really not for me to say I think it's a significant amount yeah yeah I do think that there is a posture here I think that there is a persona she's using a stage name it is it is intentionally heightened yeah

And that's what I'm asking. Like, is she like a, and I'm not saying this like for the humor value. I'm laughing because of the, I mean, the lyrics are so party forward. But I guess my ask is like, is we get invested in pop stars, not just the character that they're playing. Well, I mean, yes, in the world, right? But the individual today in the 2020s, we are deeply invested in the person. And I'm just wondering, like, charge. Charlie plays this character and Charlie's world is the sort of skinny cigarettes,

but I don't worry that like Charlie's going to OD and like end up in a gutter or something. Like there's a little bit of that here. Yeah. And that's my question because I do think there's some earnest fear and rawness to Britney Murphy. There is a true sense of danger. Yeah, do we need to worry about her? Is that part of who she is? Is that danger part of who she's?

The character that she's portraying and presenting here is a little bit like, I don't know who else to tie it to, but I guess I finished this album and was like, geez, do I need to worry about Slater? I think a couple of things. One, I think that actually worrying about Slater is a job for people who are in Slater's life

and for Slater. And I think maybe that's not, while it's very well meeting, that's maybe not entirely our purview. I also think that if you watch, if you watch an interview with her, you never know what's going on behind the scenes. But like, there is a version of Slater that she presents in different public settings outside of the music where she seems like a calm, cool girl. Like, it's very different.

The vibe is very different. She's smiling and funny. And that's why I say that I think there is an element of, that is definitely persona. I do think that that sense of danger and the communication of an identity that's a little bit rough, I think that is part of her appeal. I think there is something, you know, particularly, I feel like an expression that I see from young people and young fans of music and people who,

engage with culture so much these days is like they have so much real fear about where the world is going and what their place is in it. And the representation of someone who has faced like some real challenges and real adversity and has found themselves in a way that's that has a lot of room for like sincere worry about what's going to happen to them. I do get why that's, I think that is part of the appeal. Obviously, I hope that comes at zero personal cost to the artist, but I think I mostly leave that for other people to worry about. And I do think that there is something compelling about where she falls,

just how she sort of, how she relates to people and how people relate to her. Do you think this album is, breaking through, I say, in air quotes. I mean, I look at the overarching streaming number. She does not yet have a song that's cracked 100 million streams. It did feel like, it did, this is obviously now I'm going to mention a song

that's not on this album. It felt like brand new Chanel's broke through. Okay. I do wonder now that she's had that out, she's had cranked two, she's had, I think he's got a girl. and, you know, maybe at the end we can talk about those songs a little bit. I like it.

I do wonder if there's a little bit of a dual-leapar-radical optimism thing going on, where the singles, and they did that for Worst Girl in America, too, but, like, the singles, there are a lot of singles. They came out early. They're, like, spaced apart. I'm curious to see if when we get to December and this album comes out, if we feel like there was something

that really built energy towards it. But I have felt like brand new Chanel's was a song that broke through. I also think that it helps that she has had these moments on a roughly similar timeline to someone like Adela, where I just, I feel like there is a new crop of artists

who people have their eyes on. Yeah, she's definitely in this. A lukewarm yes to that question. Yeah, you are because brand new Chanel's right now is streaming one seventh as much as the cure. Olivia Rodriguez song. Right. Olivia songs are streaming seven to ten times as much as these. And again, she's Olivia effing Rodrigo, but I want to keep it in context.

But also you can't put all of this on the radio in the same way. You can't, there are ceilings on Slater that I don't think exist for Olivia Rodriguez because of the nature of the music. You can't play this shit for your mama. I'm not saying you can't. And I'm sure there are many people's, many people's mamas, I'm sure, would be very into Slater. And I'm sure are. But there are more built-in limitations, I think.

But there's also a specificity in that that I think is really compelling to people. And like, there's tons of, you know, Brat didn't stream like this Olivia Rodriguez album is streaming. Like, this is a more left of center project than that. And I think that's okay. Her singles are streaming more than Phoebe Ridgers right now. Yeah. Like a factor of two. So there is certainly mainstream adoption.

I'm really interesting. it in how this album came about, right? She brought a finished product pretty much to the label. She seemed to be exasperated and tired of losing money and was, as you said, like, ready to sort of give up on this. And the economics of music are such that, like, if you draw the pie chart of an artist's revenue stream, we've talked about this before, but they probably make 70% of their money on average from the road. And so the music really becomes, whereas 20 years ago, it was, it would go out and tour in support of an album to try to get people to buy albums. The Napster world turned all that upside down. And now you release music to

support a tour if you're trying to earn a living. And it does feel like she is a need to have from a festival perspective. And now the question will be how many tickets is she able to sell on her own. But she certainly retained a ton of creative control and, you know, she, she, she did it her way. And again, I, I am, I'm just, with a lot of these breakout artists, the question for me is always, are they just a soundtrack to a moment or are people embracing them as an artist? And I think your Duolipa analogy is an interesting one, which is to say, I mean, Duolip had already been embraced by the time that album came out, but it was massively boosted by what became a tour that I think over-delivered relative to people's expectations. And some of that was just the

online stuff that Duo got, right, about the dancing stuff. But then, like, the show was good. It just was. And it sort of elevated her. Here, I'm just interested to see if people really embrace her. because it's harder to, the messiness of it makes it harder to pour yourself into. Chapel's songs were so just innately accessible that you didn't have to go along for the fragility ride. People are pouring themselves into Phoebe, into Taylor, into Gracie, into Olivia. In some ways, the Charlie thing is a persona that the listener can play

because while it's a bit messy, it's safe and it's a little tongue and cheek at times. This one, it's harder to just see your own reflection in her. And so I am interested in the next- It's not right. It's not tongue-in-cheek. No. Like, for instance, if Slater ever had the,

and I might have fucked your dad line, it's not a joke. Maybe I fucked your dad. Just kidding. I'm only saying that for a fact. It might be a punchline, but she's stone cold serious. Whereas Charlie does the wink wink thing. And there are great jokes on this album. I think old technology is so funny.

Yeah, it is. Because the old technologies are the drugs. Yeah. But it's serious. Like, it's serious. It's not a metaphor. It's not winking. So will people?

people get behind it. She's a, she's a different kind of pop star for this moment, which I think is part of what drew you to her. I think a lot of the popularity and the streaming numbers that are, you know, relative to Olivia, not that big, but relative to others that we're talking a lot about, are meaningful. And I'm just interested to see if this campaign, you know, this next album, Worst Man in America that's coming, I guess, December 4th, if it gets embraced and if there's this, snowballing momentum in the way that it feels like is happening for Adela, for example. Yeah. Or if because of the way that this music came to the forefront by being clipped and

memed and streamed in short form, if as those moments fade, if the fan base stays. I haven't been, but she is, she's playing shows. And I have a sense that they're good. Yeah. She's a good time. I mean, the all things go thing. Yeah, she was rocking it. She crushed it.

And it's loud and it's energetic and it's cathartic. And I think there's a lot of people who probably actually don't, like, don't regularly go clubbing, but are interested in a certain experience that's a little bit analogous to that. and if you go to the Slater show, you can jump up and down and you can throw your hair back and forth and like sort of approximate that without having to deal with like a bouncer

and if you're getting a bottle or not and some of the things that are not appealing to people or just like not in people's actual rotation of how they socialize. And like, I think there's a real audience for that. I think there's a real market for people who want to be able to do that at a show instead of just, like, going out. And it seems like those shows are going over very well. So I would imagine that that is something that helps her move towards the next step and go forward a little bit.

I wonder, like, it's interesting to me how much she wears the Y2K references on her sleeve because they're not. so explicit to me. I definitely got the Gwen Stefani thing, but I don't listen to these songs and feel hit over the head with them being referential or them sort of belonging to that era. Do you?

No. I don't. There are some things that I hear, but not, I didn't, I spent the whole time being like, do I like this? How would I listen to this? Where on this album will I come back?

I feel like I'm going to hear that part of dance in 10 ESPN promos for Monday Night Football and sports commercials over the next year probably. And then, man, is this a character? Is she okay? where's the line between the character and her, right? How interested... So it seems to me like you are very interested in where she, the actual person, is...

Catherine Garner. In this. Yeah. Because, as you said, there's a song where she's talking about her dad, and there's, like, I believe her in Britney Murphy that she's wrestled. with suicidal thoughts. That doesn't feel like she's playing a character there.

It feels like she's inserting herself through some of this. And that makes it believable. And so that makes you want a sense of reality of like who this person is, what they're going through in a very first person way. Because I will say like something that, Kyah sent us a very funny tweet about, I think he's got a girl making sort of a Taylor Swift analogy. And I was thinking about it.

And I don't listen to that song and wonder who this guy is. I don't really care. Yeah, I'm with you. And I kind of think that's a feature and not a bug. I don't know if that's because I'm overly sort of anguished by the Easter eggs of everything. At this point, maybe I've just sort of had my fill of it and other people would have a different reaction to it. but there's something about an artist who is a real person and will let you into their humanity,

but does use a character to make things a little bit less explicit that I am attracted to in this moment. And that is probably because it does make me feel like I'm not going to have to chase down a bazillion little tabloidy details. But I take your point about like how important to a lot of listeners, the personal backstory and the feeling that they're interested in an artist as a person is. So I do wonder sort of where that ends up cutting for her. You said like two minutes ago that you were listening to this and going,

do I like this? Do you like it? I like some of it. I'm with you that there are parts where I just disengaged a bit. I'm really interested in it, is the right way to say it. I'm really interested in it. I'm not like a massive electropop person, but the industrial stuff grew on me, the more I sat with it. I didn't find the moment where I was like, holy shit.

I didn't have my mini bar moment or my dopamine moment or my purple moment or by the way, I listen to Babylon today. It came on in the car. I like Babylon. I really do like Babylon. So my answer is I think I'm more interested in this than I am like in love with it. I don't know how much I'm going to come back to it because I think it's going to be fed to me in small bits over the course of the next. year. And I'm just interested to see how she is embraced, as I said. Did you feel an energy from it? Did you kind of strain your spine? Yeah. Yeah. The thing that is interesting is it's definitely its own, it's like David S. Pumpkins time of year. It's its own thing. Like I think it's really interesting in that I always perk up when a pop star, seems to have discovered yet a new lane, right? When the, the, like, I think about pop music, the way that I think about, like, the physics of approaching a brick wall.

Like, in my mind, you can always go one unit of measurement closer without getting there, right? Until at some point you're down to just the baseline of atoms. And so in pop music, I always wonder if are all of the slices of what pop music can be taken? Like, has every lane been filled? Sure. And when somebody comes in and it's like, huh, well, that's a little bit different. This isn't something that, I mean, it is dance. But it's not John Summit.

It's not, you know, Kygo. It's not Fred again. It's much more abrasive than any of those things. Yeah. And there is a roughness. Like you come away, it's almost like a pop music mosh pit. Like you're going to get bruised. You're going to mess up your elbows a little bit.

Yeah, you're going to be bloodied, not in like you got punched in the nose at a death metal show. But like, yeah, you're going to have a little strawberry on your arm where you walk away and you're like, okay, but that was still a really fun situation. So I don't know. And I think especially because, and I don't, maybe I have felt this way more than you have. And that would, that would in a lot of ways align with our personal tastes. But I think the, you know, the pandemic established, I don't know, it's just like COVID, but there were these established modes that came out of there. And some of it is like albums like folklore and Evermore were.

influential. I have felt like we've spent a long time sort of trying to take some baby steps forward from the idea that the most successful pop is going to be very gentle, very gentle sounding. And I think there are great examples of music that operates in that mode, but I do think that that has become a very crowded space. That's for sure. And that's why we, I think that's why the Gracie album did not take root. Yeah.

My only question about this is, is it accessible enough to become mainstream? Or is she a little bit of a, I don't know, a novelty act that fits in well to festivals because it's different and she brings a bunch of fucking energy and then on comes Olivia Rodrigo. I mean, obviously the arc of, the arc of Keisha's career is very specific for reasons we all understand.

But that's probably the, that's the comparison point, right? Like, that's an artist who, in that moment, was as mainstream as you could be, and had a similar, had a, maybe not to quite the same level, but like, had a similar type of messy and abrasiveness. Yeah. Different era, just because she's referencing it, doesn't mean that it's now. But I do think that there are,

like there are historical examples of that being possible, right? It's just a question of like, is Slater going to be the person who does it? I don't ultimately think that the roughness of this is entirely limiting. Does it make it much more like, that she has a Charlie-type career and arc than an Olivia Rodrigo one, I think almost certainly.

But it doesn't mean that, like, there can be a brat. There can also be, in the case of someone like Kesha, there can be a TikTok. There can be a way for this to go extremely mainstream. I do think it's possible. There's a video of her from the last week, I think, where she gets off the plane in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Mm-hmm.

And I don't think she was in shorts, but she's like not... She looks like any of us would look like rolling off a long-ass flight to Brazil. And she rolls off... A lot of shorts commentary this week. Yeah. Maybe she is wearing shorts.

I don't know. Oh, what do you mean? Is that a hairy reference? No, the stupid Shane Gillis as an L model. We all got to stop talking about shorts. Okay, well, I get shocked. Make your point about the shorts. Every time I see Harry on stage at MSG in shorts, I'm like, what?

I know, he is really always wearing shorts. He really loves the shorts. And my point is like she seemed like a super normal Midwest girl in that clip, where she engages with the fan and she apologizes because she's got to run to sound check or something. And that was one where I was like, oh, okay, maybe I don't have. to worry about her. Like, she just seemed like this normal. Like, and that's what I'm saying is like there are interviews with her too, where she

does, there's a side of her that's so chill. Yeah. Like, and so comes across really warm and happy to, you know, happy to have her two feet on the ground. Um, and so if it, if it soothes you to know that that is there, as much as any of us can know as the outsiders, it does seem to me to, to, to be. be there. I'm glad that meant something new. Do you want to talk a little bit? I'm curious about the newer songs and how those land for you, in particular, brand new Chanel's, because it's my favorite.

Yeah, I'm into brand new Chanel's. I think your point about it being the most melodic and more sort of straightforward is, I hope, intentional. And again, like, I think it's, it's, it is her most stream song right now. And it's outstreaming almost everything else by like, you know, one and a half to two times. So people are certainly into it. Now, it's newer, but like, it, I was into it. I guess I wanted to like the other one a bit more than I have. Is that okay to say? Craig too, or I think he's got a girl. I think he's got a girl. I was like, this is a great title I want to hear. And I just didn't, it didn't, it didn't levitate. It is interesting because it's a little closer.

It's closer to the synth pop thing that she did more of on Starfucker, which is the album she made before she went, screw this, I might quit anyway. So I want to just make what I want to make. It's not entirely, like, it doesn't sound entirely the same, but it's interesting to me that she's actually, operating with a willingness to go back there a little bit, and it is more palatable. It does go down easier.

I agree with you that that song doesn't have a moment that, like, sores. And I think brand new Chanel's does. Yeah. So to me, that's the one. But it does signal that she, it's an interesting signal for if this, if the follow-up is, going to be a little bit softer in tone. Although, like, there are moments on dance that are kind of like that. Yeah.

So it's not like, it's not like, worst girl in America is, like, totally devoid of anything that's not crazy uptempo and loud. I'm optimistic. The creative process from here, yeah, the creative process from here is going to be interesting. Can she keep the, I don't give a fuck attitude? Yeah. Yeah.

Because I think that drove it. a lot of this. And if you start to give a fuck, because now you're having success, and does the magic continue? Right. Look, we'll find out. We'll find out in December. I'm excited that we've been able to, you know, set a framework with this conversation and then we can address to follow up more in real time. I don't know when I'll have an opportunity to go see her, but like I would love to go to a show because I do feel like, I do feel like I just have the sense that she's, she's connecting live for people, which is cool. Shall we give it a great?

Yeah, go for it. I'm actually interested in what you think. I gave it a B. Yeah. I think this is a B album. I do think, like, I have a lot of affection for it. And I think it accomplishes things that there are albums that we've talked about in the last year from like, A, pop stars, I think it accomplishes things that some of those records try and fail to accomplish.

What is this making me feel? Alive? It's making me feel something. I might need like an hour and a half of therapy to figure out exactly what this is making me feel. But I... That could be very productive, I think, for all of us. Yeah. Because I...

Intrigue is only the surface feeling. It's like, why is this intriguing? What is it that is? Because it's not, like, I'm not getting the, like, warm, tingling thing that happens in my shoulders when I hear a song that I just have to rewind and play again. But to your point, there may be some late-night social situation in which you definitely, like, I'm actually kind of famous is fucking awesome. It's hedonistic.

Yeah. I put dance on. I had 15 people in my house that I made dinner for last night. And I put dance on and it worked. Yeah. I don't know that you could have put... I mean, I mixed it in, but... Yeah.

I don't know that you could have put crank on and mixed it in. No. There's no way to put crank on. I thought about it. I'm actually kind of famous, but I just think it's a little, to your point, it's like, it's a little harsh and rough. Garrish was the word that you used. Yeah, it's a very garish album.

I don't really know what that means, by the way. It's like neon, like neon colors are garish. Las Vegas is garish. Okay, that's what I thought. Okay, yeah, fair. But is it cheap? I mean, there is like a trashy part. It's a little.

tacky. But is that different from trashy? Trashy's actually probably better. I think there's this whole... I do think that there's a thing going on right now where like we've lived through a lot of years of a lot of like influencer beige. Does that make sense to you? Is that a collection of words that carries meaning? Yeah. Bejj? Like the sort of quiet luxury era of fashion. Yeah. And an idealization of a type of restraint

that I think people are kind of tired of. I think there's a lot of people who are just like, fuck that. It's so boring. Yeah. Your pictures that you got your friend to take of you staring off in the distance in some fancy nice place, go fuck yourself. Yeah. And like over a at a sunset. Right. A vineyard.

And everything is elegant and everything is again tasteful and it's all sort of adds up to something that is just designed to communicate what type of person you are and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I mean, there's a lot of energy behind the idea that that actually sucks

and it's kind of boring and we would all be better off if we could be a little bit done with it. And therefore you get an interest in things that do feel a little bit tacky or trashy. Yeah. Well, this is a B, and it's not for boring. So I think that's why it just perked me up.

I'm just, I'm paying attention. That's, I think, the best thing about it. Even better than it, you know, I think I really get something from Crank. I think that old technology and dance and beat up Chanel's, I think those are really good songs. I do think more than anything specific musically, what is great about this album is just a feeling and an energy. I think what's cool about brand new Chanel's

is that it finds a way to keep that going, but make it a little bit more about the song. And she probably needs one or two more of those where it's like truly you're going for the music as much as you're going for the vibe. And that's what I hope we end up getting in December. I think that would be the best possible outcome. I'm really intrigued with your idea

that this could portend the rejection of the influencer culture. Like I sort of keep waiting for people to be like, to your point, that sucks. It's not like in the age of AI, live music is going to continue to thrive because people are chemically wired to be together and these screen-based experiences that they have dead in the soul if you don't pair them or counterweight them, I think, with real human experience. And I think influencer as a concept feels to me like, you know, a representation of almost a visual representation of the same way that we are. starting to feel about AI, which is just like it's fake, it's not real, it's designed to manipulate me, it doesn't get at the authenticity of the human soul, and an algorithm would not lead you to Slater.

And that being something that people hold on to, maybe not even because they like the music, but because fuck all the rest of this shit, is kind of rock and roll. It's kind of rock and roll. Hell yeah. I think let's leave it there. This has been every single album. As always, I'm Nora Prentziati. 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.