The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited - is she.. the new Taylor Swift?

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

out-Tayloring, Taylor Swift?👉🏻CHOOSE future topics through free email list https://tapthe.link/WDLnjLJy1A case study on digital marketing, branding, and business growth from a Gen Z perspective.How exactly did gracie abrams' multimillion of lucky girl syndrome turn her into one of the most hated pop girlie? It’s all marketing, babeLearn & Grow with me.💖 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeunlimited/💜 TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@zoeunlimited🖤 Listen on Apple & Spotify: http://apple.co/zoeunlimited https://tapthe.link/zoeunlimitedspotify🪭 All my outfits https://www.shopltk.com/explore/zoeunlimited👩🏻‍💻 LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/zoeunlimited🛒 Essentials https://www.amazon.com/shop/zoeunlimited👉use code ZOEUNLIMITED for 10% off ALL travels on Klook https://t.ly/aA76T📧 Business inquiries: [e-mail] //🕙Timestamps: 0:00 Intro4:23 Gracie 1.08:13 Gracie 2.08:36 Strategy 110:40 Strategy 212:13 Strategy 3

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Rees knows a thing or two about great combinations. Chocolate and peanut butter, obviously, but there's more than one way to Rees's. From indulgent Reese's big cups with caramel to crunchy Reese's pieces and Reese's miniatures, there's a delicious Rees for every mood. It's the same combo you love, just with more ways to enjoy it.

So, whether you're snacking, sharing, or just treating yourself, nothing else is Rees's. How far can Lucky Girl Syndrome take you? of the hottest names in music right now. Best new artist. Gracie Abram. Gracie Abrams.

Gracie Abrams. You opened up for Taylor Swift. Been touring with Taylor Swift. What's it like when Taylor Swift called? Another person who is in your life is Olivia Rodrigo. Your honor, I'm slang. No, no, no, no, not you, Shamish. Ah.

Gotta stay real. You gotta stay real, yeah. Um, yeah, dear Lord. Days, this woman would have been tied to a stake and burned a line. If there was one person destined to be famous, it must be Gracie Abrams. The daughter of JJ Abrams, opened not just for Taylor Swift, not just for Olivia Rodrigo, but for both. So that's nuts. And has the pretty privilege of a model, there really is no better way to launch a music career.

What? What are you guys doing in here? Hi. But somehow, there is still a way to mess everything up. Who the heck is listening to Gracie Abrams? Nepo baby would be nothing without Taylor makes me extremely fucking uncomfortable. So how exactly did Gracie Abrams multi-millions of Lucky Girl Syndrome accidentally turn her into one of the most hated pop girlie? I really do not like Gracie Abrams. She did not build her career herself. Time for another Nepo story. It's all marketing babe. Until a week ago seeing Grace Abrams perform

live at the fire a concert, I did have the impression that she was an overrated artist whose music rode the TikTok algorithm wave. But I personally liked her live performance. I find her voice very unique, very gentle, and just felt inspired to do a dive on her. But man, did her branding have some trouble? That freaks me out, personally. Gracie Abrams started with two massive problems.

First, she wasn't seen as an artist. She was seen as JJ Abrams' daughter. Hollywood royalty, yes, music credibility? Uh, not so much. Vocally, there aren't very many outstanding. every industry door flown wide open for her you do your performance for 100 people and you go yeah i'll get through it and then you go on tour and you open for taylor swift and you go making people see her as an industry plant oh and second she was marketed as taylor swiss mini me

diary style lyrics check soft breathy vocals check an opening slot at the airst tour double check instead of being gracey able Abrams, she was becoming Taylor 2.0, but weaker. Taylor Swift isn't the greatest vocalist in the world, and neither is this lady. She had talent, but no distinct identity. She wasn't THE girl, but just a girl who reminded you of someone else. This and this are exactly the same. I suppose, maybe, I don't know.

So, how does she fix it? As your marketing bestie, who graduated top 1% UCLA business economics with a background in marketing, I want you to level up your brand, so high this year that you'll need to reintroduce yourself. Just like how Gracie Abrams is slowly rebuilding her brand from Nepal knockoff Taylor Swift to a rising girl icon. The new Miss Chanel, Miss Billboard, the girl's voice that dominated the audio of every single TikTok

on your and your next door neighbor's third on's for you page. Because a brand is not just putting your name on a t-shirt, branding is about how your dream college, dream job, dream boyfriend, sees you and yes you have one. I'm creating the series to analyze pop culture girl icons from a marketing perspective because of the power of influence they have over a generation of young girls. What is it about Gracie that you love? Are you one of those media strategy people clicking through slides scrolling spreadsheets? Yes? Good. This is for you because on Spotify there's an audience that's different. Locked in, loyal, invested. They're called fans. Fans don't just listen to music. They

feel seen by it like it belongs to them. So when your brand shows up on Spotify, that's who you're talking to. And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify advertising. You're among fans. I'm starting an email list and if you want early access to this exclusive community of trends, Insides, deeper dives.

Make sure you pre-sign up in the link in the description. It's completely free. But what was not free was Gracie's Lucky Girl Curse. Gracie 1.0. Like many musicians, Gracie Abrams became interested in music and started songwriting when she was eight. But unlike many music youngsters, Gracie's life had a tiny bit more bling to it. Being the daughter of filmmaker JJ Abrams, the director and producer to familiar films like Star Wars, that altogether grossed over $4 billion to not pursue entertainment is almost like an insult to her natural advantages. But because of this lucky association that

Gracie didn't choose. Gracie's Lucky Girl Syndrome became the unlucky three curses, starting with how first the label Nepal Baby and Industry Plant were basically written in her stars since her debut and primed her next to branding crisis. Quote, it just fails space, it's noise to me. Quote, me applying to Harvard with a 0.3 GPA and my dad's credit card. Gracie knew the Nepal Baby discourse was eating her alive.

People weren't just skeptical, they were waiting for her to fail. While at the same time, the second key ingredient to Gracie's rapid fame is also ironically her brand's biggest weakness, world credibility, which in marketing is using endorsements such as using social proof to elevate the brand through the power of association. Like how Nike is athletics elite through its elite athletes, and how Emma Chamberlain began her high fashion identity through first partnering up with Louis Vuitton. Well, for Gracie Abrams. Opening for undoubtedly the two most relevant pop girlies for Gen Z and Millennials, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift, and being a good friend of Taylor Swift,

it seems like a no-brainer that she should be seen as a legend by being associated with the legends. But quite the opposite. Guess what's the fastest way to lose a brand? Her second crisis, be seen as a knockoff. And is this given like brunette Taylor Swift. She's just following the Taylor Swift playbook, down to her singing abilities. Why are people not trying to be themselves? Tell me this song is not Taylor Swift. And the internet had already made up its mind. Gracie Abrams equals Taylor Swift

Light trademark. Instead of being perceived to have Taylor Swift's level of talent in songwriting, storytelling, performing, when the audience has already been negatively primed to believe that anything Gracie Abrams does comes from nepotism, Her similarity in style to Taylor Swift just became imitation in the eyes of the masses. When you're trying to present away and then it just doesn't actually really ultimately work. Damn, Gracie. You just summed it up. I had to drop a bomb on that.

And to finish off the branding crisis trinity was third, Gracie's brand of quote unquote relatability. Yeah, like, you gotta stay real. You gotta stay real, yeah. Um, yeah, dear Lord. Now, relatability has absolutely no problem on its own. It is how Taylor Swift was able to build a billion-dollar brand and sustain it for over 17 years. It is why the girlies love Olivia Rodrigo and Emma Chamberlain so much.

But while the sad girl lyrics and emotions of Gracie Abrams music is very relatable, the priming of the Nepo Baby brand made this relatability not so relatable. It just made people angry and jealous of her, while perceiving her vulnerability as inauthentic. So if everything in the regular marketing handbook that are supposed to be, your elevator brand turned this brand of multi-millions of potential into a nepotism joke. Then the only thing left to do seems to be the opposite of quote-unquote the right marketing. And that's exactly what Gracie Abrams did.

Gracie 2.0 Vogue. Hey, Vogue, I'm actually up. I'm up here. Can you see? Hi, Vogue. It's me, Gracie. There are three strategies that Gracie Abrams used, or rather,

stumbled upon that are pulling her out of the trenches of her branding crisis. But is she fully out? Stay tuned to find out. First, the let them hate strategy. Because of all the industry plant conspiracies and Neville Baby claims, X was flooded with so much hate and dissing of Gracie Abrams paired with unflattering photos of her, which is just so immature and cruel. Why are you so obsessed with me?

But the funny thing was, Gracie Abrams was not very well known until the slanders became viral and introduced her to a bigger online audience that is now curious. How bad can this girl be that the internet won't shut up about her? And after these strangers give her songs a listen, some may love them, some may absolutely hate them. I will unlike the video just because I don't want to give her any support. I don't want to hear it. I don't want in my vicinity. But regardless, a stream is a stream and a new fan is a win. The more people talked, the bigger she got.

Kind of like how Doja Scarlet album rage baited her to number one. Obviously, this is a dangerous tactic, as there is no control in the narrative. And what Gracie did very well here is that she also very bravely addressed the elephant in the room in interviews. She openly admitted that she had privilege, but focused on how much she had to prove. Her messaging subtly framed it as, I know you don't want to like me, so let me earn your respect. On TikTok, a lot of the conversations are about nepotism babies. What do you feel about that title?

How do you feel about that in general? I've been lucky in that it doesn't necessarily like get to me or anything, but I also completely understand where like anyone is coming from. I'm sure that it feels like there are unfair advantages. When you acknowledge criticism, you take away its power. She didn't beg for approval. She invited skepticism and turned it into a challenge. And that turned her story into a challenge. a hero's journey that people now want to root for.

I love Gracie Abrams. Gracie Abrams. Gracey Abrams. What is it about Gracie that you love? Everything. But of course, the other side of the hate coin is, second, the Taylor Swift cosign. Ah, God.

Okay. Gets me how ironic. A curse or like... A curse or like... A curse or a... Keep riding the Taylor wave and be stuck in her shadow forever is in the no-go and the only way to get unstuck is to respect it in spoh but differentiate. Starting with an intentional lo-finess, both in her visuals and her music.

Visually, Gracie stopped dressing like an Erosdour understudy and started leaning into a fashionably dishevelled Ellie meets Brooklyn energy. She stopped looking like she was going to an Ivy League poetry reading, traded soft pastel sweaters for oversized Thriftcore grunge. More grit, less, polished. Casual iPhone film energy, sad girl in her bedroom aesthetic, it gave her a signature look that fans could emulate Pinterest core that matched her raw, messy sound, making the brand feel cohesive, which ties into the music. If Taylor Swift or a poet, Gracie was a girl who doesn't have all the answers. Taylor gives fans closure. Gracie leads them sitting in the wreckage, which feels more natural to her age and is more relatable to her targeted demographics. She leaned

heavier towards lo-fi production choices, grungier vocals, stripped-back instrumentation, and invites fans to join her in her real-time emotional spiraling. Only with this connection is she finally able to tap into her third strategy. Setting trends. Done in three ways. First, turning quote-unquote weakness into an aesthetic. Gracie doesn't have a big powerhouse voice, which made many accuse her of not being a real singer.

But instead of fighting it, she turned it into her defining trait. Singing quietly in my bedroom for the sake of not being heard, totally influenced the way that I ended up writing songs or the way that I would sing. Leaning into whispery, delicate vocals instead of trying to belt like pop stars, using vocal layering to make her sound dreamlike and intimate. Someone else who has also done a really good job on this is Billy Eilish. It gave them both a distinct sonic identity. People hear their voices and immediately recognize it's dumb,

which makes her a go-to for film soundtracks and emotional TikTok moments. Which of course brings us to second. TikTok virality. Things go viral on TikTok for many unknown reasons. But one thing that goes without fail for Gracie Abrams is repeatability. Gracie Abrams's sad girl music made her voice a token in a cultural moment. that has such a raw emotional relatability to it, that made it not only shareable,

but also easy to recreate something from it. And the more it gets repeated, the stronger the brand. The moment that an artist is no longer at the mercy of following the rules of the industry, but inspired the rules for others to create, kind of like how Taylor Swift was for Gracie 1.0, that's when they become true creators, trendsetters, which is perfectly completed by third. the accidental fashion icon strategy.

My newest style crush, Gracie Abrams. Gracie Abrams accidentally became a Gen Z fashion muse, not by trying, but by leaning into effortless indie cool. Baggy sweaters, oversized coats, messy but intentional hair, is a look that almost every girl could pull off and replicate. The cozy grunge core. Thus, making it easier to repeat not just for Gracie, but also for her fans.

Which again, begins a trend. Versus Chaparones, extremely creative but hard to replicate aesthetic. This reminds me of how Emma Chamberlain's teddy jacket and scrunchies became the staples of the Visco Girl era. Why? Same as Gracie, these items are so accessible, so repeatable, making it easier to become a trend. Because Gracie's styling never screams, I'm trying to be trendy, it feels natural, making it perfect for luxury brands that want authenticity,

that brought her to the radar of high fashion brands like Miumu and Chanel. that further reinforced her cool girl factor, getting closer to be the next it girl. This is the luck. So has Gracie Abrams truly escaped the Taylor Swift clone trap, the Neville Baby Curse, and become a real respectable artist? Well, at the Fire 8 concert, I can attest that my year drums were blown off

by the screaming of the Jen of a Girlies. So she definitely has built a strong fandom thus far. But it takes more than just one or two hit songs on TikTok to shed this industry-plant image, take inspiration from Olivia Rodrigo. And how she didn't let her TikTok blow up define her, but serve as a launching pad for her artistry to have the discipline to focus on songwriting, storytelling, brand building. Made her work speak for her.

I see potential in Gracie Abrams to create something impactful and unique in pop, but time shall tell. Regardless, I find her comeback story very inspiring, and how she turned hate into strength and hope you learn something helpful in leveling up your brand. If you did, please share this episode to level up with someone together. This is your marketing bestie Zoe Unlimited. Episodes are available on all podcast networks, Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Have a wonderful and amazing day.

I'll see you next week.