The Phonebox Podcast With Emma Conway - Hanson, Titantic & Position of the Week: Aileen Barratt

Episode Date: September 16, 2024

Who loved a floppy haired Leonardo, a floppy haired Jared AND a long haired Hanson member? Aileen Barratt that's who! The author, funny person and feminist joins The Phonebox Podcast to chat about changing schools, rapping on live TV and how dodgy Dawson's Creek actually was.Go and follow Aileen over on Tinder Translators here. And grab her book Tinder Translator: An A-Z of Modern Misogyny.For more of me follow @brummymummyof2 on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok and follow the @phoneboxpodcast account on Instagram for polls and nostalgic fun.If you have any guest suggestions, topics you would like me to cover email [e-mail] and be sure to tag so I can see where you are listening!#90s #90smusic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the Fizz loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Phone Box Podcast with me, Emma Conway. I hope you are well. I just need you all to know it is officially sweater weather. I'm in a chunky knit. It's chilly outside. It's 10 degrees. And I think when you're listening to this, it's supposed to go up to 20, which is an absolute outrage. I want it chilly all time. I want to be watching Gilmore Girls, drinking hot chocolate. I don't want to be

sweating. Aileen, you're in a chunky knit as well aren't you I am in a chunky knit yeah are you a chunky knit girl or a hot weather girl I always run hot so like I like but I do like the summer I just wear less clothes I suppose yeah um but I love a chunky cardigan I've found my fate I found I feel like I've found my all-time ideal cardigan at the moment. I've got it in two different colours, which I don't usually do. I like the way it's covering your hands for extra, like a bit like Ariana Grande. In fact, I thought when you came on, is that Ariana Grande? Did you? Yeah, I get that a lot, actually.

In the streets of Manchester, Ariana! And you're like, no, it's not. It's a bit inconvenient at times. Yeah, it's a bit of a problem actually okay welcome to the podcast aileen could you tell everybody where my lovely listeners can find you yeah hi i'm aileen barrett um i'm on instagram as at tinder translators with an s on the end and uh uh yeah you can find me there also on facebook i believe it's also like forward slash tinder translators or something um yeah and i have

a book called a tinder translator an a to z of modern misogyny there's a pattern emerging i think you can see but yeah i love it and what can people expect if they come because if somebody listens to this and they come to your page what can they expect um well chaos like chaos feminism um some laughs and some some kind of feminist insight I do a lot of kind of stitching misogynists and saying why they're wrong um I mean just recently uh on the 90s theme I've done a post about men misunderstanding the songs Bills, Bills, Bills by Destiny's Child. I saw that, yeah. So, yeah, like, fun, fun times. Fun times. And more speaking in the comments generally, unless I go viral and the angry men find me.

Oh, the angry men find me. I did a post about a shop selling, they sold, am I going to stir it up again? No again no I don't think so I think only my dad is the man that listens to this hi dad and he's 100% on my side um I did a post about a shop that was selling countdown weight loss um how to lose weight save money uh to get your bikini body save money to get in your wedding dress and I was like what why don't you have like save money to get in your trunks yeah you know save money to become a groom that would make it equal that's fine if you want to lose weight and put a pound in for every pound call but why don't get them in the men 24 hours are the most awful comments really oh it wouldn't

i don't know why i'm surprised as if it hasn't happened to me like 7 000 times and it's quite shocking because they're there with their they're there with their daughters on their shoulders I know yeah their wife you know their lovely wife standing next to them yeah and it's so weird because it's like that is quite an innocuous thing to say you're not saying that only men should lose weight or something no I'm not saying I'm not saying don't lose weight I'm just saying they were like if people want to lose i'm like yeah cool if people want to lose weight that's cool however but do it for men as well let's just make it just don't do a different like you know yeah but then they probably moan that like oh women get everything nowadays yeah we just yeah you we can get it it was just wild. But anyway, I know it's intense because.

But generally the comment sections are quite fun and nice. That's good. Well, that's what we like to see. Okay. Now I'm excited because we, you're a 90s baby. When were you 14? I was 14 in 1998. And I just looked, this is a great year for TV.

And this is a great year for films. I want to see if you can guess one of the top films in 1998. You may have a clue if you require one. Well, Titanic was 97, was it? Or was it Titanic? Did my enthusiasm... You were right. You hit the nail on the head.

Number five was Titanic. Classic. Number two, Armageddon. Ah. Do you know what? I don't think I saw that in the cinema. But I do, you know, I've seen it. It's sad, isn't it?

Yeah. Good soundtrack. Okay, number three, Saving Private Ryan. It was a year for absolute sad films, wasn't number four there's something about Mary uh classic light-hearted Sperm in Sperm in I don't know if I made that up does she have Sperm in the Fringe yeah 100% it was a different time light-hearted Sperm in the Fringe film you know and number five the water boy with um oh flipping it what's his name adam yeah i cannot remember what happens in the water boy

for the love of me but i did go and see titanic more than once at cinema i don't know like was it like a sensation in your school i don't know how old you were oh yeah i was i would have been 16 so yeah sure it was a sensation yeah people there was a girl in my class who saw it seven times oh she did yeah but then it wouldn't have cost four million pounds oh yeah not on holiday to go and see something seven times in a year and i think i was rockef let alone I mean week yeah no it's a classic yeah it was it was such a big deal it was such a big deal um and like quoting off it I remember the the Celine obviously the Celine Dion iconic song um but also the vid in the video there was little clips from the film and so you'd have like jack there's a boat jack

you know or like you jump i jump right was one of them because i for ages thought he said you you jump high jump right like no they both got a jump um did you fancy leonardo dicaprio i did yeah yeah yeah was it because of his floppy hair um I've heard you talk about floppy hair before. Every episode. You've got a really interesting thesis there about whether or not we just fancy men for floppy hair. It definitely had something to do with that. And his boyish good looks. I think when you're like not quite through puberty, you still like boys who look a bit like children, don't you?

This is also, I could do two theses one about floppy hair and two about when you're very innocent and you don't really want boys to hurt your feelings you fancy boys that do look a bit girly so you're leonardo dicaprio you're mark owen the ones that you think i know this sounds awful you could take them in a fight it's not awful i mean you've got to think about these things as a woman but you know what i mean like very inoffensive mark owen with his dolphin tattoo and he's cropped up i was never gonna hurt me oh i mark owen was mine as as a child now i'm like what were you thinking out of them five are you mad but mark owen was never gonna hurt you was he no a man with a dolphin tattoo is not gonna do any he's he's not going to break your heart.

No, no. And he had floppy hair as well. Therefore, my thesis is proved. Yeah, it works. It works. It's no further evidence, Joanna. Okay, let's talk about top TV shows. 1998, again, great year. See if you can guess one of the five.

You may have a clue if you want. In the UK, I guess it's top five, is it? Or is it just like... I think this is kind of like worldwide, actually, because again, in 1997, it was Midsomer Murders and I don't think that would be worldwide. No. She lives in Canada.

No, this must be UK. I think about what I watched, what I was obsessed with. So I was obsessed with Dawson's Creek at that time. Don't know if that's on there. No, it should be on there. Buffy probably isn't on there either, but I'm just thinking about... Right, you're just talking about great TV shows. Yeah, I'm talking about great TV.

Okay, we've got number five, Will & Grace. Okay, oh, Friends would have been still out, wouldn't got number five, Will & Grace. Oh, okay. Oh, Friends would have been still out, wouldn't it then? Yeah, it's not on this list. That does feature in one of the other years. But number five was Will & Grace. Number four, The King of Queens. Oh, Jesus Christ.

This is definitely not a UK, is it? I don't know because I still go back again to Midsomer Murders. Yeah. But number five is King of Queens. I'd only watched that if I was in a hotel room now and it was the only thing on at half nine in the morning. Yeah, Comedy Central or something like that. There's nothing else on there's that or Frasier. Number three, Charmed.

I love Charmed. I never watched Charmed, you know. I know. I feel like I missed a seminal part of my development as a woman, not watching Charmed. I love Charmed. Number two, that 70s show. Yeah, I watched a bit of that.

Oh, God, yeah, now. We never get through a podcast without somebody mentioned who's been cancelled or severely problematic. Well, because we can't have anything nice, Emma. We can't. Every week we learn that there's another nice thing we can't have anymore because of stupid men being horrible.

That 70s show, and number one, Sex and the City. Oh, of course. Oh, it's my favourite. I do look back now and think, like, for its time it was quite empowering, but also there's a lot of it that I'm like, eh. That's the same with everything. It's awful. You're not at Dawson's Creek now's creek now terrible i had to turn it off with my daughter there's a whole plot about a teenage boy having an affair with the teacher and everyone's like yeah there is if

anyone was into dawson's creek as you uh obviously were there is a um an instagram account called dawson's deke and it's just this guy just commentating on every episode of Dawson's. It starts at episode one. And he's just like, once again, an adult wanting to fuck a child here. It's just like, it's so bad. It's so weird. And no one's going, I don't really think you should go out with your teacher, Pacey. They're all like, oi, oi, going out with his teacher.

It's like, what? It's so strange. It's so weird. And I guess it is also that horrible thing of, like, young boys being slightly more, like, seen as less vulnerable or something in that way. You know, like, it happens when you hear about an actual story about that in the news. And some people are like, well, I bet he had a great time about a 15-year-old boy. And you're like, absolutely not. No if he did he's gonna that's gonna traumatize him at some point so yeah it's mad I mean Joshua Jackson they all look about 25 oh yeah um especially

Jen Jen is really made to look like a very sexual lady yeah they also they also talk like they are like first year students that came in Cambridge or something they're like I can't I don't know if that's a word actually I've just made one up apparently another program we can't have nice things because it's but you know what I I do still enjoy Dawson's Creek. I love Sex and the City. I know. I think Dawson's Creek, there's no one on it where it's like,

I can't watch that anymore because it's not like that 70s show where it's. No, none of them have been cancelled yet. Dawson's Creek. James Van Der Beek's never going to do anything wrong. He's got 50 children and seems to be very religious. Yeah. He seems. Yeah. But then. Did you ever watch, James Van Der Beek's never going to do anything wrong he's got 50 children and seems to be very religious yeah but then did you ever watch Don't Trust the Bee in Apartment 23

no my sister loved it though she said it was absolutely brilliant anyone who plays themselves as a bit of a dick immediately goes up 10 times in my estimation yeah Matt LeBlanc absolutely you've got a bit of energy

oh yeah I think it got a bit of energy then yeah oh yeah okay so i think it was a good year for films it was a good year for telly we did all right sex in the city you're right it's got some problems it's come back with and just like that they're trying to um you know move away from their issues they had in the 90s not not sure they're succeeding I'm not I'm not I'm not really interested when Kim Cattrall's not there I uh you know well I don't want to spoil it for you but she does make an appearance does she oh yeah she does but like fleeting is it but yeah and she wouldn't be with any of the cast and it was like on the phone or something like on a different day because she hates them yeah absolutely hates sarah jessica parker anyway we're getting distracted i want to know um where you

were living when you're 14 and what was on your bedroom walls so i was living in southeast london that is the correct pronunciation um in a place called plumpstead common that's where i grew up and on my bedroom walls so i'm i should have actually looked this up like looked at the timeline properly because I I I cycled through boy bands pretty quick um so because I like to take that but obviously they were broken up in 1998 um that was early that was my first concert I ever went to 1994 I was caught went to see them um then so who else but i think probably i think i was 13 when i had hansen posters on my wall uh taylor really you know which one's taylor taylor's the middle one so not the little one

no no he was too young for me at this point. The thing about Hanson is they were like your actual age. Yeah, so if you met them in... Legitimately, we might marry each other. If you met them in like Woolworths, there's a chance you could have gone out with each other. They weren't even that good looking, do you know what I mean? Well, I mean, only one of them was good looking, I think. But also I had the album, The Middle of Nowhere, which is better than you'd think. And I was like, oh, I did it.

Me and my partner, we did mixtapes for each other in lockdown when we weren't together. It was so cute. But we did like ones about like more of like getting to know you because we didn't know each other that well. So I was like, I did like my angsty teens mixtape yeah and um there's a song on the Hanson album called weird and it's all about being like feeling a bit weird and strange like isn't it weird isn't it strange but it's also yeah and it's just basically like it's okay if you're weird and I was like 13 year old weird like sad girl who

got bullied like in my room. Oh my God. Taylor understands me. Oh, Taylor would have loved if you and Taylor would have crossed paths. Oh man. Um, yeah, it was,

I used to have dreams about us crossing paths quite frequently. Oh yes. And then in my dream, I'd go, I'd start thinking, this is a dream. You're going to wake up and be disappointed. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has

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You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not fizz switch today conditions apply details at fizz.ca again and then i think well if i was thinking that if i'm thinking that it can't be a dream and then i'd still wake up and be like oh god um so i don't know if that was 14. No, I don't know. I feel like I might've been like, oh, I don't have like posters on my wall anymore. I'm 14 or I might've had, you know, yeah, I can't remember.

I used to get smash hits and that, but that was before. I don't think, I think I was getting like Bliss and Sugar magazine by the time I was 14, which didn't really have like poster pullouts, did they? They just had, you you know how to please your boyfriend yeah position of the week what boys really like they want you to be thin and they want you to suck their willies yeah that's it girls yeah and they don't really care about the

thin bit that's just us trying to sell you stuff yeah wild time i remember position with it was that ms magazine position of it was it just 70 or more and then there was just 17 which i was not 17 when i read it nobody said nobody said who was 17 read just 17 magazine i don't think way too like they'd be like oh my god losers um yeah but yeah i definitely used to get sugar magazine every month i don't know what i was reading in there there was like and there was always the quizzes wasn't like what kind of party animal are you yeah you could obviously answer you could obviously just choose the answers whatever you wanted to be you trick yourself you you're the only person doing this quiz you're the only

person gonna see the results but you're tricking your own head and you're like oh yeah you're the life and soul of the party everybody loves you you're the like you like to read books and hide in the toilet well she sounds a loser i'm not gonna take that but you know you like to read books but you don't want the paper to know it's just so ridiculous so you trick yourself oh brilliant i'm. I'm 95% a party animal. Excellent. But I'm 14. I live in Birmingham and I don't leave my house. Right.

If there's a knock on the door, knock, knock, knock now. Yeah. And Taylor from Hanson, age now, not then because he would be a child. Yeah. Was there. I'm not the teacher from Dawson's Creek. I think he'd be wearing probably jeans, brown boots, maybe a white T-shirt. Would your heart still flutter? Hmm.

Hmm. I think a little bit of my inner child. Yeah. I mean, they still, they still like play around. They still, I saw them performing at UNBOP. No, I didn't see them. Oh, okay. Online.

And then everyone was, it was i don't know it went around recently because everyone was like um have you actually listened to the words umbop it's like super deep it is it's like it hits different yeah it's like the first lines because you know it just sounded like it's like you have so many relationships in this life only one or two will last go through all this pain and strife and you turn your back and they're gone so fast oh yeah they're gone so fast so hold on to the ones who really care oh my god they'll be the only ones there when you get old start losing your hair uh can you tell me who will still care

who will still care who will still care yeah I think they lost me with the umbot bits they could have put something a bit more who did they write it themselves I don't know actually let's say yeah yeah what kind of music were you into apart from the very deep answer yeah I feel like that's not representative of my music taste at all at that age like I was really into so Destiny's Child Right in the Wall came out in 1999 um love Destiny's Child TLC I've always been a big hip-hop fan but I guess probably that was more late teens that I got really into that and like grime and stuff so cool I'm such a cool person you're really cool um yeah um but what else um yeah just like I

loved kind of I did actually probably listen to more like girl bands and girl pop like Britney Spears um my first ever album was Eternal uh, is it Eternal with Louise or without Louise? With Louise. Oh, brilliant. The O-G. It always and forever. You know that one. Oh, my.

They were so... Oh, so it was Louise, Esther, Verney. Kelly. Kelly? Yeah, Kelly. She's a loose woman now, isn't she? Is she? Yeah, I think so.

Eternal was great. I wonder why Louise left. She was just like, peace, isn't she? Is she? Yeah, I think so. Eternal was great. I wonder why Louise left. She was just like, peace out, I'm not interested anymore. I think she just had, like, solo career offers. I think she just was, like, she wasn't, like, she's not as good a singer as some of the other people in the group. And she just probably, they were like, you can make

money as a solo artist and she did light of my life is an absolute classic track by louise nerding yeah how does that was she naked i feel like she was naked in the video and dressing me or something like that yeah um yeah it's a more of a girl group type you know spice girls were they still yeah they were still going all saints love all saints few questions that i need to know yeah exactly oh yeah i did like them i had the first the first single which was i know where it's at um but yeah i used to uh i don't know how much pocket money i was getting at this point but you used to be able to go to our price or HMV or whatever um but it was our price in Woolwich that I used to go to and when the first week of single was out you could buy the tape for 99p yeah and the cd for 199 so I

think I graduated cds at some point but I used to I used to have so many little tapes of singles. So I had that one and I probably played it, like overplayed it. And I remember I had the CD of Hit Me One More Time and my poor mother must have heard that song 7,000 times. It's an absolute classic. She should have heard it a million times. Did you, did you, the 99p cassettes came sometimes in like card. Wasn't like a plastic. Yeah, it's just like, and I was a bit disappointed when it was the card ones. The 99p cassettes came sometimes in like card. Wasn't like a plastic.

Yeah, it's just like, and I was a bit disappointed when it was the card ones. Yeah, because I want to see inlay for details. Just a bit of card right around a cassette doesn't seem very safe. So you're into girl bands. I love TLC. TLC were one of my favourites. I was more into Crazy Sexy Cool than Fanmail,

which Fanmail is the one that made them really really big With the platforms and everything But yeah What's the birthday I was like Waterfalls That's from Crazy Sexy Cool From a young age I liked learning raps

So I knew all of the raps on the Crazy Sexy Cool album I used to have a salt and pepper tape That I You're probably getting the impression I was incredibly cool on the take crazy sexy cool album I used to have a salt and pepper tape that I remember you're probably getting the impression I was incredibly cool as a teenager and child I just sit in my room and like write down a line and then pause it and then write down and like that's what we all did yeah yeah and learn all I still to this day know like an incredible like a stupid

amount of raps I mean if all of the space in my head that was taken up not just by song lyrics but just by rap lyrics was you know put to better use well it'd be over for you bitches basically I think um but yeah so I still know that the TLC I remember yesterday now could you do that rap from Waterfalls? Yeah. Can you do it for me? Because I don't play that on the radio anymore and I don't know why. The radio edit. Yeah. They missed it out.

There used to always be radio edits of songs where the raps would be taken out, whereas they don't do that anymore. It's, I seen a rainbow yesterday, but too many storms. I come and gone, leaving a trace of not one God given ray.

Is it because my life is 10 shades of grey? I pray all 10 fade away, seldom praising for the sunny days and like his promise is true only my faith can undo the many chances i blew to bring my life to a new clear blue and unconditional skies i dry the tears from my eyes normal lonely cries my only bleeding hope is for the folk who can't cope with such an enduring pain that it keeps them in the pouring rain who's to blame for shooting cane into your own vein what a shame you shoot a name for someone else's game vein you claim the insane they make you stay in time for all invaded crime i think the system got you victim to your own mind dreams are hopeless aspirations in hopes of coming true believe in yourself the rest is up to me and you yes do you

know what stick that up your bum heart 90s because we've got it on this podcast if you ever listen to heart 90s in the play waterfall they don't play the rap stop pull up this podcast you've got the rap there you go yeah don't go to spotify and listen to no i do that would be actually that may be easier easier and better but you know not better i like the way as you got more confident in the rap your accent went a bit american and i enjoyed that i thought that was quite good like oh no i like it I like it I did the same with Vanilla Ice so I did that and that is my poetry and I've said it before

I'll say it again Vanilla Ice follows me on Twitter one of my greatest achievements thank you very much because I did an Instagram post of me doing the rap

so he's seen Vanilla Ice has seen me doing Ice Ice Baby wow and he was like well i'm gonna follow her because he thought i was competition not only not only has he seen it but he has basically approved of it by following you afterwards um i need to you know he follows about 200 000 people right okay he's not he's not picky he follows and he's probably following you now because you've just put his name into the ether he's like oh my senses are tingly i think he's

probably just i don't think he's problematic but i've not done a deep dive no he's probably just doing appearances isn't he yeah i hope he appears Maybe like Beetlejuice if he's saying three times. You're right, Vanilla Ice. Okay, now you said before we started the podcast you had a bit of a tricky time at 14. So what was school like? So I went to a few different schools, not because I moved,

just because I wasn't very happy at school. And I was bullied. I also just think I didn't like fit in anywhere so it was like a bit of a combo so there was like bullying but there was also like not having that kind of core group of friends like when you've got people being mean to you there wasn't like a group of friends that were really like there to back me up I did you know wasn't it didn't like not talk to anyone but um there were people who were friendly to me but wasn't really in a group I've always found groups harder I'm more of a one-on-one friendship person I've realized like about three years ago so but it's good I've learned it now I went to an all-girls school for the beginning

of my because that was the local high school a secondary school and um and I wasn't very happy there and I felt like uh I don't know I mean I always had lots of time off school some of it wasn't about bullying but I decided to change to a mixed gendered school um and because people are like oh girls are so mean at that age well have you met a 12 year old boy because they are so hot I mean it was oh God, I can't believe I thought the girls were bad. They were so mean to me. So I went to a girls' school, so I've got no reference. I do own an 11-year-old, not own, I have an 11-year-old boy. I'm hoping when he turns 12, he doesn't turn spiteful.

No, my boy's lovely. I mean, hashtag not all boys, but the ones who bully you, but also it was like one of the biggest comps in the country, quite rough. rough like I don't know why we thought it was a good idea for me to change there and then I was um for in year nine so when I was 14 for four months I was a school refuser so I didn't go to school so that's like basically when you're bunking off but your parents and school know and everyone knows and no one's gonna like arrest your mum or whatever um uh so I didn't go and then I got into a performing arts school which I went to from year 10 and 11 one's going to like arrest your mom or whatever um uh so I didn't go and then I got into a performing arts school which I went to from year 10 and 11 and you had to kind of go

back to like finish well they didn't know that I was a school refusal we didn't tell them that when I was applying um but they were like uh yeah your place is you've got to finish year nine whatever so I went back and did my facts got the best in my class and went, well done. See you later, dickheads. But yeah, it was, yeah, so it wasn't great. I kind of just floated around different friendship groups. And I think starting, starting in the middle of like year eight was not, not the best idea really. Did you enjoy your time at the Performing Arts College? Yeah, that was amazing. That that would like genuinely saved my life

probably um because I was a bit of a drama geek I was a geek geek like school nerd geek but I was also like love drama and it was like not cool like it's like the drama geeks but in this performing arts school even the people who were really cool were like if you were good at acting were like really good at acting and I remember like coming in and like people saying you look pretty today and me being like it's a trap for the first like you know few few months and then sort of like being like oh I mean I'm just gonna be myself here and I think we were all just there's a lot of a lot of weirdos um that's nice neurodivergence and I was like oh you know we can all sing Hanson weird together it's

great you know you find your little people yeah yeah definitely found my people there and then yeah and I ended up going to a school like sixth form um so I've changed again so I went to four high schools um but that was because I wanted to do a levels and not a b-tech so it could like apply to Cambridge yeah did you get into Cambridge I did and then I left in my second year like you have to do an essay every week and you have to go and like sit in front of a professor and talk about it just on your own and also everybody wants you to go out drinking every night and I was like not an okay like I had anxiety and depression anyway I just looked like yeah you don't why are you doing this and then I went to Manchester Union

did the same course history and I loved it and I did really well and I had a really nice time so it was just a different thing but yeah so my my school years were varied but I like sixth form because I think again by sixth form people don't really care like you can just be who you are like it's not as you know I think those those like 13 14 year old years they are like probably some of the trickiest where you kind of want to fit in and you want everyone to like especially year nine I think you know well I think you showed real resilient that you just kind of like found where you should be rather than like just sticking out and having a terrible time you're like no I'm gonna find my find the people yeah um yeah and it was yeah it was great and it yeah it was uh

all formative all formative but yeah I was quite a sad I am more of a melancholic person like I like a little I like a sad song I like a sad I like a cry yeah you know what I mean like I I like that kind of it's quite it's a weird thing to say, like you enjoy being sad, but that's not quite it. There's a book called Bittersweet, which is about people who are like naturally a bit more sad. And there's like people who are naturally a bit more happy. Yeah. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. But when you try not to be sad all the time, that's what really messes you up. Oh, yeah. That'd be really you'd be like your body would be so tense all the time trying to be happy um so what kind of fashion were you rocking in your year nine anything I want to know any real bad fashion faux pas that you're like that was awful yeah yeah no like I

don't really remember what I remember is because is the thing of like you had a uniform but like you had to like try and kind of tailor it as much as you could in order to look cooler but also obviously you could you know you had a uniform but everybody had to have like what shoes have you got what coat have you got what bag have you got was the thing um and it's so funny because it was like you know not a rich I bet in but in private school no one's going like what bag have you got it's all people who whose mum's you know earns 10 grand a year going like oh well and I remember my mum turned 50 when I was 13 I think we went to we went to visit her friends in New York so we went to New York and that was amazing for like five days or four days and she

and so we and it was back when you could probably get cheap flights to new york so it was like a it was a big deal we didn't go on holiday loads and stuff it was her 50th and when we were over there she was like i'm going to buy you some clothes because they're cheaper over here that was also like when pam was strong it was a different time. But like, I've got a Calvin Klein puffer jacket. So I was wearing that. And then there was this boy at school called me a tramp. And I still remember this thing of going, this girl being like,

what, a tramp in Calvin Klein and kickers? And then I went, yeah, a tramp in Calvin Klein and kickers. You weren't in a tramp. You were in Calvin Klein and kickers. Even I would have said a tramp in Calvin Klein and kickers. I wouldn wouldn't have even i would have been excited to have touched a calvin klein jacket it must have been there's a warehouse thing i mean maybe it was fake i can't remember but it was like and it was really warm it was like a really really good my mom's always my mom's also like she's she's proper early boomer age she's like

born in 47 yeah and she has you know buy cheap buy twice like you spend money on your coats and your shoes um because you'll that's you know that'll see you through type thing um but yeah like had yeah everyone it was quite pressured to have like name brand items um but then when I went to this uh Pull Me Out school it wasn't there wasn't the uniform no it's just whatever yeah and then you I think everyone tried to dress up for the first like few weeks you know like and then everyone kind of realized I can't do this every day for the whole year and then no you can't you've only got about four outfits and then it got cold as well it gets cold you know um so i remember having a really massive red hoodie with che guevara on it when i was like 14 15 so far i was like yeah i'm like really left-wing i'm really cool like yeah um a little bit of a social justice warrior um but that obviously I remember a teacher going to me

do you know who that is and they were like okay it's fair enough because I do think there were a lot it was quite big wearing Che Guevara t-shirts back then and I think a lot of people didn't really know who it was yeah there was a lot of there was a lot of wearing stuff that people I used to wear tops from bands I didn't listen to. I had a Cure t-shirt. No. Friday Home in Love, great song. Didn't know any others, but I wore that Cure t-shirt quite a lot.

I mean, I had, yeah, like they, slogan t-shirts were big. Oh my God, I had this t-shirt from Topshop and it had, oh, that was what it was. It was, I just remember it was like a black sleeveless top. Yeah. And it had loads of writing on it. At the front it said, it had, when I'm good, I'm very, very good. And then on the back it said, but when I'm bad, I'm better. So that's quite awful, isn't it?

I've just, I'd forgotten about that. The slogan tees were really terrible. I'm surprised it didn't have like an arrow pointing to your bum or something as well. They were all so inappropriate. I didn't have these, but I remember someone having trousers that there was a thing of like jeans that had handprints on the back.

Of course. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, all kinds of things. I mean, it's all a fashion faux pas when you look back you know what I mean although now it's there are people walking around the streets dressing like I did when I was 15 at the moment and I yeah it's quite bad it is quite um is it no is it called y2k or is that a bit later isn't that's the naughty

it is y2k is that that kind of yeah yeah yeah and i'm like i don't even feel bad that oh god you know like my late teens are now retro i just feel bad for the people wearing it like it didn't look good then why like you know the big belts the big medallion belts they're back low slung jeans we did jodie marsh belt top but do you remember when Jodie Marsh wore two belts as a top? Oh, yeah. Those are back because I went into Free People. Have you ever been into Free People? Where they are selling a Jodie Marsh belt, not for tops,

for, I don't know, £150. What is this madness? It's actually mad. It's actually mad. Yeah, so um yeah so i think i mean i went through i went through a phase where i wore loads of bangles all the time oh yeah love a bangle yeah uh and uh oh and those little hair clips you know twist twist your hair and put them in a little tiny little um what they're called crocodile clips or gorilla clips and little butterfly ones as well yeah with the bangles if you had metal ones sometimes they'd smell and they'd turn your wrist a bit

green that's what i found you know that kind of like real like oh i think most of them are plastic actually oh no yeah but they used to jingle a lot um and i used to i went through a phase where i put you know the glitter gel just put it under my eyes every day after school for my look. I don't think I had any other makeup on, just put glitter gel on. Put glitter gel on. There was a lot of interesting fashions. They are coming back. I wish I kept some of the stuff for my daughter

because she would have loved it. She really wants a juicy couture track suit. That's hilarious. That's so funny. She really, really wants. When we go into Urban outfits i'm like i used to have one of them i used to have that i used to have some trousers with a dragon up the leg and she just looks at me with such like yeah that's hilarious oh my god the dragon motifs i

didn't know they were back oh yeah i like oriental dragons up your leg oh lovely with a stussy hat it's just it's all i think that's is that not a bit coach cultural appropriation and i think we'll be doing that in 20 i don't think urban outfitters care about stuff like that they're just like i'm gonna sell this for 95 pound in only a size two that's what they all care about okay so we tackled fashion two will be a small two as well have you ever been into brandy melville no i don't know we don't have one yeah you see we don't have one in birmingham i bet you don't have one in manchester either you know some shops are just like london shops yeah and if you go to london this is the only place we can go

brandy melville is all one size and the size is a slim 13 year old girl every single item tops pants trousers everything is one size only I've never been in such an unhinged place it is because I had to have a chat with my daughter because she loves it and she fits into it all but I'm like there's gonna come a point you're not gonna fit into it because your body you'll become a woman it's physically impossible it's one day you're not gonna fit into Brandy melville yeah but it yeah and one i don't know why more people don't cause outrage about it but mad yeah yeah like god it's just like an eating disorder waiting to happen isn't it just like oh well nope that's it now too big a london shop yeah so we have had a little bit of a chat about that

okay so we um we've talked about fashion what do you think your greatest teenage success was I mean you were fairly resilient going to different places was there anything else you did that you're like that was ace um uh I've just thought of this um I was on the I wrapped on the bigger breakfast uh with my friend two friends. I think I was 14, actually. So on the side of school, I did performing arts and stuff. Or maybe I was 13. Me and my mates, we had a girl group.

We called ourselves The Element. And I wrote a song and we went on and sang it a cappella and I did a rap on The Bigger Breakfast. Right. I've got many questions about this one who was presenting was it chris evans was it gabby roslin was it johnny it was it was a bigger breakfast so it was so it was melanie sykes and derma o'leary i think was it no it can't no it wasn't derma o'leary it was ben shepherd melanie sykes and ben shepherd yeah melanie what 90s icons i know yeah so mel and ben and was it in the big breakfast house yes and you went into the house or you're in the

garden bit with the white fence around it no we're in the house but it's weird though because it's like you come into it it's like a studio but then it's a house I don't really remember it that much I remember it was Johnny Vaughn time because we were waiting in like whatever the back area is and Johnny Vaughn was having a full English were Zig and Zag there not that I saw didn't meet him didn't meet them unfortunately okay were there any but was there any other guests on this is thrilling to me i don't remember any other guests being there i imagine if they were probably be like in a different room like or earlier or later because you remember when it was summer they it would be on to like 12 so it'd be like the big breakfast and then it would be on channel 4 it'd be on from like 9 till 12 would be

and it would in between there'd be shows and stuff it'd be a bit like um like an smtv live or it'd be like zig and zad introduced and saved by the bell yeah and then saved by the bell okay so did you write in did they find you what happened so it was like there was a there was a a segment called the next big thing and uh we and it was like it was like kids you know it you know a kid playing the recorder or whatever i don't know it's just anything like kids doing stuff and we rang up and i think we sang acapella on the voice on like the voicemail or whatever or like we sang harmonies or something and then yeah like they had us on and then we thought oh my god this is it it wasn't it hanson are gonna see this we're gonna be supporting them until do you know what i mean like can you

imagine what my life might have been um yeah so that was fun absolutely do you know what i love about this podcast you can have a chat and then all of a sudden somebody comes up with a story like that there's been you there's been somebody was in working a shop and keanu reeves came in heck man somebody else did work experience with five for two weeks these this is the news this is the content i want to put into the environment you were rapping in my head zig and zag you might not have seen them but they were watching. And they were going this girl, she's got it. They were nodding at each other like that, yeah, yeah, yeah. They were like, be quiet though, be quiet.

I do waterfalls, that's what they were thinking. Zig and Zag, if you're listening, we made you wish this could have come true. That is a brilliant story. Okay, was there anything you flopped hard and you have regrets about? Um, I feel like I don't really I don't I'm not a big regrets person in in a way um I think I probably like flopped at like really wanting a boyfriend but but then

getting boyfriends and being like I don't actually like you like I don't really want to kiss you I'm a bit scared you know when you're a teenager I remember um or like my first guy who I probably called my boyfriend I was definitely 14 actually I think and he I remember I quite really fancied him and then when we kissed it I mean this wasn't my flop I just remember it like my mouth my mouth. You know, like the washing machine. Yeah, I just feel like a lot of my first kisses and stuff weren't. Wet. Were just, yeah, there's too much tongue. Yeah, and I remember basically, I think it gave me the ick.

I don't think we ever, like, I think I dumped him, like, after that. We didn't know about the ick then, did we? No. The a thing it was a thing it wasn't a thing but that was it that i mean i guess that's a that's a kind of justified ick though isn't it like kissing someone and being like um the physical yeah just and generally like really wanting to fancy like nice boys but always ending up like fancying boys who were horrible and didn't like me absolute rotters the wrong guns it is a it is an absolute path that we all go through we all fancy a rotter we all go out with a boyfriend who's an absolute wrong gun yeah and then you see them and they're with other girls like like sometimes i see my rotters now and i'm like

they're with the people i'm like oh good luck love yeah yeah really nice turned out into a really nice man grown-up man the first guy my first like proper boyfriend um and uh he yeah like i'd still know him because he was i was in a choir i was in a church choir again so cool um from when i was 14 to 18 and he was his I was in a choir, I was in a church choir. Again, so cool. From when I was 14 to 18 and he was, his dad was the choir master, son of a preacher man almost. And yeah, and he was, he was just not great. He was a bit older and he was, yeah, not great. Sounds like a Netflix film that does join in a choir

and the preacher's son's a real wrong gun. Yeah, yeah. That in a series and I'll watch it. He was like posh wrong gun because he went to boarding school so he wasn't there very often you're adding even more elements at boarding school lovely i think i need to write a novel about my 14 year old year like i just write it because then like it ends when she goes to she gets into her new performing art school and it's like a happy ending do it and and you can get hansen in it yeah and hansen can play the choir master taylor from hansen will be the choir master because do you know what i mean yeah and then

and that's how you get to meet him that is an upgrade of my choir master i'll tell you that but that's okay because who would play you oh as a 14 year old yeah i don't know any 14 year old actresses no um i'd have i would have had claire danes in the 90s claire danes and she'd have been wearing like a lumberjack shirt she'd have been wearing like a dress with like docks and tights and her hair would have been so straight with a bit of red in we didn't mention the tv but is one of the greatest teenage shows of all time my so-called life i regularly think why do they only do one season i wonder if it's because like claire dane's got lots of other stuff and she's a cow she's a cow she took that from us yeah jared leto but jared leto jared leto how like i think he's isn't he cancelled is

he i don't know if he's cancelled he's weird though isn't he he's like it's really funny when you tell gen z that he was like a heartthrob oh god like a kind of uncomplicated heartthrob just like the bad boy hot guy they're like what oh my god he could have been the bad boy in the oh he could have been in the film but not now you wouldn't have him in the film but jared leto back in the day floppy hair i rest i rest my case okay if you could go back in time and talk And talk to Aileen then, what would you say to her? I would say, your brain's a bit different from other people's brains. No one's going to notice that because you do well in school, but just be kind to yourself about it.

And you don't have to impress grownups all the time. Your worth is not based on your academic achievements which I kind of was like very stressed about being doing well in school which stood me in good stead I've got some great certificates um but uh yeah I think what I would mostly say though is like you don't need to like be in the most popular friendship group like just find one person and hang out with them and like just don't worry about it and like you'll get don't worry boys start fancying you you know also I was tall I was I I'm 5'9 almost 5'10 I think and uh I think I stopped growing

when I was 14 so I was like taller than every boy yeah I'm not fancying boys they're like looking up at me like yeah hansen definitely would have been looking up at you because i imagine them to be five two all three of them all three of them well isaac the older one he was uh he was about 17 but um yeah i remember i went to one of their concerts there was a girl these girls next to me had brought banners and one of they had a banner for each one like a you know a sort of poster for each one, Taylor and Zach and Isaac. And I was like, oh, you've got like, you like Isaac. And she was like, yeah, I just feel bad for him.

So like. Like he needs the love of a random. Also, we were like, it was like in Wembley or something. We were like 7,000 rows back. Because he's playing and he's like, no, oh, there's just the one girl out there she's the one isaac i'm a married deaf girl um are you glad you grew up then or do you wish you were growing up now

um a bit of both like obviously social i'm glad that I grew up then in terms of social media when in terms of the bullying and like some of the stuff that people said to me in school I can't imagine if I was on social media because basically if you're bullied if you were bullied in the 90s you went home and you had a safe haven you like you didn't have to you obviously think about that kind of stuff but nobody could get to you no it couldn't whereas like now obviously I think kids are like even my son's 10 and I think they're they've so much more educated on that stuff but and you know I think they also kind of kids are quite anti-bullying now I feel but maybe that changes in secondary school we'll see hopefully not um but yeah like I think I wouldn't yeah I'm glad that like the internet and like I think that pressures to look certain a certain way have gotten worse in a lot of ways of like all the

aesthetics and everything now um so like I'm quite glad in that way and I'm quite glad that like I could I didn't have a phone at all. You know, I just walk around. I just went out and then I came back, you know, and I think I got a phone when I was like 15. But by that time I was going to trains to school and back and, you know, just doing it, you know, but I wish I'd lived now because I think that I probably am neurodivergent. And I think it would be,

would have been good to understand that about myself as a kid. And like, obviously that's, it's massive awareness is like happening now and especially for women. And so that would have been good, but because I was bright in terms of school work, like no one cares. No one's going to assess as someone who's getting it. As long as you're not being naughty, that's all that matters. Even when I wasn't a school refuseruser even though my attendance was always really bad

nobody went oh maybe like there's a yeah going on there that's not just like oh she's a girl she's emotional yeah um but yeah you can get away with a lot when you get a so you don't get yeah they just don't care do they there's kind of pluses and cons to everything well thanks so much for coming on the podcast we always do a poll on instagram i think i should get people to nominate their favorite songs with raps in from the 90s and then we can choose which the winner will be what do you think the winner could be i mean for me it's going to be tough to top ice ice baby i mean our waterfalls is up there for me. I mean, I think Lisa Left Eye Lopez, May She Rest In Peace,

is one of the most underrated rappers. I mean, what else is there? Because a lot of songs with raps in, it's around Y2K, it's around the 2000s, they start inserting raps into more songs, like rap becomes more mainstream. Push It by Salt-N-Pepa pepper i mean um what about snow informer so that got a rap in it you know somebody shot me down the hill yeah i don't think he says licky bum bum down does he i mean what else does he say

what else could it be in my head it's a licky bum down, but I don't think that makes any sense. Did you, I got five on it. That's great. I mean, there's loads. There's loads. People nominate them. We'll put up a call to action on Instagram, nominate, then we'll do a vote on Spotify. You can leave a comment. Please do.

At the moment, my dad currently is the only person who does. Go and keep him company every week. He'll say, nice chat, love Roger. Nice chat. And Roger's my dad. So go and keep in company every week it'll say nice chat love roger nice chat and roger's my dad so go leave a little comment over there and also i'll do a poll and i think i will do a poll on there of let's duke it out between the tv and the film and who what the best or maybe no i'll do what have you seen at these shows yeah that's what i'll do and if people have seen them um so so thanks so much i'll. All the links to where people can find you below. And thanks for coming on the podcast.

And guys, I will see you next week for another podcast. And I will see you soon. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. We'll be right back. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600. Or visit connectsontario.ca. Select games only. Guarantee void if platform or game outages occur. Guarantee requires play by at least one customer until jackpot is awarded.

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