The Phonebox Podcast With Emma Conway - Parkas, Britney & Dodgy Haircuts: Taylor James (The Waffle Shop Podcast)

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

Who had a haircut he still regrets, rocked a parka with baggy jeans and fancied Enrique Iglesias? Top Podcaster Taylor James that's who! In this episode of The Phonebox Podcast we chat about leaving Britney alone. How Pitbull is underrated and why we think 00s pop can never EVER be topped.Be sure to go and listen to The Waffle Shop podcast here and go and follow Taylor on instagram here.If you are struggling with any mental health issues please contact Mind here.Listen to Pitbull and Dolly here!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!#00s #00smusic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, you're a Canadian podcast listener, and that makes you important to us. We'd like to know more about you, what you think of this podcast, and the other podcasts you'd like to hear. So we put together a super brief survey we'd like you to fill out. Complete it, and we'll give you a chance to win one of three $100 Amazon gift cards. That way, we can say thanks for your opinion. Just go to mypodcastsurvey.ca and have your say. That's mypodcastsurvey.ca. Hello, everybody, and welcome to this week's episode of the Phone Box Podcast with me,

Emma Conway. How the devil are you? It's a sad day today. Both of my kids are back at secondary school. How has this happened? I swear they were literally three and five, two weeks ago. It's terrifying. I was just talking about waving my little boy off

in his little tiny pea head with his Alan Sugar blazer and he just walked off. And then my daughter just didn't even turn back. She just walked. She just walked and walked. Taylor, what do you remember about going back to school in the noughties i think the oversized blazer um i wasn't fortunate to have a p head um it's quite the opposite quite meatball yeah definitely the uncomfortable new shoes the oversized blazer or jumper. It was a scratchy jumper, actually, not a blazer I had.

But yeah, a lot of oversizedness. Us mums like buying people things two or three sizes too big because you're going to be having this till year 10. The blazer he's gone off in today, I'm expecting him to be wearing in sixth form. It's like running on the floor. Because that's because i cut off the logo i'm walking down the aisle in his school blazer because you know what we're thrifty queens and that's what we do we want everybody to use this stuff for as long as

possible however my daughter has grown about five foot so i did have to buy her her second blazer. I was absolutely enraged. And not only that, she has things sewn on and I had to unpick them and sew them on the new one. She's got, gets like awards for sports, can't relate, but she's got like netball, hockey, rounders, sew them on the new

one. I know, man. Who? If I hadn't have seen her pulled from my own womb having a C-section, I would have thought she was a random child because she's not my child. I've not done one single sport in my life and I never shall. So, yeah, she's really good at sports. And also, anyway, both kids are gone. I feel, quite frankly, manic. I feel quite frankly manic.

So it's good to be sat down with Taylor from the waffle shop podcast today. Taylor, where can my friends find you? I don't like to give out my address because I've had some quite scary experiences in the past with moon pink cards. But the waffle shop podcast, it's like available everywhere Spotify, Apple all the usual places

that you would listen to and then probably Instagram's probably the most active at Waffle Shop I think if you type in Waffle Shop I think

yeah it should come up or you'll get the account of a really nice shop where you can buy waffles both winning to be honest. What is the, why are you called the Waffle Shop Podcast?

So it was kind of born out of a necessity of talking. And you'll probably find out very quickly that I do tend to waffle on quite a lot. Good. So do I. This is going to be five hours long. Welcome to part 78 um but then it kind of it as i was kind of talking about it and kind of coming up with ideas obviously we go to the shop to get our necessities the things that we need to kind of function to survive and then it was almost kind

of like when i said it out loud it was like the waffle shop it was like okay i'm talking about the things that are important to me but i'm also getting what I need from it with people talking about their coping mechanisms or this stuff that gets them through their tough times. So it just made sense when I said it out loud. So it was like the waffle shop. So yeah, no food involved, unfortunately. So yeah, I do let a lot of people down for that side. I like to bring it back with the conversation. it back with the waffle with the chat well do you know what we're going

to waffle a lot now because there's nothing more than i love talking about the 90s and the noughties i just adore it however you are young and this is a problem i am old you are young this is this is this disturbs me when the youth come on. But you're going to give us a good insight into the noughties, aren't you? Because you were 14 in what year? 2004. Not 2014. It's because I was born in 1990.

So then I fell into this trap of like, well, I was one in 91. I was two in 92. And obviously, 2014, I just assumed I was 14. I wasn't. Because then you really would be very young. And I'm like, oh my gosh, he really is a child.

Okay, 2004. Right. I like to ask, what do you think was the biggest selling single of 2004? Oh, I think I do know this, but you're opening a can of worms with this oh god why why am I opening

I created a playlist and then I was like oh my god but then it was quite disturbing it's like some of these songs we should not have been singing at 14. Oh no oh some of them rude and some of the people cancel because most every week somebody on this podcast we talk about has been full cancelled um what do you think the best, the biggest bestselling single of 2004 was? I think it's Usher. Yeah. You're wrong. No.

But that, I would say, is a brilliant song. Oh, I'm intrigued. However, Band Aid 20 with Do You Know It's Christmas. a brilliant song oh I'm intrigued however bandaid 20 with do you know it's christmas to be fair

who was in bandaid 20 it's in bojo I can tell you go so it was Coldplay

Bono was still doing it The Darkness Dizzy Rascal The Sugar Babes Dido Will Young Robbie Williams and I know this because that is my favourite version of Band-Aid.

And it's still, you know when you get like, you're wrapped at the end of the year? Yes. Guaranteed. I listen to it all year round. And you're like that. You are the number one fan in the top 0.001%. I think I'm probably the only person who still listens to's just you, Bono and Dido. Is it Bono or Bono? It's not Bono, is it? I don't know.

I just, I copied you. I'm wondering if probably people say Bono. It's Bono. Do you know what? That is a good band-aid. Where's Dido? What's happened to her? I don't know.

But Jason Derulo did a horrible remix of one of the famous Dido? What's happened to her? I don't know, but Jason Derulo did a horrible remix of one of the famous Dido songs very recently. And I was just like, why are we doing this? This is how you know I'm getting to a certain age because I'm now hearing these song samples and thinking, oh, well, I remember the original. So I'm now that age. That pixie haircut. Oh, she was well, I remember the original. So I'm now that age. That pixie haircut.

Oh, she was lovely, Dido was. I actually like Band Aid. Now, I don't know what, I think it was just called like Band Aid 2 and it had like Bross in it and people like that. That was a good one. I think Kylie, Jason was in it. Bross was in it. Maybe like Brother Beyond. Maybe like the Pasadenas or something.

It was very stock Aiken and Waterman, Band-Aids. That was a good one. However, some of the lyrics of Band-Aid are a bit troublesome these days. It's not. There's a few Christmas songs that are a bit like the classic ones. But yeah, Band-Aid, 20, who would have thought it? But Usher, other famous songs. We've got Dip It Low by Christina Milian.

That's a great one. Yes, that is good. Five Colours in Her Hair by McFly. Anthem. Anthem, obviously by McFly. Hey, you're a Canadian podcast listener, and that makes you important to us. We'd like to know more about you,

what you think of this podcast, and the other podcasts you'd like to hear. So we put together a super brief survey we'd like you to fill out, complete it, and we'll give you a chance to win one of three $100 Amazon gift cards. That way, we can say thanks for your opinion. Just go to mypodcastsurvey.ca and have your say. That's my podcast survey dot ca oh this is a good what love machine by girls allowed it was just a big year it's a big it was then it's insania by peter andre okay yeah no i was Insania what he sung on... Do-do-do-do-do-do.

Do-do-do-do-do-do. Yeah. Something like that. Was it what he sung on I'm a Celebrity to Katie Price? It's Insania. Probably. I feel like that was where their love story started. I feel like I'm getting flashbacks now.

Do you know what? Maybe I shouldn't say this, but I love the love story between part peter andre and kate price you remember their their version of a whole new world god it's embedded in my brain or when she did eurovision in like a cat suit and she was like i don't know eight months pregnant just love it i love it i used to watch every one of their shows any reality tv show with kate price and Peter Andre, I was there. I loved it.

I'm glad he's happy. And she seems to be getting married, I think, to somebody. I mean, she must. I mean. She always is. When is it? Yeah, I was about to say, when isn't she? Okay, so we've established 2004, you were 14.

Where were you growing up at this time? So born and bred in Coventry. So not so far away from yourself. Yeah, never kind of left. Still here. Same with me, Birmingham. Born in Birmingham, live in Birmingham. I'll probably die in Birmingham.

It's just the way it is. But it's home. I feel like it's one of those things. It's like a sibling, isn't it? Like you can kind of slag them off or you can take shots at them. But the minute anyone else says you're like, oh, hang on a minute. You've crossed the line here. No.

Absolutely. If anybody, if I can take the mickey out and say bono, but if anybody says the Birmingham accent is the number one worst accent in the world, which they regularly do, I'm absolutely raging. You've seen the polls. I mean, it's quite high, but it's not ever number one,

I don't believe. Birmingham's always number one, Bab. Birmingham is what, yeah. I was trying to be kind. Everybody hates the Birmingham accent. You know, I love it. And my dad is the most Birmingham man man the most Brummie man in the history of the world so I've you know I love it what was on your bedroom walls did you have posters

see yeah so at the time I think I was still sharing a room with my younger brother so I think there was the room was decorated with Coventry City Football Club wallpaper. I despise football, so I had no say in that whatsoever. But it was very much kind of growing out of, my brother was like a big wrestling fan. I was like a Pokemon fan. So like the posters are probably worse still on the wall at that time. But I think it was slowly getting to the stage

where the posters were coming down of the pikachus and triple h's my little boy loves i mean he's not even but he loves pokemon oh obsessed yeah he does really really love a little bit of a little bit of pokemon he likes getting all the cards and stuff and he's got like folders with all the cards in i don't know if one day that will stop or he might become a some sort of you hang on to them do you make money prices of them oh my i think i mean i don't know i think it's jake paul i'm not obviously way before the youtube generation but i'm pretty sure he walks around with like a solid 24 carat charizard pokemon card or something around his neck i might have just made that up i know you haven't made it because ethan sometimes tells me facts about pokemon cards it's quite hard to keep on top of it but that sounds familiar it sounds like he bought one of the logan are

they logan brothers or the paul brothers hang on what's their last names yeah look paul logan paul and the other one's jake paul yeah one of them definitely had something to do with a very expensive pokemon card because he did tell yeah he's always telling me this is gonna be this is like 20 pound and i'm like okay we'll just keep them um so you had pokemon if you could have had crushes up on your walls who would you have had i really enjoyed this question so that i apparently so I think around that time things were a little bit blurry so that my memory is not great um so I thought oh I'm gonna ask my mum um so the standards around that time was Rachel Stevens yeah crush um Holly Valance big crush kiss yes in the denim. Yeah. Baby Spice. Yeah, obviously. I think everyone had a crush on Baby Spice. And then this one came out the blue. I don't remember this at all. But my mum was like, and Enrique Iglesias. Oh, boy, okay.

Yeah. And in her words, she should have known then. So you're like, Stephens Holly Valance and Enrique Iglesias Yeah I think it was anyone with a tan to be honest by the sounds of things

Anyone with a slight tan I'm thinking is it the video or is it Hero that would have been the Enrique with and didn't he have

who was the tennis player in the video Anna Sharpa I don't know Is he still married to her No no you haven't Anna

Sharapano No not Sharapano but if you're listening if you're listening I don't know. Is he still married to her? No, no, you haven't. Anna Sharapanonova. No, not Sharapanonova. That's a dessert. If you're listening, sorry. Did I pronounce you wrong? Yeah. Are they still married? I think they had kids.

Do you know what? For someone who doesn't remember, I clearly know that. Do you know what? I'm Googling Enrique and Enrique's wife. Enrique Iglesias. He's 49. That's nice. Now, he hasn't been cancelled, has he?

No. And a cornicover. There we go, cornicover. Still married. They've been married for 24, 23 years. Lovely. Could have been you, apart from you were 14. That would have been weird.

Yeah. But, I don't know. Could have been you. Apart from you were 14. That would have been what you heard. Yeah. But. Oh no, there's no but. I don't know why I said but. But he's going to see me. Yeah. Okay. So Holly Valance, Kiss Kiss, Rachel Stevens, Sweet Dream, My LAX,

which is one of the absolute bangers. That was a great song. I loved that. Sweet Dream My L.A.X. And I was thinking about today, Jerry Halliwell with Look At Me. That was another absolute classic track. Yes. We need more of those.

But it comes back to the lyrics. I'm sure there was a song that she did as well, Jerry Halliwell, called My Chico Latino yeah yeah yeah the word like you listen like back at some of these songs

and you're like what what were we on My Chico Latino and she was really slim in like a little little little yeah on the boat

oh lovely what were we on we were on good stuff because they were all great they don't make them like they used to they don't make them like Rachel used to. They don't make them

like Rachel, Steve. Oh, if I was on a night out, which would be rare because I haven't been on a night out for about a decade and they played Rachel, Steve and Sweet Dreams

and Mail X, I'd lose my mind. I would be screaming them at the pop-up This is the thing, those songs and I mean, I built a whole

kind of like podcast around this, but those songs soundtrack like so many good memories and when you hear them especially when you least expect it like it's just an instant hit of like nostalgia joy like good time even bad times some of these songs but that I love that music does that so it really can spark like um I had a boyfriend and he said to me,

oh, there's a cold place. You know that cold place? Come up and see me. See me. Scientist. Right. Which is all about literally falling out of love with somebody, isn't it?

Terrible. And when we were going out together, he was like, yeah, this song reminds me of you. And at the time I was like, oh, that's sweet. But now I'm like, no, that song is really, really terrible, terrible. And every time it comes on the radio, my little heart just goes. It's been like 20 years. I'm just like, oh, a little bit heartbroken.

You don't have like a science degree or anything like that? Me, I have a science degree. No, I'm going to laugh. Okay, so you had football on your walls. You had Coventry posters on your walls. If you could have done, you'd have had Enrique and holly did you have like fun bedspreads were they like pokemon bedspreads or just normal bedspreads i think it was an england bedspreads the first one that kind of like popped into my head it was like there there are three lions in like a shield kind of like emblem um white red

blue i think that was the bed sheet for for quite a while I think I I kind of remember there being a Coventry City one and just the whole room just being like this almost obnoxious sky blue color yeah um but yeah that's I never had any like fun bedspreads or anything like that I think in England one sounds quite fun were you at the year of inflatable chairs or were you past that so I think when I was in primary school there was there the inflatable chairs um to be fair I got an inflatable chair one year for Christmas um and my mum used to send all our wrapping um to my nan because she she loves christmas like and what she didn't realize that when she was wrapping it when she was like doing something

with the scissors she went through the inflatable chair so i think it was a simpson about simpson inflatable chair so obviously when it came to christmas day and trying to blow it up i was there for quite a while trying to understand why. Oh, and I bought some inflatable chair. Sounds brilliant as well. It was from Argos or somewhere like that. Of course it was from Argos. It was one of those like, my mum used to do this like voucher thing where she would put in so much money a month or something

and at the end of the year she would get like a book of. Yeah, the catalogue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, something like that. So yeah, that's definitely the area of the i'm sad about the inflatable chair i i missed the inflatable chair but i've had people on here who had inflatable bags inflatable bins there was a whole it's all passed me by okay what kind of school did you go to and where did you fit in the hierarchy so i went to um quite a it was a catholic school

so it was kind of very like ary we had to do I don't know why I led with that just making sure that was a good Catholic boy and in the hierarchy

I I think I was just a bit of a floater if I'm being honest like I never had any issues at school kind of got on with everyone

kind of kept myself to myself and just kind of like plodded along. I was a bit of a nerd, but not a nerd. But then I also kind of just, yeah, I could kind of sit next to anyone and just get on with them. I was quite lucky.

Just kept your head down. Yeah, compared to obviously a lot of the stories you hear with people in secondary school. But yeah, I was very, I don't know how because my haircut kind of would have warranted me to be what was your haircut what did you have well I have it was the bowl in primary school I had the bowl haircut secondary school it kind of wasn't so much of a bowl it was just more of like a greasy overgrown fringe kind of situation um so yeah i look back at some of those photos now of like secondary school and think like

i think a lot of people do actually like what on earth i had a shaggy perm we've all had horrendous haircuts um and i'm sure my children, actually my children have got quite normal hair, but maybe hair that's normal now in 20 years' time won't feel normal. But I mean, they look at the, I think actually children, teenagers today look better than we did because they just got more like makeup skills. Or tools as well. Yeah, fashion. Like we didn't have like YouTube videos as well yeah fashion like we didn't have

like youtube videos to put on eyeshadow or we didn't we didn't know nothing did we we just kind of like yeah i had no idea so i do think and also they like quite good at knowing their angles for photos and whereas we were just like oh like first day of school yeah we just had a tub of wet look gel. Wet look gel. Yeah, I still like the smell of that. Yeah, sunning we had. Did you use sunning as a boy? I don't remember. To be fair, I think I'm quite sensitive to smell,

so I think my brother used to use all that kind of stuff. I stayed clear of the wet look gel, hence the overgrown greasy fringe. Yeah, sunning was used quite a lot where it's just like, I'm going to say poison, poison on your hair and you blow dry it and it would dye it. It was just, yeah. Oh, yeah, but it would often go a little bit orange, just a little tiny little bit orange.

But my daughter actually the other day said, oh, she gets sunning. I was like, no, no, thank you very much. We are not, we're not doing that. Okay, so we've talked about your bad hair. What kind of clothes are you wearing? I want to know fashion flop. Fashion flop would be the oversized jeans with the turnips. Because I swear, still to this day, I struggle to buy jeans.

I've got quite thick thighs, so I can't quite rock a skinny jean because it, yeah, it just looks odd. But even in secondary school, I think I just went for like a boot cut jean as a standard and then obviously didn't really care about leg length and then just turned them up at the end. So I think still to this day, my friends give me quite a bit of shit i like the eye in my head you've got these turnip jeans but the bottom of them is dragging through puddles oh and the rain is slowly almost soaking up to the back of your knees yeah yeah perhaps

a little bit frayed maybe a little bit i would cling on to them for dear life until it got to a stage where like even the homeless people would be like giving me money yeah yeah you know come on get yourself a new pair of trousers bab what what trainers were you wearing with them so I was never I was I was quite lucky in a sense that I'd never really kind of went without as a, like growing up. My parents were, yeah, well, they were, my mum wasn't, my dad was dodgy as anything. So it was kind of like, we wanted it, we kind of got it, not in a brattish way. But I always remember these like puma trainers that were almost like a Velcro, which when you think Velcro, you think this kid can't tie his laces but they were like a quite a smart trainer um i remember i had like a

pair of adidas climacool or climacool i think they were called yeah um like quite a futuristic looking trainer but they ripped your feet to shreds. Oh no. Did you shove a plaster on or did you just bleed? Just bled, yeah. Just bled. Yeah, just bled. You know, just to cover up the jeans.

The water from my soaked in jeans will heal my ripped ankle. Wash the bled away, exactly. Heal my ripped ankle. Washes away the sins. Were you wearing like a hoodie? Or what kind of top? Where's the hoodies back in the day? I don't remember.

Or is hoodies more of a new thing? I remember in secondary school, I think a few people had like a bit of a goth stage. Oh yeah. And I remember there being like a thrasher. I think the brand was called Hoodie. And it was like a black hoodie and like like a thrasher. I think the brand was called Hoodie. And it was like a black hoodie and the word thrasher in like a yellow kind of like standout.

On the mean streets of Coventry, are you walking around here? But I never, that's what I mean, I kind of just floated. I was never like, you know, I never had a phase of like a goth phase or anything like that. But I remember that kind of clear as day. I think at the time there was still like the peter storm and heli hansen oh heli hansen i know what's peter storm what's that what is that i think it was just like a it was like a similar to a heli hansen it was like a

windbreaker that's the windbreaker what is the windbreaker is it a windbreaker um i think it's essentially what i would now wear if I was going to watch my son play. I mean, I don't have a son. I don't know why I'm making this whole thing close. Your mythical son, Bobby. Bobby's going to play. What's he playing?

Me and Enrique adopted them. No, you're taking Anna Kournikova's children. You're taking them out with them, yeah. Stepdad. Stepdad, yeah. What are you watching him play? Play football on a sunday morning you know it's quite cold bit bit of a drizzly and you'd wear your peter storm jacket just to kind

of like protect yourself it'd keep you dry yeah and i was about to say break the wind it's stopping the wind from getting through to you it's like now a lot of moms wear dry robes to watch them for all kind of of which are like seem to be like I've not invested but I think it won't belong like big long dressing gowns that you wear around oh okay is there anything you wore then that you'd wear now

there was this it was also of the era of like parka coats it was like a craze everyone had a parka oh my god I had a parka oh I loved my parka coats it was like a craze everyone had a parka oh my god i had a parka oh i loved my parka honestly timeless piece of fashion i'd wear one now i'd wear a parka now yeah and see and then when when i was listening back to some of the episodes and when you asked these questions it was almost like i was hit with this nostalgia of like i had this DKNY parka that my dad bought for me

in it was either Calais or some French kind of place that he got it from and I was in love with it I got it one year just before Christmas so it's seen me through like the winter I was still wearing it like July because I was just that in love with this coat. The fact that you had, I tell you what, the fact that you had a DKNY jacket from Calais, I think would have made you one of the coolest people I would have known because I would have, that coat's from France, that coat's from Calais, that he's got a DKNY, because then DKNY is a designer, but oh. Yeah, but then it looked okay.

But then if you looked at my fringe and my jeans, it's like, what is going on with me? Your ankle's bleeding. It's clearly a walking identity crisis. There was a bit of a... There was a lad in school when we were kind of in secondary school. He was a bit of a bad boy. Everyone kind of wanted to be him.

I remember he kind of pushed past me once going down like our form stairs and he was like, nice coat, mate. Still to this day. Still to this day done well oh my god i've done well put it in a museum nice coat mate oh did you keep it it's somewhere i think it's probably in the attic oh lovely you need to wait oh the a parker just immediately i felt like I was one of the Appleton sisters in listeners, Stephen got one of the ballot numbers. Wow. It was, so we applied like everybody else. And then on like the Friday afternoon, he's like, I've had a number come through. And we were like, what? And we, sorry if anybody's listening, because I did have a few people a bit grumpy about it. Sorry. We just went on and literally bought them within about 10 minutes. Wow.

Seven hours. Some people were sitting there. I'm sorry we didn't. But he did. We went to see Liam Gallagher a couple of months ago. So, you know, he loves them. I couldn't believe it. But, yeah, so we got them on the Friday night before anybody else had to go for it.

Dream. Dream. Yeah, and, you know, the prices were fairly normal. I did say no to standing because they throw wee. Did you know that? Yes. So as an avid festival goer and gig goer, if it's warm, you worry about it. If it's cold cold you're fine it was um steven was like standing and i was like i if i had a little one single drop of way on me i'd burn that place down and we'd we'd be in jail

so we're going for seating even even with liam gallagher and we were seating they were still throwing stuff and i had to put Stephen's jacket over my head. Why the throwing wee? As a festival goer, have you ever thrown wee? I've never thrown wee, but I have weed in a cup and put it on the floor. Just because I've been, I've done like Glastonbury and stuff like that. And like, if you're sandwiched in, like watching Elton John, there was like, I don't even know, you can, there's a picture of the crowd.

And at one point there was, I think it was the most overpopulated place in the world at one point these people watching out and John and you've got almost no choice it's either you wet yourself or you just kind of go but I would never throw it I would never ever throw it we in the cup are you also into a bottle oh we in a bottle okay and then you're putting the lid on it yes so i would never like okay yeah okay no no never i was just thinking you're just having a little wee in a cup and just placing it gently on the ground i was thinking that's not sanitary but in a bottle in a bottle very kind of mindful, seems to be very demure of me. Demure, very cutesy. I'd have a hoodie, tie it around my waist.

I'd pull it round to the front so everything is covered. Bottle goes. Bit of kind of, yeah, it's quite a strategic kind of little bit of a wiggle that you've got to do. Are you saying to your friends, I'm going for a wee now? Or do you just do it? that you've got to do are you saying to your friends i'm going for a wee now or do you just do it you just got to do it i mean to be fair there's there's women do it they have a thing called a sheepy um so they do the same thing with the hoodie around the front like the sheepy goes there it's essentially a funnel into a bottle because i'm like honestly you are you are there for hours and if you're if you move you've got no chance of finding anyone or getting back to where you were no one's throwing weird

out and john though are they there's no there's no way no okay that's okay well i'm very glad i'm definitely um seeing i know you are too young for this question but I'm going to ask you anyway if you were around at the time who would you have chosen Blur or Oasis? Do you know what I I'm not really I'm not a big fan of either however I've got very fond memories of being in the car as a kid listening to like so Sally and you know like stuff like that like it has been like almost like a staple album yeah and especially like definitely maybe in those kind of songs so i grew up around it um i think the only blur song i can really remember is song two yeah or park life's a good one yeah yeah so we're gonna say yeah definitely i've interviewed i think 60 people now Only one person Has said Blur Isn't that fascinating

And Blur won I don't understand Blur won overall But yeah So sorry guys If you're listening We did get We did get

Oasis tickets But Stephen is I think he'll cry I think he will actually Full cry When they do Wonderwall I think he'll

Just lose it It's Liam Gallagher He befriended a man Next to him who was by himself from Wales and they just kept hugging it. Not me. I was like, they can just hugging each other through songs and just like,

just like shaking together. I was like, Oh, I was just like by myself. Good thing is there no cues to the toilets. Cause there was no other girls there. It was a lot of bed. Okay. So what kind of music were you into?

You've talked about like Holly Valance. Did you like her music as well or were you into all sorts of music? I was all sorts. And to be fair, I've carried that through with me as an adult. Like I will listen to everything. Number one artist most years is Pitbull. So I say it with my chest. Oh my God, Pitbull.

Me and my sister went to see Britney Spears and the support act was Pitbull and we said walla loada rubbish excuse me we said walla loada rubbish but then

I'm not gonna it was one of the best support acts I've ever because everyone is a banger yes Mr Worldwide everyone

exactly he is phenomenal thank you do you know what this is the first time I've actually ever spoken Mr Worldwide everyone exactly he is phenomenal thank you do you know what this is the first time I've actually ever spoken to someone

who has that attitude and I'm really impressed by that Emma so thank you yes I think he is an instant hit of dopamine

he is a ray of sunshine and long may it continue and you know what? I thought, oh, Pitbull. I thought, you know, he's not that attractive. I'm telling you now. White shirt, little trousers, Cuban heels. He's fit.

Doing his little, doodle doodle. We were screaming at the top of our lungs. So Pitbull, yeah. Genius. Genius. So you liked a bit of Pitbull? No, still like a bit of Pitbull. Sorry, sorry.

To be fair, when I was growing up, I was of that time, So you liked a bit of Pitbull? No, still like a bit of Pitbull. Sorry, sorry. When I was growing up, I was of that time. It was very like 90s, kind of like the steps. It was S Club 7. It was Atomic Kitten. It was Blue. I feel like I grew up in a very, I was quite blessed actually to grow up in that kind of time piece.

But I do remember, I can't remember the name of the album, but I don't know if it was just Britney Spears I think it was just called Britney Spears actually the album and it had like Toxic it had Stronger it had Every Time you know like those kind of songs that

you know as a 14 year old I don't have a bloody clue what they were but then I think the music video to Every Time actually caused a bit of controversy because she was in the bath. In the bath with Stephen Dorff, who is the hunky man. Yeah. Yeah. That album is a bit of a standout to me.

But I was listening to everything. Britney, the song Stronger by Britney, make it the anthem for my life. Any slight inconvenience, any slight someone's done me wrong, Stronger, I'm belting it out. Do you know what? I'm wearing a hoodie, but I would show you the goosebumps if I could. And do you know what's even sadder? I don't think I've actually said this before ever out loud, but I'm in a safe space.

There was a Glee version of Stronger and it was by the guy who was in a wheelchair and Artie, yeah Artie, as if I didn't know so my auntie from Glee Club he did a version of Stronger by Britney Spears and yeah I love it

my loneliness ain't killing me no more I need to tell you I saw Glee live I saw Glee live I saw Glee live at Wembley Stadium with the whole original cast which with hindsight now some of them are wonderful we didn't know

I didn't know when I was bopping to Blaine and the Warblers I didn't know that some of them were baddies but yeah Brittany Stronger I do feel bad now though looking back that when i used to go and see her in tour she's literally just been pushed on stage wasn't she and i do feel a bit sad about that i went to the circus tour and i was like um yeah she's so i just love her so much i wish she i hope she finds happiness yeah i think everyone

just needs to leave her leave britney alone I think they just need to kind of generally like, I think when you look at these kind of people, it's they're on such a pedestal. And I think for some bizarre reason, we feel like we deserve access to them. And I've never understood it. But it's just like, they're doing something that they love. They're doing it for them them as well as obviously for everyone else to hear it but just like they deserve that's why i respect adele so much she's just plunked herself in munich done these solid run of shows and then turned around like you're not going to see me now for a very long time yeah i need to go off and live my life yeah she got back i just feel like respect it i just i just we did free britney now i need to leave britney and if she wants to come and dance with knives on instagram in a nightie leather it's weird not my choice unusual but we just need to leave a bit but yeah i'd love to meet britney i'd love to meet my favorite oh who would you meet from that era who would you love to sit down and have a chat with on your podcast oh oh i think britney would be good for a name point of view

but i don't think the conversation would be as insightful i felt like she's so media trained to a point where i don't think she would actually be truthfully answering it or she wouldn't be allowed to, which is obviously quite, well, it's incredibly sad. But someone who I do find really fascinating would be Rihanna. And it's completely out of my league in terms of where I'm at with the podcast. But I find her so fascinating how she has kind of just taken this complete like i don't know she just built this empire so i think it'd be i think she would be quite fascinating one to sit down and talk to yeah she always seems really nice if i've ever seen her on anything on like social media she always seems like she's a bit of a laugh and she just sounds like babies in secret all the time

seemingly exactly yeah she's got good boundaries as well um no leave britney if you take anything from this podcast guys leave her alone leave her alone okay what was your greatest um teenage success do you think um probably getting a haircut and getting rid of that fringe what did you go for for your first trendy haircut um i think it was i remember having this kind of like paste it was like a surfers like style paste that i used to put in my hair so i think that was my next step like they got to be matte paste i think it was my boy has got to be glued got to be glued that's what we have a lot of in this house and he gets through it like oh my god i swear to god he must just go like oh i've run out of another can i have another one please mom so we didn't call you that yesterday yeah and and same with um like shower gel as well i think i'm

sure they just go like that yeah yeah we've run out again oh jeez louise okay so you went through so getting that get rid of the bad haircut was your biggest success did you have any flops or anything you can remember that you look like or regret that um again not to bring it back to the fringe but the fringe um I think if I was being completely honest the one thing that I really did let myself down was I don't think because I kind of like floated through I never kind of really cemented who I was as a person I just kind of took a little bit of everyone and kind of almost like a bit of a social chameleon in like secondary school and like growing up and stuff um so I think that was probably my biggest letdown which I know that's probably a bit deep no it's not deep we've had we've had people say all sorts of things you probably a bit deep. No, it's not deep. We've had people who say all sorts of things.

You were a bit of a, but you just were doing, not to survive, but you were doing what you needed to do to get through, weren't you? You were just kind of like, this is how I'm going to get through secondary school, as unscathed as humanly possible. Yeah. That's all right. And that period of time was very kind of,

it was a lot of bad happening. There was a lot of kind of upset and turmoil like in the family home so it was almost like trying to just get through each day to go what it was it was surviving getting through each day um and then going home and kind of just facing whatever was kind of like going on um so yeah well I probably would say it was as much as it kind of I really let myself down I kind of did I did what I had to do with the tools that I had yeah and school because I used to be a teacher school can be a real escape for some kids as well that's why like you know as a teacher you've always kind of like got to have a bit of a smile on your face in the morning because some

kids no one said good morning to them in the morning they're just no one's spoken to them you're the first person that they see and that's why like when you're a form tutor it's such like an important job to make sure you're kind of like my little boy today i know i keep calling him i'm gonna i'm gonna call him a little boy even when he's 25 forever i'm my mom still calls me a little boy i'm a little boy it was talking about his head oh we were told your head of year seven's a bit like your mum at school. He was like, that's a bit weird. I was like, no, you know, she's looking out for you and that's her job. And you go through if you've got a problem.

And I thought it's quite nice that that's how they've like positioned it. This is your mum at school. She's looking at you, you know, she's going to protect you. It made my little heart go, oh, it's like somebody's watching out for her. Do they still have that rumour of like, I remember like going into like from year six into like secondary school, that like rumour of people flushing your head down the toilet.

Is that still a thing? Now, because I've got a boy and a girl, the things that my daughter was worried about was so different to the things that my son was worried about. She never to the things that my son was worried about. She never worried about somebody maybe beating her up or whatever. But I don't know if this is a boy thing. He was quite concerned with the year 11s are going to do this, that and the other two.

And I'm like, they're not. They ain't going to look at you, mate. They don't care. Like year 11s. I'm not. Is it like a sexist kind of like, is it what boys worry about? Maybe. I don't care. Like year 11, is it like a sexist kind of like a, is it what boys worry about maybe? I don't know.

It just popped into my head when you said it. I never worried about that. No, of course it doesn't happen. It never happened. No, I never worried about that. But I don't know if maybe, especially with like Netflix dramas and stuff now, stuff happens, you know,

like what we used to see in Grangel I suppose or you know hijinks happen that don't actually really happen at school but yeah he was quite concerned I was like don't worry that the year 11s are not going to be interested in year seven so don't really and also I'd have to kill them and then I'd end up in jail and that would be really nobody wants that nobody really wants that okay if you could go back in time and talk to you then, what would you say? Oh, okay. I think it would be that you're going to be all right.

I think what's happening right now, as much as it's kind of distressing and it's chaos, the storm does settle. Yeah. And you're going to be okay. I think that's's what I know that's kind of like a bit deep but I think with kind of going through what I have done especially over the past few years I feel like I've kind of become exactly what I needed as a kid and I feel like I'm kind of at a stage now where I've kind of I've healed the inner child that kind of needed all these things.

So now I'm in a position where like, if I was to ever like time travel and you've had no job, I wouldn't, I don't think I would, even though it was ever a thing, I wouldn't go back because I think things have happened exactly the way that they're supposed to happen. It's led me like to become exactly who I'm supposed to be.

It took me a little bit longer than everyone else, but now I'm finally in a position where I know who I am, like I'm happy. All thanks to that beautiful Miami guard pitbull. And while you were saying it, I just imagined Stronger playing in the back. Oh, see? Stronger.

Exactly. Alexa. Just gently playing in the background. Oh, see? Stronger. Exactly. Alexa. Just gently playing in the background. Do you know what? That's good. Because also, in reality, if we all went back in time, first of all, we'd freak ourselves out. Yeah.

And second of all, they wouldn't listen to a word we were saying because we were teenagers and horrible. If we went back, they'd probably look at us and be like, what the hell is on the top of your head what are you wearing on your feet like what jeans are they it's mad isn't it so yeah i don't think we should no stay away from time travel she wouldn't stay stay away from time travel kids are you glad you grew up then or do you wish you were growing up now no I'm very very blessed to grow up when I did I grew up before social media um I grew up in the days of like playing out and like your kind of time to go home was when like the like the not the lampshades the street lights kind of came on the lampshades a bit of a nerd yeah did you know what the light the lights coming on it that was time to go home

and that meant in the summer you could be home so like half past 10 at night yeah exactly but it just felt a lot safer back then it probably wasn't um but everyone kind of knew each other like it was just a lot safer and I think back then whereas now like I some of the conversations that I have with like my sister's 11 years younger than me so some of the conversations that I have with like my sister's 11 years younger than me so some of the things that she worries about now and or she kind of like talks about I'm like I'm so glad I didn't like I wasn't in that generation of worrying about how many people liked my Instagram post or if someone hadn't followed me do you know what I mean like I was worried about if someone was following me down the street yeah yeah yeah some creep um but with regards to mental health then do you you've got to admit now

it is maybe a little bit better talking wise because back then that wasn't a phrase mental health awareness talking about stuff it just wasn't a thing was it no I think it was it was always kind of like viewed as if it was like they should be in the madhouse like there was always that kind of like I guess stigma that is attached to it and I mean it's only really been four years since I kind of like started everything that I really understood what mental health was so it's still quite a short period of time in the grand scheme of things but even four years ago I was like I don't think mental health is a thing I just think I don't I didn't understand it until I experienced

it and I was like wow okay so I think we've come a very very long way I think there is a lot more work to be done but I do think it needs to kind of be addressed in a way now that it's great to talk about it but like what are we doing about it there needs to be like an action piece I mean I'm not an expert at all but I can sit and talk about like what I've been through in the hope that it helps someone else obviously talking about it is great however it's the tools that I think we need to start utilizing now like what are we physically doing to kind of solve this epidemic that is the mental health conversation yeah um so yeah that's where i kind of i get very passionate about this kind of stuff because it's great that we're talking about it but i do believe like men especially but do i've had

yeah obviously we've seen the stats obviously the horror stories but i think across the board it's what tools do we need you know does it need to be more support groups doesn't need to be more people talking about like the journaling you know like the proper tools that we can use and having our toolkit that when things do get tough we've got them. We know we're going to be okay because we've got these, like this toolkit of stuff that we can lean on. But talking about it, obviously, it's phenomenal. Like a problem shared is a problem halved in my eyes. But I think the important bit and where it needs to go is the tools, the action that we need to do.

Well, I'll leave some links in the description below that can help some people but i do think you know people like you being on social media is helping the generations now that the help was just wouldn't have been there then would it just wouldn't have even boys talking about problem that wouldn't have been a thing no you know just carry on you're not not allowed to have said anything no it's okay. No, it's true. Okay. So on my podcast, I do polls. I was wondering, would you like me to do a best Britney, best Pitbull song poll this week for the people to take part in? Yeah, but I feel like I'm just setting myself up to it.

Like, it's Mickey with this one. I am just going to list all the Britney songs and all the Pitbull songs and they can just pick should we pick say pick their favourite two yeah okay let's do it

let's do it yeah okay what do you think might win I think it's stronger what's the best Pitbull song see

or is that too hard I like yeah that is too hard the first one that Potsdam's made is Give Me Everything so obviously an absolute banger. Fireball is just an instant.

I've got in my head, he's like, cha-cha-cha-cha. And he's in his little white top and he's like, and his bald head. Oh my God, I love it. See, even recently, there was one that he did with Dolly Parton. So he re-worked 9 to 5. Oh my God. And she raps on it.

Dolly Parton raps I'm going to leave that in the description as well is there a YouTube video I'm going to leave that in the description as well I bloody hope so okay Taylor now everybody don't forget to go and listen to the Waffle Shop podcast I'll leave all the links in the description I'm hoping to come over to Cov soon

and we can record an episode and also you've got quite a nice prime mark if i remember rightly is it still a big prime mark yeah it's got a big prime up but you also have lots of like weird roundabouts that are very hard to navigate yeah i walk everywhere in coventry it's quite it's quite hard it's quite hard thanks so much for coming on the phone box podcast guys i will be back next week with another episode don't forget to take part in the polls over on the instagram account also there will be a poll and on spotify now you can leave like a comment keep my dad company because he often is the only person you put like that was a great chat love roger if you see roger that's my dad and for like mum life

and me just getting a, a bit like, what's that film? Is it Stella Gets a Groove Back? I feel like it's going to be Emma Gets a Groove Back. Now the kids are both at secondary school or like Shirley Valentine,

but then doesn't she go and have an affair and like cypress with a man? Maybe I won't do that, but go and follow me on Brimmy Mummy 2 as well. I will see you very soon. Bye, Taylor.

Bye. that but go and follow me on boomer me too as well right i will see you very soon bye taylor fanduel casinos exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling winning which beats even the 27th best feeling, saying I do. Who wants this last parachute? I do. Enjoy the number one feeling, winning, in an exciting live dealer studio, exclusively on FanDuel Casino, where winning is undefeated. 19 plus and physically located

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