WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The Social Skinny: Kate Middleton Update and JoJo Siwa Reaction

Episode Date: April 10, 2024

This week, SK and Kam share an update on Kate Middleton's status and urge everyone to be respectful of her privacy. JoJo Siwa released a new music video, and the girls comment on the whether or not Siwa is crossing the line. Has the child star gone too far in hopes of changing her reputation from JoJo with the "Bow Bow" to edgy young adult popstar? 

You're listening to the Social Skinny on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. We're your host, Sarah Catherine and Camden. And this week we've got a couple different things to talk about. Right. And first, just want to start off and say that there is an update on the Kate Middleton situation. For those of you that aren't aware, Kate Middleton was MIA from all her different royal duties for, I would say probably a good month and a half, right? at least yeah yeah and people were speculating why she was gone what she was doing and she released a video where she finally addressed all the rumors everyone is so sad to hear that cape middleton

actually has cancer and is suffering through that and i think it definitely puts in a perspective privacy absolutely and the fact that people should have just left her alone and let her have her peace during this difficult time, left her family alone. And even now, literally a video of her talking about what's going on, people are still speculating that it's AI and saying things. And as I've said, I just think this should be a lesson that everyone needs to kind of keep to themselves. Yeah, absolutely. Even though she literally released the video. And obviously, yes, AI capabilities are such that something like that would be plausible nowadays. But I think those speculations are only necessary when this when like the stakes are high enough to to warrant them

and in this situation I think it's um not super urgent so I agree it's not worth uh risking offending them I think so too and also besides the fact that it's just no one's business and it's pretty tactless to keep spending all this time speculating I don't understand what the royal family would get out of creating an AI video of Kate Middleton saying she has cancer. Like I just can't think of, it's horrible to say, but I can't think of the PR. Right. Yeah. Why that would.

I guess the only thing would be if she wasn't actually capable of making a video or something like that. Oh, yeah. But people have also talked about that, even if that was the case, it's not necessarily bad and it doesn't necessarily change anything about the situation. because a lot of people in the whole discussion of AI's capabilities talk about that is like a very positive thing that even you know big corporations and stuff would be able to like custom tailor media to a bunch of different people really quickly and so being able to do something like that I think there's the stigma that it's disingenuous somehow because it's not physically that person recording the message but if that person knows what message is being propagated and is okay or with it and it's just a matter of like convenience and there's nothing wrong with using it for that purpose in my opinion. No, that's a really good point and I definitely agree. It's, yeah, if it's just the

vehicle for getting the message out, especially when everyone was begging them to say what was going on and to give more insight into the situation and then they finally do so. And if it's AI, which I don't think it is, but also I'm not an expert. But let's say it is. As you said, it's just a way for them to be able to tell everyone what's going on and it there doesn't seem to be any malintent on their part absolutely on a lighter note for sure we are also going to discuss um jojo siwa her new music video that she released for her new song called karma and for those of you who don't know joe josewa is sort of a child star turned she's got a she's had a bunch of different things on her resume that she's dowd She became famous on dance moms.

But most recently, I guess she's starting to push more of her singing career. She had a decently sized one, but it was definitely geared towards kids the last time she toured. And so I think she's really trying to take a 180 in this new persona she's adopting. And the music video has sparked quite a bit of debate on social media regarding the content. and also some of I guess the PR, not stunts because it's like not a stunt because it's not like scandalous necessarily

but the way that she's been representing her new music video and what she wears and how she talks at interviews and stuff at like the I heart radio music boards and stuff so I don't know Camden what are your thoughts? I think it's hard

because I do think the music video is inappropriate and it definitely is more complicated given that the widest sect of her audience is children and all of her all of her content that she's previously released is very PG even G some would say so you know very very kid appropriate but I mean is what she's doing is it really much different than Miley Cyrus per se right you know and I'm not even that Miley Cyrus also wasn't inappropriate, and I, you know, think she's a great singer, and I loved her in Hannah Montana and everything like that. But you do grow up and at some point you have to find the shift. I don't think this was the way for Jojo see what to do it. She probably could have made the transition in a lot more appropriate way. But it's...

I guess so think about, too, that's a good point you brought up Miley Cyrus. It's like also people thought that whenever the whole wrecking ball thing happened. But then since then, people have largely forgotten. about it and she's like settled into a much more I think level-headed celebrity but and I guess too that the people who would have watched Miley Cyrus and possibly be influenced by it like her younger audience that's like our age group now and now we're adults right so it's like I guess at some point the whole Jojo Cua thing will probably just age out anyway because all these young kids will grow up and then no one's going to care anymore that Jojo C was a bit more provocative because Because her audience that she was influencing is now of age per se and adults. And so there's less controversy with that. Right. Yeah. No, absolutely. I guess it's, I don't know, it's interesting.

Because I feel like, I'm trying to think, I feel like we were what, we were like in fourth or fifth grade, whenever Miley Cyrus was kind of going through all that, I think. Yeah. And so, I mean, I don't know. I feel like now I guess fourth or fifth graders are somewhat of her of JoJo C was fan base but I also feel like probably some of them are younger considering especially now kids are more grown up

these days and I get that like she probably doesn't want to do that stuff forever but it's also like she has a responsibility when she knows if she it's like you know they collect all of those metrics on all of her like who interacts with her stuff and so I think based on that data if they

know for a fact that most of the people consuming her content are of that age and they still choose to do something like that because the the video if you watch it aside from you know some of the lyrics are definitely they make a mockery of Christianity because they you know it quotes like thou shalt not lie thou shalt not cheap and so if you are a Christian it's offensive for that reason. But the rest of the video is pretty sexual in the way that she's dancing with other girls and has other girls dancing on her and she's like grinding on them and moving in a way that insinuates a lot of sexual acts. And so it's basically it's like a it's, you know, it's it's smut. And so I feel that absolutely given that she knows who her audience is and she's

willfully portraying this image and this content, I definitely think that that is objectively a wrong thing to do. Yeah. You are listening to The Social Skinny here on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I agree. And I even remember back, I was in first grade and I went to like a Miley Cyrus slash Hannah Montana concert, but it was right after she sort of finished being Hannah Montana when like series ended and stuff. And she still sang a lot of the songs, but I remember my mom thought parts of the concert were kind of inappropriate. And she said she looked around and everyone there was an elementary school girl pretty much. And like her brother opened for her and my mom thought like the opening was a little inappropriate. Like a lot of things like that. And I guess, I mean,

at the time I didn't really know and it didn't affect me. But. But similar to Jojo, it's like, Miley Cyrus had a very specific fan base because of Disney. And I mean, a lot of Disney stars go through this. Like, Jojo's not a Disney star, but... Close enough. Yeah. I mean, even like Demi Lovato. Yeah.

I think it's just the nature of being like a child star. Yeah. Yeah. And getting put in a corner a little bit about what you can do, what you can't do. When you're made famous as a child, doing something for children, then it's hard to break that out of that box. Yeah. And the video, as you've said, is it's definitely provocative. And this is what I'm confused about.

And we just were talking about it before we recorded. She posted on the internet saying that she put a warning on it, that it was explicit. Right. But then we've watched the video and there's no warning. Right. So, and I don't know if that's maybe on some platform you can access it through. But regardless, we've been able to access it in a way that you can, which means that other people could too. especially when there's parts of the video where there's,

I can't remember if she was like licking another girl's neck or another girl's licking her neck. But it's, it's more than just dancing, I think, semi-suggestively. It's, it's,

it's, yeah, it's a level higher than that, for sure. I'd be uncomfortable with my children watching it. I agree. I think it's even, it's graphic than,

more graphic than a lot of like movies, TV shows. It's. Right. And not wearing, she's not wearing much clothing, all the other people in the, music video or not wearing

much clothing and the lyrics don't help either they're also explicit exactly so I think aside from that too I feel like her costume it's kind of weird she's dressed like this like sea creature thing

after she falls into the ocean and in a lot of these press interviews she's done in it she'll be talking about how oh I'm just you know I'm like the first of my generation I'm like you know going through I'm ready to come out in like my new persona and be edgy like all this sort of like thing and it feels I think it kind of shows how horribly out of touch she is from A our generation and be real people

and I think that also shows what growing up in Hollywood does because she thinks that this is going to like land so well yeah and it's like no actually no one can relate to that you you know it's she wants to pretend that she's like this lives this jaded life or whatever and it's like you quite literally not i'm not saying i do think one thing i'll give jojo siwa is i think that girl works absolutely hard she does a lot she's a very busy schedule she's incredibly athletic she's very hard working i think she's very positive i admire all those things about her a lot and i recognize that it is a lot of pressure to grow up in the way that she has but that being said I think she has no clue how to like relate to just normal people.

Right. In fact, I think she probably does. She probably does have similar experiences to regular people, but she's not in touch enough to know that those are the things that she should be using to like bond with our generation instead of just trying to be like aggressively grow up. And that's how people are going to especially I think our generation uniquely like has a soft spot for children. because we were kind of like the first kids to be put on online and a lot of us have like not lost innocence but like been exposed to things or seen whatever you know that we shouldn't

have at a certain age because we were sort of the guinea pigs right and so I think she's stupid because she doesn't realize that like we all are not looking for something that's edgier or more inappropriate or more aggressive it's like we're actually looking for the opposite it and would value that and somebody over and above whatever this thing that she's doing now is. Right. Whatever that fish costume was. Exactly. She looks like she's trying to be a member of kiss or something.

Honestly, the makeup did look like that. Now that you say that. No, it's exactly like the, I think it's the drummer who does those eyes. I'm pretty sure. I think you're right. Well, and what you were saying about our generation sort of being the first kids online, I think it's really important to remember too that it's like, okay, we were the first online. The kids right now that are her fans are chronically online.

The iPad kid era, these children are always on, you know, their phones, they're watching TikTok, they're on YouTube, a lot of them with unrestricted access. So I would say her transition has even more of an effect and she should be more cognizant of what she's doing, even more so than like other. child actors who have done it because the kids these days have a lot more access to her media, her content, all of those things. Also, when you were giving her a little bit of credit, I, um, and I will say, Jojo's never been able to win. Right. And I'm not a Jojo apologist, but this girl has been put through the ringer. Like when she was on dance moms, And she was like normal, just a little girl, whatever. Her lisp.

Everyone's making fun of how she talks. Yeah. Like she can't win. Then she goes on and she's doing the whole Jojo with the Bobo thing. Yep. With her Nickelodeon show. She's obviously R8. I think she's a little younger than us.

I think she's 20. Yeah. But still, our age. And everyone's like, what's wrong with you? You're a young adult and you're wearing bows in your hair and neon and like sparkly rainbow stuff. You need to grow up. So everyone's getting.

mad at her saying no what you're doing isn't right this is weird like you're actually like a kid you just why would you want to do that so then she's getting mercilessly made fun of and then now she's like okay guys i'm an adult i've grown up i'm going to have more adult content that i'm putting out and people are still mad about that saying oh well now you're inappropriate and your whole audience as kids that being said i'm not a fan of jojo siwa i have never really liked anything she's put out and I agree with everything we've said thus far that she should be cognizant of her audience, but then also it's like, okay, we have to address she's always, she's always kind of been on like the other end of the joke, you know?

And just a reminder, you have been listening to the social skinny here on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Yeah, that's definitely a good point. I think, and I don't necessarily think that she's doing it. intentionally, but I think that's probably the biggest thing, too, that people are responding to is, like, because even though she's, like, wanting to rebrand or whatever, she still has, like, a lot of active, I don't know, for lack of better words, a lot of her other businesses or income streams are still things that are geared towards and focused around younger kids.

So it's not like, it's like you can't do both. The thing that feels absolutely cynical is to create something that has that sexual content and to literally for like no pun intended wrap it up and stick a bow on it and put it in packaging that looks like it's for little children that's the thing that is absolutely wrong oh i that's such a good point i didn't even think about that she she wants to it's like don't you can't make money from both of those things yeah you can't have your cake and eat it too right and that's what she's and she still drives around that have you seen her car oh the jojo mobile or whatever yeah i that's unreal like she still drives that or

around and it's like recently she didn't she go to like a Kardashian birthday party or something because like I think Kim's kids like love Jojo or something probably so it's like she's doing these appearances and acting like she's one way and then also producing extremely explicit content yeah like even and I think a lot of adults can obviously agree that the media and a lot of what we consume is very unnecessarily provocative but watching it as an adult I even was like we both were so uncomfortable yeah and that says a lot too that no absolutely because even though it's like she's our age that still feels really young to be like you know what I mean not that there's any age that would be okay to do that at in my opinion but I agree I don't know it just it feels wrong I think one of her bigger mistakes

is that she's trying to be a pop icon for our generation And so I think because she has mainly younger fans, she feels like, oh, well, I want people my own age to like me. But in reality, I don't think she realizes we are all going to forever see her as Jojo Siwa from dance moms, Jojo with the Bobo. Like, no matter what you do, that's what it's going to be. That's what you've known her for first. She'd be better to start fresh with a new generation who doesn't know her for that, you know, and at least wasn't old enough to really experience it.

So it's not a defining factor for their perception of her. And also, a lot of the, I guess, pop icons that we loved and everything weren't our age either. You know what I mean? That's so true. I guess Sean Mendes is a little younger, but like One Direction. They're all in like 30s. You know what I mean? Yeah, they're older.

But yeah. But people their age do like them, but also mostly people younger than them are their biggest. You know what I mean? And so I think she is maybe not realizing that or not putting two and two together and accepting the fact that like, hey, that's fine if you want a more normal persona. but you might need to change your scope a little bit. I also think she could have eased into it a little more. And obviously there's always the phrase,

all press is good press or no presses, no bad presses, whatever. Yeah, no press is bad. You know what I'm trying to. Yeah, you're talking about. And so maybe that was her thought process with this. I don't know. But people probably would have been a lot more receptive if she would have done something. Like she could still do something adult, but have it be more appropriate.

and still draw the line in the sand and be like, okay, this is my past, this is what I'm doing now, respect me for like my growth as an artist and. Absolutely. Yeah, so I don't know. I think that's what makes it feel super disingenuous too. And for people to almost, it's like, it's impossible to take her seriously because it feels like a silly little teenage girl who's like mad at her parents and wants to rebel by like wearing dark clothing or like cussing or something versus actually doing something that

expresses your like emotion it feels very like skin deep in a way you know what i will say too though and once again not to give too much credit to jojo and also not to bring up an entirely new thing but she's not super different from olivier rodrigo olivier rodrigo got her start on disney had young fans and then now her music is not insanely explicit i will say that she's a lot less explicit than Jojo Siwa. But she has, you know, sexual undertones in her songs, a lot of adult themes. We've heard sort of the talk about her supporting abortion at her concerts, this and that. Those are all very adult things.

And she's our age doing the similar thing where it's like had the younger audience now trying to relate to people her age. Maybe it's just because she's potentially more like societal, societally like. palatable. Yeah. But I don't know. Absolutely. I think but that also goes back to the part of it feeling more genuine to her because she has like a larger repertoire of music she's put out.

Yeah. And even though you know me, I don't think she's a bad artist. I like a few of her songs, but I'm like not her biggest fan. But I think objectively she is way more music versus Jojo. It feels like a girl with money. I was just, yep. I want to be a pop star.

Thanks for listening to us talk about all of this today here on the Social Skinny on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.