Culture Club - Who Is The Candid Girlfriend？

00:00:00.000 The pranking of a Sydney feminist panel, Jojo Siwa's failed rebrand, and who the hell is 0.66

00:00:13.140 the candid girlfriend?

00:00:14.600 I'm Maggie Zhao.

00:00:15.700 And I'm Jasmine Wallace.

00:00:17.100 And you're listening to Culture Club, where we chat about pop culture, current affairs,

00:00:21.800 the internet, and our lives.

00:00:23.420 today's episode of culture club is brought to you by radical yes the melbourne brand making

00:00:33.040 cool shoes for modern women we acknowledge that the wawanjuri woiwurrung are the custodians of

00:00:39.220 this land we are on today we would like to pay our respects to elders past and present

00:00:44.040 we would also like to celebrate the rich history of first nations culture and storytelling that

00:00:49.880 we're continually learning from this always was and always will be aboriginal land

00:00:54.960 it's been a little time since we've both been back on the mics but we're here

00:01:02.440 it's an early morning record before work i've got my tea i feel like this is

00:01:07.660 you know um classic culture club uh how you going jazz i have some tea as well i was like

00:01:14.140 it is too early to even have coffee this morning we're just gonna ease into monday

00:01:20.300 ease into the week with a cup of tea what are you drinking actually i've got an english breakfast

00:01:25.400 and i have to say i was a bit disappointed you were like i've got some tea and i was like she's

00:01:31.120 giving gossip no literal tea um i'm also drinking english breakfast who would have thought love

00:01:38.380 that for us what have you been up to lately honestly I couldn't tell you I actually don't

00:01:44.180 know I'm trying to think about what I've been doing the last couple weeks Maggie what have I

00:01:48.920 been doing I can think of like three things off the top of your head like off the top of my head

00:01:54.020 from your socials you went to the Mecca cafe that looks amazing how was it was really lovely so

00:02:02.220 Mecca collabed with Diptyque, which collabed with Cafe Verlet, which is like a Parisian cafe

00:02:08.680 for like a few candles. And that was really lovely. Like it was like a 50 minute

00:02:13.460 sitting and you got fed pastries and other gorgeous things. So that was nice. Yeah. I feel

00:02:19.680 like actually, let me retract my previous statement. I do remember what I've been doing.

00:02:24.720 I've actually felt like I'm settling a little bit more into freelance life. So I've been actually

00:02:29.700 at home a lot more and doing like computer work and getting back into routine. So that's actually

00:02:36.860 been really nice. What was March like for you? March was bloody insane for me. Oh my God. In

00:02:44.840 a really good way. So it started with engagement party, which we spoke about like a few episodes

00:02:49.700 ago. And then I went to Hamilton Island with my fam for a family holiday for my mom's 50th birthday.

00:02:56.180 so a big birthday and we took like an extended long weekend Hamilton Island and went out to the

00:03:01.500 Great Barrier Reef and stayed overnight on the reef it was really really nice and well and then

00:03:08.020 came home for like four days and then went back to Brisbane for Easter that wasn't planned like

00:03:13.900 should have just stayed in Queensland but it was a last minute decision because my partner's mom

00:03:18.320 was in visiting for four weeks um from the UK she came over for the engagement party and then just

00:03:24.840 stayed and had a holiday um so we took her to Brisbane and our parents hung out as well

00:03:30.520 and then she left on Thursday so this weekend was the first weekend in um over a month like

00:03:38.960 probably six weeks that like I've been at home that Laurie's been at home as well and so it was

00:03:44.960 just like the most adult like weekend but like so wholesome and lovely like just basically cleaning

00:03:51.480 did a huge restock of the pantry sorry it's just so boring but like no it's not it was satisfying

00:03:57.880 and South Melbourne market oh yeah that was I did say that you went to the markets I did I did have

00:04:02.380 a solo morning on Saturday morning because I just needed some like alone time bought a book got a

00:04:07.880 coffee market hall and then yeah spent two days basically clearing things out of the apartment

00:04:15.180 like it was like a spring clean or autumn clean um and then I went for a walk around the tan on

00:04:20.760 sunday arvo with my friend talia and then i kept cleaning until like 10 30 last night it was just

00:04:26.580 i don't know but i feel so good for it you know it feels like the house is feng shuade

00:04:30.600 new era we're ready to get back with april is here laurie was saying that it feels for us it

00:04:37.280 feels like it's january 1st this like weekend because we've just been like doing so much fun

00:04:43.940 thing like so many fun things um but yeah not really having any routine um so yeah that was my

00:04:50.800 week it does feel like a new yeah a new era I also did a big clean last week might I add and

00:04:57.420 genuinely it changes everything for you like I'm still riding off that high and it's been a week

00:05:01.660 oh my god our friend Kitsch who's at soy baby on Instagram posted a reel about this last night

00:05:08.020 she's like you know you're getting old when like your peak weekend activity is cleaning the sofa

00:05:12.820 with like those vacuum the wet vacuum thing and I had to reply to her being like oh my god I can't

00:05:19.680 believe this but it is it's like so so good for your mental health and you feel fresh refreshed

00:05:27.220 and of course in the time we'll be in a way there's been a lot happening in the news like

00:05:31.300 I'm not even gonna say it we're not even gonna go into it we're not even gonna talk about Kate

00:05:34.780 Middleton etc there's been a lot but we do want to focus on the big stories of this week that

00:05:41.820 have captured our attention i want to start off with what happened in sydney last week with that

00:05:47.480 feminist panel yeah so love unboxed was a free panel event that was held in sydney on wednesday

00:05:54.040 night it was ticketed but it was free and it was billed as a night of quote insightful discourse

00:06:00.660 and thought-provoking discussions with antoinette latouf clementine ford and yumi steins who are

00:06:07.000 some of the like not some of they are the biggest names in like feminist discourse in Australia

00:06:12.500 and they spoke about sex love relationships and marriage but there was a surprise male special

00:06:20.300 guest yes and they said that in the event listing but they didn't say who it would be

00:06:25.160 it turns out it was Jack Steele who is one of the um boys from the Inspired Unemployed

00:06:31.300 when they brought him out into the crowd people were like not sure who he was they didn't really

00:06:37.420 give him like a whole bio either for context as well we know a lot of this information

00:06:43.220 from one of our lovely culture club listeners maybelline san juan was an attendee and posted

00:06:50.180 about her experience um we're just gonna play a snippet of the video she posted now really i know 1.00

00:06:56.280 this is the worst prank in history i've just lived through 50 minutes of feminist hell for a

00:07:01.920 social experiment it was explained to us that he had lost a bet and what is worse and more 0.68

00:07:06.720 humiliating than being on a panel with three strong feminists and not being able to like defend

00:07:12.640 yourself or say anything worthwhile you can tell a man was cooking there you can tell that was a

00:07:16.720 man's idea because how is that funny you have this huge audience who wanted to come for something so

00:07:21.680 genuine just to be like slapped across the face and been like no we just wasted your time like i 0.98

00:07:25.800 literally heard someone behind me being like fuck i gotta go pick up my son now and leave so if you 0.97

00:07:30.100 don't know who jack still is or what the uninspired unemployed is they are essentially a sketch 0.97

00:07:37.480 comedian duo who have really risen to fame in australia over the last probably five years

00:07:43.620 the a lot of their comedy is just observational comedy um but they've become quite they've had a

00:07:49.980 lot of mainstream success and they now garner huge campaigns um they do like a few big campaigns

00:07:58.880 per year and that's their their bread and butter now i have had a change of heart over them

00:08:06.200 recently so i was very much like this is australian male mediocrity at its finest

00:08:14.740 these are just white privileged boys they make fun of women in the jokes which I haven't seen

00:08:22.120 as much of recently but I wonder if that's just because like that trend of wearing a towel on your

00:08:26.880 head to show that you're a woman is like done I just was like whatever about them and then I

00:08:33.960 actually met them recently at an event and chatted to them for a while and they were actually really

00:08:41.060 lovely and everyone who I spoke to at the this event which they were the spokespeople for um

00:08:47.560 people who I spoke to about them were like they're so kind they're really sweet and they're hard

00:08:56.320 workers um because they know how fickle this industry is and they know that if you are a

00:09:03.620 dickhead basically that people aren't gonna want to work with you so they really changed my opinion

00:09:09.140 of them when I actually spoke to them and I was like okay look their content probably still I'm 0.86

00:09:14.920 not their target audience they started off as two tradies actually um and they just started

00:09:21.200 posting funny sketch videos and they're kind of like Aussie larrikin vibes um but I was like you

00:09:26.560 know what they seem like nice guys and then literally like two weeks later this happened

00:09:30.980 and I was like oh okay that's really good to hear because I used to be a fan of their content when

00:09:36.600 they started out like I found it funny um and then over time I just kind of fell off the bandwagon

00:09:41.500 um didn't really watch their stuff didn't really relate to it and they had garnered so much success

00:09:49.000 and maybe there's a tall poppy in me speaking but I kind of just was like oh yeah they're successful

00:09:54.480 now like whatever blah blah blah okay side note though before we get back to the actual story

00:10:00.180 the other guy Matt who's like the shorter one he's dating Sarah Ellen which was like who for

00:10:06.920 people who don't know she's like an incredible like Australian model and like was like a blogger

00:10:10.740 back in the day like that kind of icon and when I saw a post of this together like only a week or

00:10:16.820 two ago I I didn't know what to do with myself yeah that was yeah like that hard launch go off

00:10:26.440 but we haven't actually said what he did right so there's this panel of the greatest feminist

00:10:31.400 minds of our time and this 30 year old guy walks out and basically he starts going yeah

00:10:39.280 chicks dig consent and just making these like off comments like it was meant to be a joke i really 0.95

00:10:45.800 like girl riders like just being a dickhead and halfway through some people start to leave 0.87

00:10:50.680 but it turns out that it was all a skit for the second season of the Inspired Unemployed's TV show 0.85

00:10:57.740 Impractical Jokers. That's a show where the boys essentially pull pranks on each other

00:11:03.600 by having one of them wear an earpiece and the other people behind the scenes telling them what

00:11:08.520 to say. So for instance I'd seen one on TikTok before where he was being like so mean to await

00:11:15.140 stuff and be like sending back food and then like being really awkward and it's like um it was I

00:11:20.840 really enjoyed the skit but it's like a hard bloody hell watch but it's so painful interestingly

00:11:26.220 with this panel itself the three women were actually aware of what's going on but apparently

00:11:31.960 Jack didn't know what he was going to be walking into that is such an interesting point because

00:11:37.900 it's like who has the power here i just think this landed so so badly and i think the crux of it is

00:11:46.280 that the audience felt betrayed by these people who they thought that they were in a safe space

00:11:52.040 talking about very serious topics that literally mean life and death to some women not just around

00:11:59.260 the world but also in this country and for that to be hijacked by a comedian in general let alone

00:12:06.180 a white male comedian let alone it being filmed for a tv show they did there were signs i think

00:12:13.440 that said that they were being filmed that would have been a hard environment for jack to walk

00:12:18.840 into as well like what if his values right might be i don't know i'm not trying to defend him but

00:12:25.880 like his values might be he might be a feminist or whatever but for him to then walk into a room

00:12:31.680 and be like and to be told what to say to gain garner a reaction from an audience for a tv show

00:12:39.720 for entertainment i think that it was just a bad idea and i'm really really shocked at particularly

00:12:48.780 the panel of women for like agreeing to bring a joke into like a serious space what do you think 0.99

00:12:58.100 Yeah, I completely agree. And Maybelline and other attendees talked about how much it kind of hurt being the butt of the joke at the end of the day. Like the panelists were trying to be like, no, no, like Jack's the butt of the joke, but they're like, hey, it didn't feel like that. We're the ones sitting here for an hour, feeling uncomfortable. We're the ones ultimately being filmed. And we know what traditional Australian media is like. The way that a lot of these audience members have been painted has been really unkind.

00:13:26.740 so I've watched a few videos from like The Age and ABC even and they're like yeah and some of

00:13:32.280 the attendees were triggered and crying like you know really just drilling at home and you know

00:13:38.840 how people are going to react to that right like it's so obvious who the butt of the joke is here

00:13:44.660 so that was something that I found really like hurtful. I wonder if this will go ahead on the

00:13:51.920 tv show like that's it's an interesting situation i think um ultimately the producer the producer

00:14:01.460 doesn't have you know the name cred that these four people do who were on the panel so i think

00:14:10.380 that they have a lot to answer for as well it's just it was just a bad bad idea um i hope people

00:14:18.080 in the audience are okay, but I think it's created a lot of distrust now in the feminist

00:14:24.680 Australian media space, which is never a good thing.

00:14:33.440 I've got FOMO this week, Jazz, because unlike 115 million people, I wasn't added to Billie

00:14:40.560 Eilish's close friend. Sorry, because I wasn't following her. Sorry.

00:14:44.500 You're not following Billie Eilish? Wait, am I following Billie Eilish?

00:14:46.880 I don't really follow celebrities.

00:14:50.500 This is so bad.

00:14:51.080 I'm like, they're not following me back well.

00:14:53.440 Oh, my God.

00:14:53.980 No, I'm not following Billie Eilish either.

00:14:56.980 That's so funny.

00:14:57.960 I'm like, I'm not even following me back.

00:14:59.500 Oh, my God.

00:15:00.080 That makes two of us.

00:15:00.720 I saw this out of context.

00:15:02.020 Yeah.

00:15:02.400 I was like, what is everyone talking about Billie Eilish's close friend story?

00:15:05.580 Like, did she only add a select few?

00:15:07.260 But why did she do that? 0.95

00:15:08.340 Some marketing. 0.99

00:15:09.400 I don't know.

00:15:09.900 I kind of love it.

00:15:11.020 I don't know if it was for the release or something.

00:15:12.920 Probably should have looked into that.

00:15:14.280 But we are talking about Billie Eilish today.

00:15:16.600 not because of that we're talking about billy because of some comments she made around

00:15:22.680 environmentalism and as a by-product taylor swift yeah she basically subtweeted her in

00:15:30.880 an interview this week with billboard uh in the interview which is with lindsey havens uh billy

00:15:37.720 and her mom maggie bed chat about sustainability and why they've tried to embed it into her career

00:15:43.400 and they do actually have some cred when talking about this as well so we know that billy is vegan

00:15:49.180 um also back in 2020 her mum maggie not me um founded support and feed which is a charity that

00:15:59.260 aims to mitigate climate change and increase food security um and that is through kind of

00:16:05.940 encouraging the acceptance of plant-based foods um a lot of their work they have done at concerts too

00:16:12.600 Billie actually worked with Support and Feed on her 2022 Happier Than Ever tour and allegedly it

00:16:18.260 saved 8.8 million gallons of water by serving plant-based meals for the artists and crew.

00:16:24.400 So huge, huge effort and the whole chat is basically about sustainability.

00:16:31.360 From watching Billie in other interviews, we know that she and her mum are really close,

00:16:35.760 like in those yearly, I think, variety interviews where they check in with Billie and ask the same

00:16:41.700 questions like her mom's always in the videos really sweet relationship at least from the

00:16:45.740 outside um and billy talks more about her mom's work in the industry with her so for instance

00:16:53.240 uh when they're in meetings together um her mom would be like what are you guys doing to be more

00:16:58.660 resourceful and conscious and they as in business people would be like oh well um you know they'd

00:17:05.260 be tripping and stumbling yeah so billy says it was kind of alarming to find that no one's really

00:17:10.540 doing anything to better the world and the problem is us people living in the world with no power

00:17:15.920 us in terms of anybody we're all like don't use plastic straws we're gonna get electric cars or

00:17:21.360 whatever it is to save the planet and then these giant companies are not even doing anything when

00:17:25.900 they have so much more power she was saying that oh yeah we're gonna have that in 2026 and billy's

00:17:31.760 like well that's not fast enough you know what i'm so happy that she spoke about this because i do

00:17:37.280 think the music industry actually gets away with a lot of it's like wastage um and it's actually

00:17:42.740 not spotlighted as one like a terrible industry or um yeah there's not much heat on them yeah i

00:17:49.820 agree one of the biggest issues though that she says when it comes to the music industry

00:17:54.380 is and her career around sustainability is merchandise which we also don't really talk

00:18:02.200 about that much um when we're talking about celebrities and stuff but this led into a chat

00:18:07.480 about vinyl releases the interviewer notes that billy is working to make her vinyl releases more

00:18:12.200 sustainable for example in her happier than ever album cycle it came in eight vinyl variants but

00:18:18.860 used 100 black vinyl plus recycled scraps for the colored variants and then the shrink wrap like

00:18:25.920 glad rap was made from sugarcane billy then goes into how wasteful other artists vinyl releases

00:18:33.000 can be and she doesn't single anyone out but we do know that there are a few repeat offenders

00:18:39.220 in the music industry most notably taylor swift who releases multiple vinyl albums for each

00:18:47.380 even single album cycle um we remember midnights she released the different colored vinyls to make

00:18:55.020 a midnight's clock on the wall that you can like create out of vinyl which was just like

00:19:01.140 creative sure but did we need it and how much waste did that cause so really says i can't even

00:19:08.240 express to you how wasteful it is it is right in front of our faces and people are just getting

00:19:13.300 away with it left and right and i find it really frustrating as somebody who really goes out of my

00:19:18.300 way to be sustainable and do the best that i can and then it's some of the biggest artists in the 0.68

00:19:23.880 world making fucking 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get

00:19:29.640 you to keep buying more it's so wasteful and it's irritating to me that we're still at a point where 0.98

00:19:35.040 you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money and it's all 0.99

00:19:39.960 your favorite artists doing that shit oh billy's mom maggie then goes on to kind of defend the 0.99

00:19:47.600 artists and say but to be fair the problem is systemic right because if billboard the music 0.99

00:19:53.020 chart and media company is going to not have limits so she says i would love to see some limits

00:20:00.220 like through the charts through the music industry like no more than four colors or

00:20:04.620 some kind of rules because you can't fault an artist for playing the number one game

00:20:08.300 yeah and because of these comments and because of the backlash that in um that came about

00:20:15.360 especially from the swifty camp billy actually had to go defend herself on her instagram stories 1.00

00:20:20.380 which I didn't actually know she was saying how people shouldn't be putting words in her mouth 1.00

00:20:24.400 and people should be reading the whole article she also said quote I wasn't singling anyone out

00:20:30.120 these are industry-wide systemic issues and when it comes to variants so many artists release them

00:20:36.000 including me which I clearly say in the article the climate crisis is now and it's about all of

00:20:41.960 us being part of the problem and trying to do better sheesh I think that's a fair uh rebuttal

00:20:48.220 I love Billie I think she's doing so much more that and you can be like oh well she flies around

00:20:52.700 private jets and like but she's doing so much more than so many other artists put together

00:20:58.280 so I love it I love her too I do hope our conversations around environmentalism and

00:21:03.800 the music industry don't stop now I understand that merch is a big avenue for artists to make

00:21:09.020 money especially like smaller artists but personally would love to see more like sustainable

00:21:14.620 endeavors there one of my friends she's an incredible musician um her band is Tamara and

00:21:20.600 the Dreams her merch I love because she actually gets op shop t-shirts and then screen prints

00:21:26.420 or like does some sort of thing to get her artwork on like plain op shop t-shirts and we love that

00:21:33.240 nice mags i want to be a high heel girly so badly but after years of wearing flats he'll choose to

00:21:43.940 just feel like a chore oh my god yes i know what you mean i love a heel for a special occasion but

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00:22:26.980 about Radical Yes and their flat shoe liberation, you can find them on Instagram at at Radical Yes

00:22:32.200 and online at radicalyes.com.au. I have had Jojo Siwa's karma stuck in my head for the last two

00:22:45.660 weeks just from that one little TikTok snippet and I need to talk to someone about it. Funny you

00:22:50.420 should say that because I have this clip of Jojo Siwa doing an interview and she's like,

00:22:56.320 i'm the first of my generation to have a rebrand and i've got that replaying in my head the internet

00:23:02.200 has truly been on fire this week over the former child star jojo siwa's quote unquote rebrand

00:23:08.160 and we're so i'm so excited to talk about this so if you don't know who jojo is she actually rose

00:23:14.100 to fame on the reality tv show dance moms and is now a 20 year old like influencer youtuber

00:23:20.780 entertainer she you know used to tour as the child star jojo siwa but now she's having this

00:23:29.060 rebrand as like a pop star because her former brand was literally for children it was sparkles 1.00

00:23:35.020 big bows happy kids songs she made you know makeup all sorts of things pop tart and she had

00:23:43.520 all these collaborations um but now she's trying to become a pop star and she's actually

00:23:50.040 attributed her rebrand to being inspired as being inspired by Miley Cyrus's Can't Be Tamed

00:23:57.540 rebrand. Wow wow wow um I remember the first I saw this rebrand which was her like frolicking like

00:24:04.940 skipping down like a red carpet kind of in like kiss attire big hair big makeup bedazzled kind of 1.00

00:24:12.740 one-piece suit thing and she's like but black and white black and white it's like sticking out her 0.98

00:24:18.580 tongue and um having fun with it uh and I was like oh yeah like I get it I guess like shedding

00:24:26.940 your child star image is difficult and people go about it in different ways yes but the interesting

00:24:34.320 thing is that her style choice is the same as her child star style but it's just black and white

00:24:42.740 Like it's still the sparkles and the bodysuits and like dancing like a dancer.

00:24:51.280 But it's black and white instead of pink and green.

00:24:54.080 Like, oh, my gosh.

00:24:54.960 Well, I actually think it's maybe like a calculated move from a PR team,

00:24:58.800 which is like you can be different but not too different.

00:25:01.680 So keep your ponytail and like your bow and the bedazzled things.

00:25:07.000 But you can make it black and white.

00:25:09.560 Yes. 0.95

00:25:09.960 like her song karma you know she says like something something about a girl like effing 1.00

00:25:15.360 her up like she will not swear on the record still she says bitch but is bitch even considered 1.00

00:25:20.800 a swear word anymore that counts i mean you're right true yeah so she's rebranding into this 0.98

00:25:28.300 more adult image but some people basically the whole internet think it's not working and everyone's

00:25:34.060 talking about it which in my mind i'm like she's done something right because the promo videos for

00:25:40.620 her song karma and the music video are racking up millions of views like each one multi multi

00:25:45.760 million views i have to admit that i actually haven't seen the clips and i only just listened

00:25:52.540 to a snippet of the song like this morning before we recorded i don't know how but i escaped the

00:25:58.100 the clutches of her oh my gosh it's like all my for you page I don't know what side of TikTok I'm

00:26:04.380 on it's on literally every third song like every third TikTok last week was that and like all

00:26:13.020 talking about Jojo or whatever can I also just say because again I'm not a dance mom's like

00:26:18.540 alumni I never really watched it and obviously we're past the time of being fans of Jojo you

00:26:25.280 know she's younger than us um but i feel for her because she's grown up in the limelight

00:26:31.460 and almost has always like fed off controversy so a few years ago we talked about her coming out

00:26:38.260 as gay um in a really sweet twitter post where she wore a t-shirt that said like

00:26:42.720 like my cousin is gay or whatever and her cousin gave it to her and it feels like this is kind of

00:26:47.220 more or less the same because conservatives are going nuts over this as well as they did previously 0.93

00:26:53.140 i don't know if this is a stretch but i just feel like this is kind of what she knows yeah it you're

00:26:59.420 right i feel like maybe it is kind of all she knows being that like polarizing figure i read

00:27:05.360 this interview between two pop culture writers rebecca alter and jason p frank and it was for

00:27:11.560 vulture and it's titled is jojo siwa's karma a flop or a flop and they talk about why they think

00:27:19.920 this rebrand has been it's it's not a failure in terms of numbers but it's maybe not achieving

00:27:29.340 what she wanted to achieve jason p frank says the central problem is that it's so transparently that

00:27:35.020 a recalculation of a brand there's no sense that there was any real artistic muse from her or from

00:27:41.300 anyone else on her team in interviews she's made reference to other good girl gone bad moments from

00:27:47.300 pop, Britney, Miley, etc. But when all you're doing is regurgitating other people's efforts,

00:27:52.860 you end up with a facsimile of a changed image. He also goes on to talk about the music video,

00:27:58.660 which came out a couple of days ago. And he says, did you notice that Jojo never actually kisses

00:28:03.400 either of the girls in the music video? They touch faces, she humps, she gets a little tongue to the

00:28:08.360 neck, but she never bothers to actually kiss either. To me, that's the whole song. For all

00:28:13.680 its attempts to shock audiences with queer sexuality there's no sexuality on display 0.99

00:28:18.900 Rebecca also says countless pop stars have done gay shit as a career tool Siwa at first did 0.99

00:28:26.160 something kind of different when she came out as actually gay it was her identity her sexuality 0.99

00:28:30.980 and it didn't detract from her rainbow and unicorn merchandise lines but also she's being kind of 0.58

00:28:36.980 cringe every step of the way but now she's tried to incorporate it into some manufactured comeback 0.94

00:28:42.400 for shock value, play acting her own identity. The sweatiness of figuring out how to reinvent

00:28:48.600 herself in the public eye is actually kind of authentic to who she is in a way. Loudly and

00:28:54.480 proudly cringe. What are your thoughts on those quotes? I think this is so true. The sweatiness

00:29:01.100 of figuring out how to reinvent herself in the public eye is actually kind of authentic to who

00:29:05.760 she is. Loudly and proudly cringe. I think that's true. What do you think of the quotes? 0.51

00:29:10.760 Well, I find this really interesting because I'm like, they're kind of tearing down this 20-year-old girl in my head when, wait, what's his name? When Jason's talking about like, oh, you know, like why isn't she kissing or like humping these girls in her music videos?

00:29:29.720 I'm like well like sexuality looks like a lot of different things even in the queer community

00:29:34.900 and then I also think with Rebecca I agree with her like last quotes but also a 20 year old like

00:29:42.060 come on like we were so cringed back in the day like I think give her some space to be that I

00:29:49.060 think we see people like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo who are so polished and so mature and so

00:29:54.760 lovable that when we see other young people just like going through the mud it looks really awkward

00:30:01.720 and extremely cringe i am not like a jojo fam i'm like let let her be cringe but the reason

00:30:11.060 that she like i do think that jojo is trying to get a reaction out of us and it's working

00:30:16.940 we're talking about it like all of tiktok is talking about it her videos are getting millions

00:30:21.040 of views i think that she's smarter than we give her credit for she is worth hundreds of millions 1.00

00:30:26.860 of dollars uh according to like her actual net worth is unknown but in 2020 forbes estimated 0.85

00:30:34.380 that she'd made 400 million dollars on bow sales alone just on bows and the north american leg of

00:30:43.080 her tour in 2019 is believed to have earned her 27 million dollars i don't think she's like this

00:30:48.940 indie artists like claro or girl in red who's trying to figure it out and is maybe if it's

00:30:56.280 like i think she has a team of hundreds of people who are like working with her to rebrand her image

00:31:05.920 and these people would be people with uh formed frontal lobes so they would know what is awkward

00:31:12.680 what is gonna work what's not gonna work I just find it so fascinating like I don't really know

00:31:19.540 what they were trying to achieve but I reckon the song's getting the numbers and I wonder

00:31:27.060 if she's going to turn into like a camp icon soon I wonder if that's what she's trying to go for

00:31:32.920 like this silly like you know Debbie people in comparing her to Debbie Ryan and you know how 1.00

00:31:38.460 now debbie ryan is used as like a meme thing and all that i don't i wouldn't consider debbie ryan

00:31:43.720 a camp icon at all but people kind of have this like oh like lovable feelings of affection towards

00:31:50.620 people sometimes who can be like cringe or embarrassing and i wonder if that's what she's

00:31:55.720 trying to do but i think it's too self-aware for her to be like i'm trying to be the next miley

00:32:00.180 cyrus like that doesn't i just don't think humans in general like people being that explicit with

00:32:07.640 what they're trying to do artistically yeah and this might be cruel but i don't see her as an

00:32:12.600 artist i see her as a business venture yes exactly so jojo told people at the end of march that she

00:32:19.460 was ready for the criticism that comes with this rebrand having seen how celebrities had grown up

00:32:24.380 in the public eye before she says i feel like a lot of child stars started as a character then

00:32:30.100 they grew into an adult as themselves whereas for me i've always been myself you know what i mean

00:32:35.200 and so to make this transition while being true to myself while being artistic has been interesting

00:32:40.240 to figure out but i think we've nailed it and i think it definitely makes a massive statement

00:32:45.060 maybe even too big of a statement but i think it's going to be a good one oh she is like um

00:32:51.220 case number one of why we should not let children become stars i just think i don't think that's 1.00

00:32:56.200 good for anyone's ego i would not want to be in her position like fuck that fuck that like fuck 0.99

00:33:03.320 sorry i don't have sworn so much on the in a row on the podcast but like oh my gosh i know she's 1.00

00:33:08.460 doing i know she's a millionaire and famous and getting to sing and dance but like to be 20 years

00:33:15.720 old and saying those 20 year old thoughts yeah in front of millions of people and trying to achieve

00:33:23.820 like god i don't know it's just it's it's hard to watch but like i hope she's okay

00:33:30.780 internet discourse around the elusive candid girlfriend has gone viral this week

00:33:43.400 so who is the candid girlfriend is she real and is it an anti-feminist take so the stand-up

00:33:50.120 comedian steph dagg was interviewed on the tiktok account subway takes let's play a clip now so

00:33:56.540 What's your take?

00:33:57.120 My take is that all guys think they want to date the, like, cool, hot, artsy, baddie girlfriend with, like, baby bangs and a bad father.

00:34:02.740 But that's actually not the case at all.

00:34:04.280 What all guys in New York want is to date the, like, candid girlfriend.

00:34:07.760 You can trademark that. 0.99

00:34:09.060 Candid girlfriend is a girl who's, like, 5'5 and a half, naturally thin, has mousy brown hair no longer than shoulder length. 0.84

00:34:14.940 She's, like, from New Hampshire, maybe studied art history. 0.72

00:34:17.760 And I would say the biggest part of her personality is that she, like, loves pomegranate.

00:34:21.940 And her boyfriend thinks that's, like, so quirky and adorable.

00:34:24.060 the candid girl is the patient zero of the pick me girl she's not even trying to be pick me she

00:34:29.440 just authentically has nothing going on in her brain pick me girl is a girl who pretends to be

00:34:33.580 interesting and unique to get attention this girl just has nothing going on in her brain 0.97

00:34:37.880 she like likes good pottery and so all guys want that all guys want that because they can make a

00:34:45.420 muse out of her i want to know your thoughts on this first because you wanted to talk about this

00:34:51.240 more yes and actually Tom pitched it to the podcast um to me he's like you should talk about

00:34:57.080 this because yes I saw this uh maybe a day or two after it was posted and I was like oh my gosh

00:35:05.580 she's so funny I like this woman I like this take interesting because I really wanted to talk about

00:35:14.740 it today because this video has been so divisive even in friendship groups in our like life like

00:35:22.640 I've seen friends of mine comment um different things the video currently has 13.5 million views

00:35:29.860 in a week and yeah let's talk about it so this is my take I like this video because I actually think

00:35:38.000 she's critiquing the men who view women this way I don't think she's actually criticizing like

00:35:43.700 supposed women who have like nothing going on in their brain um I actually think it's like oh this

00:35:50.700 is how a lot of men do view women as like a prop as a muse like they do kind of want like a pretty

00:35:56.620 thing to like pose in their Instagram photo dumps again she's talking about a very specific type of

00:36:03.460 like NY guy but we can we can see this again she's also a comedian and this was an edited 90

00:36:10.860 second clip like it's obviously done so to um create conversation create laughs so I didn't

00:36:17.940 take it as like a serious like oh my god like if she's five five and her name's Emily like she must

00:36:23.680 be out to get me or whatever I think a lot of people took this super personally also I don't

00:36:28.900 think kind of girlfriend is a bad thing like it is aspirational in some ways yes okay when I first

00:36:36.020 saw this before it like went crazy viral i was just like okay like i guess she's right

00:36:42.360 and i was also when all this discourse started happening about this i was also like

00:36:49.500 this isn't a new take because it's literally called the girl next door

00:36:54.240 it's the girl next door in the movies and in tv shows and it's the girl you can take home to

00:37:03.320 of parents who will bake an apple pie who doesn't have that many aspirations not super ambitious

00:37:11.280 she's got a nice group of friends she's got a job she likes and she puts a lot of time and effort

00:37:18.240 into the relationship that's what i thought i was like this isn't a new trope at all i don't think

00:37:25.340 what she's saying is even that hot of a take but um i think it's interesting the way that

00:37:31.420 90 seconds can create all this conversation um around you know gender and womanhood and things

00:37:41.040 like that that's what i think is more interesting than like what she actually has to say i love that

00:37:45.780 it's like the girl next door enters a digital era and then out pops candid girlfriend i do think

00:37:51.360 potentially that line specifically about being like oh yeah you know she's got nothing going on

00:37:55.180 up there sounds clunky and he does like land quite clunkily um but all in all like I dig what

00:38:03.120 she's saying I do think guys really like that I feel like as a woman I aspire in some ways to be

00:38:08.380 that like you know she's like effortlessly pretty and she's like a bit mysterious and like she's

00:38:13.620 quiet you know like it's quite aspirational um and I just I think it's fun I like yeah I'm really

00:38:21.160 not bothered by this take me either we'd love to hear listeners thoughts on this as well like

00:38:26.460 we kind of have a similar opinion on it but um if anyone you know was offended by it or thought it

00:38:32.160 was like anti-feminist jump in our dms because we'd be keen to hear other opinions i have one

00:38:38.180 last question which is like if a tiktok account like this ever came up to you on the tram for

00:38:44.140 example in melbourne would you answer it like the thought of having like 14 million views freaks me

00:38:50.660 oh i would i would i've been getting a fair share of like hate-ish comments i've been like posting

00:38:58.680 like some opinions online which yeah you should not do don't actually think about posting opinions

00:39:04.780 on tiktok like that's so silly as we sit here in front of microphones sharing our opinions

00:39:10.060 yeah a few of your videos have been going like semi-viral right 250k okay yeah we will be talking

00:39:17.900 about one of them in our next episode so here's a little sizzle

00:39:21.920 maggie time for recommendations what have you loved watching reading listening to this week

00:39:34.460 uh quite a lot actually but i do want to focus on an article that i read earlier this week which i

00:39:41.460 really enjoyed it was published in vogue it was written by gladys lay and the piece is called

00:39:47.060 I stopped wearing makeup now my feelings about beauty are more complicated than ever. Gladys

00:39:53.760 in the piece talks about how six months ago she just wore off makeup and stopped wearing it

00:39:58.900 and because of that it has kind of complicated her relationship between beauty, modern feminism

00:40:07.160 and capitalism. Things that we love talking about here at Culture Club and she actually kindly 0.76

00:40:14.900 enough read out some of her piece for us so here she is in her own words. Like a far too sizable

00:40:22.500 portion of the female population I have a laundry list of things that I find to be wrong about my 1.00

00:40:27.280 face. Wrong in this instance means something that no one else takes issue with. I have a faint frown 0.96

00:40:33.520 line above my right eyebrow that I'm convinced will increasingly resemble the Mariana Trench

00:40:37.800 the closer I am to 80. The thought causes me a not insignificant amount of stress.

00:40:43.920 The only time I ever felt like I could wrangle that anxiety was in the morning,

00:40:48.140 makeup products splayed like felled trees around my bathroom sink. My routine was ironclad.

00:40:53.960 Concealer, under the eyes and on various spots that seemed to grow larger the more I looked at

00:40:58.260 them. Brow pencil, to fill the gaps in. Mascara, pencil liner, cream highlighter. Blush, everywhere.

00:41:06.800 It would take 10 minutes, after which I'd observe my work in the mirror and think, 0.99

00:41:10.960 ah, there she is.

00:41:14.360 Is wearing makeup an individual choice that empowers us?

00:41:17.540 Or does it kowtow to standards of beauty that are, if not patriarchal, at least externally imposed?

00:41:23.520 There's something to be admired about the fervour with which we've severed makeup from expectation.

00:41:28.040 And there have been countless times that I've experienced what I've believed, at least in the moment,

00:41:32.820 was confidence because of makeup I applied for my sake and my sake alone.

00:41:37.360 Silver eyeliner can do that.

00:41:39.340 But it also feels remiss to gloss over the elephant-shaped questions,

00:41:43.160 of which there are many.

00:41:45.140 Why did I feel more bad already when I had eyeliner on?

00:41:48.480 Did I feel more beautiful too?

00:41:50.500 If I felt more beautiful, where did my ideals of beauty come from?

00:41:54.180 Was I honestly not considering how other people, men included, were perceiving me?

00:41:59.220 i also loved this piece one thing that stood out for me is some quotes that gladys pulled

00:42:07.520 from vogue business last august when katie critricorn dubbed the phenomenon femvertizing

00:42:14.120 it's a thought line that capitalizes on the desire for inclusivity and spins anti-patriarchy

00:42:20.200 into commercial appeal the quote reads unlike years past when brands previously acted as

00:42:26.840 authority so that dictated to female consumers how they should look and how to achieve that ideal

00:42:31.700 the language has shifted towards supporting and advocating for who you are unapologetically

00:42:36.880 now foundation doesn't cover blemishes it brings out our inner radiance brands fruit confidence

00:42:43.260 in bottles in order to empower ourselves we have to buy what they sell this isn't super revolutionary

00:42:49.640 or anything like we know this but just to see it written down in that way and to have a name

00:42:54.720 fembatizing it just sums up especially working in like branded content with like beauty brands who

00:43:01.160 are trying to sell particularly anti-aging products and they're like but we don't talk

00:43:05.920 about any aging we want to talk about like radiance and I'm like oh my god anyway I just

00:43:10.520 that like part of the article also really stood out to me so love this one yeah I'm glad we're

00:43:16.800 having more conversations like this because it's not like okay stop wearing makeup like Gladys

00:43:21.800 you know has incorporated a few products back into her regime and I just think it's such a

00:43:27.500 personal question too I'm really happy that there are writers and critics like Jessica

00:43:32.520 Dufino who does a lot of work like interrogating the beauty business and I'm so glad to have these

00:43:37.980 thoughts like I have actually been questioning myself a lot more recently being like okay like

00:43:43.320 but why do I feel better like this or or whatever it is and I actually think just having these

00:43:49.460 tougher conversations with ourselves does us all good it is now time for your recommendation what

00:43:55.720 have you read listened to or watched recently that you've enjoyed as you heard at the top

00:44:00.380 i have been on many planes this month uh up and back and forth to queensland and on those planes

00:44:06.160 i have been reading the work by brie lee and it's one of the most favorite things that i've read

00:44:12.560 in like the last probably year yes um you actually kindly gave me an advanced copy

00:44:20.620 i just devoured it it was exciting modern fresh so a little bit of um background on the plot

00:44:29.460 it follows a couple well sorry it follows two people an american new yorker named lally who

00:44:36.480 owns an art gallery in manhattan and patrick who is a sydney scholarship boy who's desperate to

00:44:45.000 establish himself in the antiquities and art scene they meet at a new york show and a relationship

00:44:53.640 kicks off and the book follows that's like alternating perspectives each chapter back and

00:45:00.140 forth and it follows like their desires their relationship what they want how they grew up

00:45:08.720 and so some of the overarching themes of the book are like money power gender sex um

00:45:17.400 like class as well and the writing was entertaining and i love the sex scenes

00:45:27.100 like in terms of true i love the sex scenes in terms of it's been so long i don't know if i've

00:45:36.580 ever read a sex scene like that and um we'll talk about this more in another episode but um i just

00:45:43.380 thought it was exciting the way that braylee writes in general and it's not smart but there

00:45:52.560 are multiple sex scenes that actually seem enjoyable but yeah like i said we'll get into

00:45:56.600 that in another episode because i want to talk more about it um so i would 100 recommend the work

00:46:01.880 it came out this week in australia and yeah obsessed you've also read it oh i loved it i

00:46:09.440 devoured this book definitely one of my favorite fiction reads i've read in a long time brie lee

00:46:14.900 is a national treasure and um keep your eyes and ears peeled for something is all we will say for

00:46:22.360 now thank you so much dear listeners for joining us today we've absolutely loved sharing uh this

00:46:29.580 time with you so thanks again for choosing to listen to us and talk to you online in our dms

00:46:36.700 and if you love this feel free to give us a little rate and review on apple podcast or spotify because

00:46:43.560 it really helps us out and it's also been a lot since we had one um yeah thanks for listening

00:46:49.940 Love you.

00:46:50.720 Bye.

00:46:51.020 Bye-bye.

Culture Club - April 08, 2024

Who Is The Candid Girlfriend？

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