Hello, and welcome to Outspoken.
It's your dose of the hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm Amy Torber and coming up on today's show, m Davy's Filthy White Couch.
Taylor Swift puts on a show for.
Her London boys, Olivia Mathers is reunited with her Bengal cat and keep It Clean as divisive TikTok strategy. But first officially, Sophie, we are very excited Aunties.
We have been holding onto the news that Kate gave birth for a week.
It was extremely hard to record this podcast without spilling the tea. I feel like some listeners could have picked up on a few things we.
Said last week that I don't know.
They feel like there are a few comments about babies, like we had some sort of knowledge, well more knowledge than you had the other week when you didn't realize that baby's drunk meal.
Yes, it's been an eye opening experience. I have learned a lot so far.
But yes, Kate decided on the name Jack Edward, and I don't think that pop cast listeners will be surprised by that because she is one for a traditional name. Yeah, so first name Jack, middle name Edward, last name Turner. He does have the initials Jet, which is pretty cool. That is literally why her husband agreed to the name, because he's like, what cool initials like? Imagine if he's a fantastic basketball player and he's speedy across the court
with the nickname Jet. Well, we want to allow Kate to actually feel listeners in on the blow by blow, probably in one of our subscriber episodes, potentially on Wednesday, if she feels up to it. But I feel like we need to feel listeners in from our point of view, because yeah, she's taken like a duck to water to motherhood. She is loving us. I said to her, Oh, is it as bad as everyone makes it out to be? And I mean, putting into perspective, it is weak one.
A lot of people say it takes two weeks for the child to actually wake up and be.
Aware of where they are.
But she said that she's loving it so far, and she's just loving getting to know her baby. He is I know we're biased. He is the most or just baby I have ever seen. Oh he's so cute, he is adorable. Well, everyone says that when you're a first time mom or dad, when you see the child, you just instantly fall in love with the baby.
And I wondered what it.
Would be like for you and I being aunties, not officially the mother, but as soon officially well as in Kate keeps saying that genetically we're actually very close to Jack. But when I walked in and I saw him lying there, I just felt this instant surge of love.
My heart like it is. Yeah, my heart felt like it burst when I saw him. He's just adorable.
I was a little bit worried about how Kate's Golden Retrievers would take to Jack.
And it's so funny.
The other night we were over there and Kate and Reese were changing Jack and he started to cry. And the look on the dog's faces like they were shocked. Your husband, Brandon, his face was even more shocked seeing one Jack being changed and like the pool explosion and then seeing him cry. It was actually so funny. I've got a video of it. I almost wanted to put on TikTok and entitle it. When two sets of.
Dinks see the reality of having a baby.
Well, that's because Jack is so placid and quiet.
He's just this perfect baby.
He's happy, to be passed from person to person, like he's so quiet, So it was the first time that we saw.
Him really cry.
Is quite funny because Kate did have a cesarean, so we all knew when she was going to give birth. So literally there were like eleven people in the waiting room for Kate.
You could tell it was the first baby.
Yeah, I think a lot of the the nurses there were sort of like, what the hell is going on? Because we consequently found out that not many people do this. So we were waiting for her to be wheeled out from into the recovery waiting.
We didn't know.
They just told us to wait in this area, and then we cottoned on quite quickly that they were wheeling out a lot of the.
People who had had caesareans.
So we managed to be in the right spot at the right time when they were wheeling Kate and Jack and Reese back through for observations, and oh my god, it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. He was just propped up on her just gave us the funniest expression and Paul, Kate, though she just come out of surgery, What the fuck is going on? Why are all of these people looking at me. It was like she was
some celebrity who had been wheeled through. She wouldn't have expected any less, like she knew how excited all of the families were. This is the first grandchild for both Reese's side and also her side, so I think he's going to be a very spoiled little boy. Let us know if you do want to hear her on an episode of The Subs, because I think that she's really keen to tell her birth story. Maybe put up a question box that people can send in what they want to know.
Igat Perfect Perfect.
Purbat Perth influencer m Davies has set tongues wagging after listing her filthy couch on Facebook marketplace for nine hundred dollars. Super Sleeves uncovered the ad, which pictured a white linen sofa covered with black stains. Now so some followers.
Were shocked by the state of the couch.
Look the couch wasn't looking its best, but em was very honest in the ad about it. She didn't try to conceal the marks, she did have them on full display. In the description, she explained that the marks would come out with professional cleaning. She is just months away from giving birth. So you'd assume that she's getting rid of this couch because she wants something that's a bit more kid friendly. And this couch is already in a state
after adults sitting on it. I can't imagine what it would look like after a kid got its sticky fingers or vomit all over it. When I was looking for a new couch, my husband was like, no, we can't get white.
It's just going to get ruined. And I'm always like, no, no, it will look fine.
But I think this is the reality of actually having a white couch. Well, my husband and I have a white couch, but it sort of has flex of that sandy color in it as well. But we just put blankets over the top of it when we sit down so that our dog doesn't get footprints on there, which I suppose defeats the purpose of having a white couch. She just looks so much chicer than gray couches. Yeah, but this one is not looking very chic at the moment.
Do you think anyone will actually buy this? I mean, could it be that there's an M. Davies follower out there that wants the grimy couch? I don't think she's that well enough known to have fans want to purchase this couch just because it belonged to her. I'm guessing that because she's pregnant, she probably couldn't be bothered to go and get it cleaned herself, to just try and get a couple of extra hundred dollars on Facebook marketplace. Nine hundred dollars though for a second hand couch is
very expensive. It's the same with everything at the moment. Everything is costing a fortune, yeah, but not on Facebook Marketplace. I have noticed I have been looking for secondhand furniture for my mother in law to do up because she's amazing at upcycling furniture. And it is ridiculous how much people are wanting at the moment. At least Emma's being honest though, because I remember a few years ago, Sarah's Day got heavily criticized when she advertised a rug which
retailed for eight hundred and forty nine dollars. So she posted the item to her Instagram account and described it as being basically brand new, And this was despite the fact that most of her followers knew she had had it for three years. Yeah, and she said it had only briefly been used in her son's Foxes bedroom. It was quite funny at the time because the media called Sarah a cheapskate influencer and questioned why someone worth millions of dollars was trying to get as much as she
could for a secondhand rug. So I do think that em did the right thing in pointing out the marks on this couch and also having those marks front and center in the PHOTOO gold Co's influencer, Olivia Mathers, has been reunited with her Bengal cat, more than two months after it mysteriously disappeared. Sophie, can you bring listeners up to speed?
Well?
Back in May, Olivia issued a desperate plea to anyone with information about her Bengal cat, Hawky, who she said had been stolen. Olivia believed that her neighbors had something to do with the disappearance because they were the first ones to raise the alarm. They told her that Hawky had been dropped at the pound, So her neighbour's dad allegedly found Hawky wandering and decided to drop the pedigree cat at the pound, which doesn't make any sense now. It was all very odd at the time, it was
very suspicious. Now, Olivia and her mum rushed down to the pound to be told that no Bengal cat had ever been there, and this led Olivia to confront her neighbors via text. And this is where their story suddenly changed, because the neighbor alleged that her dad actually went to get the cat out of the car and it freaked
out and escaped. I think what made the disappearance so suspicious was the fact that this is a pure bred Bengal cat that went missing, and they are in such high demand at the moment and can fetch upwards of two thousand dollars. This was a story that really scared a lot of pet owners because the thought that someone could steal your cat and essentially we get away with it is terrifying. Now Olivia ended up offering a cash reward for anyone with verified information about the cat, and
she also enlisted a private investigator. Now on Friday, Olivia shared the heartwarming news that Hawky was finally home. She wrote, She's home after two helpless months. A beautiful couple not far from home posted about a Bengal cat visiting frequently. The photo was undeniably Hawky. We hit the ground running over the last three days, walking the streets, staking out the houses, clinging to New Hope. Tonight she followed our
voices and ran back to me. Turns out the lady that spotted her was our KINDI teacher and the kind of soul you can imagine, a heartwarming coincidence that made the reunion so much more surreal. She then shared a video of Hawky running into her arms and crying out for her. Oh, this was really heartwarming because Hawky has been weighing.
Heavily on my mind.
I am a cat lover, and I just thought, Wow, there's no that she's getting this cat back.
So what do you think actually happened.
Do you think that the neighbors, if they did actually take the cat, they've just let him loose.
Yeah.
It did lead to a lot of questions as to whether Hawky was taken by the neighbors and then dumped nearby, or did the cat run away. There is no cold heart evidence to actually suggest the neighbors did anything, apart from the bizarre text messages that Olivia was showing. I just want to preface it, we don't actually have evidence to say that they stole Hawky. Olivia hasn't shed any more light on what she thinks happened. But Bengals are known for having a bit of a wild side to them.
They are quite different to your average cat. So once a Bengal gets a taste of the outdoors, they.
Are known for roaming. So it is unclear what has happened.
He hasn't roamed for two months and not come home, especially because he ran into her arms. There's obviously something that's happened, and I think that Olivia doesn't want to say any more. She's got her cat back. She doesn't want to create any further fuss, and that's I suppose the best outcome that could have happened.
Don't worry about it.
At Kick, We've got over one hundred and ten pilates classes to kicks. TikTok strategy has been a hot topic of conversation in our Facebook community. While some have praised the fitness app founded by Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw for producing engaging content aimed at gen zetters, others have labeled the strategy as a train wreck and the videos as cringe. So for those who don't follow kicks
TikTok accounts. So what kind of videos are they posting. Look, I'm not a gen Zetter, so maybe this isn't aimed at me. But they're posting a lot of those trending sound videos where they and their work colleagues mime to a whole bunch of cringey sounds. And then they're doing a lot of those transitional videos, and it's just really finding a trend and then copying it or redoing the trend.
They're not really videos that are specific to them.
Yes, it's clear that they're wanting to garner as many views and new eyeballs as they can. Yeah, they're jumping on a lot of trends and some people have said it's cringe.
Do you think it's cringe?
The general vibe I get from these videos that it's millennials who are trying to fit in with gen Zetters and they're trying to jump on board these viral trends. But I actually think a lot of gen Zetters would roll their eyes at these videos. Yeah, but a lot of their marketing team are gen Zetters, and that's where the ideas are coming from. I actually think they're doing
a good job. They're obviously trying to target that market. Yeah, but are they ostracizing their other audience because I did read enough Facebook community that some people are rage viewing these videos and that they're they're not saying that they're rage baiting by sharage baiting, sorry, and it's probably leading
some people to unfollow the account. Stefan Laura have said in previous interviews that ninety percent of their app downloads are from organic channels, while their competitors rely heavily on paid marketing. I mean, that's not particularly surprising considering that Steph kles Smith has over one million followers, so it's interesting to see if that is coming from their own accounts or whether that is coming from Kick social media channels.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, if you look at Stephan Laura's followers, the majority would be millennials. So it's clear they're trying to push for this new wave of Kick subscribers with this style of content. My fear though, is what these kind of videos do for overall brandings. So while I can see they're trying to appeal to the gen zs, it does come across like they're chasing trends just to get quick likes and views, and you don't get a real sense of Laura and Steph's personalities, which I think
is a huge selling point for them. It's a hard one because as a publicist, we do give advice on social media and I have said to my clients in the past that you have to have a completely different content strategy for TikTok as you have to do for Instagram or Facebook. However, in this case, I don't think that these videos are meeting up with their overall brand
messaging and brand voice. I actually think it's doing the more damage than good because, as we touched on, they think that people think there's a lot of rage baiting going on, which will lead people to unfollow. And I understand that you're wanting to reach out to a new demographic, but I actually don't think that these videos are successful in doing that because I also think gen zs are
probably getting the ick from them. See I disagree with you because I think if you look at a lot of their new strategies, for instance, TikTok and even their podcast come down to the fact that Kickers set its sites on expanding globally, so they currently have a lot of eyeballs on what they're doing, and there's would be a lot of interest in how many followers they have on TikTok, how many podcasts subscribers they have, So I don't think they really care how they're getting people to
listen to them, whether it be on TikTok or on their podcasts. I mean, they've copped flak in the past before for sharing way too much information on their podcast, but it's clearly working for them because Laura spoke to The Financial Review last year about how they were testing the UK market for capital raising, and she was open about how she and Steph had traveled to the UK to get a better feel for the market, and interestingly, she said that their podcast, The Kickpod, had played a
major role in their UK expansion plans. So she said the plan was to grow their UK listenership substantially, and they were able to do this by interviewing well known UK identities who then shared to their followers that they were on the podcast, and in February they reported that their subscriptions on their kickapp had gone up by nineteen percent. So this incidental marketing through the Kickpod has actually resulted in greater.
Revenue numbers for them on their app.
One thing I think they do do very well is the small reels and tiktoks that they produce from clips of the podcast, because they're edited in such a way that you're left wanting to find out more and you're intrigued by the statement or question that they've put out there. So I actually think that sort of content is great for their brand, great for their key messaging, and it positions Steph and Laura as fun businesssiness women, not necessarily these cringe influences.
Who are jumping on every track.
Yet. I think it's about having a mix of videos. So they can have some of these cringe gen zetta aimed videos, but they need to mix it, as you said, with other kind of content. I mean a lot of their businesses revolved around food. They share a lot of recipes, they sell a lot of food in supermarkets. I would be pushing for some more recipe videos. They're huge on TikTok.
At the moment.
I think what's evident is that step and Laura are smart and they know that they were able to launch Kickback in twenty fifteen because of how popular they both were on social media, so obviously TikTok is incredibly important to them, and they will be looking at their numbers
very closely. I also wonder whether they're gearing up to sell Kick, because it sounds like step and Laura are making a conscious effort to step back from being one hundred percent front facing when it comes to the Kick app. So even in some of Kicks TikTok videos you'll see stuff half members who are the focus, and Steph told Forbes magazine in March this year that they are now only in about twenty five percent of Kicks current content on the app and it has not affected the completion
of workouts or engagement. I know when Kayla was gearing up to sell the Sweat app, which she did subsequently by back, there was a big push to bring in other trainers to make it more appealing to potential buyers. I know there is a view that it's risky to buy a business that relies so heavily on the sole branding of the founders. We saw Sam would sell his app for seventy one million dollars a few years ago, so they would be huge demand for an app like Kick.
Yeah.
Well, Laura told The Financial Review in January of twenty twenty three that they know in order to build a sustainable business that could scale globally, they need to diversify the product away from them. So it's going to be very interesting to see what the future holds for Kick over the next couple of years. He kind of pointed to Prince William and said something like, I hear you
like to do this at karaoke night. Karaoke Boy Taylor Swift has stun fans on the London leg of her Ears tour with a surprise performance by her NFL star boyfriend Travis Kelce. Swifty's are dubbing the singer the Queen of Revenge, with the move taking place on her ex's home soil. This moment caught so many Swifties off guard.
No one was expecting Travis to make an appearance on stage, and he has been known to take on the role of the supportive boyfriend, being heavily praised for singing and dancing in the crowd, which is in direct contrast to her ex, Joe Olwen, who rarely came to any of her shows and kept a very low profile. However, I don't think that anyone was prepared to have him appear on stage dressed in a top hat and tails as a backup danswer, it just.
Didn't seem real. I saw it.
Kate forward it to me because she has been up in the early hours of the morning feeding little baby Jack, and like, my jaw just hit the floor when I opened it, I was like, no way.
For those who haven't seen.
In the clip, Travis joins Taylor on stage for the transition into her new hit.
Song I Can Do It with a Broken.
Heart, and this song is all about her being heartbroken whilst on tour, so this was after her situationship Matt Healey just ghosted her and the song coincidentally follows The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, which is also about Matt Healey. By the end of the song, Taylor has collapsed on the floor and her backup dancers have to scoop her up and carry her onto a couch and they prop her up like a puppet to get her change into her next outfit, and she looks really terrified while they
have to encourage her to go on stage. So basically Travis took on the role of one of these backup dancers and it's so symbolic to have Travis there because many fans say that he brought her back to life
and helped mend her broken heart. I saw a meme on Instagram and it was one of those ones how it started and how it's going now, and it was comparing the fact that Travis less than a year ago was making friendship bracelets to go to Taylor Swifts concert and now he's literally performing in one of her biggest songs and he has songs written about him.
Yeah, it's just crazy.
Many fans actually thought that he was going up on stage to propose to her. Sadly this didn't happen, but many are thinking that this kind of stunt means that a proposal isn't far away, because I mean, this is soulmate sort of shit, Like you don't just bring up some guy you're casually dating and putting on stage for the rest of the world to see. I think that
an engagement is happening. Maybe it will happen on their one year anniversary, which I mean, I don't think Travis is ever going to propose in public or on stage.
It would be a private affair.
But it's a huge move, as you said, for Taylor to have Travis come up on stage. We haven't seen something like this before with any of her other past boyfriends. What I really love about this stunt is that it cements that Taylor is the Queen of revenge. Even though she is so famous and so popular, she's petty like the rest of us because she has such a long history with London. The city has been a huge part
of her life. Not only has she lived there and recorded music there, but she's had several serious relationships with London boys.
So that's been Harry Styles, Tom.
Hitdleson, Joe Olwen and also Matt Heay, so it's quite clear that she loves an English accent.
She loves a London boy.
Yes that song that we probably would never ever hear live again. On her most recent album, she had a song seemingly saying goodbye to London, But to me, it seems like she is trying to reclaim this city and make new memories there with Travis. And what a master move is it to break up with Joe Olwen. Then the next time you're in London you bring your new golden retriever boyfriend that everyone's obsessed with up on stage to prove that you can be Taylor Swist's boyfriend and
proudly support her. You might also have something to do with the fact that Joe Olwen was recently interviewed by The Sunday Times and it was the first time he's actually out since his breakup with Taylor Swift. He didn't say anything too juicy, but some people have been reading into the timelines he discussed. Yeah, because people were reading into it that the breakup happened only a week before
it was made public. So that was around June or July last year, and Taylor's people were kind of trying to put it out there saying that the breakup happened months before, in February. Yeah, so there's some rumors going around and people are saying, well, maybe there was potentially a crossover with Matt Healey.
We don't know. All I know is whatever Taylor says. I'm taking that on face value. Yeah.
Well, Also, whilst in London, Taylor has gone Instagram official with Travis.
I mean, everyone.
Knows that they're official and that they're together, but this is the first time she has posted about him, and also the first time that she's posted about a boyfriend in quite some time. I think the last boyfriend she posted about was Calvin Harris.
What does she post?
Well, this isn't your regular hard launch because it included none other than two future Kings of England are the Princess So Prince William celebrated his forty second birthday by bringing Charlotte and George to the opening night of.
Taylor's Eras tour.
So it is quite clear that the Royal family are big fans of Taylor Swift because on their official ex account they posted a video of the British Army performing a rendition of Taylor Swift shake it Off during the changing of guards at Buckingham Palace.
Let's throw to a clip.
They captured the post Can't stop Won't Stop Grooving? This is iconic from their social media team.
Yeah, their social media team does a really good job. I've often thought, what must it be like to be their videographer? Be pretty cool gig.
Not so surprisingly, Prince William and the kids didn't sit in the VIP tent. They had their own private box, but the IP tent has seen some action over the past few days, with Sir Paul McCartney being spotted in there,
as well as Tom Cruise Ashen Kutcher, Millericunis, and Hugh Grant. Yeah, and while Taylor doesn't always have time to do meet and greets with famous fans before or after the shows, as Travis Kelsey learned the hard way, she did make an exception for the royal family, and many fans felt
like they'd stepped into some bizarre alternate universe. When William posted a photo to his official Instagram account of him and the kids with Taylor, he captured the photo thank you Taylor Swift for a great evening, hashtag London ts the eras tour now. Shortly after, Taylor backed it up, sharing a selfie with William, Charlotte George and also Travis
Kelcey and wrote happy b day mate. I must preface that Taylor spelt mate in a very old school millennial way with an M and eight, and she continued writing London shows off to a splendid start and did an English and American flag with a shaking hand emoji after it. Well, when I saw the photo, at first, I thought, is that a wax figure of Taylor Swift like?
It was very confused.
It was very Madame Tussard's looking in the photo. Taylor was dressed in her black, sparkly blazer dress that she wears during her performance of The Man, which is in contrast to what she usually wears behind the scenes. She's
usually in her sparkly leotard. But I'm guessing that the royal aides requested a more conservative outfit for her to be around the royals in It reminds me of that time the Princess Diana went to a Michael Jackson concert and he's got a song Dirty Diana, and they specifically removed it from the concert because they thought, oh, this might be a bit awkward, And apparently Diana told Michael Jackson after the show that she was really disappointed because
it was her favorite song. Prince William seemed to steal the viral moment because he made a bit of a spectacle of himself during.
Shake It Off.
A fan panned up to capture William in the stands and he was doing the daggiest day dance to Shake it Off. He was dancing like nobody was watching him, and it looked like he was having the time of his life.
I was very happy for him. Yeah, I did enjoy seeing that.
I mean, he's been caught out a couple of times dancing in a daggy fashion.
It is very Prince William. I just kept thinking the whole time.
I wonder if Harry is really jealous, because in his tell Or interview with Meghan Markele, he spoke about how much he loved the Reputation album, especially Look What You Made Me Do? And I just thought, oh, I would have loved to have seen Harry backstage meeting her well. Some fans have speculated that Taylor and William's posts were
throwing shade at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. So Meghan has previously attended one of Taylor's LA shows, but she didn't appear to be sitting in the VIP section and there were no photos of her with Taylor after the performance. Now. Taylor also allegedly declined to appear on Meghan's Archetypes podcast, which led many to believe that she was taking sides
with the Royal family. I don't even think there's been one podcast that Taylor Swift's been oh no, but I think it's clear that Taylor would want to keep the British Royal family happy. One Royal fan wrote on x oh Man the shade to not only Meghan and Harry, but also her ex London Boy Bravo, Taylor Swift and Prince William, whilst another said you never saw Harry and Meghan get that close to Taylor Swift.
Thank you for choosing the right side, Taylor.
This is such a huge win for the royal family because last year it was widely publicized that King Charles struggled to get any homegrown acts to perform at the concert, so he had reached out to Harry Styles and Dale, Robbie Williams, Elton John and even the Spy Skirls and they all reportedly refuse to be part of the ceremony. So what you're saying is that when we finally have a King William, there's going to be a pretty good concert.
Taylor Stiff would definitely be in attendance. I wonder if.
This is a new pr strategy from Prince William's team, because since Kate Middleton made her first public appearance last week amid her cancer battle, they appear to be sharing more more behind the scenes styff photos which make the family look more relatable and normal. So on the couple's official Instagram account, they shared a very cute photo of William and the kids at the beach and William and
the kids mid air jumping over sand dunes. I mean you even commented to me saying, I can't believe they're allowed to share this photo.
Yeah, I was really surprised when I saw it. I just kept thinking where did they land? Like on the sand? Was that a heavy fall? I suppose because Kate is now.
The official photographer for them, and it just makes him look like a fun, hands on dad. I think it's also been very clever because everyone is forgetting the narrative that Prince Harry has built on William being this aggressive guy.
Who had a punch up with him. He's a Taylor Swift.
Yeah, he's just loving daggy dad that's dancing in the crowd, that loves jumping on sand dunes with his kids. That is the recent pr push with Prince William, and with Taylor Swift now seen to be endorsing him, it is a major win for the British royal family.
Well, I think that's all we've got time for today.
Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Outspoken. If you did enjoy the show and you haven't left a review already. We'd love if you could because we need some five star reviews there.
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You're also welcome to follow Kate, Sophie and I on Instagram.
There's a lot of baby spam going on at the moment, and there is. This episode was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes.
We pay respect to elders past and present.