Hey fam, Hello Sunshine. Today on the bright Side, we're popping off and dishing on the biggest pop culture stories of the week with comedian and former SNL cast member Sashir Zamata. So what's on our agenda today, Well, we're answering so many questions, like what's Beyonce's response to being snubbed by the CMAS, is there controversy with the choice for the twenty twenty five Super Bowl halftime show performer? And how much is okay to spend on beauty treatments
and products in a year. It's Friday, September thirteenth. I'm Danielle Robe and.
I'm Simone Voice, and this is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to share women's stories, laugh, learn and brighten your day.
Happy Friday, Simone. It's been such a great week.
Yes, we got some big sister energy from Latin Grammy winner Cheekys.
I loved hearing from Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson East. We talked marriage, motherhood, gymnastics, and she was just so real.
You know who that episode? My mom. She brought it up to me yesterday.
There we go, me and your mom same page.
Well all of us for sure.
I also can't stop thinking about the science of happiness and the practical, tangible steps we can take to bring joy to our own lives. After we had that conversation with Karen Guggenheim, not gonna lie, I feel a little happier.
Okay, how about yesterday with the Miranda Lambert. She's paved the way for so many other major female musicians in country music. Talking to her just felt like talking through country history and royalty.
Yeah, she's a living legend.
Well, we have such a fun episode ahead of us today too, but before we get there, it's time to spotlight our favorite moment of the week.
That's right.
You know, when we started this show, we made a commitment to share good news with you all, and we are going to be making good on that promise today because we have such a sweet and special story to share. So this week, a group of students at the James Madison High School in Virginia surprise their school custodian, Francis
Apracu with his dream car. So the students started this GoF on me for Francis, their favorite custodian, after he told them he'd always wanted a jeep wrangler but could never afford it, so they wrote that ever since they met him, he's been so kind, friendly, and even sometimes says prayers for them. So the freshmen were determined to raise enough money to get him his dream car by the time they graduate.
But the campaign.
Actually exceeded their expectations and they were able to raise over twenty thousand dollars in just a few months.
So incredible. Apracu spoke with Fox five DC just moments after he was presented with his dream car, and he was brimming with gratitude, and he said he could not believe this would happen in his lifetime and that he would never ever forget this day. You know, I'm such a sucker for a story about the power of community and impact of kindness. These will never get old for me, all right, Danielle, should we pop off?
Let's do it.
Joining us today is comedian, actress and writer Sashar Zamida. She's a Saturday Night Live alum and co host of the weekly podcast best Friends with her bestie Nicole Byer. She's appearing as a witchy superhero in Marvel's upcoming WandaVision spinoff called Agatha All Along, which premieres next Wednesday, September eighteenth. Sischier, Welcome to the bright Side.
Thank you so much, Thank you for having me.
All Right, well, we have a lot to chat with you about because you are one busy girl. We have to ask you about the long awaited series Agatha All Along, because you played the witchy superhero Jennifer Cale, which is opposite Catherine Hahn, and I hear that you and your other cast members got a little witchy even behind the scenes to prepare for this. Yeah, is there a coven text chain? Like what's happening here?
There is literally a coven text chain. When there's a full moon, when there's a retrograde, we are texting each other, checking in on each other. I feel like the show really just brought out the witchiness in everybody, like people are exchanging Chris. On set, we were saging the set. Catherine bought everyone cleansing spray for us to like cleanse ourselves in the doorways.
It was really cool.
I'm already into that stuff already, and just to be able to be surrounded by people who were just like fully leaning into it felt really nice.
Was there anyone on set freaked out by it.
I mean, if there was, they didn't say anything or I didn't hear it. Anyway, I hope, I hope no one was freaked out by it. But I also think people were kind of like understanding that it was like fun. You know, we're not like really trying to like do anything demonic over here. We're trying to like enjoy the magic that we got going on and create something really cool.
You're not casting spells on anyone in like craft service, let's say, the right.
Place, unless I didn't get any gummy bears.
Right, Gummy bears are craft service essential. I totally agree, truly. Okay, so shere, this is your first time on our show, so you don't know this about us, But Danielle and I frequently have debates about out woo woo principles and ideas, and I tend to be the skeptic in the duo, and Danielle is like much higher on the woo woo scale than I am. Yeah, So what would you say is the most woo woo or a witchy thing about you?
Well, probably the fact that I have a voodoo doll in my altar at my house. Whow But it's not like supposed to be like evil or like negative against anybody. I made it when I was in New Orleans with a voodoo priestess, and she emphasized the voodoo dolls are not supposed to be to like get back at anybody
or like bring evil upon someone's life. It's supposed to represent you, and it's supposed to be like, if you're looking for more financial abundance, you would put like a penny in the voodoo doll's stomach, or if you want more health, you would like put water in its mouth. You kind of take care of this doll as if you were taking care of yourself. I made this with a friend and we left kind of being like, well,
I don't want to like have a responsibility. Like we kind of just like brushed it off, like that was a cool thing that we did and let's move on with our lives. And I ended up somehow taking both my doll and her doll. It was just like wrapped up in a plastic bag and I had them like in the corner of my room for months, and I remember being like, I don't like feel great, but I just felt like that and my friend did too, and like things kept happening in our lives. Were kind of like,
what is going on? And I was like, do you think it's the voodoo dolls? Do you think it's the fact that I have these voodoo dolls like slumped in a corner, like wrapped in a plastic bag. And she's like, oh my god, maybe, And I like looked it up and like so many people online were like, you do have to take care of your voodoo doll if you made it, you like literally have to take care of it. I unearthed them from the bag, and like according to the online rituals, I like put sea salt on them.
I wrap them in a white cloth and I just put them in a drawer so they could like be kindly stored for a minute while I figure out what to do with them. Then I brought my friends to her and I was like, I don't want to be responsible for your life.
Please take your vooda doll away from me.
And then I just propped mine in my altar and I sometimes like tell it stories or like wishes that I have, and I really feel like I've been living a better life since it's been out of the bag.
You realize this is how every horror movie starts right, You're not wrong.
This is amazing. I love how seriously you're taking all of this, even for me, the woo woo girl on the show. I don't want to feel haunted today, So I'm gonna move on to friendship to share. You host a podcast with Nicole Byer, and you guys are best friends. It's called best Friends. I feel like you guys are the new Oprah and Gail. Quite honestly, we even bought
each other friendship necklaces. I'm curious as to what has been the defining element and keeping your friendship so strong over the years as both of you grow as people, as your careers change.
I think communication, like any relationship, communication is really important. It's hard.
You would think that with your friend it's easier to have hard conversations than it would be with like your family or your romantic partner, but like, it's still hard, and I like that we are able to do that.
And I like that we have a show.
That highlights adult friendship and how important it is in one person's life and how.
It also requires work.
I think sometimes people think, like, oh, my friend should just like accept me as I am, but it's like, well, we gotta we also have to work on this, Like this requires work. This is a relationship and if you want this person to like grow with you and stay in life, you also have to like compromise and ebb and flow and be upfront and authentic with each other.
I love that you center friendship. I just saw read an article about how Aristotle said that friendship was the secret to a happy life. So all those thousands of years back then they knew that it's true.
It really is true.
Yeah, family is family, and relationships come and go, but you choose your friends. That's your chosen family. And if that feels good, I do believe that your life can feel good too.
I agree. Okay, that was our warm up. Are you ready to pop off with us?
I'm ready to pop off. Let's do it.
Okay, first up is actually a big one. We're talking Beyonce. She covered the October issue of GQ, and we all got a little preview this week. We got photos, we got bits of the interview, and it's pretty rare that she doesn't interview, so you know, the internet got hype. Yes, she's talking about her legacy, motherhood, her newest business venture, which is Sir Davis Whiskey, and I found her views on perfectionism quite interesting. Spoiler she says, it's not about
being perfect, it's about being revolutionary. Why do you think she came out to do an interview now because she doesn't do many of these.
That's actually a really good question. I mean, maybe because she wants to highlight her career, or I don't know.
I think maybe she doesn't do interviews because she's like, I'm gonna let the work speak for itself.
Mm hmm.
But maybe I wonder she's had some like really like unconventional work come out lately. This whole album was an unconventional country album, and so maybe she's like, I need to explain it to these dummies.
I need to let me break it down right.
But I also loved hearing her talk about just how strategic she is with her presence. She knows that there's such a huge value placed on her presence, and so she talked a little bit about how you know she'll dip out for a period of time because she's just she's protecting her privacy, and I think strategically she's trying to control the narrative whenever she does release art. I remember her saying, y'all ain't going to see me outside
until I got some art to show you. Yeah, So just know that if I'm not out here doing the red carpets and the interviews, I'm taking time for myself and I'm protecting my piece. I really love that because I think there's this pressure to like broadcast every move that.
You're making on social media.
But she is pulling up her moves from the opposite playbook.
And it makes people crave her more. Like once once you see her, we're like, oh my gosh, she's here finally, as opposed to like people who get overexposed and they're here all the time in our face and we're like okay, Like by the time they actually release music or art or anything or kind of like I'm all over you, you're like you've been here this whole time. So I think it's smart to like reserve her time.
The overexposure thing is so real, and I think she's one of the few artists that can get everyone in a monoculture choke hold, like that's something that's so rare these days. But she's whenever she puts out art, it becomes an event.
Yeah to both of your points. I think there's a big difference between a celebrity or an influencer and an artist. And I think celebrities and influencers think about relevance a lot, because you want to be top of mind so that you get that brand deal or that you're in the magazine. But when you're an artist, you have something that people crave. I think your value is in your vision, not in your relevance. And so she can dip out because people are craving her when she comes back.
You know. Okay, We've got some more Beyonce related news to get to. So earlier this week, the Country Music Association announced nominations for the upcoming CMA Awards, and folks were surprised or maybe not so surprised to see that Beyonce's Cowboy Carter got zero nominations, and I'll tell you why.
So.
Her song from that album, Texas Holdham, went number one on Billboard's Hot Country Song's chart, and she made history as the first black woman to top the chart. Her album also spent four weeks on the top of the Country Album's chart. So obviously people are like, what's going on here, CMAS, Why are you not allowing Beyonce into this exclusive club of country artists that get recognized with your awards.
And this isn't the first time that fans have felt this way.
A lot of people thought that the CMA's previously overlooked Beyonce's song Daddy Lessons in twenty sixteen. She actually performed that song with the group The Chicks at the CMAS, and she even got backlashed for performing there because people didn't want a so called pop star on that stage. And then, of course, the CMAS also ignored Lelna's X
in twenty nineteen. So I don't know about y'all, but this just got me thinking what exactly defines a country song, you know, like what makes something fit into the country music genre, because I listened to the artists that do get recognized by voting bodies like this, and it's poppy. It's poppy country music. So I'm just trying to understand where the line is.
It is hard.
Yeah, there are definitely country songs I've heard that do sound like pop, and then songs that I think probably are country and are not considered that. So I don't actually know. I'm not sure what rules they're using to define that. But I do feel like Beyonce kind of let us know she wasn't making a country album.
She was making an album. This is a Beyonce album.
And there are moments that I would think this is a country, and there's moments where I would think this is hip hop or this is pop. You know, it felt like so many different things, which I love. So I'm honestly not terribly surprised she wasn't nominated. And it did feel like she was like, I'm literally gonna make my own genre, Like I don't need you, I don't need you, I don't need country, I don't need your CMAS, I don't need any of this. I'm just gonna make
my own nation of fans. I'm gonna make my own whole new genre of music. And she did, And I guess it would have been nice if she got nominated for a CMA. But also does it matter? Does it matter at this point? I don't think not to her.
I think these award shows are mattering less and less to artists. I remember like Drake renouncing the Grammys. I think in this interview, she says good music and strong messages will never retire and that she's not really interested in the pop star formula anymore, so I don't think she cares, but I kind of care. I was a little disappointed. I mean, she made history as the first black woman to top the Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.
She's the first black woman to have led Billboard's Top Country Albums chart list, like she's been on the country charts. So I don't know what qualifies if that doesn't.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Okay, do you guys remember Beyonce's halftime show?
I will never forget it.
Is it like for me? I was born in nineteen ninety one. It's like top three in my lifetime and I'm not even part of the beehive.
Yeah, it's a it's so good.
Also, like every like if there's a halftime performer I'm excited about, I will go back in time and look at past performances I have liked, and Beyonce.
Is always one that I'm watching and I'm always.
Like, God, it's just so good. She's which other ones do you watch?
Lady Gaga is a favorite, absolutely, Diana Ross is a favorite.
I really loved Jlo and Shakira. I remember watching that live and being like like screaming my head off.
I was like, oh my god, this is just so entertaining. Yeah, there's been some really great ones.
I mean, speaking of snubs, Creed has never performed at the halftime at the Super Bowl halftime show. I mean, we need to talk about this, you guys.
Oh my god, is this show we're all thinking this where everyone is thinking it.
I'm gonna say, I watch Bruno Mars that was good, which Beyonce makes a little cameo, and that one. I watch the Janet Jackson one.
That one lives rent free.
In my mind, rolling Stones, I know, that's a little bit of like got a left field but killed it in the Super Bowl, and then Prince oh way, Princess Sometimes. Beyonce did hers back in twenty thirteen and she brought out Destiny Child members Kelly Roland and Michelle Williams.
So wonderful.
But it was just announced that Kendrick Lamar is going to headline this coming Super Bowl the twenty twenty five halftime show in New Orleans. Okay, Kendrick is a seventeen time Grammy winner, Pulitzer Prize winner, arguably had the Song of the Summer with Not like us, and he said in a statement that rap music is still the most impactful genre to date, and he'll be there to remind the world why they got the right one.
Wow. I like that.
There was a lot of controversy online people wanted Lil Wayne to be the halftime performer because he's from New Orleans. How do you feel about this this year?
I mean, I'm a Kendrick fan, so I'm very happy, and he already performed in the Doctor Dre performance. Just like seeing how Kendrick utilizes dance and choreography and costumes and showmanship in his performance. It's so satisfying because, like, there are a lot of rappers who care about that stuff, but it's so nice when you see.
Someone who really cares about it.
And I think that is the perfect choice for a Super Bowl halftime show. Lil Wayne absolutely would have been fun too and would have brought out I'm sure Nicki Minaj and Drake and other people who have been under him.
But I'm not complaining about the Kendrick choice.
I am a weezyf baby fan, big, big time weezy fan.
I feel conflicted about this.
Part of me really wishes that Low Wayne would get his time on the Super Bowl stage. But that got me thinking about, Okay, how does this selection process work? So I looked into it and according to NPR, I don't know if there are any rules, but this is like the system. So the host city comes up with the list of names, and then they show that to the NFL, and then the NFL has to run it by all of its various board members. And jay Z is one of the higher profile board members. So just
keep that in the back of your mind. And it's really up to the various board members because once they agree on a name, then they take it back to the host city and say, here's our pick. So I've read that some people think that the reason why Kendrick got chosen is because he infuses jazz into his work and New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz, And of course I think the real reason it just helps that he's super relevant on top of the whole Drake beef that's happened this year.
Yeah, I can't think of it more relevant person.
Yeah, well, I wonder if you know, because there's such an outcry, maybe they'll slip a little way in there somewhat like, you know, as a feature.
That'd be nice. I think that'd be nice. That would be That's a nice idea.
I love that we have to hate pause real quick on popping off. But we'll be right back after a short break. Stick with us, and we're back to popping off with comedian actress and writer Sashi Zamida.
All Right, y'all, we are going to switch gears here. So The Cut recently put out an article entitled how to Stay Hot. Okay, first of all, I have to pop off on this headline, how to stay hot? How to stay hot? Are we not worthy of more?
At this point?
Can we talk about our intellectual attributes, our humor, our wisdom as women before we talk about how to stay hot? I just feel like we would never write an article like this about men, Like we would never tell men how to stay hot.
I just think pretty fades.
We should be thinking about other strengths that we have that aren't related to our appearance. But anyways, this article breaks down the average cost of beauty that women have shelled out in each decade of their life.
So this article actually shared.
The specific things that women do and how much money they've spent in each decade of their lives. So like in their twenties, in their thirties and their forties, fifties, sixties, all the way up to seventies. So instead of it being like time eras, it's more like our age range. Jase, Yes, which decade do you think was the most costly for women in terms of beauty thirties?
Why thirties, Because I feel like that's when people are like, oh, I should get my shit together, Like I need to start now, I need to do preventive stuff. I need to do like post treatment, I need to do all that stuff. Because in twenty in your twenties, I feel like people are like.
I'll live forever, I'll always look young. And then new your thirties, you are like, I'm realizing I will not. And then maybe when you get older, you're kind of like already set in a routine.
Maybe that's interesting. See, I would have guessed, or I will guess that it gets more expensive as you get further along in the decades. Like I look at my mom. She has so many appointments and she's not even an appointment woman. Yeah, you know, but like she's covering the gray hair. I don't want to put her on blast. But lots of appointments. She's like, what great hair to the show every day. She's just like fire feels. She's like, get ready, Danielle. She always says that to me.
I'm like, I can't.
I don't like leaving my couch. I can't get ready for any of this.
Okay, So Sashier was actually right in this case. The correct answer is the thirties, coming in at almost ten thousand dollars per year. So that's on average, what women in their thirties spent.
What's happening wit You think that's a lot, Like no, like where are we I probably spend more than that? Like where what are we all spending on?
Okay?
So here are the most mentioned treatments corrective skin facials, laser hair removal, botox and filler, micro needling, red light therapy, masks, prolamination, and visiligne saunas. When you actually take the time to read this out loud, it sounds crazy, like are we really doing all this to our faces? In our bodies?
I mean well, I think they also included like massages, lymphatic drainage, gel pedicures, manicures, acrylics, all that stuff.
Yeah, there's a whole list.
They even talk about lesser known treatments like salmon DNA therapy.
Have you guys heard of this? No, are we trying to be salmon like what.
We We're in our salmon era. So apparently it's a very painful procedure that's only available in Korea right now, and you're getting salmon blood and wait for it, reproductive fluids injected into the skin, which is supposed to help with sell regeneration.
What huh?
Yeah, okay, Well, what's interesting to note about this article, though, is that after the thirties, that average yearly price tag actually goes down, with women spending roughly six thousand in their forties, then down to about four thousand in their fifties, okay, and then ending on around two thousand in the sixties and seventies.
Yeah, ace for a while, I'm sure you're just like, this is how I look, this is what's going on, right.
I hope that's my theory, and I hope that's what it's like, because that's that sounds very liberating.
I don't know, I think I'm going to be trying to hang on for a while. I don't I'm just gonna be salmon treatments. No, I don't like exotic that salmon. I'm like, I'm like a kiss person, like keep it simple, stupid. But I have like a monthly routine. I do a manny petty, a massage, a facial. I have some some basic needs. I need meds to make sense.
So how much do you think you spend monthly? I've never even broken it down. Yeah, I don't think I do much. I do facials. When I remember massage is when I remember.
It's like, yeah, I wish I was a routine person, but it's really like, oh, I probably should do that, right.
That's so relatable.
Yeah, I think I'm like minimum five hundred dollars a month, death probably more.
I think I'm probably between three to four hundred, depending on the month. But for me, it's like all those little Sephora purchases, Like all that stuff adds up.
Yeah, you run out of things body wash, gel, razor, blades. I don't know the things shampoo.
I mean.
Living in La, my mom and I get into fights because she tells me that I should just fly home to Chicago to get my hair highlighted, and I would still save money, Like LA hair highlights are out of control.
I didn't realize I don't have hair for that reason. Really say, I save a lot of money my heart having hair.
Have you did you always shave your head?
I did when I was in college, and then it grew out into a fro, and then I kept it natural in a fro for in twists and braids such for years, and then every year every summer, really, I was like, I just want to get all of this off my head, like I would like shave the side and then eventually shave the sides and the back. It's just getting less and less hair as the years went on, and eventually I was like, I just don't want this. I just don't want this. I never want to do it.
It's always in a ponytail. And so I shaved it all off, and I was like, oh my god, why isn't it like not like this all the time.
I can't believe I spent so much time not being like this.
Do you shave it yourself? How do you get to the very back?
I do shave it myself.
I just turn around in the mirror and hold a mirror in front of me and like, you know, hope for the best, but thankfully it's hair, so it grows pretty fast.
You got one of them pretty heads, girl, because not everybody got a pretty head. Thank you all.
It looks so beautiful. Thank you well, Soshier. It was so much fun having you on our show. Thanks for popping off with us today. Thank you for letting me.
This is very fun.
You and your pretty head are going to have to come back.
I will, I will bring my pretty head. Thank you, guys.
So Shir's Amidas a comedian, actress, podcast host, and writer. You can watch your stand up special The First Woman on Hulu now, and be sure to catch you on the upcoming WandaVision spinoff Agatha All Along, which is out next Wednesday on Disney Plus.
It's time for another quick break, but don't go anywhere, because when we come back, we're sharing What's in our Cart this week. We're back, okay, Danielle, It's Friday. Let's get ready for the weekend with little What's in Your Cart action presented by Walmart. So this is our weekly segment where we have the opportunity to share a product
that we are loving right now. And I know that we usually share a product that we love for ourselves, but today, I wanted to shake it up a little bit and share a product that I thought you would like.
Oh that's so kind of you.
So we've talked a couple of times this week about how much you value your sleep. We know you're sleep a girl, so I wanted to give you a serene evolution. Big red Rooster white noise machine.
Okay, I don't understand what this is called because it sounds loud, but you're telling me it's going to put me to bed.
Yes, it has six sleep sounds rain, Brook, ocean, thunder, white noise, and summer night. Oh my god, I know it's going to help you drift off to sleep.
I've never used a sound machine before, but I love the idea of falling asleep to ocean sounds. It's kind of reminding me of Malibu, even though I don't live near there. So thank you for thinking of me.
I like this. I think I'm kind of a Brook girl.
You'll have to let me know how that one sounds and enjoy a good night's sleep on me. Okay, besties, hope you enjoy this recommendation. Thanks to our partners at Walmart. That's it for today's show on Monday, We're joined by dancer, actor, Emmy Award winner and author Julianne Huff. She's telling us all about her brand new book.
Listen and follow The bright Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The bright Side is a production of Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts and is executive produced by Reese.
Witherspoon, production by Arcana Audio. Our producers are Jessica Wenk and Christa Ripple. Our senior producers are Janice Yamoka, It'si Kintania and Amy Padula. Our engineer is PJ. Shahamutt.
Arcana's executive producers are Francis Harlowe and Abby Ruzka. Arcana's head of production is Matt Schultz.
Natalie Tulluck and Maureen Polo are the executive producers for Hello Sunshine.
Julia Weaver is the supervising producer, and Ali Perry is the executive producer for iHeart Podcasts. Tim Palazzola is our showrunner.
This week's episodes were recorded by Josh Hook and Joel Morales. Our theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton lighthauser.
Special thanks to Connell Byrne and Will Pearson.
I'm Simone Boyce.
You can find me at Simone Boyce on Instagram and TikTok.
And I'm Danielle Robey on Instagram and TikTok. That's ro b a y We'll
See you Monday, y'all, keep looking on the bright side.