Hey, I'm Usman Farooqi and this is the drop a culture show from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, where we dive into the latest in the world of pop culture and entertainment. I'm here with Thomas Mitchell and Mel Kambouris. Exciting news from you, Thomas. You went to see challenges last night, the new film starring Zendaya, directed by Luca Guadagnino from Comey by your Name fame. Sadly, Mel, you were unwell. You couldn't make it to the movie yesterday.
So we don't get your first hand account of Thomas's in cinema activities proclivities. Um, Thomas, speaking on your own behalf. How was your experience seeing this movie? Seeing Sunday in the flesh?
Uh, yeah, it's definitely the best movie she's done since June 2nd. It's pretty safe to say it was really good. I can't say too much about the movie because it's under strict embargo, but, I mean, I'm sure they won't be sad that I say it's really good. Um, and it's got lots of classic Luca isms. We all love him. Um, the music is amazing. The visuals are great. But yeah, it was funny. It was one of those big premieres. Obviously the cast was out here Josh O'Connor, Mike Face
and Zendaya, and it's pretty cool. Like, you know, you go to the State Theater, there's like fan like, you know, civilian fans on the other side of the road, like just packing out the street to be a part of it. So it always creates a good vibe. Zendaya was wearing a very cool, like, you know, tennis themed dress and stuff, but it's always funny because they come out. They do like, you know, a little chat about the movie and stuff.
And then, um, our colleague actually Rob Moran was like, he was like, I was watching to see if they stayed for the whole movie. And she left halfway through. He was upset about that.
I think that's fair enough. These guys have seen the movie a thousand times. They've got to do premieres all over the world. Totally fair enough to not just sit there and watch it again and again.
I agree. Yeah, but we were told that was the first time they'd watched it together. And it's a movie that has a lot of audience like response. Like there are moments that the audience really reacts to. So yeah, it was it was a good vibe and a great film, and I'm very excited for us to talk about it.
Yeah, I feel like if I don't like to go back and listen to the podcasts or like stuff that I've written in the past, I don't think I will.
Die, by the way, just because.
I actually am. Our creative process is very similar. I can completely understand she actually, maybe if I was in dire I would want to look at myself on screen. Well, I'm most excited. That's true.
I'm mostly excited, which I, um, foreshadowed to you both last night that I can't wait to talk about it. So then I can make a funny meme of the three of us out of the challenges poster, where Zendaya sitting on the bed trying.
To funny slash, uh, NSFW w as well. What do you reckon they went when they walked out of the theater? They go have like dinner at Toddies or something. What was there? What was their Sydney evening like, do you think they.
Probably walked down to Pitt Street Mall and got that escalator straight up to the top of the food court, I guess, and then went to Sushi Train.
It is the fancy food court up there. They should have.
Really gone to Marrickville Tennis Club because that would feel appropriate.
That would have worked. Yeah, totally. Well, I guess this sort of is slightly related to, in fact, not slightly very related to to Zendaya. But in news this week about euphoria season three, which I think has been a little bit, uh, up in the air for the last year or so, there was seemingly confirmation that it was going ahead. Uh, creator Sam Levinson seems pretty keen to go. Um, but then in the last couple of days, word sort of leaked out that there's no locked in production schedule
for this show yet. The actors attached to it, including Zendaya, including Sydney Sweeney, have been told to just don't worry, go find other projects. Keep yourselves busy. I'm interested to check in with you guys how excited you are or how excited do you think anyone still is for Euphoria Season three? I feel like, you know, that show was so well made. It was critically acclaimed. It made stars
out of its leads, obviously. But since then, Sam Levinson has done The Idol, which, like we didn't really enjoy in most people, didn't really enjoy. We're excited to see Zendaya do these other projects. Sydney Sweeney's starring in and producing her own movie. She's in this new horror film called Immaculate, which I haven't seen yet but looks really, really interesting. And she's played quite a creative behind the
scenes role with that movie. As well. I don't desperately feel the desire to delve back into the euphoria universe, but what are your vibes?
I reckon I will name my next child Tedros if Euphoria season three gets made. There's not a fucking chance that show is happening. Cast is too famous, which we already discussed last time. It's been so long now that like that distance has made it near impossible. And then on top of everything, the Sam Levinson brand and he's
pulling power has been completely tarnished by the idol. So like on top of the fact that you've lost all these stars to, you know, the fact that they've become so much bigger, I don't know if they'll be rushing back to clear their schedules to work with Sam Levinson, because he's kind of like damaged goods now.
Yeah. And also, I think, as you're saying, like Elordi, Sweeney, Zendaya, they're all almost too big in their own rights to be part of an ensemble cast. And also, I do feel like that show just reached the last season of it was an interesting, nicely shot show, kind of quite revolutionary. What else was on at that moment, but I do think it reached a fever pitch, um, where the plot kind of became quite insane and I don't really know how it would go back from where it reached at
the end of last season. So I think the smart decision, as well as the practical one is probably to just let it go. Also, the longer and longer it goes on, the less and less likely they can be in high school like they're meant to be high school characters. And it's now getting to that OC level where they're way too old to be playing high school. So I think
it's best for everyone. That euphoria kind of is just left in the past as a as a perfect artifact of that moment that gave us these, particularly these three great talents.
Yeah, it's really interesting, the incubator that it was like Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney and they are all starring in big productions, but also like Oscar nominated Oscar adjacent kinds of films. Even skins like that original cast and season one like that with some breakout, you know, stars on that. But it is astonishing. And yeah, I think you guys are totally right. I think like it would take a lot for them to come back that all really want to do it, and it doesn't really seem like any
of them are desperate to do it. It seems like maybe Sam's desperate to keep this train moving, but they would happily move on. I mean, Sydney Swan, he's talked pretty clearly about some of the discomfort she had with the request to do more nude scenes and things, and I think given where she's at in her career, going back to that, giving up that kind of urgency doesn't probably sit right.
I also watched anyone but you, by the way. Finally, finally, oh, finally.
Give us your capsule review.
Oh my God, what a fucking movie. What a love letter to Sydney. What a love letter of myself to Sydney Sweeney. She was amazing in it. Glen Powell, who I hated before. I also really love him now. He's got great comedic timing. It is the perfect addition to the rom com revival. They should make three more of these. They she is definitely the new Julia Roberts. It's close to a perfectly fun Friday night film to watch with your friends or partner, anyone but you. Nine and a half stars.
But not worth the energy or money to go and see it. Months ago when really good just released $7.
To rent on a Friday night.
Thomas, I'm so glad you finally seen this movie. I've been on an island on this one for the past six months. I think this movie is fun. It's great. People who don't think it's good, like kind of get over yourselves. This this movie is about like showing what a spectacular Sydney city is. It's about just having a nice time and enjoying yourself and turning your brain off. If you're willing to do that. For Saltburn, an Irish wish which everyone seems to be willing to do, you
can do it for anyone but you. So thank you for watching and thank you for agreeing with me.
Also, you've not been on an island like I've seen it, and I got none of this praise for going to.
Movies.
You want as effusive as either Thomas or Mel?
Well, I don't think.
I was loaded with, so I cannot believe you got a congratulations from watching a film, can't you? The four months after it came out. This is insane how this place works.
Anyway, it's also my recommendation.
This way. Yeah.
All right, well, look, on this show, we talk a lot about movies, obviously television. And thanks to Mel Brooks. But there is another form of art that we all admire and love to talk about. It is maybe the best art form of them all. Music. We've talked about it before on the show last year, we went deep on the country renaissance. We've talked about the Taylor Swift and Freudian phenomena this year, but there's actually been a stack of really, really great releases this year, particularly in
just the last month. And I think they give us a good sense of kind of where pop music is right now and where a few big genres are right now pop, obviously, but also hip hop and indie. So this episode, I guess, is going to be a bit of a survey of the state of music through some of our favorite and a couple of our lesser favorite albums of the past few months. Let's start with what I think we all think is a really, really astonishing record. Probably my favorite album of 2024 so far. It's called
Tiger's Blood. It's by Waxahatchee. It's the project of 35 year old singer songwriter Katie Crutchfield.
What do you say? Sleep all day. Drive out to the only lake in Kansas. Turkey we. My heart sinks in me. Can I call you by your last name? I kiss you like a fever. Dream companion. Ancient history. We burn that.
Story. Our last album, Saint Cloud, came out in 2020, just as the pandemic was kicking off. It focused on her sobriety, her journey to becoming sober, and it really propelled her into another sphere of pretty big popularity. She said herself that that album probably doubled her audience in terms of who was coming to her shows and listening
to her music. Her first few records, I think, were more like indie rock, alt rock than country, but Saint Cloud in particular, and definitely with Tiger's Blood, we're in deep Americana, country ish territory. There's obviously a huge country wave happening. It has been happening for the last couple of years, but I feel like it's kind of catching up to her and her sound more than her deliberately tapping into sort of write it. I think this album,
I mean, it sounds beautiful. Her singing is obviously astonishing, but the songwriting is just like on Another World, I think is very relatable. Even though she's talking about being an artist, being a songwriter, the expectations that all of that comes with managing relationships, managing her career. But in a way that I think a lot of 35 year old or people, you know, at that stage of life can really relate with. What do you guys think about this Waxahatchee record?
I mean, I think you probably put your finger on it with all of those comments. It is a really remarkable album, and I do. I always love this time of year, like early on in the year, because you can say things like, it's the best album of 2024 so far. Like you have this brief period at the start of each year where you can where you can make those big claims. I really like this album and I really liked Saint Cloud as well. I think she's a really good songwriter. I like kind of the introspection,
the stories. I probably like her when she's got a little less twang to her voice, which won't surprise you. And she does go way more American South in this album, I think, than in in in the others. And there are some interesting features as well. MJ Lindemann, who was in Australia I think, last week, and that show got lots of great reviews. Um, I do really like it. I it hasn't changed my, my life, I think in the way maybe it's changed yours.
But that's so interesting because I put out this thing on my Instagram being like, um, you know, we'll talk about Kacey Musgraves later, but like, you know, I was like, white women rejoice. The new Waxahatchee record is here. And I assume that that would be right in your wheelhouse. Smells. So I'm curious to hear that it hasn't been as sort of transcendent for you as it seems to have been for a lot of people of our age, I guess.
Yeah, I think and I think this is maybe something to do with where I'm at sonically. I guess at the moment.
I.
Do feel like my indie rock alt country days, I don't know, I do. I'm maybe a little, I don't know, it's just not what I'm listening to heaps of at the moment. Where are you.
At sonically then? Yeah. What are you.
How do you one lavish UK draw is that that's where you're at sonically.
In my club days I'm in like my Charli XCX. I think I'm in the in in the club, the electro pop.
But I mean the other, the other thing, it could be metal and I mean this, this relates to an ongoing conversation that you, Thomas and I have about literature and where the state of, you know, books are at.
Maybe like you also potentially you feel very confident and secure at this stage of your life, both professionally and in terms of the relationships around you, that you can respect the songwriting, but maybe it isn't hitting for you the way that it might be hitting for other people who maybe feel a little bit, a little bit, you know, waylaid a little bit. You know, she has this lyric, you know, my life's been mapped out to a tee, but I'm always a little lost. Maybe that doesn't hit
for you. Maybe you're just like, on track. And that's why this isn't taking you to another level.
I appreciate.
What you're saying, but I do think I have the kind of emotional intelligence to make the empathetic leap to understand other.
People's.
Feelings. So I don't know if that's quite true. Look, I think it's a lovely, great album. I think the songs are wonderful. I think she, you know, they are catchy without being kind of cliched and try it. And I think she's kind of continuing on a great path that she's already set up with Saint Cloud. But, um, yeah. So I don't know. I don't know what more you want for me, Thomas.
Uh, I well, it definitely spoke to my inner white woman. I love this record. Um, and, you know, I think, like the more the, the older I get. And I am pretty much the exact same age as Katie Crutchfield. Like, I really feel like when I listen to new music, um, and I don't know if you guys do this, but, like, especially when I'm listening something for the first time on Spotify, I will pull up the lyric function so I can read along as you listen. Um, just because I feel
like I get so much more from it. Especially, you know, she's such a great writer and, and I do feel like a lot of the writing and the lyrics and the themes in this, like even on first listen, I was like, Fuck Katie, you see me, I feel I feel really seen by her. Um, you know, I make a living crying. It ain't fair. Like, come on, the opening with three sisters. Like I feel that I'm pouring myself.
About every Sunday. Uh, yeah. So I really do think and you mentioned the lendemain track right back to it, like probably one of the best tracks of the year for me so far. And I just think it's such a beautiful, kind of like weird snapshot of relationships and, you know, what happens and how you kind of sometimes see getting into a rhythm as a bad thing. But really, it can be a beautiful thing. Like, I just think
she does have a really particular way. Mels shaking her head. Uh, she does have a really particular way of just like, I don't know, capturing how lots of people are feeling. Or at least it spoke to me.
No, I completely agree with what you're saying, but I'm just challenging the premise that, like, you think I don't appreciate this album because for some reason it doesn't speak to me. Her sentiments are hardly like they're universal sentiments. I guess I'm challenging the critical frame with which you're trying to view this album, if it relates to you or not, is what makes it good or not.
I don't know if I don't think it's about whether it's good, but I think it's clearly hit in a like. Waxahatchee is not the most popular artist in the world, like far from, but it does seem like this particular album at this particular point for a lot of people of our generation, does seem to have hit in a way that isn't just like it's it sounds nice, right? It seems to have this extra layer to it and like, look, we want to try to like, diagnose how good or
bad your life is through this conversation. But it does seem like for a lot of people, beyond just the quality of the sound and the production and the singing, that it is hitting a moment of, ah, it's like millennial malaise, I guess, which is something that you see in a lot of different art forms that we talk about. Um, but yeah, I mean, you guys mentioned MJ Lindemann a couple of times. I right back to it is a
great track. He's actually, I think, doing guitar on a lot of these, if not all of the tracks, but it's it's pretty quiet. The electric guitar, it's not super prominent on this. You hear the kind of banjo a lot and like that gets me going. You know, I'm stomping when I hear the banjo in my country era. The other track that I really like is The Wolves.
There's a lock on the door that costs more than my car. Be now. Ain't never come close to crossing that threshold anyway. I can't hear a song on the radio without a clear recollection of the touching. Go. I can't prize my certainty. Let bygones fade away.
For which I think is the second last track from the album, which is a really, like, kind of sad but but really interesting, I guess. Reflection on what an artist sacrifices their mental health, their like well-being when they're trying to create something that they hope like lasts and stands the test of time. And, you know, it's talking about being thrown to the wolves as kind of the
metaphor and that and that. It's really interesting. I'm going to say more about this when we talk about Casey, but it's so interesting having artists make amazing art and then at the same time try to talk to us or communicate with us the anxieties of doing so and preempting their response. That's a really raw thing that I think a lot of particularly younger female singer songwriters are doing, which hasn't always been, you know, part of like pop music.
I think the other thing that I'm really stoked with with this record, so it's produced by Brad Cook, who also produced Saint Cloud. And apparently, though these conversations that he and Katie Crutchfield were having, we've done the kind
of Americana country thing. What if we, like, go in the pop direction and one of the tracks, 365, is one of the early recordings I did, which is, I guess has more pop sensibilities, and then they're like, no, no, no, this isn't let's just like double down on what worked last time and what seems to be the sound Katie wants to play with. So I'm really glad that they did that. I really became a fan of Waxahatchee Post
Saint Cloud. They covered Take Me Home Country Roads with Whitney, which is like my favorite song, which I talk about a lot. Um, so that's like an easy way to my heart.
It's funny rating as well. Like I was reading interview with her talking about how. So she kind of got sober like before this album and, and you know, she talks about like the environment on tour and stuff and you know, what it's like around, you know, her shows and it's kind of like drinking drug free and that type of thing. And then, you know, I know we're going to touch on it. But like Kacey Musgraves very similarly has like, you know, spoken and writes a lot
about getting sober in her new album. And it's kind of funny how there's this, like it's very much informing the music they make as well.
Yeah, I think the other thing I couldn't help thinking it just doesn't always happen to me with music, but I really wanted to hear it live. Like, I feel like the the structure of the record, it's like you can sort of see almost the way that she's mapped out the order of the tracks. It sort of feels like that sounds like an opening to a live show.
And yeah, like I said, I it's not a feeling I really have with the music, but there's something about the way she sequenced the songs, the, the journey that she sort of takes you on is like, damn, I'd love to like, be listening to this like the N more or something like that. And I really hope she does a tour here.
Yes I completely. We do. Actually, I think that would be such a good gig to go and see.
We mentioned, uh, Kacey Musgraves a couple of times on this, and that's the other record in this sort of space that we wanted to talk about one Americana songstress to another. Musgraves, I think, is much, much, much more popular than Waxahatchee in terms of like, commercial success. She's had quite a few Billboard top tens. I think both of these artists are in dialogue with one another, even though they're sort of probably have different audiences and aren't necessarily singing about
exactly the same things. Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves in 2018 is the album that I really clocked onto her with. It was before I became like, this weird country stand that I am.
All that I know. As you caught me at the right time. In your go. But you.
It was a much more like poppy country record, but it had heaps of electronic music and disco influences as well. We talked about her, I think last year she had the number one single with Zac Brown. I remember everything to a track I really, really like. Uh, that went to number one. And her latest record, Deeper Well, debuted at number two on the Billboard charts when it came out this month.
My Saturn has returned.
When I turned 27, everything started to change. Took a long time, but I learned. There's two kinds of people. One is a giver. The one's always trying to take all they can.
They're bits of this album that I really, really like. Like the first two tracks, Cardinal and Deep a well, a really great it's like what Casey does best, I think. And then there's a lot of tracks that are like, fine. This, this one I was expecting. I was really excited for it. I thought that it would hit, and maybe it's because I was listening to it in conjunction with the Waxahatchee one and I'm like, wow. The songwriting just like, isn't quite at that level, even though Casey is very good
at everything she does. Yeah, but I was a little bit underwhelmed by Casey's record.
Yeah, I.
Completely agree with you. And I would say Tiger's blood is way more interesting and more sophisticated album. I'm also saying with you, like, I really liked Golden Hour. That was kind of, I guess her in love album. And then was it Star-Crossed was the kind of one about her divorced. I thought they were quite good. This one. I mean, it just feels like she's a bit calm in this one. And like, it's about finding peace. And I don't know, I guess I just found it a
bit unexciting compared to the past albums. It's kind of maybe almost a woowoo album in a bit, in a way. Like there's a lot of wellness going on.
And Crystal wellness.
Yeah, a lot of wellness. A lot of a lot of astrology, gravity bong stuff.
Yeah. So I definitely feel like out of the two of those being in dialogue, Tiger's Blood is doing something much more interesting. Whereas I feel this isn't Casey at her peak, even though it's a fine enough album to listen to. As you said, I just think a lot of the tracks are pretty unremarkable.
I mean, it's always nice to hear the term wake and bake in a lyric. I used to wake and bake and and everything. I did seem better when I was high. I've always been a big Casey fan. Um, I do think it's almost unfortunate that she's coming up against Tiger's blood. Um, because I do think Tiger's Blood probably is the slicker album. Um, and if you were to put both on, you know, like in very similar environments, I think Tiger's blood just melds around, you know, the
general vibe much better. But I still really like this. And yeah, I, you know, I find her an interesting artist. I still get the sense that she's like. Not quite delivered her like seminal work just yet. Um, and so, like, you know, everyone goes through this and, and maybe it'll just take a bit longer to get to, you know, peak Kacey Musgraves. But yeah, I still just find it really interesting that we are in the midst of this.
Like the more and more it's like we manifested this country thing and then now it's like, it's seriously it's everywhere.
Manifesting is like the right word to for this album. Yeah, yeah.
But yeah, it's, you know, like we said with with Katie Crutchfield. Like it's not really a case of her, like latching onto a trend. She's very much been in it for a while, but it just seems like more and more people are like talking about country and across, like all spectrums of the, you know, whether it's like Beyonce about to release her thing and then you've got these type of artists who really were doing it already. But yeah, it's just like, it's a good time to be a country hit.
When you were talking about the kind of woowoo elements of this album, it reminded me of a of a thought I had while I listened to it. I couldn't help but think of, like Lorde's, uh, most recent album, Solar Power, which is very familiar, uh, if you listen to this one, in terms of like those kinds of themes, that wellness aesthetic. And then I read, um, Laura Snipes review of this record in Pitchfork. Laura Snipe, so I think is one of the best music writers around. I
was she made a similar comment. I'm like, cool. I'm not just like, you know, being a crazy person. But she had a really interesting point. I thought she talked about, uh, this album and Solar Power by Lorde. Billie Eilish is happier than ever, Hayley Williams pedal for armor. And she talked about all of these albums. And I think there's an element of this in Tiger's Blood as well, where these artists are kind of reckoning with the peak of fame that they experienced a record or two records ago
and are then withdrawing. They're not taking a big swing. They're not trying to create an entirely new sound that they're sonically going to a place that feels a bit more comfortable. But then writing about pretty simple things like, like not about being in love, not about divorce, not these heady ideas around addiction and stuff, but just like, yeah, how Saturn's returned. That's pretty fun. Like, I used to smoke and I don't smoke that much anymore, which I
think is nice. It's nice to withdraw to a place that feels a bit more intimate and not have to share necessarily, every single thing going on in your head and in your heart. But I wonder if part of that is also because of the spotlight and the pressure that is shone on young female pop or music stars in particular. And once you have a taste of that intense fame in this current era of social media pressure and everything being dissected, you kind of want to withdraw
a little bit. You're like, I'll make an album. I hope it does well, but I don't necessarily want this to be one where I've got a tour for two years and just like, have my life interrogated as I did last time, if that makes sense.
It's like basically the anti Taylor Swift movement then, because she does the opposite, where she's like each album is more and more like spectacularly popular and will be, you know, follow a massive world tour.
Yeah. I mean, I think it's a really good point and it's a hard balance to find the kind of withdrawing without losing substance, keeping that lightness that they're trying to convey without making it feel like there's nothing to hold on to. It is a very hard balance to to get right. And I do think, like some of
these albums grow on you. And I think with Lorde's Solar Power, the Clairo album you mentioned, they do grow on you the more you listen to them, like they might be albums that reward more serious and consistent listening then the kind of immediate, you know, serotonin rush you get when you hear, like, a pop banger.
Hmm. You mentioned, um, Taylor Swift, Thomas. It's really interesting. Like, I feel like Evermore and Folklore fit into that sort of category. I think Evermore and Folklore would have been albums that Taylor Swift would have struggled to tour on their own because they're so, like laid back and relatively simple compared to the expected of others. So that's why they featured as part of the Eras tour, because you
can do it all. But I almost feel like that was also tales of being like, look, I don't want to do a whole new thing with a whole dramatic rollout and like, reinvent myself. I'm just going to make good kind of, again, country, indie, Americana music that I'm really good at and not have to stress too much about the spectacle of it, which is interesting and like, I like none of this is to say that it's
good or bad. It's just interesting to observe maybe the the recoil of some of these artists from where they were a couple of years ago.
Yeah. And maybe that is a good segue into the next album we wanted to talk about as well, Ariana Grande, because I think her latest album, Eternal Sunshine, which is her first since 2020, it is her pulling back in an Ariana Grande way, like, obviously the sounds are very different.
Great thank.
You's. Thank you so much. Um, uh, obviously it's very different to those two. It is a pop album, but compared to the way she has usually belted out her her songs, this is a way more subtle and less showy album.
I don't care what people say. We both know I couldn't change you.
I guess you could say the same.
Can't beat the reigns.
Truth. I've never seen someone lie like you do so much. Even you have to think it's true. Woo!
I mean, the other segue that sticks out with Kacey Musgraves is the whole Saturn Returns thing. Everyone's Saturn is returning. Ariana has a song about Saturn Returns. Obviously deeper well is talking about a Saturn return. Um, scissor has a song where she's talking about Saturn Returns as well. Adele obviously talked about it when her kind of seminal 30 album came out. Do you want.
To break it down for herself? Anyone listening who's not familiar with the concept of one's Saturn Return?
Yeah. Look, I don't know astrologically, but something to do with Saturn returning. But I think essentially it's meant to be this thing that like, it happens every 30 years or so. And when you're Saturn is in return, it's a time of great change and kind of pivotal decisions and movements in your life. And it given it happens every 30 years or so. Obviously, a lot of these singers are in their 30s now and big things are happening in their life. And so they're calling it their
Saturn return. Actors have talked about it as well. Emma Watson I mean, realistically, I think that's kind of a natural period of change that people are now kind of branding as a Saturn return to kind of try and make some meaning out of life. But still it's obviously caught on at the moment. And yeah, it's a big part of Ariana's album because this album comes on the back of, you know, she was married, she's got to fall. She's in a new relationship with her co-star Ethan Slater.
There's been heaps of media attention on her, and this album kind of very directly engages in, in all of that speculation around her personal life in a very unabashed way.
I'll play the villain if you need me to. I know how this goes. Yeah, I'll be the one you pay to see play the scene. Brother, can I please turn in like a dime. Wasting all the time thinking like a creep in the night.
Kind of does the opposite. It is more of a Taylor move. It's like this is my era. This is my stories. This is how I feel. Do you guys like this album?
Not really, to be honest. Like, it's very short and it felt really like one long song to me. I've never been like a massive Ariana fan, and I think, you know, we've spoken so much about, I guess, like the current class of these like pop stars. We talk about Taylor a lot. We did a particular episode on Olivia and I both. I just find them both so much more talented and interesting and diverse than Ariana. Like, I get her product and stuff and I can see
why people are really into her. And I think she's obviously a talented performer, but I yeah, just in terms of like musically, I don't really love her. And I, I listened to this album twice, once on the train and once at home and again, like, I don't think I could sit here and pull out like three big moments for you. For me, it just blurred into one really long song that I wanted to be over soon.
Yeah. It didn't. It didn't really hit for me either. And I, I've enjoyed like around and stuff in the past, but this one felt like a bit like tossed off. Right. Like the the sound is very same. And that makes sense. That's produced entirely by Max Madden and another Swedish producer guy called Elias. So there's a very sameness to the sound,
but also the lyrics feel like very uninspired. There's not a lot I thought going on there that felt particularly creative or fun, you know, with any particular hooks or anything else? There are a couple of tracks that did jump out only because, I mean, they've been part of the discourse around the samples and interpolations. I think it was the first single. Yes. And which is like a clear nod to To Vogue, uh, by by Madonna. But
there's this little controversy brewing about this track. We can't be friends.
Baby girl. It's just me and you. Because I know.
Argue if you listen to it sounds very similar to a little track by Robyn called Dancing on My Own.
Somebody said, you got a new friend. Does she love you better than I can?
The song sounds a lot like that. Uh, Robin famously did work very closely with Max Martin at the start of her career, but Max didn't produce Dancing on My Own, and I'm really interested to see where this goes because there is so much drama with artists referencing interpolating things like Olivia Rodrigo's been, you know, criticized for not crediting songs, and then people add credits and say, yes, that chord,
you know, progression was influenced by this. It's surprising to see Ariana not acknowledge this when so many of her songs in the past and on this album do explicitly rely on interpolating old things. So that being the most interesting part of this album is probably not a great endorsement of it. Because I'm interested in the conversation, I don't really feel the need to listen to many of these songs again.
Yeah, I am interested in that because they do sound. You know how sometimes when you hear artists claiming you know that their sound is being ripped off? Sometimes you have to listen quite carefully to kind of understand what's going on. Even with some of the Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift ones, you can't automatically see Taylor Swift in it. But I mean, you really can't see that this is a complete. Well, it does sound like a Robin knockoff, so that is interesting. I think maybe you guys are
being a bit harsh, I think. Yes. And is like catchy. I really like the boys mind. Like, I think there's a real Y2K thing, which I think is quite fun on that. I don't want to break up again. Like, I get what you're saying. I think it's a quieter album, so the hits aren't quite as in-your-face, but I do think there's some good tracks on this and they are catchy, though I completely agree with you that her lyrical ability is. I mean, when you compare it to Tiger's Blood is
just not there. Like, she's not a great songwriter, but I do think some of these songs are more catchy and the album is not. I think it's still a highlight of the maybe, maybe.
I mean, it went to number one. I said that Casey went to number two. It was beaten by Ariana's. I mean, Ariana's obviously enormously popular. She's about to be in wicked. That's going to be massive. It's pretty big for her. Drop this album, get number one. And then being probably what will be an extremely financially successful film. It's so funny how like, I mean, I don't expect Ariana to drop like a wicked themed solo album, but it is just feels like these are in two completely
different universes. So more power to her, I guess. Flexibility and being able to do all of these things at the same time.
She's such a musical theater kid, isn't she? She's just like, you can see her rock a Stanford or.
Whatever, and she's been.
Dressing kind of as the characters from wicked, like, oh, she seems to be in red carpet appearances and stuff, which is, yeah, not helping with that vibe.
Okay, so from one pop R&;B album to another, this is maybe after Tiger's Blood, my second fave release I've heard this year. This is the debut album from Tyler, the South African artist who had a really big hit last year with water.
Make me holler, make me lose my breath. Make me wanna make me sweat. It made me hotter. Make me lose my breath. Make me wanna come early. I could keep my cool.
But tonight the album is self-titled. It's called Tyler. And yeah, it rocks. This is really, really fun. It's very Afrobeats, uh, infused pop music. The production is mad. She sounds awesome. There's a consistent sort of feeling to the sound, but the tracks are diverse and different and interesting enough that unlike the Ariana record, it doesn't really feel that same. And there's some really fun collabs with who I think some of the more interesting artists from around the world
right now is Nigerian rapper Tems. My favorite track is this one jump that has gunna and this Jamaican dancehall artist rap a skill bang.
That's what they prefer.
I don't touch no wheel cause I got a chauffeur for his class. How I get around the world. Just miss me.
With the drama. Unless you call me with the commas. Or do you turn the sound up. Cause we're about to pour.
The rounds up. I think Tyler's.
One to watch. Man, I think this record is is really, really good.
Oh, man, I wish it was still summer because this is like my album of summer. Like, right here. I was, like, a bit concerned because I thought water was, like, quite like water was fun.
Can you see this of you?
And I was a bit concerned. I was like, oh no, they've now rushed this album out. Is this like a tape McRae greedy situation? We've got one.
Really good.
Good song and then the rest of the album is not really going to shine. But I mean, this feels like a Rihanna void for me, right? Like it is just so fun. And I think she described it. I read an interview where she described it as it's sunny with music bumping and everyone in ripped clothing, and that is what this album gives me. Just good times vibe and as well as like the features, which are all really good, I thought Breathe Me was such a good song.
So yeah, I think this album will stick around and I know we've got now a while to wait till our summer, but I hope it survives. You know? I hope it's still on the radio then so we can all enjoy it.
Yeah, I'm exactly the same. It's like just it's such a fun album to listen to. Um, she says on like on On and On, which is one of my favorite songs, the follow up single to water, she says, let's take it back in time, party like it's 1995. And I'm like, she was probably like two years old. I was like six then, but when I sing it, I'm like, fuck yeah, let's go back to the 1995. Like, it's just, I.
Don't know if she would have been born then. Yeah.
How old is she? But, uh, yeah. Like I, I agree, and it is weird. It feels almost like very much it's got that same energy, uh, as, like the early Rihanna vibes and, you know, this whole thing of, like, amapiano, the South African kind of style that, you know, she like, that's basically what she does. And just like watching and reading her kind of take that to America, where they often struggle to like, digest different styles has been really interesting.
And I saw this article comparing her to like, the early days of Shakira, when Shakira kind of came with this, a heavy reggaeton and they just didn't know what to do, but they knew they liked it. And I always find that really interesting. Um, you know, and you've seen her, she's now become almost part of the celebrity dialogue in America. Like she I saw pictures of her the other day, like courtside at the Lakers and she was wearing a fucking wet singlet. That one of the Kanye singlets. Like
she's in the guys now. People are talking about her. And I just think she really deserves to be there. And I do suspect that she'll be like a big star for the next ten years.
Yeah. She said that she wants to be the first global pop megastar from Africa. I think that Shakira comparison is so interesting because, yeah, I mean, like that kind of music. Reggaeton is so big globally now, but it took a long time and a lot of artists plugging away to do it, not getting taken seriously in the
US for a while. I think streaming and the way that anyone around the world can access and find these artists and boost their streaming numbers and kind of send them viral, helps people like Tyler now, like, I guess, build an audience and get taken seriously. I think collaborating with that Afrobeats, the Nigerian rappers, the Jamaican dancehall stuff is also really smart because that stuff has been bleeding into like UK and US hip hop for the last
couple of years too. So really smart way to break into a bunch of different genres. Yeah, I also like your Rihanna comparison. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if Tyler ends up being someone that gets compared to her a lot more in the future.
Make me.
Do.
The dance.
All right. There's there's one more album we wanted to touch, and we've talked about a bunch of really great women artists in some really interesting and exciting genres. My favorite genre, Thomas favorite genre since we were kids was called hip hop. I'm feeling pretty down and out on the genre right now. I feel like we're in a funk with sandwiched by these like old guard of dudes who've run out of things to say, and Kanye and this newer generation of like, younger,
very like, I'm going to make music for Spotify. I'm influenced by SoundCloud. I'll drop 2090 second tracks a week, kind of a thing that just feels like a churn, and very few of those seems to break through. There are a couple of cool hip hop things I do want to shout out a little bit later on, but like basically, I've not been feeling super excited. I heard that there was a Future and Metro Boomin joint collaboration album coming two of, I think, the most important and
influential hip hop artists of the past. Like kind of decade or decade and a half. Metro Boomin is, I think, like one of the greatest producers of his generation. I would compare him to Beethoven in terms of his composition and the kinds of music that he's made. He's produced a stack of tracks with future already, including Low Life and Mask Off is a very big, popular track, so the fact that they were working on a whole album together got me excited. Hip hop's coming back. The album dropped.
It's called We Don't Trust You. It features guest appearances from The weekend, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross. It attracted headlines because Kendrick's verse take some shots at Drake and J. Cole. We get into that too. But man, I gotta say again, very underwhelmed. Like Metro Boomin delivers on this album, he's very good at making beats.
I've been on a couple my toes, but I still stuck to the car. Money, my pockets, my.
Taking my pollen out. Anything in?
Take me anywhere.
I'm taking over the truck. I see the real club. Where? Claudia pop in to reappear. Hide in Beverly Hills. I got too much beer. I give a bitch cheers to all the.
Creatures rapping about Porsche Cayenne. He's rhyming Cayenne with cayenne. It's just like he seems to have given up and he's now, I think, I don't know, sort of sadly fall into that same category of these artists who know that they'll get a stack of streams, whatever they release. Not a lot of thought, not a lot of care. Not feeling great about this album, but am enjoying the hip hop beef that it seems to have ignited. Mel, very interested in your thoughts on the trajectory of future
Metro Boomin and what this means for hip hop? What do you got to say?
Wow.
So I've only listened to this album once, which, uh, on, you know, just because I knew it was important to you. Um, I.
Appreciate you doing.
That.
You're welcome. I was quite underwhelmed by, I don't know, it just felt like a throwback to kind of hip hop of ten, 15 years ago. And I'm like, I'm not a huge fan of the genre or the kind of hip hop I do listen to is often involves women. Um, but I yeah, I don't know. I found this album kind of boring and predictable and like, I quite like Kendrick and I actually kind of don't think he'd probably make disses on his own album like this, which maybe
speaks to the respect that he has for this. Right? Because that's not really what he does. It just felt like a bit of a silly album, but I'm excited to hear more from Thomas. You can explain the dis and also what you what you thought, because I'm sure there's lots going on that I'm not picking up in terms of the lyrics and the features.
Uh, yeah, I feel the same. Like it's funny watching this week. I don't know, like if you guys have seen it, but like on the internet, Doctor Dre has got his, like, Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
Chamber of Commerce. I now declare today, Doctor Dre Day in Hollywood.
This is Dre Day, March 19th. Dre day. Okay. I love.
It. You know how they do, though. Isn't often they have, like, you know, famous friends come along to the unveiling and at his one, it was like Dre, Snoop, Eminem and 50 cent, four of the greatest artists of all time. But it was like, you know, just like so many of my friends, that was like the hip hop we grew up with. And, you know, all of them in their own ways, have become like, you know, have not
aged particularly well. But when I think back to like the albums like 2001 and Still Dre and like The Chronic like this was like really the hip hop that I think informed a lot of my tastes. And even as I've grown like to see that and then to look at where we are now, like, I just find this joint project to be, like, so indicative of probably all the problems that streaming has created. Like these people
just pump out works now without any consideration. I found this album so boring, like an even and even, you know, we talked about it a lot, but even like Drake, who I love, like For All the Dogs again like that really did nothing for me. The album before that, nothing for me. Like it's just that this race to produce content and get it out and, and perhaps in every project is like 1 to 2 good songs, but like,
I can't sit here. Besides, probably for Me To Pimp a Butterfly, the last great like, hip hop album, it feels like the genre is like collapsing in on itself at a time when all these other genres are like going from strength to strength. Like we are really in this country here, a bit. Hip hop, which celebrated its like 50th birthday last year and should be arguably, you know, it's the dominant genre of pop culture in a lot
of ways. It informs like the way people talk and dress and all these different things, and yet it seems to be like, absolutely. On life support and the very sad reality that the biggest headline or talking points come out of this is like fucking two lines from Kendrick about Drake and and J. Cole just feels like an indictment on the whole album. Now, I was gonna.
Say it's actually quite nice hearing you say that, because when I was listening to it, as someone who's not so well versed in kind of obviously I know all these big albums that you're talking about and all the kind of milestone ones, but someone who's not so well versed into it, and my first impression being the exact same as your impression, really does speak to there being, you know, something going on in this genre that's not great. Mhm.
Yeah. And even even the beef I mean everyone's like wanting to talk about it because it seems exciting but like like who cares. Like literally who cares. This was ten years ago when these guys were like super relevant and like super interesting and driving culture forward maybe. But like, no one even really knows what it's about. Is it about like this goal? Is it about, you know, like nothing. Is it just an attempt to drum up controversy? Probably.
I can't get excited about it. I think what you articulated about the, the state of, of rap is really, really sharp. I think maybe, maybe some of it was inevitable. Like when your genre, your culture becomes so big, so successful, you're at the peak, there's nowhere to go but down. And this, this current mode of just pumping out these records, doing it from a streaming perspective, keeping the beast fed like the bottom will fall out of that eventually. And
some interesting artists will come through from what's left. Maybe engaging with country stuff, who knows? But definitely the most interesting, like hip hop records I've listened to lately, are coming from artists who haven't released stuff in a very long time, and that's great because you know that they've thought about it, you know that they really want to come back and say something interesting. One of those is Schoolboy Q's record, Blue Lips. It's been five years since the last schoolboy
Q record. It's really good. It's really exciting. It's different. It's fun.
Bring the money. Bring it over now.
Bring the money back. And bring the dope and bring the money back here. Bring the dope. Bring it home. Bring the money back. Bring. Don't bring the whole. Bring the money back. To bring.
The. Does not bring the money back. To bring the money back. To pay off the money back to. Bring the money back saying we got drunk. Bring the money back.
He says a lot of interesting and smart things. It's great. It doesn't feel like he's just feeding the Spotify algorithm for the sake of it. The other one that I wanted to mention, I don't know if you guys are across James, he's a rapper from Queens who's in Das Racist and Sweatshop Boys, which was his collaboration with Ahmed, the actor. He's got this new album called La Fonda. It's awesome. Again, I think it's his first solo album or his first project in a very long time. So
there are these cool things bubbling away. But as far as like mainstream commercial hip hop, even that used to be really, really good and really, really interesting and I just don't think it is anymore. So I feel a bit sad about it. I'm very stoked to have these great other records like we're talking about to listen to, but I'm waiting for someone to come through and like, rescue mainstream rap. I feel like you would feel similarly, Thomas.
I do, and that's why Osborne and I are announcing our joint project today. No, I agree, uh, like, you know, it is it is really fun to be in this era of like country dominance. And we all love country here except for Mel. But like, it's hopefully, uh, maybe this time next year we'll be talking about a resurgence in hip hop or in the next few years at least. But yeah, I think you are really right in that we, you know, hip hop just had such a huge, like
massive explosion and seeped into every aspect of culture. And and now it's become so diluted that, you know, like it's just found itself kind of painted into a corner and no one really knows what's good anymore or what constitutes like the culture. And so, yeah, I it is a funny place for it to be in. But I will always have hope.
And I do think like that is the natural way of kind of cultural change and how it happens, you know, each decade and each generation like these, this is how waves of change happen. The act, the reaction, the act. Like, I guess I can see how you know something new and good will come out of this, but maybe that kind of golden moment has passed in the same way you guys might say it's past the prestige TV or, you know, you do see, in other genres as well.
I mean, we wanted to talk about this just briefly, but like, I think it's indicative of where things are at that Beyoncé is making a country record. Lana Del Rey is making a country record. Taylor Swift tortured police department don't know much about it, but like, it's not going to be hip hop. Um, but, you know, she did she did flirt with that genre like, and has in the past that there's, there's a sonic pivot away from the influence of rap and R&;B in this current
era of pop music. That's exciting. Like, I'm excited for the Beyonce record. I'm excited for the Lana record. Do you guys have any any sort of vibes about how you feel about those?
Yeah, I mean, I think I'm really excited for the Beyonce record just because like, a Beyonce release is like a moment, you know, and all three of us, I think, get really excited about cultural moments that like sees everyone's obsession and people pick apart. We are all that way inclined, I would say. So, like any Beyonce album, is like a time to lock in and engage with, like the visuals, the lyrics, the music. So like I in that respect, I'm really excited. I'm also like the two songs that
have been released. I feel like, um, Texas Hold'em. I'm like already got fatigue with it's just on everyone's Instagram story. So, uh, in that way I'm like, oh, but it's funny. Like I'm really excited for that. I'm excited for Lana Del Rey. I do think, and this is through no fault of her own. Um, but like Taylor Swift having a new record in less than, like three weeks, I'm like, oh God, I feel like I'm still recovering from that.
I mean, through no fault of her own kind of fault over just being absolutely everywhere.
And yeah, but like I guess specifically in Australia here, like we and.
Yeah. Right. Right, right. Yeah, yeah.
Consumed and covered her um, so much. And so the fact that we'll be like, I've been quite enjoying my Taylor break.
We see those photos of her and Travis in the Bahamas.
Yeah, I did actually. Okay. Wow.
Like, he's got a pretty ordinary rig. He's like a tight end. Like, in for, like, an NFL player. And he looks like, I don't know I actually.
Like try that with the.
NFL players.
All right.
The season's the season's finished right. He's been out partying. He's been traveling. He's been you know going to Nobu. You know he's he's he's he's letting himself have some fun I don't know if we want to like you know he's probably not in his peak performance like Thomas Hue. When we're not recording these videos, you sometimes, you know, you indulge a bit more and then you get to your peak shape. No, no.
He said he just he just looked so regular. But do you.
Feel like the NFL players are often like that? I feel like they're not kind of they're not like the basketball players. Well, not all the basketball players, but like, you know, they're not physically always that fit. Obviously the quarterbacks are. But some of those other they're just muscle right. Like hired help. They're just.
Bulk.
Yes sure. I guess I'll probably end up texting uh, he's dead.
He's dead.
So we've got like a we have a story, we've got like a weird text relationship now.
No, you have not told me this.
So like, I obviously interviewed him. When for that story when Taylor was out here. And then on the day that. What's the brother's name? Jason. When Jason Kelsey retired, he did a really nice. Did you guys see his retirement speech? Yeah, it was beautiful.
Everyone was tearing up. It was like.
I was like a bit boozed.
And I was like, I'm gonna text Editor Kelsey.
And so I texted him, I'm like, hey, man, just watch your son's thing. It was amazing. And then he loved harder. It was like, thanks. We are so proud. So now there's, like, communication open, um, between me and editor Kelsey.
You should tell him you think his son, his other son, Travis, is not looking that great. See what he said? Yeah, maybe.
I'll take a screenshot and send it to him and be like, what's.
You working on?
This is okay. Look, I.
Thought they look nice. So having a nice time, I felt a bit sad that they sort of got papped for it, but yeah, they're in love. Remember like a few months ago when we're all convinced it was, uh, not all of us. Some of us were convinced that it was not real. It feels very real. I'm very happy for them.
It does? Yeah. And yes, I am constantly reminded by some of my friends about what I said at the start of the relationship when I was like, it's.
All set up.
So weird that for the first time I was wrong.
It's good for you to be held to account. I think sometimes.
Before we.
Wrap up the music part of this podcast, um, that was a fun little detour. There was one other thing that I wanted to show that we are an Australian podcast. And, you know, we've talked a bit about Australian music on the show this year. I shout out the middle kids record, which I thought was really good, but there's an EP from this Melbourne trio called Glass Beams, which I really, really like. This band is way bigger internationally than they
are in Australia. The EP is called Mahal, that very khruangbin sort of vibes from Glass Beams, psychedelic jazz, funk stuff, instrumental. They've been blowing up all over the world. I think they've got nearly a million Instagram followers now. They've got more than a million monthly Spotify listens. That global tour across Europe and the Middle East, I think is basically
sold out. Very cool aesthetic. When they perform, they wear these like bejeweled kind of masks, so you don't really know who they are if you're into that Khruangbin sound. Could not recommend glass beams more. Really stoked to see this Melbourne group get a lot of love internationally. Anything else you guys want to shout out?
Have you listened to Empress of new album?
No, no.
This is like when we're talking about what era I'm in. I think this is my era. It's called For Your Consideration. It's so fun.
Decision.
For your courses.
Iteration for your classes. Iteration. You sent me photos from other hemispheres.
You said it's just a bit silly. There's great songs. Lorelei Tsuchiya, which means dirty in Spanish. Um, it's got really cool features. Rina Sawayama on it. Muna. I think it's a really fun album and worth a hit. Like if you're kind of in the I mean, I'm not going to compare it to, um, to Tyler, but it's it is a fun album. Silly, a bit ironic. I think it's really good. It's the best thing she's done. So yeah, if you don't want the heavy rap, try that.
We'd be bumping that on the way to Europe this week.
I absolutely.
Will be. It is a good holiday mood.
Before we wrap up the episode for the week, we have our usual Impress Your Friends segment where we share something we watched, listened to, read, or otherwise enjoyed. Thomas, why don't you go first?
Uh, okay, cool. I am going to start impress My friends by impressing both of my friends on this podcast, because I think I have a show that you are both going to lose your minds over. Wow. It comes out here on binge in two days on March the 30th. It is Jared Carmichael reality show. Do you guys know about this show? I don't know.
About the show. I've obviously know Jared Carmichael very into Jared Carmichael.
So yes okay. Excited. Just so next week or in two weeks, we'll pull this clip when you guys are like, Holy shit, man, this is one of the best shows of the year. It is such a crazy like experimental show. Basically Jared Carmichael, who will, I think, kind of enjoy. He's a he's a comedian. He's a super smart guy. Um, he won an Emmy for his 2022 special with Daniel where he came out, and he's basically one of the
most interesting comics, I think, working right now. This show is really like he's basically made a reality show about himself. It is like every inch of his life. He's invited cameras into it, features like really uncomfortable conversations with his parents, his friends, his lover. You know, in the first episode, he basically sits down with Tyler, the creator, and has this, like excruciating conversation where he asks Tyler why Tyler cut him out of his life after Jerrod told Tyler that
he had feelings for him. But it's like he says in the trailer, I'm trying to Truman Show myself, and it really is a perfect description. It's one of the most original TV shows I've seen since The Curse. Jared is very likable. You guys will love this. I can't recommend it. And also, if you tell your friends that you watch this show, you'll sound really smart. So that's my one for this week.
That's the point of this segment. That sounds awesome. I feel like a lot of people probably know Jerrod Carmichael from his monologue at the Globes a couple of years ago when he when he brought the Globes kind of back and made a lot of fun of them for, for kind of race related reasons. But I'm really hot for that show. Thanks for putting it on the radar.
Yeah, that sounds so good.
Mel, what have you got?
All right, I've picked a book. Whatever. Go make your comments. Go on. I picked a book and I'm happy with my choice. It's called martyr. It's by the Iranian American poet Keva Akhbar. It is such an amazing debut. I feel like very often, like I read so many debuts and they never. What was.
That? What did you say? It just.
Sounded like a.
Flex. Oh, no. I'm drowning in debuts. All I'm doing is the opposite.
It's the opposite of it. So many kind of don't hit the mark that this is like, properly an author to watch. And I kind of got wind of this because the New York Times Book Review put it on its cover. And like, it's very rare for them to give that much space and attention to a debut author. And, you know, what they put on their cover is kind of the book that they are saying is the important one. This is, um, the story. It follows a young man born in Persia. He was taken to the States by
his father. His mother was on the Iran Air Flight 655, which was shot down, um, by the US when it was on its way over the Persian Gulf to to Dubai. And he's kind of struggled with, you know, mental illness, depression, addiction. He's trying to write poetry. It's just a really well done book. It's very interesting but funny. It's not just a straight read. It's doing something different. It's dealing with a lot of big issues, but in a way that
doesn't feel to play music. I just think it's a really impressive first novel, and unlike a lot of books I've read, it's doing something quite different to a lot of the other books out there at the moment. So, um, and I do think, I think you would like it Oseman and Thomas.
My, um, my recommendation, uh, for the week is an animated series called invincible. It's on Amazon Prime. It's been out for a couple of years. Second season just finished. It's really, really interesting. It's executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. They're also the EP's On the Boys on Amazon Prime. And if you like that show, you will love this one. It's the Boys is very violent, very sharp superhero satire. This is basically that an animated form.
It's about this teen superhero called Mark, who's actually voiced by Steven Yuen from beef, who we love. He's basically got like Superman esque powers, and he's trying to deal with that while growing up. And that might sound familiar as like a just another superhero story, but it is very aware of the limitations of the kind of Marvel DC approach and the saturation point we're at with, like, superhero stuff and is engaging with that. It's sort of deconstructing it in a very fun and sharp way. And
the voice cast. It's got JK Simmons as his dad, Sandra Oh as his mum. Gillian Jacobs has a recurring role. Jon Hamm plays like an extra in the first episode. It's a really, really cool cast, really cool animation, a really fun watch. So worth getting into if you just need something to to watch and you're not quite sure you're drowning in choice, give invincible a go.
That is a really stacked cast.
Yeah, and oh great recommendations guys. Yeah, that was actually really good.
Impressive friends this week.
Well, with the praise we're giving each others a major before.
Yeah.
Before we sign off a little bit of news mail you we reference heading overseas. You're going to be missing from the pod for the next few weeks. We're very sad to not have you. Thomas and I will try and keep keep it down, but have a wonderful time.
Thank you. I'll miss you very much, I'm sure. Well, I know we will stay in touch, but, um.
Will you listen?
Of course I'll listen. Um, so try and, like, put some Easter eggs to me in the, in the apps. Um, and I'll be back in no time. And do you want any souvenirs from overseas?
Uh, I wouldn't mind something from Dubai, but next week we're actually going to do, uh, actually, the next few weeks, we're just going to do book.
Stuff.
In Europe next week. Actually, we have a very exciting episode. We're going to be talking about Monkey Man, the debut film directed by, written by Dev Patel, and we will have Dev Patel as a special guest on the podcast. So strap in for that one. Really excited Thomas. Mel. Thank you Mel, have a wonderful trip. Talk to you soon Thomas. See you next week Joe. Bye. This episode of The Drop was produced by Chai Wang. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of The Drop, make sure
to follow us on your favorite podcast app. Leave us a review or better yet, share it with a friend! I'm Usman Farooqui.
See you next week!