Sunday Special: This Summer in Culture

[00:00] This message is brought to you by Apple Card. For a limited time, when you get a new Apple Card and purchase AirPods Pro 3 at Apple, you can earn back the cost up to $250 daily cash. New AirPods Pro and up to $250 daily cash back? Now that's music to my ears. Subject to credit approval, limitations and spend requirements apply. Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more at apple.co slash AirPods. [00:26] Hey, everyone. It's Rachel. I am here with my colleague Gilbert Cruz, the editor of the New York Times Book Review. Hey, Gilbert. Hey, Rachel. Gilbert, you were also, we should point out, the culture editor here for many years. That is true. And now you're here to talk about a new project that you're working on. I am and I will. So starting today and going through the end of the year, every Sunday, you're going to find me here talking with our colleagues who cover culture and [00:56] The fun stuff, movies and TV and books and food and art and so many other things. I love that stuff. Do you love that? I love it, too. We're calling it the Sunday special. And if you're subscribed to the daily, it will just appear in your feed. You don't have to press any buttons. I love that. I love the idea of not having to press a single button. OK, great. So you are starting this project today. Tell us what you have planned. Absolutely.

[01:26] At the Times, one of our music critics, our internet reporter, we talked about music. We talked about a couple movies. We talked about... [01:34] Obviously, Taylor Swift. We talked about some internet memes. It's just three of us mixing up about things that we really enjoyed over the past few months. Well, that sounds fantastic. Let's hear it. [01:50] Welcome, everybody, to the inaugural episode of the Sunday Special. [01:57] This week I'm here with two wonderful guests, John Karamonica, sitting to my left, music critic, host of the PopCast podcast. John, thank you for being here. Enjoy. Also in the room, sitting right across from me, right over there, is Madison Malone Kircher, who covers internet culture for the New York Times. [02:17] to her, she spends way too much time on TikTok. Madison, thank you for being here. Sorry, did you say something? I was scrolling. Great. Great start. Great start. It's Labor Day weekend, and we are going to look back at this past summer in culture. And I'm going to start, really, I have to start with something that's both the most recent news and arguably one of the biggest things that happened this summer, which was a certain couple of. [02:44] Gotten caged. So, okay, can I say, before we talk about that, do you identify as an English teacher or a gym teacher, or do you reject... [02:55] that those are non-overlapping categories. Like, do you believe that is one category? I had a gym teacher that was also my English teacher. So we can contain multitudes. I like to hear that. That's actually a very fulfilling thing. I feel I'm positioned at the exact middle of that Venn diagram, if I'm being wholly honest.

[03:11] A thrilling day for English teacher rising, gym teacher moons everywhere. As someone who hasn't been to the gym in two plus years, I'm just going with English teacher respectfully. I heard the news not in a way that you would expect, which is to say like looking at the Internet. I heard it because my texts started going off crazy as if something horrific had happened. But in fact, it was just everyone trying to tell me. [03:39] that Taylor sort of through Travis Kelsey had gotten engaged. My group chats began blowing up and I was sitting in the cafeteria here at the office, just having sat down to eat my salad. And I had this moment of being FaceTimed by a friend and... [03:54] Thinking I was going to enjoy this and then going, oh, no, this is my job. And just running towards the elevators. I've since heard from at least one colleague who does not work with me being like, I heard you were running through the news, like sprinting to get to my desk. This is commitments. This is what we do here. Why did you write, Madison? Why was this interesting? And what did people find most interesting about it? I mean, I've been preparing for this no joke since 2000. [04:20] January truly. Yes you have. I thought you were going to say like 2017. The year was 2007. Our song has just hit the, you know, I'm kidding. [04:32] Look, it was an educated guess that these two people seem to perhaps be on the train towards marriage. They are juggernauts, both in their own spaces independently, and you put them together and you sort of get, well, what's bigger than a juggernaut? The people needed to know. The people wanted to know. And I was shocked by the reaction online, both to this news piece I wrote and more broadly the state of my inbox. Everyone, I think, needed just a little bit of information.

[04:58] happy news this week, and it came in the form of the Tavis engagement. Wait, is Tavis what we're doing? Yeah, that's what we're doing. Get on board. So, Madison, for... [05:09] I don't know, the 12 people listening right now to this episode who were on vacation and totally missed the news. How did this actually come out? [05:18] Taylor and Travis posted a joint Instagram post on a Tuesday afternoon. I believe it was 1 p.m. Eastern-ish. It contained a series of photos of them standing in an elaborately decorated garden. Just lots of flowers, an arch. I believe there's a candle chandelier covered in flowers. The works. And in the first photo, Travis is on bended knee in front of Taylor. She's clutching his head in her hands. [05:49] And the caption, your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married, also contains a tiny emoji. It's a stick of dynamite, which you might call TNT. Oh. Get it? And the ring. And the ring. So in a subsequent photo, you get a close-up, but very, let's say, wisely selected close-up. It leaves a lot of details to the imagination. But a close-up of a just, I believe the official gemologist term is honking diamond ring. [06:18] is it's an antique cut elongated cushion in some sort of gold. I definitely know what that means. Look, I bought an engagement ring last year. I actually bought two, one from you, one from my partner. So you learn diamond speak, and I didn't realize it would become useful. But also in that frame is a very flashy Cartier watch.

[06:36] Best belief, she is still bejeweled. [06:39] Wow. Why am I even here? Like, seriously, I'm like all just just bars. I look, I'm not here to tell anyone. [06:48] what to do or how to announce their love or how to announce their engagement or what to wear when they're doing. But you're mad about the shorts. I am mad. [06:55] small man about the shorts. I don't care how warm it is. These are engagement photos that are going to go around the world. They're going to live in their couple them forever. They're going to be up in every house that they own. And the guy is freaking wearing shorts. I do think that that speaks to Travis emerging, not from the world of true celebrity Hollywood. It's because he's [07:25] you [07:26] Travis's legs. [07:27] you know, two thumbs up. But I do think like that. This is a person who [07:31] likes to bum around in casual wear. Uh, and now he likes to get engaged in casual wear as well. I'm just going to proffer up a third option. Um, [07:39] Maybe he was just hot. Perhaps it is summer. Yeah, I got nothing on that. Yeah, that's not like it's extremely dangerous to bring me on to a podcast under the pretense of talking about the culture of the summer. And then it veers sharply into short discourse. This is this is this is this is violence. You guys don't want to get to bring up the loafers he's wearing. We should just stop this. I can. I didn't get the idea on the loafer. I thought the loafer was fine.

[08:09] that's really dangerous. You're right. Let's move away from shorts discourse. I would encourage us to step aside. This is coming, of course, 13 days after, and 13 is a very auspicious number for Taylor Swift, 13 days after another massive bit of news in her world, in their world. Taylor Swift! [08:32] That intro, Jason! Oh my God! I've seen this before. Look, his soul has left his body. [08:39] She went on her now fiance's podcast. [08:43] New heights. So I wanted to show you something. Okay, what do we got? This is my brand new album. To announce her upcoming album, The Life of the Showgirl, which is coming out. [08:55] this fall. I can't believe this is the moment I finally had to watch a boy podcast. Yeah. Okay. I make a boy podcast. So you've never you just called yourself. I absolutely. I admittedly do not watch podcast period. I listen to them. But this one I watched sat at my dining room table [09:13] wrapped? Yeah, you made an event out of it. I did, I did indeed. But was that a sort of professional rapture, or was that a personal rapture? Yeah, I was being paid to watch that podcast, John. I mean, we all were. John, how many times did you watch it? And tell us what you thought. I watched it in full... [09:31] Not twice. One full time and let's say 60% of a second time. Here are some takeaways from Taylor and Travis. One, they were having two incredibly parallel but not same experiences side by side. Taylor was there for war. Taylor was there...

[09:53] Eyes on the camera. [09:54] Eyes on the prizes. [09:57] Communicating with the fans. I do think at one point she looked straight into the screen and spoke my name. Is that? Yes. By name. Truly. Anyone who's ever bought. I think it was. Anyone who's ever bought a Taylor album, you were named. Just like donors on the wall at the Met or something. Yeah, exactly. It's exactly like that. It's like me, the Sacklers. Taylor Swift. Yeah. Travis and Jason, on the other hand, like what are they're like? They're roughhousing. They're like two slant hair. Yeah. They're like, hey, buddy. [10:24] same room and they're still tooseling each other's hair. It's absolute madness. I think that they realized, obviously, the power of having Taylor on the show, what it would draw to them in terms of audience. But I don't think that they understood that Taylor is not there to pod, as podcasters say. She was there to sell. Yeah. And she did. I bought it. I bought an advance product. [10:46] purchase CD. Which one did you buy? A CD. I don't need a... No, no, no, I know, but of the 19 million versions of these albums you can sell us with, makes a million... No, just original issue. Okay. Original issue. I don't need purple glitter vinyl. I have enough of that. I'm good. Is the briefcase on sale? Because I was interested in the briefcase. The thing that she opened to pull out. The dealer, no dealer. I'll have one to pull out the vinyl. I'll have one sent to Jersey. Thank you. You're welcome. How do you know where I live? What Madison? I... [11:12] was watching the show through the lens of a very active group chat of the Swift sisters. Swift sisters, it's not a great portmanteau. And I was struck by, I can't remember who said it, perhaps my literal sister saying, I've never heard her say this many words in a row before. And it was this illusion that we were getting for maybe the first time since Miss Americana, her documentary, a full picture, a portrait of what Taylor Swift has been up to and what her behind the scenes real life is like, of course. Yeah.

[11:40] This is highly manipulated. All of this was, to use your verb, the cell. Yes, highly choreographed. Except, you know, I, as someone who listens to Taylor Swift, doesn't necessarily, I don't know that I've seen Miss Americana. I'm not decoding numerology. I'm not doing any of the sort of Easter egg-y stuff. [12:00] I... [12:00] Knew that she had perfect lighting. I knew that she had perfect hair. I knew that this was all choreographed to the nth degree. And she gave me the illusion of realness as well as I've seen in a very long time. I felt like I was there in the room with her, even though at the same time, I knew this was highly edited, completely an illusion. It was amazing. So I have a couple questions. One, how were you in the room with her, but Jason Kelsey was trapped in a basement? [12:30] like we're in here, I've got four different light sources. So much light. Jason Kelsey, like... [12:37] Burrowed under a table like potting from underneath like you think they told him you're fine. [12:42] You know, when it was when it was like mic check and all that stuff, they were just like, no, you look great. I think that boy casts don't have lighting budgets. I see. That's my that's my that. Surely they could afford it. [12:53] No comment. He was not seated in front of a stack of art books. Whose books are those? Ruth Asawa and, you know, all of these incredibly curated. It's just the Barnes and Noble art book table. It's just like one of these. There's probably like a cause book in there. There's a version of the Power Broker. Exactly. And meanwhile, the Swifties are like, Ruth Asawa died at the age of 87. Travis Kelsey is number 87. A song about Ruth Asawa on the new album? My sincerest apologies to the Asawa family and the estate.

[13:23] Are you kidding? Her prices are about to go through the roof. It's unbelievable. Look, there's no real intimacy happening here. I appreciate that you allowed yourself to be swept away. What is that like? What must that be like? I have no idea. I know. It's been a very long time since you were able to, you know, sort of buy into the illusion. Raw cynicism. I wake up every day dripping cynicism. Let the world in. But how? That is the world. I regret to inform you. That's literally the world. [13:53] And I am I am, you know, the sucker here who who took it for what I wanted it to be. And you are the man who sees through the illusions who took it for what it was. OK, but only one of you gave her your money. [14:04] And it's John. I'm a collector. I have an archive to maintain. Also, he's expensive, so it's fine. Also that. Okay, so let's pivot to music more broadly. Song of the Summer. [14:15] John, I know that there's some contention over the entire concept of A Song of the Summer. [14:21] Talk to me. Okay. It is the position of me. [14:26] and a podcast for that matter, that the song of the summer is a farce. It's not real. It's a fallacy. It does not actually exist. Okay. [14:35] You have... [14:36] Declining monoculture, deeply fragmented. Everybody's in their individual silos. They're like, I like K-pop and reality television. I like hip hop and ESPN. They're like, I'm picking and choosing from the full plate that's in front of me. And it's very, very hard for one song to really appeal broadly across people who have the option of listening to any song at any time.

[15:06] weeks. It's called Ordinary by Alex Warren. [15:19] And I say this [15:21] With... [15:21] I say this zestily, but with no zest. [15:26] It is heinous. It is unbearable. It makes me physically uncomfortable to listen to. Okay. [15:36] Thank you. [15:38] 10 weeks at number one. Yeah. It makes me wonder... [15:43] Who's out there? [15:44] tapping in, pressing play, absorbing. I don't know. Is that the song of the summer? If so, it's been a summer of misery. Actually, I do have a question for you about that. How much do you think of it was algorithmically driven? Because I was force-fed that song against my will, not only on TikTok, but on Spotify. I would finish listening to seemingly disparate albums or tracks, and I'm like, and how am I here listening to this TikTok guy, Hype House dude? [16:14] Fake British. Fake British. Wait, he's not British? See? Not British. He looks extremely British. And also sounds extremely British. Uh, okay. Um, yes. I do think part of his algorithmic, I do think part of it is a collective dearth of taste amongst people. Uh, so good luck with that. Grand claim. Yeah. Yeah. [16:35] Not really. Pretty straightforward. But it is awkward. Sorry, Ordinary? It's called Ordinary. The amount of wedding and engagement TikToks that I watched with Ordinary...

[16:48] Look, I'm pro-love. I'm pro-romance. I'm pro-betrothal. Say it loud. I'm on that. Yeah. [16:57] The amount of if if I come to your wedding. [17:02] October 11th, Brooklyn. If I come to your wedding and Ordinary is even playing out of an Amazon delivery van that's driving by outside, I'm going home. I cannot be in physical proximity to it. [17:17] It won't. No, that's a workplace related injury. Yeah. What was your song in the summer? It's called Can't Go Broke. The remix of Can't Go Broke. It's by Zeddy Will, who is a internet comedian, meme artist and also emerging rapper. Shit, I guess with that many jobs, I can't go broke. [17:47] it's almost like a great nickelodeon skit of a rap song okay um it makes a tremendous it's it's it's performed it's comic it's light-hearted it's youthful it's not really in discourse with like [18:14] What's happening on rap radio? You know, it's not there. It's very viral on TikTok. When I think of my summer and how I encountered music, I encountered so much music through the phone. I encountered a lot of music in the context of does it make sense on a video? How does it interplay with all the other media that I'm consuming? And so for me, the song of the summer is a song of music.

[18:39] multimedia consumption. Yeah. And it's that Madison, what is your song this summer? [18:44] My song of the summer is a live performance of Addison Rae's Diet Pepsi by Ben Platt at a fake awards show. I have worn it out. My boy's a winner. He loves the game. Madison, this is something that... [19:01] sort of like bubbled up over the last few weeks of August. Sure. So Lost Cultures, this is a podcast hosted by Matt Rogers, Bo and Yang. And for several years now, they've run this very funny, wonky fake award show. This evening's ceremony will be, just to use some technical terms, random sauce. Cuckoo Lulu. She gone. [19:24] Here we award the film The Substance, but also The Spirit Tunnel from the Jennifer Hudson show. Matt, I'm realizing we haven't even talked about it. [19:31] This year it kind of went more mainstream. It's on Bravo. [19:34] I assume that to be mainstream media. Absolutely. One of the acts was Ben Platt of Dear Evan Hansen fame, singing with all the earnestness and seriousness that won him the Tony Award for Dear Evan Hansen, Addison Rae's Diet Pepsi. Untouched XO, young lust lets. When we drive in your car, I'm your baby. [20:01] is incredibly catchy. It contains a little ad lib in which that man sings, I like it from the fountain. I like it from the fountain. It just scratches the inside of my brain in a nice way. I like it from the fountain, yeah, yeah.

[20:16] Y'all love a meme. [20:17] Unbelievable. Y'all are the problem. Speaking of Diet Pepsi, speaking of sodas, not the Diet Dr. Pepper that you're drinking right now. Not Diet. It's full test. It's full test. Yeah. You talked to Addison Ray earlier this year. Sure did. Yeah. Yeah. You know what Addison Ray said? Taste is a privilege. [20:38] I saw that. This is a privilege. And what did you think of her saying that? I thought that it was one of the most elegant, self-aware things that a pop star has ever said to me in an interview. She was locating herself. [20:50] as a person who, when she was 16, 17, 18, did not have access to a lot of cultural product outside the very obvious mainstream, didn't know how or where to dig, and had this kind of life force urge to get out of the circumstance that she was in. And in moments like that, you can't necessarily be like, I want to be artful, I want to be weird, I have unusual perspective. You're just like, how do I get out of here as fast as possible? Right. [21:20] the speediest route. And for her becoming a TikTok star and kind of being very relentless about like, I'm on every trending audio, anything that's anything that's viral, I'm participating in. [21:34] That was her speed run. [21:37] through the internet. And now she's like, now I can have taste. [21:42] It can happen for all of you. I'm just saying, the Hype House birthed us both Addison and Alex Warren. Damn. It's ordinary. Wow. Taste is a privilege. Taste is a choice and a privilege. Can I talk about my favorite song in the summer? My song of the summer? It's rude we didn't ask, actually. It is rude you didn't ask, which is why I'm butting in. Dillard. Yes. Your song of the summer was? Thank you for asking, Madison. My song of the summer was...

[22:07] John's second favorite song of the summer is Golden. Yeah. The song Golden from the movie K-Pop Demon Hunter. [22:23] Have either of you watched this movie? No. Because as John said, we all experience culture in our own fun little silos. Yeah. All right. Well, let me tell you. Let me tell you about the movie. Please do. [22:37] your shared love for the song Golden. This is a movie that came out earlier this year on Netflix. It's an animated film. It sort of imagines a world in which there are demons, much like the real world. Yeah, what you're saying. Demons have always haunted our world, [22:55] stealing our souls and channeling strength back to their king, Chima. [23:02] Until heroes arose to defend us. [23:07] of three women that are responsible for keeping evil at bay. [23:11] And in modern times, those women take the form of pop groups. Let's do Huntrix! [23:18] We love Huntrix! And in the movie, we're catching up with the present-day pop group, a K-pop group. They are called Huntrix. And they are out there singing songs. [23:36] And then the Demons...

[23:39] They say, "Well, what if we come up with a band?" It's time for a new strategy. We fight the hunters where they least expect it. Go after the very thing that powers the Hon Moon. The fans. A demon boy band? [23:55] And it's Alex Warren. And we can seal people's souls with the power of our music. And they do. So there's Huntrix, the ladies, and then there's Saja Boy, the guys. Just for clarity, I'm supposed to be rooting for the girl group. The women, always. You're always. Thank you, man. Because the other group sounds pretty lit to me. Yeah, the demon pop group. I bet the music's better. Yeah, probably. Okay. So this movie came out in late June on Netflix. [24:25] over a month and a half to be the number one most viewed movie on Netflix of all time. And in mid-August, early to mid-August, three or four of the songs from K-Pop Demon Hunters hit the Billboard charts. And that might be because there was a lot of other good stuff out there. But this one song, Golden, in addition to songs like Soda Pop and Your Idol, have gone up there. And I'm going to tell you straight up, I was introduced to this movie by my child. [24:55] golden while he was on the school bus to a camp field trip he brought it back we played it for days we watched the movie we've seen it six seven eight times it's been on loop and i can't get out of my head and i love it i love the way it goes up up up in the middle i think it's very catchy all right john

[25:22] It's fine. Okay, it's fine. It's fine. [25:25] Here's the thing. No. I love John Caravaggio. Say that's fine. It's fine. I've been writing about K-pop's entree into the American marketplace for a decade or more. I'm aware. I've read every article. There are so many gestures of... [25:45] sort of what I think of as big tent K-pop in these songs, but they are all tempered with the kind of impulses of children's music. And maybe a casual listener would say, oh, pop and children. There's not that much gap between children's songs and pop songs. And in many cases, there aren't. But when I hear the singing here, [26:08] What I hear is a denuded, desiccated version of the vocals that I think mark the best K-pop. I also think the production is so optimistic. K-pop is about, or at least the generation of K-pop that this feels like it's referencing. It's maybe like a little bit prior to what's happening now. [26:29] It's broad and chaotic and kind of like nuclear powered. And this feels like what if we just made it smile? [26:41] And you're just like, no. No, let's hear the other guys. You want to hear Sasha, boys? Soda Pop.

[26:56] Can two things be true at the same time? I also like this song. This is wonderful. This, to me, is a better song. It's a better approximate, I think, of K-pop. Yeah. I'm more pro this. On that positive note, let's take a quick break. You're my soda pop. Gotta drink every drop. [27:15] This podcast is supported by Hulu. Chase Infinity stars in The Testaments, Hulu's new coming-of-age drama series set in the world of The Handmaid's Tale. Variety calls it an exemplary follow-up to the original series and a magnificent coming-of-age story. [27:45] FYC. This podcast is supported by UJA Federation of New York. [27:50] In a polarized world, it's easy to feel stuck. But helping people, that's something we can all agree on. At UJA, that means tackling the economic pressures facing New Yorkers, making sure Holocaust survivors aren't forgotten, and keeping Jewish communities safe and thriving. It's focused, it's urgent, and it works. This is our New York. When you support UJA, you do what matters most, where it's needed most. Start today. Find out how you can help at uja.org. [28:20] is supported by the Whitney Museum of American Art. Don't miss the Whitney Biennial, on view through August 23rd, featuring 56 artists working in painting, sculpture, digital, film, and performance. Enjoy more ways to experience the landmark exhibition with World Cup-inspired programming and free admission every Friday night, the second Sunday of every month, and every day for visitors 25 and under. Starting June 16th, the Whitney is open seven days a week through August 18th.

[28:49] Visit whitney.org for more information and to book time tickets. [28:55] Madison, something that I feel like broke through all algorithms because it was everywhere and sort of gross was Coldplay Gate. Is that what we're calling it? What are we calling it? We're calling it Coldplay Gate. Yeah. [29:08] Coldplaygate was a Coldplay concert at which a man and a woman who should not probably have been at the Coldplay concert together were spotted on the Jumbotron looking mighty comfy. Oh, look at these two. All right. Come on. You're OK. Oh, what? Trying to jump out of frame didn't really work. Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy. [29:33] And we all knew who they were by the following morning, thanks to the magic that is... [29:37] the surveillance state we currently live in. And these were two people who were, in fact, not married to each other. And I think at least one of them was married to someone else. How did that make you feel? Terrified. And I look frustrated because this is a story with so many deliciously easy villains, right? You've got like cheaters, Coldplay fans, Gwyneth Paltrow's ex-husband. You didn't identify Coldplay itself as a villain. Oh, yeah, sure. Coldplay, Chris Martin. Absolutely. [30:07] I think all the people maybe that's turned this into various memes. Right. And so it's super fun online, right, to have somebody who's clearly, quote unquote, in the wrong, that people like to, you know, punch at and mock. And a tech CEO makes for a real good fit for that role these days. But honestly, it's just a warning shot. Like to all of us, you should be scared. Okay, a couple things.

[30:37] by Coldplay's marketing team to draw attention to how many people are at Coldplay concerts? Are we entirely sure? That's number one. No, no, no. Don't answer that. Don't answer that. Okay. That's the first thing. Number two, look, we should be scared. I totally agree. We should be scared. But also, you shouldn't be cheating on your wife. You shouldn't be doing it in the public place. You shouldn't be doing it where there's cameras and phones. I think we've normalized this way too much, right? I've written many, many stories about scenarios like these. I can think [31:07] a woman in a restaurant being like, girl, your bridesmaids actually hate you. Oh, yeah. Like, you know, your roommates secretly hate you. Don't you want to know, though? No, they do hate me. That's why I don't have any bridesmaids. Oh, okay. [31:20] But we've normalized a culture where this is not just happening in a place where you're correct. [31:24] You're at a concert. [31:26] There are jumbotrons. There are cameras. Everyone is literally holding a camera turned on the entire time. But you can draw a direct line between that and you on the New Jersey transit being overheard. [31:38] So, unfortunately, as we have just laid out, that was one of the bigger things on the Internet this summer. [31:45] Arguably not great. Bad for everyone involved. Were there any less depressing internet trends in summer medicine? [31:54] All I have to say is nothing. And I do mean nothing. [31:59] Beats a Jet 2 holiday. [32:02] Nothing beats a Jet 2 holiday. So this is an advertisement for a British touring company. The ad goes, nothing beats a Jet 2 holiday. Starting right now, you can save 200 pounds off a family of four. Pretend I'm British. I'm not doing that to our listeners, but pretend. We have an AI filter for that. That's kind of you. Fantastic, yes. And all the while, Jess Glenn's Hold My Hand plays in the background.

[32:29] trend on TikTok, right? You would use the video to be like, it's a jet to holiday. And it's a picture of you just experiencing something deeply awful. It's a jet to holiday. And right now, you can save 50 pounds per person. [32:42] It also came with a song people already like in a summer where we've described this absolute hunger for decent tunes. And this tiny little TikTok audio, which I believe originated at the beginning of the year, like January of maybe even last year. [33:00] just took off like wildfire. One thing about the Jet2 Holiday meme, which is [33:07] I feel like there's always conversation of like, how do we make something go? It's like, you know, there's people in offices higher up than our floor. We're on the 28th floor right now. We're pretty high. There's people on the 30th floor, the 40th floor. I don't know them. There actually isn't. There are buildings, 50th, 60th floor. Yeah. And there's people in rooms being like, how do we make something go? And we got like, we just stole 20 kids from a college and we put them in a room and we forced them to tell us what was viral. It's like, it's not that hard. [33:37] a lightly funny thing that anybody can participate in. Everybody has been humiliated. Everybody has at least one video on their phone of an absolutely either traumatic or sad thing. You can be like trauma, trauma, [33:51] With funny audio. [33:55] Viral champion. [33:56] Easy. What are you doing as a music critic? You could be working on 50th floors all over the country. Can I say now that if anybody has an office for me on the 50th floor of any building, I'm accepting DMs. We should talk about the Benson Boone crumble cookie then, because that actually sits kind of at the intersection of what you're talking about, which is like a highly, highly curated Internet moment. OK, I'm going to try my own crumble cookie today. Movie Mass Cream crumble cookie.

[34:26] Benson Boone. He did a crumble cookie. And in case you're not familiar with crumble, it's a Alex Warren of cookies. It's a wildly popular. [34:37] That collab is in the works already. It's a wildly popular. It's a wildly popular bakery chain that sells cookies that contain. And this is not to shame anyone for eating more calories than a human being needs in a week in a single cookie. I believe they actually sell like a little pizza cutter to cook. [34:54] to cut these cookies into like relatively reasonable by the FDA or formerly FDA portions. [35:06] And they're gross. No, don't tell RFK Jr. about these cookies. Don't tell them. No, no, no. You go shut them down. I think this is like he and I like handshake meme aligned. Those cookies are my nemesis. [35:24] collab cookie, which was a moonbeam ice cream cookie. And there were lines at the door at all of the crumbles I went to, both for the cookies in general, but because people around the country had turned going to get this cookie into a trend. You walk into a crumble and you backflip. [35:46] Is there space in a crumble to backflip? In Jersey, at the crumble you go to, is there a lot [35:54] They're pretty big. I mean, that's what the suburbs allow. There you go. Back flipping. So, look...

[35:59] a cookie connoisseur myself. Crumble comes along. I see all the TikToks, people in like Irving, Texas, with like a six pack, six different flavors. Again, as Madison said, all flavors that should not be in Congress with each other. And I'm like, I'm hitting crumble. Next time I see crumble, wherever it is, I'm hitting it. There are more than a thousand locations across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. This thing is taking over. It's a blight. Well, I found one and I said, I'm going to get just the rawest combos. [36:29] that you could possibly have. Like, just give me the six strangest cookies that are available here. Yeah. [36:35] Each one tasted like a pack of Post-it notes. It was unbelievable how for something with seven flavors in it, somehow still tasted like spiced cardboard. How can I? I'm running out of negative things to say about Crumble Cookies. You're listening to this podcast and not watching it. What you can't see is I'm scraping my teeth against the top of my tongue as though to remove some film that is still there from this cookie that I ate six weeks ago. Do you think it was appropriate then that Benson, Boone, and Crumble came together? [37:04] Absolutely. Yeah, he was the right person. It was wildly effective. So how do we get talking about this? We got talking about it because Jet2 Holiday was not meant to be this hyper viral moment on TikTok and it blew up anyway. This they were hoping was going to hit. They wanted like a Grimace shake, Duolingo hour. They wanted a moment.

[37:34] squeezed it right out of grimace in the field yeah field recordings over here squeezed it right out of grimace um can we talk about another movie yes okay we'd love to madison you and i both saw a movie that at least i loved even though it got a lot of crap on the internet this summer [37:55] Which is a movie called Materialist. I saw this too. Oh, okay. Oh, my God. We got a three-way conversation going on. He saw a movie. Unbelievable. This was Celine Song, who was her first picture, Past Lives, was nominated for Best Picture. This is her follow-up. It stars Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal. It was sold sort of as a rom-com. Definitely not a rom-com, more of a rom-drom. [38:20] I have a thought on that. You think it's funny? And I went in. I was late to the movie. I had heard a lot of negativity about it. And I actually had a great time despite the performance. Great Twitter about this movie. Yeah. How much of the film did you miss? You weren't literally late to the movie. [38:38] You were culturally liked the movie. [38:41] You saw it. I did see it. And I thought it was quite beautiful. It was one of those, you know, warm, lush New York City films that makes you go, man, I wish I could live in that city where I ostensibly live. I was infuriated by this movie. Infuriated? Perhaps not for the reasons that the discourse was. Where you lose me is Dakota Johnson's character, Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Yeah.

[39:08] disclose her salary. I make 80 grand a year before taxes. Do you make more or less than that? [39:16] More. [39:19] I know. [39:20] Planets, right? [39:21] She's a matchmaker. She's a matchmaker, and she makes $80,000 a year is what she tells Pedro Pascal's character, who... [39:28] Does not disclose what he makes, but we are led to believe it is $81,000 a year. It's 81. Pedro Pascal plays a very rich man. He plays someone in finance. I think I've got him from like 82, but 82 five. And the movie is about Dakota Johnson, who's a matchmaker, ostensibly having to choose between Pedro Pascal's very rich guy and Chris Evans's broke actor. Bushwick resigned guy who lives with three roommates in Brooklyn somewhere. [39:58] Look, there. I'm not going to pay $25 to park this piece of shit for an hour. That's the cheapest we'll ever get. We'll find street parking on the next block. John, it's been 20 minutes. I'll just pay for it. You're not paying. Dakota Johnson makes $80,000 a year. She has a wonderful apartment. Everything's great. Everything's great. She's out here wearing Kate and Peronza and Bottega, and that drove me just... Clearly the real, real shopper. I, nonetheless... I think there was a lot of stress. That's your one sticking point. There's a lot of stress. [40:28] About the $80,000. I mean, I think we wrote an article. Did you write that article? I didn't write that article. So you can just merge it if you'd like in front of me. There are a lot of articles about like, oh, no, $80,000. Like, it's a movie. It's like it's going to get a couple things. It's literally fiction. I agree. It's literally fiction. I agree.

[40:46] Here's the thing. You, when you introduced this movie, you said a rom-com, but not a rom-drum. And a lot of the 1.0 discourse on Twitter about this movie was like, no human beings actually talk like this to each other. [41:08] Dating takes a lot of effort. [41:10] A lot of trial and error. [41:12] A ton of risk. [41:14] and pain. [41:15] - There. [41:18] Love is easy. [41:20] Is it? [41:21] Thank you. [41:22] I find it to be the most difficult thing in the world. [41:26] And that's because we can't help it. [41:30] It just walks into our lives sometimes. [41:34] Are you kidding on me? [41:36] Definitely not. [41:37] Huh? [41:38] But I do think this is not how people who are falling in love or trying to feel each other out. What? It's a business deal. Right. It's a transaction. So here's a question. Are these terrible lines? Are they terrible? [41:53] terrible actors delivering good lines? Are they terrible actors delivering terrible lines? Are they good actors delivering? Here's my thing. Yes. It's actually on paper. Everything's fine. But if the whole thing was delivered as like a slapstick romantic comedy from the early 2000s, kind of like, what is it like? 10 things I hate about you or whatever. If it was delivered in that manner, almost identical script, I,

[42:21] a film. But because everybody was so busy just having a serious... You're saying it's too stately. For no reason. It's not the physical comedy baked into it. Every romantic interaction... Lucy, that's her name, has a handshake. It's like we're just banging you over the head with the fact that this is a business deal. We are shaking hands. Me and Pedro Pascal in the kitchen as we break up, shake hands. I'm going to marry Chris Evans. Spoiler, shake hands. That would be very funny. I think genuinely... [42:51] I was excited. I have very rarely been so excited by negative discourse about a film. [42:59] So much so that it made me want to see it. The Twitter conversation was so angry about this movie. And at the end, I'm like, it's almost there. But no one involved in making the movie had a sense of humor. And it is fundamentally a funny film. But no one there knows how to laugh. [43:22] Well, let's turn to something now that I'm pretty sure the two of you are going to find hilarious. [43:29] two of you take a summer pop culture quiz. There's a quiz? I feel like we should have been allowed to cheat a little. What's the quiz? So let's take a break. We'll do that when we come back. [43:51] Thank you.

[43:55] This podcast is supported by Hulu. Emmy nominees Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez are joined by Meryl Streep, Christoph Waltz, Renee Zellweger, Diane Wiest, and more to crack the case of their beloved dead doorman in the latest season of Only Murders in the Building. For your Emmy consideration in all categories, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy for Martin and Short, and Lead Actress in a Comedy for Gomez. For more information, [44:25] Com slash FYC. [44:27] This podcast is supported by UJA Federation of New York. [44:31] In a polarized world, it's easy to feel stuck. But helping people, that's something we can all agree on. At UJA, that means tackling the economic pressures facing New Yorkers, making sure Holocaust survivors aren't forgotten, and keeping Jewish communities safe and thriving. It's focused, it's urgent, and it works. This is our New York. When you support UJA, you do what matters most, where it's needed most. Start today. Find out how you can help at uja.org. [45:01] is supported by Bank of America Private Bank. [45:04] You're cut from a different cloth. And with Bank of America Private Bank, you have an entire team tailored to your needs. With wealth and business strategies built for the biggest ambitions, like yours. Whatever your passion, unlock more powerful possibilities at privatebank.bankofamerica.com. What would you like the power to do? Bank of America, official bank of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Bank of America Private Bank is a division of Bank of America and a member FDIC and a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation.

[45:36] Welcome back. I'm Gilbert Cruz. I'm here with John Karamonica and Madison Malone-Kircher. We are closing out... [45:44] the Sunday special this week with a pop culture quiz. I've got a bunch of trivia questions here about other pop culture happenings from the summer. I'm going to read out a question, and the first person who buzzes in with the correct answer gets a point. The most points win. Is this Jeopardy rules? You've got to get through the clue first before we're allowed to buzz? Yeah, can we just buzz in at any point? That's a good question. As in right. [46:07] I think for the sake of our listeners, I should ask the full question before you. [46:14] is over. When the sentence ends. Okay. Alright. Okay. Fingers on buzzers. Or space bars. Or... [46:22] Mouse pads. Ready? Let's go. [46:27] Number one. What stand-up comedian and actor announced this summer that he'd be ending his long-running interview podcast? Marc Maron. Correct. What seminal American film set over the 4th of July weekend on Martha's Vineyard celebrated its 50th anniversary this summer? [46:52] Big shelf. [46:54] Great movie. Wrong answer. The answer is Jaws. TikToker Lil Bulls official claims to have the world's only 24-carat gold version of what viral... Madison, you rang it too early. What viral plush toy? I have the world's only 24-carat LaBubu. LaBubu. The answer is LaBubu. That is correct. According to a single from singer Addison Rae's album Addison, released this summer, what is fame? Madison.

[47:22] Fame is a gun. Fame is a gun. This is a multiple choice question. One of the top grossing films of the summer was the newest installment in the Jurassic World franchise. What is the title of that film? Was it A, Jurassic World Dominion, B, Jurassic World Rebirth, or C, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom? [47:43] Madison. Jurassic World Dominion? Incorrect. Rebirth. That's a real movie, right? That is a real movie. Next. [47:52] Tra la la la, ballerino cappuccino, and bombadero crocadillo. Italian brain rot. I did not miss the question. Next question. In what video game released this summer for Nintendo's new Switch 2 console, might you see a cow shoot a blue shell at a giant ghost? [48:12] Bro, what? Neither of you play video games. Video games are one of the biggest things in the world. All right. The answer is Mario Kart World. [48:19] The pop star Justin Bieber got a lot of attention this summer for seventh studio album Swag, but also for a viral video clip in which he berates paparazzi for not clocking that Bieber is doing what? [48:31] standing on business. He was standing on business, as we all know. Is it not clocking to you that I'm buzzing before you finish the question? All right, next question. [48:46] This is a lightning round. The summer of 2025 was full of blockbuster movies about teams. I'm going to give you the names of the members of a team. You tell me what movie that team is from. Number one, Mr. Fantastic. Fantastic Four.

[49:01] next movie luther benji grace and ethan [49:08] Give me the full names. If I gave you the full names, you would not have gotten that one. This is Mission Impossible, the final reckoning, the eighth Mission Impossible movie. Ethan. Tom Cruise. Rumi. Jinu. Mira. [49:24] K-pop demon hunters. I just talked about this. [49:27] All right. [49:28] And finally, a trivia question for two people who claim to think a lot about Taylor Swift. As we discussed, she announced her album on Travis Kelsey's podcast. She talked about baking bread. What did she identify as the best sourdough variety that she bakes? Ooh, that's a good question. That is a good question. You have five seconds. She puts sprinkles in it for the Kelsey kids. That's not it. [49:58] No. [50:03] The answer is Cinnamon Swirl. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. You know what? Yeah? I'm going to admit defeat. We're both defeated. No, no, no, no. I just want to say I should have known that. Fair enough. I accept that and all the Swifties out there who are listening who are going to drag me for whatever I write about the Taylor album. Yeah. [50:22] Feel free to come for me. [50:23] I am getting a note. [50:26] From our wonderful producer that tells me that the person who won our inaugural quiz is job.

[50:35] Would you like to see what your prize is? I have no choice. Alice Warren emerges from under the table. We're going to award this every week. Oh. I'm going to – here we go. It is a Gilby. [50:48] Thank you. [50:49] This is a trophy with my face on it. With your face on it? Yes. Oh, I'm keeping this. I'm sorry, Madison. I really hope you didn't actually win. Can you read what it says? It says the Gilbert Cruz Award, also known as the Gilby, the Gilby, Libri Pellicule Televisio Musica, which I assume is Latin for books, movies, TV shows, and songs. Wow. [51:13] Gilbert, this looks cheap. It is. Okay, so now you have to invite me back. You can't hear eye rolls. Because by the end of 2025, my desk covered in these. I love it. I love it. Covered in these. John, thank you for appearing on today's episode, looking back at Southern Culture. This has been a blessing. Madison, thank you so much for being here. Anytime. Gilbert, it was a joy. I appreciate you. I appreciate your patience. [51:43] I got thrown by your sincerity.

[52:13] It features original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, and Diane Wong. Thanks for listening. See you next week. [52:31] This podcast is supported by Bank of America Private Bank. [52:34] You're cut from a different cloth. And with Bank of America Private Bank, you have an entire team tailored to your needs. With wealth and business strategies built for the biggest ambitions, like yours. Whatever your passion, unlock more powerful possibilities at privatebank.bankofamerica.com. What would you like the power to do? Bank of America, official bank of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Bank of America Private Bank is a division of Bank of America NA member FDSE and a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation.