SZA's Freckles Are Fake (And Other Adorable Lies)

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This week we got completely sucked into DTF St. Louis on Max — and we have thoughts. David Harbour plays the most likable character in a show about suburban kinks, male loneliness and consensual weirdness, and we can't stop thinking about two middle-aged men tenderly dancing in their tighty-whities. Also: a woman yelled "you're my hall pass" at Ben during his Richmond show, and we're noticing a trend.Plus: the AI music backlash is real — Suno just raised $400 million and yet the public has definitively decided they do not want AI-created music. The Spotify CEO thinks bands should just drop a song every month. Reese Witherspoon is doing "let them eat cake" AI ads. And we explain exactly why tech platforms fundamentally do not understand creativity.Also: Seth Rogen's New York Times interview is essential listening, Ione had her first art show (get the painting at Vamped Vintage in Newtown), and we make the case for always having at least one normie friend in your life.

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Ben and Ione are fresh off Ben's Tasmanian tour — and they have opinions. They break down their first encounter with actual Tasmanian devils (terrifying, zombie-like, cannot be explained), rave about Woolworths Flu Shot (a six-piece punk band from Hobart who just might be the best new band in Australia), and dissect the Butthole Surfers documentary The Whole Truth and Nothing But — asking the bigger question: is transgressive art always rooted in personal trauma?Plus: Richard Pryor's bisexuality and what it meant to be that openly queer as a Black performer in the 70s, Phoebe Bridgers' no-phones tour as a stroke of marketing genius, and a full decode of the Charli XCX Music Fashion Film album cover — what does choosing John Cale, Martin Scorsese, and Marc Jacobs actually say about where she's headed?Also: Ione reveals the four fictional characters she most identifies with (one of them is Woodstock from Peanuts), and Ben has early intel on Folk Bitch Trio, the Australian band about to blow up internationally.Take a deeper dive into our world at https://weirdertogether.substack.com

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Joan Baez suggested pop stars should be more politically active. Swifties went on the attack. Ben and Ione have thoughts — including why picking a fight with someone who marched alongside Martin Luther King might not be your best move.Also this week: Jay-Z showed up at the Roots Picnic and did a 10-minute acapella freestyle attacking Drake, Kanye, Nicki Minaj, and Dame Dash. Ben breaks down why a whole generation just knows Jay-Z as Beyoncé's husband — and why that matters.Ben makes the case that Kylie Minogue's Impossible Princess is her Pinkerton — the misunderstood record that history will eventually get right. Pitchfork agrees. Nick Cave does not, and Ben has some words about that.Plus: The Backrooms movie at the Dendy, Rachel Ward's regenerative farm, Sparks at the Opera House (how gay is a Sparks crowd exactly?), and Ione's weekend at a Chanel-funded literary showcase for diverse female writers.—Weirder Together is hosted by Ione Skye and Ben Lee.New episodes every week. Subscribe so you don't miss one.

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Ben and Ione discuss ribbon collections, Minnie Mouse comparisons, and a theory about why the first guy in your friend group to have sex always had great posture.Then: Ione and Ben went to see Georgia Maq (of Camp Cope) perform her first solo show back in Australia — and Ben has a bold prediction about her new song  "Rearranging Chairs on the Titanic." Also: Ben's track record of terrible  music predictions (Bruno Mars, Beastie Boys Sabotage, "nobody will watch movies on a computer").The Kylie Minogue Netflix documentary gets a full debrief — Michael Hutchence, Nick Cave, Olivia Newton-John as Sandy, the gay community saving her career, and what Kylie taught an entire generation of Australian artists about reinventing yourself.Ben brings some inside Australian music industry news: a major new study revealing community radio delivers $153M back to the economy on $28.6M in funding — and why live music venues are facing an insurance crisis that could kill the scene.And finally: Jacob Elordi faked a sprained ankle to skip the Cannes Film Festival jury and hang out with Kendall Jenner. Ben is weirdly pro this.Dive deeper into our world at https://weirdertogether.substack.com

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Ben and Ione take refuge from the Sydney gloom to pod. Beck plays the Palais with a full symphony orchestra and becomes the unlikely lens for a deep dive into sellout culture, punk idealism, and whether anti-commercialism has always been a rich person's sport. Keli Holliday was turned away at the US border — Ben thinks strong men politicians and the Real Housewives are basically the same show. Plus: they watched the Martin Short and Chevy Chase documentaries back to back and only one of them is a cautionary tale. Also SZA lied about her freckles. And her TV. And her birthday cake.Dive deeper into our world at https://weirdertogether.substack.com