INTERVIEW: Getting Candid with SPIDER

A replay of our 2021 episode with author and journalist Maria Sherman! Throughout history, boy bands have been a massively lucrative enterprise for the music industry, thanks to their main demographic of teen girls. Join us to really learn about the importance of boy bands to pop culture and their dark history. Heartthrob boy bands + adoring fangirls = big money! And this is where things get shady. Behind every successful boy band is a man with industry know-how (and sometimes even nefarious intentions.) We’re joined by Maria Sherman, author of Larger Than Life: A History of Boy Bands, to explore the dark history of boy bands and the men who pull the strings – from Maurice Starr’s shady contracts with New Kids on the Block and New Edition to Lou Pearlman using Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC as the front of a Ponzi scheme. We also discuss their impact on pop culture which led to the rise of One Direction (thanks to Simon Cowell) and BTS (a la Big Hit Entertainment.) All of this to say, are boy bands inherently sexist? And at the end of the day, do we even care? Find Maria Sherman on Twitter and Instagram for fun boy band knowledge more! This is a music commentary podcast based on pre-existing knowledge and facts cited below. If you’d like to discuss anything we talked about today in greater detail with us, you can find us on Twitter @Name3Songs or @sara_feigin & @jenna_million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re Getting Candid in our interview with Lime Cordiale. Lime Cordiale is an Australian band comprised of brothers Oli and Louis Leimbach who played music together as teenagers and officially formed the band in 2009. The band has wracked up multi-millions of streams, known for their infectious melodies, catchy hooks, and clever lyrics, and they just wrapped up a tour across the US and Canada. We chatted with Oli and Louis about stepping into larger-than-life personas on stage to turn their live shows into a party. How the brothers compliment and challenge each other as writing partners and musicians. As well as discussing the skills they’ve learned from actors, including Idris Elba, and how they incorporate that into the creative process  Find a transcribed excerpt of the podcast at name3songs.com  For more of Name 3 Songs, check out our podcast here and other interviews here. Enjoy this episode? Join our Patreon community or leave us a tip on PayPal!  Want to talk more? Find us  @name3songs | @sara_feigin | @jenna_million Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Name 3 Songs… ⚡ Fangirl Nonsense:  We are chomping at the bit to see the two horniest movies of the season: Challengers and The Idea of You. Billie Eilish is also on the cover of Rolling Stone giving TMI on her sexual life.  ⚡   A week after Taylor released The Tortured Poets Department and a week after our episode dropped, we’re revisiting thoughts based on online conversations to ask ourselves if you can be a fan of Taylor Swift without being invest in the lore. We also look at Taylor’s lyrical references to Kim Kardashian in “thanK you aIMee” and why she chose to bring up the infamous Taylor-Kim-Kanye beef now.  ⚡   Harry Styles’ Pleasing is hosting a pop up in Austin, Texas. It’s all very cute on the outside, but taking a closer look at the merchandise prices has us wondering – can you really buy your way into kindness and inclusivity? We discuss the ethics of capital accumulation and celebrity brands that continue to make the top 1% of artists richer while lower and middle class artists struggle to make music their full time job. This leads us to think deeper about overconsumption and market saturation, not only of physical products, but also as music as a product. We also bring Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s collab arena tour and Halsey’s makeup line About Face into the conversation for comparison on how artists are turning a profit.  Enjoy this episode? Join our Patreon community or leave us a tip on PayPal!  Want to talk more? Find us: @name3songs | @sara_feigin | @jenna_million Check out all the sources for this episode at name3songs.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're getting candid in our interview with Hannah Wicklund about the hardships of being a young female artist in a heavily male rock scene. How she was able to connect with a deeper feminine and emotional side of herself through taking time off the road and rediscovering her love of painting. And how all of this has impacted the way she shows up as a performer and the fan connections she’s made because of it. Listen to the full interview with The Vices on Name 3 Songs podcast available on your favorite podcast platforms.  For more of Name 3 Songs, check out our podcast here and other interviews here. Enjoy this episode? Join our Patreon community or leave us a tip on PayPal!  Want to talk more? Find us @name3songs | @sara_feigin | @jenna_million Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Name 3 Songs… ⚡ Fangirl Nonsense: We can’t stop thinking about Royel Otis’s cover of “Linger” by the Cranberries and neither can every 30 year-old man. Harry Styles’ Pleasing is doing a pop-up in Austin, Texas! Sara saw Quarters of Change in Washington DC.  ⚡ On April 19, Taylor Swift released The Tortured Poets Department *and* The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology with a total of 31 tracks. In a big surprise to all of us, this album is mostly about Matty Healy, rather than Joe Alwyn. One year after Taylor and Matty’s whirl-wind and highly criticized relationship, Taylor is telling her side of the story and possibly calling out fans in the process. All of this begs the question – who is the album for? And did we need to know all of this? We explore the significance of this album in the context of Taylor’s fame and power, her music choices on the record, and her relationship to fans and music critics. Enjoy this episode? Join our Patreon community or leave us a tip on PayPal!  Want to talk more? Find us: @name3songs | @sara_feigin | @jenna_million Check out all the sources for this episode at name3songs.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re Getting Candid with The Vices about the importance of performing live and learning how to replicate that energy in the studio, how they’ve drawn influence from rock bands across the decades, and their decision to sing in English. Plus, we talk about how they recorded a live performance of their debut album on boat during covid, and how they built their own music festival with bands from around the world. The Vices are a four-piece rock band from The Netherlands formed in 2019. Their second album ‘Unknown Affairs’, early 2023, and reached over 1.5M streams within a month. Their very first show ever was supporting YUNGBLUD. They’ve since toured with Nothing But Thieves, opened stadium shows in Europe, and hosted their own festival called Vice Fest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Name 3 Songs… ⚡ Fangirl Nonsense: Dua Lipa is maybe a boring pop star? Chappell Roan owned Coachella. Barry Keoghan is spotted being a supportive boyfriend to Sabrina Carpenter.  ⚡  Orville Peck and Willie Nelson teamed up for a gay cowboy anthem. Orville Peck is one of the few openly gay country singers. Willie Nelson is a grandfather of the genre. The two teamed up for a cover of “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” – making a statement that country is for the LGBTQIA+ community despite what the country industry tries to make people believe.  ⚡ Jojo Siwa faces backlash from netizens after claiming she wanted to make a new genre – “gay pop.” This is coupled with the release of her new song “Karma” and the accompanying music video that sees Siwa leaning into the sexual pop star trope for the first time in her career. We discuss how the 20 year-old dancer-turned-singer is using sexual imagery to distance herself from her child star image and how this decision compares to Disney stars like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato.  Enjoy this episode? Join our Patreon community or leave us a tip on PayPal!  Want to talk more? Find us: @name3songs | @sara_feigin | @jenna_million Check out all the sources for this episode at name3songs.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re getting candid in our interview with Girl and Girl. We talk with Girl and Girl about how being theatrical helps singer Kai share difficult topic in his lyrics, how the band works together as a unit on stage to support Kai’s exuberant stage presence, and the way the band relates to Kai’s personal lyrics. Girl and Girl are a four-piece jangly garage rock band from Brisbane Australia. Notably, the band includes singer Kai James and his Aunty Liss on drums, along with – Jayden Williams on guitar and Fraser Bell on bass. The band just attended South By Southwest Music Fest in Austin, Texas and they are back in the US this spring supporting Royel Otis before they release their debut album Call A Doctor on May 24.  Listen to the full interview with Girl and Girl on Name 3 Songs podcast and find a transcribed excerpt at name3songs.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been exactly a year since Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn's breakup hit the newsstands. Jenna's out sick this week so we're revisiting our discussion from April of 2023 to look back at the media and the world's reaction to Taylor and Joe parting ways. Also in this episode we were in the midst of a public feud between Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber, so we'll be revisiting that too. We'll be back next week with our regularly scheduled programming! https://name3songs.com/2023/04/16/taylor-swifts-breakup-selena-gomez-calls-to-end-hate/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re Getting Candid with Jordan Suaste about how he found his voice while growing up as one of the only queer kids in his school, connecting with fans after having his song “Body” go viral on TikTok, and using visuals and fashion as a form of self-expression. LA-based pop singer/songwriter Jordan Suaste, released his new single “Love Who You Want To” last month. The song encapsulates his yearning for genuine connections crafted as a personal reminder to Jordan and his LGBTQ+ forward community. 23-year-old Utah native Jordan Suaste began posting his original songs on Instagram after dropping out of school at the age of 16. The arrival of his self-penned debut single “Body,” now with over 70 million streams on Spotify, marked an ignition point for Suaste. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices