Encore: Causing Mayhem (with DJ Louie XIV) | 52

Girl, how are you doing? I am good, actually. But I am good because I just hit 50 days of being sober. Oh. What is that roaring round of applause? Oh. People falling to their knees. Great. Yeah. But I will say, the thing about sobriety that is difficult, I thought that going out would feel harder, but it actually is totally normal and fine. I thought that would be more difficult for me. And I love to judge, so I love to watch people act a fool. And I also still act a fool, but just more conscious of the way I'm doing it. But the thing that is hard is I have only been ordering soda water bitters, and I'm done. Oh. End the soda water and bitters combo. It tastes like dirt. I'm like, why are we doing this to ourselves if we have other options? I'm not into mocktails because I don't want to pay $15 for juice. Juice, yeah. Juice. Let's say it. So I started trying some non-alcoholic spritzes. I went down the Kin, my name is Bella Hadid, road, and that's not my girl. Maybe with some lime. Again, it's giving glorified juice. I guess it's good for if you want to calm your nerves or whatever. And then I'm on this journey and this hunt. I tried the Gia. Have you tried Gia? Yeah. Okay. The bottle, the big glass bottle? The bottle is sparkling, right? It's fizzy. No. Oh. There might be a fizzy version of it, but the original one, and I say this with so much love and respect in my heart, tastes like licking the floor. Tastes like dirt. But, and I'm so sorry to the Gia girls. I think that they're great people and the bottle is beautiful. But I did try the canned version. I think that's where, if anyone is not drinking right now or looking for an alternative, Gia Ginger and then the Sumac and Chili one are actually my sisters. But really, Hunter's like, I don't care about this. I'm drinking. But she's like, girl, I'm having a glass of wine right after this podcast. But I- I understand that I'll never understand, but girl, but- I'll stand. She still stands. I'll stand. See, I knew it. I will say, my life has been changed for the better from the, I don't know how to pronounce it, A-P-O-L-S, Appal's or something. They have a margarita, like non-alcoholic drink that it tastes like we're about to turn into those white women from White Lotus, bitch, and we're about to talk some shit, okay? I'm swirling that thing like it's real on a nice little big ice cube, a little squeeze of lime. Oh. Woo, we're so bad. Do you do like the phony Negronis? I don't like Negronis to begin with, so. Oh. Yeah, neither do I. I don't even know why I would ask about that. I know. I was like, what? Well, I was with some of our friends, and one of them ordered one at the bar, and I was like, hmm, that's in like a little cute, whatever, bottle or whatever. Okay, let me tell you about your niece, Remy- Oh, Remy. What's she up to? Whitney Lanithia Harris. She has been, talk about working my nerves. She is so funny. She has this one. Okay, so, you know, all dogs love like the lambies, the lamb chop toys. Yes, yes. And Remy has one that I call her wicked lambie, because it's a Halloween lambie that has a witch's hat on it. It's her Elphaba lambie. And sometimes she like wakes up, comes out of the crate, has the lambie in her mouth already, jumps in the bed, and I'm like, oh, she's starting. Like, she is starting. She gonna have an attitude today. She really, like, she's already ready, and the way that she will try. Try to, like, want me to play fetch with it, but then will, like, run away at the last minute. Like, her yabba-dabba-doo ass, her feet on the hardwood, like, scrambling, running. I'm like, oh my gosh, you're, you're so me. Like, she is- My favorite sound in the universe is Remy's paws running on that hardwood floor. Yes, she's persistent. Although, I was with someone who was like, oh, you have like a little white dog, right? With, like, stuff around their eyes. I said, oh, you called me a monkey. That's what you just called me. So, you want me dead. You want me dead. Hunter, hunter. Wait, with stuff around their eyes is actually, that's crazy. They want you dead, whoever that was. Oh my God. No, yeah, it was, it was, it was bad. No, it was fine. Wait, how old is Remy? Is she a teenager now? In, like, dog years, whatever that is? She's two. No, now she's, like, really, Remy is at the age where she is Saoirse Ronan in the third act of Lady Bird when she's on her way to college, and she's walking through the street. She gets, like, really drunk at that NYU dorm, has to go to the hospital. And then is, like, calling her mom and being like, okay, mom, I love you. It's Christine. It's the name you gave me. It's a good one. I just wanted a straight answer, by the way. But I'll take what I can get these days. I'll take what I can get. That is actually so mean of you to say. No. Oh, suddenly it's illegal to be long-winded on this podcast. Okay. And I knew you would take it there. Oh, you're so nasty. You always got to get a lick back. That's one thing about you. What can I say? If you couldn't tell, I've had a little bit of me espresso. Put that shot down. I can't. I feel like that Snoop Dogg video at the Lakers game. Oh, my God. Wait, yeah. Oh, I thought you were from L.A. This week, we are checking in, clocking in, locking in to The Pit, my new favorite TV show. And we'll be talking about The Real Housewives of Atlanta, the new reboot. And we're joined by DJ Louis XIV, yes, to discuss Lady Gaga's new album, Mayhem. We legally needed a Gaga Gay to come talk to us about this. And I love to learn. So let me just say this. Just say this. Let me say this. Are you looking for a home for your worst opinions? Are you a hater first, but a lover of pop culture second? Consider this a glorified group chat, but we're not calling you out. No, no, no, no. We're calling you in. It's a safe space. To talk shit. But, of course, from Wondery, I'm Peyton Dix. And I'm Hunter Harris. And this is Let Me Say This. Let me say this. Let me say this. Yeah, we love it till we hate it. Yeah, get your facts. I'ma talk. Let me say this. I have started. Honestly, I don't even know why I started watching. A little show called The Pit. I have to say I know why I started watching. Because I said, or because Sarah. No. Meg. I have to give credit where credit is due. In my breakup, Meg was like, maybe just get your head out of the game and watch The Pit. And at that time, I was so broken down bad. I was like, not now, Meg. Our friend Meg Zookin, who we love and adore. But I was like, stop trying to push this show on me. This is not the part of healing I'm on. And then I came up for air and I pressed play. And I had to apologize to her for holding back. I should have hopped into The Pit sooner. It is so good. Okay, let me tell you the logline for people who are not pit-pilled, pitified already. Yes. Pitified. Okay, quote. The daily lives of healthcare professionals in a Pittsburgh hospital as they juggle personal crises, workplace politics, and the emotional toll of treating critically ill patients, revealing the resilience required in their noble calling. So every episode on this show is an hour in the workday of an emergency room in Pittsburgh starring Noah Weil as Dr. Rabinovich or Dr. Robbie. So basically, it is a little television program called ER. Right. But set in present day. And let me tell you this. I do more ketamine on this show than a club in Bushwick. Like, oh my God. Every possible medical malady. Oh, 30 cc's ketamine, please. Okay, you phrase that, though, as if the doctors are railing ketamine. And I was like, wait a minute. Maybe so. Well, and we'll talk about that more later because I have questions. Let me say spoiler alert. If you haven't watched, like, you need a clock in lock in. But yeah, we're going to be spoiling some stuff. We're going to make a Max and Isa out of you, though. You need to be watching the show. But the way you phrase that and the way you have said that to me before, I was like, Hunter, like, wait, they're not doing ketamine. Hold on. But yeah, ketamine, I really, maybe she's that girl. Even though I can say on the record, she's not that girl for me. Unfortunately, I try. I give it a good, honest try. But I will say I have no history with medical dramas. I was never really into, like, Grey's or ER or I feel like there's a third main one I'm missing. But did you watch any of those shows? Do they mean anything to you? And, you know, does it? Does it make you feel different if you have? I've never watched ER because I'm what? Young. Oh, I have watched a little bit of Grey's Anatomy when I was in middle school. And then I kind of around the time of when Sandra Oh left, I was like, oh, if Christina's gone, I'm gone. Like, that's my girl. Yeah. But it is funny having, like, really only watched a medical drama that's Grey's Anatomy. When I'm watching The Pit, I'm like, so what, you guys aren't, like, fucking in the break room, like, every couple shifts? Like, that's so crazy to me. That's so you don't have any, like, really unusual boundaryless relationships with, like, your direct superior. Hmm. What's going on here? Not yet. But there is a one storyline that we'll get into later when we unpack some of the characters that I'm kind of like, now kiss. And it's not who you think it is. But. Oh, God. I don't even want to know what that is, actually. But wait, but first, I have to tell you, my favorite, like, meta part of this show is the, like, legal dispute between one of the creators of ER, their estate, and this show. So one of the co-creators of ER who's dead, his estate, alleged in a lawsuit that the pit was created as a sequel to ER without the permission of the estate and the heirs. And the creators of the pit said that it's not an ER reboot and that it's not as similar to ER as it is to, like, Grey's Anatomy or any other medical drama. But that is, like, so funny to me that it is so – I don't know. For that, I'm like, I guess I don't watch enough, like, medical dramas to really know what's the difference between, like, any medical drama and, like, this medical drama, you know? Yeah. I'm just kind of – I think it's fine to have, like, a few – I don't know if this – I mean, I don't know. I love mess, but I feel like let's just all let it go. We're doing something different here. And it seems like they're shooting this on the smallest of budgets to just like, I mean, the shaky, the hand handheld camera for everything. I do kind of like, but I'm also like. That's called mise-en-scene. What are you talking about? Oh, my gosh. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It's giving Max, it has, what, Max? Oh, my God. I never called that. HBO is like, here's $2 in a dream. Go make magic and come back to us. No, no, no. I would like to see like a lawsuit that's like, wait, Dr. Robbie is actually so hot. Like, House should be calling. Like, that show. It's like, you can't have a hot doctor without being like, mm. I loved House and that little cane. Mm. Yes, yes. That sounded weird. No, that was my man, though. That was my man. I didn't play about him. No. Robbie, when I first was like, just scrolling on Twitter, seeing like more and more pit memes. Honestly, that was probably one of the more convincing factors to me to be like, okay, I like, I'm feeling left out. I'm having FOMO and I want to understand what's going on. But I did not understand the appeal of this man. I was like, him is who we're all being horny over? Like. That's so crazy. He seemed like your type. I immediately got the fan cams of my girl with the tight braid. The tight braid? Who's that? She is like one of the maybe intern girls. Glasses. Tight, low braid. Blonde. Has an autistic sister. Oh, yes, yes, yes. You know, she's a NEPA baby. Thank God. And no wonder I loved her. She's Bryan Cranston's daughter, I learned over the weekend. And let me tell you, doesn't make a difference to me. I'm like, no. Don't care. She's fab. She is amazing. She's the only, one of the few NEPA babies where I'm like, mm, I ride for you regardless. Like, no Gracie Abrams. I love her. I love you. I love you up and down. I love her character so much. I love her so much. I will say that I understood. I just looked at her and I said, I get it. Yeah. Dr. Robbie, I did it. But again, me and these four headlines, something's coming up with that that I'm going to unpack later. But I, once I clocked into the pit, once I signed my waiver, I went in, I filled out my medical forms. I said, Robbie, can I call you Robbie? That man, his integrity, the way he takes care. And let's talk about it. Don't talk about a B about it. So Dr. Robbie, he's both so like sweet, calm, kind, exceptionally patient, which as an impatient gal, I'm like, Ooh, I need to take a few notes. But he's also like the man you want to call in a crisis. Oh yes. I bet he can mount a TV too. I bet he's mounted a few TVs. Like he knows what to do. Put the instructions down. He said, give me the toolbox. Let's get to work. Yeah. No, I'm like, he's so deliberate. He's so firm. He's so decisive. He's so like right in the nick of time. He's so decisive. I love a man who has a sense of urgency. That is rare in our society. Let me say that. And a great nose. Great nose. Yeah. A hundred percent. We know why. And I look at, I think the sound of his voice is so good too. He is the main character on the show and he has like a team of attendings and interns. And then there is the nurse, the charge nurse. She is my mother. No, you know, what did we say that a couple of weeks ago? Like, you know, how you have that white bitch that you don't play about, uh, her right behind me later in the series. Like she gets punched in the face. And I'm like, Oh wait, I'm going door to door. Her Bob is something serious. Her glasses and her cigarette smoking and her voice, her voice is really the sexy voice. It really is. Ooh, she can mount a TV. Actually. That's a, that's a woman who will mount a TV, a nurse with a Bob who will smoke outside girl. Stronger than the troops. Wait, can you tell me some of your favorite characters and some of your least favorite characters? Okay. Favorite characters, the charge nurse, that young blonde intern that we talked about. I think she is just so understanding. And understanding in a way that's not like patronizing, you know, like genuinely wants to know people's struggles and help them without, you know, being a little bit finger waggy, which I like. I also like the doctor with those bad bangs, kind of dry, giving dry ends, but with the ankle monitor with the hot ex-husband. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And the son named Harrison. I love her because again, she is always there in the nick of time and a really good like teacher. Mm-hmm. I think the pit is kind of like a romance about like what it means to actually want to like teach and share information in a way that is kind of lovely to me. Like that they have these like teacher-student relationships on the show. I mean, it happens between the blonde doctor and the man with the butt chin and the young like prodigy doctor and the ankle monitor doctor. Girl, I don't know anyone's name. I was going to say get it together. Oh my God. Oh, you know their names? Well, I wrote them down because we have a podcast. We have a podcast. Jesus. What the fuck? Yeah. Okay. And let's see. Do I have any other favorites? Oh, I love the old woman in the wheelchair, Myrna, that runs around cat calling Dr. Robbie. Oh, and you know who else I love? Who is the other doctor that's like the Dr. Robbie like equivalent? Dr. Langdon? No, no, no, no. Oh, wait. Oh, the black woman with the short hair. No. I mean, she's fine, but is it Dr. Adams is his name? The one that died? No, no, no, no, no. Okay. Dr. Abbott. The sexy one. The sexy one who used to be in the military or something. And he's like, don't talk to me. I love a mean, surly individual. I feel very seen. I was going to say, is that mean, surly individual in the room with us right now? Well, not in the room with you because aren't you in LA? Oh, so my favorite. Obviously, Dr. Robbie. Obviously, Myrna. I just love like a character that's just a fixture in the space. Like if you haven't watched, know that Myrna is just like an old hag with the, she's in a wheelchair and she's handcuffed to it at all times. And she's constantly trying to get out of it. I also love the, I think he's like an unhoused man that is always asking for a sandwich. He's just like me for real. Oh, yes. Yes. He said, I'm coming hungry. I'm leaving happy. I love him. Yeah. I will say Dana Evans, that's a charge nurse and who I don't like. Yes. Dr. Santos or the intern Santos. That's like. Oh yeah. Her attitude problem is annoying. Her like willing to make you like me. Okay. Are we in seventh grade? Cody? No. I really can't stand her. I saw like some headline that's like, oh, she's been redeemed because she alleges against spoiler alert. Yeah. She alleges that one of the attendings, Dr. Or no, one of the residents. Yeah. I think Dr. Langdon has been like secretly like stealing medication and no one really believes her. And like, she's kind of like, you know, ostracized for saying it. And then it turns out Dr. Robbie goes through his locker and he was stealing medication and it's like, okay, well she redeemed now in my eyes. No, no. She was still annoying from the very beginning. Like she was right, but she was annoying about it. Absolutely. Many such cases. And two things can be true at once. But I was going to ask you if we're going to that. Do you think that he was taking the drugs or that there's a deeper story that's happening here? I don't know. And I don't care. Not aesthetically. He looks like a Ken doll to me or not even like an off budget one. You know what he looks like? Who? Skinny Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. He looks like a knockoff Matt Bomer to me. Oh. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With a really dark hair. Yeah. I can see that. I don't really care for him, but I did like that he came back in the nick of time. When he returns to the hospital. I love that. Yes. Oh my God. Yeah. Big spoiler. I also really don't like, and I really want to like, I think her name is Dr. Moran. Is she the one? She's the one that's like, she's slow-mo. Oh yeah. That they call her slow-mo. And she like takes her time and she's very, I'm like kind of like, she's too goody two-shoes to me in a way that I kind of want her to get hit a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Just a little. Yeah. Just a backhand. Just like a, come on, let's go. We have business to do. We have lives to save. I need someone to like kind of tell her about herself. Like. It's a little annoying. Cause she can be a little bit like condescending in a way that is annoying. Something that I think tonally in the show, like speaking of her and that character type that doesn't always land for me, but I do wish was the way more people communicated is how easily resolved everything is when someone's like, Hey, I think you might've been a little biased against like, or fat phobic. And she's like, Whoa, me? That actually, I'll sit with that. And I'm going to think about what you just brought to me. And you know what I'm going to do is I'm going to adjust my language. So next time I'll do better. Thanks for that. I'm like a white woman acting like that in what world I was like, let's be for real. I think it's because like the medical staff, the doctors on the show have to like find resolutions quickly because like the patients are so chaotic, not even chaotic, but just like have so much story, have so much like complication, which is what I like about the show that like the patients really do feel like pretty realized in a short amount of time. I'm thinking about the child patients that are like, I was like really getting emotional about this. Those patients, the pregnant black woman surrogate with her, the couple that she was being a surrogate for, um, is like her coworker at a school or something. And then I really loved the elderly black man who had like a lot of medical knowledge, but like no one really knew why. And they thought, did he used to work at this hospital? But he drove a kind of like a makeshift ambulance during the time of segregation. And I thought that was like, so I'm so happy that that story was like on TV and I thought it was also like really wonderfully done and only like a few and like a very short amount of time. Yeah. I mean, I'm charmed by most of the patients. I just find myself pulling out of these moments sometimes that get a little bit too after school special where it's like the daughter walks in, her mother's hurt. And she's like, I mean, it all goes back to 1998. That was when we first had, it's like, well, hold on. Like people don't really communicate like this. And that's like, maybe some do, but we can't all be open, honest creatures at some points. But I'm fine with that. I understand that it, it has that afterschool special feel that obviously I'm an afterschool specialist. I'm not an afterschool type of bitch. So it works for me in the end, but I do find myself laughing. Yeah. Yeah. But a TV show has not made me so sad in like the way that one like young girl wants to get an abortion and her mom is like so against it. And yet her aunt is like, no, that's my girl. I've got you. Like what, what, how can we make this happen for you? Those kinds of like moral conundrums. I think the show does pretty well. Yeah. But yeah, I, I can't believe I'm watching a medical drama. Me too. Someone like me. That's so unlike me. And I hate blood. I do. often have to go like this when I'm watching so that I don't, I cannot do blood. I can feel it in my toes. I go numb. I hate it. But I, every single night, every single day, every single hour, I lock into the pit and I press play. Something that I think about when I'm watching it though, is every time we have a COVID flashback, I'm like, oh yeah, COVID. And I simply forgot as someone who isn't in the medical industry, how really crazy and difficult that time was and how traumatic it must be and how all these doctors and nurses are still dealing with the pain of that. And just how impressive it is to work in the ER because they're delivering babies. They're intubating every single person, pumping ketamine out every which way. And I think that it's one of the few shows that I, one, don't mind a COVID integration and two, find it actually quite necessary to really think about how this wasn't a distant future and how this is still so traumatizing and so difficult for so many people that work in the healthcare industry. My God. Yeah. Yeah. You know what? I think that's a really underappreciated. Like by me, piece of the show. Because when they have the COVID flashbacks, I'm like, oh, yeah. Right. Totally. But the drama just in every day of the ER, every day of the ER, every hour of the ER, I think that is such a good conceit because it really does feel like, oh my gosh, it can be anything at any one time. It's like being on Twitter. It's like, who knows what's going to happen today? Yeah. I could survive watching the pit. I could not survive working in the pit. No. No, no, no, no, no, no. When that boy got pissed on. No. All right. I'm clogging out. Here's my bat. Nope. I'm out. I'm done. Wow. Okay. But I mean, I'm ready. I love this show. I want four seasons immediately. You'd be a good nurse. You like yelling at people. So be good at that. Bitch. No, I would not be. Just to be transparent. Okay. We on this podcast, we tell the truth. All right. So Hunter and I are allies. We are allies to the pause up community. We are here with you. We stand with you. We see you little monsters. We see each other, but we really needed to make sure that we had a true proper TM Gaga gay with us to talk about mayhem. So happy to serve. It's only right. And thank God today with us, we have DJ Louie, the 14th period DJ writer, host of podcast pop pantheon. Thank you for joining us. This will be an educational format. We're going to be talking about the format more than anything else, but we're so happy to have you here. Oh, I'm so thrilled to be here. I'm on this earth to teach about the divas. That's why I was born. So I'm going to fulfill my life's purpose. I have a curious mind. I'm ready to learn. Oh, okay. Good. Everybody soak this up like a sponge. The history of the German daughters. We're going to go back to Sicily. Okay. We ask everyone who comes on the show a quick intro question and it is, are you a lover or a hater? How do you identify? I would say I identify mostly as a lover, but I would say like a lot of my audience probably thinks I'm more of a hater than I am. And it bothers me, which is why I know that I'm a lover. Does that make sense? Yes. Yes. Because I, when I think about you, I'm like, okay, Louie has an encyclopedic knowledge of pop of women and pop specifically. And that only comes from being a lover. I think you have to love to like learn for sure. You have to love knowledge. You have to love women. You have to love pop. Yeah. And do I love women? Let me tell you, women are my number one baby. Me too. Like as people as pop, like I don't need the rest. Just give me the women. Yeah, no. I mean, I honestly do think even good criticism is an act of love. Absolutely. Not to be too philosophical here, but I don't feel like if you come from a hatery perspective, you can actually like do good art criticism. No, that is a hundred percent true. Okay. We want to go rapid fire. Are you a lover or hater? Gaga edition. Lover, hater of the fame. Lover, lover, like a truly seminal album for me. So when that album came out, I had just moved back to New York. I was finishing school. I thought I was super cool and cunty and slaying the game. And I just started my D also associated with the beginning of my DJ career. So like, I remember playing those songs as they blew up, like in the little bars I was playing in the Lower East Side, which is where she's from. So it was a whole thing. Yeah. You were really like, you were in the room when it happened. She's my, she's my, literally that. She's chuggy, just like Hamilton. That's why you don't, you're, okay. Listen, she's really like the same age as me. So we're like, sort of, we move in tandem. I feel like, you know, we're like right around the same, everything. We hit all the same milestones. Yes. Exactly. Okay. Lover, hater, born this way. Lover, my number one favorite Gaga album. Like the album where her like ambition met her like pop cultural zeitgeist and like everything happened perfectly. It's never been that good again, I would say. Oh, wow. Wow. I'm talking album two more than song. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Lover, hater, art pop. Okay. So I've had an journey with art pop. When art pop came out, that was kind of like a fissure point for me and my Lady Gaga journey. I just found it kind of ugly. But in retrospect, I see it as kind of like the last Imperial Gaga moment. And I appreciate it a lot more. I think it's two thirds or so. I think Lindsay Zola, that's when the New York Times said this recently. It's like two thirds or so misunderstood. One third, like true garbage. But like, I miss that kind of like unbridled Gaga energy. Like, I feel like we've never gotten like unhemmed Gaga again. Like she's been, I mean, a cautious creature since that moment, because I think there was so much backlash to that album. But I see it as kind of like the end of the opening salvo of Gaga. So I have more love for it in retrospect than I did at the moment. Girl, let me get let me get a pen so I can take some notes. I am saying I was like, why is this feeling spiritual to me? I feel the presence of God in the room with us right now. Like something's happening. Pop girlies are spiritual to me. This is another divisive album. Lover, hater, Joanne. Hater. I don't like Joanne. Okay. I think Joanne was the pink cowboy hat. Yeah, pink cowboy hat. That was like her like, I'm a singer songwriter now. Like I'm stripping away artifice to like give you the real me, which is like a kind of raucous trope that I don't appreciate. Generally speaking. I also think it was as much of a drag act as anything else that she's done before. But it just like the songs aren't there. Like I just I don't I don't I think there's maybe two or three songs I would take from that. She can keep the rest. Okay, which two or three? I'm curious. I would say I've come to really enjoy the like sort of bizarre first single Perfect Illusion. I like the sort of like kind of like barroom stompery song called AO. And I like the opening song, which is called Diamond Heart, which is kind of like Gaga in like Bruce Springsteen mode, which is another kind of good guys for her, I think. Okay. Lover, hater, Chromatica. Kind of like mid like I think Chromatica is like when I talk about Gaga being kind of like, like hemmed in. I hear Chromatica. It's like kind of return to dance floor after like Joanne, which was like a detour for her. But like missing some of the like chaotic craziness that like defines the best Gaga music like a little bit tame, a little anodyne, like not rough around the edges enough, just sort of too pristine, like kind of boring. Which brings us to hey, lover, hater, mayhem. I'm lover on mayhem. Like, all right. It's been since Born This Way that I passionately had good feelings towards a Gaga album when it's come out. Yeah. And it feels good to be back. I love the way you said that. That's what I'm seeing on the streets. That's what I'm seeing on the gay man streets. Like they're smoking cigs again. We're putting the vapes down. We're listening to old like old Gaga. We're returning to our roots. Yeah. Yeah. 38 year old gay men are like feeling their 22 year old. Oh, it's like, is that good or bad for society? I like it. Abracadabra is really an earworm. It's like in my head, like you wouldn't believe. And I'm again, I mean, my Gaga knowledge is not the greatest, mostly because I went to Catholic school and I find it all a little bit much. Oh, okay. Well, excuse me. No, I was just. That is so, you are so auntie coded Hunter. Oh my God. What the? It was, you were like, no, no, no, no. No, I mean, I loved Born This Way. I, I loved at my Zumba class that I went to in high school. We would listen to you and I as like our cool down stretch song. And then it wasn't really until A Star Is Born, a little, a little indie feature called A Star Is Born that I locked in. And I was like, oh, and we're far from the shallow now. Okay. Before you, before we got on, Peyton, I don't know if you heard this, but I was like, that is the most boomer ass, like entree point to Gaga. Like, are you kidding me? That was the lady Gaga. She's got talent. She's got, she's got something up her sleeve, but that's knowing Hunter. It's like exactly me. Like that makes exact sense that that was your entry point into Lady Gaga. No, of course I was born drinking coffee, sitting on a front porch, gossiping about the neighbors. I was born to do that. That's actually my calling. I love that. So I want to quickly, can you give us some context into like the pre mayhem Gaga era? Cause it was like, she was doing the pharmaceutical stuff. Nurtek works, Nurtek works. So that's You know that firsthand? No, no. I mean, look at her album. Look at the results. What is Nurtek actually? I'm sorry. I'm not trying to like reveal your medical history. I'm happy to do that. Oh my God. But I'm going to say HIPAA. Um, she has the boyfriend who was like, we need, we need you to lock in and get back in the studio and, and like make pop music again. And then the third little piece of it is that she'd done films. She'd started doing like stars and stuff. And then unfortunately it wasn't like two of the most unfortunate. Yeah. Um, which was the house of Gucci and the Joker sequel. Absolutely. Yes. Unfortunately that did happened and I did sift through both of those movies right right I will say she's kind of the best part of both of those movies which like isn't saying much yeah but like without a doubt I mean the Joker was really one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life but yes okay so here's how I would characterize it I think Gaga had done a really effective job in the last half of the 2010s into the early 2020s of kind of moving above the fray of like pop star qua pop star like just kind of like singles game having to have hits on the chart like she she was she had a really spotty track record but because of bringing boomers like yourself into the fold she had done this thing where she was like I'm bigger than that like I'm a movie star like I'm respected by like rock lovers like parents like me like I'm an academy award winner like she and the Tony Bennett thing was a huge part of that too like she like was like I'm kind of old school like I'm an old school all around like four quadrants entertainer and I think like her pop career had sort of gone a little in my opinion and other people will disagree I think had kind of become secondary to her I think I think it had become this thing that she felt almost like compelled to return to because there's a huge group of core fans that like are still attached to 2008 through 2013 Lady Gaga when she was at her like peak zany kookiness yeah and that was huge for people not just because the music was great and because that was a really exciting thing I mean when she first blew up like hunter I mean you missed this train but it was she was a different person every single day like she walked out the house she was like wearing a lobster on her head I mean she was a meat dress yeah I mean like it was it was a really auspicious and exciting and like singular pop star arrival like I can't think of a single other star's arrival in my personal lifetime that was that like all consuming and sort of crazy like right out the gate she just was like huge so you add that to the fact that like you know she meant a lot to a lot of gay guys because born this way was this like huge seminal album of a pop star really like he's expressing allyship and somewhat clunky but really really really like big you know bear hug ways from like a pop diva to their gay fans so there's a lot of core Gaga fans that are really attached to that era I don't think she's that attached that era we could talk about mayhem because it is kind of a return to that in some ways but I think she kind of moved on from that and became this kind of like grand dom like you faceted pop cultural figure who can do all this stuff and then I think she would kind of every four years be like oh shit like the little monsters like need to get fed like you gotta feed the little monsters yeah she opens a dungeon she's like oh shit y'all are still here all right right yeah yeah and so she'd be like I gotta throw like some bread and meat at them she like she starts like what can I yeah what can I feed you right now oh yeah she's like tossing red meat at these like rabid yeah f words on the street okay so sorry so uh so I that's how I felt about her pop career for a long time like it just kind of like I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't I don't know I don't know I just I felt like she kind of lost the thread slightly and it was like sort of sad to me even though like I like songs from Joanne and Chromatica yeah it just felt like her heart wasn't in it so I coming into this album I was trepidatious because I still think she's spread sort of thin and I still think like I don't quite get I don't know if she gets like who she is as a pop star in this moment like in that part of her career so for me there was trepidation and anxiety going into this era and then when I heard disease and abracadabra it was like oh these are really good Lady Gaga songs but I don't hear like an evolution like I hear somebody going back towards like what they did in 2009 2010 and like great great great pop stars in my estimation like Beyonce or Madonna don't do that usually like everything is about moving forward what's the next thing how do I like expand what I'm doing so I get I get shaky when I see stuff like that so that was where I was kind of like entering the album okay okay I mean it is I think it's it's a little bit of a work review it's like she's reheating her nachos but in a way that is like actually they're still good like they're still yeah they're not fresh but they're still tasty yes you're gonna eat these nachos yeah which is another I think not I see what you're saying about like the truest stars should be like looking forward but it is also like a talent for sure people cannot do that Adele honestly no like no sorry did I lie and her little break of taking a break from her life I don't know what you're saying but I'm just like I'm just like I'm just not nervous that's where I want to pivot the pivot to beauty unless you're Selena Gomez she wanted to do everything except like put her whole pussy into a pop album am I allowed to say that yes like I I just felt like that was what she was like oh okay like let me leave like Tony Bennett and like House Labs and like my Oscar campaign to like all right I'll throw it together like a little something here for them not that she didn't try her but I just didn't feel like she was inspired yeah yeah yeah but abracadabra I don't know if I hear her inspire but I'm like oh but I still love this like I think I think what I had to do was just like let go of like I didn't want to do it I didn't want to do it like thinking of her in the trajectory of particularly like those two women who I think who I kind of hold up as like Madonna and Beyonce yeah it's like the gold standard of like what age like that aging because they're like whatever Beyonce's like 42 but like in terms of like pop star aging like in terms of like escalating like being in like being in this phase of your career where you're like past that zeitgeisty phase but like you still need to like build out your career into something more dynamic more three-dimensional like how do you continue to expand and interest people like I hold them up in the specific way and Madonna through most of her like first 25 years and Beyonce to this day has never really like done a like return to form type of album she's never done like uh let me go back to making crazy and love sounding songs again like she's it's always been like what's the next thing what's the next thing I have to say like how can I expand my artistry and I think like what I've had to do with mayhem and what I think she's helped me do because it's just good it's good Gaga pastiche is just like let like Gaga's just not that type of artist like it's just she's a different thing like it's a I think I've had to just understand like I've had to almost cleave her from that sort of well-worn track and sort of think of her differently because I agree with you Hunter it's like these are not to like beat this dead horse but these are reheated nachos in a way but they are spectacular they're gourmet they're like jean-jour you're not saying no no no can I quickly ask you what you thought about five foot two did you watch that the documentary yes I loved five foot two I mean she also really struggled physically we should say yeah yes that was crazy I mean like thinking about what she had to go through and go through I mean she's a really gritty performer like this is somebody that like I mean she will she is falling to those knees over and over it's crazy no it's athletic 30 old now oh my god pain yeah pain I mean I barely can walk after I go to like one cross like a month like literally no but I'm just saying like she she really works that like she's where she is for a reason talent and like really hard worker yes I mean plane bus train another plane club no sleep no sleep no sleep no sleep no sleep I hope she's sleeping now because she's almost 40 tell us favorite mayhem songs least favorite songs a lot of favorites love killer oh yes that's a good killer to me is like okay so what I like about mayhem a lot is that beyond just sort of going and re-indexing her own work which I do think this is doing very well it's also re-indexing her influences like I think she's going back into the to what she what formed her musical identity so I hear a lot of prints on this album I hear a Bowie on this album I hear Michael Jackson on Shadow of a Man I hear you know Blondie I hear Nine Inch Nails on Perfect Celebrity you know wait I heard that too I was like wait this needs to be right now exactly exactly so I think that that's a helpful angle that helps it get past just being like pure Gaga pastiche so that's how I'm thinking about it so killer to me is like one of the most like the songs I least feel like links directly back to old Gaga songs like I hear that song and I'm not I'm not able to draw one out of it I'm not able to draw one out of it I'm not able to draw one to one like I am with some of the other songs I'm like oh this is that and that and that it sounds like Bowie it sounds like Prince it's got kind of that wild abandoned like let's just try something sort of crazy feeling that I really missed from Gaga songs it's kooky it's weird some of the lyrics are like evidently silly but I just think like it's so much fun and like that's the kind of energy I'm looking for in a Gaga song so that's a definite standout for me I also love Zombie Boy the song that comes after it which is kind of becoming a little viral on TikTok right sort of disco it's definitely Bowie it's definitely a little bit Debbie Harry it's also kind of got that like kooky Halloween core thing that was a core Gaga early Gaga thing like Bad Romance like kind of a Halloween classic Fame Monster and like sort of generally a Halloween classic so it's got kind of like fun campy like you know Monster Mash come disco vibes that I really appreciate love that song I like Perfect Celebrity which is a reheaty nacho kind of song in the sense that like Gaga doing like fame commentary was like how she came up like that was her whole thing is like I'm doing you know I'm both becoming a pop star and I'm commentating on becoming a pop star which this song is also doing but it's funny it's light-hearted and it's just hits like it just it sounds so good the serotonin rush of walking or driving to that song it's it's different yeah yeah it's got that loud soft loud dynamic that like is fate like you can hear in like smells like teen spirit or something like that where the verses are quiet and then the hits you over the head and that's a really effective like pop songwriting technique so that's a great one and I also really love Garden of Eden which is a willfully sort of like tinny sounding song that references like her earliest work like if you go back and listen to the fame production's not like that ornate or like full because she just didn't have the resources yet she didn't have the digital dolby sound whatever like it sounds demo-y and I sort of think that that's a really fun kind of callback to her earliest music so those four I really like I think that forms like the backbone of my some of my favorites on the album what I like less is like Blade of Grass which is like the sort of ballad at the end of it that's like a sweet song about like apparently her fiance proposing to her with a blade of grass from their back yard i just don't think it's like that sturdy of a ballad for her the beast is kind of like whatever to me i like the dance tracks i think those are working better for me than like the sort of like tacked on at the end ballads that are there to make die with a smile make sense okay you tweeted something about one of mayhem's tracks sounding like a taylor swift song sure you must legally say more on the record and which one but wait can i say i was listening and i was like oh i hear it like it is what is it called how bad do you want me which could i mean that in and of itself right how bad do you want me and there is a swifty in the room with us right now so like i would and that's you for mindfulness is just important in this community of course it's her you know you know me girl be for real hunter was on stage for like sheer comic relief when we did our taylor so she was just like we needed someone to drag her in the corner my taylor ranking was i'll say it crazy it was but it was it was important that we had that i gotta say i think red was like my third to last and i say buy it okay but no when i was listening i was like okay with my like dj louie ears on i was like oh this is giving reputation it's giving like call it what you want call what you want right yeah so which so tell tell us more so first of all i don't want to i'm not the first person to make this observation i don't want to take credit it was a widely sort of reported on thing by everybody who heard the song for the first time but it's it's called how bad do you want me and like it stands out from the rest of the record because i think it's the contemporary pop and contemporary pop obviously in many ways is defined by taylor swift so it sounds like taylor swift and i've been trying to decode why because in some ways i think that's the craziest thing she does on this album like why did she go in and like make a taylor so like in the midst of this whole album that's like about funk and 70s and then her own sort of like 90s and then her own kind of like history why all of a sudden is there's just one random like jack antonoff ass song in the middle of this album like i don't understand so i've been like toying with this in my head a lot and i'm thinking like my best explanation is did she just do it to kind of prove that she could kind of like i have this recollection do you remember the song not to bring this into the room do you remember the song do what you want featuring r kelly okay i hate to say it but i loved that yeah it's a great song obviously not the r kelly part she did a cover she redid it with christine aguilera yes yes oh god but anyway that was kind of like actually a really a pivotal moment because that kind of derailed the art pop campaign and it never recovered and in some ways her career kind of didn't for a while but she talked about that song when she was promoting our pop and she said that she wrote that song because she just wanted to prove that she could write that kind of like electro r&b song she just wanted to show that she could do it and so i've had that in mind with the how bad do you want me taylor thing like i was like maybe because like she's this album makes very little concessions towards how contemporary mainstream pop sounds right now like this album doesn't sound for sure like the radio it doesn't sound like other stuff that's happening right now it's not sabrina carpenter it's no it doesn't sound like sabrina carpenter right exactly exactly so i thought maybe this was just kind of her one like wink wink like if i needed to i could do this i'm not gonna but like just so y'all know like here it is i could i could if i wanted to and she does it is a good taylor swift song i mean it's like a well-made taylor and let's just say like she's had one thing that's been pegged to her lately is that she can't get to number one without a feature because like her last three number ones have been shallow rain on me with ariana grande and die with a smile bruno mars wait i'm sorry pause shallow is on a feature what are you featuring bradley cooper yeah oh my god he can't win an oscar but can get to number one with lady gaga that's so fucking funny yeah so so she has that that kind of dogging her and i'm like listen if she wants another number one off this album she should call up taylor and she could do a duet and we know taylor is a little monster because the song that played before she came on stage at the heiress tour was what applause wow and we know we'll be doing the singing lady gaga and we know that wow and we know we'll be doing the singing lady gaga and we know that women supporting women in my book but louis thank you so much for being here this has been a real education oh my god um okay now tell us where can people follow you where can people follow pop pantheon follow pop pantheon apple podcast spotify wherever you listen to podcasts we're on social media pop pantheon pod on all different platforms and i'm at dj l-o-u-i-e x-i-v on twitter and instagram perfect thank you so much we love it thank you thank you both so much this was so fun i love this dynamic where like every few weeks it's just time for me to talk about housewives and for you to slightly like be disinterested politely nod along give me like maybe a little golf clap of approval i sit back i just scroll my i'm like that's crazy no she did what that's awesome but which housewives franchise is this i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know are we doing today where are we going today girl atlanta of course okay atlanta hotlanta dare i say so atlanta housewives i've gone through a little bit of a reboot it's kind of like when an nba team was like in a rebuilding era for the sports fans in the room so the cast which used to be like such an anchor housewives was atlanta with like mini leagues with she by sheree with candy burris oh sorry whitfield i guess now they have done like some like restructuring added some younger newer women and i did watch two episodes so far and i like it yeah i you know i ride for one woman and one woman only my north star my lisan al-qaib my club chalamet nini leaks and in her absence this will do but i just saw a quote that she said that she is open to coming back well she's been open to coming back oh she has like a youtube talk show oh sorry but many such cases so the new cast is portia williams who is like returner drew sidora shamia morton brit edie kelly farrell and angela oakley with phaedra park starring as a wife like a housewife later in the season and cynthia bailey appears as a friend and the anchor cast mate is shamia who first appeared on the show as a friend of portia's which is kind of like you know nice like she is she's very like a candy burris character okay candy burris housewife where she is not really quick to anger but will it get to the point quickly she's a housewife and she's a housewife and she's a housewife and she's a housewife and we'll point out like when someone else is being absurd and it's like a good kind of audience proxy and she's also incredibly wealthy but shamia has like it's so nice to see despite having all of this money like a house like three elevators and like four closets and all of this stuff she really does seem like so down to earth and relatable in a way that like i don't know i feel like sometimes the black housewives get a lot of flack for like being out of touch or something like that and like she is so just like a regular girl who just happened to have a lot of money and i i don't know i just find that like very winning from her you're like and i love that and i want that actually yeah yeah yeah you're like that would actually be great speaking of reboots how would you compare the roni reboot cast to the real housewives of atlanta reboot cast it is like the nba again versus three cats and a pickleball trying to play basketball i don't know that's the best i can do you haven't dribbled a ball in your life um are you kidding i when i did monica cino's three on three elementary school basketball day i made one single basket and i'm proud of me no it's like first of all it's not even about age or money or anything it's like the women on atlanta are like ready to start drama start storylines like you know just live their authentic real lives we're on like the roni reboot it's so like talking around stuff they don't film together enough it's just night and day and what else about oh yes okay so in the season premiere there's like a really funny moment where all women are like at shamia's birthday and portia has found out that drew sedora another woman on the show has been sneaking around maybe with portia's baby daddy okay and portia is like all of them are in this like same room like same scene together and portia looks around she's like uh can i break the fourth wall and a producer off camera break it and she's like you know i mean like it should be able for me people love people were like it's underwhelming i was like no it wasn't because portia's whole thing is she's like i don't even care if you're sleeping with my baby daddy like whatever like we're we're so not together at all but you want to film with him you want him in your scenes oh hell no and thank god she stood on it too can i break the fourth wall break it is really that's gonna be us but listen tussle no i was like wait this is so funny and it's funny that like she breaks the fourth wall and i saw like a lot of bravo people being like the drama was not even like like good enough to break the fourth wall but i think that's funny that she's like there's so like regular workplace struggles of like don't you dare fall with my ex-husband or with my like ex man that's so annoying of you so a big part of this season's drama is that kenya moore like iconic you know oh not og but like you know pretty substantial gun with wind fabulous twirl city whatever you want to call it kenya moore has been fired from the season of atlanta and we haven't gotten that far in the show yet but it is like definitely a lot of bad blood between her and bravo because she is on the show but she doesn't even get confessionals even cynthia bailey gets a confessional and she's like not even a core cast member and so what happened was that as we were filming kenya showed revenge porn basically of one of the other cast members brett edie and bravo completely cut her out of the show and so i think we're like about to see oh by the time this episode comes out like we've either just seen her like are about to see exactly what went down from like all the other women's perspectives but i'm like wow kenya is just i mean i think the watcher crappens guys were exactly right she really is a good housewife when she's like locked in she's so good at escalating something so small is it confirmed that she did that or is that like more speculative. No, it is confirmed. She initially denied the accusation of her porn but then she on the tamron hall show told tamron hall hindsight is always 50 50 if i could do it all over again i believe the photos were distasteful and i elevated the situation so she did kind of admit just showing these like inappropriate photos okay okay and you know i mean again it's like nothing nothing will be right in the world until nini leaks has a peach again you totally well that's it for this week as usual we are two online so you don't have to be one thing about me is that i love walking past a hospital and thinking i know exactly what's going on in there thanks to the pit don't let hunter near ketamine recreationally or in a hospital follow us on socials at pain dicks and at hunter h you you let me say this is hosted by me paint dicks and me hunter harris let me say this is a production of wondery production services by dcp entertainment for dcp the producer is andrew marcello and the executive producers are adele coleman and felice leon our theme song is by scott velasquez for wondery eliza mills is the development producer our managing producer is taylor sniffen nick ryan is our senior managing producer our producer is kate young our senior producers are candace manriquez rand and brian taylor white executive producers are dave easton erin o'flaherty and marshall louis your body is always changing and those changes can feel like a lot to navigate alone weight that won't budge skin that starts to show signs of change hair loss mood swings midi health gets it because midi was built for exactly this by women for women their clinicians specialize in the hormonal shifts that occur throughout your life so you're not getting generic care you're getting expertise for exactly where you are midi is the trusted virtual care clinic for women's health with specialists trained to treat everything from weight changes to skin care sleep mood and hormonal health they listen they dig into root causes and they build you a personalized care plan with treatments that fit your needs you shouldn't have to keep guessing and with midi you won't midi visits are available in every state and covered by most insurance plans so expert care that actually sees you is more accessible than you think book your first virtual visit today at join midi.com that's join m-i-d-i.com