Ep 358: Sexualized Music
Transcript Info:
Sounds Fake But Okay Podcast
September, 28th, 2025
Speakers
Speaker 1: Sarah
Speaker 2: Kayla
Ep 358: Sexualized Music
SARAH: Hey, what's up? Hello. Welcome to Sounds Fake But Okay, a podcast where an aro-ace girl (I'm Sarah, that's me)
KAYLA: And a bi demisexual girl (That's me Kayla)
SARAH: Talk about all things to do with love, relationships, sexuality, and pretty much anything else we just don't understand
KAYLA: On today's episode, ‘Sexualized Songs’
BOTH: Sounds fake, but okay
SARAH: I just realized I mistitled my file, I title it with the date usually and I fully titled it with tomorrow's date
KAYLA: Oh, she’s stupid
SARAH: We're podcasting from the future
KAYLA: From the future
SARAH: Welcome back to the pod
KAYLA: Hello
SARAH: Or welcome to the… welcome forward to the pod
KAYLA: Oh
SARAH: Because we're podcasting from the future
KAYLA: Right
SARAH: How is everyone?
KAYLA: We out here
SARAH: We out here. Kayla, do we have any housekeeping? Or is our house in pretty good condition?
KAYLA: Well, I don't know that we could ever quite say that
SARAH: Yeah, we kind of live in a general state of disarray
KAYLA: Yeah, I would say so
SARAH: Like, it's like dusty at best, you know
KAYLA: Oh, yeah, at best
SARAH: A pigsty at worst
KAYLA: Yeah, I can't think of anything, we have a book if you did not know
SARAH: We do have a book
KAYLA: Our audiobook got recommended to my sister's friend on Spotify the other day
SARAH: Oh
KAYLA: Like, came up on the home page as recommended so that's fun.
SARAH: Thanks Spotify overlords
KAYLA: Thanks Spotify. So, if you have I think Spotify premium…
SARAH: Mr./Mrs. Mix Spotify
KAYLA: Mm-hmm. I think Spotify premium comes with like a couple of audiobooks a month or something. I don't understand how we get paid for that. But…
SARAH: I don't either
KAYLA: I don't quite know that we're being paid for that
SARAH: Well…
KAYLA: But you can find it there
SARAH: We're not getting paid much for the book, anyway
KAYLA: In general, no
SARAH: Certainly not at this point
KAYLA: No. No.
SARAH: Aren't we gonna get money soon?
KAYLA: I was just thinking, I think we were supposed to get money like over the summer and we didn’t
SARAH: No, but didn't last year… like, we got our summer money in like September
KAYLA: Yeah, maybe you're right
SARAH: I look forward to it being even less than it was
KAYLA: Two dollars!
SARAH: Anyway, if you want us to get more money than that, you could buy our book, you could recommend it to a friend, you could recommend it to Spotify. All right, Kayla what are we talking about this week this week?
KAYLA: This week I was trying to think of what to discuss…
SARAH: Discuss
KAYLA: And I was thinking about how people, some of the episodes that people bring up the most that they like is the episodes about music. Typically, the ones that we did forever ago about like making love songs and to not love songs or things like that. And I was like, I don't know that I have like that kind of creative juice going right now
SARAH: Got the juice
KAYLA: But we could still talk about music
SARAH: Mm-hmm
KAYLA: And then I was thinking, and we're like so late to this, the cultural zeitgeist has moved on, but a couple months ago when Sabrina Carpenter released the cover art for her latest album ‘Man's Best Friend’
SARAH: Yes
KAYLA: Everyone was so fucked up about it, everyone was pissed and screaming
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: And talking about like the sexualization… There was many things discussed, but among it, like the sexualization of songs
SARAH: Mm-hmm
KAYLA: So, I thought we could discuss the sexualization of songs, whether songs are more sexual now than they used to be
SARAH: Mm-hmm
KAYLA: If we think the current level of sexualization is a problem, how we feel about it as acespecs, et cetara, et cetera
SARAH: Wow, you're just teasing everything we might discuss…
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: And I’m sure several things we won’t
KAYLA: Yeah, yeah, but those are, you know, just some things to think about
SARAH: Okay, well, let's start with Miss Carpentry. Kayla, describe the visual of this album cover for those who are unfamiliar
KAYLA: Okay. Yeah. So, for those who are unfamiliar, I guess, just on a start level Sabrina Carpenter is a pop girly…
SARAH: I realized a couple of months ago I had her blocked on Twitter and I was like, “why the fuck did I have her blocked on Twitter?” And Miranda was like, “did you block her when the Olivia Rodrigo stuff was happening?” and I was like, “I don't know, maybe.”
KAYLA: That would have been a wild take for you to do it
SARAH: I have no idea why I blocked her
KAYLA: She was I think Disney maybe?
SARAH: I unblocked by the way. Yeah, she was a Disney kid.
KAYLA: That's good. She was a Disney kid, has had a couple of very successful albums
SARAH: She was in ‘Girl Meets World’
KAYLA: ‘Girl Meets World’
SARAH: She was in the ‘Descendants,’ was she in Descendants?
KAYLA: I actually don't think so.
SARAH: No, she was in something else that was like musical
KAYLA: Yeah, she has been in some like movies
SARAH: Yeah, I actually used her in a recent pitch deck
KAYLA: Oh
SARAH: Because we were using Jordan Fisher as the male lead and they had been in a movie before where they had played love interests
KAYLA: Oh
SARAH: So, it made my life easier
KAYLA: There we go, that does, good for you. Anyway, her…
SARAH: She was in ‘Tall Girl’
KAYLA: She was in ‘Tall Girl’
SARAH: Oh, I remember because, okay, when Yeonjun from TXT met her for the first time it was like backstage like the VMAs or something, he said, so earnestly, he said, “I loved you in Tall Girl.” Like, that was his reference point for her and she thought that was very funny
KAYLA: I love that
SARAH: Which it was
KAYLA: Because it is, because who is watching that? That's so silly
SARAH: I saw Yeonjun the other day, I'm mad at him, he's the worst, he's public enemy number one. Okay, let's continue.
KAYLA: Okay. Her kind of breakout song was a song called ‘Nonsense’ from three albums ago now, which was a pretty sexual song. She would do like different outros at the end of the song at each like live show, she did usually like very innuendo-heavy.
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Her next album then was also quite sexual
SARAH: She voiced Princess Vivian in ‘Sofia the First’
KAYLA: I know she did, shut up
SARAH: She was in ‘The Hate U Give’
KAYLA: Ugh, she doesn't listen to me
SARAH: She was in an episode of ‘Austin & Ally’
KAYLA: Anyway
SARAH: I'm done
KAYLA: Okay. Her most recent album that came out a couple of months ago is called ‘Man's Best Friend’
SARAH: Mm-hmm
KAYLA: And the album cover is a shot of like a man's legs in like black dress pants and she is on the ground on all fours
SARAH: Yes
KAYLA: With like one hand on his leg and then he's holding some of her hair
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: In his hand
SARAH: As if it were like a leash
KAYLA: A leash, yeah. And everyone freaked the fuck out
SARAH: It's satire
KAYLA: I know
SARAH: It's commentary
KAYLA: And the thing is, is the album color cover came out weeks before any of the music, so, there was no way…
SARAH: There was no context
KAYLA: To make a real take on it because you don't know the context of the album
SARAH: Right
KAYLA: All you have is the title of the album and the picture
SARAH: Mm-hmm
KAYLA: And people were like, “How can she say that she's a feminist and for the girls when she's in such a degrading position?” And I saw some people being like, “she's doing like a kink thing and like I didn't consent to being part of her kink.”
SARAH: Hello!
KAYLA: To which I'm like, hair pulling is like to me vanilla at this point. Like on the range of kink like we could not put hair pulling as like a high-level kink
SARAH: It's not even like hair pulling, it's just kind of like holding
KAYLA: Holding, yeah
SARAH: It's like sort of like a… you know how you're supposed to have like a slack leash, like, if you're if it's a well-behaved dog, like the leash shouldn't be taught, like, it's like she's a well-behaved dog
KAYLA: Yeah. Like, if you then listen to the album like the satire is her being like dogged by these men and I'm like, you know, like…
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: When you listen to the album like it makes sense of her like making fun of herself for being led on by these men
SARAH: Yeah. And also, her just being like, “I can't believe I fucking do this over and over and over again. Why?”
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Like, why am I attracted to men? This is the worst.
KAYLA: Yeah. I think I saw a recent interview with her where she was saying that the grip on her hair was not supposed to be as tight as it came out in the end result but she was like, we tried like four different guys and they were all so nervous, they kept like gripping her hair too hard. So, like it wasn't even… that wasn’t even like…
SARAH: It was supposed to be more like a gentle hair hold
KAYLA: Yeah, a gentle hold, yeah. But people freaked out. And I… people have been freaking out about her music for the last couple of years now
SARAH: Literally, I just hopped on the Wikipedia page for this album and this second paragraph, like, before the cut…
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Is, “the cover artwork evoking dominance and submission generated controversy and significant media attention, some criticized it as appealing to the male gaze in a manner detrimental to women while others saw it as a satire in a way to challenge misogynistic expectations of women's sexual behavior. Later, Carpenter released an alternate direct-to-consumer cover which she described as, approved by God.”
KAYLA: I do remember that, she had some alternate covers for like vinyls and CDs and stuff
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: I do remember she was like, “yeah, this one is approved by God.”
[00:10:00]
KAYLA: But, no, for the past couple of years she has been really getting hounded about how sexual her songs are, I remember when she was on her last tour, the ‘Short and Sweet’ tour, which is like… seeing clips from the tour, highly sexual, because that's what her songs are. And parents were getting pissed because they were like, “I brought my young teen daughter to the show…”
SARAH: “Why did you do that!?”
KAYLA: “And then she was simulating having sex and twerking on the stage, that's so inappropriate of my young daughter.” And it’s like…
SARAH: Have you ever tried this one, why would you bring a child to that?
KAYLA: I was like, if you have a child and you are agreeing to pay a lot of money, these concerts are not cheap, a lot of money to bring that child to the concert, how are you not listening to the music beforehand?
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Like, if you are going to be the type of parent who is upset about what your child is seeing at a concert, I expect you to also be the kind of parent vetting their music. Like, you can't get to that point and then realize what your kid is listening to, choose to care earlier
SARAH: At the very least, watch the music videos for the title tracks because that'll give you the vibe
KAYLA: Yes
SARAH: And if you watch the music video for the title tracks and you're like, “oh!” Then you would probably say… it reminds me, I saw a TikTok recently about when the last time Halsey played in Utah, the crowd was horrible
KAYLA: I bet
SARAH: Because there were a bunch of people who bought tickets to see Halsey knowing like ‘New Americana’ or something, which also that song if you listen to it is not… anyway. But like not really knowing what they were getting themselves into and then they were like, “oh my God, this goes against my Mormon religion and beliefs” and it's like, well, then why did you fucking come!? Like, why did you come to a concert?
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Like, I'm sorry, Halsey is an openly bisexual, bipolar, like biracial, she has got all sorts of bi’s, she's so many bi’s
KAYLA: All the bi’s. Also, at this point concert footage gets put up immediately. Like, I watched the full ‘Short and Sweet Tour,’ I did not attend, I know what it looked like completely because it's all over my TikTok.
SARAH: I saw every ‘Have You Ever Tried This One’ posts?
KAYLA: Yeah, I've seen them all. I saw them nightly when it was released. Reneé Rapp started touring last night, it was all over my TikTok today and I had to ignore it because I'm seeing her next week and I didn't want to get spoiled
SARAH: Mm-hmm
KAYLA: But like, if you want to know what kind of thing you're getting into with your child or for you, it's out there, like…
SARAH: It's out there
KAYLA: You can find that, like that is… you cannot be mad about that
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Anyway
SARAH: And just because she used to be a Disney star does not mean that…
KAYLA: I know. You should…
SARAH: Like, I'm sorry, is Miley Cyrus ‘Can't Be Tamed’ not enough…
KAYLA: This is what I'm saying, if you are listening to or watching a former Disney star who's now mid-20s major pop star, you should go in expecting highly sexual media
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Because that's the blueprint
SARAH: There's a lot of blowback
KAYLA: Like, that… you should go in expecting that and then be surprised if that doesn't happen
SARAH: Like, Disney, Nickelodeon, like Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter
KAYLA: Miley Cyrus
SARAH: Miley Cyrus, Demi Levato
KAYLA: Even Olivia Rodrigo a little bit at this point, I feel like
SARAH: Yeah, girl, what?
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: That's what happens
KAYLA: Yeah. Which, you know, what's interesting is another thing I was thinking about this podcast topic, I think I saw this comment maybe in our Discord recently or maybe it was somewhere else online, but it was someone talking about how there's not a lot of music for younger people specifically at this point
SARAH: Yes, I think I sent that to you
KAYLA: Which I do think is true and I do understand that as a problem, if you are…
SARAH: There used to be music directed at tweens
KAYLA: Tweens, yeah
SARAH: And now it's just that AI, girly pop music that's like…
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: “Five lines of coke,” you know. I saw another one of those videos today
KAYLA: “One drunk cigarette,” yeah
SARAH: So…
KAYLA: No, I think that's true. Like, I'm… You know, when we were growing up we had… Like, even thinking about like One Direction or something when we were coming up, they were not highly sexualized at all. Like, at all.
SARAH: No
KAYLA: And like we had like the Disney stars, I guess at that point when they were young, but yeah, I think there just isn't as much of that at this point
SARAH: I think it's partially a result of the internet becoming so much more accessible to everyone including younger kids
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: And so, younger kids are seeing not just what teenagers are doing but they're seeing what young adults are doing and they're seeing it way more than they ever would when they just had like an older sibling or something
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: And so, they want that, they don't want that tween shit because that's like baby-ish
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: They want to be like the big kids and as a result kids are like growing up faster and faster and faster
KAYLA: Yeah, which I think… I remember that happening a little bit when we were younger just because I was a younger sibling, I would have a little bit more access to what older kids were talking about. But it was always very limited of like, “oh, my cousin had this cd” or like, “over the summer I heard this at…” you know, wherever. But yeah, that was how information traveled, you know, through like cousins and summer camp and that's…. it doesn't happen like that anymore
SARAH: I still very clearly remember a girl I went to gymnastics with who she was a year younger than me, she had a little sister who was four years younger than her and I remember she had a Tweet when we were in high school where she posted a picture of herself at 13 compared to a picture of her sister at 13 and…
KAYLA: Astonishing stuff
SARAH: Even in that four year-difference it was like she looked like a tween, like a like a 13-year-old and her sister looked like she was like 16 or 17
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Just that time frame, like, in the early mid 2010s everything was shifting so quickly
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: That it was so markedly different between a sibling who was only four years older than her sister
KAYLA: Yeah. So, I do like… from a parent perspective, I do understand that of like…
SARAH: I mean, I know someone who brought their then nine-year-old to ‘SWEAT Tour’
KAYLA: That is hilarious
SARAH: It was that child's first concert and this person did get into a bit of a tiff with their spouse about whether or not this was appropriate
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: But they ultimately landed on it's okay and they went and the kid had a great fucking time
KAYLA: I bet
SARAH: A lot of shit went over her head
KAYLA: That is… Yeah
SARAH: A lot of shit went over her head
KAYLA: That is… I think nine is like right on the cusp of like you can get away with a lot and they don't know… that's so lit for that kid to be able to say that their first concert was at ‘SWEAT Tour’ though, that's so cool
SARAH: And the general feedback was that the Troye Sivan opener was actually more risque
KAYLA: Yeah, I can see that
SARAH: Than Charlie was
KAYLA: Yeah, I can see that, whatchu you gonna do? So yeah, like from that perspective if I was a parent I still can't really get on their side with being mad at Sabrina Carpenter because like I do think you should know what you're getting into
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: But I can see the like, okay, there is not much…
SARAH: Helicopter parents don't even helicopter parent anymore
KAYLA: They're doing it wrong
SARAH: Like, I'm sorry, if you're gonna be a helicopter parent, you have to actually be driving the fucking helicopter
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: You can't have a drone fucking RC car helicopter, like, if you're gonna be a helicopter parent, but get in the fucking pilot seat get your license, fly the fucking helicopter
KAYLA: Tell them
SARAH: Jesus
KAYLA: Anyway, I really don't know what… I mean, tweens must just be listening to what all the rest of us are listening to
SARAH: Remember the song ‘Juliet’ by LMNT or something?
KAYLA: I don't know
SARAH: “Hey Juliet, Hey Juliet, I think you're fine...” I still listen to that song
KAYLA: That sounds vaguely familiar
SARAH: It’s a banger. Anyway
KAYLA: Any thoughts? Any… Is there a reason?
SARAH: Yeah, I just thought of it when we were thinking about tween, like tween things
KAYLA: Oh, I see
SARAH: Because I remember I first heard that song when I was playing with our family friends who live in Missouri, they had a daughter who was a year older than my sister and we were in Missouri one time and we were playing with her in like one of those like little plastic houses
KAYLA: Mm-hmm
SARAH: And they had one outside and it was so legit, they had like fake grass inside, they like…
KAYLA: Dang, rich!
SARAH: They lived on a farm so it was more so accurate to farm
KAYLA: Oh, I see. I see, the accuracy
SARAH: And there was a little chair inside
KAYLA: I see
SARAH: And I remember… I associate that song with that trip. So, I think I must have like heard it for the first time or heard it many times during that trip and she was two years older than us. So, I was like, “she's cool”
KAYLA: “She’s cool.”
SARAH: Anyway
KAYLA: You know what I just thought of though? And obviously, but it's not like younger kids listening to more adult music is new
SARAH: No
KAYLA: I have a hard time talking about this from personal experience because I didn't really grow up in like a music household, I didn't like… I don't listen to a lot of music
SARAH: Yeah, she’s a weird
KAYLA: I'm getting better about it now, but like growing up we just like didn't listen to a lot of music. Like, we listened to NPR in the car, like, I was an NPR kid, you know?
[00:20:00]
SARAH: I had an idea for the cultural exchange on my way home that I now realize isn't even gonna work because you are weird
KAYLA: Because I didn’t grow up listening to music? What was it?
SARAH: Yeah. It was gonna be like a song that's like your parents’ music taste that you were exposed to as a child that you still like
KAYLA: I mean, I have like a little bit of that but it's like… it's probably… it's all stuff you would already know
SARAH: Ugh
KAYLA: Anyway. I think of it from like Dean's perspective, Dean has been like a Green Day stan since he was born. Like, as early as possible, that's not child-appropriate music
SARAH: No
KAYLA: But he was listening to it as early as possible. So, it's not like it's new for younger kids to get access to that kind of thing
SARAH: Or like the invention of like walkmans and like cd players with headphones
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Like, that is a fairly recent thing. Like, previously if music was being played it was being played aloud in a space
KAYLA: Yeah, for everyone
SARAH: And everyone who could… who was there could hear it
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Who was hearing, I guess, if you're deaf you can't
KAYLA: I guess
SARAH: I like to be inclusive
KAYLA: Right, thank you
SARAH: You're welcome. One of the things that I think is interesting is… because people are saying like oh music is more sexual these days, it's more, whatever
KAYLA: Than it used to be, yeah
SARAH: First of all, be a better helicopter parent. Second of all…
KAYLA: Right, exactly
SARAH: Do better. Second of all, I don't know that that's entirely true, I do think that our tolerance for sexual stuff, sexually explicit stuff is higher than it used to be
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: However, … Well, it's just different than it used to be. Like, back in the day a titty wasn't that scandalous
KAYLA: Yeah. It really depends on the cultural moment
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Because you go back to certain times like ancient Greece and whatever, everyone's bits were out all over the place
SARAH: Roaring Twenties I feel like if you had a titty out at the club like no one… Like, you were already drinking illegal moonshine…
KAYLA: Right, you might as well be naked
SARAH: So, I think it depends on the context, but like if you look at like the songs that were like scandalous and like salacious in like the ‘50s and ‘60s
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: It's… what was the song recently that like I… someone was talking about like how it was such a… I want to figure out what the… Scandalous songs…
KAYLA: Oh, that'll… that's gonna be helpful
SARAH: 10 more risque and often censored songs from the 1950s. Okay, I don't know. But also, sometimes you hear songs from… that are really old that are insane, that say insane things
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Like, you know those ones where it's like, “I'm gonna kill my husband.”
KAYLA: Uh-huh. No, there's… I mean then they're all racist of course, obviously
SARAH: Oh, yeah, yeah
KAYLA: It makes me think about in the ‘50s how they wouldn't show Elvis's hips on TV, you know? They would only show the top half of Elvis, because they were like, “oh, his hips moving is gonna make all the girls pregnant just to see it.”
SARAH: Right
KAYLA: I mean, it's just like you can't compare things, because also that was just when they were allowed to wear skirts above the knee, you know?
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: It's really hard to compare that
SARAH: And what was scandalous and salacious and… there's a word that I'm trying to think of and it's not scandalous or salacious but it's…
KAYLA: Risque?
SARAH: Risque, I think it's risque. What was risque at that point is different from what's risque now, but that doesn't mean that they weren't saying risque things for the era at that time
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: So, people at that time, the conservatives and their little buttoned up poodle skirts that go down to hell, they're so far you can't see no ankles are…
KAYLA: Right
SARAH: Although poodle skirts you could see ankles, that was the whole thing. Anyway, it doesn't matter, point being those people had objections to the risque nature of these songs about like a man and a woman going dancing
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: They're unmarried, whoa, oh, we have an innuendo. It's just… it was less on the nose, it was less wet ass pussy
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: And more, oh, we're gonna have a good night sort of thing
KAYLA: Right, no exactly. It's also I think every generation we have a new moral panic. Like, history just repeats itself that there's always going to be some new thing, there's going to be shorter skirts, there's going to be different ways of saying things and people are going to get in the same moral panic over and over and over again
SARAH: Can I read you the lyrics to this song called ‘Butcher Pete’ by Roy Brown and his Mighty Men from 1950?
KAYLA: I'm afraid
SARAH: “There is an old woman who's 92, lives down the street, she said, one thing more I want to do is find old Pete and let him chop my meat.”
KAYLA: Oh
SARAH: “He's hacking and whacking and smacking me. He is hacking and whacking and smacking me.”
KAYLA: See this is what… you have Cardi B sing that with a beat behind it and that's like the same thing as we're listening to now, you know?
SARAH: Uh-huh
KAYLA: That's the same thing
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: That's horrifying
SARAH: This is this is a song called ‘Rocket 69’ What do you think that's about?
KAYLA: You see? Literally, come on people
SARAH: This is a song called ‘Ride Daddy Ride’
KAYLA: No. See, this is not new people, there's just more access to it now
SARAH: This one is called, ‘My Man Stands Out’ by Julia Lee and her Boy Friends, two words
KAYLA: Oh, that's fun
SARAH: “Down at the beach when we walk by the other girls give him the eye because my man stands out. Yes, my man stands out. I'm crazy about the way my man stands out.” And the commentary on this website says, “I don't think she means distinguished but I do think she's trying to say something does stand out.” And then the lyrics go on, “I like the way he fools around and then the way he goes to town because my man stands out. Yes, my man stands out, I'm crazy about the way my man stands out.”
KAYLA: It's definitely saying something
SARAH: Ooh, this song is called, ‘Just Stroke It.’
KAYLA: Nope
SARAH: So, a lot of these… I mean, there were songs that were censored
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Splish splash, you know the “splish splash, I was taking a bath”
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: So, that was censored
KAYLA: Wait, why? They were just taking a bath
SARAH: It was too suggestive for some radio stations because when you take a bath you're naked
KAYLA: You’re naked. Doesn't Elmo sing that song?
SARAH: Yes
KAYLA: There was like an Elmo movie or something where he sang that song
SARAH: Yeah. Okay, we have ‘Wake Up Little Susie’ by the Everly Brothers, the lyrics describe a young couple who frantically wake at 4 a.m. after innocently falling asleep following their movie date. However, some radio stations in Boston weren't convinced the fictional pair were just sleeping and banned it from the air. Catholics, the fucking Catholics.
KAYLA: This puritan ass city where you can't have Happy Hour and bars close at 12, I hate it here
SARAH: Okay, ‘Let's Spend the Night Together’ by The Rolling Stones…
KAYLA: There's a band called the ‘Sex Pistols’ by the way
SARAH: There is
KAYLA: Not new
SARAH: So, this says regarding ‘Let's Spend the Night Together,’ the title and lyrics aren't very subtle about the message Mick Jagger was trying to convey, but the front man agreed to tone down the title to ‘Let's Spend Some Time Together’ while performing for Ed Sullivan
KAYLA: Huh!
SARAH: So, they censored ‘Let's Spend the Night Together’
KAYLA: Night together, yeah
SARAH: They said that's too explicit we have to make it ‘Let's Spend Some Time Together’
KAYLA: That’s so funny, that's so silly
SARAH: ‘Brown Eyed Girl’
KAYLA: What!?
SARAH: There's a line about making love in the green grass
KAYLA: Oh, okay, my bad
SARAH: Yeah. ‘Wouldn't it be Nice’ by the Beach Boys, some believed it encouraged premarital relations
KAYLA: Relations
SARAH: ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’
KAYLA: That got censored?
SARAH: At the Catholic Church
KAYLA: I mean, it is adultery
SARAH: At age 13 the artist, Jimmy Boyd, was eventually able to have the ban lifted after speaking personally with church leaders according to the Chicago tribune
KAYLA: I thought they were gonna say the pope himself
SARAH: Anyway, all this to say there have always been risque and scandalous songs, we just have a different metric for what risque and scandalous is
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Depending on the cultural context
KAYLA: It's also just more accessible, everything is more accessible now
SARAH: Mm-hmm
KAYLA: So, it's just… you're gonna see it more
SARAH: Before, if you wanted to listen to the Sex Pistols you had to go into a weird cd speakeasy record shop
KAYLA: Speakeasy!
SARAH: And buy the fucking record, never having heard it before
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Now, you can just find anything on YouTube or TikTok or like playing in your local Sephora
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Now, to be fair, I know someone who used to work at Sephora, they had a corporate Sephora playlist, you couldn't go outside the corporate Sephora playlist, but…
KAYLA: Yeah, I think most stores are probably like that
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Sarah, as an ace-spec does it bother you how much songs are sexual at this point?
SARAH: No more than anything else. We've talked about before on this podcast how like so many songs are love songs and so many songs are about like sex and romance and like partying and like whatever
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: I don't think there has been a marked change in my lifetime about what any of that looks like
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: It's just manifesting in different forms
[00:30:00]
KAYLA: Yeah, I think that's true. I don't think… if you take like percentage-wise of how many songs are about sex and romance and how many aren't, yeah, I think it's…
SARAH: I'm used to it
KAYLA: I can't imagine it's that different. I think maybe it's just the artists who are really big right now happen to also be people that write about sex and romance
SARAH: Okay, but like Madonna, like…
KAYLA: Yeah, that's true. I think it's also very genre-specific
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: If you're like a punk guy like they're gonna be singing about like the government more, you know? Like, it's very…
SARAH: Well, okay, they're gonna be singing about the government but they're like also gonna be singing about like blow jobs in the alley, like…
KAYLA: No, I know, but I'm just… like, it is I think very genre-specific, like, there are certain genres that...
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Sing about it
SARAH: Christian Rock for example, not really gonna get into blow jobs in the alley
KAYLA: No, but probably gonna talk about love a decent amount, I would guess
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Romance, probably not sex
SARAH: God's eternal love
KAYLA: I meant… okay
SARAH: The love for your partner that is through the Lord
KAYLA: That you have through God, yeah
SARAH: And how you would never fuck before marriage
KAYLA: No, of course, not
SARAH: You can't even side hug before marriage
KAYLA: Nope
SARAH: It's not allowed
KAYLA: You won't get raptured or whatever
SARAH: I saw a thing today about a woman who surrendered her children to CPS because she thought she was gonna get raptured…
KAYLA: But not the kids!? That's mean
SARAH: And now she's trying to get them back
KAYLA: I bet
SARAH: And CPS is like…
KAYLA: Mm mm
SARAH: “Noooo”
KAYLA: Yeah, I don't think I so. I saw a lot of people selling their cars selling, selling like…
SARAH: I saw someone sold their house on Facebook Marketplace
KAYLA: Which, here's what I don't get about that
SARAH: Mh
KAYLA: You can't take the property or the money with you
SARAH: No
KAYLA: So, what's the point of selling it?
SARAH: There isn't one. For those who don't know…
KAYLA: Like, why I’m I gonna sell my car to get the money?
SARAH: Recently in the past week suddenly everyone became up in arms about a new upcoming rapture that didn't happen
KAYLA: It was supposed to be yesterday as we're recording this, the 23rd, we were supposed to be raptured, I wasn't, I can say that much
SARAH: I'm in hell
KAYLA: Oh, okay
SARAH: I saw a thing that was like, “what if the rapture did happen? But it was just like a Good Place situation where not anyone was good enough to make the cut?”
KAYLA: My thing is like, what if we were raptured, all went to hell, but like we've already… it's the same?
SARAH: Yeah, so that's a good place?
KAYLA: No, I… Yeah, I guess. But I just meant like things are so bad right now anyway that…
SARAH: We are in hell
KAYLA: Earth is indistinguishable from hell
SARAH: This is hell, yeah
KAYLA: Yeah. It's what I was trying to say
SARAH: Yeah. Yeah, no every time I see discourse online, I think, this is hell
KAYLA: Yep
SARAH: This is hell
KAYLA: I mean, and we might already be here. Kind of a comforting thought
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: I think. Anyway
SARAH: Can it really get worse? Probably, but like…
KAYLA: Probably. But it's not real because we're in hell and it's a simulation
SARAH: Mm. But then the problem with that is then you think nothing you do matters
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: And then people start doing shit because they're like…
KAYLA: Because they’re all in hell anyway, yeah, that's fair
SARAH: And then they make things markedly worse for the other people surrounding them. Like, okay, even if this is hell, maybe let's not try and make it worse
KAYLA: I suppose, you have a point
SARAH: Anyway
KAYLA: Anyway
SARAH: That was your philosophy for the week. I actually need to… I need to read Nietzsche
KAYLA: Okay. Are you sure?
SARAH: What? For research
KAYLA: Oh boy!
SARAH: I feel like I need to at least have some… you know what book I have that I've owned for a long time that I haven't read yet, which I should read, is the book by Michael Schur, the creator of the ‘Good Place’ and ‘The Office’ and ‘Parks and Rec’ about philosophy
KAYLA: That does sound very interesting. I just finished Katabasis by R. F. Kuang and there's like a lot of philosophy references and they talk about Nietzsche a lot
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: And I was like, I'm just gonna take your word for it
SARAH: I need to familiarize myself more with Nietzsche because in the thing I'm writing the main character is like hardcore nihilist
KAYLA: Yeah, you should probably do some research
SARAH: Yeah, so like I need to like understand it
KAYLA: Yeah, that's a good call
SARAH: She's not like a philosopher, like, she's not like an academic about it, but like I need to understand the background, you know?
KAYLA: Yeah, that's fair
SARAH: So, stay tuned to find out if I become a nihilist
KAYLA: I can't wait for our philosophy episode
SARAH: If I did become a nihilist, it would ruin the whole arc of the novel
KAYLA: That's pretty tough
SARAH: So, I hope I don't become one
KAYLA: Yeah, I hope so too
SARAH: I don't think I will. I'll start by reading the Mike Schur book, anyway. What?
KAYLA: Music
SARAH: Music. You know some people think music is the devil
KAYLA: Who?
SARAH: Super, super religious people
KAYLA: That doesn't make sense to me though because like, why?
SARAH: I don't know, because it's nice and we can't have nice things
KAYLA: I feel like they're playing music in the Bible like all the time
SARAH: Are they?
KAYLA: I don't know, I just kind of over his picture Jesus is like a guitar guy, you know
SARAH: Like a guitar guy, like in Barbie?
KAYLA: He's like bringing a guitar to the… Yeah, no don't you think? Jesus is whipping out the guitar all the time
SARAH: He's that guy in summer camp
KAYLA: That's why Judas killed him, he was like, “enough”
SARAH: “Enough of this shit.” Except he was a liar
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: Okay, sure. I was gonna say something then I forgot, I got distracted by Jesus was a liar. And also, you said Judas and I just pictured Adam Lambert
KAYLA: Mm-hmm
SARAH: Oh, I know what it was. I think I mentioned this before, I accidentally got a Catholic hymn on my on-repeat playlist on Spotify
KAYLA: Uh-oh
SARAH: Because of my writing, mind you it's the same project as the nihilist one. So, I don't know what that says
KAYLA: Much to consider there
SARAH: Much to consider. Anyway
KAYLA: I think often for me as an acespec I listen to like super-sexual songs more as a like, I don't know, like an outside observer, just like, “oh, that's nice. Good for you.”
SARAH: Like, listening to the new Reneé Rapp album, I was like, “I don't relate to any of this”
KAYLA: Any of this
SARAH: “But I love that it's queer and I love that it's here and I support you.”
KAYLA: I know, yeah, I really couldn't relate to that much either because I was like… I don't know, this is just not my lifestyle, but I… Really catchy tunes, I’m still gonna listen, great time
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Like, I don't need to fully relate to it to be like, “hell, yeah”
SARAH: I very much do appreciate songs that are not about sex and romance and partying and whatever that I feel that I can relate to but obviously they're not all going to be that, and every song that you listen to you don't have to have a super-personal connection to anything, everything, what? Huh?
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: You know
KAYLA: I mean, it's kind of like we were talking about last week of like acespecs reading and writing smut and romance and stuff I saw a lot of people talking about in response to the episode of like, yeah, I don't have to have any kind of like personal…
SARAH: Personal stake in this
KAYLA: Connection to it, it can just be interesting and entertaining
SARAH: Yeah, it's like… so, like the national anthem of the United States of America…
KAYLA: Oh
SARAH: Okay? “O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming” I can't relate to that because I wasn't there during the revolutionary war but according to science and the constitution and our Overlords they think I should deify that song, but I wasn't there, I can't relate to it
KAYLA: A really bad example
SARAH: I think that's the best example
KAYLA: A really bad example. Really bad stuff, really bad stuff
SARAH: ‘By the dawn's early light …’
KAYLA: I don't want to talk about that
SARAH: ‘What so proudly we hail'd …’ Is it the… I didn't even think about Donzalee until just now
KAYLA: I've been thinking about it, that's all I've been thinking about
SARAH: That's not even why I brought it up
KAYLA: Moving on
SARAH: Donzalee
KAYLA: I do understand though where an acespec would come from
SARAH: Oh, absolutely
KAYLA: Annoyed. Like, I…
SARAH: I think I'm just immune to it. I'm just like…
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: I'm not immune to it, I'm like numb to it, I'm so used to it that it can hardly bother me anymore
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: And I'm also lucky to be in a situation where like I am not like so sex-averse that it's like triggering to me
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: But yeah, I'm just like well, yeah, that's how it is, so…
KAYLA: Yeah, which is unfortunate that that has to be the mindset that you come into it with but…
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: You know?
SARAH: Yeah. Well, here we are
KAYLA: Here we are
SARAH: Kayla, do you have anything else you would like to add?
KAYLA: Nothing interesting, I don't think
SARAH: Great. Kayla, what is our poll for this week? Oh, she's yawning, she's that sick of this topic
KAYLA: So sick of this shit, no. Do you think songs are more sexual now than they used to be? Thoughts?
SARAH: I also think… I mean, we kind of touched on this but like just because they were portrayed with innuendo in the past and people are using words like “wet ass pussy” and “fuck cunt” these days like that doesn't mean that the meaning they're portraying is any different
[00:40:00]
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: It's just different supposedly more explicit words versus innuendo
KAYLA: I can't wait to see how more explicit we get in the future, if this is where we are now, I cannot wait to see where we are in 20 years
SARAH: They're gonna be inventing new slurs
KAYLA: Because how do you get more explicit than “wet ass pussy”
SARAH: New wizard slurs…
KAYLA: I cannot wait to see…
SARAH: Wet…
KAYLA: How we could possibly get more explicit
SARAH: “Wet fuck cunt,” that's more explicit
KAYLA: That's something, all right
SARAH: I'm just…
KAYLA: Anyway
SARAH: Coming up with examples for you. Okay. Yes, that's our poll, I forgot what it was, but is there, or has it? Yes, or no or maybe or who knows? You can tell us… you can answer… you can answer our poll… Oh, Kayla, are you gonna start putting the poll in Discord?
KAYLA: Yeah, I saw that and… yeah, we'll see
SARAH: We'll see. Okay, great. Someone offered to put it in Discord for you
KAYLA: Did they? That's amazing
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: Aww, that’s nice. I just think I kind of always assumed that like if people wanted to answer it in Discord and talk about it they just like would
SARAH: They just would
KAYLA: Without like me prompting. But I can prompt you, I can prompt you, that's fine
SARAH: Oka. Anyway, you can find that poll on our Instagram, @soundsfakepod, maybe in our Discord, the…
KAYLA: And if it's not there, you can feel free to discuss it any time
SARAH: You can talk about it anyway
KAYLA: You don't need… don't wait for me, talk away
SARAH: You can join our Discord, there's a link in every description of every podcast to join our Discord
KAYLA: That’s true
SARAH: Things happen over there sometimes. On our… This podcast episode has already been like eight minutes longer than all of ‘Man's Best Friend’ by Sabrina Carpenter, I just looked at the length
KAYLA: Such a good album, y'all should really be listening to that
SARAH: It's…
KAYLA: I get to see her next month. Aaahhhh!
SARAH: There are some songs that I like, I think we've discussed…
KAYLA: It's not for everyone, I don't think but it is for me
SARAH: Yeah. It's for Kayla. Social media @soundsfakepod. We also have a Patreon patreon.com/soundsfakepod…
KAYLA: We did not do beef or juice
SARAH: Go ahead
KAYLA: Go ahead. My beef is that there was an electricity mishap in my apartment yesterday such that we did not have it
SARAH: Oh
KAYLA: And that was greatly upsetting but everything is fine now but I was sad I did throw a bit of a fit about it
SARAH: Classic
KAYLA: Because what are you gonna do? My juice is that I've been watching ‘The Great Pottery Throw Down’
SARAH: Mm hmm
KAYLA: It's like ‘The Great British Bake Off’ but for pottery and some seasons are on HBO if you're in the US and there are many that are not but I have a dealer of such digital things and so now I've been able to watch it
SARAH: Is the dealer a person or just a website?
KAYLA: It's a person who built a website specifically to deal things to their friends
SARAH: It's a person you know?
KAYLA: Yeah, my friend built… there's a way that you can like make a server, like, host your own server
SARAH: I think you've mentioned this before, this is ringing a bell
KAYLA: And so, it like looks like… like, I have an app on my phone and my TV like it's Netflix but it's just like my friend running the server and you can like request anything that you want to get put on it and it's definitely a hundred percent… a thousand percent legal and fine
SARAH: Yeah
KAYLA: I wouldn't know
SARAH: You wouldn't pirate a ship, would you?
KAYLA: I wouldn't pirate anything and I wouldn't know anything about it either, if you ask me how it works, I don't know, so, I couldn't possibly say
SARAH: Right. Okay. My juice is I saw TXT over the weekend, it was great. My beef is they did a bunch of good songs on day two of Chicago, but I couldn't be at day two in Chicago because I had to go to work
KAYLA: Booo
SARAH: I had to wake up at 4:55 a.m. Chicago time get on an aeroplane, fly four and a half hours to Los Angeles, land at LAX, drive straight to work, work an entire work day, and then come home
KAYLA: Oh
SARAH: I'm sad. Like, why did Yeonjun put on the knee pad if he wasn't gonna do GGUM, you know?
KAYLA: Right, I was asking the same thing
SARAH: Exactly. And they got Thursday's child as far to go and they got back from where my mom really wanted and they got cat and dog Korean version. So, they got to feel like Cinderella naega byeonhae and what's the other thing they got? I forgot. My other beef is that so my cat has one of those like ball track toys that she really likes and sometimes she yeets the ball out of the track
KAYLA: Yeah
SARAH: And she yut the ball out of the track while I was at work yesterday and I can't find it, I don't know where it is
KAYLA: Oh, that's tough
SARAH: I have other balls that I can put in that like fit but this ball is like weighted, it's like heavier so she likes it better because it like rolls better. So, I gotta find it
KAYLA: Tell her to stop yutting it
SARAH: She yut it
KAYLA: She yut it
SARAH: The other day to my co-worker was saying something to her about shooting her shot and I was like… I was trying to say it past tense, I was like, “you shut…”
KAYLA: “Shut it”
SARAH: “You shut your shoot” and then I was like, “you shut your shit.”
KAYLA: Right, exactly
SARAH: You shit your shot. And she was like, “exactly”
KAYLA: “Exactly”
SARAH: Anyway. Okay. Now you can tell us your beef or your juice or answer our poll or whatever on our social media @soundsfakepod. We also have Patreon patreon.com/soundsfakepod if you would like to support us there instead of buying our book or in addition to buying our book, that could be cool too. Our $5 patrons who we're promoting this week are Cinnamon Toast Punch, Colleen Walsh, Danielle Frye, Emily Jean and Galvin Ford. I want a cinnamon toast crunch now, and I don't have any. Our $10 patrons are Alastor who would like to promote the podcast ‘Shadows and Shenanigans.’ Ani who would like to promote the importance of being kind yourself and other... others, plural, not just one other. Arcnes who would like to promote the Trevor Project. Benjamin Ybarra who would like to promote Tabletop Games and Clare Olsen who would like to promote Impact_Frame. Our other $10 patrons are Derick & Carissa, Elle Bitter, Eric, my aunt Jeannie, Johanna, Kayla's dad, Maff, not Marph, Martin Chiesl, Purple Hayes, Quartertone, I bet I also because Martin Chiesl comes after Maff, that's probably why I said Marph
KAYLA: Martin Gazelle
SARAH: No. Barefoot Backpacker. I think I said Quartertone but I'm gonna say it again just in case. SongOStorm and Val. Our $15 patrons are Ace who would like to promote the writer Crystal Scherer, Nathaniel White, NathanielJWhiteDesigns.com, Kayla’s Aunt Nina who would like to promote katemaggartart.com and Schnell who would like to promote accepting everyone is different and that's awesome. Our $20 other patrons are Changeling & Alex who'd like to promote their company ControlAltAccess.com and Dragonfly, and my mom and river who would like to promote Allstate Arena in Rosemont Illinois is a horrible venue
KAYLA: Oh, no
SARAH: It's truly awful
KAYLA: I hate that
SARAH: I had heard bad things and it really lived up to the hype
KAYLA: Dang
SARAH: But they would like to promote flying across the country to see K-pop concerts with your mom
KAYLA: Mm-hmm
SARAH: I had another thing that they were gonna promote and I forgot it. Thanks for listening, tune in next Sunday for more of us in your ears
KAYLA: And until then, take good care of your cows
[END OF TRANSCRIPT]