The 2024 VMAs: Taylor Swift’s Dominance, Sabrina Carpenter's Homage Outfit, & Stan Culture Brain Rot

[Music] and we are back for an all new bonus episode of keep it I am Iron Madison theii I'm Lis forell and what do you think is the best VMA category do you remember best dance video I remember one year um Jennifer Lopez won it for waiting for tonight and that was like a stacked category best dance video I think has some energy and verb to it I say this because it's now a Croc ceremony with nothing going for it but what do you think I think my favorite category is most iconic VMA performance no you've already upset me excuse me there is now a fan voted VMA we're talking about the Video Music Awards which aired last night MTV institution going back to when the cars won the first video of the year in 1984 for you might think great video um there is a now a category most iconic video and it's for all time and people can vote on it which already feels contradictory to me it's either a fact that it's the most iconic or it's not it's not something that we put up for a debate but the person who won this the most iconic VMA performance of all time is Katie Perry for Roar um Ira I rarely say this word it's your word at this point but Peola how did this occur you know what to borrow a tweet that I saw um last night you know that this is fake because have you ever seen anybody put on Katy Perry's vmap performance aurar at an Afters no and also I think there are literally more legendary boxing themed performances in life like uh there are more legendary Katie Perry themed performances yes as I've said before by the way I do believe more respect should be put on her Vegas residency which is one of the best live things I've ever seen but this video and also by the way even among her number one hits Roar is just not it for me roar could be by anybody we we remember the controversy when it first dropped that it was very much giving brave but Sarah barelis oh yes I want to see you be brave and not do that song anymore cuz I don't care for it yeah but you we've brought this up on the show before um we watch Katy Perry's Super Bowl performance often that's a great performance I I literally watch the bone appeti video all the time more than I watch this this vma's performance let's just talk about Katie and get it over with right during her video Vanguard performance which sure you know what great I mean at this point I she has fun videos and and also by the way there's a list now billboard.com is doing this list of the 25 best pop stars of the 21st century and Katy Perry somehow came in at number 25 okay I know we're in an era where it's not particularly awesome to compliment Katy Perry or we feel like she's peaked or something she's better than 25 I think like she does deserve some flowers and she's coming in behind like uh BTS which okay maybe there's an argument there but she came in behind One Direction babe they they have like two hits here it makes no sense to rank them ahead of Katy Perry okay well let's let's not get into that you can't be standing B right now I'm a directioner all right okay listen to midnight I was listening to midnight memories last night you know that I enjoy the song night changes and I do wonder if it's about of course nocturnal emissions but I will agree with you though that Katie it is we are in an era where it's okay to quote unquote dis her but she deserves better than that and I think that last night the video Vanguard performance proved why we enjoy Katie Perry she's never been a bad performer what US dragging the roar performance is not saying that it's bad or that she's bad it's just that it's not particularly memorable and no one has thought about it since it aired especially since the category has most iconic performance at the VMAs of all time which truly a dozen performances come to mind immediately before I even begin to consider um what what the most iconic of all time is I'm talking about Madonna doing Vogue or Madonna with uh Britney Spears or in the in the 90s I'll be missing you remember that that was amazing yeah I mean I would even say like Lauren Hill performing doop that thing is more iconic than uh this particular Katy Perry performance Janet yeah Dan doing if In Those Jeans actually maybe no one has done jeans better in life than Janet yes she's done them ripped all sorts of ways all sorts of Silhouettes Beyonce's pregnancy announcement but also Beyonce's Ring the Alarm right she had a whole medley one year didn't she too yeah the Lemonade by the way and of course don't forget the Paparazzi Lady Gaga performance I mean just the list Go Britney Spear doing satisfaction and oops I did it again I'm just I'm beside myself at this award I'm sorry I shouldn't be so upset when it's such a calculated award to give somebody who's just going to show up to the ceremony which is of course the Crux of what is wrong with the VMAs at this point now they give Awards specifically based on who will be there it's not like the Grammys where there's still a little bit of prestige associated with the Grammys so if somebody is awarded a Grammy and they're not at the Grammys there's like no love lost like that's fine we still believe in the sanctity of the Grammys whereas if there's dead Air at the VMAs the ceremony looks weird and people are thinking why does this show exist if people can't even show up to get the get the awards yeah I think that that is the larger problem with the show this is um a good performance but I think that unfortunately it was a big reminder of the dip in music quality well she certainly had her huge hits the number ones like Dark Horse and California Girls teenage dream Etc and then she tried to slip in the three new tracks I actually kind of like the one the new one that interpolates Crystal Waters uh yeah Wii they looked great um he's mine I'm his or what I think that's what it there's no use looking it up IA we'll never hear it again but DOI looks great I'm a big fan of DOI yeah right now I think that her latest mixtape is [ __ ] fantastic I saw her perform at the paper magazine Fashion Week party last week she's excellent on stage I saw DOI at Coachella as well I will say that their performance though fun and a great Spotlight for DOI cuz I feel like it was probably her VMA performance debut it was very much cardi and Megan theam you are correct I felt like I had seen it before I do have to say but I I'll also give Katy Perry credit though like okay there are songs in here that are not as important as her most famous songs but in a lot of these occasions where big stars are doing medleys of their hits like for instance Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl okay for every Poker Face you do get million reasons you know like they sort of have to shop around the Lesser hits in order to make it a full package I think lifetimes ended great mhm I thought that that was a good performance of that song it's an okay song it's the one of the better ones that we've heard from this new era so far let's get into her speech I am actually a fan of it so I'm curious what you think I loved it I loved it it was just [ __ ] and Curt enough with all while also being sincere yeah it was passive aggressive by it was between passive aggressive and aggressive she clearly had some [ __ ] to say about the people online yeah she said there's no decade long accidents referring to her career which whoever came up with that line okay excellent we love it the doctor probably oh my God Luke just emerges from backstage like the Phantom I thought that her speech was great I loved her telling people to you know shut out the noise and stay offline Etc she kind of beat Chapel to the punch right though I we'll get to Chapel in a second since she of course made a very splashy VMAs debut this year too but um yeah the shutting out the noise I I think was a cool thing to say that said when Chapel was on the red carpet and cursed at some reporter for I don't know yelling something at her it was a paparazzo I think or somebody holding a camera I sort of like how transparent she is about how disgusting those situations can be cuz as you know when you walk past these like uh fail langes of uh photographers like shooting these pictures a cattle call one it's a cattle call two it's crazy that people can even keep their eyes open it's so blinding and then three it's so stressful it's so shocking it's it's it's like being in the middle of a traffic jam or something you do feel like somebody should be yelling can everybody shut up so to see her do that was cool and then seconds later she was giving an interview to queer press like the logo I I think it was logo or something and she gave a darling interview talking about how Psy CH is to be near Sasha kby and all these other drag entertainers who were there plain Jane was dressed as uh chapone specifically and did a little um they they cut to a bunch of these queens and pl Jane did a little uh uh miming of her not wanting to be seen by the photographers so funny and so classic drag funny yes mhm and see that is something that people were quotequote upset about online people without any taste but it's that drag is supposed to be that it's funny there's a way to make fun of Chapel rone without denying the fact that she's a human being who is setting up boundaries and I think that we are getting into this weird point now where I'm just tired of hearing people say that particularly we went too far in defending her I'm tired of people trying to swing to the opposite end of the pendulum saying she needs to sign up for being a pop star or maybe like she she's too angry you know it's not Diva it's giving attitude or anxiety or fragile and how many of our pop stars are balls of fragility so many of them have anxiety and they deal with them either through drugs or drinking or other things and she is trying to deal with this in such a open honest raw way that I have to commend her for it no and as you said like how many pop stars years later finally open up about having anxiety or what whatever like I just saw Shawn Mendes posted a video online talking about his return he performed at the VMAs last night too where he made the dubious choice to rock out not my brand girls but in that video he he basically talks about coming back to music and getting excited for it again and it really sounds like somebody who was there's no other way to put it put through it like it sounds like this entire industry the way the fans behave Etc has wait on him for years and it sounds like he paid a price so it sounds like Chapel Ron is not just saying I'm setting up boundaries it's I won't pay a price I'm going to tell you right now when something is inappropriate well imagine giving any sympathy to Chapel row because we know how they treated Shawn Mendes all right oh with respect respect and um yeah not seancody.com um and blazing pictures yeah he seems happy which I'm I'm very glad for him he wanders around New York City without security most of the time just reading who is he seems he seems like a genuinely happy person now I'm glad that he's making music again and it's fulfilling him he I there was an interview not an interview he did a front-facing video on Twitter which I watched where he talked about his collaborators and how they sort of got him in love with making music again he sort of was just empty and wasn't feeling like he wanted to do it anymore that said the song is boring right he makes dentis off his music yeah right right yeah he doesn't really merge into Prestige ever even though I think he really cares about music in addition to being a performer like you can tell like the the interest is there I almost wonder if he would go into like a producing space eventually or something maybe I love stitches like I love stitches back in the day I love his vocals on senorita my favorite song of his is lost in Japan not my favorite song of his I like that other one that's faster up there's nothing holding me back I like it a little frenetic you know what I mean that's what I need it's it's just giving too much high school jam band and I went to an all boys Catholic School in Milwaukee like the boys were Jam banding playing yesterday on their guitars and playing fish and this it was giving me that especially with the carpet yeah the carpet the carpet I was like this is really giving coffee shop I also think it feels a little bit like when you choose the rocker character from The Sims you know that's he's he's making the grand gesture with the guitar and you know it it just feel he felt very archetypal as opposed to Artistic I mean back on Chapel I enjoyed her performance a lot I thought it was great I thought she looked great chaperon did a performance of good luck babe which still does not have a music video and I am very glad that she cancelled those tours in Europe and did a VMA performance cuz now the VMA performers can replace the music video at Afters yes also can I just say about her I'm still used to thinking of her music when I hear it and you know we've you and I have known Pink Pony Club for years now or whatever thinking of that music as Fringe as like you know oh she has a few fans or whatever and now when I hear this music it feels like it belongs in the Center of pop culture like someone twerk tweaked something in my brain and now I'm like oh this is the music we all love I mean it also she became extremely popular but it just it's weird how the music feels different to me now that it's this popular yeah and you see people do hot to go at a party it feels like oh this is for everybody now in a very weird way and she said also she's going to take off like end of October through May to work on new music so I'm looking forward to that era when she drops big single next year of the sophomore album and that one's going to really feel like a cultural moment and I I and speaking of cultural moments I hope after midnight from this album gets its cultural moment because I continue to be obsessed with that song in particular from her and super modern Ultra graphic girl what are we doing here yeah there's room to grow still and she's grown so much she could she could Thriller this album if she wants to she could knock out Teena dream fighting words I will say my main problem with the VMAs is that it was not iconic I thought it was a great performance for her and a great debut but when I'm thinking about Lady Gaga bleeding on the stage but I'm thinking about the Britney moments you know I'm thinking everything at the VMAs just seems too afraid to go one extra step she was Jonah Arc like why wasn't she burned at the steak right right we could have used something a bit Sauer and I did think it was both cool and a little telling that the most memorable VA moment VMA moments to me were homages like Sabrina Carpenter dressed in Madonna's actual Oscars gown from when she performed sooner or later the Oscar winning Sim song from Dick Tracy it's cool to see that like At first of all who knew that dress still existed so the fact that she pulled that out and according to her got it from Madonna who she said was very supportive of her that was not that said what does that mean ultimately you just have the dress like why are we referencing it really it's both kind of cool and also kind of nothing yeah it's sort of that whole Kim Kardashian thing of pulling out a piece that someone has worn before it's this thing in fashion now where sort of archival pieces are popping up all the time but what is the story here yeah like you're you're not doing anything that's related to saheim you're not you're not sort of breathless Mahoney which I would love for her yes she's got acting more Betty Boo but she could do that I I I am desperately begging for a Dick Tracy Musical on Broadway by the way smart and I'm like and people always say Megan Hilty but Sabrina Carpenter breathless Mahoney don't hate it I also just love that she has you know your grandpa's fourth wife energy you know she she's standing right by the Crypt she's got the will in this hand but even that there was there was no story to that Tate McCrae was wearing an old Britney Spears dress and it's what is the story by way and I'm not saying Britney Spears didn't look great in that outfit not a particularly interesting outfit that we needed to revisit yeah but Megan re wearing Britney's I'm a Slave for You outfit looked great but then what else are we doing here I get that it was the 40th anniversary so that you want to honor the vm's past but I feel like every year of the VMAs lately is honoring the VMAs past and not creating any new reason for the VMAs to exist yes it you don't feel the confidence that we're still in an icon making era if you know I think also a problem the VMAs have is it's not that people don't watch music videos anymore which used to be the chief complaint about the VMAs you know that MTV moved another Direction and we don't see music videos on anymore people are obsessed with music videos I think weirdly what's interesting now is you're less likely to see music that isn't algorithmically delivered to you so the concept of any one music being considered the best like the video of the Year sort of is irrelevant now you know like if you're a Taylor Swift fan okay that's the music you listen to this year but you didn't really have to watch music videos from here are other bands that I grew up listen listening to that wer particularly my brand Foo Fighters you know you didn't have to watch Rage Against the Machine or whatever things that would be otherwise competitive in yeah corn oh I had two of those albums I have to say fre Freak on a Leash was I own the Issues album and freak out Al leash yes that is exactly the that is actually the problem with the VMAs or sort of MTV in general now rewarding things like that uh you sort of hit the nail on the head with that people kept saying last night who's seen fortnite who's seen fortnite this is the song of the year and if you are a Swifty it's the only [ __ ] video you've watched all year right by the way and I've seen it because I like Taylor and I like post Malone and I've watched the video several times but it's not one I put on at Afters because no people no one else is into it the way that I am but we're all in these bubbles now and even when you're in your bubble of friends and the things that you listen to as a group that's not going to mirror what other people are watching by themselves right right um here's the thing among videos she has directed I think the fortnite video is pretty impressive there's some Stark stylistic choices like images that are memorable so at least it it feels more like a contender for Via video of the year than some of her other wins but excuse me the idea that she has won five videos of the year it to me three in a row yes to me it's like if you had a book award and then gave it to Harry Potter every year my feeling is yes definitely the most popular yes qualified and uh important you know that that that a book is reaching so many people that said you're kidding if you're saying it's earned this award by being better than everything else it's just more popular than everything else and dominating in a monocultural way that I feel like award show somehow feel really obligated to adhere to it's the same thing and also of course they want her to be at the ceremony so they give it to her for that reason of course it's the same way I feel about how we discuss music now or people discuss music online now that everyone has sort of been rotted by Stan brain yeah you talk about how popular something is how big something is on the Billboard charts remember when defending your favorite artist meant Defending Your Own taste yes woof you had to say you really wrote a poem with you really wrote a poem with that one you had to say this song is good because this artist is great because I dig this this like video because you you weren't when we were arguing about music when we were kids when we were arguing about it in high school in college you weren't saying oh she's number one on Billboard tortured poets has been number one for several weeks it's no I [ __ ] dig this because it's cool that's why I like saying I love reputation like I like the attitude in that album I like how pissed off she was at that moment I think it's one of Taylor's more Raw albums lyrically and sonically just because of the emotional mess she was going through at the time whereas tortured poets feels like a cash grab right and yeah a retread to me if we're talking about albums like Evermore folklore Etc but I think uh not that not that Stan culture is the entire internet sometimes it feels like the entire internet based on what you see what tweets you see passed around but yeah there is this notion that popularity means an artist is unimpeachable that's they've accomplished something that no other that no critic can take away from them and that I I feel like that's such a gross mindset critics are not trying to take away things from artists they are interested in the art so it's like why not get into the ins and outs of it the ups and downs and you know what we like and don't like I it just I I I feel like that part of Stan culture is particularly I sound like Jane Alexander former head of the Nea right now anti-art yeah and there's this idea that critics critique things because they hate everything and want to bring people down and maybe that's people with YouTube channels and maybe that's people online who get off on hate views and hate clicks but real genuine critics of music of film of Television of books of art they do it because they love it right like you're you're not going to be a you wouldn't be a theater critic unless you love theater because why are you going to see a [ __ ] play every night unless you love it why are you listening to music all the time unless you love it movie film critics like why are you going to film festivals and watching six movies in a day unless you genuinely [ __ ] love movies right there's clearly an adrenaline rush there and by the way I just want to say I have never been to one of these film festivals before I am so jealous half my friends go every year it's but that's the darkest part of my year people like can yeah you know I was one time at um Sundance but I didn't get to see anything I was working there with company anyway it's on my mind a lot I love going to the New York Film Festival it's it's it's nice to just be it's nice that a festival is occurring in the city that you live in yeah and so you could just go up town and then all of a sudden there's this buzz and [ __ ] happening for the premiere of a film and then you just go home back to the VMAs what did you think of Megan as a host I thought Megan was fun she is never not fun to me I almost she's never not fun you know I enjoyed her performance I didn't like what she was wearing but the performance is fun even if this music from this era I don't really love that much yeah by the way speaking of what people are wearing before I forget so Taylor Swift wore a kind of yellow plaid Ensemble that that hearkens back to fresh out of Hot Topic and and fresh out of tribute to share from Clueless Party City where Ed whatever somebody online posted a tweet that made me think do you think Blake livest dressing her it's kind of her version of like fashion but also accidentally tacky I don't know I think that Taylor has very strong I think that Taylor loves her friends but she's a Sagittarius and she has very strong opinions about her friends okay I do not think that she thinks I do not believe she thinks Blake Liv has any taste it concerns her I do not believe that at all I'm always curious about her sorial choices because she always is like it's neither awful fashion or good fashion this is something that has been debated online I'm Not the first person to say this it's just no of course it's just so interest like the pairing of a certain kind of boot with a certain kind of skirt that feels sloppy in a way though also fit anyway I don't know it's like it makes her more approachable and relatable in a way I'm sure she supports BL because she's her girl FR but there was an interview that Selena Gomez just gave recently where she talked about how she and Taylor watch Vander Pont rules and they watch the valley and remembering who Selen Gomez was you remember what she had that um remember when she had that YouTube channel yes and she would make fun she and Demi would make fun would make fun of Miley gruesome like like she like she was a [ __ ] and I just sometimes the things that you see the way Taylor shuts down people there's no way that she can't be a [ __ ] in private with her friends and you're not going to be a fan of Bravo without some of that rubbing off on you so no I do not believe that she would ever let Blake Lively come anywhere near her closet do you think Taylor Swift when she's maybe like being [ __ ] in a text the way we would is she always leaving a voice note because it disappears I think she probably leaves voice notes I think a lot of it's in person but I also think that there are people who I think that the people who have maintained in her Circle would not do that right I think that like she probably doesn't go deep in that way until you've been perfectly vetted right right there's several several rounds it's like here here's Scientology in terms of round numbers here's being Taylor s's friend way up here because also there's probably ndas involved I imagine I mean Beyonce if they want to party with the queen they going to have to sign a non-disclosure imagine not that please when she was at that wedding I was like where is where is her assistant passing around clipboard excuse me jul was in the background Julius Julius is in the background looking stressed while she's just singing To Love on Top at her former assistant wedding and also in her um GQ interview she said she loved chapel rone and that made me think her former assistant is this white girl this Millennial Beyonce definitely danced a hot to go at that wedding yes did she did she consider the choreography or is it like Hillary Hillary Clinton with the moar she's like I'm absolutely I feel like she did it I feel like she did it I feel like she is she is down and has fun and the clips that we see of Beyonce we can see that from her and you can see Tiny clips of that from Taylor even though it's goofy white girl like her at the US Open right uh being drunk but but I don't know she seems so much more fun in person and sort of maybe aeric in person too than she's ever going to let us see now got right right right maybe in 20 years or something she'll lean into just being a [ __ ] in interviews and she'll do that thing where she's like talking about her past contemporaries and what she really thinks about them which would be so fun God willing you're right I feel like we play this have to wait a long time um also Taylor has a lot of Goodwill for me this week because of the comma endorsement which shouldn't make me excited because it's not like I thought she was a republican the way everyone kept saying she's hugging Britney Mahomes that means she's a republican she voted for Biden last time like I don't think that she all of a sudden is like I'm a republican she gives very East Coast liberal Vibes the Panic that seemed to be in about her not having endorsed anybody give me a break obviously she was going to say something she posted that one picture where K she posted a a shadow of Kamala behind her seemed to indicate that there would be a statement forthcoming and then she of course did actually the one thing that surprised me about the statement she put out it was clearly written before the debate because they timed the release of this new Harris Walt um uh friendship bracelet merch with her post um I'm surprised she didn't modify it a little bit more to include one thing said in the debate because she just said okay I my values align withla Harris is more than they do Donald Trump's and she brought up how he used AI images of her which is of course disgusting uh to promote his own campaign but honestly I mean he was so ridiculous during the campaign it could have used one extra can we believe what we just saw moment in it you know right she used the childless cat lady comment which JD V had brought up but the fact that Trump was talking about eating cats in Springfield that was that sort of felt like something you would comment on but no it was obviously a predetermined press release tree pain organized it all and KLA also walked off the debate stage to the man would we pick that song for her absolutely not I said but I wasn't expecting a walk-off song I'm expecting at rally she's going to walk out to ready for it yes that makes more and also just has more like oh I'm getting out ready to do something like vote whereas the man like that's sort of not the vibe that KLA is going for like if I were a man it's like she's already wearing the Timberland she's got the bearing you know what I'm saying plus my fa you know that song has my favorite tailor line ever which is he could be my Jailer Burton to this tailor does that mean she's seen who's Afraid of Virginia wolf does that mean she said up you know she has she's like let me Wiki Sandy Dennis has she done it I want to know you know that s is on my pass here I keep it right like this is how they make sure I don't lose it because they put her she definitely seen it she's definitely seen it and she's definitely walked in somewhere and overdramatically said what a dump wow and then laughed at making the reference maybe she's also seen the play once too cuz there's lots of famous people when they do the play usually you know it's whatever Zachary Quinto is uh in it Etc by the way I'm going to be tonight with Zachary Quinto and Kum nanani and some actress Jane Fonda at The Bourbon Henry's daughter yeah yes Henry's daughter Bridget's Aunt um at The Bourbon Room in Hollywood and uh allegedly they're going to be testing me on some Jane trivia in front of Jane Fonda I don't know that this can go good for me anyway one I missed the trivia I missed the trivia and look bad two I get the trivia right and Jane's like why don't I get away from the you know what I'm saying yeah mhm get the off the stage I'm not watching that she's like can we talk about climate if you didn't get tickets tonight for the bourbon room because it is sold out sorry it will be on YouTube eventually and it'll be on love or leave it on Saturday so you can listen there where all of my wonderful jokes will be edited down to digestible portion who else did we love we brought up Sabrina Carpenter but her performance was great yeah per performance was good she did a medley of the three very very famous Sabrina songs at the moment which are espresso please please please and taste which is the one I'm replaying the most at the moment which seemed like a novel observation but it turns out the other two are just two of the most played songs of all time and I needed to move on to a third also an homage to Britney the the uh astronaut thing from Oops I did it again also a bit of a VM homage since obviously the moon man is the name of the trophy um I also person now say what moon person now it's not the moon person I love that the I love that an announcer said Moon person and then they immediately cut to Cindy loer introducing Sabrina and she said moonman she's like I don't remember that also always good to see Cindy loer who is basically retired at this point I'm sure can still belt her ass off it was also nice KY boots money right uh a uh Tony winter Tony winter she's an o an Oscar or oh sh of an OT um Lenny kravit was also there L Cool J was there some people just get to be at award shows like uh do you have a slot for me I'm going to go ahead and do that like Lenny Kravitz did the in memorium at the Oscars you know just whatever he gets to show up he's in his cool era now he's always been cool but he's in his cool like nostalgic era yeah remember when he was working out at the gym in leather pants it was so shocking [Laughter] the pants and he's just around as Zoe's dad right and his body is sheet metal yeah and he's 60 years old it's really crazy oh I wanted to say quickly about C Sabrina Carpenter's speech she gave uh for the song of the summer or whatever nonsense award they decided to give her um I like how she addressed the fans there seemed to be she she wasn't going for um super bubbly and super Quirk she was just like I have she goes it sounds cheesy but I have the best fans thank you I I enjoyed kind of low keenness of what she said I'm I enjoy that too because haven't we gotten sick of artists shouting out their fans name yeah swifties hotties the barbs enough right you're radicalizing them stop it we know where this leads although although I did love Beyonce in her GQ interview saying when she said that she loves Miley uh she says I love my back seat writer and she said I'm a Smiler oh okay she's been paying attention I'm you know what I'm always curious about her media diet what she's sitting around watching or not watching I feel like she watches and listens to everything she mentioned so many artists in there she mentions some new indie people to she then she also said I'm watching the Shai and House of the dragon all right okay so she's lightly dialed in L Cool J L Cool J was great imagine him not being great he's delivered he delivered on NCIS for I believe 136 Seasons before I I wish we' been recording before this uh Lewis and I were trying to figure out if NCIS LA was still on and it ended last year and then I went down a rabbit hole on Wikipedia discovering just how many NCIS series there are and there's one called NCIS origins in case you were wondering how did this thing all start take me there the creation of the program yeah right NCIS laa I believe it ended because Linda Hunt said [ __ ] enough I am a million years old let me go home yeah so he was great and honestly LL songs still kind of go off at a party I love his attitude in his early music the uh yeah going back to C Etc yeah by the way I also want to do a shout out to the very hot men who showed up F of um Ral Alejandro oh yes gorgeous and somehow I'd never noticed what he looked like even though he's came out with Rosalia at Coachella when I was there but I was very high during that performance I could finish that sentence yes like a detective and I also discovered what a Benson Boon is this man can sing uh he he can sing and speaking of Sabrina there's a reaction video of her going what when he does his backflip off the piano that is stunts parkour as it pertains to balladry we've rarely seen I can't believe he's doing that yeah he's the one who used to be he was on American Idol and then dropped out before the semi-finals and now is this giant singer also this Teddy swims is still a new name to me he sounded amazing also by the way um a man who looked hot the guy from Mana skin or whatever woof he he looked like a silent film actor it looked like somebody who has like a closeted trist with Rudolph Valentino there's no proof that Rudolph was queer I'm just throwing that out there Damiano David Damiano David yes hot as hell yes great look at at the VMAs too yeah but going back to the thing about our bubbles of music I have oddly I feel like I've never heard of Benson Boon before and I've never heard the song even though he's like a wild chart entering like like he he went up the charts faster than Chapel rone did this year yeah but I listen to what I listen to and I listen to women I very rarely listen to people who are men no you I know it's I think it's controversial you know that I don't believe they need voice boxes or like what we're doing right now to me is anathema to what life should be about St a man why gross right what's he gonna do with that but anyway he's he's cute yeah and you know rolling around like he's in a video game so he was in Legends of the Hidden Temple on that stage he was the ball pit at a '90s Burger King yeah so I'm going to tune in and uh I think that's pretty much it for the VMAs I mean the less said about that opening performance the better that was tough yes and also just shout out to the the red carpet there though there will always be like 15 people where I feel like they made up celebrities just to keep you on your toes like they'll throw somebody out there it's like please welcome Chuck and like you have to just pretend that that was real I also want to say a a brief keep it I'll throw in one a keep it to people who don't really know anything about the industry trying to do a funny drag online there was a photo going around of tapate McCrae with her name being held off camera oh on the red carpet and it's they do that for everybody right cuz those the photographers have to write down the name to attribute everything yeah but they even do it for Taylor Swift and Beyonce because they have to be organized by name afterward to be put into Getty right yeah because when Getty messes up that's like a huge deal yes yeah so that's when you mess up black people's names and someone gets fired right hopefully you never know last thing on Miss tapate McCrae though she and tanache are two amazing [ __ ] dancers who were just at the VMAs to present strange yes it feels like by the way there were what thousands of performances surely we could have gotten something with those two ladies Together song of the summer Weir did not have nasty at all represented yes a song by the way that I I am not sick of when I hear it come on any place it's appropriate whether it's like a restaurant or berries or whatever but part of me wonders about the cut off and submissions and whether or not she is on tour so maybe she didn't want to perform that shit's always weird too cuz I feel like Chapel rone had to cancel tour dates in Europe to be able to perform to at the VMA she had to rehearse so maybe there's that too but I also don't know the VMA cut off because why was paint the town red confusing nominated for something did that song come out 10 years ago yes uh Obama was President it was tough yes do you have a last thing to say a keep it to the VMAs um no I'll maybe I'll just say something uh regarding the past of the VMAs which is I do still think and I've said this before I think the Chris Rock hosted VMAs might still be the greatest award show of all time it's so funny yes and also I mean like the amount of amazing things that happened there you have the uh mothers of Tupac and big Smalls reunited ay Shakur and valeta Wallace that was fabulous mad the drag tribute to Madonna Ricky Martin Lauren Hill if you watch an Entre I need somebody to watch that entire ceremony front to back and confirm to me that it's still good yeah and also I will never forget the line from Chris Rock about Britney she went from Mickey Mouse Club to the strip club so simple that's what we call parallelism yes we used to have real pop culture yes we and we were all focused on the one thing at the one time and sometimes that one thing was corn honestly I think that's the way you fix pop culture we at some point have to escape personal mono we personal monoculture we have to escape the bubbles there has to be a thing where Spotify even used to give you in the algorithm songs that you've never heard of from artists that you don't even listen to and now they just give you stuff You' heard before no right it should be Court mandated Have you listened to a song with a trombone in it today do it one time I'm not saying you have to become a SCA fan God knows I'm [Laughter] not all right that's our episode this week uh I hope you enjoyed our bonus keep it and we'll see you next week for our regular episode [Music] for H [Music]