Culture Catch-Up: Justice for Millennials!
Prose Society with Eli Rallo
Eli Rallo hosts a comprehensive culture catch-up, diving into recent entertainment events like the iHeartRadio Music Festival and the VMAs while sharing personal reflections on aging, social media
Key takeaways
- Rallo attended the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Vegas, noting it was exceptionally well-executed and felt genuinely welcoming to influencers compared to typical industry events.
- The host provides a candid track-by-track breakdown of Taylor Swift's 'Showgirl Encore,' expressing love for tracks like 'Patient Zero' and 'Wood' while critiquing the album's response to past criticism.
Main topics
- iHeartRadio Music Festival & Vegas experience
- Taylor Swift Showgirl Encore review & fandom discourse
Notable quotes
I don't think that being critical of her is inherently misogynistic. I think a lot of the critiques that I see about her are, though.
Conclusion
The episode serves as a multifaceted cultural barometer, blending sharp industry
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:07) Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Pro Society. We are back, if you're watching this on YouTube, in the Red Room in New York City. And I'm so excited to be here today for a culture catch up. This is going to be a long one. Like these episodes, like they're meant to be between 30 and 45 minutes. Like there's just simply no way. It's the same as me writing a book. It's meant to be 300 pages. It ends up being 448. And that's just my truth. And like, that's just. the person that I am. And this episode, we have so fucking much to talk about that I'm like, I'm going over. I don't care. We have to get into everything. It's going to be a Taylor Swift heavy episode. If that doesn't interest you, I recommend that you still stay like trigger warning, Taylor Swift heavy. That being said, like I have some. I have a lot of thoughts and I'm frankly very excited to give them to you. So I hope everybody stays. I'm just feeling really good about the pod right now. I feel like I'm getting more comfortable just saying shit. In the beginning, I was scared. I don't even know why I was scared. I think long form, there's this thing happening on the internet and just like in general with long form where people use like a segment of someone's YouTube video or an out of context podcast moment as like a gotcha. And I don't think that that can always necessarily mean it's a bad thing. Like I think sometimes people do need to be held accountable, but I think it can be scary to be talking for an hour and not necessarily being able to. I mean, obviously, I think before I speak and I write out my whole episode and I have all my notes, but it can be scary just going at it for an hour. And with TikTok, like I'm able to reshoot a video or I'm able to like re-explain a thought and delete something. And with these, I listen to them about five times before they come out out of just pure anxiety. But I'm getting more comfortable being like I can just say shit. And I don't know why I've been so scared, but I feel like I'm getting better. I feel like we're all getting better. That and the segues are what we're going to work on. But before we get into all of the culture, which there's a lot, we're going to do Dancing with the Stars recap. We're going to do a Traders recap. We're going to discuss the VMAs. We're going to discuss Taylor. I wanted to do a little life recap. I went to the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Vegas and... I'm historically not a huge fan of Vegas, but I think that's because I was maybe like viewing Vegas wrong. It's the same thing as seeing like bad Cinderella on Broadway where you need to go in and like know what you're getting yourself into. I think I was just trying to look at Vegas like you're visiting any other city, but it's not like any other city. It's very anomalous for several reasons. And I think that also because I'm not like a party girl and I don't like to like go out per se, my idea of going out was like going out to dinner, but still being in bed by 11. I feel like Vegas and I were just. like not simpatico, like we were not in symbiosis. But this time I just took it for what it was. And it was really, really great. And if anything, the music festival was so amazing. And it really just reinforced to me that iHeart was the perfect partner for this pod. And they're not paying me to say this. I mean, like, I get paid, but they're not paying me to say this. They don't know I'm saying this. I have been doing this like social media thing for seven years almost. And I think a lot of people think that influencers are treated really well by the industry in terms of like the entertainment industry, but we're really bottom of the totem pole. Like influencers are incredibly privileged for a lot of reasons, but we're very much so bottom of the totem pole. And I think I get that like celebrities and other public figures, like they should be valued better than influencers. But there also is a lot of instances of just like feeling disrespected or feeling like you just aren't. Like people just don't want you there, but they think that they have to have you there because you'll post on social media. And that's never a good feeling, even though I understand it. And even though I understand why we would be bottom of the totem pole, it can make total sense to me. There is sometimes just this energy of like, oh, we don't actually want you guys here. Or like there are lots of times that you go to an event or you're invited somewhere and there's like a literal rope in between. And like the influencers have one color of wristband and everyone else has another color. And it's like very clearly like. they don't actually want us there. And that can feel kind of sad when you're like super excited to go somewhere. This is the exact opposite. And I was no, I was nowhere near the most important person there doing press or there like as an invited guest, not even close, not even in the fucking stratosphere. But I just felt so like. I felt like people were happy to see me. And I know that sounds so fucking sad. And there's really no other way for me to describe it than like sometimes you get invited somewhere and it's like people are rolling their eyes because they hate influencers. And I understand that. Like I can totally comprehend why. But at the same time, it's not such a good feeling when you're like, well, I was invited here. So I thought that we would all be excited that I'm here, that you're here. Like we're all happy. And I always approach things with like a joyful mindset. You guys know when you're a sweetie and a lover, the universe will open up for you in tandem. Every single person I encountered at this entire event and function was a sweetie and a lover. Not only that, it was the most seamless, organized fucking thing ever. I've never experienced an event, a music festival for like, that's crazy. Like that organized. Like I went to ACL last year and obviously it's different. This is like an indoor music festival and it's kind of more of like a jingle ball. I'm going to go to jingle ball, by the way. Like they were like, do you want to come to jingle ball? And I was like, oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm going after seeing how well fucking executed I'm going. Like, I'm literally going to live my high school dreams and go to Jingle Ball. Like, there was always a girl. Oh, my God. There was always a girl in your grade when you lived on the East Coast whose dad like. His company like had like tickets or a box at like the MSG or something. Never, never my scenario. Like, no, like we were at the restaurants. Never my scenario. But there was always a girl whose dad had like tickets to the Jingle Ball. And then she would like Instagram at Jingle Ball and like a little jean skirt and like a cami. And you were like, fuck my life. That's my dream. I'm living out my dream. I've never been. I'm so it was such an East Coast flex when you're in seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade. to go to the Jingle Ball. Anyways, it was just the most well-executed thing ever. It was so much fun. I felt like people were really happy to have me there. I was really happy to be there. It was just amazing. And then the performances were out of this world. I didn't know Lainey Wilson was like executing at the level that she's executing on. I didn't know she was that pretty and I didn't know that her voice was that good. Insane. Ciara, Ciara performed pregnant. Unbelievable. Like unbelievable. It was just, it was just really so much fun. And I felt very grateful to be there. And then I went, I'm like, I don't even know where I went. I went back to Houston for two days. And then I came up here to do something that I'm kind of going to touch on that I did because I think I can, but like we'll just keep it between us. And then my husband and I were supposed to go visit our honeymoon friends, which is like totally out of an Emily Henry novel that we met friends on our honeymoon in Nantucket. And I was going to answer the age old question like our influencers allowed on Nantucket. And then the boats all got canceled due to the Nor'easter. Also, if you've been affected, my heart goes out to you. I'm thinking of everybody. I was. instead at home on the Jersey Shore this weekend because our trip got canceled. And it was really, really crazy and scary. And the restaurants were all opened and my parents were out of town. So my brother was really like running on fumes, trying to make sure like the staff was good, that the generators were on, the Wi-Fi kept going out. It was a crazy storm this weekend. But anyways. I have a wedding this coming weekend, so I'm kind of just staying in New York. But the intention was that we were going to have this trip that we didn't have. So I've just been in New York and loving being in New York. It's cold. It's really cold. And I found that I'm a little sensitive to that. And I didn't realize like I don't know how I went to college in Michigan. And I was like, shake it off, shake it off. Like the weather doesn't bother me. I don't give a fuck about this weather. Like I was Queen Elsa, like 10 degrees below. Now it's 60 and I'm shivering. My fingers have never been colder and they have to keep these rooms, the pod rooms, they keep them cold. But like. Not in the sense of like a fan because there can't be that extra noise. They just keep them cold because also there's a lot of equipment in here that you can't see, which I understand, but I've just been cold. Like I'm just a cold person and it's cold outside. And I'll be really looking forward to getting back to Texas and just like a little bit of warmth. But for now, we're in New York. We just announced our October book, which is Honey by Imani Thompson. I'm really, really, really excited about it. It's a thriller. I wanted to do a thriller for October, but it's not scary. I just want to put it out there. Verity was terrifying to me. because it's so gory. I am going to see the movie and I'm just going to, I'm going to do the thing where you cover your eyes, but you have your fingers kind of open so you can like kind of see through, but you could shut your fingers if you got scared. This is not even like in the stratosphere of how scary I found Verity. It's not scary. It's thrilling. There's a lot of twists and turns and it has like a murderous element, which I liked for the October season, but it's lit fic at the end of the day. It has a wider message. I think you guys are going to really like it and I'm excited to get into it, but that's kind of me. That's kind of the recap on what's going on, but let's just dive in because it's It's already been 10 minutes. And like I said, this is going to be a long one. We're going to start out by just doing like pop culture recap, watching, listening, all the vibes. And then we'll get into FYP, which is really, really long because we have Taylor Swift. We have you amazed. We have everything. So. The first thing, the Swan reality TV show documentary is premiering on Hulu September 29th. I don't know if you guys remember this, but in 2004 and like the shows of the early 2000s were fucking diabolical. But in 2004, there was a show and the logline of the show was everyday women were being promised the chance to become quote swans through dramatic cosmetic surgery and physical transformation. So basically they would cast these like regular women to come on the show. And these women were like not unattractive, but they were. being showcased to us in 2004 as the fugliest people alive. And effectively, what would happen is that they would undergo a series of cosmetic treatments and surgeries, and they wouldn't be allowed to look at themselves in the mirror until the grand reveal that happened on the show. And then at the end of every season, all the women would compete against each other in a beauty pageant to find out who was the prettiest swan. Insane. Like, can you fucking imagine? Insane. Anyways, the women that were part of the show and the producers, which I love, like if you're going to do a show like that and you're going to be that fuck ass, you better sit the fuck down in 2026 and let us have at you. Like they're all sitting down to reflect on like what happened behind the scenes and what the experience was like. I love shit like this. Like this is what I really need. Like let's pull back the curtain on that. fucked up shit that we were doing in the early 2000s. I don't really care about true crime. I care about this. This is interesting to me. I will be tuning in. I like a well-done documentary. I do not like when something happens and then immediately we make a documentary about it. I'm like, nope, that's just not, that's not for me. I like when we take our time and we sit with something that happened and then we do like an astute, well-researched, well-thought docu-series. I'm very excited about this. It's premiering on Hulu. I will be watching. The other thing that I watched and I watched it because I've I've done something in the space with this show, and I hope you guys will watch it. And I'm not really allowed to tell you what I did yet, but I'm very excited about it. And you'll see you'll see it very soon. It's called War on HBO Max, premiering October 1st. By the time you're listening to this, it's like basically out. It's basically an elite high stakes legal battle centered around a massive divorce trial of a billionaire and his actress wife. It's Dominic West and Sienna Miller. It's literally like a suits industry like. How to Get Away with Murder kind of hybrid. It's just like a legal show, but it's like a divorce law show. Really, really, really, really, really good. Like, please watch it. And former guest Josh Lora of Tell the Bees, he loved it. He saw the first episode already because he was at the premiere and he's talking about it. You guys know he loves his like American cheating stuff. So there's a lot to be said about the show. I think it's kind of going to blow up. It's. really fucking good. And whatever HBO Max does turns to gold. And that's because like, I don't know if you guys noticed this, but like they have like less restrictions around the content that they supply to us. Like, I feel like there's more nudity, more cursing, more just like they're not so concerned with like how things appear. I mean, you know, they're the home of girls. They're the home of like the Sopranos, like Curb Your Enthusiasm. It's like everything good in the world. All my favorite shows. So, yeah, they're doing a new show. I highly recommend you guys watch it. That's that on that. You'll see how I participated in the world of it very soon. And it's extremely exciting. I also got to see The Love Hypothesis. I went to the premiere. It's based on the book by Ali Hazelwood. I'm obsessed with the movie and I'm very upset. So many people hated it. And I, okay, I made a whole video about this on TikTok and I don't want to be redundant and repetitive if you've already seen it. But basically what I was saying on TikTok, like long story, make it super short, is that the word for adaptation is adaptation, not replica. When they're adapting a book to the screen, it's always going to be different because they're adapting it to a new medium and using that medium strengths to bring out new. parts of the story. They're telling the same story in a different way. And I think we all need to be OK with that. And if an adaptation is like plain bad, like Wuthering Heights, I mean, I didn't see it, but like I found it abysmal that they were whitewashing it by casting white actors to play POC characters. That's problematic to me. That would be I mean, like that would be like if we watch The Love Hypothesis, but. she wasn't a scientist anymore. Like it takes out a very crucial part of the story. I'm not talking about that we should be okay with those types of things or when something is just like plain awful and horrendous. But this was really, really good. And I felt like, and this is the purpose of a book adaptation, the vibe of the book was alive in the film. I can't wait to watch it again. I thought it was so funny. I thought it was so cute. And I feel like Lily Reinhart is like the most beautiful woman alive. Like I... was just captivated by her the one thing I'll say is that it's hard to believe that she's like this nerdy girl but I feel like she played it pretty well like when you're that pretty it's like okay like I have trouble believing that you're having trouble with men but that being said people are shy like pretty people can be shy if that's the central thesis of this pod I'll let it be the central thesis of this pod you can be hot and shy like I think a lot of people were like she's not convincingly awkward and I was like oh I was convinced I felt that she was very awkward and I also felt that more so than the awkwardness, like men weren't a priority to her. Like her work was a priority. So there was that as well. But anyways, loved the movie. Highly recommend it. It's out now. You can watch it. Really, really good. Other. theatrical kind of film theater news. Cyrus Vesey is going to be in Ann Juliet. I am so excited for them. If you don't know who they are, they're a lifestyle creator, beauty creator, but they have a theater background and they're going to be playing May in Ann Juliet, which is a principal role. It's the perfect role for them. Sometimes you meet a person that is so good at what they do, but Also so beautiful, so attentive, so kind, so thoughtful. And that's Iroos. Like, I really, really cannot wait for this. I cannot wait for them. Like, I will be going to see the show. I think that there's this like kind of conversation in theater right now about stunt casting or like, quote, stunt casting, unquote. I don't think stunt casting means somebody who has an audience or a following in a different place. but has the talent and the chops to do Broadway gets cast. I feel like stunt casting is more like when someone who doesn't have the chops necessarily and like without their platform, they would never be cast gets cast. But either way, a Broadway production employs hundreds of people. And it's really hard to keep shows alive. Like you need your house to be 99. percent plus full every single day for every single show to make money. The running like theme of entering the theatrical space is that people don't do it to make money because there's not a lot of money in it. It's almost impossible to keep a show open. Only 25 percent of shows recoup their initial investment. And if you don't recoup your initial investment, you're going to close. So only a fourth of shows actually have a fighting chance to stay open. And a lot of times. having somebody with a buzzy audience from another like area of the world helps to keep people employed and helps to keep the show open. I can understand where the fatigue comes from for sure. But a lot of these people that are getting cast are highly capable. It's also like Roxy Hart in Chicago has always been stunt cast, mama. Like that has never like it's this like falsified outrage like, oh, they're taking away role. Not Roxy Hart. Not too much there. Like. They're not. And then like Charli D'Amelio and Maddie Ziegler being in a Broadway ensemble makes perfect sense because they're trained dancers. And a lot of people who are in Broadway ensembles don't sing. They're dancers. They're actors. They're movers. They're dancers, though. Dancer first. Like that's what they are. And so it makes a lot of sense to me that certain people are being cast in Broadway shows, including this role. And it's just a perfect part. And I highly recommend if you haven't seen Angelia going to see it. It's really fun. It's a jukebox musical. I love it. And I'll be going to see it. I love it. I love it. And if I was going to choose