The Scrubber's Way

Scrubbing In with Becca Tilley & Tanya Rad

Becca and Tanya recap the recent VMAs, focusing heavily on Taylor Swift's new song releases and the visual storytelling in her 'Patient Zero

Key takeaways

• Taylor Swift's new songs, including 'Patient and Zero' and 'Cleveland,' sparked debate over her use of spoken word segments.
• The hosts critiqued Madonna's Artist of the Year win at the VMAs, suggesting it lacked credibility given current pop powerhouses.

Main topics

• Taylor Swift new music
• VMAs 2024 recap

Notable quotes

If there was no talking in either of those songs, they would be 100 out of 10 for me.

Conclusion

An energetic pop-culture deep dive that blends celebrity news with rel

Transcript preview

Speaker 7 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Speaker 1 (0:02) Guaranteed human. Speaker 5 (0:04) In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author Petra Mathers and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Dear honeys, this is goodbye. By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? Listen to Death of an Artist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You broke me. You do not deserve happiness. Speaker 8 (0:39) I'm Andrea Gunning. On this season of Betrayal, Carl thought he was living a normal, drama-free life. Until the messages started. Speaker 5 (0:48) Someone's not going to make it out of this alive. Speaker 8 (0:50) Every piece of evidence pointed to the wrong guy. Speaker 5 (0:54) He was not going to stop unless we stopped him. Speaker 8 (0:58) Listen to Betrayal Season 6 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 7 (1:05) Is there an epidemic against literature? More specifically, Black literature. I'm Jacquees Peace Thomas, and on this season of the Black Lit Podcast, we're outside asking why. They don't want a whole bunch of little Ella Bakers, Malcolm Xs, and Martin Luther Kings running around. And when you look at a lot of different cultures, they're like, we need to know where you came from. And considering this is Black Reading Month, the only real question is, what are you reading next? Listen to Black Lit from the Black Effect Podcast Network on our iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 5 (1:38) Hey, it's Bobby Bones. Join me and former NFL quarterback Matt Castle every Wednesday on our podcast, Lots to Say, with me, Bobby Bones, and Matt Castle. You're in training camp, and the rookie quarterback has one good throwing session in front of the media. Suddenly, everybody online says he should start over you week one. How do you handle this? You Speaker 8 (1:57) just go back out to practice the next day and wait for him to mess Speaker 5 (2:00) up. Listen to Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (2:08) Scrubbing in with Becca Tilly and Tanya Radd, an iHeartRadio and two-time People's Choice Award-winning podcast. Speaker 8 (2:18) Hello, everybody. Speaker 1 (2:20) We are scrubbing in. That we are. It is a Monday. It is the Monday after the VMAs. It is a Monday after Taylor Swift released four new songs. That's right. There's a lot to Speaker 6 (2:32) discuss. Speaker 1 (2:34) Yeah. How are you doing? I'm doing just dandy. How are you doing? Speaker 6 (2:38) You're not doing just like amazing, incredible, beyond the best after a two-hour FaceTime with me last night? Speaker 1 (2:46) Becca and I? Yeah. Started our FaceTime at 7.10 p.m. And guess what time we hung up? Speaker 3 (2:52) I would guess 10.10 p.m. Speaker 1 (2:55) That is terrible math. I thought you said three hour FaceTime. Oh, Speaker 3 (2:59) two. Speaker 1 (2:59) I'm sorry. 9.05 p.m. Wow. Yes. Speaker 2 (3:04) That's phenomenal. Not only Speaker 6 (3:06) did I answer, that was a big start. And then I did two hours. Yes. So I was expecting. A little more charisma for me this morning. Excitement. Speaker 1 (3:17) And it's an embarrassment of riches between the two-hour FaceTime, Taylor, VMAs. It's just like a lot to handle, to process for me. Well, where do we begin? Because after, Speaker 6 (3:27) I want to say Tuesday was when Taylor announced that she was, was it Tuesday where she announced that she had new music coming out? Yes. Speaker 1 (3:35) The Speaker 6 (3:35) Patient Zero? Yes, yes. Which confused me. I was a little confused because she announced that there was going to be a single, Patient Zero, posted. The artwork for it, which felt totally random and separate from Life of a Showgirl to me. It did feel separate. Yeah, I was like, we're entering a new era. And then a few days later, she's like, actually, you're getting four songs. Yeah. An encore to Life of a Showgirl. Correct. Which, and then I was like, wait, but is Patient Zero still part of those four songs or is it separate? I'd love to hear your initial thoughts upon listening. Speaker 1 (4:12) So I know there's Speaker 6 (4:14) a Speaker 1 (4:14) lot of discourse online about these said four songs. I am on the side of the Internet that's obsessed with them, like literally obsessed with them. I have not stopped listening to them. My only gripe is the talking. Right. If there was no talking in either of those songs, they would be 100 out of 10 for me. I Speaker 6 (4:33) do feel like that's where. everyone who has discourse is kind of all aligned. Like, even if you love the songs, I think everyone's kind of like about the talking, right? Where she goes, I Speaker 1 (4:45) have an announcement to make. You think she would have learned? I Speaker 6 (4:49) found... Speaker 1 (4:53) it's so tanya coded it is very it's so me and even i could do without but what i'm saying is i still like i'm obsessed with them yeah Speaker 6 (5:04) so upon first listen i i love i love the the melody of patient zero yeah Speaker 2 (5:12) but again the talking kind of took me out of it for a second minimal talking i almost don't hear the talking anymore Speaker 1 (5:18) at this point Speaker 2 (5:19) i think it is it's because her bridges are so good and we know her for her bridges Speaker 6 (5:24) so to fill them the bridges with the talking it threw me Speaker 3 (5:30) You know, you'd think she would have learned from Hey Kid Spelling is Fun, which they ended up removing from that song for radio. So you'd think she'd have learned from that experience, because that is painful. I'm not a fan of Cleveland. I think that's Speaker 1 (5:41) a Speaker 3 (5:41) rough one. I know. I know. Look, I have one daughter who's obsessed with them, and one daughter who is a hater on them. Speaker 3 (5:50) And I'm leaning a little bit towards the hater side of the two sides of that coin. I like Babylon. That's my favorite of the four. Speaker 1 (5:57) That's my least favorite. Well, okay. Well, Speaker 3 (5:59) at Speaker 1 (5:59) least their Speaker 3 (5:59) own. But I'm not a fan of Cleveland. Speaker 6 (6:03) Babylon's my favorite. And then Patient Zero. Agreed. And then Pink Clouding. Yes. And then Cleveland. Oh, the Pink Speaker 3 (6:08) Clouding, like, I barely remember that one. I feel like... Pink Clouding. It Speaker 1 (6:13) goes in order. That's like my favorite. My favorite is Patient Zero. Cleveland's my second. Oh, wow. Pink Clouding and then Babylon. So we agree about Speaker 3 (6:20) Pink Clouding being the third of the four. Speaker 2 (6:22) Sure. Speaker 3 (6:23) You're Speaker 1 (6:23) not Speaker 2 (6:23) a big lyrics person, are you? Speaker 1 (6:26) Excuse me. You're not. You're Speaker 2 (6:27) not. Speaker 1 (6:28) You're a melody. The first time I heard Cleveland, I was in the bathroom and I was telling Robbie, like, how cute she's talking about Travis and how everybody's talking all this smack about her. But she doesn't care because she found her person. That is her. That is her taste. You Speaker 8 (6:42) know what? I think my I can't appreciate good storytelling. OK, Becca Tilly. I Speaker 6 (6:46) saw someone say there's like four groups of people or. It's like people who love the music. There's people who hate the music. There's people who are like, I love Taylor, but this isn't like necessarily my favorite songs of hers. And then people who are like really dramatic Speaker 2 (7:02) and feel like they've like lost their friend who is the storyteller of art, whatever. Speaker 6 (7:08) I'm more like, I love Taylor and I will listen to whatever she puts out forever. But they're not like my they're not they're not going to go on like my top five songs, which is fine. But I also was thinking about it. And I feel like Cleveland is a song for the girlies who this is you're going to like this, I think, who were told that like they're too much. Their standards are too high. They're never going to find a guy who loves the things about them that that are their biggest personality traits. And then. Being able to announce that they found that person and not only did they find someone to do it, but he's also really awesome and great and they want to shout it from the rooftop. But Speaker 2 (7:50) I have never been I've never been that girl in the sense that like I must be nice. Well, there's just two different. I mean, I think it's just a very Tanya Becka thing. Speaker 1 (8:01) I'm very convinced that people who don't like these new songs don't feel joy. That's not true. I feel so much joy. Speaker 2 (8:07) That's Speaker 1 (8:07) really all you need. It's just like you turn these songs on and it's just joyful. Like, you know, you just want her to be like in her sad, depressed era. And like, I'm happy. Because You Speaker 6 (8:17) Are In Love is one of the most beautiful love songs of all time. And it's so romantic and happy. It's like the, it describes falling in love so beautifully. And I think that I can appreciate. her happiness and want her happiness and also say i like us i'm more of like a yearner so Speaker 1 (8:38) so uh because beck and i were facetiming i missed the um i missed the patient zero music video yeah i missed it because i was on facetime with you which is fine i was so happy to be on facetime with you i did not want to hang up on facetime with you uh but i missed it on my television so i was like surely it'll be on youtube or something whatever So I go to Taylor's Instagram and like click the link tree to all the various places that I need subscriptions to watch the video. It's like nowhere to be found. I had to find some person that was in the audience at the VMAs that tracked it on their phone. Wait, why? It was not. I don't know if it's up now, but last night, like it was not on YouTube. Whoa. Interesting. So I found some person. Thank you to this said VMA. You should shout them out. Yeah, I should. Hold on. I reposted it because I was like, if anybody else is having issues, here you go. They filmed the whole music video. Asante Madrigal. Hold on. Let me see who this person is. Asante Madrigal. It Speaker 3 (9:42) seems to be out now. Speaker 6 (9:44) Okay. Maybe they just were trying to push people to watch the VMAs. Maybe. Yeah. Speaker 1 (9:48) But I needed to see it. And the music video made me love it even more. Yeah. And I'm like, I want to see the feature film of this music video. The Speaker 6 (9:56) music video was really good. And I loved the, at the end when you realize she was just, she was knocking all the drinks out of her hand. As a ghost? Yeah. Because she had been poisoned and she was like, don't drink these because you're going to get poisoned. I didn't Speaker 2 (10:09) realize. I thought she was just trying to get her attention. No, she was trying to like. Make sure she didn't drink the poison. Speaker 1 (10:15) Oh, my gosh. I'm learning more and more every day. Oh, yeah. Speaker 2 (10:21) The music video is really Speaker 8 (10:22) good. But honestly, like our FaceTime made me so happy. Speaker 2 (10:25) Yeah. We need to Speaker 8 (10:26) do that once a week. Speaker 2 (10:27) This is like better Speaker 8 (10:30) than FaceTime, though, no? Yeah, but this Speaker 1 (10:32) plus a FaceTime. But Speaker 6 (10:33) we do this and then we do another episode every Thursday. And then plus a FaceTime. Okay. Maybe like once a month we do a FaceTime. Speaker 2 (10:43) I'm Speaker 1 (10:43) trying to Speaker 2 (10:44) get dinner with you and it's impossible. She's Speaker 6 (10:46) like, I have date Speaker 2 (10:47) night. I'm like, you see this man every night. Come on. I'm trying to, Speaker 6 (10:52) do you hear this Mark? I'm trying to schedule a dinner with her, have a bestie dinner and intentional time. And she goes, I can just stop by after work on Wednesday during the day. I'm like. Can we not Speaker 8 (11:02) have a cute dinner? Well, Speaker 6 (11:03) that's interesting, Speaker 3 (11:04) Tanya. First of Speaker 8 (11:05) all, I asked for Thursday. She can't do Thursday. You Speaker 1 (11:07) see your person all the time. Why can't you do Thursday? Speaker 8 (11:09) But Speaker 1 (11:09) Robbie said he could do tonight on FaceTime. Yes, but I might be on Valium. That's Speaker 3 (11:14) not how you pronounce that word. Speaker 1 (11:17) Valium. Turn up Speaker 3 (11:19) the Valium. Speaker 1 (11:20) So it might not be able to happen tonight. Well, that Speaker 3 (11:24) is an extenuating circumstance. Speaker 1 (11:26) Thank you, Mark. I'm just saying, Speaker 8 (11:27) right back at you, babe. Why can't y'all do Thursday night? Speaker 1 (11:31) Because we have the kids on Thursday. Oh, Speaker 6 (11:33) I see. Speaker 1 (11:34) Yeah. Speaker 6 (11:35) It's tough. Listen, it's tough. Life is busy. Life is fun. But we can certainly incorporate more FaceTimes if that makes you happy. Speaker 1 (11:44) Although I will say I was nice that you got a glimpse of what I have to deal with on Sundays because Robbie would like, he got in about an hour and a half in. So he was really only there for like the last half hour. But he was watching football and he would like ask Becca a question. And then she would answer the question and he would like scream at the TV, like not even paying attention to what Becca's saying. Speaker 2 (12:05) Yeah. Speaker 3 (12:06) It Speaker 2 (12:07) wasn't like I was engaging in the conversation. He's like, oh, how's Phoebe? What's the update with her health stuff? And then I go into this long thing, but I don't care to talk about that anymore. And then he's like, no, no. I'm like, Speaker 8 (12:20) excuse me. She's answering your question. I already know how Phoebe is. Speaker 8 (12:27) of the decency to listen to her yeah Speaker 6 (12:29) he was locked in this Speaker 1 (12:31) is what i get every sunday well Speaker 6 (12:33) it's kind of nice because you can do your own thing and he's entertained yeah Speaker 1 (12:37) so when i need him to answer some questions it's tough yeah Speaker 6 (12:42) he was locked in he was locked in um did you watch the okay there's a few things to talk about dancing with the stars we'll just go in order of things that happen Speaker 2 (12:53) Yeah, sure. I guess now that we've already covered what happened yesterday. Well, the Speaker 8 (12:56) VMAs, I feel like we should start there since those were last night. So I watched Speaker 6 (13:00) the first Speaker 8 (13:01) half and then I Speaker 6 (13:02) tuned out. I'm very confused. And I know Madonna is like an icon and whatnot, but I was very confused by her winning so many awards. Speaker 3 (13:10) To me, that throws the entire credibility of the Video Musical Awards. Totally. Which, by the way, didn't have a lot of credibility to begin with. Right. Speaker 2 (13:17) But Speaker 3 (13:18) Artist of the Year in 2026 is Madonna? No. Something's... Somebody's getting paid. With Speaker 6 (13:23) the powerhouses we have in the pop world right now. It was Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Ariana Grande. It was giving Madonna Speaker 1 (13:32) agreed to perform. Let's give her whatever she demands. Like, yeah, I agree. It was too much. Yeah. Speaker 2 (13:41) There's like a way of honoring her, like an icon award or whatever. Something like that. Right. Yes. Let's make Speaker 1 (13:49) up a totally new. I would rather make up a totally new award. Like Taylor gets this new award. Legend of 2026 award goes to Madonna. Like and do a whole honoree, honoree, honor roar of her and have some people come up and like sings Madonna songs. Yeah. But to do. what they did. They Speaker 6 (14:14) could have done a Glee medley, like a Glee medley of Madonna songs. Do you remember the Glee episode of Madonna? Speaker 8 (14:21) Amazing idea. Speaker 1 (14:22) They could have brought the Glee cast back together. I Speaker 2 (14:26) have ideas for next year. I was Speaker 1 (14:27) very concerned because I was watching the carpet and I was just like, am I old or who are these people? Like both. No, no, because I'm very tuned in. I'm very keyed in to like. Not to influencers. Speaker 8 (14:41) You're not. This Speaker 1 (14:42) guy was like Spider-Man or Superman or something. They were showing this guy on the red carpet for, I swear, five minutes, and they didn't have the chyron up to say who it was. And I'm like, who is this guy? I had my phone up to the thing asking chat GPT who he was. This is boomer Speaker 2 (14:58) energy. Big boomer energy. Hold Speaker 1 (15:00) on. I don't even remember his name. But he played Speaker 3 (15:03) Superman? Speaker 1 (15:04) Yes, but it didn't do well or something. Hold on, let Speaker 6 (15:06) me Speaker 1 (15:06) see. Well, I mean, that Speaker 6 (15:07) sounds like a big gig and someone that should be there if he was in Superman that came out this year. Speaker 3 (15:11) David Cornsweat? Speaker 6 (15:13) Let me see the photo. I need Speaker 1 (15:14) the photo Speaker 3 (15:15) of him on the carpet. Who Speaker 1 (15:17) doesn't know David Cornsweat? Speaker 3 (15:20) It's a household name. Are you kidding? Speaker 1 (15:22) And then they showed his, I think it's his girlfriend, that was also on the carpet with him for a very long time. And I was like, okay. Speaker 6 (15:32) Anytime I go to events for a