YEAR OF GAY Ft. Rebecca Black | Episode 147

Lock in team, the one and only Rebecca Black is here this week!! Drew and Rebecca discuss the pop mothers who have influenced them most, Rebecca’s boiler room sets, DJing at her ex’s house, poppers, spending the day with a hater, lesbians who love Joe Jonas, getting caught eating spaghetti at Disneyland, mailing Zac Efron a yearbook photo, and so much more. Listen to Rebecca’s new single “Sugar Water Cyanide” releasing on December 5th, and presave her new album “SALVATION” out January 17th here: https://lnk.dmsmusic.co/rebeccablack_salvationRebecca IG: https://www.instagram.com/msrebeccablack/?hl=en Rebecca Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msrebeccablack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:02Speaker 02

  If you want to feel like big and mighty on yourself as a boob. Boob? Man? I meant to say man. Hello? As a boob.

• 1:17Drew Afualo?

  Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of The Comment Section Show, starring me, your fave, everybody knows me, who cares about me. Onto the guests. Today, we have the iconic, the legendary, the multifaceted and talented Rebecca Black.

• 1:33Speaker 02

  Hi.

• 1:34Drew Afualo?

  Hello, welcome to the show, queen.

• 1:36Speaker 02

  Thanks for having me.

• 1:37Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my gosh, I'm so happy. I'm honored to have you.

• 1:39Speaker 02

  Oh, my God, I'm excited to be here.

• 1:41Drew Afualo?

  Right, this is our first time meeting in person, but I feel like we've known each other for a long time. It feels like we have.

• 1:46Speaker 02

  I've admired you from afar in the same room, for sure.

• 1:49Drew Afualo?

  Likewise.

• 1:50Speaker 02

  For sure.

• 1:51Drew Afualo?

  Likewise, and not in a weird way.

• 1:54Speaker 02

  For me, borderline.

• 1:56Drew Afualo?

  I'll be honest, mine was.

• 1:59Speaker 02

  I don't know.

• 2:01Drew Afualo?

  Well, how have you been, Queen? How's life?

• 2:02Speaker 02

  I think good. I've been just like head down, so it's actually nice to like sit and chat and talk.

• 2:10Drew Afualo?

  And key.

• 2:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, and key.

• 2:11Drew Afualo?

  You have to.

• 2:12Speaker 02

  I have a lot of key. Um, but I've been, I've been good. I've been good, you know?

• 2:15Drew Afualo?

  I know, you've been busy. You've been working, you've been in that stew cooking.

• 2:19Speaker 02

  We've been, I've actually been out of the stew cooking. It's been sitting.

• 2:23Drew Afualo?

  Well, now we're seeing the fruits of your stew.

• 2:24Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 2:25Drew Afualo?

  The fruits of your cooking.

• 2:26Speaker 02

  It's been in the fridge, and we're finally bringing it out.

• 2:28Drew Afualo?

  Exactly, exactly. It's time.

• 2:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's been, it's been fun. It's been fun.

• 2:32Drew Afualo?

  And your new single, Trust, may I, dare I say, a bop?

• 2:36Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 2:37Drew Afualo?

  I love it. And I told you this before we started rolling, but I love a country gay pop song.

• 2:41Speaker 02

  There, you can never have too many.

• 2:42Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 2:43Speaker 02

  I think that's been like the year, it's been the year of country gay pop, and I'm determined to bring it into the following year.

• 2:48Drew Afualo?

  I love it. And also, can I also say, I love your Boiler Room sets. Can I say? I'm a huge fan of them.

• 2:56Speaker 02

  Thank you. Yeah, that's crazy. Thank you.

• 2:59Drew Afualo?

  So I have lots of questions, but first we'll start, start with the music. So how has your most recent music journey been? Like, how does this differ from your earlier work, would you say?

• 3:09Speaker 02

  Um, I mean, I've been doing this for a long time. Um, so there's been so many different iterations of like me thinking I know what I'm doing and, you know, either falling on my face or just getting my, getting, getting information and, um, figuring this whole thing out. And, um, the last like four years have been like a really steady, um, I feel like journey of figuring out how to like put what's in my head on a paper, um, with everything that I do. And I definitely think like this last, um, this current album that I'm putting out and, um,

• 3:49Speaker 02

  I'm in the process of releasing, like feels like it couldn't have existed without literally everything that came before.

• 3:55Drew Afualo?

  Totally.

• 3:55Speaker 02

  Um, and it's just exciting to see people really like get it.

• 4:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 4:00Speaker 02

  And respond to it because I know a lot of people see my name and they think one thing or they have expectations. And I love to betray them.

• 4:09Drew Afualo?

  Right, exactly.

• 4:10Speaker 02

  So it's been really, really exciting to see people like see what I've seen for a long time.

• 4:16Drew Afualo?

  Absolutely, and you're, I would say, a gay icon. And I think, I would love to know how your experience has been as far as being in the queer community yourself. And then also, like, having such a strong queer fanbase, like, how has that been for you? How's that shown up in your art, in your music?

• 4:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, same thing, it's been such a long kind of journey of navigating it. And also, the landscape of music has changed so much over the past like thirteen years. Whereas I think even like five years ago, I remember, well, maybe it was a little bit long, I don't know. Whenever it was that I was like figuring out my sexuality, which was a little longer than five years ago. But, at the point where I was like starting to make gay stuff, I had a lot of people tell me like, "I don't know if you wanna make this a part of your brand," or like pigeonhole yourself or anything. And now it feels like every artist is dying to be gay.

• 5:12Speaker 02

  Like, they wish and pray that they are gay, because it's the year of being gay. So, I don't know, I mean, for me, like, I've always just lived my life like as a huge fan of the pop space, as a queer person, and I owe my life to gay people, like, even before I knew my world and my piece of being queer. Like, gay people were always the people who rooted for me, when everyone was like,

• 5:45Speaker 02

  "I don't know about her." They were like, "She's fierce, trust me."

• 5:50Drew Afualo?

  You guys are sleeping on her.

• 5:51Speaker 02

  Trust me, and it's because of them that I was like, "Maybe you're right, I guess, I don't know."

• 5:57Drew Afualo?

  That's so T, I love that.

• 5:58Speaker 02

  It's, I mean-

• 5:59Drew Afualo?

  It's true, they're never wrong.

• 6:00Speaker 02

  They're never wrong.

• 6:01Drew Afualo?

  They champion a horse, it's gonna win.

• 6:03Speaker 02

  So whatever the world is like shitting on, and the gays are loving it, I mean, look at Addison.

• 6:08Drew Afualo?

  Exactly, that's a perfect example.

• 6:10Speaker 02

  We have been on Addison, when Obsessed came out, I was possessed. Like, I was loving it, and was like, "What do you mean?"

• 6:20Drew Afualo?

  Don't see it, people don't see the art.

• 6:21Speaker 02

  No, and here, and here she is.

• 6:23Drew Afualo?

  That's true, they're like, uh, the gays are like, when they pick shit they like, especially music, artists, culture. They're kinda like that octopus that used to pick the World Cup winner. You know what I mean, they'd be like, is it real, and I mean, he has no losses on the board. I'm gonna listen to him, like, you know what I mean? What they like, I'm gonna listen to. And they picked you.

• 6:43Speaker 02

  Exactly, and I, I remember seeing like a tweet once, that was like, every gay is like, born with essentially like, not like a godmother, but like, a, a woman, that he will have to, or they will have to defend for the rest of their life. Whether or not, like, Life or Death Matters on it, so it's, you know, I just, I really appreciate the way that, honestly, it's given me so much confidence over the years to like, know I have a, a world there, and, and gay people are like, such a big part of my audience.

• 7:15Drew Afualo?

  That's so true.

• 7:16Speaker 02

  They're geniuses.

• 7:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they really are, and they know their shit, they know, they know who's fierce and who's not, like you were saying.

• 7:22Speaker 02

  They do.

• 7:23Drew Afualo?

  They were like, you guys are gonna wish that you were on the ground floor.

• 7:26Speaker 02

  Exactly, exactly.

• 7:28Drew Afualo?

  And so, how has it been now, like, how do you feel towards the music industry now, like, as far as like, your evolution and your career, and how you've kinda matured within the industry, honestly, like, kinda grew up in there, so like, how do, how does your, how do you feel towards it now versus how you used to?

• 7:45Speaker 02

  Ooh, that's an interesting question, I mean, it's, it's a weird place, and it's changed so much, and it's still, I was just having a conversation about like, the way it is literally changing in its structure all the time, and I think it's really exciting to watch pop have, like, the renaissance that it's having, and see the way that like, I remember, six years ago in twenty eighteen, like, we were all vibing to rap music, which I love rap music. But there were no girls, like, it felt like, there were no, the, it felt like pop was in a place where it could really be pushed forward,

• 8:27Speaker 02

  which is funny, cuz that's where you have like, the Charlies, and like, Sophie, and all of these like, inventors of where pop is now, kind of like, kind of first having their seeds be sprouted, so, um, it's just exciting to me to see.

• 8:44Speaker 02

  Pop be in a place where people are like really appreciating world building. And I think like the Chapels and the Sabrina's and the Charlies and and all of the girls that are out there right now are like really opening up a landscape to show that like people want to see you take a risk, like people want to see you push them and and that's something I've always known about my audience from like the jump. Um, when I started making my, the music I really wanted to and it's, it just makes me excited to keep going and I hope everyone sees this as an opportunity to like do more.

• 9:18Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 9:19Speaker 02

  Do more because people want it.

• 9:22Drew Afualo?

  And that's such a good point and also like leaning into what makes you different as opposed to conforming, which is typically what goes the pop route or like women who are fitting a very specific mold. But now it's like a renaissance, like you said of pop where it's like they're almost craving something completely different that people haven't seen before.

• 9:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, which is also like nice because I think there was a, a period where like TikTok started popping off and every, and TikTok is huge for music still and I don't get it. I don't, I drive, but I like just watch and learn, but it's nice to see people, I feel like time and time again, no matter who tells me it's not true, like people appreciate an album. Even people will say time and time again, music videos don't have a return on investment, like yes, they do.

• 10:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 10:10Speaker 02

  Like.

• 10:11Drew Afualo?

  Especially on social media.

• 10:12Speaker 02

  Yes, all what people pass around time and time again, and I see it with like Gaga music videos from 10 years ago or Lana music videos from 10 years ago, like people pass around something that shows you who they are and identify with that and like that's, that's what raised me are those girls. So it's really exciting to I don't know, be in a place where I can be like, see, I told you, we needed to do that.

• 10:38Drew Afualo?

  And be right.

• 10:38Speaker 02

  You know, yeah, I mean, the trust like music videos as an independent artist, like it's not easy to put something like that out.

• 10:45Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I know. I bet.

• 10:47Speaker 02

  It's expensive.

• 10:48Drew Afualo?

  For sure.

• 10:49Speaker 02

  And I look at my bank account and that dictates what I can do. And it's just really like exciting to see people.

• 11:00Speaker 02

  Embrace that because it lets me do more.

• 11:03Drew Afualo?

  I was gonna ask too, like, what were some of your pop influences, but you mentioned Lady Gaga.

• 11:07Speaker 02

  That's my mommy.

• 11:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, Lady Gaga, I was obsessed with her.

• 11:13Speaker 02

  Really?

• 11:13Drew Afualo?

  Every time I look back, because my sister's a lesbian, but every time I look back and I'm obviously not, um, I just fucking hate men, but at least once an episode, I have to mention that my sister's a lesbian. Anyways, that's just part of my thing. That's my hidden Mickey. My hidden Mickey in every episode. It's mentioning Jason Zell as being anyways. Uh, so my gay sister, uh, and I were like, every time I look back, because when my sister first came out to me, I was like, what? I would have known. When I look back, I'm like, well, yeah.

• 11:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:45Drew Afualo?

  Because we were, we learned the entire Bad Romance choreography in two thousand nine. And we would do it all the time. Like, we would play the music, we'd like, hey, play it, play it, play it. And then we would do it. And we would record ourselves doing it. So, you know, yeah, a lot of the shit I love, I've always loved, like, especially culturally, has been what women and gay people love always.

• 12:03Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 12:03Drew Afualo?

  They, and like you said, they're always right.

• 12:05Speaker 02

  They're always right. Lesbians love Gaga.

• 12:08Drew Afualo?

  They do.

• 12:08Speaker 02

  Every single one of them that I know. We all like, there's, yeah, there's, there's like societal counterpoints that you can be like, okay, yes, that makes sense. Um.

• 12:19Drew Afualo?

  Another diva that they picked and everyone shat on when she was first out.

• 12:22Speaker 02

  And when you look back at like old, like, early day Gaga videos, even just like the random shit she was doing.

• 12:31Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 12:31Speaker 02

  Because she was doing a lot of crazy, random shit, like, the references and the things she was putting in front of like, such a large mass scale of people are shocking.

• 12:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's literally like so far ahead of her time. It's scary.

• 12:46Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 12:46Drew Afualo?

  It's like this bitch was living twenty-five years in the future.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  Yes, it's sick. It's sick to know that like a twenty-two-year-old or twenty-four-year-old, however she was when she did like, um, uh, paparazzi and, and Bad Romance and all those like. It's so cool to know that like, guys, people have been ready for this for years. I mean Madonna, like it goes Bowie, it goes so far back for what people are down for, but um. Yeah Gaga's a huge influence for me Madonna Gwen, honestly like early like Gwen Stefani. Um, Orange County Girl and and Lana, those are like my.

• 13:22Drew Afualo?

  Love.

• 13:22Speaker 02

  My four mothers. Yeah.

• 13:25Drew Afualo?

  And not to pivot, but kind of to pivot. I'd love to talk about your boiler room sets.

• 13:29Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 13:29Drew Afualo?

  I'd love to know how you got into DJing. How do you, how do you like it? Like what drew you to it? Obviously, other than the gay underworld, because I know, and by that I mean underground.

• 13:38Speaker 02

  The underworld.

• 13:39Drew Afualo?

  They do love.

• 13:40Speaker 02

  The gay satanic underworld.

• 13:42Drew Afualo?

  And I'm all in there, trust me.

• 13:44Speaker 02

  Me too.

• 13:44Drew Afualo?

  Uh, I know that it's huge for them, but I feel like Boiler Room is kind of moving to like. People are starting to see it a lot more now because it's traveling around on social media. So I'd love to know how you got into DJing and.

• 13:56Speaker 02

  I started DJing like. I think it was at the end of like probably this time twenty seventeen, which was seven years ago, six years ago.

• 14:05Drew Afualo?

  Oh damn.

• 14:06Speaker 02

  And um, I started at my ex's house.

• 14:09Drew Afualo?

  Naturally.

• 14:10Speaker 02

  You do, um, surrounded by a bunch of lesbians and basically someone just had a controller and would like. Kind of play at house parties and just like nights where we would all hang out and I. Just wanted to try it and thought it was cool and and um, thought it was like could be something really fun and and I started just doing that. And then I started playing um, like little LA raves and like parties around town. Um, like there used to be this night called Candy Pop at this place called The Satellite, it's no longer existing. But um, I would just like, I mean, that's kind of how you start DJing is you're literally like, I'm a DJ now. And I would like to play.

• 14:52Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 14:52Speaker 02

  And see who believes you.

• 14:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah girl, please let me come and play.

• 14:55Speaker 02

  And I remember like my first few gigs, like I was clueless because you get up there and now you're not on a tiny controller, you're on like CDJs, which are like. Big and a lot more buttons and so I really just learned through like playing gigs over the last six years and and practicing some more and and um and it's been like a thing that I think not a lot of people have known about but it's been a big part of my life and

• 15:21Drew Afualo?

  I love it. I love your sets.

• 15:23Speaker 02

  I mean, I I love to play. I Boiler Room was somewhat something I was really surprised to get an offer for at that point because that's like I've been such a huge fan of electronic music for so long like I remember being 12 and hearing like Skrillex's Scary Monsters and Nice sprites that my little brother put me onto and being like this is crazy like it music can sound like this what and so it's been something that I've I've loved for so long and um it was just so cool to get the offer to do it. I was so scared to do it. But it it went it went off.

• 16:00Drew Afualo?

  And how was the energy in there while you're doing it live?

• 16:02Speaker 02

  It was literally like 6pm.

• 16:06Drew Afualo?

  Was it really?

• 16:06Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 16:07Drew Afualo?

  Damn.

• 16:08Speaker 02

  It was so I was nervous because I was like hmm I'm in Washington DC it's 6pm gay people don't leave their house before 6pm who's gonna be in this crowd?

• 16:17Drew Afualo?

  I'm scared.

• 16:18Speaker 02

  I I was scared. I was scared for sure and um and I went up there and like 15 minutes in my set someone offered me poppers next to me and I was like girl it's literally 6:15.

• 16:31Drew Afualo?

  You saw and you said I'm home.

• 16:34Speaker 02

  I I was so excited that someone asked me but I was like no.

• 16:38Drew Afualo?

  You said honored but no thank you.

• 16:39Speaker 02

  No thank you. I don't like poppers personally. They give me a headache.

• 16:42Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 16:43Speaker 02

  Um I don't know if you've ever done poppers.

• 16:45Drew Afualo?

  I've actually never done poppers, no.

• 16:46Speaker 02

  Okay, well I've brought some.

• 16:48Drew Afualo?

  Well, that brings us to our sponsor for today.

• 16:52Drew Afualo?

  The gay person who offers you poppers.

• 16:54Speaker 02

  But it was great like it was crazy. I mean the barricades like broke in the middle of the set so you see like security behind me trying to like get everyone off the stage. The CDJs also were literally like moving like this throughout the whole set because it was just

• 17:09Drew Afualo?

  So lit in there.

• 17:10Speaker 02

  It was crazy. It was people were just like ready to go.

• 17:14Drew Afualo?

  Got this bitch jumping, damn.

• 17:16Speaker 02

  But they were like, they were ready from the beginning.

• 17:18Drew Afualo?

  I love it.

• 17:19Speaker 02

  And I just get excited because I like, I spend usually the week before I do a set, literally just like deep on SoundCloud, looking for the like, most unhinged remixes I can find. Like, I opened the set with this Hannah Montana, um, "Nobody's Perfect", like, 150 hard techno remix.

• 17:37Drew Afualo?

  Naturally.

• 17:38Speaker 02

  Exactly. And I heard it and immediately was like, this is what I will play first. And it's just cool to see, I, I opened with that knowing like, y'all are either gonna get this or you're not.

• 17:49Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 17:50Speaker 02

  And immediately people were in and I was like, okay.

• 17:52Drew Afualo?

  Love, good vibes then.

• 17:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:54Drew Afualo?

  How would you compare, uh, performing like, sets as a DJ versus like, singing like a performer?

• 17:59Speaker 02

  It's so different. It's so different. I mean, I, I have a live show that has dancers and choreography and props and boobs and like...

• 18:09Drew Afualo?

  And can I say, when Rebecca Black does choreography, bitch, she does choreography.

• 18:13Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 18:14Drew Afualo?

  With a capital C, bitch.

• 18:15Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 18:16Drew Afualo?

  You're up there moving, bitch. Period.

• 18:18Speaker 02

  I try, I try.

• 18:19Drew Afualo?

  Love it.

• 18:20Speaker 02

  Um, I mean, I, I've been working with this choreographer, Richie Jackson, who did like, "Bad Romance", and like, all the early Gaga stuff that, um, he just like, gets what I wanna do. And we work so well together and I live for that. But, um, DJ sets are so, I am in, like, I'm not looking around. I, I watched that Boiler Room set and I was like, girl, have some fun.

• 18:43Drew Afualo?

  You're like, you look sad, queen.

• 18:45Speaker 02

  You look so serious. Um, I'm not trying to be cool. Like, I am literally just like, where is everything?

• 18:52Drew Afualo?

  You're locked in.

• 18:53Speaker 02

  I'm locked in. Um, and so it can, it, it just is so, it's so different. It's literally just me, I walk up there, I do my thing, I go, um, and with like, a live set, like, and also that's, that's the difference with DJing is, I don't really plan my sets out. Like, I plan my first song, and I might plan my last song. And everything else, I just kinda like, throw a bunch of shit in there and I'm like, let's see what I feel. Because I like to see what the room wants.

• 19:19Drew Afualo?

  What the vibe is.

• 19:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:20Drew Afualo?

  Okay, period.

• 19:21Speaker 02

  Um, and with a live show, like, it's, you know, we know what we're doing to the minute and the second.

• 19:27Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 19:27Speaker 02

  So, it's just like, a different kind of, um, adrenaline. DJing, I get way more adrenaline.

• 19:36Speaker 01

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• 20:08Speaker 02

  And I think beforehand, because I'm like, what the, what is gonna happen out there?

• 20:12Drew Afualo?

  Probably too, because it's like, you're a vibe curator at that point.

• 20:16Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 20:16Drew Afualo?

  The energy is consistent on you, right?

• 20:18Speaker 02

  Exactly. Whereas like, my live show, I'm like, you come and you get it or you don't. And that's not my problem.

• 20:25Drew Afualo?

  Take it or leave it.

• 20:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:26Drew Afualo?

  And DJ, it's like, please like me. If anyone unhappy.

• 20:29Speaker 02

  It's like throwing a party.

• 20:30Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, exactly. You're hosting the party.

• 20:33Speaker 02

  I hope you're having a good time.

• 20:36Drew Afualo?

  Can someone let me know if you're not?

• 20:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:38Drew Afualo?

  Honestly, honestly.

• 20:40Speaker 02

  But yeah, it's, it's different. But I like, I like having both. And I, I was honestly like scared to DJ, I think for a long time on bigger stages, because I was like, I am relinquishing a piece of control into like technology, which again, with my show, I'm like, even if the whole system fails, I'll just be like, hello!

• 20:59Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 21:01Speaker 02

  And I can like, make it up from there. Whereas I think with, with tech, like CDJs, there's always something fucked up in there. Like, something always weird happens. So, it's, you know, it's fun.

• 21:11Drew Afualo?

  I will ask too, when it comes to DJing, it's very male-dominated field. Like, how has it been navigating that as, as a woman?

• 21:18Speaker 02

  I, it's...

• 21:19Drew Afualo?

  And a queer woman on top of that.

• 21:20Speaker 02

  It's weird.

• 21:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 21:22Speaker 02

  It's weird. And then throw the fact that you're Rebecca Black on top of that, and it's a little bit weirder. Uh, yeah, I mean, that's what was so interesting about Boiler Room is like I did that knowing that, okay, either people are really gonna have opinions on this, or they're not gonna care, and that's totally fine, too. And I think it was fascinating to see a couple clips like get posted from Boiler Room before the set even went live. And everyone was like, oh, not another celebrity DJ who like doesn't know what she's doing, and like is not pressing any buttons, or whatever. And it was just like a very fast, kind of, this is not gonna be good.

• 22:01Drew Afualo?

  Yep.

• 22:01Speaker 02

  Even though they'd seen maybe like fifteen seconds of an hour-long set.

• 22:05Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 22:06Speaker 02

  Um, and it's fascinating to watch the, the like electronic world and dance world, I think is still like very largely gate-kept, and I get it, it's in this place where like people are really embracing dance music, and queer people are really like being, I think, pushed to the forefront.

• 22:24Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 22:25Speaker 02

  Thanks to a lot of like amazing trans DJs and drag DJs, and, um, and even like someone like Charlie, like bringing Boiler Room and like that kind of music to the forefront. But a lot of like white boys had a lot of thoughts and opinions, and...

• 22:40Drew Afualo?

  Oh, I bet.

• 22:41Speaker 02

  I just wanted them to listen to the set. For me, I'm just like, the, the set's not out, so I don't know what you've watched.

• 22:48Drew Afualo?

  Also, do you know how to do it? Like, I always think like, I'm here and you're there, so like, one of us is clearly more skilled than the other, at the craft. That's why I'm like, you're never truly alone, because there's always a man waiting to tell you something you could have done better.

• 23:01Speaker 02

  Always.

• 23:02Drew Afualo?

  There's critique waiting for you.

• 23:04Speaker 02

  Always, always, and at this point, like, I, I think being on the internet for so long, I, I will, I love to watch the conversation happen, like, I will sit back and just let, I feel like Regina George in Mean Girls, where like, I'm like, I just give, I gave you the info.

• 23:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, standing there in an off-the-shoulder top.

• 23:23Speaker 02

  This isn't about me, really, like, if you wanna feel like big and mighty on yourself as a boob, boop? Man? I meant to say man. Hello? As a boob.

• 23:34Drew Afualo?

  Or a munch if you will.

• 23:36Speaker 02

  A munch, as a munch.

• 23:37Drew Afualo?

  As a munch.

• 23:39Speaker 02

  Live your truth, but like, I think if anything, these conversations are um only like lighting the fire under all of the women in music and gay people and like um marginalized people in music to like fight for their voices harder, so good luck.

• 23:59Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I was like, well, you guys have the Chainsmokers, so go look at them. Like, you don't have to look over here.

• 24:04Speaker 02

  Love.

• 24:04Drew Afualo?

  Nobody's looking, go over there, that's okay. I don't, I'm not saying you can't go watch him.

• 24:09Speaker 02

  Totally, totally.

• 24:11Drew Afualo?

  There's two of them, right? Yeah, obviously, plural. I don't know, you could point to any two white guys and I'd be like, that could be the Chainsmokers, it could be Glenn Powell. For all we know, it could be both, you know?

• 24:20Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 24:21Drew Afualo?

  But that's actually a good transition into, I want to talk to you about dealing with hate online, because you're a seasoned vet, I feel like, as am I.

• 24:27Speaker 02

  No.

• 24:29Drew Afualo?

  You're, why, did something happen on social media that I should be familiar with?

• 24:33Speaker 02

  I must have been napping. Yeah.

• 24:36Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I don't know who that was, but I would love to, I, first off, before we talk about that, I do want to commend you and I find, I admire you greatly, just for your, obviously, you're, you're very real and valid talent, but also um for how you've like grown throughout the industry and how you've like really like in a, in a very awful time on the internet. You're, you're still fucking doing it, man. Like, you're still here, you're still fucking succeeding. Like, that shit did not slow you down, not even one bit.

• 25:03Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 25:03Drew Afualo?

  So I want to give you your flowers for that, because it's fucking hard, like, especially on one, especially at the time, right? Like, the way it was like unparalleled hate, like, like on another level, right? So you've experienced what very few do, I feel like, and you're still here, and you're succeeding.

• 25:18Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 25:19Drew Afualo?

  Because, and where the fuck are those people at? Exactly.

• 25:22Speaker 02

  Well, they are at the Chainsmokers sets.

• 25:25Drew Afualo?

  Naturally, you know?

• 25:26Speaker 02

  And no hate to the Chainsmokers.

• 25:28Drew Afualo?

  I'll give you hate. Just kidding. I don't know, are you a bad guy? Let me know.

• 25:35Drew Afualo?

  Let me know. The jury, the jury will check back in with me. But I do want to give you your flowers for that. I just think, I think you're incredibly strong and talented and courageous. And I'm so, I commend you for not letting that stop you from putting your art onto the world. Would have been a disservice to the world.

• 25:51Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 25:51Drew Afualo?

  As you not kept going. So I think you're amazing. But I do want to talk, ask you about hate. Like, how, how have you been able to kind of process and keep going throughout your career?

• 26:02Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, it honestly has been, well, it's been something I've done a lot of therapy on. And I have, God, I've talked about this so much and sometimes I really don't even know what to say. But I think I am lucky to have an urge to dissociate at times. And that has been one of the protective, protective mechanisms that has really helped me and also probably hindered me at moments of growth. I think it's, it's really, the big like challenge that I had to face within myself was just being as young as I was. Like, I was 13 years old when Friday happened.

• 26:47Speaker 02

  I never know how to say that. Like, when Friday hit the, hit the second tower. I don't know.

• 26:52Drew Afualo?

  That's your 9/11.

• 26:55Drew Afualo?

  And that's mine too, bitch.

• 26:58Speaker 02

  You know what I mean?

• 27:01Speaker 02

  Oh, no. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

• 27:04Drew Afualo?

  It's the only way to get through it. I promise you that.

• 27:06Speaker 02

  But anyway, I like, I, being that young and having so many people be so quick to be like, "You did a really bad thing. Like, you really fucked up so bad."

• 27:20Drew Afualo?

  What?

• 27:21Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 27:22Drew Afualo?

  Was it bad or did you just like not care for it? Like, those are two very different trends.

• 27:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. People on the internet really... Use the internet as a tool to like unleash their frustrations.

• 27:35Drew Afualo?

  Exactly.

• 27:35Speaker 02

  I think at the time.

• 27:36Drew Afualo?

  And project.

• 27:36Speaker 02

  Yes, at the time, I didn't know this, being that I was a kid, but um. Yeah, I just, I took, I think I was in a place where I had no sense of self and I was just like trying to figure it out like I was.

• 27:50Drew Afualo?

  Well, cuz you're a child.

• 27:51Speaker 02

  I was, you know, in the eighth grade.

• 27:53Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 27:55Speaker 02

  And being that young, it just was really hard to, I think, develop like a, a identity that wasn't based around what other people thought of me and, and being accepted and so that's been a challenge and through doing that in an industry where like people hate women a lot of the time and um have such unreasonable expectations of, of women. Um, just made that even harder.

• 28:22Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 28:23Speaker 02

  I've had, I have crazy, crazy stories about crazy people I could tell for many days, but um. I just feel really lucky again to like have always had, even when at times it was maybe two people online rooting for me and being like, you got this, um, I feel really lucky to have them and, and also to be in a place where like I would not be where I am now if it weren't for the people who I've met in the industry over the past few years who have been like, no go.

• 28:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 28:53Speaker 02

  Like, you got it. I'll step back, I'll help you out, but like, do what you gotta do.

• 28:58Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 28:58Speaker 02

  Um, and it's so, it like hate and opinions and, and all of that like just feel so outside of my orbit and like I.

• 29:10Drew Afualo?

  I love that. I think that's great.

• 29:12Speaker 02

  I think I, I, I've watched so many people on the internet like really struggle with, with um criticism and it's not even criticism, like criticism's one thing.

• 29:21Drew Afualo?

  And hate.

• 29:21Speaker 02

  Hate and, and like the cancellation and, and everything and like it feels like a war that you have to win by like saying the last word.

• 29:29Drew Afualo?

  Right, exactly, yeah.

• 29:31Speaker 02

  What I've learned is like the last word is being so unbothered by it.

• 29:36Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 29:37Speaker 02

  And I feel grateful to like be at a place where like I'm pretty unbothered.

• 29:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 29:44Speaker 02

  To a degree.

• 29:45Drew Afualo?

  Period.

• 29:45Speaker 02

  Um, and, and yeah.

• 29:48Drew Afualo?

  And that's a good thing. And that's fucking awesome. And it's like in damn near impossible, like sometimes when. You know, uh, there's criticism about like influencers, for example, because I'm a dickhead influencer. When like there's criticism about it and they're like, oh, you know, when influencers complain about shit. Um, it's annoying, like I would get, I would die to do something like that, which I'm always like, I, I get it, trust me. I worked a lot of fucking regular ass jobs before I did this. So I get it. This is not by any means the hardest job in the world. Um, but sometimes when people say that shit, I'm like, you think that. You think anybody could do this? Yeah, you think that, because all you see is the good stuff, the fun stuff. Right? I was like, but what you don't see is when everybody turns on you.

• 30:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:28Drew Afualo?

  And I said, that's a feeling I wouldn't wish on anybody, to be quite honest with you. It's, it's truly awful and like, oh, having only done this for like the last three, four years, like, obviously, given my niche. It's to be expected that I will get hate. When I run and punch someone in the back of the head, I have to expect they're gonna turn around and wanna swing too. That's just typically what happens when I attack awful men. But like, so if I thought like getting hate was like, like that kinda hate was, you know, unfair to me or whatever, that'd make me a hypocrite. But I always tell people, I'm like, every time y'all think of hate, you only think of like trolls, right? Like just trolls, which are a, a facet of hate, obviously. But the other side of hate you don't see is like hate that's disguised as like valid, or it's disguised as like.

• 31:13Drew Afualo?

  Oh, this is a reasonable, like, way for me to talk about how much I fucking hate someone I don't know.

• 31:18Speaker 02

  Right.

• 31:18Drew Afualo?

  Which is, I think, insane. Like, I think you're insane, like, I.

• 31:23Speaker 02

  I'm twenty seven, twenty seven.

• 31:25Drew Afualo?

  You not even knowing, I'm, okay, so I'm twenty nine, so we grew up on the internet around the same time. So like, I've never in all my years of being a voyeur on the internet before I became this person. Like, I've never been like, I'm gonna leave a fucking hate comment. I've never been that person, so I can't even relate.

• 31:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:44Drew Afualo?

  To that kind of like energy.

• 31:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, same.

• 31:46Drew Afualo?

  Like at all, any sort of unsolicited, I literally cannot relate to it. So I, it's, it, it's like what you said, like, there's really no. Rhyme or reason to it, and there's, and trying to figure out why or trying to fix why is like, you're gonna be chasing ghosts forever. There's just no way, because everyone, someone's gonna hate you regardless.

• 32:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, they'll, like, we're all figures to people and we're all not real, like, I. There was actually this one thing I did years ago. There was a show that aired for like three episodes. And I think it was called Hater. And it was like some random CW like kind of coming out of the early 2000s trash reality TV situations. Where there were like all those really bizarre shows and basically um kind of like like punked or like one of those type. And uh they had me shoot an episode for it and I was probably 15 or 14 at the time. Where basically you would have they would find they would cast like a real like hater.

• 32:47Drew Afualo?

  That's crazy.

• 32:48Speaker 02

  And like

• 32:49Drew Afualo?

  I'm already checked out. Oh, I'm not doing that.

• 32:51Speaker 02

  And every episode like I think Kim Kardashian did an episode, a few other people. And you would spend the day with a hater.

• 33:00Drew Afualo?

  Doing what? Running errands?

• 33:02Speaker 02

  Basically.

• 33:04Drew Afualo?

  Painting the town red?

• 33:05Speaker 02

  Basically. And the whole point was to like in some very unsettling way like get this hater to humanize with you. And for the person to humanize with the hater or whatever. And so I did this like I spent the day with this, I think it was a woman in her like late twenties, early thirties.

• 33:24Drew Afualo?

  Huh? When you're 14?

• 33:26Speaker 02

  Yeah. And we had a conversation at the end of the interview where like I basically was like fully in tears. Like not understanding why this girl was just like going off.

• 33:39Drew Afualo?

  At you?

• 33:40Speaker 02

  At me. Yeah, the whole day was just like I hate. I I mean back in hindsight.

• 33:46Drew Afualo?

  Like just in just in general conversation?

• 33:47Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 33:48Drew Afualo?

  Like she's just like, oh, I fucking hate you.

• 33:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 33:50Drew Afualo?

  What? Hey, what?

• 33:52Speaker 02

  I would love to re-watch this footage, but basically at the end of the of the uh the point I'm getting to is that the end of the day. We got to this conversation where she something literally like clicked in her brain. And she was like, I didn't think you were real. Like, I didn't think you were a real person. And it took 12 hours of literally being next to this girl like in every Uber we were together like in every or whatever it was like. We were, she just couldn't get this like ugh out of her mouth. of like, I hate you. It's so unfair. And then we probably got into this whole conversation, blah, blah.

• 34:32Speaker 02

  But it's really real that people don't, they really see you as like, uh, they're, you're there for their entertainment. You know, which I get it, like, I'm, I'm a pop star, like, I'm there to

• 34:45Drew Afualo?

  To entertain.

• 34:46Speaker 02

  To entertain and do, you know, choreo for you and make you feel good about yourself and escape and, and all of that. Um, but the depths that people take it to. Is

• 34:57Drew Afualo?

  I'm just like, I, and I promise I'm not laughing at you. I just find it absurd that like, a woman in her, like thirties is going like, God, I fucking hate this kid. Just get a load of this guy. Like, just the thought of her sitting there with a camera. Yeah, I fucking, yeah, I hate you. Uh, something about you just really makes me mad. Like, I don't know.

• 35:18Speaker 02

  It never aired, but I would, I just would love if anyone knows.

• 35:22Drew Afualo?

  I, you know what? I'm glad they didn't, cause it's a really horrible look.

• 35:27Drew Afualo?

  Honestly, I wish, I wish they did just to show how fucking stupid people like that look. When they're like, they're airing out what they feel is something very valid. And then to say it out loud, it's like reading your hate comment out loud to the person you wrote it on, like, Do you hear how fucking dumb you sound? Like, do you hear how mentally unwell you sound in this comment?

• 35:50Speaker 02

  It's misplaced. It's definitely misplaced. And like, I, I get, I get why the internet is like a place for people to use their anonymity to kind of like, you know, again, like unleash whatever it is on people. But there's so, there's so many other ways we can work that out, girl. Like, I, I think it's exciting that we're in a place where clear, like, times are weird. The energy in the air, not great right now in the world. And I think people are looking for a way to cope and seeing the way that like dance music and pop music and like, everything can be a real, a real escape. Like a real unleashing of energy, a real like, like voodoo doll that you can use on yourself to

• 36:35Drew Afualo?

  To experience joy.

• 36:36Speaker 02

  Experience joy and like find community.

• 36:39Drew Afualo?

  Absolutely.

• 36:40Speaker 02

  That I'm, I'm hoping in time, we're in a place where things will work itself out, but. I'm I'm not always, you know.

• 36:48Drew Afualo?

  Confident.

• 36:49Speaker 02

  Confident.

• 36:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and the internet doesn't help with that either.

• 36:52Speaker 02

  No.

• 36:53Drew Afualo?

  And I and it's funny too, because I like in a few interviews I've done, I've like talked about like the highs and lows of the internet, because obviously, like, given what I do, I see very awful parts of it. And I've like said before, I'm like, I think the internet, like, like most things in the world, like a as much good as it comes with, it comes with a lot of bad too. But I feel like the good definitely outweighs the bad in a lot of ways.

• 37:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:15Drew Afualo?

  So that's why I'm always like, as much as the internet pisses me the fuck off sometimes, like, for the most part, generally speaking, it can be a really beautiful place to find community or to build audiences and like, I even um had Mary Beth Brown on my show not too long ago, and she is a comic and she's been a comic for a long time. And so she was saying like, she loves the internet because it allows people to build audiences like on their own, whereas like before you'd have to go these very traditional routes that are very exclusionary and they don't include a lot of people. So like, I've said that before too, like if I didn't have the internet, like chances are someone who looks like me and talks like me and thinks like me wouldn't be given a platform to be able to like reach an audience. So it's kind of like you have to build it yourself. And I think that's what you've done, like

• 37:58Drew Afualo?

  because of your consistency and your talent, like you've been able to establish a very long time fanbase. It's just growing and growing and growing with time.

• 38:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:06Drew Afualo?

  And now you just have people being like, I've been known about her. I knew back in two thousand ten.

• 38:10Speaker 02

  And girl, I knew you were there, because again, there weren't many. I know your names. I know everything about you.

• 38:19Drew Afualo?

  You ever had any weird fan interactions?

• 38:21Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 38:22Drew Afualo?

  Or rude?

• 38:23Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 38:23Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they're extremely rude sometimes.

• 38:25Speaker 02

  Um, well, actually, my my fans, I think are truly like some of the coolest people I've ever met.

• 38:33Drew Afualo?

  We should distinguish. People who recognize you and then there's fans.

• 38:36Speaker 02

  Yes, yes. I've never had like a, I'm trying to think if I've had for like a rude fan moment, even though that would be fierce, honestly. If someone was just like crashing through.

• 38:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 38:48Speaker 02

  But no, I've what I've heard from from people who come to my shows and and who I've met is like that the it's such a welcoming energy, which is which I think is like on that comes from. What we set forth and like the, you know, kind of rhetoric that we give our people. Because that, that is the thing is like you are building an audience and cultivating like an environment. And even though I don't think we're entirely responsible for

• 39:14Drew Afualo?

  Everything they do, yeah.

• 39:15Speaker 02

  Every little action that everyone can make, because that would be impossible.

• 39:19Drew Afualo?

  And I think there is something to be said about how safe your fans feel in your audience, like when they come to your shows. And I feel like that's a hallmark of who you are as a person, but also as a performer. It's like you're able to create a space where people can feel totally and one hundred percent safe. And like have a good time, which is rare, especially for public outings.

• 39:40Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 39:40Drew Afualo?

  And for marginalized people in general.

• 39:42Speaker 02

  Yes, totally, totally, totally. And like, it's, um, I forgot what I was actually gonna say right there.

• 39:49Drew Afualo?

  That's alright, I got you queen. As far as like, as far as rude people who recognize you. Have you ever had any of those? Any sillies like that?

• 39:59Speaker 02

  So many. I mean, back in the day, yes, like I remember being in like a mall and like people never wanna like really come up to you and do something in your face.

• 40:14Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 40:15Speaker 02

  Again, that would be like pulling up a hate comment and reading it to them.

• 40:19Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 40:20Speaker 02

  But I've just had so many like weird, sly interactions and, and all of that. And I like, I think as a kid, and especially being like maybe when I was in my hometown, that felt scary. But it's been a really long time since I've had a weird moment like that. And now I'm just like, if that were ever to, I'd be like, you're weird.

• 40:41Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you're, okay, thanks. I had, I had an interaction recently in the airport that I'll probably think about for a while, like, and not in a good way. And it was like, it's because. Like, being perceived in public, like, I don't know if you feel this way. Are you an extrovert or introvert, would you say?

• 40:58Speaker 02

  Apparently, I'm both.

• 41:00Drew Afualo?

  T.

• 41:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I think I'm, I'm probably a little bit more extroverted.

• 41:03Drew Afualo?

  T, me too.

• 41:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:05Drew Afualo?

  And I feel like I've always loved being in public until I started being perceived. And now, it's kind of a nightmare for me to go anywhere in public. Just because I hate the feeling of being looked at. It feels like you're a zoo animal. And so, recently, I was in an airport with my whole family and like, I was talking to, I was talking to my family, like, my back was turned. And this girl stopped and she was like, "Oh, my god!", right? Which is normal. I hear that a lot. I heard it the entire fucking day I was in the airport. Um, so I just don't respond. And so, she says it again, so then I start turning around and she looks me in the eyes and she goes, "Oh, my god, Tefi?" She's looking me in the eyes, by the, like, she's looking me in the eyes and going, "Tefi!" And then I go, "What did you call me?" And she goes, "Oh..."

• 41:49Drew Afualo?

  Wait. And then I could feel like in her head, I felt she was going, "Different brown girl, different brown girl, different brown girl." Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Now, I'm sure everyone here knows Tefi. You know Tefi.

• 41:58Speaker 02

  Yes, I do.

• 41:59Drew Afualo?

  We don't look anything alike, like, not even fucking close. Like, and if you look at build, it's even more confusing, because like, Tefi's this big and this tiny, like, and she's five two, like, she's so small. And so, I said, "What did you call me?" And she goes, "Oh, no, no, no, sorry, um, sorry. I like, I know your name. No, wait, don't. Like, I know it. Trust me, I know it." Makes me stand there while she's trying to, "Wait, hold on, hold on. Wait, I know it, I know it, I know it." Girl, I said, "My name's Drew." "I'm not Tefi." And she goes, "Oh, I know that, I know that, but you have like, you have like, podcasts, right?" Girl.

• 42:36Drew Afualo?

  That's why I was like, "Yep." And then she's like, "Your last name starts with an A." Bitch. Oh.

• 42:45Speaker 02

  That's painful.

• 42:46Drew Afualo?

  Right, it's horrible. It's horrible. So like, sometimes when I have it. Fan, it's not fan, but like, encounters like that in public.

• 42:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, those are uncomfortable, always.

• 42:56Drew Afualo?

  And they're, and you know, you've been in the industry for a long time. It's like, it's not something you ever like, really get used to. It's just something you kind of learn to deal with, like as time goes on.

• 43:07Speaker 02

  And people like that, like, I've definitely had similar experiences like that where people will confuse me for the wrong person, or think we went to high school together or something. And like, people have these knee jerk reactions where they don't think, they just, again, they're not a person. And they're like, oh, I've seen that. I have to say something. And it's like, oh, the amount of years I would have left on my life if people just thought once. The one that really sticks out for me is I was like fifteen and I was at Disneyland. And I don't go to Disneyland much, because like, even though I grew up in Orange County, that's so expensive. Um, so I was at Disneyland and I remember I was in the like pizza parlor, the like space pizza

• 43:50Speaker 02

  situation. And I was mid spaghetti bite, and someone just like ran over, posed for a photo next to me as I'm literally like, ah. And then just ran away. And I was like,

• 44:04Drew Afualo?

  That's so, oh god. Yeah, it makes you feel so.

• 44:07Speaker 02

  Never want to be perceived like that.

• 44:08Drew Afualo?

  Right. It feels like I post like, that type of shit makes me feel like I posted a whole pic on Maine. Like, I just feel like I'm, I'm just showing, bearing my soul to the world. And like, people aren't supposed to see that. Like, it feels so weird. Like, and I talked to Chapel about it a lot when she was here, but it's like, and Ravina, when she was here, she said that it's almost like a trauma that you learn to just deal with. Like, as you, you kind of grow around the trauma and just kind of,

• 44:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:32Drew Afualo?

  figure it out. So that's why when people are like, I would love to do that. Alright.

• 44:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's tough. It's definitely one of the, one of the stranger parts. And, and like, I really respect everything that Chapel's done this year and, and inserting a boundary for herself because there's so much about, uh, so much conversation about, you know, well, of course you knew what you were walking into, or you asked for this as part of the job, but like, not many jobs have like unclockable hours. And it, it is, it's just a, it's not super hard to, to be respectful. And so many people are. Um, but the few that aren't, you. Are remembered.

• 45:15Drew Afualo?

  You live up here.

• 45:16Speaker 02

  And every, every city we go to venues will ask for a list of faces that you don't want to let in the door. And like, sometimes people do things that are really scary or like uncomfortable and um, you might have your face on there.

• 45:32Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's like, and that's real and that's important that you like pay attention to that shit, which you don't. You, you don't sign something that's like, I'm signing away my right to, to not have people grab me in public, like. Nobody ever fucking agrees to that, like.

• 45:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:46Drew Afualo?

  Even when she set that boundary too, I like made a video about it too, because a lot of people were involving me. Anytime anybody says anything, if they were in this chair.

• 45:54Speaker 02

  Uh oh.

• 45:54Drew Afualo?

  They're like, what the fuck is Drew doing? Like every time they're like, and where's Drew at? Like, I don't know why the fuck, I'm just, everything's my fault. I know, I'm like, and if anything happens, consider that a warning Rebecca.

• 46:07Drew Afualo?

  But even then, when I talked about it, I said, like, you guys aren't, you know, it's disingenuous and it's not a good faith conversation to just automatically chalk that up to like. Oh, you signed up for this or like your fans love you, you owe them that. I actually don't, like, I actually don't owe you. The right to grab me in public, like I actually don't owe you the right to not remember my name, but take pictures of my face, like, I don't owe you any of that shit. I don't owe you anything really, other than the art that I put out or the, the thing that I do like to entertain you. That's really it, like, that's all I owe you and that's it. Anything past that is extra credit in my opinion.

• 46:40Speaker 02

  Totally, totally. I, I think like, I, I, I see people trying to have a conversation in a way that's constructive. And what I, what I think would be more constructive for everyone globally is like, let's question the way that we idolize people. And the relationships we have with the way that we, I think the, this goes even back to like the um, ways, the, the expectations people set for people on the internet. And all that, like, I think every figure on the internet, and I've seen this with people like Trisha or um, or like Chapels or Doja or who. You could put every Brittany, like, you could put every person in there, me.

• 47:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 47:21Speaker 02

  Um, I've experienced this firsthand. I think I've seen the way that like the internet and, and not just the internet, culture historically. Uses people like us and and women particularly to build up when they're bored.

• 47:38Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 47:39Speaker 02

  And ready for it and then once they are comfortable, take them down. For the story.

• 47:45Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 47:45Speaker 02

  And the conversation and as like a catharsis piece and then they'll build them back up.

• 47:51Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 47:51Speaker 02

  And then they'll take them back down.

• 47:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 47:53Speaker 02

  And then they'll do it as much as they can and until someone just like really becomes unbothered by it and I.

• 47:59Drew Afualo?

  Truly.

• 47:59Speaker 02

  I am always curious to see like where culture will go in the ways that like again, people really are building these like deep, deep parasocial relationships with with everyone that they see online and I get it. I get it like we're all because at the end of the day like we're all human people just using our socials at the end of the day. So of course we come across as like friends and.

• 48:24Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 48:25Speaker 02

  People you really know. Um, so I don't know. I don't know what the answers are to fix it. I'm just watching it.

• 48:30Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 48:30Speaker 02

  As a girl.

• 48:31Drew Afualo?

  Observing it and keeping an eye on it because you have to.

• 48:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:33Drew Afualo?

  Because you're also in the spotlight. So yeah, something you have to keep your finger on the pulse. It's true.

• 48:39Speaker 02

  Try. I just think like I I check in with myself as this is like people who I really idolize like, why am I so let down by this thing that they did? I don't know them. Never met them before in my life, you know?

• 48:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and I think the I I've said this before too, when I've defended women like, I defended Dylan Mulvaney when she put out her fun song and like people like TERFs were fucking losing their minds. Pissed me the fuck off. Uh, don't piss me off for real. But I remember when I made a video, like I made a couple of videos defending her, but when I made another one, I said like, your your internet going experience will be improved a thousand percent when you like digest and internalize the idea that not everything that is made and created is for you specifically.

• 49:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 49:23Drew Afualo?

  When you realize the world doesn't fucking revolve around you, you're gonna have a lot more fun on the internet.

• 49:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 49:28Drew Afualo?

  I just cannot imagine like going through and being like, this isn't catered to me. So I'm gonna tell everyone how much I fucking hate it like.

• 49:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 49:37Drew Afualo?

  Okay, move on. Like when I see shit I don't like, swipe. You know what I'm saying? Like I move on. So and I think it's like what you said too, as far as hate goes like and and you know entitlement to people's bodies and time and whatever. People who are on the internet, famous people. It's like you said, they don't see you as a human, like they see you as a figment of their imagination. Uh, an imaginary friend, if you will, like it's all very like parasocial, like you said.

• 50:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, and add on, on top of that, like in the ways that Twitter and TikTok and Instagram and everything are structured. One other piece of this that I again, don't know what to do about this, I'm just witnessing it is like everyone's opinion now has a way to be uplifted and be like part of the conversation like I think that like when something happens or someone does something and it creates conversation now. Any person's opinion has the ability to get a hundred thousand likes on Twitter and now you see them in the comments and they're promoting some like sunset lamp and like they're making money off it. So everyone's benefiting or like trying to benefit off of these conversations.

• 50:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, so it's just a, it's a weird one that whoever did this, whoever got us here.

• 50:51Drew Afualo?

  Fix it.

• 50:51Speaker 02

  Fix it. Because I look at, I have a nine year old sister. And she doesn't know yet, I don't think, like she's, she doesn't have socials or anything like that, thank God. Um, and I hope she never does ever, but um, I, I watch as a big sister and, and try to learn from her because there, I, I'm so curious how she's digesting and it scares me, you know, to, to know what it was for me. I get scared for what it'll be like for her.

• 51:21Drew Afualo?

  Right, and the, and they, like you said, the gift of virality has really poisoned like the ability to have like genuine discourse and conversation with respect. And we're talking about valid, like you know what I'm saying, not, not awful people. You can dogpile them all you want. In fact, I don't think you dogpile them enough in my fucking opinion. We're dogpiling the wrong people bitch, we need to refocus.

• 51:44Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 51:45Drew Afualo?

  We need to refocus. That's why I'm like, I think too, that's another reason why, um, you know, a lot of iconic women like yourself have found me on the internet because uh, I think the way I deal with hate, it's a lot different. You know what I'm saying, like, I'm big, I, I personally am having a ball. I think a lot of other people are enjoying it as well.

• 52:06Speaker 02

  We are.

• 52:06Drew Afualo?

  Um, and that's why I think when I get, like when men say shit about me, kinda like how they were talking about your, giving you some very unsolicited advice on how to be a DJ. Um, and you know, honestly, that's them being jealous because that's their favorite thing to do. That's their dream job. Especially off a white man, like.

• 52:22Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 52:23Drew Afualo?

  Oh, if they could, they'd be a DJ and a standup comic at the same time. That's like their wet dream. That's their perfect, like, that's their kismet. You know what I'm saying?

• 52:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 52:32Drew Afualo?

  They really love that.

• 52:33Speaker 02

  They really do.

• 52:34Drew Afualo?

  Do you get a lot of unsolicited advice in your DJ sets?

• 52:36Speaker 02

  On my DJ sets?

• 52:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 52:38Speaker 02

  Um, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, totally. Or just like, why'd you do it like that?

• 52:44Speaker 02

  Because I, I did?

• 52:46Drew Afualo?

  And they're like, well, I don't like it. Okay.

• 52:48Speaker 02

  All right.

• 52:50Speaker 02

  Click away.

• 52:51Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, exactly, exactly. So, to circle back to music, I would love to know who's a dream collaborator of yours?

• 52:59Speaker 02

  Oh, my god. Um, I have so many. Honestly, I'm obsessed with FK Twigs, have been for so long.

• 53:07Drew Afualo?

  That would be cool.

• 53:08Speaker 02

  That would be.

• 53:10Drew Afualo?

  Oh, I love that.

• 53:11Speaker 02

  Um, there's so, there's so many artists, though, that I would love to work with, so many.

• 53:18Speaker 00

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• 54:21Speaker 02

  Producers. I, gosh, I mean, I've like always, the people who know, are the people who know, I've been like a Charlie truther, literally, since 2013, in my room in high school.

• 54:37Speaker 02

  And I love, I love what Chapel's doing. I love like, I think there's so many amazing people out there.

• 54:42Drew Afualo?

  Period. You said all of them.

• 54:45Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, yeah, I did say, there's so many people that are, are good, so anyone who is good.

• 54:50Drew Afualo?

  What if you could collaborate with someone who's not alive anymore?

• 54:54Speaker 02

  Oh, uh, I'm like, who's not alive?

• 54:57Drew Afualo?

  Let me think of all the dead people I know.

• 54:59Speaker 02

  Probably someone like a Bowie.

• 55:02Drew Afualo?

  Ooh, that'd be cool.

• 55:04Speaker 02

  I don't know what we would do, but it'd be something.

• 55:08Speaker 02

  Honestly, a weird one for me, because I really grew up listening to so much of his music, and I, you know, I don't know if I would make the choice today, but I was a huge Michael Jackson fan growing up.

• 55:20Drew Afualo?

  Oh, gee, okay.

• 55:22Speaker 02

  My mom was like, big, and again.

• 55:24Drew Afualo?

  Did you have the Michael Jackson wee game, the dance one?

• 55:27Speaker 02

  Wait, no.

• 55:28Drew Afualo?

  Oh, some fan.

• 55:29Speaker 02

  Okay, actually, so I rescind my fandom.

• 55:33Drew Afualo?

  I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Did you have the glove? A Bedazzled glove? Again, some fan. No fedora, no glove.

• 55:40Speaker 02

  Okay, so I was normal.

• 55:43Drew Afualo?

  I said I was a fan, not a fucking weirdo, so.

• 55:46Speaker 02

  You know, like the music.

• 55:49Speaker 02

  I don't know why he came to my head as like, the only dead person I can think of, other than David Bowie.

• 55:55Speaker 02

  I'm like, Audrey Hepburn, I don't know what we would do. I'm really being basic white girl right now. So sorry, but I'm brain dead, so.

• 56:03Drew Afualo?

  Were you a big fangirl when you were young?

• 56:05Speaker 02

  Oh, huge.

• 56:07Drew Afualo?

  What were you super into?

• 56:08Speaker 02

  Lana. I was like, apparently, I was like, leaking Lana songs, I don't know, people love to like, bring that up, and I don't remember that at all, but I guess so. I was a, I was a belieber.

• 56:21Drew Afualo?

  Oh, gee, okay.

• 56:22Speaker 02

  Huge belieber, huge directioner.

• 56:24Drew Afualo?

  Oh, love. Who's your fave?

• 56:27Speaker 02

  This is, this is the sort of, so I, yeah.

• 56:35Speaker 02

  So they thought.

• 56:36Drew Afualo?

  No, totally fine. I get it though, I get it though.

• 56:39Speaker 02

  Um, but yeah, things have, things have grown, but I, I mean, I feel like 2014 was like prime, prime, like fandom cultivating.

• 56:50Drew Afualo?

  T. I loved One Direction too.

• 56:52Speaker 02

  Yeah. Who were you a fan of?

• 56:54Drew Afualo?

  I was, I was a, oh, like just in general fangirl?

• 56:57Speaker 02

  Well, both.

• 56:58Drew Afualo?

  Well, actually, the first thing, the first group I truly remember being like a diehard fangirl when I was like nine or 10 was My Chemical Romance. And like, that was my very first concert when I was 10. I saw them in Anaheim, across the street from Disneyland.

• 57:12Speaker 02

  Oh, my God.

• 57:13Drew Afualo?

  Where they now hold big concerts.

• 57:14Speaker 02

  Honda Center?

• 57:14Drew Afualo?

  No.

• 57:15Speaker 02

  No. Convention Center?

• 57:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, the Anaheim Convention Center, yeah. They played there, the Black, Welcome to the Black Parade tour.

• 57:20Speaker 02

  What?

• 57:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, girl, I was there in the Raptors. My mom was too scared to go in the pit, so we sat very high. And that's why I was, I laugh when I think about it, because my mom was so supportive, like my whole family was.

• 57:31Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 57:32Drew Afualo?

  Because it was fucking weird, I'll be honest. And not because their music is weird, it's just like, the shit they talk about is so like, they have very dark themes and like, Skylines and Turnstiles, like Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, like Anon, Black Parade.

• 57:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:44Drew Afualo?

  My sister and I diehard fucking fans. Like, we would literally put on, like, we would get their deluxe, deluxe CDs with all the extra shit, like the tour DVDs, and we would fall asleep to them. Like, we'd put them on, we'd like, oh, put the tour DVD on, and then we'd fall asleep. And they're like yelling, fuck shit, bitch, like, over and over, talking about doing drugs, they're all drunk. Yeah.

• 58:02Speaker 02

  Goodnight.

• 58:02Drew Afualo?

  That's my white noise.

• 58:03Speaker 02

  Yeah. That is kind of giving white, white noise in some way.

• 58:07Drew Afualo?

  Right, it, right. So, we would watch those, and like, I was, I was convinced at like 10 years old that I was gonna marry the guitarist, Ray Toro. Anyone familiar? Yeah, I was convinced. I was like, I was like, well, obviously, we're gonna get married, he's 35. Obviously, we're gonna get married, and I'm 10. Obviously, it's gonna be fine.

• 58:25Speaker 02

  Eight, well.

• 58:26Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and then as I got older, went into like, middle school. Did a hard left to the Jonas Brothers.

• 58:33Speaker 02

  Whoa.

• 58:34Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, my mom had a real whiplash. My mom was like, oh, okay.

• 58:37Speaker 02

  Whoa, that's huge. Which one?

• 58:40Drew Afualo?

  I was a Nick girl.

• 58:41Speaker 02

  Wow, see, I was more Joe. I was more Joe focused.

• 58:44Drew Afualo?

  And now you're gay, just like my sister. She was also a Joe.

• 58:46Speaker 02

  See, the lesbians, it's all there. It's all, you just have to like, get a little like.

• 58:52Drew Afualo?

  But breadcrumbs are so prominent.

• 58:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, move a little like Joe, and I, I hope these men know that it's a compliment and they should feel very lucky.

• 58:59Drew Afualo?

  Absolutely.

• 59:00Speaker 02

  That lesbians like them.

• 59:01Drew Afualo?

  Lesbians don't like very many people.

• 59:02Speaker 02

  They don't.

• 59:03Drew Afualo?

  Especially men.

• 59:03Speaker 02

  They don't, but they like Justin Bieber. They like Joe Jonas.

• 59:10Speaker 02

  That's it.

• 59:11Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's pretty much it.

• 59:12Speaker 02

  I'm trying to think of who else I was, I was really standing, oh, you know what I did when I was in, when I was like ten, I remember I, I would like collect all the J fourteen, like M mags and put them all on my walls and all that. And I thought that like the P O box addresses on the back were just their home addresses. I was like, this is great. Like, this is really cool. Like, I should go here.

• 59:34Drew Afualo?

  It's a phone book?

• 59:37Speaker 02

  Basically, and so one year, I remember I cut my yearbook photo out, um, of my yearbook. And I saw Zac Efron had a, a P O box situation there. And I was like, well, I'm just gonna mail him a letter. And so I put my little yearbook photo, which I had my full retainer. It was fourth grade.

• 59:57Drew Afualo?

  Love.

• 59:57Speaker 02

  Full retainer, everything, wrote him a letter and I sent it thinking like, I'm, this is my new pen pal. Like, I'm gonna get a response and I waited.

• 1:00:06Drew Afualo?

  God, I wonder what he's gonna say. He's gonna be so caught off guard.

• 1:00:09Speaker 02

  He's gonna be, he's gonna think I'm gorgeous, first of all, so.

• 1:00:13Drew Afualo?

  This is me, by the way.

• 1:00:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, um, me like chubby little retainer girl, um, ten.

• 1:00:18Drew Afualo?

  I love that.

• 1:00:19Speaker 02

  And he was probably twenty one or something. Uh, and yeah, I, I'm still waiting, I guess, for a response. I'd love to know if it got opened.

• 1:00:27Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 1:00:27Speaker 02

  Cause maybe I want the photo back.

• 1:00:28Drew Afualo?

  Huge fan of the show. Zac Efron, if you're here, he's also like five, six. Isn't that crazy?

• 1:00:36Speaker 02

  Is he really?

• 1:00:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, girl.

• 1:00:38Speaker 02

  Uh, no hate to the short kings unfortunately.

• 1:00:40Drew Afualo?

  I'll hate you, just kidding. I'm kidding, I'm kidding and if you clip that, I'm gonna be fucking pissed off. That was a joke. I'm gonna be pissed off, that was a joke. Unless you're awful, if you're awful, I always tell men.

• 1:00:51Speaker 02

  If you're, if you're a bad man and you're short king.

• 1:00:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, exactly, I get to make fun of you.

• 1:00:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:56Drew Afualo?

  But yeah, no, he's, no, he's five six.

• 1:00:59Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:01:00Drew Afualo?

  I feel like you're tall, you're pretty tall.

• 1:01:02Speaker 02

  No, it's, people think this, I'm five four.

• 1:01:04Drew Afualo?

  No way.

• 1:01:05Speaker 02

  Stand, I'll stand up.

• 1:01:06Drew Afualo?

  That's a good thing though.

• 1:01:07Speaker 02

  Oh my god, thank you, no, people think I'm tall, but I'm really average.

• 1:01:12Drew Afualo?

  I didn't think you were as tall as me, but I thought maybe you were like five seven.

• 1:01:14Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:01:15Drew Afualo?

  Tea?

• 1:01:15Speaker 02

  I'll take it.

• 1:01:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, period, I love that.

• 1:01:17Speaker 02

  I'm small.

• 1:01:19Drew Afualo?

  Well, everybody in this industry is like this big.

• 1:01:22Speaker 02

  Oh yeah, and it makes, it's bad, it's hard.

• 1:01:24Drew Afualo?

  It's, like, and when I say everyone, bitch, I mean everyone, like, I tell, I, sometimes I tell my team, I'm like, every room I go into, no matter how high the caliber of celebrity or not, I look like when Alice in Wonderland drank that potion that made her too big for the fucking house, and her arms pop out the side, that's what I look like in every room. Everyone's like, ah, like two little rascals stacked up on top of each other. That's, and that's why I'm always like, can everyone tell me why everybody is so small? In the entertainment industry.

• 1:01:54Speaker 02

  How are they doing, I don't know.

• 1:01:55Drew Afualo?

  I don't know, it's freaky, yeah, like, I, I saw Cynthia Revo and Ariana Grande at the Wicked premiere, and I talked to Cynthia for a little bit.

• 1:02:03Speaker 02

  This big, dude.

• 1:02:04Drew Afualo?

  Little figurines. I could put them on my shoulders like devil and angel.

• 1:02:08Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:02:08Drew Afualo?

  If they wanted to, you guys are interested, let me know. The spot is open, I am looking for people. Okay, well, circle back to your music, but, um, tell us about the new album, and what are you excited for? What are you excited for people to hear?

• 1:02:21Speaker 02

  Um, I'm so excited for people to hear it at all, because it takes a long time to get an album from finished to into people's ears. Uh, and it's called Salvation, and it's, it's something I'm really deeply proud of, and, um, I think it's the most risks I've ever taken in, in making an album before. I think it'll add a lot of content. Text like um when people see me do Boiler Room and they see me do all of the things that I'm doing like this album has existed for a long time like these songs were made a year ago um and I am just excited for people to get to see where I've been

• 1:03:02Drew Afualo?

  Yeah

• 1:03:02Speaker 02

  Um and I think I've really like put my head down and um over the last like really I mean I've lived in LA for almost ten years I've been just trying to get to the place where I feel like I'm making some of the songs that I've made on this project Um they just feel like things that I'm like see I knew it I knew I knew it was in there I knew I needed to just like jiggle it out

• 1:03:28Drew Afualo?

  Yeah

• 1:03:29Speaker 02

  And I yeah I again I feel really grateful to be in a landscape where like people are ready for people to tell stories and um and that's what I'm here to do

• 1:03:40Drew Afualo?

  Love what do you hope people take away after they listen to it

• 1:03:43Speaker 02

  I hope it's an escape I hope that it um provides relief I hope people have fun I hope people fuck to it I hope people kiss like

• 1:03:52Drew Afualo?

  Whatever

• 1:03:52Speaker 02

  Do what you want

• 1:03:53Drew Afualo?

  Sky's the limit

• 1:03:54Speaker 02

  Do what you want with it I just that like I I hope people really take the universe with them and it inspires them Um to take that into themselves like I am truly who I am because of like the albums that raised me and um created the like story within my life I wanted for myself and I think that was what I really wanted to do with this album was like tap into a version of myself that I want to be more which is like I think I'm a pretty like

• 1:04:26Speaker 02

  normal person Sorry reveal um but I look at like the most delusional like grandiose like crazy people and I'm like god I want to live like you

• 1:04:39Drew Afualo?

  Yeah

• 1:04:40Speaker 02

  Like I can't lie every time I see a JoJo see what TikTok and I'm like that's so wrong But that must feel so free, like that must feel so stunning to be that like, you know.

• 1:04:54Drew Afualo?

  I feel that way when I see like influencers that are like, for lack of a better word, fucking awful. Or or just stupid like and just unaware and don't give a fuck about anything ever.

• 1:05:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:05:05Drew Afualo?

  Oh, I envy it.

• 1:05:07Speaker 02

  I envy it. I know it's not good.

• 1:05:08Drew Afualo?

  Must it be like?

• 1:05:09Speaker 02

  I know, I know it's miserable, but there's a second where I'm like, that, I wanna be that. I can't, but I wanna be that. And I think that like this record was just me tapping into like what that would look like in a way that's not destructive.

• 1:05:25Drew Afualo?

  Exactly.

• 1:05:26Speaker 02

  In a way that is like, I am understanding something about myself that you don't get. Um, and it's not about that because I'm feeling freedom and I'm feeling empowered and, you know, God bless.

• 1:05:40Drew Afualo?

  Period. My last question to you um is, what would you say is your best piece of advice for anyone who's? I mean, I would say any marginalized person at all who's pursuing music. But even more specifically, like, people like, like you who who grow up on in the industry or on the internet. And not everybody has a story like yours, obviously, but there is something to be said about the way you've been able to navigate like, and really like come out from under like all of this awfulness and kind of still pave a way for yourself. Like for people who feel maybe fear of being perceived or fear of putting out art and getting criticism or hate. Like, what would you say is your best piece of advice to them?

• 1:06:20Speaker 02

  I think, maybe this is my delusional bit. I think that like, if you do the work and put your head down and focus on creating something that means something to you. It doesn't matter if it doesn't hit the first time. It doesn't matter if like, at first it's not totally realized. If you continue to look around you, gather and put substance into what you're doing. That is always worth it.

• 1:06:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:51Speaker 02

  That is always worthwhile. There is there the best like artists that I know and the best musicians I know. I true, I know that there is this like.

• 1:07:03Speaker 02

  Banner for success or

• 1:07:06Drew Afualo?

  Like measure of success.

• 1:07:07Speaker 02

  Measure of success that we all look for, but some of my, the artists that have meant the most to me in my life are songs with like a thousand streams. And I, I love them and I, I, I think those artists are, you never know where your art is really truly hitting until suddenly one day you look back and you're like, wow. Where have I been for the last 10 years?

• 1:07:29Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:30Speaker 02

  I think no one knows or will ever know what you're trying to do better than you. So like, as like cheesy as it is, like get in there, get in there, write it down, get it out.

• 1:07:44Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:45Speaker 02

  Um, and, and finish it.

• 1:07:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:47Speaker 02

  Like that's, that's also the biggest piece of advice I can give is I, I talked to so many artists or like people I know that are really talented and wannabe artists and they're like, ah, I've been making this album for like 10 years. And I'm like, we'll, we'll put it out.

• 1:07:59Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:59Speaker 02

  Because then when you finish it, or even just finish it, don't put it out, finish it, then you can start again and make something better. And that's like what, that's all I've done for the last

• 1:08:08Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:09Speaker 02

  13 years of my life.

• 1:08:10Drew Afualo?

  I love that.

• 1:08:11Speaker 02

  Really bad stuff.

• 1:08:13Drew Afualo?

  That's the secret, isn't it?

• 1:08:14Speaker 02

  So that it can get a little bit less, you know?

• 1:08:17Drew Afualo?

  Well, and I think to your point too, like it defeats the purpose of art if you only create it to garner some sort of accolade, right? It defeats the purpose, like that's not what art is for, it's to express yourself. So putting it out there should mean more to you or finishing it, like you said, should mean more than, than accolades or rewards, which are great, like they're awesome. And unfortunately they are a big way to make money off the art, but to, like you said, to focus on that being like your measure of success. It kind of defeats the purpose of putting out art. And I feel like real culture shifters, like someone like you or like Lady Gaga early in the day, like that's not why they're making it. Like they're not making it so they win a Grammy, they're not making it so it has two billion streams, they're making it because it's important to them and it means something to them.

• 1:09:02Drew Afualo?

  And then, like you said, sometimes 10 years down the line, the octopus picked and then all of a sudden everybody, everybody all of a sudden remembers.

• 1:09:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:09:10Drew Afualo?

  They're like, wait, I actually do love them.

• 1:09:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:09:13Drew Afualo?

  So I think you're one of those people. So I wanna, I wanna tell everybody here now that I was on the ground floor with Rebecca Black. Exactly. And some of you bitches are behind, you're not listening to the octopus like I am.

• 1:09:25Speaker 02

  It's okay, I love octopus so much, my favorite animal.

• 1:09:28Drew Afualo?

  Oh, I didn't even know that. Look at me.

• 1:09:30Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:09:30Drew Afualo?

  What if I did know that?

• 1:09:31Speaker 02

  That's, that's the question I was hoping you'd ask me when I came in today.

• 1:09:35Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, my bad.

• 1:09:36Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:09:37Drew Afualo?

  Sorry.

• 1:09:37Speaker 02

  Thank you. I appreciate it.

• 1:09:38Drew Afualo?

  Damn it. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I think you are fantastic. I really do. And I think you're so talented and so incredible. And I can't wait to keep watching you. Sore.

• 1:09:50Speaker 02

  Likewise, bitch.

• 1:09:51Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and I can't wait to tell everyone, yeah, I knew about her. Yeah. Yeah, Rebecca Black. Yeah, I knew about her. I'm gonna brag to everybody.

• 1:09:59Speaker 02

  Please do.

• 1:09:59Drew Afualo?

  Right. And all the gays in front of me are gonna be like, oh, get in line, bitch.

• 1:10:05Drew Afualo?

  Well, I'm so happy to have had you. Thank you so much for coming.

• 1:10:07Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:10:08Drew Afualo?

  And thank you all for tuning into this episode of the comment section with my amazing guest Rebecca Black. If, again, someone is nine years old, like your sister, and they aren't following you on socials, where can everybody find you?

• 1:10:19Speaker 02

  Search Rebecca Black on everything. It's Ms. Rebecca Black or Rebecca Black, whatever.

• 1:10:24Drew Afualo?

  Period.

• 1:10:25Speaker 02

  And stream the album and when it comes out. And trust.

• 1:10:29Drew Afualo?

  Period. And that's why, and that actually is perfect because for those of you that don't remember or don't know, new episodes of the comment section come out every Wednesday. You can stream all audio on all streaming platforms, but the video lives exclusively and for free on our favorite plat- platform, Spotify. And that's why it's perfect, because you can listen to Rebecca Black's music and you can watch our episode. And then everyone can be happy and fulfilled and awesome.

• 1:10:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, you can just make an autoplay of Trust and then the episode and then just, yeah.

• 1:10:55Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and then you're gay. After that.

• 1:10:59Speaker 02

  That's the agenda.

• 1:10:59Drew Afualo?

  There you go. And we're pushing it.

• 1:11:03Drew Afualo?

  Thank you so much for joining me on this episode. Thank you to my amazing guest Rebecca Black. And I'll see you next week. Bye.

• 1:11:09Speaker 02

  Bye.

• 1:11:21Speaker 00

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