QUEEN BEES OF CLOWN SCHOOL Ft. Ashnikko | Episode 185

Ashnikko is on the show today!! She talks to Drew about lactose intolerance, the perils of shitting your pants in NYC, calling men divas on Hinge, octopus cities, growing up in Latvia, and so much more. Ashnikko IG: https://www.instagram.com/ashnikko/ Ashnikko Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ashnikko?lang=en Follow The Comment Section on IG! https://www.instagram.com/thecommentsection/ eBay is the place for pre-loved and vintage fashion. Shop Off-to-College at Amazon and save on college, save the everyday 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

  This December, the magic of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol returns to Virginia Repertory Theater in downtown Richmond. Experience the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge as he's visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, and rediscover the joy and true meaning of the holiday season. Performances run November 18th through December 27th. Tickets on sale now at virginia rep.org or by calling 804-282-2620.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  At Humana, our Medicare Advantage plans are easy to understand and easy on your wallet. Like offering more benefits than you'd get from original Medicare alone. And including dental, vision, and hearing coverage in every plan. And the best part is, every plan has a $0 or low monthly plan premium, which makes it easier to save, too. So this Medicare planning season, plan well with Humana. Learn more at gethumana.com. Humana is a Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.

• 1:02Speaker 02

  I'm on Hinge as well. I don't give a fuck.

• 1:05Drew Afualo?

  I don't give a damn.

• 1:07Speaker 02

  I just reply to all these men's little pictures of themselves. Like, yes, diva! They hate it.

• 1:21Drew Afualo?

  Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Comment Section Show, starring me, your fave, who cares about me. Onto the guest. Today, we have the iconic, the legendary, the unbelievably talented Ash Nico.

• 1:35Speaker 02

  Thank you so much for having me.

• 1:37Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my God, of course.

• 1:38Speaker 02

  I'm so excited to be here.

• 1:39Drew Afualo?

  Likewise. You're a legend.

• 1:41Speaker 02

  For many years.

• 1:42Drew Afualo?

  Stop it. Good thing it's on camera. Good thing we're recording. We're rolling. I love that. I'm a huge fan as well.

• 1:48Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:49Drew Afualo?

  It's an honor to have you, you legend.

• 1:51Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:51Drew Afualo?

  How have you been?

• 1:52Speaker 02

  I am so good. I'm wearing my little clown outfit with my clown makeup to my clown job.

• 1:58Drew Afualo?

  Right, you and me both.

• 2:00Speaker 02

  Having a little yap.

• 2:02Drew Afualo?

  Right, I call myself a clown for hire.

• 2:04Speaker 02

  It's good. I actually, for the longest time, I was threatening to my manager that I was going to go to the clown school outside of Paris and really study it professionally.

• 2:14Drew Afualo?

  T.

• 2:15Speaker 02

  I think it's important.

• 2:15Drew Afualo?

  I think you would thrive.

• 2:17Speaker 02

  I know I would thrive.

• 2:18Drew Afualo?

  They would never see you again, that's why they can't let you do it.

• 2:21Speaker 02

  I think it would be crazy for me there. I think I would really establish myself as a queen bee of clown school.

• 2:26Drew Afualo?

  I think so too. You'd graduate with high honors.

• 2:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:30Drew Afualo?

  I love that. This episode is presented to you by eBay. We all have that piece. You know the one, the thing that's so you. You've basically become known for it. And if you don't have yours yet, you'll find it on eBay. Let me put you on, team. eBay is where you'll find those one of a kind, can't stop researching, stay up dreaming about pieces again and again. I'm talking that mu mu off the runway, red leather bomber, the Cousteau Barcelona top with the cowboy on it, or that Patagonia fleece in the 2017 colorway. All these finds are on eBay. And they even offer millions of main character pieces backed by authenticity guarantee. eBay is the place for pre-loved and vintage fashion. eBay, things people love.

• 3:14Drew Afualo?

  Well, what's new with you lately? Anything new? Anything interesting other than your amazing music?

• 3:18Speaker 02

  Thank you. I um was just in New York. I just took a little, a little sleepy on the plane and now we're here. I feel a little crazy. I'm bloated.

• 3:28Drew Afualo?

  Me too.

• 3:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm always bloated. I just had a crazy day yesterday. I had Korean barbecue and pizza and two chocolate chip cookies. And I'm lactose intolerant and gluten intolerant. And I said, I'm indestructible.

• 3:41Drew Afualo?

  He said, you only live once. You know what would be awesome on a plane? Taking dairy and gluten when you can't have either.

• 3:48Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 3:49Drew Afualo?

  Perfect start for a plane, yeah.

• 3:51Speaker 02

  I had a window seat as well. Yeah.

• 3:55Drew Afualo?

  I love your lactose intolerant queen.

• 3:57Speaker 02

  Mmm.

• 3:57Drew Afualo?

  Me too.

• 3:58Speaker 02

  And I just love lactose. I love like a cream. They're like, I'll get, I'll go and I'll get a vegan hot chocolate and they're like, do you want whipped cream? Yes.

• 4:08Drew Afualo?

  Yes, of course I do.

• 4:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, like I tried the first, the first half of it, I tried. The second half, I'm gonna shit my pants.

• 4:13Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, ask me more than once, I'm gonna cave.

• 4:17Drew Afualo?

  Same, my one time I had like, I think it was, we will, I was in New York, I went to Quality Italian, have you ever been there?

• 4:24Speaker 02

  No.

• 4:25Drew Afualo?

  Highly recommend. I feel like it's the only restaurant I've ever been to in New York, even though I've been to New York two billion times at this point.

• 4:31Speaker 02

  No, that's fine, you can have your faves.

• 4:33Drew Afualo?

  You have to go to the same places. I know what I'm gonna get when I get there. That being said, when I went there for probably the thirtieth time, I had ricotta, but I thought it was burrata, which burrata also kind of hurts me. But you know how some of them, you're like, this one doesn't hurt me that bad.

• 4:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:47Drew Afualo?

  So I thought it was burrata. Oh girl, I barely made it home.

• 4:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:51Drew Afualo?

  I had hot butt all night.

• 4:52Speaker 02

  There is nothing worse than feeling like you're gonna shit your pants in New York City.

• 4:57Drew Afualo?

  Well, that walk back to the hotel.

• 4:59Speaker 02

  No, there's no public toilets anywhere.

• 5:01Drew Afualo?

  Anywhere, and everyone's mean if you go in there and ask to use the restroom, they yell at you.

• 5:04Speaker 02

  I feel like it happens to everyone. Everyone has a, I almost shit my pants in New York City story.

• 5:08Drew Afualo?

  That's the New York experience.

• 5:09Speaker 02

  It's so scary.

• 5:10Drew Afualo?

  That's the only way you can get it. The next morning, I had an, I had like, full day of press, I had to get up at three to do glam. When I got up, I, I had to shower three times that night.

• 5:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:21Drew Afualo?

  It was working me like a dog that night. Then I went and I had the worst, probably one of the worst interviews of my entire life. I was being asked questions I should not have been being asked and wasn't prepared for. I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, you have no idea the battles I've been fighting. You wanna ask me a question like that? I'm sitting here like Rafiki, big old red butt, and you're asking me questions.

• 5:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 5:43Drew Afualo?

  Oh god.

• 5:43Speaker 02

  You have no idea the wars that I fought.

• 5:46Drew Afualo?

  I barely made it in the chair this morning.

• 5:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. So anyway, that's kind of where I am now.

• 5:52Drew Afualo?

  Nice.

• 5:52Speaker 02

  Just like intestinally.

• 5:54Drew Afualo?

  Love that. But you look fabulous.

• 5:56Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 5:56Drew Afualo?

  That's what matters.

• 5:57Speaker 02

  Thank you so much. I feel good. I feel it, it's all coming back up. I'm, I'm tight, I'm ready.

• 6:03Drew Afualo?

  Love, amazing. Well, for those who are maybe new to your lore, I am, I'm very familiar to your lore, how did you get into music, just to get started?

• 6:11Speaker 02

  Um, so my lore is really crazy, so I I went to school in Eastern Europe.

• 6:20Speaker 02

  So when I was thirteen, my dad moved us to the Baltic country of Latvia.

• 6:27Drew Afualo?

  I did know that about you.

• 6:28Speaker 02

  It's really, it's really rogue and still to this day, people are like, why did you do that? I don't know.

• 6:36Drew Afualo?

  You said I was thirteen, so I don't really know.

• 6:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was thirteen and my dad put me in public school and he said, good luck, kid. And um, I was fighting battles. So I was fifteen when I was finally like, I'm gonna make music, but I I really needed like an older sister. Character for myself, so I crafted this stage persona and then I started writing diss tracks about all the mean bitches in my class.

• 7:03Drew Afualo?

  As you do. Naturally.

• 7:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:06Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 7:06Speaker 02

  They hated me. And yeah, that's where it started. So I was making music in Eastern Europe.

• 7:16Speaker 02

  And then I moved to London when I was eighteen and it all went from there. And now I make music about my little sub boyfriends.

• 7:28Drew Afualo?

  And I love you for it.

• 7:29Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 7:30Drew Afualo?

  Uh, you're my hero.

• 7:31Speaker 02

  Thank you so much.

• 7:33Drew Afualo?

  I, how was it moving to London? I mean, I feel like it's not that big of a change probably from.

• 7:38Speaker 02

  I mean, when I was, when I was eighteen, it was, it was huge for me. I didn't know anyone. I moved in with like, these absolute rat bitches. They were so, they were so crazy. I feel like I've had so many crazy housemates. But, yeah, it was terrifying. I had way more confidence when I was eighteen than I do now for some reason. Like the things I was doing, like the situations I was putting myself in when I was eighteen. I would like go up to a stranger and be like, hey, listen to my music. Like now I'm like. Don't talk to me. At a party.

• 8:12Drew Afualo?

  Well, thank god you did.

• 8:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was like tap dancing on a street corner, like, listen to my mixtape, baby. You're gonna love it. And they did.

• 8:21Drew Afualo?

  With the transatlantic accent and everything? I love that.

• 8:24Speaker 02

  That's my real accent.

• 8:25Drew Afualo?

  I would have remembered you too. If you had said that to me, I would have remembered you too. I'm curious, I was just curious how your experience was living there, acclimating.

• 8:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:33Drew Afualo?

  To their terrible food.

• 8:34Speaker 02

  Mmm, yes.

• 8:36Drew Afualo?

  British cuisine specifically.

• 8:38Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 8:38Drew Afualo?

  All other cultures are wonderful.

• 8:39Speaker 02

  Yes, um, English food, let's talk about it. I really like treacle tart.

• 8:46Drew Afualo?

  Okay. It's like treacle tart and yeah.

• 8:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, I really like treacle tart. Um, I also like beans. No, I don't, I don't like their beans.

• 8:56Drew Afualo?

  Not their beans?

• 8:57Speaker 02

  Not their beans. But beans in general, I like, I don't like what they've done to beans.

• 9:01Drew Afualo?

  Same, theirs are very ketchupy, what's going on there?

• 9:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, too much sugar, I just want, I just want a bean, I just want a real, a pure holistic bean.

• 9:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah, they're tarting up beans over there, what's going on?

• 9:12Speaker 02

  I don't need it.

• 9:13Drew Afualo?

  They're sluttin' them out over there, it's terrible.

• 9:15Speaker 02

  Slutty little beans.

• 9:18Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, for real.

• 9:20Speaker 02

  Um, yeah, no, I don't love, I don't love what they've done to food, but the food scene in London is incredible.

• 9:26Drew Afualo?

  It is, yeah, this is British cuisine specifically, I was like, what is going on? Because when I went, I started a war with them, unfortunately, I didn't mean to, but you know, it is what it is, I am who I am.

• 9:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:37Drew Afualo?

  But I was really excited to try like a true English breakfast.

• 9:41Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 9:41Drew Afualo?

  Because I, it was giving like charcuterie to me. And I'm a big like charcuterie fan, I'm like, have you ever heard of Balkan breakfast?

• 9:49Speaker 02

  What's a Balkan breakfast?

• 9:50Drew Afualo?

  Right, I will explain it to you, Ash, Nico, Balkan breakfast is literally, I've watched dudes on TikTok eat them, eat it, but it's just a bunch of veggies, it's like.

• 9:59Speaker 02

  Oh, oh, oh, yes.

• 10:00Drew Afualo?

  And they have like kielbasa, sausage, mustard, and they just eat it, it's the most primal way of eating, in my opinion. That I'm fucking with, so I was like, you know what? Maybe I'll like a British, like breakfast, like a proper one.

• 10:12Speaker 02

  It's not primal.

• 10:13Drew Afualo?

  I know, it's, it's just giving awful, everything about it is awful, it's giving World War Two, I'm really. said about it when I eat it. I tried it three times. I was like, okay, maybe I'll try it somewhere else. Maybe I'll try it somewhere else. The third time I said, you've lost it. No, and I've had, I've had fish and chips there. That was pretty good. Yeah, that was pretty good. It was, I was like, you should just make all your food this. Make it, make it this. And then the big vinegar on the side.

• 10:40Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I don't like how there's no air conditioning in anywhere ever there, but like, other than that, I'm like.

• 10:47Speaker 02

  Summertime, titties in the butt cheeks sweating. Sweating bad. I'm in my bed like naked begging for death.

• 10:55Drew Afualo?

  Just waiting for it to come to me.

• 10:56Speaker 02

  I have a fan like

• 10:59Speaker 02

  just in my hole. Yeah, I like don't have sex in the summertime.

• 11:04Drew Afualo?

  How could you? I'd be like, get off me.

• 11:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't have any sex in the summertime. I can't even fathom that.

• 11:12Drew Afualo?

  Touching at all in that time.

• 11:14Speaker 02

  Not at all. Well, I'm, I'm so sorry. That's I wish you had a better culinary experience.

• 11:19Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I did have delicious Italian food while I was there.

• 11:23Speaker 02

  So good.

• 11:24Drew Afualo?

  So delicious.

• 11:25Speaker 02

  So many Italians in London and they make incredible food.

• 11:28Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, great Indian food. That delish.

• 11:31Speaker 02

  So good.

• 11:31Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and then some, yeah, British people started getting real pissed off at me when I was like joking about it with them. I thought we were having fun. You know, America has a lot of faults too. If your guys' thing is fucking food, I think it's alright. Um, but even when I was joking around with them, I was like, well, you know, a lot, they started saying things like, well, that's because you Americans are so fat. You're used to additives and shit. I said, right, well, you should start putting them in your food too, cause it's ass. Like, I don't wanna eat stuff that tastes like lie. Don't make me eat that. That's fucked up.

• 11:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, I don't, I don't really enjoy an English breakfast, but I think that, I think. Okay, there is something, I feel like a little hobbit. The other day I was, sorry, I'm getting overwhelmed. I was in Dartmoor the other day on the moors and I went to this old pub on the top of a hill and there were loads of ponies everywhere. And we were just eating slop and I was like, I don't care what I'm eating. I'm looking at baby ponies right now. I feel like a little hobbit at the end of my quest. I feel so good. You could give me literally anything.

• 12:31Drew Afualo?

  Majestic.

• 12:32Speaker 02

  And I would, and I would have loved it.

• 12:33Drew Afualo?

  I love that.

• 12:34Speaker 02

  I would have shoveled it in my hole.

• 12:35Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I'm with you on that. They probably would have got me with the view too.

• 12:39Speaker 02

  There were a bunch of baby ponies. It was so good. We were all like. it was really good

• 12:45Drew Afualo?

  what's your favorite animal

• 12:46Speaker 02

  um right now I'm really I'm really keen on a pony cuz that really changed me I was like I am an adult now I can maybe get a pony

• 12:55Drew Afualo?

  I bet you could

• 12:56Speaker 02

  um

• 12:57Drew Afualo?

  especially out there I'm sure

• 12:58Speaker 02

  yeah maybe I'll get a pony I'm not gonna get a pony but um I think I think octopus sorry

• 13:05Drew Afualo?

  I love that

• 13:06Speaker 02

  we're swarming

• 13:06Drew Afualo?

  I like that's that's scary to me but like sweet sea creatures scare me in a way where I have a lot of respect for them

• 13:13Speaker 02

  yes

• 13:13Drew Afualo?

  like I don't want any problems

• 13:15Speaker 02

  yeah

• 13:15Drew Afualo?

  and like you do what you gotta do

• 13:17Speaker 02

  yeah

• 13:17Drew Afualo?

  that's how I feel about him yeah you stay there I'll stay here no problems

• 13:21Speaker 02

  I don't want ever to go on a submarine or to space they feel the same

• 13:27Drew Afualo?

  I'm with you on that

• 13:28Speaker 02

  something's wrong with you if you want to do those things

• 13:31Drew Afualo?

  I agree what do you gotta see up there

• 13:32Speaker 02

  yeah

• 13:33Drew Afualo?

  I don't need to see whatever's up there it's not for me

• 13:35Speaker 02

  yeah

• 13:36Drew Afualo?

  what's meant for me will be for me

• 13:37Speaker 02

  who will be right here under my feet I remember I don't know who said that their biggest red flag is a man who wants to go to space

• 13:44Drew Afualo?

  yeah

• 13:45Speaker 02

  I agree with that

• 13:46Drew Afualo?

  that's so true right

• 13:48Speaker 02

  a man is like I would love to go to space why

• 13:50Drew Afualo?

  why to colonize it probably

• 13:53Speaker 02

  not enough for you here

• 13:54Drew Afualo?

  go up there and harass some aliens or something probably

• 13:57Speaker 02

  fuck out of here

• 13:59Speaker 02

  they don't want you in space

• 14:01Drew Afualo?

  they they don't want you in space you know I don't want you here but I I wouldn't put you in space that's for sure I wouldn't subject space to that that sucks

• 14:07Speaker 02

  yeah so space and under under the sea I I don't know I I can't

• 14:13Drew Afualo?

  none of my business honestly

• 14:14Speaker 02

  none of my business

• 14:15Drew Afualo?

  that's how I feel none of my business don't wanna bother y'all

• 14:17Speaker 02

  yeah but they actually I saw I read a little article the other day about octopuses and they have built cities

• 14:25Drew Afualo?

  I believe them

• 14:26Speaker 02

  they have roads

• 14:26Drew Afualo?

  yeah

• 14:27Speaker 02

  they have highways they have buildings and schools even yeah

• 14:31Drew Afualo?

  so if they take over

• 14:32Speaker 02

  OBGYN

• 14:32Drew Afualo?

  yeah free healthcare

• 14:35Speaker 02

  free healthcare

• 14:35Drew Afualo?

  yeah there you go free education

• 14:38Speaker 02

  they're having a good time

• 14:38Drew Afualo?

  at least someone's doing it

• 14:39Speaker 02

  yeah

• 14:41Drew Afualo?

  let it be the octopi if it has to be

• 14:43Speaker 02

  I love it

• 14:43Drew Afualo?

  back to your uh your red flag about men do you do you have any particular red flags about men right now

• 14:48Speaker 02

  okay so um I am a bisexual

• 14:52Drew Afualo?

  yes I did know that

• 14:53Speaker 02

  I'm a bisexual um and I have started dating men again after some years of not dating men

• 15:00Drew Afualo?

  mm-hmm

• 15:00Speaker 02

  um and it's been crazy

• 15:02Drew Afualo?

  yeah

• 15:03Speaker 02

  yeah I kind of um

• 15:11Speaker 00

  This December, the magic of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol returns to Virginia Repertory Theater in downtown Richmond. Experience the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge as he's visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, and rediscover the joy and true meaning of the holiday season. Performances run November 18th through December 27th. Tickets on sale now at virginia rep.org or by calling 804-282-2620.

• 15:41Speaker 01

  Network freedom and flexibility, that's what you want in a healthcare plan. With a Humana Medicare Advantage PPO plan, you can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, including specialists. No referrals, no kidding. Learn more at gethumana.com. See any doctor who accepts Medicare and is willing to bill Humana. Humana PPOs may not be available in all areas. Benefits and costs share may vary. Humana is a Medicare Advantage PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.

• 16:13Speaker 02

  I jumped straight in, I said, "Let me just get Raya and be a whore." And I did.

• 16:20Drew Afualo?

  I love that plan.

• 16:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:21Drew Afualo?

  That's smart. How's it going?

• 16:23Speaker 02

  Oh god, yeah, I'm busy, but not summertime. As I said, I don't have sex in the summer, it's a rule.

• 16:28Drew Afualo?

  Can't in the summer.

• 16:29Speaker 02

  A rule of thumb.

• 16:30Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 16:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's been really wild. I am an absolute dog. I didn't know I had it in me, but when it comes to men, I am a dog.

• 16:39Drew Afualo?

  Fucking period.

• 16:40Speaker 02

  I just like...

• 16:41Drew Afualo?

  Sometimes you need a period of time to do that.

• 16:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:44Drew Afualo?

  To just wreak havoc on them.

• 16:45Speaker 02

  I am...

• 16:46Drew Afualo?

  They like it.

• 16:47Speaker 02

  They fucking love it.

• 16:48Drew Afualo?

  They love it.

• 16:49Speaker 02

  I will literally go somewhere for four months and send a "you up" text.

• 16:53Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 16:53Speaker 02

  And they're like, "Yes."

• 16:56Drew Afualo?

  Why? Because they're easy.

• 16:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're so easy.

• 17:00Drew Afualo?

  It's fine, it is, it's fucking true.

• 17:02Speaker 02

  They'll let you do anything.

• 17:03Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's true. They don't care, they're easy.

• 17:06Speaker 02

  I love wilderness power.

• 17:07Drew Afualo?

  Sometimes when I get hate from men and they're like, "Men are gonna like this."

• 17:11Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 17:11Drew Afualo?

  You mean you? Right, all the men I've ever interacted with had no problems with it. In fact, they prefer it.

• 17:17Speaker 02

  Yeah. It's crazy, yeah, it's really, it's really wild. A lot of them want to go to space. It's really alarming to me.

• 17:24Drew Afualo?

  That is so scary. Do they have any reasoning? Have you heard any legitimate reasoning?

• 17:28Speaker 02

  I don't like...

• 17:31Drew Afualo?

  Absorb much when they talk?

• 17:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:34Drew Afualo?

  Same, same. I just hear the top lines and then I feel like I got the gist. So I just kinda tune out after that.

• 17:40Speaker 02

  I'm like, can you give me a synopsis?

• 17:42Drew Afualo?

  My mom used to say this thing where she's like, five seconds before the end of your story. Like, start there, five seconds, then go.

• 17:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:48Drew Afualo?

  Oh my great. That's what I, with men, it's perfect.

• 17:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:52Drew Afualo?

  Even that's probably a little bit too much time for being real.

• 17:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:55Drew Afualo?

  It's true, though.

• 17:56Speaker 02

  I'm on Hinge as well. I don't give a fuck. I am.

• 18:00Drew Afualo?

  I don't give a damn.

• 18:00Speaker 02

  I just reply, I just reply to all, all these men, men's like little pictures themselves. Like, yes, diva. They hate it. They're like, what the fuck are you talking about?

• 18:12Drew Afualo?

  I don't really know what that means.

• 18:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:14Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you do.

• 18:15Speaker 02

  You're a diva and a princess, and if you're not, I don't wanna talk to you.

• 18:20Drew Afualo?

  That's fair. Anything men do, though, like, I'm sure you get this. I get called a misandrist. Do you get called that? No?

• 18:27Speaker 02

  I wear it like a crown.

• 18:31Drew Afualo?

  Right, thank you. I'll wear one too. Absolutely. I'd love to.

• 18:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:35Drew Afualo?

  I said, I just made a video about this the other day, cuz sometimes men, I feel like, have been asleep for the last four years and then they log on to tiktok.com and they're like, I'm gonna call this bitch fat and ugly and mean, uh, which has been done to me many, many times. Hasn't changed my pace at all. If anything, it's just motivated me even more. But I feel like, I was saying, they keep saying, I hate when a woman makes hating men their whole entire personality. Okay, then why do you keep bothering me?

• 19:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:02Drew Afualo?

  Like, that's my main question. Like, okay, if you know I hate you and I've told you to your face, I hate you, why do you keep coming over here?

• 19:08Speaker 02

  Hating you is their personality.

• 19:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they're like, why, I said, even if I tell you I hate you, you're gonna still come back over here and ask me why. That's why.

• 19:16Speaker 02

  Obsessed.

• 19:17Drew Afualo?

  That's why. Like, like, everything about the essence of what you're doing right now, that's why.

• 19:21Speaker 02

  So, I think that they have a pretty low reading level.

• 19:26Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 19:26Speaker 02

  And

• 19:27Drew Afualo?

  For sure.

• 19:27Speaker 02

  When they say, I was just talking about this the other day, when they comment the same shit over and over again, I think it's because they don't know any other adjectives.

• 19:36Drew Afualo?

  Or words in general.

• 19:37Speaker 02

  Like, their vocabulary is really small, their reading level is really low, they don't consume media or art or read books outside of what's on their phone. I think, I think that's just your answer. They have no other words.

• 19:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 19:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're

• 19:54Drew Afualo?

  Real limited.

• 19:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, their, their language is, is, is pretty.

• 19:59Drew Afualo?

  It's limited.

• 19:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, pretty limited.

• 20:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's very uh elementary. I know, and even when I say that, they're like, it it, well, that's the the most hilarious part about when men like try to dissect my content sometimes like they'll be like, this is what she's really saying. As if I don't know and the women who love me don't know, like they're like, you you stupid fucking bitch, this is what she's really saying. As if I'm talking to them at all. So like sometimes when I say they're like, oh, well, it's really alienating to men. Yeah, that's kind of the fucking point.

• 20:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's not for you, baby.

• 20:31Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's not for you at all. In fact, I'm using you as a pawn. I'm I'm stepping on your back to get further ahead. That's what I'm doing. I've said that so many times. Still don't listen to me. What am I shocked? But I'm sure I'm sure you're not any stranger to that, especially like them giving you unsolicited advice, I'm sure. Commentary on your art.

• 20:52Speaker 02

  The other day I I've had a lot of people recent, like, okay, so I'm going through a really slutty phase of my life.

• 20:58Drew Afualo?

  Love.

• 20:59Speaker 02

  Special sacred. Very sacred moment for me.

• 21:02Drew Afualo?

  Totally.

• 21:02Speaker 02

  Um, and I'm showing a little bit more ass. My shirts are my, sorry, my skirts are getting a little shorter.

• 21:09Drew Afualo?

  Love.

• 21:09Speaker 02

  Um, clown skirt.

• 21:11Drew Afualo?

  Period.

• 21:12Speaker 02

  And I've had a lot of like neck beard fans be like who's making her dress like this? I'm just so scared for her. I'm so scared. Someone at her record that was making her put her body out like this. I'm like, babe, I'm a whore.

• 21:32Drew Afualo?

  So yeah, I don't think you're listening to me.

• 21:34Speaker 02

  I love getting my pussy ate.

• 21:42Speaker 02

  What what do I gotta do here like?

• 21:44Drew Afualo?

  What's a girl gotta do?

• 21:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, so like my own sexual liberation and autonomy is not my own. They can't even like

• 21:52Drew Afualo?

  Fathom that.

• 21:52Speaker 02

  View that as something like that. Yeah, can't they can't even fathom that that would be my choice.

• 21:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, even that is like there there's no way she would ask to look like that.

• 22:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:02Drew Afualo?

  What hot? I disagree.

• 22:06Speaker 02

  And and also I feel like the femininity that I am channeling right now, it feels like performance. It feels like drag. It feels like costume.

• 22:16Drew Afualo?

  Totally.

• 22:17Speaker 02

  I go home and I like Dress like a teenage boy.

• 22:23Drew Afualo?

  The duality of men.

• 22:24Speaker 02

  I'm just, I'm just trying, I'm, I'm just playing around with gender right now. I think that I really don't need permission to do so.

• 22:33Drew Afualo?

  You sure as hell don't.

• 22:34Speaker 02

  But yeah, I don't even, I don't even really read the comments anymore. I just. I'm just having a good time. Shaking my body around, acting like a dog.

• 22:46Drew Afualo?

  That's my favorite thing that you do. I encourage your slutty face. I encourage many women and many, anyone really to have a slutty face safely. And consensually, I'm like, I encourage you. If you can do it safely, consensually, be a whore. That's what I did. And it was great. It was a time.

• 23:01Speaker 02

  Special. I am noting though, in um queer spaces, I wish that there was like a sort of a lesbian bathhouse situation. Sexier and had really good interior design. In my head, I can see it so clearly.

• 23:19Drew Afualo?

  You should look into that. I think you would curate it.

• 23:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like walking into a womb. It's like a cavern with candlelight and there's like incredible cushions everywhere with this amazing bespoke embroidered um cloth. I would lo- I would love to make some sort of, some sort of orgy situation. I, I think, I think like a, yeah, the les- the lesbian equivalent of a bathhouse is really, really needed.

• 23:44Drew Afualo?

  You gotta work on it then. There's a hole in that demographic right there, in the market.

• 23:49Speaker 02

  There's a hole.

• 23:49Drew Afualo?

  That's, it's right there for you. It's right there in front of you.

• 23:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm gonna do it.

• 23:54Drew Afualo?

  I, I, I encourage you to do so. It would be a hit, especially if it's uh cosigned by you. Hell, yeah.

• 24:01Speaker 02

  My next business venture.

• 24:04Drew Afualo?

  It's like those all female gyms, but it's in all, all women, all lesbians specifically.

• 24:09Speaker 02

  I would, I would love, yeah, a, a bathhouse for, for queer femmes. I think that would be very special.

• 24:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, lesbians are, are like my north star when it comes to hating men. Follow them like a guiding light. I was like, they have it figured out.

• 24:24Speaker 02

  That's gorgeous.

• 24:26Drew Afualo?

  I'm following their, I'm following their, in their footsteps, in their path. I think it's beautiful. Back to, hard pivot, back to your music. Uh, when did you first start to feel like you're like, in your career in general, when did you first start to feel like, oh my god, I think this is like becoming like a career that I can start to take somewhere?

• 24:45Speaker 02

  God, I'm trying to remember.

• 24:48Drew Afualo?

  And you've been working for so long.

• 24:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, God.

• 24:54Drew Afualo?

  I'm old too, it's okay.

• 24:55Speaker 02

  I uh, okay, I guess, yeah, I've been putting out music for so long. I think probably like right before the pandemic, like twenty nineteen, I was like, okay, wow. I think this might be something that I can do for a lifetime. I I love to reinvent with each project. I love it. I think there's something so special in reinventing yourself every year. New closet, new beat, new hair, like, I think I would love my whole life to just spend every year just reinventing myself. Not even in my career, just as a person.

• 25:34Drew Afualo?

  Just in general.

• 25:36Speaker 02

  I would love to be like sixty-five and going to forestry school and like running a community garden. And then next year, I don't know, having a cabaret show.

• 25:49Drew Afualo?

  I love that and I see all of that in your future. All of it makes a lot of sense for you, I think.

• 25:53Speaker 02

  I think I would also love to like work an iron forge. Make swords.

• 26:00Drew Afualo?

  Absolutely. You could do it all.

• 26:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, I feel like.

• 26:04Drew Afualo?

  I believe in that.

• 26:06Speaker 02

  If you could like reinvent next year and do something like completely different, what would you do?

• 26:11Drew Afualo?

  Ooh, I would do something, imagine I said I turned into a trad wife or something, that'd be so fun.

• 26:18Drew Afualo?

  Um, she's just so far left of me. I would wanna be like, oh, I'd wanna do like some Sabrina Carpenter shit or something. Just completely one eighty, go completely blonde, shrink at least nine inches.

• 26:30Drew Afualo?

  Then start doing very sexual innuendos, sixties mod housewife. Completely left of me.

• 26:37Speaker 02

  Okay, crazy.

• 26:37Drew Afualo?

  I think that would be really fun and silly.

• 26:39Speaker 02

  I love that.

• 26:40Drew Afualo?

  The shrinking part I have to work on, but I think I could do it.

• 26:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, oh my god, you know what I love? I love on TikTok, I love watching um, men who do the um, the lengthening surgeries.

• 26:57Speaker 02

  I love it. I love it. I love it so much.

• 27:00Drew Afualo?

  We're already laughing because I was thinking, because I've seen him too. Wait, have you seen Materialist, the movie?

• 27:07Speaker 02

  No, I haven't.

• 27:07Drew Afualo?

  Do you care if I spoil something for you?

• 27:09Speaker 02

  I love when people spoil movies.

• 27:11Drew Afualo?

  Me too.

• 27:13Speaker 02

  I will be start, in the first five minutes of watching a movie, I'm looking up, how does this movie end?

• 27:17Drew Afualo?

  On Wikipedia? Me too. I did the same thing.

• 27:21Speaker 02

  I don't like a surprise.

• 27:22Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, me either. I'm like, I need to know how it's gonna end.

• 27:24Speaker 02

  I need to know where we're going.

• 27:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I need to, and be prepared. And I'll still be like, huh, on the journey.

• 27:29Speaker 02

  I didn't watch it, I just read it.

• 27:31Drew Afualo?

  Exactly. I'm still gonna experience it, I just need to know what's gonna happen.

• 27:34Speaker 02

  Okay, so tell me.

• 27:35Drew Afualo?

  With Materialist, so basically she has to choose between her broke ex-boyfriend and this rich new guy. Pedro Pascal's the rich guy, Chris Evans is the broke guy.

• 27:43Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 27:43Drew Afualo?

  They go through the whole storyline. It's, it's pretty weird. But with Pedro, like, it's kind of like, you're confused why she doesn't really like latch on to this guy. Because the broke ex, it's like, he's a broke ex. Also, he's fucking mean to her, so there's that too.

• 27:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:57Drew Afualo?

  But like.

• 27:58Speaker 02

  Why are they always broke and mean?

• 28:00Drew Afualo?

  Girl, fuck if I know. And also in the movie, he's like thirty-five and has three roommates and lives in New York, no money. Hmm, hmm, who shall I pick? Hmm. But anyways, with Pedro, you're kind of asking yourself like, something has to be off with this guy. Like, I really thought that he was gonna be a murderer or something.

• 28:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:19Drew Afualo?

  Turns out his greatest faux pas, because one time in the movie, he sees, like, when they're sleeping next to each other, he has like scars on his leg. And she's like, huh, like, who hurt you, kind of thing?

• 28:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:29Drew Afualo?

  But he doesn't want to talk about it. Then later on, at the end, when you find out what's wrong with him, she touches his leg for real, and then he gets all cagey about it, leaves. Then she follows him and she's like, just share it with me. Bitch, he got that height surgery. When I tell you I watched that shit, I said.

• 28:46Drew Afualo?

  It was blown away, bitch, that plot twist blew my fucking mind. And he was like, my brother and I got the surgery together. I used to be five-four, now I'm like six feet tall. I said, what the fuck?

• 28:59Speaker 02

  That's so special.

• 29:00Drew Afualo?

  So special. I love watching the height surgeries too. And, and also what's crazy is when they get them, like you said, they can't do anything.

• 29:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:07Drew Afualo?

  Can't run, can't hike.

• 29:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:09Drew Afualo?

  But they can tell people, I'm now five-ten.

• 29:12Speaker 02

  Gender-affirming surgery.

• 29:14Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 29:17Speaker 02

  I, I love it. They just can't be athletic at all anymore.

• 29:20Drew Afualo?

  No.

• 29:21Speaker 02

  It's over for them, but at least they can say they're six foot.

• 29:25Drew Afualo?

  You dodged a bullet with that one. Thank God.

• 29:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:32Drew Afualo?

  And now it's time for Finding Comfort in the Chaos, brought to you by Amazon. You experience so many firsts in college. The first time you have to cook for yourself, the first time you have to make friends as an adult, the first time no one's reminding you to finish your homework. It can feel like total chaos, but every first is an opportunity to learn what you need to succeed. And thanks to Amazon, comfort is never far away. For me, one of my must haves for my college dorm was in fact a microwave. I needed that thing desperately. You can cook anything in a microwave, including brownies or cookies. Look it up. But it saved my behind when I was in college. So I know y'all will really want to have one in your dorm too.

• 30:17Drew Afualo?

  So I know y'all will need a microwave and you can find a great one on Amazon. Remember that the chaos of college is inevitable. As much as you prepare, there will always be firsts that take you by surprise, but that's what it's really all about. Embracing those formative experiences and learning from them. With Amazon's great deals and everyday low prices, you can find comfort in the chaos. Shop off to college at Amazon. Save on college, save the everyday. I do have some fun facts for you.

• 30:45Speaker 02

  Oh my God.

• 30:46Drew Afualo?

  If we, if we want to go over them.

• 30:47Speaker 02

  I love a fact.

• 30:48Drew Afualo?

  Okay, this one says that you were once suspended from school for writing, quote, "an excrement-filled story involving their teacher."

• 30:59Drew Afualo?

  So what's going on there? And was that in Latvia?

• 31:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, God.

• 31:04Drew Afualo?

  No sense of humor in Latvia, apparently.

• 31:06Speaker 02

  Crazy. Uh, I don't think I've ever like fully told this story. I think I've like tiptoed around it. I, um, when I was 11, I had a best friend, um, and I was in love with her. So in love, it was like classic, like small town, North Carolina, like, I was in love with her, didn't know what, what to do with all this rage. I was so mad at her for liking boys. We were, she was like practicing kissing on me. I was like, we should practice tonight.

• 31:36Speaker 02

  She was like, hell yeah. I was like, I'm open for practicing, girl. And, yeah, so we were like, attached at the hip. We were so chaotic together. We were always getting in trouble. I was always getting in trouble in school for talking and laughing. I was like, the type of kid who couldn't stop laughing in school. To the point where I'm like, snorting out my nose. And then the teacher tells me to stop and I'm, I'm, it's amping out more and more, yeah. So, we, first of all, when we were in 4th grade, we would draw pictures of titties and sell them to the boys.

• 32:13Drew Afualo?

  Women, women-owned businesses.

• 32:16Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 32:16Drew Afualo?

  Support small women-owned businesses.

• 32:18Speaker 02

  Yes, we were entrepreneurial.

• 32:20Drew Afualo?

  Yes, of course. Girl bossing.

• 32:22Speaker 02

  My parents found out and they were like, okay crazy, but you have drive. And we respect that. And I love my parents for that. So supportive. Okay, so that was the beginning of our story. And then in 5th grade, we played this game where we would pass a notebook back and forth. And we would each write a paragraph of a story. We just had to continue on the story. It was a collaborative effort. And we had this one teacher, oh my god, so bad. We had this one teacher, and he was like, he was, oh my god, this is actually so bad. He was, okay, so he had come from Australia to teach, he was like on a visa. Teaching elementary school in America, in fucking North Carolina.

• 33:06Speaker 02

  And, um, we would write our stories about him, because it was funny. And, yeah, and in the story, he like, got up on the desk and like, there was excrement involved, there was like a Sasquatch, and he was like, fighting a Sasquatch with a machete, and then there was like, shit on the desk, and it was crazy.

• 33:26Drew Afualo?

  His poop was a big part of the story.

• 33:28Speaker 02

  Poop was a huge part of the story. I really don't remember this story, Loz, but I know it was so nonsensical. Like, it made no fucking sense. Our teacher picked up the story. We're watching her read it at the front of class. Both of us are like, white as a sheet, so scared, shaking in our little boots. And, um, we get called to the principal's office, and he ends up getting investigated for doing those things.

• 33:54Drew Afualo?

  For fighting Sasquatch and pooping on the desk?

• 33:59Drew Afualo?

  God forbid a woman imagines, god forbid.

• 34:02Speaker 02

  They investigated him for for shitting on the dead. I'm like in front of the prince, well, I'm like, babe, he didn't do that.

• 34:08Drew Afualo?

  He didn't do that, any of it, not even the Sasquatch part, if you can believe it.

• 34:13Speaker 02

  But we got suspended big time.

• 34:15Drew Afualo?

  Oh, god forbid a woman has a sense of whimsy.

• 34:17Speaker 02

  I know.

• 34:18Drew Afualo?

  God forbid.

• 34:18Speaker 02

  God forbid. God forbid.

• 34:21Drew Afualo?

  Did you like fan, do you like fanfiction? Have you liked fanfiction in the past?

• 34:24Speaker 02

  I was writing a little bit of Twilight fanfiction at one point.

• 34:27Drew Afualo?

  Oh, love, you big Twilight, Twihard?

• 34:30Speaker 02

  I was a Twihard.

• 34:31Drew Afualo?

  Nice.

• 34:31Speaker 02

  Big time.

• 34:32Drew Afualo?

  What team?

• 34:33Speaker 02

  Uh, I loved Edward.

• 34:34Drew Afualo?

  Team, vampires.

• 34:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:37Drew Afualo?

  The mystical element of it.

• 34:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, I, I just loved, I loved him, I loved his, his tortured gaze, I loved his little pea coat.

• 34:44Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 34:45Speaker 02

  His little gray pea coat.

• 34:45Drew Afualo?

  The pop collar?

• 34:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:47Drew Afualo?

  And the Ray-Bans?

• 34:47Speaker 02

  Oh, my god!

• 34:48Drew Afualo?

  Oh, the bitches were gagging over the Ray-Bans.

• 34:51Speaker 02

  His little Volkswagen.

• 34:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, hell yeah.

• 34:54Speaker 02

  Crazy.

• 34:54Drew Afualo?

  Such a mom car, too.

• 34:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:56Drew Afualo?

  Why'd she give him that car?

• 34:57Speaker 02

  You know, when he like whips up in the Volkswagen?

• 35:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like, heels out?

• 35:01Speaker 02

  When I was twelve, I was like, fuck. It's crazy.

• 35:07Drew Afualo?

  That's nuts.

• 35:08Speaker 02

  This is, okay, so I also really wanted to be him, so I like begged my mom for a pea coat.

• 35:16Speaker 02

  I had.

• 35:16Drew Afualo?

  You're experiencing gender euphoria.

• 35:18Speaker 02

  I had that gray pea coat, I was like, no, I just seen the Volkswagen. And bitches are gonna love me.

• 35:25Speaker 02

  They did it.

• 35:26Drew Afualo?

  I was like, when I was younger, well, first off, I went to the movies to see those movies when they came out at like midnight.

• 35:33Speaker 02

  Me too.

• 35:34Drew Afualo?

  Like, I went, and that makes me sound a hundred to TikTok people now, but like, at the time, you should have been there.

• 35:39Speaker 02

  You, it was crazy, I was feral, I was foaming at the mouth, waiting in line at the movie theater.

• 35:46Drew Afualo?

  When I was younger, I was Team Jacob, I think that was because I'm always down for the brown, so like, I'm like, well, obviously I gotta ride with my indigenous brother. Turns out Taylor Lautner's not indigenous, uh-oh, uh, but I didn't know that at the time.

• 35:58Speaker 02

  Didn't they, they actually had an indigenous boy playing Jacob, and then they recast him?

• 36:04Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they recast him, yeah, as Taylor Lautner, and then the rest of them are indigenous for real.

• 36:07Speaker 02

  Fucked up.

• 36:08Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, but then, what's funny is like, as I got older, I was like... Well, Team Edward, he has the money. I should follow the money. Like, when he would talk about having just endless amounts of money, I was like, well, that choice seems easy. I'm like, well.

• 36:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:23Drew Afualo?

  They both look good and one lives forever and has a lot of money. It kind of seems like.

• 36:27Speaker 02

  Yeah. Edward and his little glass house.

• 36:29Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 36:30Speaker 02

  With his shades long. I love that shit.

• 36:33Drew Afualo?

  Well, how was your fanfiction? What kind of fanfiction? What was the vibe in them?

• 36:36Speaker 02

  I don't know. I think he was like coming to pick me up from school.

• 36:42Speaker 02

  He was like, I love you, Ashton.

• 36:47Drew Afualo?

  Oh, and the teacher couldn't read that one, huh? Had to pick up the poop one.

• 36:50Speaker 02

  We just both wore a pea coat and like sat in the parking lot.

• 36:53Drew Afualo?

  You shared a wardrobe and fell in love. I love that.

• 36:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, you like held me in my home.

• 36:58Drew Afualo?

  I read, I read, I wrote fanfiction as a kid when I was like a big fan of the Jonas Brothers. So I wrote like Jonas Brother fanfiction.

• 37:05Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 37:06Drew Afualo?

  The worst part, though, is that I wasn't even in it.

• 37:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:09Drew Afualo?

  I didn't even cast myself. I said, damn. I cast, I cast the real girls in their lives at the time. I said, I'm not even in this story. There's no way anywhere to be seen. And I, and also his diabetes was a huge part of the story.

• 37:23Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 37:24Drew Afualo?

  My bad. You know, I was 12. I thought maybe it was a huge plot point. I thought I did a pretty good job.

• 37:29Speaker 02

  How did you incorporate that in the story?

• 37:31Drew Afualo?

  Well, I had, so I will preface this by saying Selena Gomez was the enemy in my story. Didn't know their tea, didn't know their lore. And Miley Cyrus was the main girl. See, I wasn't even the fucking girl. Like, what is the point? I'm just commentating on their life. This is what I'm just writing what I think is going on. I don't remember like what the premise was. I think it was just like they were together, like Miley and they were together. They're on the Best of Both Worlds tour, obviously, because they're touring together. But then like.

• 38:00Speaker 02

  This was real, right?

• 38:01Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, the Best of Both Worlds tour was a real tour, yes. So my, my story took place during that time. And one of my favorite parts I remember was writing their outfits. Like, I just remember being wanting to like make them all so conti. I was making the outfits so detailed that they were taking up quite a bit of space on the page, but anyways.

• 38:18Speaker 02

  You were setting a scene.

• 38:19Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I was setting, I was, I was building the framework. Right, exactly. And I remember he, Nick Jonas tells Miley Cyrus that he cheated on her with Selena Gomez. And Selena Gomez didn't, didn't care, obviously, because she was the mean girl in my story. But then Miley Cyrus is like, they have this very dramatic breakup scene in the rain. And I said it in New York too, and I'd never been to New York, so I had no way of knowing where anything was. So I was just writing like landmarks.

• 38:45Speaker 02

  Fifth Avenue.

• 38:46Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I was like, what's the big arch thing that, I don't even know what the fuck it's called now, Bryant Park or something? With the big. Case humor, what is it? My bad.

• 38:54Speaker 02

  That's how you wrote it.

• 38:55Drew Afualo?

  Washington Square Park, that's what it is. Oh, I knew it was a park. My bad. Me, I've been to New York a thousand times at this point. Okay, Washington Square Park, had her run there. Don't know where she was staying.

• 39:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:04Drew Afualo?

  But then when she came back, they like, didn't really make up. They had a show that night. Then they have the show.

• 39:10Speaker 02

  And dance are high.

• 39:12Drew Afualo?

  Right, during the show, they're not interacting at all. And then I'm in my least POV the whole time, but then at one point she looks down and sees this. His, um, I don't know the name of the device, please don't jump me, but it's the one they wear like for. Yeah, it's for type one diabetes.

• 39:31Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 39:32Drew Afualo?

  Again, I was like 11 when I wrote it. I just said that she sees it on the ground on the stage and then worries, and then he passes out. And then she runs over, that's where it fades to black. And then they wake up in the hospital. And that's where I was kinda carrying it. Don't remember how it ends from there. But I just remember writing that scene specifically because I remember I read it a thousand times and I was like, God, this is so.

• 39:58Speaker 04

  Welcome to 215 Maple Drive. We just put this property on the market.

• 40:04Speaker 05

  Love the crown molding.

• 40:06Speaker 04

  Oh, wait until you see the walk-in closets and the bathroom tile.

• 40:09Speaker 05

  Does it have Verizon FiOS? You know, 100% fiber internet?

• 40:13Speaker 04

  No FiOS, but it looks like it's got cable. Let's check out the kitchen.

• 40:17Speaker 05

  No FiOS? Yeah, no thank you.

• 40:20Speaker 04

  Don't you want to see the rest? Okay, bye bye.

• 40:23Speaker 06

  Get Verizon FiOS because when you're moving, it's 100% or nothing.

• 40:27Speaker 01

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• 41:00Drew Afualo?

  When I wrote it, I was like, so dramatic, so intense, love it.

• 41:05Speaker 02

  That's fucking crazy.

• 41:05Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, what's even worse is I hand wrote it in a notebook.

• 41:09Speaker 02

  Oh, sorry.

• 41:10Drew Afualo?

  No, you're fine. Filled the whole notebook. I wrote it like a colonial woman.

• 41:13Speaker 02

  Oh, my god.

• 41:14Drew Afualo?

  I was writing, I was writing by candlelight.

• 41:16Speaker 02

  That's incredible.

• 41:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 41:17Speaker 02

  With your, a little hat.

• 41:19Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like my frilly colored shirt on when I was going to town.

• 41:23Speaker 02

  Oh, my god.

• 41:24Drew Afualo?

  I was in the lab writing fanfic.

• 41:25Speaker 02

  That's crazy.

• 41:26Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 41:26Speaker 02

  That's so beautiful.

• 41:27Drew Afualo?

  Thank you.

• 41:29Speaker 02

  I love, how old were you?

• 41:30Drew Afualo?

  Like eleven or twelve at the time.

• 41:31Speaker 02

  That's so special. I love the, the young girl desire to, to craft a world. Craft a world. As a voyeur also.

• 41:40Drew Afualo?

  Yes, exactly. Yeah, literally me being a voyeur. That's all it was. I was like acting like TMZ.

• 41:45Speaker 02

  That's so cool.

• 41:46Drew Afualo?

  At that point. That's never happened to Nick Jones though, as far as I know, so I just kind of audibled on that one.

• 41:50Speaker 02

  Honestly, tour, tour tensions are high. It's chaotic.

• 41:55Drew Afualo?

  You never know what can happen on tour.

• 41:56Speaker 02

  You never know. You never know. God.

• 41:59Drew Afualo?

  Speaking of tour, do you have any favorite places you like to tour? Any like specials in your heart that I do?

• 42:04Speaker 02

  Um, well, I love to play a show in London.

• 42:07Drew Afualo?

  Love.

• 42:08Speaker 02

  Um, cause it's like half hometown to me.

• 42:11Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 42:12Speaker 02

  Um, cause I've lived there for so long. And I love to play a North Carolina show as well.

• 42:17Drew Afualo?

  Love.

• 42:17Speaker 02

  Hometown. Um, where else? I like, selfishly, I like to play St. Louis because, um,

• 42:26Drew Afualo?

  Have fun.

• 42:26Speaker 02

  Because of, there's a museum there that I really like to go to on my off day.

• 42:31Drew Afualo?

  So shout out St. Louis.

• 42:33Speaker 02

  Shout out St. Louis and the City Museum. Love y'all so much. I fucking love museums. They have a ca- they have like a cave system and I went there last time with my crew and we were just in silence. We were all on our own little solo journey, just crawling on all fours in the cave system in the museum.

• 42:51Drew Afualo?

  Nice.

• 42:51Speaker 02

  It was crazy.

• 42:52Drew Afualo?

  Love that.

• 42:53Speaker 02

  Um, yeah, where else do I like to go? I love going to Brazil.

• 42:56Drew Afualo?

  Okay, tea.

• 42:57Speaker 02

  Come to Brazil is real. They are the craziest, most like enthusiastic fans. Yeah, when I was in Brazil, I really felt like I was playing a hometown show.

• 43:08Drew Afualo?

  I bet.

• 43:08Speaker 02

  It was so cool. They're just, yeah, really like giving it.

• 43:12Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 43:13Speaker 02

  Um, where else? Germany, Germany Rocks, Australia Rocks. I was just touring in March with Billie Eilish and we were in Australia and that was really fun.

• 43:25Drew Afualo?

  How crazy.

• 43:27Speaker 02

  It was really cool. I I loved it. We were, yeah, I mean, Billie does this really cool thing where she stays in one city for four nights. Um, and so we actually, for the first time, got to explore the cities that we were in.

• 43:40Drew Afualo?

  That's nice, yeah.

• 43:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, we were like climbing waterfalls and playing mermaids.

• 43:45Drew Afualo?

  Tea.

• 43:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:46Drew Afualo?

  That makes a lot of sense. I think that the vibes seem about right with you and Billie Eilish. Love her. She's amazing.

• 43:52Speaker 02

  It was amazing. She's like incredible. She's so good. That whole album really soundtrack to breakup for me. So to hear it night after night, it was very emotional and just she's such a powerhouse. Like the most incredible songwriter of our generation, so.

• 44:08Drew Afualo?

  Tea.

• 44:08Speaker 02

  It was amazing.

• 44:09Drew Afualo?

  How fun, though. This episode is brought to you by Amazon. This off to college season, save on college, save the everyday. College is a chaotic time, full of change, but also the starting point of some pretty great experiences. From stocking your dorm with study snacks and cleaning supplies to stocking your closet with everything you need to slay those theme parties. With Amazon's great deals and everyday low prices, you can find comfort in the chaos. Shop off to college at Amazon. Save on college, save the everyday. Do you like tour? Like just generally going on tour?

• 44:42Speaker 02

  I'm like a really frail Victorian child. Like I, every time I go on tour, I get like a rare gum disease.

• 44:50Drew Afualo?

  Interesting.

• 44:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, or like.

• 44:52Drew Afualo?

  That is giving very Victorian, yeah.

• 44:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, or like, um, like a rash. I'll get a really, really annoying rash. Um, yeah, just.

• 45:00Drew Afualo?

  Your body's just rejecting tour.

• 45:02Speaker 02

  In some way, I'm like really nutrient deficient and and something happens to me. My bones get really weak. Um, and yeah, they have to send me away to the seaside.

• 45:13Drew Afualo?

  The clips of horror.

• 45:14Speaker 02

  Just me and my notebook, writing Jonas Brothers fan.

• 45:19Speaker 02

  I'm gonna start writing Jonas Brothers.

• 45:21Drew Afualo?

  You should. I'll start Twilight.

• 45:22Speaker 02

  Like modern day Jonas Brothers. What are they up to?

• 45:27Drew Afualo?

  You gotta work in the diabetes. That's all you gotta work in is that.

• 45:29Speaker 02

  I will.

• 45:30Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they'll know who it is once you bring that up.

• 45:34Speaker 02

  I will. Let's do a shared Google Doc or something.

• 45:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, let's do it. We'll bounce ideas off each other. I'll start Twilight Ones, you start Jonas Brothers.

• 45:41Speaker 02

  That's crazy.

• 45:41Drew Afualo?

  We'll collab. It'll be fine. We'll have Teams talk, for sure. I have more, I have more fun facts about you.

• 45:46Speaker 02

  Oh my god.

• 45:47Drew Afualo?

  Okay, this one says that you've said that you don't listen to any male musicians. You didn't listen to any mu- male musicians until sixteen.

• 45:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, you would, you would write that down.

• 45:58Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. Hell yeah.

• 46:01Drew Afualo?

  Now that's a badge of honor to me.

• 46:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:03Drew Afualo?

  Uh, and it says you grew up listening to female artists like Avril Lavigne, Nicki Minaj, Missy Elliott, Gwen Stefani, and Lil Kim.

• 46:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:09Drew Afualo?

  Period. Okay, cultured.

• 46:11Speaker 02

  Britney as well. I really love Britney.

• 46:13Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 46:14Speaker 02

  Um.

• 46:15Drew Afualo?

  I loved Britney too when I was a kid. Loved her. I was obsessed, I was obsessed with her.

• 46:19Speaker 02

  She's like, so incredible.

• 46:21Drew Afualo?

  She's just it. She's everything.

• 46:22Speaker 02

  I hope she's, I hope she's well now.

• 46:24Drew Afualo?

  Me too.

• 46:24Speaker 02

  I really, I really love her. She's just fucking incredible. Like, she had everything. She had costumes, she had the most amazing choreo, she had the voice, she had the like

• 46:35Drew Afualo?

  Just the it girl factor.

• 46:36Speaker 02

  She had everything. She was so purely it girl. It was so, so special to me. And when I was like five years old, watching her, I, I had, it was like the sky opened up and heaven reached down and just touched me on the forehead and was like, you gotta do this, bitch.

• 46:54Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 46:55Speaker 02

  Um, yeah, I didn't listen to any boys until I was, yeah, like sixteen, seventeen. I just found their voices really grating. And I

• 47:05Drew Afualo?

  That makes sense to me.

• 47:06Speaker 02

  I couldn't, I couldn't li- listen to their stories and relate it to my life in any way.

• 47:12Drew Afualo?

  No, of course not.

• 47:13Speaker 02

  You know what I mean?

• 47:13Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, of course.

• 47:14Speaker 02

  It just wasn't Like I was, I would like try my best and and I and I just, I couldn't.

• 47:23Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I feel that.

• 47:24Speaker 02

  Um, I think my, my introduction to men was maybe like Odd Future. At like sixteen.

• 47:33Drew Afualo?

  My sister showed me Odd Future when they were still making YouTube skits and everything.

• 47:39Speaker 02

  When they had that show Loiter Squad. So funny.

• 47:44Speaker 02

  I, I remember them, them being like, I, I was like, okay, fine. I'll listen to like a few boys. And see what happens.

• 47:52Drew Afualo?

  It's a great one to kick off with, if I'm being real. I think it's a great one to start with.

• 47:56Speaker 02

  Just a little handful of boys.

• 47:58Drew Afualo?

  Just dip your toe a tiny bit.

• 48:00Speaker 02

  I had like Justin Bieber for like a moment. I remember a friend sending me his first YouTube video on MSN.

• 48:10Speaker 02

  And I was like.

• 48:17Speaker 02

  I am fully devoted to Edward Cullen right now.

• 48:21Drew Afualo?

  I can't squeeze in another guy. I just can't right now. It's not in the cards.

• 48:30Drew Afualo?

  Already got the peacoat.

• 48:34Speaker 02

  I swear to God, Justin Bieber has a great peacoat too somewhere.

• 48:37Drew Afualo?

  Oh, oh, you're right. He does.

• 48:43Drew Afualo?

  There's a pattern there that you're following. I can sense it.

• 48:46Speaker 02

  Oh my god, my, my next, my next re-mention is gonna be, is gonna be peacoat.

• 48:51Drew Afualo?

  It's gotta be. It's gotta be peacoat, popped collar, Ray-Bans. You're gonna try silver Lexus. Or Volvo. I think it was a Volvo.

• 49:01Speaker 02

  It's gonna be really good for me. I, I think it's really gonna take, take my fans by surprise, but they'll get it.

• 49:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they'll get it. The ones who get it will get it. More importantly, I'll get it.

• 49:11Speaker 02

  You'll get it.

• 49:12Drew Afualo?

  And that's what matters.

• 49:13Speaker 02

  You'll get it.

• 49:16Drew Afualo?

  Did you have any other like fangirl like things throughout life? Like they were kinda like, ooh, loving them?

• 49:23Drew Afualo?

  Whether it's like music, movies.

• 49:26Speaker 02

  Like the ones that like really changed your life. I, I think I also had that with MIA.

• 49:31Drew Afualo?

  Oh wow, okay.

• 49:32Speaker 02

  I got I got a pink iPod Nano for Christmas when I was eleven. My aunt downloaded Bucky Dunk Gun. And I remember there were some bad words in it. Um, and my dad wasn't allowing me to download songs that were explicit. So it was a secret between my me and my aunt. And I um took my iPod down to my room and I just like hold up in my closet and listen to it over and over and over again. And yeah, and my early stuff like really blew my mind.

• 50:01Drew Afualo?

  Oh, I love that.

• 50:02Speaker 02

  In a big humongous way.

• 50:05Drew Afualo?

  In the best way.

• 50:06Speaker 02

  Like the way she was playing around with production, just it was like nothing I'd ever heard before. And I feel like being that playful in music, I feel like in pop music, especially at that time, I feel like it was it was never that playful and.

• 50:20Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 50:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, I what I love about music right now is that people are really being more adventurous.

• 50:28Drew Afualo?

  And experimental.

• 50:28Speaker 02

  And experimental with their sounds. Um, but people like her paved the way for that. What about you? Who blew your mind when you were a kid?

• 50:37Drew Afualo?

  Well, when I got my first iPod Nano too, I remember being like so blown away that you could listen to music like that without like a CD player. Cause I remember I had a CD player. The first two songs I ever bought was You Can't Touch This by MC Hammer. And uh Too Little Too Late by JoJo. For some reason that I only had two songs, I picked those two. I don't know what that says about me.

• 50:59Speaker 02

  It makes sense.

• 51:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I think so. I and I I went through a real uh right before I got my iPod, I was like really into my CD player. But I went through a real grease phase, like Grease the Movie.

• 51:09Speaker 02

  Hell yeah.

• 51:10Drew Afualo?

  Huge phase. Don't know what it was about that movie in particular, but like my parents got me like the double deluxe CD thing. So I could listen to it on my way to school.

• 51:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:19Drew Afualo?

  My dad used to drive me to school in the mornings. Like we would, my mom would go to work and my dad would take us to school. And I remember one time my dad was driving, it was just me. And the car we're driving. And I would listen to music and with headphones fully on and I would sing. My ass, I would belt bitch, like I would like, like no one was there. I would just sing like that. And so I remember I I would do it every single day. I'd play the same five or six tracks that I loved. Just loop them, start over, start over, start over.

• 51:49Drew Afualo?

  I'm just listening. My dad drove me every single day for like multiple months in a row. I was doing this. I remember one day we were sitting in traffic for a while. It was bad that day. Me still belting, not a care in the world. And then my dad reached over and he goes like this. I take, I'm like huh? I like take my headphone off and he goes, I can't do it today. I'm so sorry, but I can't do it today. I love you so much. I can't, I can't do it today. And I go, what are you talking about? And then he was like, can we, I, I can't do it today. I'm so sorry. He just kept saying that to me and I remember going, alright.

• 52:20Drew Afualo?

  Went back to listening to my music, just didn't sing out loud. Cause I was like, then I was thinking, now that I'm an adult, when I think back, like I was probably like nine. My dad listening to that five days a week and in gridlock traffic, driving to a job.

• 52:38Drew Afualo?

  My parents had us young too. So my dad was like, I would say like early thirties, like my age probably. I can't imagine listening to me scream, yell.

• 52:47Speaker 02

  His eightieth time.

• 52:52Drew Afualo?

  I love you so much. I can't do it today. The nicest, please shut the fuck up. I'm gonna kill myself. The nicest way to say that to me.

• 52:58Speaker 02

  I'm gonna take that.

• 53:02Speaker 02

  Can't do it just today.

• 53:04Drew Afualo?

  Tomorrow we can start over. And then the next day I did it again. Next day didn't learn a thing. Next day did it again. And he just let me, never said it to me again, but I remember that so distinctly. Cause as a kid, I remember thinking, that's kind of funny. That he like went.

• 53:20Speaker 02

  It was just that day.

• 53:21Drew Afualo?

  Just that one.

• 53:22Speaker 02

  Just that one day.

• 53:22Drew Afualo?

  He never did it again.

• 53:24Speaker 02

  He must've been going through something just on that.

• 53:28Drew Afualo?

  What would I do?

• 53:29Speaker 02

  Because every other day was a treat and a pleasure for him. I'm sure.

• 53:34Drew Afualo?

  And just that one day, he was like listening to me the whole ride. And we were almost to school, so he had, he almost made it. It was, it was far.

• 53:43Speaker 02

  Not Summer Lovin' Again.

• 53:46Drew Afualo?

  He's like, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. And honestly, I really liked the ones that were mostly men singing, and I, I think it's because there were just way more parts for me to sing. Like, when there's duos, obviously, I'm Sandy.

• 53:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:59Drew Afualo?

  But when you're in Grease Lightning, I'm like, all five of them. I'm like, I gotta be all, I gotta clock in, I gotta go to work.

• 54:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:04Drew Afualo?

  Got a lot of, I got a lot of verses I gotta hit.

• 54:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:06Drew Afualo?

  But I can't sing for shit, so, you know.

• 54:09Speaker 02

  You had the passion.

• 54:10Drew Afualo?

  I'm sure that was terrible to listen to.

• 54:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:12Drew Afualo?

  Okay, one last fun fact for you.

• 54:14Speaker 02

  Oh, my god.

• 54:15Drew Afualo?

  It says that your new album, Smoochies, comes out on October seventeen.

• 54:19Speaker 02

  It does.

• 54:20Drew Afualo?

  Can you tell us about it, please?

• 54:22Speaker 02

  Yes. I love this album. It is really, really silly.

• 54:30Speaker 02

  I think, okay, so when I first, when I put out my first album, which is technically a mixtape, but I don't give a fuck about industry semantics, it was an album.

• 54:40Drew Afualo?

  Period.

• 54:40Speaker 02

  Um, I was like so green and fresh and like bright eyed, and I was like, people are just gonna love me and be so kind to me, and nothing is gonna dull or knock my spirit. Um, and then, uh, TikTok happened, um, and I, uh, yeah, funnily enough, let them dull and knock my spirit. Um, in a really devolicious kind of way, um, where I went crazy for a few years, and music wasn't as fun to make, and with this album, I'm, I've like found that fun again.

• 55:22Drew Afualo?

  I love that.

• 55:23Speaker 02

  In a really big way. Yeah, thank you. I, I've been having so much fun writing, and I've been writing with the same people since I was eighteen. Um, and with some new people thrown in there, and I have just made so many good friends writing this record. Um, yeah, I, I just realized that I wanted to make playful music and not make music for anyone else but me and like- The person that I am when I'm like getting ready to go out with my friends.

• 55:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 55:53Speaker 02

  You know, when you're with your friends and you are talking about the most heinous shit ever, like over a croissant.

• 56:00Drew Afualo?

  That's the best part.

• 56:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 56:02Drew Afualo?

  Best part about girlhood, honestly.

• 56:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, you're like, he was up my ass to here.

• 56:06Drew Afualo?

  If you can believe it, to the elbow.

• 56:08Speaker 02

  To the elbow. And y'all are like drinking a matcha.

• 56:12Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and they're like, can I get you guys anything? Oh, no, that's it. Thank you.

• 56:17Speaker 02

  That's, that's who this album is for.

• 56:19Drew Afualo?

  I love that.

• 56:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was like, I am like such a heinous little like mischief causing imp. Um, and, and that's why I need to be, I need to be making impish music. I need to be, I need to be a little like little creature again.

• 56:36Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 56:37Speaker 02

  Um, and I'm, I, I was, it was kind of a, a, I was testing myself. I wanted to, it was, it was a practice in writing music, writing very sexual, um, free music, very like carnal. Without it feeling like a performance for someone else.

• 56:57Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 56:58Speaker 02

  Like sexuality, just through the lens of how I enjoy it.

• 57:02Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 57:02Speaker 02

  For me.

• 57:03Drew Afualo?

  Totally.

• 57:04Speaker 02

  With other people, obviously, I love having sex, but yeah, like shedding a little bit of the performance off of it, so that it's just for me.

• 57:12Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 57:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:13Drew Afualo?

  I think that the, well, I'm sorry to hear that TikTok was fucking a succubus like it can be.

• 57:19Speaker 02

  I mean, you know.

• 57:20Drew Afualo?

  Hell, yeah, girl. That's why I'm saying like I completely understand. I'm sorry that that happened, but I will say you're, you're one of those artists that like no one's doing it like you. Like you're just so uniquely yourself. When you get massive like exposure on something like TikTok.

• 57:39Drew Afualo?

  A lot of people are uncultured, first of all, but second of all, like, they don't see it. Like, they don't see the vision. And even when I had Rebecca Black on the show. She told me, she was like, gay people have always seen me, like, always, they've been locked in with me. It's like gay people and women. And I was like, yeah, because gay people and women, like, the way that they champion a horse, like, they know. Like, the ones that know, know, they know who's really it, and you're it.

• 58:05Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 58:06Drew Afualo?

  And that's why, like, people have stood behind you and beside you for a very long time. I've known you, I've known about you for a very long time. But that's because you've been grinding and working at it. And I think the world hates to see a weird, successful woman. They hate to see that shit.

• 58:21Speaker 02

  They hate a weird bitch.

• 58:23Drew Afualo?

  They hate a weirdo. And you know what? Like, it's, it's.

• 58:26Speaker 02

  They love saying, oh, my god, this is so satanic.

• 58:36Drew Afualo?

  That's also the, the, the laziest assessment of your artistry as a whole. But you're someone who, like, people are gonna give you your flowers now, like you deserve. But even more so down the line when other people try to recreate it or copy it. That's when it's gonna happen for real.

• 58:52Speaker 02

  Thank you. That means a lot.

• 58:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and you're like, you are like MIA in a lot of ways, like, someone who paved the way, and everyone thought she was a freak and a weirdo in the beginning, too. And now they look back, look at, like, imaging heaps, same thing, like, strange and, and odd, and to who, right? Cause to an artist, they said the same thing to Lady Gaga. To an artist, they, all they do is, like, jeer from the sidelines because they don't have the confidence to be themselves. Like, that's really what you have, and that's what all artists, I think, have who are like you and, and succeed in a way that no one's ever seen before. It's because you are so uniquely yourself. That scares people who have no idea who the fuck they are. So you have no worries about being perceived as, as odd or weird or strange. Because you are confident in who you are, and that's what makes people haters, to be honest.

• 59:39Speaker 02

  I'm more scared to not, to spend a life, like, not being myself.

• 59:43Drew Afualo?

  Right, absolutely.

• 59:44Speaker 02

  Thank you so much. That was really nice.

• 59:46Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, of course. That's how I see you. I see. Artists like you like that, I see Rico nasty that way, right, like even Chapel, like

• 59:54Speaker 02

  Love.

• 59:54Drew Afualo?

  People who are so uniquely themselves and then like also the way you're authentically yourself too when it comes to setting boundaries, right? Or like what things you don't like, things you don't fuck with. They really hate when they see that people like you uh also be a human. Like they hate that too. They're like, mm, I just wanna consume you as a product. I don't wanna consume you as a person.

• 1:00:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:13Drew Afualo?

  So, which is, I think bullshit.

• 1:00:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:16Drew Afualo?

  And it's why the internet is so dog shit and awful.

• 1:00:18Speaker 02

  It's it's a it's a really, really weird career. It's so singular because you're a human being who's making art, but it's also a brand.

• 1:00:29Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:30Speaker 02

  Um, and to like separate, you can't separate the two.

• 1:00:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, as if your life experiences aren't valid in and of itself. They're a lived experience. It's not something you're thinking about or making up stories about. It's something you're living.

• 1:00:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. That is literally what art is.

• 1:00:45Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:45Speaker 02

  Someone storytelling their life experiences.

• 1:00:47Drew Afualo?

  Right, exactly.

• 1:00:49Speaker 02

  But yeah, I I'm really excited to put out this record and.

• 1:00:55Drew Afualo?

  What do you hope people take away?

• 1:00:56Speaker 02

  I think, I mean, music is so magical when you actually sit down and think about it. It's like this like ancient practice of community building. We've been doing it since the dawn of time, like we've been gathering around fires and singing together for different purposes in in our lives and and I just, I'm like so struck by that always, especially when I'm playing live shows. Just all these people are in one room together, like making friends and like falling in love and fighting maybe, but they're having these very emotive experiences.

• 1:01:36Speaker 02

  And my music is soundtracking that and I just think that's so fucking cool to be able to soundtrack parts of people's lives because my favorite albums soundtrack really big moments for me in my life and I will always remember.

• 1:01:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:51Speaker 02

  Like when I listen to certain songs, I will always remember a certain moment in my life. Um, so to be able to soundtrack other people's lives in that way is. Like my greatest honor in my life. It's so cool.

• 1:02:02Drew Afualo?

  And you're damn good at it too, girl. I love that about you. Just to kind of like wrap us, do you have any advice for any like up and coming artists in whatever medium really? Cause you're a jack of all trades, I feel like, but just like anyone who maybe is feeling hesitant or afraid. Especially with things like the internet because it makes people afraid to put themselves out there, especially their art. So if you have any.

• 1:02:24Speaker 02

  The word cringe really ruined.

• 1:02:26Drew Afualo?

  I agree. I agree. To be cringe is to be free, in my opinion.

• 1:02:31Speaker 02

  I I think as I get older, I'm like, I just don't give a fuck anymore. I'm gonna just be a little creature and I'm gonna and I'm gonna be cringe because I'm passionate about things.

• 1:02:45Speaker 02

  I'm I'm like very dorky and I love, I love my life and I love being passionate about these things. I love music and I love art and I love costumes and glam and I just fucking love it all. And I'm and I'm so like happy to be alive right now. So I don't give a fuck about being cringe anymore. I'm gonna crawl around on all fours and bark at bitches going forward. I do not care anymore.

• 1:03:10Drew Afualo?

  That's what Chapel told me. She said she wants to run around and and roll around in the grass and bark at people and yell and scream. And I was like, you better do it, queen.

• 1:03:22Speaker 02

  I love that. Wait, this is a little, this is a little, sorry, I have to tell this story. I have a friend and she works at a nightclub and when she walks home at night, so this is like four AM, five AM. She's walk walking home at night. She has a pair of boots over her arm. And when men try to talk to her at night or she feels threatened in any way, she puts the boots on her hands. And she runs at them on all fours.

• 1:03:50Drew Afualo?

  She's a genius.

• 1:03:51Speaker 02

  She's a genius.

• 1:03:52Drew Afualo?

  She's a genius. Tell her to trademark that before someone steals it.

• 1:03:54Speaker 02

  That's the coolest thing I've ever heard in my life.

• 1:03:56Drew Afualo?

  She's a genius.

• 1:03:57Speaker 02

  I love that.

• 1:03:58Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you gotta be nuts.

• 1:03:59Speaker 02

  I wish, I wish I could do that online in some way. Like, like what's the online equivalent of me just putting boots on my hands and running at all, on all fours at people?

• 1:04:08Drew Afualo?

  You just tag me.

• 1:04:09Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:04:09Drew Afualo?

  I'll run all fours towards them. Nothing scares them off faster than that. To see my big ass running at you on all fours. Yeah, exactly. Woo, woo, woo. Yeah.

• 1:04:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, my all fours got my boots on my hands.

• 1:04:21Drew Afualo?

  Exactly. You just tag me. I'll be your all four, on all fours for you. I'll do that for you, girl.

• 1:04:26Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:04:27Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, of course.

• 1:04:27Speaker 02

  Thank you. I forget what we were talking about. Yeah, I just wanna be free. I wanna be cringe. I...

• 1:04:33Drew Afualo?

  Your advice is to be cringe.

• 1:04:34Speaker 02

  I wanna be passionate. Okay, okay, my advice, yes, my advice. Thank you, ADHD, will it back? Um, no one knows you like you.

• 1:04:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:44Speaker 02

  And like, no one has the answer to success. There's no one way to make it anywhere. What the fuck is making it also?

• 1:04:52Drew Afualo?

  Totally.

• 1:04:52Speaker 02

  Like, I feel like the entertainment industry especially is so Moorish.

• 1:04:57Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:04:57Speaker 02

  I feel like I have to come to a place in my life where I feel content and proud of myself and happy. I need to celebrate my wins.

• 1:05:03Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:05:04Speaker 02

  I would say, yeah, no one knows you like you, if anyone, especially...

• 1:05:11Speaker 02

  I, I just feel like, there, there's so many egos.

• 1:05:13Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:14Speaker 02

  If, if someone tells you that there is one way to make it and you have to be doing these certain things, they are full of shit.

• 1:05:20Drew Afualo?

  Period.

• 1:05:21Speaker 02

  They are so full of shit and I would run so far.

• 1:05:24Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:24Speaker 02

  I had so many men tell me that I had to be doing certain things, looking a certain way, following these steps to get here. Oh, you wanna be like this girl, you have to do these things. There, there's a path, there's a way to do things. No, there fucking isn't.

• 1:05:38Drew Afualo?

  No, especially not being an artist.

• 1:05:40Speaker 02

  You're...

• 1:05:40Drew Afualo?

  That literally commodifies and takes all the, sucks the soul out of art. Is to conform it and commodify it to one path.

• 1:05:47Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 1:05:48Drew Afualo?

  That's boring as fuck.

• 1:05:49Speaker 02

  It's so boring. There's always artists paving new ways to a place of making it...

• 1:05:56Drew Afualo?

  Whatever that means.

• 1:05:56Speaker 02

  Whatever that means.

• 1:05:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:58Speaker 02

  I feel like you can just write your own story and, yeah.

• 1:06:03Drew Afualo?

  Period.

• 1:06:03Speaker 02

  Listen to your own internal compass because no one knows you like you.

• 1:06:07Drew Afualo?

  Amen, sister. You better tell them.

• 1:06:09Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:06:09Drew Afualo?

  I'm obsessed with you. I think you're amazing.

• 1:06:11Speaker 02

  I'm so happy to be here.

• 1:06:12Drew Afualo?

  Same. I'm so happy to have had you.

• 1:06:14Speaker 02

  I squealed when I got told I was gonna be on the show. I'm so excited.

• 1:06:17Drew Afualo?

  You and me both, queen?

• 1:06:20Drew Afualo?

  And now we're gonna go off into the sunset together.

• 1:06:22Speaker 02

  On all fours.

• 1:06:23Drew Afualo?

  On all fours. Yeah, we're gonna run off on all fours together.

• 1:06:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:06:26Drew Afualo?

  And then.

• 1:06:27Speaker 02

  Someone get the boots. Someone get the boots.

• 1:06:29Drew Afualo?

  Fly in the boots. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I fucking love you.

• 1:06:33Speaker 02

  Thank you so much. I love you. Thank you.

• 1:06:35Drew Afualo?

  And everyone, please make sure you go check out Ashnikko's new album when it does drop on October 17th. Smoochies.

• 1:06:41Speaker 02

  Yay.

• 1:06:41Drew Afualo?

  And for the maybe two people, two straight people, obviously, that don't know you or where to follow you, where can everybody find you?

• 1:06:48Speaker 02

  I'm Ashnikko on all platforms. A-S-H-N-I-K-K-O.

• 1:06:53Drew Afualo?

  Love, period. Y'all are definitely gonna have to check out Ashnikko on literally everything, which is perfect. Because for those of you who check in, new episodes of the comment section drop every Wednesday. You can stream the audio on all streaming platforms, but the video list is free and exclusively on our favorite platform, Spotify, which is perfect because then you can watch this and then you can stream all of Ashnikko's music right there. I'm sure they'll plug it somewhere around here. Everyone can just click it. There you go. Thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you to my amazing guest, Ashnikko, and I'll see you next week. Bye.

• 1:07:31Speaker 00

  This December, the magic of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol returns to Virginia Repertory Theater in downtown Richmond. Experience the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge as he's visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, and rediscover the joy and true meaning of the holiday season. Performances run November 18th through December 27th. Tickets on sale now at virginia rep dot org or by calling 804-282-2620.

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