PHF Community Thread, Come Say Howdie Doody - y’all!

[Dax Diameter]

I was ever so slightly surprised today when a very old song unexpectedly cropped up as a brief topic of discussion on the Kim Petra’s thread and it made me wonder.. What are peoples earliest memories of pop music? What is the song, artist (or album era) that made you realize you love pop music?

[Kipper]

On 5/23/2023 at 4:43 PM, Dax Diameter said:

I was ever so slightly surprised today when a very old song unexpectedly cropped up as a brief topic of discussion on the Kim Petra’s thread and it made me wonder.. What are peoples earliest memories of pop music? What is the song, artist (or album era) that made you realize you love pop music?

I feel like this won't surprise anyone... my first experience with pop was through Nickelodeon when they went through their music obsessed phase from like 2007 to 2012. Shoutout to Miranda's "Sparks Fly" music video for giving me my first ever crush.  They did their own HSM rip-off in 2008 called Spectacular! that I was obsessed with, which that was the pre-cursor to doing their own boy-band that I mega-stanned from the very first day. As a little 8-year-old my fav songs ever were Halfway There by BTR, Beggin on Your Knees by Victoria, and Ariana's cover of Grenade lol.

I ended up going more the rock/edm direction growing up until Ms. Jepsen converted be back into a pophead a few years ago. Emotion and racist-enabler-who-will-not-be named's 1989 made me want to get back into more mainstream stuff and now here I am! As of recently I'm slowly falling into Sabrina Carpenter standom

[Dax Diameter]

4 hours ago, Kipper said:

I feel like this won't surprise anyone... my first experience with pop was through Nickelodeon when they went through their music obsessed phase from like 2007 to 2012. Shoutout to Miranda's "Sparks Fly" music video for giving me my first ever crush.  They did their own HSM rip-off in 2008 called Spectacular! that I was obsessed with, which that was the pre-cursor to doing their own boy-band that I mega-stanned from the very first day. As a little 8-year-old my fav songs ever were Halfway There by BTR, Beggin on Your Knees by Victoria, and Ariana's cover of Grenade lol.

I ended up going more the rock/edm direction growing up until Ms. Jepsen converted be back into a pophead a few years ago. Emotion and racist-enabler-who-will-not-be named's 1989 made me want to get back into more mainstream stuff and now here I am! As of recently I'm slowly falling into Sabrina Carpenter standom

I wanted to wait before commenting on your post because I was only vaguely aware of some of those names aside from Ariana Grande (and Miranda Cosgrove whom I had long since been aware was given Sugababes “About You Now” in the U.S).

I can be absolutely shameless when it comes to searching out a tune, a melody or lyrics that hit me just right. I know that creative inspiration can strike a songwriter anywhere at any time (regardless of the specific market segment that an artist who ends up fronting a certain track actually comes out of).

I had seen those artists mentioned from time to time on the ‘latest leaks’ thread and suspected (but was never sure), if they had indeed originated from Nickelodeon. As such you post sent me down a rabbit hole and my recent YouTube/ Wiki history now looks like this:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So thank you for filling in some blanks, helping me join some dots and for helping me see pop music from a completely different angle than I usually do.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Dax Diameter
Syntax

[Kipper]

23 hours ago, Dax Diameter said:

I wanted to wait before commenting on your post because I was only vaguely aware of some of those names aside from Ariana Grande (and Miranda Cosgrove whom I had long since been aware was given Sugababes “About You Now” in the U.S).

I can be absolutely shameless when it comes to searching out a tune, a melody or lyrics that hit me just right. I know that creative inspiration can strike a songwriter anywhere at any time (regardless of the specific market segment that an artist who ends up fronting a certain track actually comes out of).

I had seen those artists mentioned from time to time on the ‘latest leaks’ thread and suspected (but was never sure), if they had indeed originated from Nickelodeon. As such you post sent me down a rabbit hole and my recent YouTube/ Wiki history now looks like this:

  Hide contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So thank you for filling in some blanks, helping me join some dots and for helping me see pop music from a completely different angle than I usually do.

Still a bop after all these years! Lmao

This is my current favorite Sabrina song:

[Kipper]

I wanna be careful from steering this thread into negativity or drama, but I just can't help asking, what are people's thoughts on the Taylor Swift x Matty Healy drama? I was quite the Swiftie many moons ago but sorta lost interest post-Midnights era. That said, I've been absolutely glued to all this drama recently about a celebrity who has absolutely no idea who I am! Shamelessly entering my Deuxmoi era

A quick recap of events for the uninitiated:

• Taylor recently got dumped by her long-time boyfriend of 6 years, Joe Alwyn.
• She appears to have rebounded, very quickly, with The 1975 lead singer Matty Healy. This seemingly isn't the first time she's been involved with this washed-up pile of pizza crust: They had already been rumored to briefly be together back in 2014 or so. While less directly credible, there's a lot of decent speculation they had flings even during her relationship with Joe, with songs like "cardigan" for example being about him.
• The bulk of the drama comes down to this: Matty Healy has a history of saying terrible, bigoted things. In a podcast appearance earlier this year, he made racist comments about Ice Spice, while also joking about masturbating to videos from a website called "Ghetto Gaggers." This was widely and rightfully considered problematic, due to the fact that - and no, this is not a joke - the website hosts violent, berating porn where white men beat, humiliate and "dominate" black women. Little more need be said, frankly. Friends of Matty's seemingly confirmed his cute, funny little anecdote, indicating this wasn't simply some sort of messed-up joke attempt.
• Taylor, who has a history of being a political activist™ seems to have no problem with his overtly racist comments. In fact, her PR team is actively trying to bury the proof, editing Wikipedia pages to whitewash his (extensive) messed-up history, and issuing hilarious press statement after planted piece about how Taylor's friend told her other friend that she might have a crush on Matty, and she heard from the friend of a boyfriend of another friend that he likes her too!!

The Ice Spice element brought this to another level when last week, she announced a collab remix of "Karma" with her. Regardless of how long this has been the works, the timing absolutely gives the idea that she's using Ice Spice to show everyone how wonderfully un-racist she is - After all, how can she be if a POC loves her enough to work with her?!?! Especially the one on the receiving end of her disgusting boyfriend's racism and misogyny?!?!

I don't know, I feel like the reason this has gained so much traction is because it's kind of the pinnacle of 'casual racism' in the music industry, and how powerful white men get away with saying and doing whatever the hell they want, regardless of how terrible and culturally un-progressive it is. This combined with how childish Taylor is treating the whole thing just elevates it to whole other level of pathetic, and extremely fun to laugh at.

Who's in the right? Are you a Tatty shipper? Is T-Swizzle an unapologetic, racist enabler? Or do you just wish she and her cult following would shut the fuck up already? Let us know in your fabulous replies!

Edited May 28, 2023 by Kipper

[Dax Diameter]

On 5/28/2023 at 6:53 PM, Kipper said:

I wanna be careful from steering this thread into negativity or drama, but I just can't help asking, what are people's thoughts on the Taylor Swift x Matty Healy drama? I was quite the Swiftie many moons ago but sorta lost interest post-Midnights era. That said, I've been absolutely glued to all this drama recently about a celebrity who has absolutely no idea who I am! Shamelessly entering my Deuxmoi era

A quick recap of events for the uninitiated:

• Taylor recently got dumped by her long-time boyfriend of 6 years, Joe Alwyn.
• She appears to have rebounded, very quickly, with The 1975 lead singer Matty Healy. This seemingly isn't the first time she's been involved with this washed-up pile of pizza crust: They had already been rumored to briefly be together back in 2014 or so. While less directly credible, there's a lot of decent speculation they had flings even during her relationship with Joe, with songs like "cardigan" for example being about him.
• The bulk of the drama comes down to this: Matty Healy has a history of saying terrible, bigoted things. In a podcast appearance earlier this year, he made racist comments about Ice Spice, while also joking about masturbating to videos from a website called "Ghetto Gaggers." This was widely and rightfully considered problematic, due to the fact that - and no, this is not a joke - the website hosts violent, berating porn where white men beat, humiliate and "dominate" black women. Little more need be said, frankly. Friends of Matty's seemingly confirmed his cute, funny little anecdote, indicating this wasn't simply some sort of messed-up joke attempt.
• Taylor, who has a history of being a political activist™ seems to have no problem with his overtly racist comments. In fact, her PR team is actively trying to bury the proof, editing Wikipedia pages to whitewash his (extensive) messed-up history, and issuing hilarious press statement after planted piece about how Taylor's friend told her other friend that she might have a crush on Matty, and she heard from the friend of a boyfriend of another friend that he likes her too!!

The Ice Spice element brought this to another level when last week, she announced a collab remix of "Karma" with her. Regardless of how long this has been the works, the timing absolutely gives the idea that she's using Ice Spice to show everyone how wonderfully un-racist she is - After all, how can she be if a POC loves her enough to work with her?!?! Especially the one on the receiving end of her disgusting boyfriend's racism and misogyny?!?!

I don't know, I feel like the reason this has gained so much traction is because it's kind of the pinnacle of 'casual racism' in the music industry, and how powerful white men get away with saying and doing whatever the hell they want, regardless of how terrible and culturally un-progressive it is. This combined with how childish Taylor is treating the whole thing just elevates it to whole other level of pathetic, and extremely fun to laugh at.

Who's in the right? Are you a Tatty shipper? Is T-Swizzle an unapologetic, racist enabler? Or do you just wish she and her cult following would shut the fuck up already? Let us know in your fabulous replies!

I have been thinking about this since I clicked on a random link on Twitter a few days ago that played the excerpt of the podcast in question that Matt Healy was on when he made the comment.

My take is this, Matt Healy is racist and I feel uncomfortable with it. (The Twitter clip I randomly clicked on switched from the podcast to a clip of Ice Spice saying people would never think it of her, but that she is actually a fan of alt. rock and then proceeded to name check The 1975).

In my gut, I immediately felt somewhat paternal toward her for the simple fact that it’s very apparent to me her level of self-esteem is low and is absolutely not in the same place as rivals in her genre such as Nicki Minaj and Cardi B.

From that moment, I knew I wanted to back her (even though she had only ever been a name I’d heard casually banded about and more often than not as an object of ridicule based on how the straight white male patriarchy perceives her looks).

I should say that in the context of British culture, Joe Alwyn was/ is considered to be posh, from good breeding and upper class and let’s just say Matt Healy (on the other hand) is considered to be at the opposite end of the class structure that operates in the U.K.

What makes this whole situation so bizarre to me is that in the U.K. Matt Healy’s Mom is far more famous than he is, as his Mom has played a character in a long running British soap opera called “Coronation Street”, which (in the U.K.) is a cultural institution.  Matt’s Mom’s name is Denise Welch and she also happens to be a train-wreck!

Here she is pictured with Taylor:

For the longest time, I never knew Matt Healy existed and even when I did learn of his existence I found it so crazy to finally make the connection that Denise Welch is his actual Mom.

You see, aside from being a long running character in an even longer running and permanently popular soap opera, Denise has had alcohol abuse problems, man problems, (alleged past drug problems), depression and basically problems walking any distance without pissing herself. For years she has supplemented her income by detailing her woes (regarding her substance abuse problems etc) to the tabloid press, giving ‘exclusives’ about her latest drama.

She is also a panel member on the U.K’s answer to U.S. TV talk show “The View” (the U.K. version is the same format as the U.S. version), only the U.K. version is instead titled “Loose Women”.

The reason Matt has a different surname to his Mom is because his father is a random ex-husband of Denise’s whom she is long since divorced from.

I get that there are certain nuances of U.K. culture that the U.S. simply does not get and I can’t help but feel that also includes Taylor as she seems to have failed to make the distinction between posh rich boy (Joe Alwyn) and white trash (Matt Healy), which anyone in the U.K. instinctively knows are worlds apart and at total opposite ends of the class structure that permeates.

Long ago there was unconfirmed gossip that due to Denise’s former lifestyle, that Matt may be a victim of foetal alcohol syndrome which suggests to me that if he and Taylor were to one day get married and have a family, then Matt’s DNA (due to his pre-birth experiences in the womb), could potentially lead to long term health concerns for his (and Taylor’s) future offspring.

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Dax Diameter
Syntax

[Main Pop Girl]

5 hours ago, Kipper said:

I wanna be careful from steering this thread into negativity or drama, but I just can't help asking, what are people's thoughts on the Taylor Swift x Matty Healy drama? I was quite the Swiftie many moons ago but sorta lost interest post-Midnights era. That said, I've been absolutely glued to all this drama recently about a celebrity who has absolutely no idea who I am! Shamelessly entering my Deuxmoi era

A quick recap of events for the uninitiated:

• Taylor recently got dumped by her long-time boyfriend of 6 years, Joe Alwyn.
• She appears to have rebounded, very quickly, with The 1975 lead singer Matty Healy. This seemingly isn't the first time she's been involved with this washed-up pile of pizza crust: They had already been rumored to briefly be together back in 2014 or so. While less directly credible, there's a lot of decent speculation they had flings even during her relationship with Joe, with songs like "cardigan" for example being about him.
• The bulk of the drama comes down to this: Matty Healy has a history of saying terrible, bigoted things. In a podcast appearance earlier this year, he made racist comments about Ice Spice, while also joking about masturbating to videos from a website called "Ghetto Gaggers." This was widely and rightfully considered problematic, due to the fact that - and no, this is not a joke - the website hosts violent, berating porn where white men beat, humiliate and "dominate" black women. Little more need be said, frankly. Friends of Matty's seemingly confirmed his cute, funny little anecdote, indicating this wasn't simply some sort of messed-up joke attempt.
• Taylor, who has a history of being a political activist™ seems to have no problem with his overtly racist comments. In fact, her PR team is actively trying to bury the proof, editing Wikipedia pages to whitewash his (extensive) messed-up history, and issuing hilarious press statement after planted piece about how Taylor's friend told her other friend that she might have a crush on Matty, and she heard from the friend of a boyfriend of another friend that he likes her too!!

The Ice Spice element brought this to another level when last week, she announced a collab remix of "Karma" with her. Regardless of how long this has been the works, the timing absolutely gives the idea that she's using Ice Spice to show everyone how wonderfully un-racist she is - After all, how can she be if a POC loves her enough to work with her?!?! Especially the one on the receiving end of her disgusting boyfriend's racism and misogyny?!?!

I don't know, I feel like the reason this has gained so much traction is because it's kind of the pinnacle of 'casual racism' in the music industry, and how powerful white men get away with saying and doing whatever the hell they want, regardless of how terrible and culturally un-progressive it is. This combined with how childish Taylor is treating the whole thing just elevates it to whole other level of pathetic, and extremely fun to laugh at.

Who's in the right? Are you a Tatty shipper? Is T-Swizzle an unapologetic, racist enabler? Or do you just wish she and her cult following would shut the fuck up already? Let us know in your fabulous replies!

I heard about some of this but haven't been keeping up with it point by point so thank you for the summary! It's honestly bizarre to me how Taylor is getting zero to no backlash for this when other artists have been cancelled for much less - ie, Hailey Baldwin posting a photo of her eyebrows  Taylor's whole image has always been very holier than thou so it's weird no controversy ever seems to stick when it comes to her.

With that said, I have to question how much of the controversy around him is legit and how much is drummed up. I know this is probably a stupid question but is there much difference between a normal salute and a Nazi salute other than the position of your arm? To me it looks like he was just doing a normal salute which is still used in military events today but I honestly don't know the difference enough to say.

The "Islamophobic" (not sure why people are targetting Islam specifically) comments he made are honestly pretty on point and I don't see anything wrong with them at all. And as someone who partakes in a website called GagTheFag quite often I can't say I'm particularly offended by GhettoGaggers, although I probably wouldn't be talking about it in public as an international popstar

The worst thing to me is the Ice Spice comments but I'm not sure they're so bad that he needs to be cancelled. Overall he just gives me douchey vibes but that doesn't necessarily mean he's an evil person. The weird part to me is just how Taylor's fanbase turn a blind eye to anything she does wrong while tearing down any other female artist who makes a minor misstep. Overall though, as you alluded to, I really do "just wish she and her cult following would shut the fuck up already"  

[Dax Diameter]

Ultimately, I can only assume that there is some kind of intimate chemistry between Taylor and Matt which makes her Hot (either that or she has a continued fetish for uncircumcised non American D).

.. Lets take a look at Taylor’s dating history:

Taylor Lautner (American = Circumcised)
John Mayer (American = Circumcised)
Corey Monteith (Canadian = Circumcised)
Jake Gyllenhaal (American = Circumcised)
Conor Kennedy (American = Circumcised)

At this point TayTay appears to have abandoned the American way, as from this point on her dating history went:

Harry Styles (British = Uncircumcised)
Calvin Harris (British = Uncircumcised)
Tom Hiddleston (British = Uncircumcised)
Joe Alwyn (British = Uncircumcised)
Matt Healy (British = Uncircumcised)

Based on the above, it appears that Taylor’s “flower” has seen more action than that of a gay crack addict!

.. Conclusion = Once TayTay discovered foreskin, there was no looking back!

Edited May 30, 2023 by Dax Diameter
Update

[Dax Diameter]

Since we were already discussing this here and it’s a mute point on the Taylor “Midnights” thread:

I side with Ice Spice.

[Main Pop Girl]

5 minutes ago, Dax Diameter said:

Since we were already discussing this here and it’s a mute point on the Taylor “Midnights” thread:

I side with Ice Spice.

I mean, he's not wrong. The only person that can really be upset by that comment is Ice Spice. Other than that, it's just a bunch of people pretending to be upset for views on their TikTok videos

[Dax Diameter]

You don’t need to have any interest in the following artist or have ever liked any of their music. It’s also not my intent to engage in a toxic discussion regarding plastic surgery. 

I’m just curious as to what position Madonna happened to hold in the media landscape (and pop culture in general) at whatever point in your life that you (yes you), just happened to develop an awareness of the music landscape, music consumption and pop culture generally?

Do you feel her position has improved or deteriorated in context of public opinion over that time period? Are their any specific media events, after which her status dropped or deteriorated?

Aside from the more universal topic of what older artists (generally) should or need to do to adapt to a streaming demographic.. is there anything Madonna could or should be doing to ingratiate herself and maximize her profile ranking (and consequently her streams), in any consistent way out with, features that quickly burn up the charts before dropping back down without really impacting or maximising her overall popularity in the longer term?

Or, is she simply an artist who has had many moments in the sun already and now needs to deal with the concept that time has passed, broaden the scope of her life and constructively apply herself in different areas (either within or out with the industry), instead of attempting to have even more moments in the sun and grab media focus, with the ultimate intention of getting herself back into the position she once had?

There is a spiritual term known as the zeitgeist, it means ‘the spirit of the time’. Madonna once had it firmly in her grasp, at one particularly egotistical point she even believed she possessed and had become the zeitgeist itself (as opposed to merely being a channel through which it passed), much like an electrical current.

This is where her streams are (followed by where she ultimately wants them to be). Is her unrelenting end goal ridiculous, or not (essentially, is she over)?

Alternatively, is there any consistently achievable key performance indicator (KPI), form of marketing, viral play count or any other means by which Madonna can get back into pole position?

 

 

Metrical difference between the two:

 

Former collaboration and creative meeting of minds:

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Dax Diameter

[Dax Diameter]

Charlie Puth for the latest edition of “Interview” Mag..

Is he giving “Top” or “Bottom” energy?

.. A debate. What is your view?

[Main Pop Girl]

8 hours ago, Dax Diameter said:

Charlie Puth for the latest edition of “Interview” Mag..

Is he giving “Top” or “Bottom” energy?

.. A debate. What is your view?

Sloppy FraternityX bottom vibes tbh  

[Dax Diameter]

AI photo of Nick Jonas is currently going viral.

Suddenly I like the idea of a Nick Jonas/ Charlie Puth Sandwich.

[Kesha Slays]

@Dax Diameter I believe this is the thread that you mentioned? 

For those that may not have read my recent status update, a few days ago, our family dog, Buddy, passed away after suffering a seizure. He was around 6 years old when we got him in February 2019 and although I never knew the date he was born, allegedly he was born in August 2012. I recently discovered that because of his breed and the fact that he wasn't purebred, his life expectancy was actually a little shorter compared to others. He lived to be about 10 or 11 years old, which is really a long time if you think about it. He was half German Shepherd half Australian Shepherd mix. He was a great dog. 

I was not his favorite person. He really imprinted on my brother who was with him when he died. But, I know he loved me and the other members of my family just the same. He would give me kisses and we'd go on walks. He even came with us on a family vacation once. He loved car rides. He was everything you could want in a pet except the cuddling. He would only allow cuddles on his terms. He would simply get up and move if you tried cuddling him. He would allow hugs tho. He was super friendly. He never bit anyone ever.

He was my furry four-legged friend and now he's gone. 

Trying to post a photo of him, but it's not letting me....