Hypercritical Swifties, The Love Hypothesis & Toxic Leftists At The Lesbian Bar

Hello EICurmudgeons…In the midst of some sitcom-worthy activities in our personal lives, we’re back with another episode breaking down the biggest- and weirdest- pop culture stories.We’re heading to the Congo Basin (not literally, we hope) as British survivalist Ash Dykes prepares to embark on a 700km kayak expedition down the Sangha river.With equal peril we’ve also decided to discuss Taylor Swift. Should we be applauding the encore to The Life Of A Showgirl? And why are her four new tracks leaving a sour taste in the mouths of some of her die-hard fans?We break down our fashion highs and lows from the VMAs, before giving our takes on the mask-only lesbian bar that broke the internet.As always thank you so much for supporting our independent podcast. We'd also love if you could subscribe to the show on your podcast player, leave a review/rating & follow us on Instagram, TikTok and now Substack. Love you! O, R, B xThis week Beth's been loving The Love Hypothesis, Ruchira's been loving Dog Day Afternoon & Oenone's been loving Younger, Have You Tried Unplugging The AI & this episode of the Ezra Klein Show.LinksPR Daily - Taylor Swift’s latest album announcement raises a question about audience fatigueTikTok - Thee Swiftologist “The Encore was a bad idea” Substack - Taylor Swift’s Shrinking World by Candice Wuehle Page 6 - MTV VMAs 2026 red carpet: See all the celebrity outfitsAsh Dykes - Project 6 NOE - Congo Basin forests: an ally against the climate crisis that must be protected before it's too lateThe Guardian - The Love Hypothesis review The Guardian- #NotAllLesbians – we can’t let the Massachusetts bar drama turn us all into a punchlineHollywood Reporter - Viral Lesbian Bar Article From Boston Globe Is Piquing Hollywood’s InterestThe Boston Globe - Greenfield lesbian bar Last Ditch faces mask-rule backlashAutostraddle - Excommunicate Me from the Church of Social Justice YouTube - You Can See Everything Trailer Instragram - Ash Dykes YouTube - The Swiftologist / Life of a Showgirl: The Encore Substack - What the fuck happened to Taylor Swift YouTube GENER8ION ft Yung Lean at the VMAs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello EICucumbers…We’re all back and we’ve peeled Beth away from Vanderpump Rules to record this week’s episode of the podcast for you…We’re piling in on the internet’s hot debate of the week - is it unprofessional to bring an iced coffee to a job interview? Matcha girls, prepare to be outraged… because we have strong opinions on this one.EmRata has joined the ever growing list of celebrities advertising the prediction market PolyMarket. Does everyone have a price? We discuss how - when it comes to prediction markets - almost everyone loses.Oenone’s been within touching distance of Sharon Horgan this week - we swoon over her and take a look at her new series Youth.And - the mums are on SnapMaps… would you let your parents track you at Freshers Week? A mum has gone viral this week for detailing how she spies on her teenage son in a piece for The Times. We examine the dangers of surveillance and how location trackers may do more harm than good.Stick around to the end of the episode to hear an announcement about our future plans for the podcast. Thank you so much for your support - whether that’s listening every week, contributing, following us or leaving a review… we appreciate you all. Love ya, O, R, B xSwyft Discount 🫶🏻Ruchira's been loving:Maggie Nelson - The Argonauts ,Bangerz Beth's been loving: Fire of LoveOenone's been loving:Tracey Emin - Strangeland ,The Gentlemen ,Lost LambsMaggie Nelson - BluetsWSJ - Why Almost Everyone Loses—Except a Few Sharks—on Prediction Markets at freshers week — and I’m not the only one EIC - The Girlification of BettingWSJ - Helicopter Parents Are Co-Piloting Their Adult Children’s Careers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pick up, EICallers… It’s your favourite podcast calling!In this week’s Everything In Conversation, we’re asking: is cold calling your friends the answer to sustaining a healthy friendship?In response to a new Cut piece by Kathleen Walsh titled ‘I Should Be Allowed to Cold-Call My Friends’, we’re pondering how and why we seem to be so averse to calling our friends out of the blue to have a good old natter. We consider all the benefits of phone calls, what we might be missing on without them, and discuss some ways to make a cold-call less anxiety-inducing. This is an independent podcast and the best ways you can support us are giving us a follow on your podcast player, dropping a review and following us on Instagram, TikTok and now Substack. Thank you for being here, and we’ll see you next week. Love, O, R, B x swyfthome.com/pages/eic-podcastLINKS: THE CUT - I Should Be Allowed to Cold-Call My FriendsFOLLOW US: INSTAGRAMTIKTOK SUBSTACK Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello EICave Divers… It’s been a WEEK of bizarre stories and we’re here to (attempt to) guide you through them… In the wake of the news that all of Ed Sheeran’s support acts have quit his tour in solidarity with Macklemore and the Palestinian people, we discuss the power of taking a stand in the face of billionaires. The HYROX Poo has been everywhere across our timelines this week. How well has the sport responded to this PR disaster? And what does this expose about the culture around HYROX? Meanwhile, another shitstorm (sorry) has been brewing around Sydney Sweeney - who has posed nearly-nude to advertise a sports prediction market. Have we come to expect this from her? What the hell is happening at Sweeney HQ? It’s the question we’ve all been asking this week: is AI really on track to kill us all within a decade? Jacob Coxon, former AI researcher at Anthropic who previously also worked at Open AI went viral earlier this month when he shared a post on X saying he’d resigned from the company over safety fears and that time is running out to ensure AI is safe. Before we get swept up in the panic, we’ve consulted several tech experts’ analysis and fact checks to try and wade through it all… And last up - we’ve been to see One Night Only, a new rom-com – or dystopian thriller depending on your reading which explores what it would be like if pre-martial sex was outlawed and singles only had one night to f to their genitals’ galore. Let’s just say, opinions are mixed within the team… Make sure you’re subscribed and please leave us a review, it’s the best way you can support our independent podcast. Enjoy the ep and we’ll see you next week. Love, O, R, B xx swyfthome.com/pages/eic-podcastLINKS: MEG MASON: Sophie Standing There DISNEY PLUS: Adults BBC NEWS: Hyrox apologises for allowing race to continue after athlete soils herself THE ATHLETIC: The Sydney Sweeney advert ignores decades of progress BBC NEWS: Why some experts increasingly fear AI will take overMETR - Brief independent investigation of agents’ behavior, reasoning and collaboration in the OpenAI / Hugging Face hacking incidentThe Guardian - The Elon Musk v Sam Altman battle is a distractionWIRED: The AI Researcher Who Just Quit Anthropic Says It’s ‘Crunch Time for Humanity’X - AJEYA COTRA: Hugging Face explainer Platformer - The AI safety vibe shift NY TIMES: This is Really Bad WASHINGTON POST: For years they warned that AI could kill all humans, now people are listening CIGI - AI National Security Scenarios / Special ReportFOLLOW US: INSTAGRAMTIKTOKSUBSTACK Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello EICritters… In today’s Everything In Conversation - we’re discussing North West. In August of this year, Dazed released images of their Autumn 2026 issue, which features North, the 13-year-old daughter of reality TV star, brand owner and actress Kim Kardashian and musician Kanye West, as their cover star. When we’ve spoken about North on EIC previously, we uniformly agreed that there was something about her music career that doesn’t sit right with us: a recently turned 13-year-old performing at festivals, travelling to events without her parents, being filmed and photographed by thousands of people at a time and being swarmed by paparazzi. Now her words, opinions and thoughts have been written up in media written for and by adults. Are we right to feel uneasy about this? Is this any different from the careers of the child stars from our youth? And is this a sign of things to come for the future of the children of the Kardashian dynasty?Make sure you’re following us on Instagram for your chance to weigh in and give us your opinions in future episodes. Love you - enjoy the ep! O, R, B x swyfthome.com/pages/eic-podcastLINKS: DAZED - North West: ‘Music is what I wanna do with my life’PARADE - North West's Latest Public Appearance Reignites Debate Over Child FameCall Her Daddy x Kim KFOLLOW US:Instagram TikTok Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello EICowboys…It’s Beth and Ruchira steering good ship EIC this week as Oenone is taking a little break. Ruchira is turbo jet-lagged, and Beth is in a post-Cornwall haze… perfect podcasting conditions all round tbh. We catch up about Ruchira’s trip to the Big Apple and Beth has FINALLY seen The Odyssey. Was her teenage classist self impressed with Nolan’s interpretation of Homer’s epic? We fill you in on all the news from a week FULL of pop culture news and give you a hopeful look ahead at the TV coming our way this autumn that will hopefully keep the SAD at bay. And a new reality TV family has hit the scene - The Earles… 25-year-old American social media celebrity Alix Earle and her family star in new Netflix reality series Earle Meets World. Do we have space in our hearts for a new reality family or are they 20 years too late? As always, leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts - it’s the best way you can support our independent podcast. Enjoy the episode, and we’ll see you next time. Love, O, R, B x swyfthome.com/pages/eic-podcast Follow us: InstagramTikTok Substack LINKS:Cat Cohen - Broad Strokes Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated ManGloria Steinem, Personification of the Feminist Movement, Dies at 92 - The New York Times'SNL UK' Adds 'Big Boys' Actor Freddie Meredith To Season 2 CastGlastonbury confirms ticket sale dates - and highest ever price - BBC NewsEarle Meets World Is a Bleak Portrait of the New American Dream - The Cut Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello EICiggies, Is smoking cool again? Was it ever? With smoking once again at the epicentre of celebrity chic we asked YOU whether or not you think people are picking up their lighters and throwing away their cares. And if so, are we experiencing a trickle down from celebs which is reversing decades of public health campaigns? We also reflect on our own relationships with smoking, how our attitudes towards smoking have changed through the years and how smoking has come to re-enter the mainstream. It’s the comeback that none of us expected. Can we attribute the rise of smoking as an aesthetic marker to a resistance to wellness, a natural bedfellow to the rise of diet culture - or are the famous people to blame? We consider the measures that can be put in place to stop it. Hope you enjoy the episode and as always, please rate, review follow, subscribe and share the show. We're an indie podcast and it means the world & helps us keep going. O, R, B xswyfthome.com/pages/eic-podcast Linksinews - Smoking is cool again. How embarrassing. Grazia - What's With All The Performative Smoking?ASH - Use of vapes and other novel tobacco and nicotine products among adults in Great BritainInstagram - @cigfluencers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi EICelebrities…Today’s we’re #gifting you an influencer special. Once the guardians of the internet, are we now experiencing a rising tide of anti-influencer angst? Is it sexist to find them annoying? And just how relevant are they any more? First up we share the creators and influencers who we love to follow. Ruchira loves following Navy Ahluwalia (@naviahluwalia) & Savannah Sachdev (@savannahsachdev), Oenone loves following Veronika Slowikowska (@veronika_iscool) and Beth loves following Melissa Holdbrook-Akposoe (@melissaswardrobe) and Jack & Ash (@jackremmington & @ashholme).Then: is hating influencers a socially acceptable way to hate women? After a shop sign in America reading "no influencers" went viral, popular influencer Levi Coralynn argued that anti-influencer sentiment is often a vehicle for misogyny. We ask why female creators do seem to get pigeonholed and flattened by the term ‘influencer’ when men are allowed to label themselves in far more varied ways online? And is some of the criticism aimed at influencers fair?Next: are we in a style influencer recession? Hermes unboxing videos and videos of them grabbing a matcha pre-pilates aren’t garnering the same 7 figure viewership anymore, "forcing" increasing numbers of influencers to pivot to making low level ragebait to engage new audiences. In response to this, are we seeing more desire for intellectual and paywalled content on platforms such as Substack? Is it time for us to become ragebaiters or should we all go and touch grass? Finally: the latest influencer pivot seems to be teaching others how to influence. Is this an MLM or a natural career progression for a creator? Thanks so much for supporting out independent podcast! We hope you've loved listening. If so, please do follow us on Instagram and TikTok @everythingiscontentpod. We're also now on Substack- expect essays, deep dives & even more pop culture recs!O, R, B x swyfthome.com/pages/eic-podcast Links:New York Times - Are influencers barred from this Nantucket shop?Vulture - Are influencers being demonised – or held accountable?Vogue - Let’s Face It: Influencers Aren’t Really the Problem Vulture - You Can’t Just Be Showing Matcha-Pilates-Alo Apple Podcasts - Reasonably Optimistic "Why is anger so addictive"Substack - Late stage content creation is depressing as hell BBC - Meta to pay up to $18bn to settle claims its platforms harm children Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi there EICrocodiles! Today’s bonus episode is dedicated to the myth, the legend… Jordan AKA The Pricey AKA Katie Price. In July, Louis Theroux’s production company released a four-part documentary series offering a retrospective on the 30 years Price has spent in the public eye, and reflecting on the fallout of living a life seemingly dedicated to headline culture. For some she’s a a national treasure, an icon of the 90s and 00s and a fixture of British culture. Others criticise her for a history of questionable behaviour. In this episode we dive into the picture painted of Katie Price in this docuseries, how she has bounced back after a series of traumas and scandals, and why our soft spot doesn’t seem to want to go away. Was Katie Price the original Molly-Mae? Are we willing to set aside her scandals for entertainment value? Is this just a woman processing trauma?  Katie Price: Nothing To Hide is available on NOW TV and Sky Documentaries. Thank you SO much for all of your takes and opinions on this topic. We love being in conversation with you! O,R,B. xoxoxoxoLinksIrish Examiner - Jennifer Horgan: Katie Price: Nothing to Hide lays bare an unlikeable but deeply sympathetic character The Guardian - Katie Price: Nothing to Hide – this remarkable profile is as fascinating and exhausting as its subject Sky - Watch 'Katie Price: Nothing To Hide'Independent - Katie Price shares huge regret over Gareth Gates relationshipReddit R/UKPopculture - "Peter Andre was so cruel to Katie Price" PETA - PETA Offers Katie Price £5,000 to Stop Acquiring AnimalsWales Online - Katie Price breaks silence on Lee Andrews '£250k sex tape' as sister blasts himBBC - Katie Price banned from driving for seventh timeBBC - Katie Price told to pay ex-husband £25,000 over sex life claimsPublishedMetro - Katie Price describes her South African carjacking attemptGrazia - Kim Kardashian’s Starstruck Tweet Over Katie Price And Peter Andre Resurfaces Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello EICriminals! Today, we’re taking a stroll down bonkers alley to answer the question that you’ve all been asking… when is a shoe not a shoe? We’re really living in a foot guy’s world rn… We share our heartache following the death of Dolly Parton and reflect on the incredible legacy she’s left behind. Keep your ears peeled for Beth’s *very* special tribute. Are you kinda sick of kinda chic? The trend that we’ve all been seeing ALL over our feeds this summer has got us wondering… is there any room for creativity online when creators are rewarded for replicating content? We also discuss Amanda Knox and her Edinburgh Fringe show. Why has her show sparked such a debate? Does she have the right to tell her story and what moral obligations does she have? We discuss the case and details of the trial in the second segment, if this is something you may not wish to hear please do skip that segment.Meanwhile: is Marc Jacobs going to style Luigi Mangione for his upcoming New York State murder trial? We discuss our favourite courtroom style moments. And lastly… Megxit is over and YouGov is asking “do you care?”. Meghan, if you’re listening… you’re very welcome to come on the podcast. Enjoy the ep! Love O, R, B x Beth's been loving: Dolly Parton Imagination Library , Furious, Stamptown Oenone's been loving: Fisk Ruchira's been loving: London Falling, Kaynan - Spawn Point Margaret Qualley Barefoot Sandals Is "Kinda Chic" Kinda Cringe? Marc Jacobs says he’d dress ‘trendsetter’ Luigi Mangione for courtAmanda Knox Has Turned Her Trauma Into Comedy – But Should She?Why are Harry and Meghan returning to the UK? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.