Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Chappell Roan addresses lack of presidential endorsement, Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet tour + Marques Brownlee app backlash

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MINI SCROLL: Chappell Roan addresses lack of presidential endorsement, Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet tour + Marques Brownlee app backlash · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy, and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  So I wanted to say something about the comments that I've
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  been getting on and off about how I have mouth sounds when I
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  host the podcast. And I'm so sorry about that
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  because I am sure that is so freaking annoying.
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  But it's really weird because I never had those comments in like
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  the four years that I Co hosted it with Jordy.
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  So over the last few months I've been trying to figure out why.
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  Like I wasn't sure if it was my equipment.
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  I wasn't sure if being in this new studio, it's much quieter.
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  So the mics are picking up smaller sounds which I think is
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  probably part of it. In our previous studio it was in
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  my house we didn't even have double glazed windows so the
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  audio wasn't as crisp I would say as it is now.
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  But I've been deep in the forms trying to figure it out and I
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  found this one comment that said it could be because you are
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  speaking too directly into the microphone as opposed to
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  speaking over top of it or at like a different angle.
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  So I've angled my mic up instead of directly at me because I did
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  realize that before I changed studios, the mic actually used
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  to be secured somewhere completely different and I think
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  the mics were actually angled differently.
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  So I'm hoping that this will help.
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  But please know I'm on a journey to solve this problem.
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  I don't want that to be the reason why people can't listen
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  to the podcast or don't listen to the podcast.
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  So I am trying to figure it out. But if anybody has any tips,
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  whether it is like personally like I am, I'm a hydrated queen,
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  I don't know, maybe I'm too hydrated.
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  But, you know, if you have any tips about, like, what I could
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  do or what I could do for the equipment, let me know.
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  All right, let's just get into the stories for today.
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  So the first story that I have for you guys is that Chapel
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  Rhone has addressed confusion over her comments about not
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  endorsing a presidential candidate.
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  OK. So earlier this week, The
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  Guardian published an interview with Chapel Rhone in which
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  Chapel explained why she hasn't endorsed anyone for the US
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  presidential election. Coming up in the interview, she
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  said, I have so many issues with our government in every way.
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  There are so many things that I would want to change.
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  So I don't feel pressured to endorse someone.
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  There's problems on both sides. I encourage people to use your
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  critical thinking skills. Use your vote, vote small, vote
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  for what's going on in your city.
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  And then the article goes on to say the change she wants to see
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  in the US in this election year, she says instantly is quote
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  trans rights. They cannot have sis people
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  making decisions for trans people period.
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  OK, so over the last 24 hours, the statement about her saying
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  there's problems on both sides has gone so viral.
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  And there's been tons of people expressing how surprised they
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  were that she didn't endorse obviously Kamala Harris, not
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  Donald Trump, and their disappointment that she kind of
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  had this seemingly wishy washy statement.
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  So now Chapel has responded in a TikTok.
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  I have encouraged people to use critical thinking skills, learn
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  about what they're voting for, learn about who they're voting
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  for, and ask questions. And it's being completely taken
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  out of context. Per usual, there is nuance to
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  what I say in interviews. If you read my full interviews,
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  if you literally know anything about me and for what I stand
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  for, you know that this is not lip service.
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  This is not virtue signalling that my actions have always
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  paved the way for my project and the people who really know me.
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  No, I'm not voting for Trump, and yes, I will always question
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  those in power and those making decisions over other people.
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  OK, so I think that this is such a clear example of like our lack
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  of media literacy. I think it's so stupid that she
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  needed to clarify at all who she would be voting for or like who
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  she would be endorsing if she was going to publicly endorse
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  someone. Obviously she's not voting for
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  Trump. Literally in the next sentence
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  she says the number one thing that she cares about right now
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  is trans rights. And Chapel Rhone as a persona is
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  a drag persona. She champions LGBTQIA plus
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  causes. She donates to those causes.
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  Like she is so involved. I mean, I'm not American and I
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  don't live in America, so I also don't necessarily want to pass
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  judgment on how people felt about her making that statement.
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  I'm also going to say though, that it appears to me like
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  Chapel's team is setting her up to fail.
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  I think she is doing so much right now.
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  She's doing so much press. There's literally a new Chapel
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  Rd. interview, like I'm not kidding, every single week.
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  She's performing at like every festival, every major event.
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  I think she's also on tour right now and she keeps telling us
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  she's not OK. Recently, she also said she
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  hopes that she doesn't actually win a Grammy, which I thought
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  was interesting because to me that's indicative of, yeah, the
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  fact that her team is not protecting her or doing
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  necessarily like what is in her best interest.
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  Possibly because I don't know how many of you guys know this,
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  but when it comes to award shows like that or just like even
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  industry awards, things that happen in any industry, for the
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  most part, you have to submit yourself to even be considered,
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  let alone nominated. Low loan winning.
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  So Chapel being nominated for Grammys like either she
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  submitted herself, which by her statement of assuming she
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  didn't, her team submitted her, her management submitted her,
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  the label submitted her like someone has submitted her.
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  So for her to come out and say, I hope I don't win again acting.
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  I'm assuming it was not her that submitted herself.
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  So acting, you know, against her best interest.
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  I think it's so clear she's struggling right now and I think
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  she needs to stop doing press like she needs to stop doing
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  interviews because it feels like she can't handle the feedback.
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  And and I am not saying that the feedback is valid feedback.
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  I'm just saying in general, any interview that like a really big
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  celebrity does is going to get picked apart.
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  So I think she needs to stop doing press for now.
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  And I think maybe she needs to at least pause on her social
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  media and just use it the way that some really big A list
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  celebrities do, like a Taylor Swift, where they almost
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  exclusively use it for their career to promote albums.
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  Like it is not a personal diary. It's an extension of their work.
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  I think while being so personal on social media is obviously of
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  benefit to her fans and you know it.
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  It just feels natural when she's young, right?
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  She's like Gen. Z and, you know, it just feels
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  like the natural way also to promote your music and stuff
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  like that. But I think Chapel now is at
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  this level where she needs to limit her interactions with
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  feedback because it seems like the team that she has around her
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  hasn't put enough in place yet to protect her.
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  OK, the next story that I have is I have some more pop girly
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  news. I have two quick little ones,
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  little updates. So the short and sweet tour,
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  Sabrina Carpenter's tour started last night.
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  It was so good. Oh my God.
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  Like I was watching all the clips on TikTok.
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  Annabelle was like, did you see it?
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  And I was like, no, I haven't seen it at all.
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  And then of course, as soon as she said it, I just keep seeing
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  it now it's everywhere. It's so good.
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  And I saw a tweet that I'm very interested to hear you guys
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  feedback on. So it was like, it's so
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  impressive. This is paraphrasing, but it was
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  like, it's so impressive that Sabrina Carpenter has managed to
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  have this like really sexy persona and sing kind of in like
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  a vulgar ish way about sex while being like for the girls and not
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  relying on that like male sex appeal for her career.
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  And I would love to hear your opinions on how she's done that
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  and why that is. I think my best running theory
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  so far is #1 she's been in this game for so long, so she's had
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  so many different eras and she's built that female fan base
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  because she's been in the industry for so long.
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  So just naturally she has was a big female fan base.
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  And I think maybe too, her current era is kind of like a
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  caricature of very overt femininity.
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  And it like celebrates femininity more so than it
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  celebrates sex, you know, like, or like being sexual.
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  It more so celebrates like being fierce in your femininity.
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  And it's almost like Barbie. I kind of see it like that.
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  So that is my other running theory.
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  And the other news that I have is that Addison Rae came out at
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  the Sweat Tour with Charlie XCX and Troye Sivan and they all
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  sang Diet Pepsi and it was so good.
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  And I just love this for the all of them, but I love it for
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  Addison and I'm so excited to see what she releases next, what
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  she does next. OK, the last story that I have
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  for you guys is that Marquez Brownlee is getting dragged on
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  his iPhone review video for promoting his new app in the
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  video at the start of the video. So we all know he is the biggest
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  Marquez is the biggest YouTube review like tech channel.
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  Basically he's, I would say like the most famous Envoy Internet
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  probably. He posted his iPhone 16 review
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  and he started by saying that he's like so excited because
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  this coincides with the launch of his new app called Panels.
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  He said they've been working on panels for a long time.
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  It's a wallpaper app. And he said that he's like
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  really known for his Wallpapers. And I didn't know this about
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  him, but I guess he always has these like cool custom
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  Wallpapers in a lot of his videos, whether it's like on his
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  phone or on his desktop, whatever.
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  And when you go to Google search, his name, that's always
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  one of the top search results is like, where does he get these
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  Wallpapers? So he basically created an app
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  where you can get these Wallpapers.
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  So it's a free app. I downloaded it, I tried it out.
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  You get to pick the artist, like the vibes of the artists and it
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  curates a feed for you where you can scroll through and pick
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  different Wallpapers based on the artists that you like.
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  And some of them are paid collections, but some of them
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  are free just like if you had Canva versus like Canva Pro.
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  And you can also pay for a $50 a year subscription, which
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  basically means that it will be ad free.
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  And I'm not sure if that includes like free collections,
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  like if the paid collections you then also get for free.
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  But either way you don't get ads.
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  So I suppose I didn't see an ad, but I don't know, it could be
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  different in Australia. I find that a lot of the tech
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  that rolls out here won't have ads.
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  Like even the podcast, like there was a lot of podcasts that
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  I listened to for years where they would say they were going
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  on an ad break, but there would be no ad that played because the
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  company that they were with, like the network that they were
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  with didn't have a programmatic ads team here in Australia yet.
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  So I don't know if it's just going to like roll out later for
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  us or whatever. But yeah, anyways, when you
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  scroll through, I guess there will be ads on the feed of like
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  where you can pick the wallpaper.
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  So he is getting absolutely roasted for this app and for
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  asking people to pay $50 a year for this like subscription.
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  Again, access to the Wallpapers is free.
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  You don't have to pay for this app and you can get free
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  Wallpapers. Like you don't have to pay a
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  subscription, you don't have to pay for the Wallpapers.
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  But his comment section is crazy, so I'm going to read some
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  of the top comments. Someone says it's a rare
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  occurrence but MKB is actually getting cooked in his own
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  comment section. Someone else says no one's
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  paying $50 a year for a regular wallpaper app, Lil bro.
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  Someone else says this update is so incremental that people are
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  just ignoring the phone and making fun of your app.
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  I think this is so interesting. I think it's indicative of how
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  we feel about influencers at this current moment.
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  And of course, the cost of living crisis because back in
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  the day, you know, and maybe this is just because it's
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  different corners of the Internet, but like back in the
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  day, we used to pay $50.00 for like an eyeshadow palette
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  launched by Jaclyn Hill or whatever, right?
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  Like by any like, beauty guru, like $50.00 for a product that
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  you can use unlimitedly is unlimitedly.
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  Yeah, that sounds like a word. Sometimes they say things on the
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  podcast and I'm like, did I actually go to university?
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  Like, how do I not know if that's a word or not?
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  Whatever. Like it's an unlimited use.
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  You can use it all the time. It never expires, you know,
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  like, that sounds like a fine deal.
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  You know, and I get it's not a tangible product the way that,
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  like, an eyeshadow palette is. You are paying $50.00 for a
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  digital product. And I mean, maybe it's like, too
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  similar to like, the NFT discourse.
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  But, you know, I think paying $50.00 for a piece of art, like
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  you're paying for an artist's work.
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  And that's seems to be quite important with this app.
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  He says that he's worked with all these different artists to
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  create the Wallpapers. They're splitting the profits
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  5050 with the artists. So, you know, he's trying to do
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  it quite ethically. And I just feel like in the
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  realm of influencer products like this is not a scam.
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  This is a very sleek app. I was using it.
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  Like I said, the design is amazing.
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  It works so well. The functionality is amazing.
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  I have downloaded apps you guys by influencers in the past that
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  like honestly barely work. But again, I understand the cost
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  of living crisis and it feels like for something like a
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  wallpaper where you can like genuinely get free Wallpapers
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  all over the Internet. I understand people are just
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  highly sensitive to literally the cost of living, like to
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  anything that cost money right now.
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  It's just like a slap in the face and I get it.
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  But I don't see this as so different from other services.
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  Maybe it's just because I'm in media so I'm familiar with them.
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  But you know, there's tons of websites where you can get free
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  images, like stock images and videos, But then you can also
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  pay for the pro subscription and your options are significantly
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  better and way more and whatever you know, or you can pay per
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  image and stuff like I I see it so similar to that.
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  But I understand it is also just like for your own phone where
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  you can get a lot of free stuff. But I just think at the end of
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  the day, if you don't like it, you just don't have to download
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  it or pay for it. Anyways, guys, thank you so much
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  for listening to mini scroll. Please remember to rate review
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  and subscribe. I love you guys and I will talk
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  to you tomorrow. Bye.