Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Kylan Darnell "break" from Rush, Australian entertainment media analysis + Taylor Swift new album

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MINI SCROLL: Kylan Darnell "break" from Rush, Australian entertainment media analysis + Taylor Swift new album · 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 and sometimes Fridays.
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  I'm your host, Lauren Meissner, the founder of the youth digital
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  media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to mini scroll,
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  everyone. Reminder to share your opinion
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  on the TikTok that I posted in yesterday's episode at the end
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  of yesterday's episode. If you share your opinion in the
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  comments section on Spotify, YouTube, even in our DMS, we may
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  include it in our close friends newsletter coming up.
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  All right, let's get into the stories for today.
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  So the first story that I have for you guys is that Kyle and
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  Darnell is, quote, taking a break from Rush amid some
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  backlash. So Kylin Darnell is kind of like
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  the OG Bama Rush girl who rose to fame on TikTok for sharing
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  her experience Russian Greek life at the University of
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  Alabama back in 2022. Kylin has since amassed 1.2
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  million followers and is going into her senior year of college.
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  Kylin really became the face of Rush talk for a period there.
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  So it came as a massive surprise to everyone who follows this
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  like niche on TikTok that Kylin announced on August 11th she
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  would be taking a break from both social media and Rush.
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  I have personally decided to take a mental health day these
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  next three days and like through this philanthropy round because
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  whenever I first came to the University of Alabama, I had no
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  idea that my life was going to turn into what it has.
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  I was just a girl that thought it was so neat what I was doing
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  because being from Ohio, I had no idea that you shouldn't have
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  posted on social media. I had no idea that it was like
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  frowned upon. I had no idea like the backlash
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  or the positivity that I would get for it.
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  I had no idea that I'd be sitting in the shoes I am today
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  with the voice I have today. But I've grown and it's not
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  really like that anymore. I've decided to take a couple
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  steps back to protect my own piece.
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  I've just noticed that a lot of things that are true or aren't
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  true are being said online and that happens every year.
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  I just know that this year it's a lot worse and it's a lot like
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  more amped. Up there's also a lot of people
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  in the comments saying like you can't just like take a break
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  from rush. I don't know I'm Canadian.
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  We don't really have the same like sorority fraternity system
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  at our university. So I am not really familiar with
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  Greek life. But if you guys are let me know
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  what you think about like taking a break from rush.
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  So this is from hercampus.com. They wrote.
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  Others pointed out that Bama Zeta is a official.
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  Social media accounts have not been featuring posts from
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  Darnell this year, and some are wondering whether that has
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  anything to do with Darnells decision to step back.
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  That said, most seniors are less active during rush than
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  underclassmen, so it isn't really abnormal for Zeta to not
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  be posting her. Also, some are wondering whether
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  Darnell's mom Tanya could have something to do with Darnell
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  stepping back, considering Tanya is in the midst of sharing a
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  multi part TikTok series about the struggles she's faced
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  dealing with Darnell's career. A series that Darnell does not
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  seem happy about, according to a video she posted on the evening
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  of August 11th where she clarified that she is currently
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  not in a legal battle like some assumed after watching Tanya's
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  TikTok. So there was like this rumor
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  going around that Kylan was being by a brand related to some
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  type of like sponsorship, and that's why she had to step back
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  from Rush. Something I also found that I
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  think maybe explains this more is that Kylin got a lot of
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  backlash just this past week when she posted a video on
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  TikTok during Rush. It was like part of Rush.
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  OK. I think it was called Work week.
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  Again, I don't know these things, but like, it was for
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  work week. She was dressed as a pilot and
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  she was posing in a vintage military plane.
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  However, the plane had swastikas like all over it and she got a
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  ton of backlash for posing in a plane with swastikas all over
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  it. She actually responded to the
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  backlash. She changed the caption of this
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  video and this is what it says. Hey y'all, I wanted to address
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  some concerns that have come up about recent Rush video I posted
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  with a vintage military airplane and give a little history lesson
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  while we're at it. The aircraft in my video is a
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  restored World War 2 American fighter plane.
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  During the war, US fighter pilots would paint small enemy
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  symbols on their planes to show how many Nazi aircraft they have
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  shot down. They were called kill Marks and
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  were basically bragging rights for defeating the enemy.
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  I know not everyone is familiar with this part of history, so
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  seeing a swastika without context can definitely be
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  shocking and upsetting. I totally get that.
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  But in this case, those markings are actually a badge of honor
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  for helping defeat Nazi Germany, not support it.
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  I have never and never will condone hate of any kind and I
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  hope this clears things up. That last line is very
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  interesting to me because if you know, one thing about Kylin
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  Darnell is that she is a giant public Trump supporter and she
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  posted herself like dancing around when Trump won.
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  Anyways, I think in general the spotlight on Kylin has probably
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  become an issue for her with her sorority life and the rush
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  recruitment process in general. Her sorority is allegedly
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  deleting comments. People are asking where she is.
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  And in general, I mean, we know that these sororities, these
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  organizations don't necessarily love rush talk.
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  So I think it makes sense that like the heat she got for the
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  swastika plane and just like in general, maybe some of the other
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  stuff that's been going on in her family, her mom, she got a
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  lot of like, backlash. Like she had a few different
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  kind of like, I guess scandals over the past 12 months.
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  Maybe all of that has contributed to her being asked
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  to take a step back. I don't know.
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  Okay, the next story that I have for you guys, I wanted to share
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  my perspective. So Garbage Day, which is an
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  Internet culture newsletter written by Ryan Broderick.
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  He did a little blurb about Australian and British media and
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  why are like, celebrity interviews are so bad.
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  And so I, I wanted to actually just like share my opinion on
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  this. The reason being is a reporter
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  in the UK asked the director, Celine Song, about a specific
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  like letterboxed review of her recent film, The Materialists.
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  The review said that they were basically disappointed because
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  Dakota Johnson's character ends up with like a baroque guy in
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  the end of the movie. Celine Song did not find this
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  funny and, you know, gave a very thoughtful and as Ryan Broderick
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  puts it, passionate response about why that's a disgusting
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  way to view the movie as well as life in general, He said.
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  The reason I'm including this video is because it's a perfect
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  example of what I've been calling the British and
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  Australian viral celebrity interview dog food factory.
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  It's not totally unique to British and Australian media,
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  but nine times out of 10, if you see a celebrity full body
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  cringing in a viral interview clip, it's almost always a
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  reporter from the UK or Australia asking the question.
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  And the questions are almost always not really questions, but
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  some contrive to set up to make the celebrity react to a random
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  piece of fandom garbage from the Internet.
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  And this is so true. I cannot stress enough the state
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  of entertainment journalism in. I mean, I don't know what the
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  UK, OK, but like Australia specifically running a media
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  business here, especially in entertainment and pop culture, I
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  see this so clearly. I was like, Oh my God, I cannot
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  believe he has noticed that. So I think there's a few reasons
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  why this has happened. I just wanted to share that
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  perspective and then share why I think this has happened as
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  somebody who is obviously very invested in all of this.
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  So first, he notes this, but we don't have frequent access to
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  true like a listers for a lot of in real life interviews.
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  So the press junkets are so packed.
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  Sometimes you literally get 5 minutes with a celebrity.
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  So you can't really ask a lot of questions with substance.
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  So it's already kind of set up by, I don't know, like the movie
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  studios PR team to almost incentivize these very like
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  sharp, sound bitey type of questions, Which I, I do think
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  is why sometimes in the shorter press junket opportunities, we
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  should be putting senior journalists on these
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  opportunities. I think it is way more complex
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  to orchestrate an interview that is literally like 5 to 10
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  minutes than it is to sometimes do a long form interview.
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  The point of entertainment journalism is to extract
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  information about the art, not like make the audience laugh.
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  There can be some of that in it, of course.
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  But what he's saying and what I do believe is true, is that so
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  much entertainment journalism now, especially in this country,
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  is made for TikTok sound bites. And it doesn't actually, like,
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  give you any insight into the art or why the actor wanted to
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  work on this project or whatever.
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  Then I think when you look at how fast the media landscape
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  changed when the rise of TikTok happened, I think that plays a
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  huge role in why we get interviews like this.
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  Brands, media companies, just like the advertising industry in
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  general. Everyone is like so traumatized
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  by missing out on the early rise of TikTok.
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  So many entertainment outlets in Australia, I'm not even joking,
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  didn't even start posting on TikTok using TikTok or like
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  consistently being on TikTok, showing up on TikTok until like
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  2023. So imagine trying to maintain
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  that like you as a media brand are an authority in pop culture
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  or youth culture when you're not even investing in the main
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  platform that is driving both of those things and has been for
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  the last several years. And like, those sound bites
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  obviously don't foster any type of like respect for the brand.
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  They might get views, they might get a laugh, they might get
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  follows, but it kind of harks back for me to like BuzzFeed
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  where the headlines were crazy and just very like youth culture
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  E when really like young people were screaming at us to just
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  talk to them like adults. Like the BuzzFeed culture.
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  It worked for a hot second because it was so different than
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  anything that we had ever seen in the media before.
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  And millennials were like, Oh my God, yes, this is so unserious.
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  Like I love being spoken to like a friend, but it's like Duolingo
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  now for Gen. Zed.
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  Like it was funny because it was so outrageous and crazy at the
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  time, but it got old so fast and now it's like, please stop.
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  Not everything needs to be brain wrought.
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  And then you've kind of pigeonholed yourself because
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  BuzzFeed, they launched BuzzFeed News BuzzFeed News was doing
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  like genuine journalism, like hard news coverage, But they
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  could not, I mean, they closed and they could not break out of
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  that reputation of being associated with BuzzFeed.
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  They really couldn't establish themselves as an authority in
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  anything that was like a little bit more serious because of
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  this. Now the overarching problem here
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  is money, or like the lack thereof in media specifically,
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  but especially in Australian media.
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  There are a handful of conglomerates that own most of
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  the media in Australia. Like there is quite a monopoly
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  in this country. So when you have a country that
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  has smaller budgets because we have a smaller population and
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  there are fewer options, everyone is competing for those
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  same campaigns, those same ad dollars.
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  There's no TikTok creator fund here.
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  So the publishers that are posting these like viral sound
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  bites are not doing it for like the money off the back of that
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  video specifically. Like they're doing it for
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  engagement. They're doing it so that they
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  can now update a deck that says we reach X amount of people a
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  month now or, you know, they have like a follower count that
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  goes up or whatever. It's, it's all so that they can
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  get these campaign budgets. And while that's not necessarily
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  unique to Australia or media, there's so much more pressure in
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  a small market for every resource to matter.
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  So if you're sending a journalist to do a press junket
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  for 5 minutes, they have 5 minutes, but they have to travel
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  there, they have to write the questions.
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  Like they're spending time and energy on this when they're not
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  sitting at their desk writing three stories a day to drive
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  traffic to your website so you could actually make money off
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  the back of programmatic ads or whatever.
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  You know, Like this has to pay off.
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  There's very little focus in mainstream media, at least in my
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  experience, on balance, like editorial balance, like we post
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  things Centennial world that we know will go viral or like do
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  well. And then we also post a lot of
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  stuff that we know won't. But we post that other stuff
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  because it gives our brand something else.
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  It gives us legitimacy in a certain category.
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  It fosters respect with our audience.
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  It helps bring integrity to our brand.
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  So we're not just covering like kind of newsy drama, E pop
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  culture stuff. But I can make that decision
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  because I own my company. Mainstream media is largely
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  governed by executive teams who aren't in tested in the
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  integrity of the brands in the same way.
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  They care about the bottom line and virality helps the bottom
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  line. OK, the last story that I have
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  for you guys. Swifties were convinced that
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  Taylor Swift was dropping a new album and they were right.
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  The speculation all started when Taylor Nation, the official
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  Taylor Swift social media team, posted a photo dumped with
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  pictures of Taylor wearing orange.
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  All the pictures were from the era's tour and the caption read
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  thinking about when she said see you next era.
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  Around the same time that Taylor Nation posted, Travis Kelsey
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  teased an upcoming guest on his podcast New Heights.
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  The guest was blacked out in the photo, but the background was
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  sparkly orange and according to Swifty's, there was no way that
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  this could have been a coincidence.
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  Then, to add fuel to the fire, Taylor Swift's official website
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  began a countdown with the same sparkly background.
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  Then it was confirmed that Taylor is the surprise guest on
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  the podcast, with the New Heights team posting a clip of
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  her from the recording. So the podcast is going to go
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  live in like a day and a half. But the countdown on Taylor
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  Swift's official website was for a different time.
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  It was set to August 12th at 12:12 AM Eastern Time.
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  And Swifty's noted that her next studio album would be her 12th.
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  So they were like, she is definitely releasing a new
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  album. So when the countdown ended,
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  just like an hour ago, it was revealed that Taylor's upcoming
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  album is called The Life of a Showgirl.
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  The website has pre-orders open and the New Heights podcast
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  posts a clip of Taylor announcing the name of the
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  album. OK, I've not seen the fan
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  theories, so I could be very misinformed.
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  I think it is still possible that this is like a live
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  recording of the Eras tour, the life of a showgirl.
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  That would be relevant. That would make sense.
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  But then I guess the picture saying see you in the next era.
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  I don't know. I obviously I'm a Taylor Swift
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  fan. I went to the Eras tour twice.
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  Like she was my favorite artist of last year on Spotify.
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  She was like my most dreamed and I do love her, but like please
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  let's just take like a little break.
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  I feel like we still need to decompress from the Airs tour
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  and like her releasing Torture Post Department, which was my
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  top album of last year. Like I actually loved that
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  album. Her releasing that in the middle
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  of the Airs tour, I don't know. I feel like she's a bit
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  overexposed still even though she has been taking a break.
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  She is overexposed and unfortunately, now I am going to
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  be forced to listen to a boy podcast to hear what she has to
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  say. I don't want to listen to a boy
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  podcast. I don't want to listen to a
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  sports podcast. Is that even what they talk
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  about? I don't know.
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  I don't want to listen to a boy podcast, but I'm going to.
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  Anyways, guys, that's it for me to scroll today.
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  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
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  Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe.
• 15:24
  Annabelle might talk to you guys tomorrow, but it also might be
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  me because she has lost her voice.
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  So we'll see how she's doing. But somebody will talk to you
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  tomorrow and then I will definitely talk to you on
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  Thursday. Bye.