Jesus: Welcome, everybody, to the Gonar Show Episode 2. I’m Jesus, and I’m with-

Christine: Christine.

Jesus: Yeah, and today we’re gonna be talking about some old dudes that make music and some- and some new dudes that make music. We’re gonna- we’re gonna- we’re gonna start off with Playboi Carti right now, man. You know, that Playboi Carti figure, that guy. I don’t like his music too much-

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: Like I don’t- I don’t turn on Playboi Carti.

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: But, when his music comes on it’s pretty hype I think, you know?

Christine: Okay.

Jesus: You know?

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: You know, like Playboi Carti-

Christine: It’s in the moment.

Jesus: Yeah, it comes on, and I see all of the- all of the concerts and the performances that he does and everybody in the crowd is just freaking out. They’re raging, they’re throwing shit everywhere.

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: And it’s just, like, the impact that Playboi Carti has now with people, like, it’s pretty big. He is- he is a modern day rockstar.

Christine: Yeah he built up his following greatly over time.

Jesus: Yeah so you know, like, Whole Lotta Red. It’s not a good album.

Christine: *laughs*

Jesus: Right? But people were like “ohh Playboi Carti, oh I love Playboi Carti,” right?

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: And they gaslit themselves into really liking it. You know, and that’s kind of like the sound of everything. And his whole label, like, Destroy Lonely I think is a part of his label and uh there’s some other guy. I forgot his name but just that whole sound I think that’s- that’s what, um, that’s what rock stars look like today and- ugh I lost my train of thought.

Christine: It’s okay.

Jesus: Go ahead.

Christine: Piggybacking off that, I feel like everyone now has, like, sort of a “place” in rock. And that wasn’t the case, like, a couple years ago you know? Like, with the whole MGK shift from rap to- uh pop punk or the rock genre I suppose, he just- I don’t know, the shift it just seems very sudden and pressured and I feel like- it’s gonna sound negative but I feel like it completely opened the doors for people to just continue making, um- or not continue making, to start making music that they think is- is pop punk when it doesn’t. It all sounds the same. Like if you go on to, like, Tiktok and you see the advertisements for music, it all sounds the same regarding pop punk but it also sounds the same regarding, um, just like new singer-songwriters. I feel like the same formula is being used over and over again and I feel like the people- like the musicians from the past that were really hyped up are either now on a downfall or they’re- or the new artists are trying to replace them but it’s not working so I feel like everyone is stuck in like a- a middle ground that they don’t wanna be in, you know?

Jesus: Yeah, emo music is not the same anymore.

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: You know? When’s the- when’s the good emo music coming back, right?

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: Cause that’s what I’m waiting for.

Christine: Who- who’s like an older emo slash rock or whatever it may be artist that you really liked?

Jesus: Uh I don’t know but there’s that one song that goes like, “crawling in my skin,” right?

Christine: Linkin Park? Wait, no, is that Linkin Park?

Jesus: I don’t know who that is, but I like it.

Christine: It’s Linkin Park, I think.

Jesus: Yeah but-

Christine: If I’m wrong, I’m so sorry but I’m a very big Linkin Park fan so I’m pretty sure it’s Linkin Park.

Jesus: We need the real- the real emos to come back.

Christine: I mean Linkin Park just released a new- like a song from their archives so you should give that a listen.

Jesus: Yeah. All that stuff, all that- all that old stuff. I feel like it has a different sound to it.

Christine: So you want like 2000’s rock back?

Jesus: Well I’m talking just about older music in general.

Christine: Oh.

Jesus: With like the superstars and the rock stars from that time.

Christine: So do you want the music back or the culture back?

Jesus: Well I mean, the culture is always gonna be different and the music is always gonna be different but I feel like you gotta, kinda bring back the uh- whole feeling of the old music.

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: Like when I listen to a Jimi Hendrix song.

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: Right? Like, uh, what’s that song, Little Wing?

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: You know, it’s like, when you- when you listen to it and you hear all the instruments they’re like- the song feels alive. You know?

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: You can listen to the whole thing and it’s like, you find different parts every single time you play it with your headphones and it’s like- there’s always something new like you can’t get bored of a song that’s that well put together. So much time put in there, so much effort.

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: And it’s just like I don’t really hear that in newer music, especially when it comes to like newer rap stuff and all that. It feels um, what’s the word-

Christine: Generic?

Jesus: Yeah it just feels generic. It feels like they’re just kinda making a song for song’s sake. Not really- they don’t really have an intention behind a song.

Christine: Yeah, there’s no life in it anymore.

Jesus: Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to get at.

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: Like it’s missing that- that element of the person pouring themselves into the music.

Christine: Yeah, I feel like- like it kinda it correlates with the whole like- how everyone wants a- a- a hit song like they want a 15 second viral clip, you know, to be used in videos and what not.

Jesus: Mhm.

Christine: I feel like it kinda goes hand in hand with that because people are just doing it for music’s sake and not for their own sake. And even if they are doing it for their own sake, sometimes it’s not, like, there yet, you know?

Jesus: Yeah.

Christine: Like, cause they’re just so new and they have so much to learn but the people around them that they’re learning from are just, like, not the greater influences that we know today. Like I know a lot of people who if you told them- like if you tried to ask them who Shania Twain is, like, they wouldn’t know and she was a great, like, singer-songwriter and, like, um. And it’s like they- they’re intrigued by this songwriting process and this music making process but they’re, I feel like you need to take inspiration from everywhere, or at least recognize the people who got the music industry to where it is now.

Jesus: Mhm.

Christine: So, there is like no soul in music anymore, in a way, you know?

Jesus: Yeah, cause what I notice is artists are making music for the Tiktok algorithm, or for-

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: Or for that viral hit. Like, you know, speeding everything up or pitching up the vocals and all that, to the point where artists are like, “Here I’ll do it for you but make sure it’s my song. Listen to my pitched up- uh like, you know, sped up song” and all that stuff.

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: Like, um. Like, the Pinkpanthress stuff I feel like, isn’t it her- like she pitches up her voice on purpose and it kinda has that sound, you know, and the instrumentals too?

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: All that stuff, it feels like- like you said, artists aren’t really doing it for themselves too much anymore. And that’s kind of what um, like differentiates new music and why it feels kind of like um- like it- it feels, uh, temporary like it’s-

Christine: Yeah. Like it’s-

Jesus: Like it’s gonna be gone next week.

Christine: Yeah! Yeah- Oh, that’s a really good way to put it because, like I don’t know- like people got over autotune really fast and they’re like “No I want raw vocals now.” And then now everyone’s like “Well I want it to sound this way” or that way and, you know, there’s just always gonna be a certain pickiness from the audience or from the listeners of these artists. And Pinkpanthress I feel like she’s a different story because I feel like that’s just like a stylistic thing and I feel like-

Jesus: Yeah.

Christine: We do need more people who have their own thing and that’s also another thing that I feel like is dying. People don’t have, like, a signature thing anymore. Like back to Linkin Park, they had Chester’s voice like it was the-

Jesus: *laughs*

Christine: What?

Jesus: Yeah, no no sorry.

Christine: It was uh- it was like Chester’s vocals like, no one had the ability to scream and- and then go to singing, and then back, and then fluctuate like- like how he did so I feel like there’s no like- not trademark, but there’s no like- you can’t recognize people anymore because they all sound the same.

Jesus: Yeah I know- I remember somebody pointed it out that Coi Leray–

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: Has like a whole bunch of viral songs–

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: And I’ll be honest, I don’t know which ones they are but they showed me and I was like “hey, Coi Leray did that? I had- I had no idea” because everything just kind of blends in-

Christine: Yeah

Jesus: To everything else and there’s no- there’s no, like, thing that differentiates people, really, because it’s all online and like, formatted for like a 15 second thing so-

Christine: What do you mean by all online?

Jesus: Like, when you’re experiencing music, it’s mostly gonna be like, when you’re scrolling past a video on Tiktok-

Christine: Oh.

Jesus: And it’s like a little snippet.

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: Right? Like, the artist is kind of getting removed a little bit so, that’s why people like Coi Leray disappear, you know, with all the smoke. People dancing to their music. You’re making, like- I don’t know, like, a stupid video over it or stuff like that.

Christine: Yeah I feel like trends can make someone not know who the artist is. Like a lot of people like, say they hate um- for instance like, Taylor Swift. I’m a Taylor fan so I- I can recognize her songs but a lot of people who hate her will include a 15 second snippet of one of her songs just because it’s currently trending and it’s like, they don’t know that they’re contradicting themselves because they’re just going with the trend. Like, they might not participate in that trend anymore if they find out who the artist is, if they don’t like them of course. But um, yeah I feel like that kind of like, backs up the whole like, “People are being forgotten to like, the new music culture and the new enjoyers.”

Jesus: Yeah like Lil Yachty, right?

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: He dropped an album a few weeks ago and everybody was all like “Oh my god. Oh, psych rock, oh wow. It’s so amazing! Oh Lil Yachty, he- he dropped one of the best albums of the year.”

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: And I haven’t heard anyone talk about it for like, a few weeks now, you know. It kind of just was hyped up for like two, three weeks and then nobody talked about it anymore and it’s like, oh everybody shared his music and then they were like, “Oh I love the new Lil Yachty stuff” and whatever and then now it just kind of- kind of fell off like, people don’t really talk about it. I mean I still listen to some of the album. Like, I think it’s pretty good.

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: But I just don’t hear people talk about it. Like before, a new album would come out and that was like, everything for like months.

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: Like “Oh I’m listening to the- to the new Kendrick Lamar album” whatever- “Kanye West” whatever and it was like- everybody talked about it. And now it’s kind of like this- it’s gone, it’s more about like-

Christine: So like the promo era of music is gone? Like the- cause I remember albums used to be talked about for a while because artists wouldn’t be making new stuff for a while.

Jesus: Mhm.

Christine: And sometimes I feel they can get caught up in the cycle of “hey, I dropped this” and then two weeks later “I dropped that.” But I also- I just- I saw something on the internet where it’s like, “artists don’t have promotional schedules like they used to.” Because like- people like Katy Perry like, she used to- like- if she had a new album, it would be known.

Jesus: Yeah.

Christine: Because it would be everywhere, like buses and billboards and everything and I feel like, that’s currently- I don’t know, maybe the artists just don’t have the funds or something. That could be an excuse as well but, I feel like music isn’t promoted the same as it used to be, which is very- uh, it just doesn’t give the artist an advantage to reach a broader audience and I feel like that’s because everything, like you said, is online now like everything is just

Jesus: Yeah

Christine: For videos’ sake.

Jesus: Mostly everybody is betting on the uh, the- the- viral- the viral song.

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: So all the promotion, they’re like “oh, why would I promote for so long for the chance to not do it, if I can just keep releasing singles” or you know get a famous person on the song and just make a hit that everybody’s gonna like and blow up on Tiktok and get viral with it, you know?

Christine: But I also feel like how we just said that promo- like physical promo is not a thing anymore-

Jesus: Mhm.

Christine: I feel like there can be a counter argument saying that promo- heavy promo is still around because, again, people will stretch out Tiktok trends.

Jesus: Yeah

Christine: -just for sake of sound. So they’ll be like, ”oh!” They’ll do like a million videos with their one song, and it’s like- then people start getting annoyed because they’re like “dude, get over it.” So I feel like it’s- I don’t know, I feel like that’s a bit more- it’s not an efficient promo technique, but I feel like it’s- it’s done so that can be something that can counter what we just said.

Jesus: Yeah, well, I guess it’s like a different time for like promotion and all that.

Christine: Yeah.

Jesus: But um, yeah. I would say that when it comes to um, to like all this new music I feel like it’s- it’s- it’s still good. I mean, the sound changing. That’s always a good thing, and we just have to, you know, expect music to sound different from now on.

Christine: Yeah we can’t-

Jesus: Instead of, like, trying to like “oh, but the old music. Oh-” whatever. There’s enough of old music to last you, like, forever. There’s a- there’s- there’s enough music to last. So I wanna- Imma stop crying about “I want the old music to come back.”

Christine: Mhm.

Jesus: Because a lot of new stuff is pretty good. All the electric sounds and all those fucking crazy synths and all that. I love ‘em.

Christine: Yeah, I feel like, you know, even though we just said that people should stick to either an older formula or take inspiration from older influences, I feel like by not doing that as well, it’s opening different like- inspiration opportunities because people didn’t really know what uh- like people didn’t know they could emphasize on synths in their songs or like, maybe talk boxes or vocoders or stuff like that and like- or just like forgot that they can even do autotune to like make it purposely sound like, however they want. So I feel like it brings inspiration to the people who are- who are making- who are going to be making music in the future

Jesus: Yeah. Alright, well this was a great time talking to all you guys. Hopefully you guys enjoyed. This was the Gonar Show, yeah!

Christine: Yeah!

Jesus: Run the outro music! Yay!

[clapping]