Critically Unserious

Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes

What if we told you none of it was accidental? This week on the pod, we took a look at the HBO Max documentary, Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes, to make our predictions for the eponymous Track 2 on Taylor Swift’s upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl, and the parallels are uncanny. These two masterminds have wielded immense fame, outsmarted the Hollywood boys’ club, and endured relentless scrutiny of their love lives. We also dig into Taylor’s Time Person of the Year interview to chat about how both stars learned to use persona as armor to survive the gauntlet of fame. We wrap up with our current obsessions: the musical stylings of Lisa Barlow and the art of touching grass. Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/ [https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious [https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious [https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit criticallyunserious.substack.com [https://criticallyunserious.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Films to Heal Your Inner Showgirl

What do you get when you cross an insatiable thirst for fame, homoerotic frenemies, and dirtbag male executives? Well, the blueprint for The Life of a Showgirl, of course! This week, we’re diving into the films we suspect have inspired Taylor Swift’s upcoming album: Black Swan, The Last Showgirl, and, of course, the camp classic, Showgirls. In all three films, our antiheroines long for the spotlight and show us just how much it takes to get there. Join us as we connect the dots to Taylor’s music and what we know about the album so far. At the top of the episode, we share our thoughts on Sabrina Carpenter’s new album, Man’s Best Friend, Cyn’s fascination with Katseye, and a Fifth Harmony reunion in the year 2025 (haven’t we been through enough?). We wrap up with our obsessions with Lena Dunham's highly anticipated memoir, Famesick, and Netflix’s new doc Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/ [https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/] Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious [https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious [https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit criticallyunserious.substack.com [https://criticallyunserious.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

RANKED: Every Taylor Swift Album

Our Life of a Showgirl prep month has begun! Join us this week as we rank all of Taylor Swift’s 12 albums. Using a proprietary mathematical formula (user jessee pinkman’s album sorter on http://Tumblr.com [http://tumblr.com]), we get equal parts nostalgic and brutally honest as we take you through our least to most favorite records. Plus, we share our unhinged and controversial thoughts on the proposal heard around the world. Are we living in the Bejeweled music video? There’s so much to say about our close personal friend, Taylor Swift, so strap in for our longest episode yet! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/ [https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious [https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious [https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit criticallyunserious.substack.com [https://criticallyunserious.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

We're Not Swifties, We're Worse

Calling all Swifties, Gaylors, Lovers, and chronically online friends! The day has finally come for us to reveal our undying adoration for an underground, unknown pop star by the name of Taylor Allison Swift (heard of her?). We share our reaction to her recently announced twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, and the implications of the showgirl visual era. Then we break down our thoughts on the album tracklist and get critical about that lengthy New Heights podcast interview (?) we were forced to watch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/ [https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious [https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious] Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious [https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit criticallyunserious.substack.com [https://criticallyunserious.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

The Sound of Crickets! (JLO, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Camp Rock, and Las Culteristas)

This week we’re bringing out another roundup of our favorite happenings in culture over the past week. We cover the upcoming Chappell Roan shows, and how Cynthia got scammed while buying a ticket, JLo dealing with crickets at her concerts (not the kind you’d expect), Sabrina Carpenter’s Lollapalooza set with a surprise appearance by Earth, Wind & Fire, and The Jonas Brothers & Demi Lovato fueling Camp Rock 4 rumors. Of course, we could not let this week pass without mentioning our close personal podcasting colleagues, Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, and the streaming debut of their Las Culturistas Culture Awards on Peacock. We wrap up with a medley of obsessions: Jonathan is in his reading bag with The Martyr by Kaveh Akbar (support your local libraries!!) & Cynthia chats about body image, the woman on TikTok obsessed with her psychiatrist (and somehow AI is at the scene of the crime), and Ben Affleck’s The Accountant 2. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/ [https://www.instagram.com/criticallyunserious/] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious [https://www.tiktok.com/@critically_unserious] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious [https://www.youtube.com/@CriticallyUnserious] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit criticallyunserious.substack.com [https://criticallyunserious.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]