Is music getting dumber?

Solitude is a Skill

Solitude and loneliness are not the same thing. I don't know who needs to hear this but apparently a lot of you do. Loneliness is something that happens to you. Solitude is something you choose — and when you do it right, it's one of the most nourishing things you can do for yourself. This episode I'm sharing five things I actually do during my alone time that have genuinely changed how I show up for myself and everyone around me.

Is music getting dumber?

Every generation thinks music is getting worse. Every generation is wrong， and also a little bit right. The data is real, lyrics have gotten simpler, songs have gotten shorter, and Spotify's algorithm has been quietly flattening every genre into the same digestible mush since 2015. But nobody is saying the music isn't the problem, the room is gone, and the shared moment is gone. You can't recreate what it felt like to hear a Jay Chou song for the first time when everyone you knew heard it at the exact same time, on the same radio, in the same era. This episode is about what we actually lose when music becomes fully personal. And whether the machine that makes it is killing the thing we love about it. #IsMusicGettingDumber #MusicPodcast #SoundStories #SpotifyAlgorithm #MusicCriticism #JayChou #soundstories #MusicNostalgia #popculture  #MusicIsEverything #IndieMusic #MusicCommunity #DigitalMusic #streamingwars

McKinley Dixon | Sound Stories

I slid into McKinley Dixon's DMs to help him out when he is on tour in China. He ended up on my podcast. That's just how this works. McKinley Dixon is a rapper and multi-instrumentalist from Virginia, the kind of artist who makes rap music that sounds like it was built from the inside out. This is a last minute thing, the sound wasn't the best, I'll do better. Also: if you win a fight in China you go to jail, if you lose you go to the hospital. We love those signs. This one got deep faster than either of us planned. Part two is coming — and I promised it'll be funnier. Go follow McKinley. He deserves it.

How far does Pink Tax go?

Fair warning: I recorded this episode once already and forgot to press record. So what you're hearing is female rage, twice distilled. Pink tax isn't just about paying more for a pink razor. It's a design system — built to extract money from women by first creating the problem, then selling you the solution. This episode, we go deeper than the shampoo aisle. I'm part of the problem, as well as the victim. I said it. I own it. But knowing the system doesn't mean you have to keep paying for it.

Kwaca | Sound Stories

I met Kwaca two days before this was recorded. He sat down, we just became good friends immediately. Kwaca is a Korean singer-songwriter, producer, and guitarist based in Seoul. He's the kind of person who writes music the way other people journal, to feel things and then get over them. He's also the chief producer behind Gemini, one of the most exciting voices in K-R&B right now, and he's currently working on his own solo project. We talked about growing up between Korea and the Philippines, what it actually sounds like when a Third Culture Kid makes music, why his dating checklist keeps getting longer (and why that's a sign of growth, not pickiness), and the very Asian experience of loving your parents while waiting for them to say it back out loud. Also: Shanghai is punk and funk. He said it. I stand by it. If you're not already listening to Gemini, fix that first. Then come back here.