Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy
[Canadian] Scorpio season, A&F ex-CEO busted, future of Nicstalgia 🦂
This weekend: Come see me talk about Aubrey Drake Graham & Jimmy Brooks at the Sixposium in Brooklyn, and join my Call Me Maybe-themed Carly Rae Jepsen elliptical class in Westport. Canadian Scorpios for the win!! In the meantime, please enjoy my go-to comfort watch:
Huge thank you to Nicstalgia supporters who I will love forever: Janine, Marie, Liv, Mitra, CY, and Chet! 💐💐💐
Consider today’s issue part retrospective and part roadmap! And of course, a few links!
The Past
Nicstalgia has been the most rewarding and aligned project I’ve ever done, and I revamped the page on my website to do it justice. You can click on your favorite pop culture icon and it brings you to a particular Nicstalgia episode. Welcome to the inside of my brain!! ☁️✨🌀💖
Nicstalgia started as a video podcast in February 2022. I’ve interviewed talented, smart, interesting, hilarious nostalgia content creators, music journalists, cultural critics, writers, technologists, artists, and all-around fun people who share a passion for pop culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to dig deeper with friends I’ve known for years about core memories that made us who we are.
Apparently 90% of podcasts don’t make it past 3 episodes, and 90% of those don’t make it past 20. We’re here at 50+ episodes, and while idk when the next one will be, the Nicstalgia world will keep expanding and evolving. First a podcast, then a newsletter, then…🤭🤐😇
The Present
Here’s what’s happening:
I’m currently reworking essays I’ve already written in this newsletter, as well as some new ones. I’ll be releasing both individually-packaged and compilations of my writing (aka. a book) this quarter. Wooooo!!!!
If you want to read just one essay – as opposed to subscribing to this newsletter on a monthly or annual basis, because they will be paywalled – they’ll be available on my site as standalone pieces. (Please email me if you have any favorite topics I’ve covered so I can make sure they’re included!)
I’m considering altering the delivery cadence of this newsletter. Either it 1. Stays the way it is, with all content combined, or 2. New and archival essay previews and short-form content (links, playlists, etc.) would go out separately.
I’m curious what your initial thoughts are! Your feedback is much appreciated <3
The Future
I want to do more hosting, live performances, visual installations, and a lecture series. Dance choreography, a 5000-page manuscript (!!!) and corresponding keynote presentation, browser-based art, and more are works in progress that will unfold next year. If you wanna dream, scheme, or team up on something, let’s talk!!!!!!
Big big big THANK YOU for your support of me and this ever-evolving project. Kk love ya!! 😘
📲 I’m just a simple girl in a high-tech digital world
It’s [almost] tiiiiiime!!!!! This Las Culturistas podcast interview with the one, the only, Aries Sun Cancer Moon queen, MARIAH CAREY was a delight. As one YouTube commenter pointed out, it really does make a difference when Lambs/people who actually care about her interview her. F*ck overhead lighting fr. Also I’m still laughing at this fan edit of the [fake] Kardashians arguing about Mariah’s best album. I’m partial to Music Box because I’m pretty sure it was the first CD I ever bought.
Tinashe is releasing a dancewear-inspired collection with Urban Outfitters. As a dancer, I’m here for it. Although I’m not exactly a proponent of UO and its subsidiaries, I did recently go to Urban’s 70,000 sq. ft. warehouse with clothes, Anthro decor, etc. at like, 90% off. I physically couldn’t leave without getting sparkly door beads à la Britney’s Oops!…I Did It Again album cover.
(TW) After years of investigation, controversial former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO M*ke J*ffries was arrested for s*x trafficking and interstate prostitution, and released on a $10 million bond.¹ I haven’t been this disappointed, yet completely unsurprised, about a commercial front for insidious purposes since learning that BSB, *NSYNC, and others were fronts for the $500 million Ponzi scheme L*u P*rlman ran for for 20+ years.² As a reminder, this is why we don’t associate morality with pop culture or brands that meant something to us!!!!³
ICYMI, last week’s issue was about celebrity memoirs, notably ones by JoJo and Deryck Whibley. Have you listened to all 83 covers of “A Thousand Miles”? Catch up on these editions before they enter the archive (access via paid subs only!) 🔐
🦋 Social butterfly
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¹ Calling the 80-year-old “controversial” is generous, kind, and diplomatic, because there much better, stronger words that describe him (derogatory). It was only after BBC released a documentary last year that Abercrombie & Fitch suspended J*ffries’ ANNUAL LIFETIME BONUSES OF ONE MILLION DOLLARS. Insanity.
² That new-ish ‘Dirty Pop’ documentary on Netflix is really interesting, because it focuses on the business of it all (vs. other docs that focus more on the boy band members). I wish they did without the AI-generated parts, though. Regular voiceovers work in documentaries just fine! We don’t need to recreate the voice, image, and likeness of dead people.
³ Not to ruin your childhood but Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and yes, even Limited Too, were all owned by L*s W*xner, the infamous billionaire who granted power of attorney to his former financial manager/other convicted s*x trafficker, J*ffrey Epst**n. Photographer Br*ce W*ber, responsible for A&F’s signature homoerotic aesthetic, also had allegations of s*xual exploitation brought upon him by over a dozen models. It’s all very dark. Great example of the Monster paradigm in practice.
Okay and after that, we need a palette cleanser LOL. Enjoy this mashup of two of my all-time favorite songs: