Ugh, As If! - contemporary art and culture podcast · Lisa Fevral

Taylor and Charli can both f/ off tbh - 4x05

·49 min·3 clips

Taylor Swift's new album is framed as proof that the culture has shifted right.

1. Ugh, As If! returns with a long opening about why the host had been away from the pod. 2. The host describes running the show with an assistant, two YouTube channels, and a Patreon literature club. 3. The core question is why making one weekly podcast feels impossible when research-heavy videos and low podcast revenue collide. 4. She says she stopped uploading to Spotify because of 'drones, production, military industrial complex.' 5. She says YouTube's contract with 'an apartheid state that shall not be named' made another platform choice feel compromised. 6. The host frames the problem as being forced into 'a bad decision' no matter where she posts. 7. She links that pressure to a broader exhaustion with high-effort content that can take days of editing. 8. Taylor Swift becomes the main example because her album is treated as a cultural barometer rather than just entertainment. 9. The host argues that Swift is the 'aspiration of an average american majority,' including many people who are not white. 10. She says the album shows how far 'the left of America' has shifted to the right. 11. The lyrics of 'The Fate of Ophelia' are mocked for 'pledge allegiance to your hands your team your vibes.' 12. The line 'I swore my loyalty to me myself and I' is contrasted with the song's romantic framing. 13. 'Eldest Daughter' is called a song with 'so much potential' that gets undercut by lines like 'we all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire.' 14. The line 'when I said I don't believe in marriage, that was a lie' becomes a larger complaint about saying one thing and then normalizing the opposite. 15. 'Actually Romantic' is read through the line about 'you high-five my ex' and 'glad that he ghosted me,' which the host connects to Matty Healy. 16. 'Wish List' is described as 'capitalist Barbie' fantasy writing, with lines about yachts, chopper blades, Balenci shades, and 'a fat ass with a baby face.' 17. 'Wood' gets singled out as catchy while lines like 'he stigmatized me' and 'his love was the key that opened my thighs' make the host recoil. 18. The tone stays rant-like, personal, and argumentative, with frequent direct address and side comments about politics, celebrity, and platform economies. 19. This episode will suit listeners who want pop culture criticism tied to labor and politics. 20. This episode may be skipped by listeners wanting light celebrity chat without political analysis.

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