Final Four Taylor Swift

[00:00:18] Speaker A: Welcome to Friendly Competition, a podcast to discover the best of all time. I'm Nick Carey, alongside my co host and best friend, Cody Lena. We discuss various pop culture topics and narrow it down to truly the best of all time. [00:00:30] Speaker B: We come to you two men to apologize. I apologize isn't what I'm here to. I'm not apologizing for my actions. Okay. We gave you a fun filled episode. Force episodes. We didn't have to give you three episodes. [00:00:42] Speaker A: I would say we gave three fun filled episodes that were, like, as light and jovial, I think, as most of our content, which I was appreciative of. I was. From what you're saying, though, I very much. This feels to me like the morning after. Like this. Even though it's been many days. Many days since we did. [00:01:02] Speaker B: Yes. [00:01:02] Speaker A: It's like. [00:01:03] Speaker B: It is exactly like the morning after. Cause I'm looking. I'm not, like, I'm not hungover from the season, but I am saying, like, we didn't need to do that last one. You know, I could have done one less. [00:01:12] Speaker A: It's very much that where it's like, where, you know, you're out at the bar. It's. It is. It is 1230. It's good. That's a great time to leave. By the 1230 is a really good time to leave. But then you got someone who's just like, I mean, I do one more. And that's basically what we. We're like. We looked at that bracket. We're like, I mean, I could do. I could do one if you. If you can. And then we. [00:01:32] Speaker B: And on top of that one, where we had one more while we did it. [00:01:35] Speaker A: So what I'll say is, I would like looking at this bracket with sober eyes. I'm not even that mad about group D. That is not where my, like, oh, man. That is not. I think we. It's funny. We'll get into it in just a second. We'll hop in here. [00:01:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:54] Speaker A: Cause we do need to talk about it. But I think what's funny is, in those episodes, I feel like I let a lot more stuff go. Like, drunk Nick is. Will is way nicer about some of your points that I'm like, yeah, man. [00:02:08] Speaker B: That's. [00:02:09] Speaker A: Of course, brother. Yeah. Oh, you don't. You don't care that this is her most popular song by a mile or anything? No, it's fine. Oh, okay. [00:02:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:17] Speaker A: Why would you. That's not important. It's not an important piece of information to know if this is her most popular and not just like, I don't know, kind of like it. [00:02:26] Speaker B: I kind of like, hey, man, you said you'd never do music bracket with me again because I'm always going to stand by my taste. All right? Just, I, I should be a music producer. I should be out here like Rick Rubin, just listening to music. I am that confident in my taste that I don't worry about yours. I don't worry about anyone else's. Okay? I get paid because of my taste. [00:02:44] Speaker A: Oh, wow. You like one of the best albums known to mankind. Super tramps, breakfast in America, everyone. Round of applause. Cody, I don't know if that's going to get gated or not. I was applauding. [00:02:55] Speaker B: It got gated. It got dang it. But I wasn't even going to talk about that. Just talking about stuff in general. Dude, I'm out here, ok? [00:03:00] Speaker A: You're out there. You are. You're out there. And folks, we are in here. We are in this bracket. Thank you so much for coming and listening to this episode of the final four where we have our champions from Group A, B and C and D. We are sober. We are sober this time around. [00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And D does count. That happens. Speaker two. [00:03:20] Speaker A: And D does here for sure. So we are, here we are, folks, talking about the, the man, the myth, the legend. I think that's fine. Honestly. This is, I'll do this really quick because I think we do a lot of wrestling reference that not everyone gets. But there's a wrestler called Becky lynch. Her character's name is the man. I think Taylor Swift was so pissed off when she found out she couldn't trademark the man because it was already owned by the WWE. Because, you know, she would have walked around like a song called if I. [00:03:49] Speaker B: Were a man, if she would have thought of that first. Easy, easy. Lock that up. But hey, what? [00:03:55] Speaker A: Hundred percent, she's just like, wait, a wrestler has it? Yeah. And it's like kind of a big deal. Like, she's not, she's not moving off that trademark WDB. [00:04:03] Speaker B: Absolutely not. [00:04:04] Speaker A: Like, there's just nothing she, and also that's like the, I would say wrestling is maybe one of the great, like is one of the last bastions where I imagine if Taylor Swift tried to be like, hey, I would like to have that. I think I'm more popular. I deserve it because I'm more popular. [00:04:20] Speaker B: There's only one way to get it. Here's what you do. If you're Becky lynch, you say, yeah, Taylor, I will give you the man moniker. Right. What you have to do is you have to fucking fight me for it because I'm Becky lynch, right? And I get the entire gate. I get the gate. That's what you're paying. [00:04:37] Speaker A: Every ticket sold. Every ticket. Every ticket sold. [00:04:40] Speaker B: Every pay per view bought, every ticket sold. Once everyone's paid, I get the rest. That's Becky's money. [00:04:47] Speaker A: Do you. It would have Becky v. Taylor Swift. [00:04:51] Speaker B: I'm watching it, Nick. I'm buying it. [00:04:53] Speaker A: I mean, that. That would sell out any stadium, right? Like, just off the name. Those two alone, we. We can add in a car, we can build out the card later. But if the. If the idea was Becky lynch, which, if you're not a wrestling fan, I want you to know this is. That's our. That's the best one. Yeah, that's. She's the best one. If you know anything about wrestling, she's the redhead, but she is one of the greatest of all time to ever, man or woman, step into that ring and do the work. So to be. And honestly, Taylor, I think. I think she could. Becky could lead her to a great match. [00:05:27] Speaker B: I think Becky could. [00:05:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:28] Speaker B: I think if Taylor got a month of training in, Becky could get something. [00:05:31] Speaker A: Out of her and I would. Whoa. We could. That you could. You could do. You could sell out Wembley on that. You could. [00:05:37] Speaker B: Easy. There's not a stadium on the planet that you couldn't sell out with that, right? [00:05:43] Speaker A: Cause by definition, she sells out stadiums by. Taylor sells out stadiums by herself. And also. [00:05:48] Speaker B: Okay, now you got the swifties. All of them want to support Taylor Swift. So they'll. They'll buy anything. And then you got everyone who hates Taylor Swift, who is about to pay to get it. Watch her. Get her ass beat by Becky lynch. [00:05:59] Speaker A: Oh, bro. [00:06:00] Speaker B: Oh, my God. [00:06:01] Speaker A: We can't. We don't have time. We don't have. [00:06:03] Speaker B: Cause that's true. [00:06:04] Speaker A: This definitely devolves into us breaking it down and booking the whole thing and being like, all right, so I think what, I would start with an invasion angle at a concert. I'd have. I'd have Becky lynch do a run in at one of the eras tours. And just right away, Tate could just get her right with a chair. [00:06:19] Speaker B: All right, we gotta get off this. We gotta get off. [00:06:21] Speaker A: That'd be amazing because we're sober and we know better. Folks, here we are in that final four talking about Taylor Swift's greatest songs. We have the group a champion August off of her folklore album, going up against the group b champion antihero off of midnight. And then on the other side of the bracket, we have the group C champion cruel summer off of her lover album going up against blanks space off of her 1989 album. We got, we have a mix here, which I like. It is clearly defined by the fact that you wouldn't let a single old song make its way through if it got banjo on. Got banjo, which is. [00:07:02] Speaker B: Cody was. [00:07:03] Speaker A: It's the opposite of his. [00:07:04] Speaker B: My rule. It's the opposite of my rule. I understand, but, hey, you gotta make. [00:07:08] Speaker A: I feel like, yeah, that's the thing is I'm like, I don't know Cody to be this anti banjo. [00:07:13] Speaker B: I love banjo. But when Taylor Swift was just throwing banjo on all of her old stuff because she was trying to hide the fact that she was doing pop music, you know, I mean, those country plays and if you put a banjo on it, you automatically get played on the country station. [00:07:27] Speaker A: As someone who was there, I just want to say she was pretty country early on. Like, you can make, I would say for sure her first two albums, you. Those are country albums. It becomes clear incredibly quickly by the third that they're like, hey, you're way bigger than this. [00:07:45] Speaker B: Like, you're so much. [00:07:47] Speaker A: You could do so much bigger. [00:07:48] Speaker B: You might be able to do good music. We, we see in you that. [00:07:51] Speaker A: Yeah, you can get out of here now. You can go. They. They don't need. You're too big. This house is too small. You're not gonna, you're, you're, you've already outgrown it. She's the, she's the image of the person who's like, arms are in LA, like the legs are kicking out the door. Her arms are in there and her head's like, through the chimney. And she's just like, I don't know, too big. And so here's my problem. Here's, here's where I feel the most regret, the most drunk, the most. I need to text. I'm sorry about last night. And it's actually, what's funny is it's group the. Because, and here's why, and I'll say some of this is outside influence. I was, I mean, and obviously we flipped for it. So I was already a fan of this song. Cody. Cody got a flip off of if you didn't listen, August, like we said, as a group, a champion, it went up against all too well, uh, specifically the ten minute version. But we can. But I told Cody for the sake that he couldn't listen to a ten minute song without a solo in it. That which I, to be fair as a criteria. I don't think that's the worst. I'm not. [00:08:54] Speaker B: No. Seems totally fair. Dude. [00:08:56] Speaker A: What made me though now I. In the sober light of day and just like, doing a little bit of research, going back through. I didn't know this and I. And I know it's not going to change anything. We have our rules. We don't go backwards. We can't all too well is on both the Rolling Stone and vultures. This is what they consider to be her number one song of all time. Like that. Like, this is the bet. They're like, this is what she does best, which I just want to know, do you think, Cody, if I would have presented you with that information at the time to show you that, like, hey, these are two reputable pop culture, you know, juggernauts that are saying this. Would you have it? Would you have given it the at least, like, you know what? Maybe I. Maybe I'll give it the lit. Like, I'll let it be the champion to give it the listen one more time to get it through. [00:09:48] Speaker B: No, I mean, I listened to it again, and it's a fine song. I went hard on it because you have to have strong stances on the show. Otherwise, it's not fun. [00:09:55] Speaker A: Well, it's not fun. We're just all like, hey, man, it's a decent song. Yeah, I agree. [00:10:00] Speaker B: It's a free country. You can like whatever you want. [00:10:01] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:10:02] Speaker B: The song isn't as bad as I darked out, but it's still ten minutes long. I get bored with it, Nick. I don't give. Here's the thing about Taylor Swift. I don't care. Like, I like the music. I don't give a shit about your life story. I don't care that you got dumped on your 21st birthday. Sorry. Let's. [00:10:17] Speaker A: Yeah, so the. [00:10:18] Speaker B: Whenever it was, like, put the lore in the story, I'm like, I don't care. [00:10:22] Speaker A: Sure, sure. I mean. And that would mean. [00:10:24] Speaker B: Yeah. She told this ten minute long story about our heart was broken. I was like, yeah. There's not a single riff in the whole thing. No riff. [00:10:33] Speaker A: Does she drum? [00:10:34] Speaker B: There's not a cool drum. [00:10:35] Speaker A: Phil. [00:10:36] Speaker B: I don't play air guitar. I don't play air drums. There's not. She never belts anything out. There's not even, like a cool. There's nothing about this song that interests me because I don't care about her bird. [00:10:48] Speaker A: I understand. I understand. And I know. I know I can't convince you to change it. And that would. And if we, and this, we don't have this rule in place to have the ability to just like, hey, can we each one once a year? [00:11:02] Speaker B: You can't have your song back. [00:11:03] Speaker A: I want it back. I want it back, though. I can't. Here's the thing. [00:11:09] Speaker B: You should have fought me harder because you probably could have convinced me, but you didn't. You. I kind of just dog walked you around this bracket to be. [00:11:17] Speaker A: I mean, I didn't win a single flip. [00:11:19] Speaker B: That's true. [00:11:20] Speaker A: So. Yeah, no, you kind of did. You kind of did. Any chance I had at getting something through, you were like, no, we're flipping on it, man. Flipping that, man. I don't like that. I want to hear love story. You didn't let love story through, dog. [00:11:33] Speaker B: Instead, we got to go with August hero. Where are you at? [00:11:37] Speaker A: August versus anti hero. Ok. Not just because August beat antihero, because August, I wanted to come at you with some heat. I wanted to come at you with some statistics and be like, dog, you have to let you, you have to let us do all too well over. We have to go back and redo it because it has way more listens, and it's a ten minute song. And that's not true. August is one of her songs that goes over a. Billy listens. [00:12:04] Speaker B: Billy. [00:12:05] Speaker A: That's huge. I mean, that's insane. That's such an insane number of listens. Now, we look at antihero, though. We are talking about 1.5 billion, though. [00:12:14] Speaker B: Yes. Here's the thing. [00:12:15] Speaker A: That's what's crazy to me. When we talk about Taylor, we're talking about Billy listens. I don't have the time or energy to, like, do the math on those to be like, what would that mean in the sense of time? Like, how much time has passed? If. If you stacked every song, you know, that that's been listened to, it's all of human. [00:12:34] Speaker B: If you took every Taylor Swift song listened to repeat, like, oh, my God, it'd be longer than. We go back to the big bang. Go back to the big bang, dude. [00:12:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So, so I will say for me, uh, and just admitting my biases here, I'm. [00:12:51] Speaker B: Because we know it for a fact. There's 125,600. There's. If a billion people listen all too well, what is that, 400 years? I'm not doing any actual math, but it's a lot. [00:13:04] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's a lot of them. It's a lot of them for sure. That's got to be. I. Taylor's like, I. What is her therapy sessions, like, because I don't understand. I couldn't fathom who I would become if I knew that my songs have been listened to billions of times. I wrote a three minute song in a studio, and it has been, in billions of people's ears, listened to that many times. If I say I'm going to be at a show, if I'm going to start a concert, I can sell out stadiums multiple times over and over. [00:13:39] Speaker B: If we have, like, if we, like, a 500 download day, nick walks around strutting like the fucking look at me. [00:13:45] Speaker A: Fucking look at me, Joe Rogan. You think you got numbers? You think you're doing. You think you're doing big, big stuff, junior, look at my numbers, dog. And, like, so that, for me, is where I'm like, I don't even know how she can process any of this. So all that. This. I'm leading to a point that is what makes antihero, I think, such a fun song, because it allows her to basically kind of reference this stuff. Stuff, right. And. And point out to people that, like, you know, and I don't know. And that's. I think the. The thing that you can debate is, like, how genuine is it? And even I think she debates that. That's what I. That's what I'm saying in her therapy sessions. I can't imagine the cyclical. The cyclical, like, like, how she gives me, like, but if I know I'm doing. If I know I'm going to write a song about how I'm the bad guy to make everyone think I'm in on the joke, but then I'm really just the bad guy, aren't I? But then by doing it, aren't I really the good guy? But. And, like, the damn therapist has been like, dog, I. [00:14:42] Speaker B: She has completed the hierarchy of needs, so now she's dealing with problems we don't even understand. [00:14:49] Speaker A: We need her to actually get her PhD in psychology because she's the only one who can talk to herself. [00:14:55] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly. I I'm going. I'm gonna go with Antihero here because I like August a lot, but Antihero's got the memes behind it, which I was very set on in group b. [00:15:07] Speaker A: You are? Yep. You were very big about the memes. [00:15:09] Speaker B: Anytime I can hear antihero, I get to think about cm punk and how pissed off he makes me. [00:15:13] Speaker A: So that's perfect. [00:15:14] Speaker B: When I can associate a pop song with one of my favorite. Well, one of my previous favorite wrestlers of all time. That's very important to me. [00:15:21] Speaker A: That's fair. And that, you know what? Whatever logic it takes, because I was just. I was like, I can't look at. I. I'm just not a big. I think some of it is, like, almost anything that kind of takes me back to the pandemic times. I'm like, I put that shit in a box, and I just was like, and we can just put that away in the closet and never look at it again. And anytime I hear this song, it just takes me back to, like, social distance hangouts with friends and be like, this is. This ain't it. So. All right, no need. But no need to even argue. Anti hero, we're moving you on where you will go up against either rule, summer or blank space. Now. Now, once again, we'll. We'll talk a little bit. We can talk a little bit about group D here. And, you know, for anyone who didn't listen, a group d did have in it. Blank space. Bad blood. You belong with me. And back to December, arguably some of her biggest hits. This was kind of like a stacked one. Cody, do you feel in the light of day that we did make the right choice? [00:16:20] Speaker B: I think so. I think so. I think this matchup is actually incredibly hard because as far as, like, pure bubblegum pop, these are my two. These are the two best. Like, if you're going straight, pop, pop, pop, nothing. If you want the funnel cake of music, which is what these are, you ain't gonna find better funnel cake. [00:16:37] Speaker A: No, this is. [00:16:38] Speaker B: Oh, this is. [00:16:39] Speaker A: This is. You're at the fair, and you're like, hey, I'm gonna grab funnel cake at this stand. And they're like, hey, no, no, no, no, no. You gotta go. Go past. Go past the Ferris wheel. Go past the balloon pop. There's a dude back there who's doing it. He's just got a better handle, the. [00:16:52] Speaker B: Trunk of his car, and it's wild, but you got to do it. [00:16:55] Speaker A: You got to go get those, man. They're the best ones. And it's just. And it's true. It's. There's. So these are you. [00:17:01] Speaker B: Are you also torn on this? [00:17:03] Speaker A: Yes, I'm very. No, I'm very torn on this because I. I love. I love them both for different reasons. So for me, my love for blank space is the. Like, this is for. Off of 1989. So this is, like, her most self referential. This is, like, the first time that, like, once again. Cause the first song off this album that was released was shake it off. And then after that's blank space. And, like, with those two songs, she basically pulled off what Eminem did in eight mile, where he's like, I am broke. I do live in a trailer with my mom, but I know something about you. And, like, hell, yeah. And so it just left everyone. There was nothing you could do. You were. Now it's like, well, we can't. I just remember so much of the time before 1989 is us talking about the boyfriend thing, right? Oh, she's got so many boyfriends. She's got so many. Da da da. She releases blank space and she's just like, yeah, I do. Yeah, I've date a lot of guys. I'm a. I'm a woman who likes to date men. Is that so weird? And then we're like, no, no, that's actually pretty cool. Yeah, no, no, it's actually. No, no. Like, I would too. So, like, no, I don't know. That's fine. Like, it just ended, like, I just feel, like, so quickly until maybe the most recent album release, which, okay, to be fair, is her, like, telling. Telling on herself a lot, being like, no, I want you guys to talk about this one. [00:18:23] Speaker B: Absolutely. Cruel summer saved us from the pandemic. [00:18:26] Speaker A: No, cruel summer. We lost because of the pandemic. [00:18:30] Speaker B: Yeah, but I'm saying then it came back strong and pulled us out of it. [00:18:32] Speaker A: So you're. So. I would say it's more the reward. [00:18:35] Speaker B: It was our party rock anthem for the first summer we were free. [00:18:38] Speaker A: It's what got us. [00:18:39] Speaker B: It's what brought us. Can you imagine? [00:18:42] Speaker A: Technically, it was 2023. [00:18:43] Speaker B: Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick. [00:18:44] Speaker A: Yes. [00:18:44] Speaker B: Shut up. What if. What if. How would the world be different if party rock anthem came out during a pandemic? So we couldn't party rock, like, would it? Because this party rock anthems changed the world. [00:18:58] Speaker A: Right? [00:18:58] Speaker B: Right. [00:18:58] Speaker A: No, but if you. [00:19:00] Speaker B: If it comes out and you can't be party rocking in the house tonight, then who? Think about that. Is something. [00:19:08] Speaker A: That is something to sit. I honestly do. You. My only. The only pushback I have on this idea is if I am Lmfao. I'm. I'm young. Red, I think was his name anyway. [00:19:20] Speaker B: Like, red man food or something. Doesn't matter. [00:19:23] Speaker A: Doesn't. Who cares? No one cares. [00:19:24] Speaker B: I don't gives a shit. [00:19:25] Speaker A: I'm trying to be impressive. You're like, look, I know the names of the guys, and then I don't, so it's not even impressive anyway. I feel like if I was those gentlemen and I knew, and it's. And it is. And we just recorded this. It is. We finished that. We finished recording. We're getting our masters back. It is March 2020. I think you just are. Like, you're looking at what's coming down ahead, and you're like, we gotta hold it, don't you? You gotta hold it. [00:19:51] Speaker B: Right? [00:19:51] Speaker A: Like, unless. [00:19:52] Speaker B: What if you do. What if you do it least in February 2020, though? [00:19:55] Speaker A: Well, that's. [00:19:56] Speaker B: I mean, everyone's like, oh, my God, summer's coming. I can't be. I can't wait to be party rockin and then we. You just don't want. [00:20:02] Speaker A: Right? Because you also can't. Because what Taylor did here, imagine it takes the year. Taylor never releases it as a single. Right. It's just a song on the album that's really good. And probably around the time of that summer of 2020, she would have. It would have been another. She would have then released it as a single off of the album, you know? But she can't. But. So I feel like. But you definitely could not have released something in February 2020, and then by 2021, end of 2021 or whatever, when, you know, everyone's vaccinated or whatnot. Like, you cannot be like, hey, by the way, we're going to re release that song party rock in this back now. You'd be like, no, dog. You try. Sorry you got shot down. I can't. [00:20:44] Speaker B: I'm glad we don't live in that world. I'm glad we live in a world with party rock. [00:20:46] Speaker A: This is tough. I would say, where I'm at right now, just to just. I. I think from just, like, what is the best funnel cake, I think is cruel summer? I think cruel summer is the best funnel cake. [00:20:58] Speaker B: I'm going with. [00:20:59] Speaker A: I think blank space is the best. Like, Taylor Swift song. Like, that is, like, the most. Like, this is about her. And that's what you come to the show for, right? Yes. You can come for some really fun pop songs, but, like, we're here for the. We want the tell. All right? We want the autobiography. We want her to be presenting that to us. So I'm torn, but you seem like you are decided. [00:21:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I think I'm going blank space. [00:21:27] Speaker A: Okay. [00:21:28] Speaker B: I. The lyrics live in my head rent free and blink space in a way that cruel summers never did. Like, I know the words I could sing along, but blank space, blank space will creep in there sometimes and just get me. [00:21:39] Speaker A: It's always. Is it? Mine is always. And it's just the right. I know this isn't the. But it's like, the Starbucks lovers. Like, I'll just. In my head, like, got along with stuff star. [00:21:47] Speaker B: Or it's like, got along, like, star cross lovers. Star cross lovers. [00:21:52] Speaker A: Yeah, but like, everyone said, like, but the meme was that everyone heard Starbucks lovers. [00:21:56] Speaker B: Oh, I never did. I missed the meet. [00:21:57] Speaker A: Oh, no. It's like, I got a long list of ex lovers, but people heard I got along Starbucks lovers. I don't know, man. The kids were there. I always hear it. I hear it every time now. So hope sorry to anyone now who is doing just fine listening to the song. And then now you're like, Nick ruined it. [00:22:14] Speaker B: I'm not. I'm doing banks face. What are you doing? [00:22:16] Speaker A: We got antihero in there. I'm going to. For the sake. Guess it's a similar. Well, no, I'm like, for a similar. It's almost a similar argument. Like, do you put the two. Do I fight to put in the two most Taylor E. Taylor Swift songs, or do I. Like I said, it's just right now, right now in my heart, and I guarantee you this is recency bias. It's cruel summer for me. [00:22:36] Speaker B: Then do it. [00:22:37] Speaker A: I got to. I got to. It's. I I don't think it's the most important. And I know for some of you, like, hey, that song's about the guy before Kelsey and or Joe. It's about Joe and, like, how she wanted him to fall in love with her. I know that. I already know that. But you can't say that's the same as blank space. You just can't. You just can't. So we will settle this the only way we know how with the american voting coin of 2004, as brought to you by random.org. we got John Kerry facing up, which means George Bush is on the other side. Low seed gets to pick, and that is going to be me with cruel Summer. With the 15 seed. Oh, man. Cruel summer. I. If I think of cruel summers, I'm gonna. I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of Bush. [00:23:21] Speaker B: When I think of the cruel. Yeah, that's right. When I think of cruel summer, though, I think I had to look it up. I sing the banana rama version from, like, the seventies or eighties. It's a cruel, cruel summer. [00:23:32] Speaker A: Now you're gone. That one. That's not the seven. What? [00:23:37] Speaker B: Eighties. Whatever. I'm just saying that when I think. [00:23:38] Speaker A: Cruel summer, I think, like, that is the nineties. [00:23:40] Speaker B: Taylor Swift is not where I go. I go to Bananarama. [00:23:43] Speaker A: Oh, all right. Well, it's too late now, because now we're already on the coin. We've already talked about it. I've already flip it then, but now I'm like, you're kind of right. Like, it's like, the one song that. It's like no one else has blank space on lock besides her, so. Well, we're going to flip. We're going to go George Bush. George Bush. [00:24:01] Speaker B: All right. [00:24:02] Speaker A: Finally, dude, want to flip, dude, want to flip this round? Thank God. All right, so that means antihero. Going up against rule summer, what are your initial thoughts? Where are you? Where does this leave you? [00:24:19] Speaker B: I mean, I'm. I'm pretty set on this. I got to go anti hero with this one because, again, with cruel Summer, it's not bananarama. And secondly, I. I guess I was completely tuned out of pop music, Nick, because cruel summer is the one I probably heard the least. I know it's, like, our huge hit, but, like, it made the least amount of impact on me then almost any song on this whole list. [00:24:40] Speaker A: Sure, sure. And. [00:24:41] Speaker B: But I know. But I know it's a big, you know, club banger. [00:24:44] Speaker A: 2.2 billion, to be specific. [00:24:47] Speaker B: I'm not. I'm not trying to knock that. I'm just saying it just didn't. It didn't do it for me. [00:24:51] Speaker A: I mean, to be fair. I mean, to be fair to blank space, that one's at, like, 1.9 million. 1.9 billion. Like, are we really going to argue over 300 million listens? Are we really gonna. I don't. I don't need to take it there, man. This. I guess I'm so. So, I mean, it's basically up to me, right? So it's me. [00:25:07] Speaker B: Yeah, it's up to you, dude. [00:25:09] Speaker A: Having to decide now, what do I find most important now? I almost regret going cruel summer. Cause I do think, actually, I would have wanted blank space. [00:25:17] Speaker B: Well, you fucked up. [00:25:18] Speaker A: If the whole reason I want it is because I want the Taylor swiftiness. [00:25:22] Speaker B: Of it, don't get too lost in your own sauce. You gotta figure this out. You just go with your instincts. Show me your instincts, Nick. [00:25:29] Speaker A: Show me. I dog you. While we were. While we were drinking. No lie, everyone. Cody had to have a heart to heart with me that he felt was like, hey, man, it starts. It starts like this. I just. All I said was, like, this physical feat that I saw someone do was pretty impressive. Saw someone jump on and, like, basically do a box jump, a very high box jump and stood still. I thought that was impressive. Cody then's like, yeah, I mean, this is even something Katherine's pointed out man, I I don't know. I I've been thinking about it for a long time, Nick. I've been really thinking about it. I don't think you are good at anything involving hand eye coordination. Like, the way you talk about stuff and everyone else is not. Is like, that's pretty easy. It's not impressive. But you are mesmerized by the most banal of all. [00:26:23] Speaker B: You were. You were talking about someone, like, catching something. That's what it was. Or, like, jumping it away and, like, contorting their body. And I was like, dog. I would never even think for a second I was not capable of doing. [00:26:34] Speaker A: Yeah, because it's me being like, there's no way my body could. And you're like. You're always like, I think I could. And apparently your wife, everyone else is like, yeah, no, that's not impressive. And I'm sitting over here like. But apparently 15 years of friendship in, and Cody's finally. All it took was, like, seven or eight beers, three shots, and Cody could finally look at me in the eyes and say, I don't even think. Well, and your problem with it was. Was because you were kind of assuming I was maybe the human average. Yes. So you were always. So. Your accomplishments compared to me, while still impressive, you're like, okay, well, maybe it's not that big of a deal if Nick's the average, maybe. And you. And. And you were a great basketball player. You played wide receiver. You were. You were yourself an athlete until you broke or tore something. I can't remember. [00:27:23] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, tore. But we're good. [00:27:25] Speaker A: Yeah, tore. And so. So I know that about you, but you're just. But then you're like, so now my question to you is, Cody, knowing that I agree with this, by the way, I. 100% it has come to. It is. It is in my later years of life, if we were to give me. If you were to look at me like a video game character, I am a. I am definitely negative percentage on hand eye coordination in a way that is like, if I. Because. And, you know, you're negative on something like this, because the. The second you do anything impressive hand eye coordination wise, the amount of applause I get be like, wow, Nick, you did. [00:28:01] Speaker B: Wow. I remember we were here on a beach in San Diego playing catch, and we were trying to catch the ball one handed. And I had done it at this point probably a hundred times. And Nick, the first time Nick did it, he fucking spoke. We're both like, brother. [00:28:15] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly, man. Playing basketball. I remember playing basketball with Fred, like, we would do lightning that game. Lightning. [00:28:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:22] Speaker A: Usually I'm first out, but, man, sometimes I drain that one ice shot to get someone out the way that would hype up people compared to the fact that everyone else is doing this. So I want to say. I wanted to say thank. I appreciate the honesty. [00:28:40] Speaker B: That really did happen, by the way, between episodes. So. [00:28:43] Speaker A: Yeah, no. Was a really big moment for him. He's like, I gotta tell you about this, man. Like, it's coming up. Okay. [00:28:49] Speaker B: Anti hero Nick. [00:28:50] Speaker A: I said all of that to waste time because I thought my brain would help me. I am scared. I'm terrified if I'm looking at these two. And it just comes down to, which song do I want to listen to, though? You got to go cruel summer. That's where, honestly, a lot of this just comes down to, if I be honest with you. [00:29:07] Speaker B: I think you're right here. I think you are the right one. [00:29:10] Speaker A: I appreciate that. [00:29:11] Speaker B: I'm the wrong one. And I. This is probably the first time in the history of the show I felt that way. [00:29:16] Speaker A: And all it took and, hey. Just took you having to be sober. Have you been drunk all the way? This makes me now wonder, how drunk are you during all of our other recordings, if you can finally agree with me, because I do know you're sober right now. [00:29:27] Speaker B: I'm fine. I'm, you know. [00:29:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Hey, man, what does that even mean? [00:29:32] Speaker B: Are we counting beers? I don't know. [00:29:34] Speaker A: Yeah. What are you, my doctor all of a sudden? Got to ask me how much I've had to drink today? [00:29:40] Speaker B: Get out of here. I'm not going to drive, Nick. But here's the thing. You get to pick the flip, and you have really bad flip flops. So let's go. [00:29:48] Speaker A: Let's do it, folks. We are back at it again. Random.org. george Bush facing up. John Kerry on the other side. Low seed gets to pick again. It's still me. I mean, I. It's still bush for the cruelest of summers. Yeah. It's just a lot of people suffered a lot under his. Under a lot. [00:30:04] Speaker B: A lot. Suffered a lot of summers. [00:30:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So we're gonna. We're gonna flip. That's bush, baby. [00:30:10] Speaker B: Baby. There we go. [00:30:11] Speaker A: Look, I did it, Cody. I flipped a coin. [00:30:13] Speaker B: Yay. [00:30:14] Speaker A: I flipped a coin and got it right. [00:30:16] Speaker B: Nick's so good. [00:30:18] Speaker A: He's so imp. Oh, my God, dude, I'll never forget this. I was in, like. It was. I was in the third grade. I'm on, like, you know, kids basketball. And the only reason I'm even playing is because I'm tall and the best friend. My best friend is the coach's kid. [00:30:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:33] Speaker A: And so I'm out there. We've probably played ten games at this point, right? We're towards. We are towards the end of the season. This. If this isn't the last game, it's close to the last game, and someone passed me the ball. I jack it up. It goes in. The entire audience erupted with applause. Like, the game. Like, I thought I. Like, I was like, part of me was like, wait, did the clock over? Did I hit a buzzer beater? Like, the pride of every parent. Not just my team's parents, the other team being like, this poor kid. Look at this average man. Like, that's the thing. I look like I should be able to do something, you know, like, oh, folks, you know who can do a lot? [00:31:15] Speaker B: Taylor Swift. [00:31:16] Speaker A: She's done a lot. She did a lot for us. Our friendship obviously brought us. She brought us closer. At the end of the day, I. [00:31:21] Speaker B: Can'T wait to see her fight Becky lynch. Dude. [00:31:23] Speaker A: Dude. Hey, if that. By the way, tmtmtm on that. We get it. [00:31:27] Speaker B: I want a half a percent. [00:31:30] Speaker A: Yeah, that's it. All I'm asking for. Yeah, I'll take a hat. So one full percentage point. [00:31:34] Speaker B: Yes. [00:31:35] Speaker A: But for bringing this up and then ringside and ringside tickets, I'll settle for a box. [00:31:42] Speaker B: Oh, that's fair. [00:31:43] Speaker A: That's fine, too. [00:31:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:44] Speaker A: All right, folks, cruel summer, the champion of the Taylor Swift bracket. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of friendly competition podcast. If you want to know about your boys, a few things that you can do, as always, share with a friend, tell a friend, wherever you're listening to us, make sure you hit that. Like that. Follow that, subscribe, give us those five stars wherever you can. And, uh, I think that's all stuff, right? [00:32:07] Speaker B: And believe in yourself. [00:32:08] Speaker A: And believe in yourself as always. Yes. [00:32:11] Speaker B: And follow us on all our social media. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. I mean, Twitter's dead. Fuck Twitter. But you can still follow us on there. If you have an idea for 16 team tournament, or if you want to send us an email about how great it was to hear us, just brighten your day. That's great. We love that email. Says a friendly cupboard podcast. Mail.com. [00:32:28] Speaker A: If you. If you liked Group D, email us. Tell us. Let me know. Why? Because maybe. Maybe that's what? If that, like, pops, everyone's like, no, that's what we want to see you guys do it. Shout out to shout out to Charizard for that intro to music. You want to hear more of their stuff? And over to band camp, type in Charizard. Replace the vowels with sixes. That is going to be it for us, folks. We got a new season coming out on Monday, but until then, I've been Nick Carey. [00:32:53] Speaker B: And I'm Cody Lena in the boat.