[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. Discuss various pop culture topics and narrow it down to truly the best of all time.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Or as we like to call it, the pope. Before they can step foot on the boat, we put him into a sweet 16 style tournament, and we argue each round till we decide a winner. Nick, what criteria do we use when we decided steps foot on the boat?
[00:00:44] Speaker A: Whatever the hell we want. Cody, you want to tell them what we're talking about this season?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Absolutely. We're talking about America's girl next door, the queen of the catchy chorus. We're talking about T. Swift, baby. All my swifties in the house.
I was gonna say raise your blouse, but that doesn't seem appropriate.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Yeah, no, no, that's very against. That would be very against the whole vibe, the whole.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Ruined by that.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: Yes, folks, we are here to talk about Taylor Swift. A few things to. I just. I feel like we gotta. We gotta bring it up. This is.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Have to bring it up.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: We have to bring it up and we have to bring it up every time. This is our four year. We've been doing this for four years for y'all, but also four years for us. A whole presidential term, a whole olympic cycle has occurred.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: You gotta elect us again, by the way. We.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Oh. If the other friendly competition wins, I'm gonna fucking fight them.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: I don't even think they're actively doing anything.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: They're not. They did three episodes and they still won't fucking delete their shit. Yeah.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: I'm like, just go.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: They're messing up our SEO dog.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Because whatever. They were obviously with some kind of tea. Anyway. It's not important. What is important is that. Details is that now we. We thank you all. There's also 500 episodes, and in the last.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: This 1500.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: This one right now is 500. And we said in the last episode, we're going to give you something special. And here's what you're getting, folks. Not only you're getting Taylor Swift, the.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: World'S greatest American, maybe she's Iron man for America.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: We'll get pretty close. I mean, not. Yeah. Like, if we had to pick best Americans right now, like, she's top five. Top five. Like, if you're putting up. If the aliens are like, hey, I need. I need to be the most representative of your. Of your place. I would go, Taylor. Like, I'd be like, she's not.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah, she's not a bad choice. Yeah. John, Cena, if you're saying she speaks for a generation. Absolutely. We should get to the. The real details that matter before we get lost.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: No, no, no. Because we'll get to that detail because this explains a lot, but I'm not done with this conversation.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Okay, good.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: Or five aliens come down. They want your five. Like, who is. Give us your best Americans. Give us. This is America to me. And I. I'll just say right now. It has to be right now, you know, worrying about, like, across time best Americans. Taylor Swift.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: I'm either between John Cena or Dwayne. Who are you?
[00:03:13] Speaker B: I'd go John Cena. Honestly.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: John Cena, because of the. Honestly, because of the work with the kids with Miracle Network.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: He's doing it. He's out there. He's done the most make wishes anyone's ever done. That's America, baby.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: That's pretty. That's pretty awesome. And he's. Yeah. So are you got Taylor Swift, John Cena, beyond. I'm going to say Beyonce.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Beyonce. It's got to be on the list, right?
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Like, that's. I didn't think that that's. Yeah, we don't even have to worry about that one.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: Um, just nurses in general.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Well, no, other places have nurses. Here's the problem.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: American nurses.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: I get what you're trying to. I understand.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: What can I say? Teachers.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: Yes. I understand what you want to do, and that's fair, and that's very noble, but. But that's. That's not gonna. The aliens just want our best, so I'm.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Okay. That's fair.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: So steel.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Because. Because steel.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Steel would be a wild. What he got.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: He shows up, right? Shows it up. Scar on his face, and they're like, what do you bring? And he sings. He got pipes. And then he sings kiss from a rose. And it's mysterious because America's mysterious. Who knows our imaginations.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: I don't think we have seal, though. I don't think seals ours.
He's got to be ours. I don't. I'm pretty sure he's british. British singer song, british musician. So we don't. So we don't get him.
[00:04:37] Speaker B: Okay, we got to get to the main detail.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: Okay, hold on, hold on. All right, let's get to it. LeBron James and Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Okay, there we go.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: Okay, yeah, that's fine.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: We moving on. All right, folks. We.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Sean Johnson. No. Can we get, like, a gymnast or something?
[00:04:53] Speaker A: Nathan Miles. I'll go. Simone.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: Let's go. Hey, about Nathan Chan. He is a multiple time world championship figure skater. He's set. He's the first guy to do a quad. He's literally set figure skating ahead ten years. He's american. Let's go.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:08] Speaker B: Oh, and by the way, he did it all before feet decided to stop to go get his degree.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: I'll take it. All right, moving on, folks. We're drunk. That wasn't obvious. This is also the extra bonus. We've. We've had a lot of requests to do this. We've. We've hesitated. We've. For good reason. I think even in this moment, I'm immediately regretting.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Rough.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah. But we're doing it, folks. We're putting this live on air for anyone to hear in the future. So that's also fun.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Lawyers, future friends.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: I don't know, my children. Hello?
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Hello?
[00:05:45] Speaker A: So good. Hey, it's your pops.
At least it's audio. And my dick's just not out on the Internet, you know, I have to.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: Keep looking at it. And it's. I mean, it's a choice he made.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. But no one else has to. And that's. And I think if you can, you will have friends whose parents dicks are on the Internet and your dad won't be one of them. So I think that's really the thing that's beautiful here. But you know what else is beautiful? The music of Taylor Swift. Cody.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:14] Speaker A: We are here to talk.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: Yeah, we're getting into the music of Taylor Swift, as I want to make sure this is known as chosen by the fans of the show. So that 16 songs you're going to hear were all chosen by people of the show. Were some of them nick?
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Yes, one of them is very much nick. We will tell you when it happens. It will be the most obvious thing because you're back. Huh? But we. But, yes. Thank you to all the motoboaters out there who, when we put the call out, you let us know your favorite songs. And so what we did was we took those 16.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: We.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: We have our sweet 16 bracket. We sent that off to our bracketologist. They gave it back to us. And now we're going to break this down via each diff, you know, quadrant. And then we will get to that. And then each champion of those will go and compete in the final four. Here we are in group A, where we have. Oh, dimension. We randomized it. Just to be very clear, we didn't.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: Randomized it or bracketologists. And they did the work, and they do the work.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: They send it back to us. And this is Group A, folks, with the number one seed, we have the last great american dynasty going up against the 16 seed all too well. The ten minute version, folks. Of course. Don't you worry. And then we have the eight seed love story going up against the nine seed August.
Cody, where do you want to start? Also, before you do start, I want to point out to the folks, Cody is obviously listening to Taylor Swift throughout life. He lives in America.
The 16 songs that we will talk about are on a playlist. You can go to. It's FCP, Taylor Swift, and you can listen to all 16 songs that we're going to talk about. I gave this to Cody today as discussing this.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: I listened to all of it.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: So now he's like, he knows I'm.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: A.
I'm so deep in the paint and swiftiness. You don't even know, dude.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: So. So, Cody.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: Where do you want to start?
[00:08:09] Speaker B: I have a lot of opinions about one in 16. Let's start at the top. Mike, too. Okay.
[00:08:14] Speaker A: Okay. This I will say right now of the. If you look at Taylor Swift as, like, a storyteller, if that's why. Of course she is.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: She's american storyteller.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: She's a master story, you know, 100%. But if that's why you come to Taylor Swift, this is, to me, a very classic. This is a very FCP thing, where the two best story songs that she has, like, the two that just arguably, you're just, like, involved in one more autobiographical, one more fictional. These are those two. These to be her best. Yeah.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: Great story, bro. Awesome. God, you brought it up. Here's the problem. As someone who listens to music a lot and enjoys music, these are the two worst songs of the 16. They're both awful. One, first of all, the great american dynasty. Actually, I'm gonna. I'll throw my hand out there. It's better than all too well. The ten minute version. My wife has assured me there's a version that's not ten minutes. But I listen to the ten. Hey, shut up, Nick. I listen to the ten minute version, and if you're gonna do a ten minute song, you are putting yourself up there with the likes of Queen. You're putting yourself up there with the likes of free bird. There wasn't a single guitar solo in any of this shit. No drum solo. There wasn't a single good riff in this whole song. If you're gonna do a ten minute song, you gotta let the band play. What, are they just gonna play fucking. Fucking double roles in the background?
[00:09:37] Speaker A: The whole time.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: Are you kidding me? Taylor Swift? You're gonna do ten minutes, and you didn't let one person in the band get a hand on the ball?
[00:09:45] Speaker A: I. So, as someone who is. I love that you just listen to these songs. So we are getting. We are getting the most pure reaction from someone. So, like, you do not have lore.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: No, you do not quit, Nick, I'm gonna be honest with you. I quit all too well at about eight minutes, and I was like, okay, I get it. Like, I get it. And that's the only song on the whole playlist, by the way, that I did that to.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: I mean, to be fair, it is ten minutes.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: It's ten minutes of, like, not a single. Okay. Four minutes into free bird, I get the free bird guitar solo.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: Right? So, like. Right, right. Okay. But. Okay, hold on. Okay. No, I was gonna. I was. I don't want to be hoisting my own bertard. I was gonna say bohemian Rhapsody. What is the.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: One of the most iconic guitar solos of all time?
[00:10:32] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I saw myself. That's why I saw myself. Anyway, here's the thing.
[00:10:35] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: So, between. All right. I mean, all too well. Do you. I'm gonna give you that. I have to give you some of this history just so you can go ahead.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: The scope of it.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: So, all too well.
So, you know, the album red drops, and people gravitate towards this song all too well. They really love it. They're asking her about it because it's very clear if, you know, it doesn't take a genius to be like. She mentions that a boyfriend didn't show up at her 21st birthday party. Everyone can point to she was dating Jake Gyllenhaal at that time.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it's easy.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: So people are like, hey, that's the song about Jake Gyllenhaal. What can you tell us more about it? And she's very open to talking about it, but she mentions in press that there is this long. There is a full ten minute verse. She's like, I just was taken over. It felt like I was, like, consumed by a spirit, and I just never stopped. I just.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: But here's the thing, dude. I wish it was the spirit of music, because that would have been so good. Like, if the spirit jazz took her over and it was, like, the end of that drum movie. I don't even remember what it's called. It was, like, if she, like, had the spirit of music, take her over, and she just shredded a solo. Great. I don't want to hear you complain for t. Okay.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: I love Taylor Swift. I'm not saying that she. All she does is complain, but you're complaining, and that's three minutes, man. You can only do complaining song for three minutes.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: Okay. Can I tell you song.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: It has to revolutionize my life.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: I understand. Can I tell you how I view this song and see if that. If that. If you can even place yourself in my shoes. And how I see this. I see this as a torture scene where Jake Gyllenhaal is on the chair, and she. Because you have to, like, no matter what, throughout her history, she's either been very specific with who she's targeting or. Or it's so vague that it's just people making wild accusations and assumptions and that, like. So that. That speaks to how she. How her malice.
She hates Jake Gyllenhaal.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:38] Speaker A: For doing what he did.
[00:12:39] Speaker B: She hates illegally blind, man.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: That's fine. I don't. That's new, by the way.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Hey, let's.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Hey, I. I just saw that article two today. That's a new fact about this, man. I don't know. He. I don't know why he didn't drop it the second Taylor.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: No, no, Nick, here's the thing. The reason I'm pissed off about that is because I'm also legally blind, but I wear glasses and contacts, so I'm not, like, oh, that's. Like, I'm legally blind. Yeah, dude, a lot of us are.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: That's. I was, like, pretty confident I'm tech. Like, buying prescription is legally. But, like, I would never say that, because guess what? I don't. I can correct it. So, anyway, so maybe we should all hate Jake Gyllenhaal. That's a great point.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Yeah, we should, actually. The point.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: But here's how I see this ten minute song is this is. This is him sitting in the chair, duct taped to the chair, and it is her getting to dissect him in front of the world.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: And, like, not.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: And the world erupted with Pat. Like, they love this. Like, this is. I get. I I can see your side of this, that this is just kind of a long meandering. It doesn't really mean much, but the way in which you. You do have to recognize the way in which this has been adopted, the way that this is loved within the community. The fact, like, the little references to, like, the red scarf people, like, is that your virginity? And so that, like, hints at why she's pretty pissed at this guy.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: I totally understand what you're saying, and I get what you're saying, but, like, this song didn't do that. It, like, sparked a resurgence in his career. Jake Gyllenhaal is getting more movie parts than ever.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: That's like.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: I don't agree.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: I disagree. I fundamentally disagree with you, because the last movie that he did that was. That, like, was his big, like, hey, I'm Jake Gyllenhaal. I'm in a movie. Was a remake of Roadhouse.
That's nothing.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: That's not nothing. You get to be Patrick Swayze. I'm dread.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: Why would you ever.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: You don't my whole life to be Patrick Swayze.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: You would net. But there's a. Would you ever dare to step in Swayze shoes?
[00:14:43] Speaker B: I don't have that kind of convictions, but Gyllenhaal does.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: It's an insane thing to do. If you respected the man, you would never step in those shoes.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Totally fair. I understand what you're saying, but it's ten minutes, dude, and there's not a single guitar solo.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: I don't know what you want me to do.
I hear your guitar solo.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: I'm trying to listen to music, Nick. I'm trying to enjoy myself.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: I need you. Then, Cody, Cody, Cody. Then I need you. What I need you to do right now.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: Outside of being like, it's shorter and it's like, oh, that's why it's better.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: Is sell me on the last great american dynasty as a song. Because once again, I think if we're doing a Taylor swift bracket, you have to. It cannot just always be about music. It has to be about the lore, the, like, what it. How it impacts the swifties. And, like, last great american dynasty is a great song. I think it's. I love it. I. It's actually. If I were to say, what song do I actually want to listen to more? I would pick last great american dynasty.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: I would pick last great.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: But I need you. If we're not going to go with all too well, then you got to sell me.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: What do I have to sell you on? It's ten minutes of a mediocre song, nick. Here's the thing. We got 16 of Taylor Swift's best songs. They're all bangers, top to bottom, but in this bracket, I said at the beginning, I'll say it again. We got two of the lower ones. So would you rather spend three minutes or ten minutes listening to one of her lower songs? Neither one of these is gonna get very far. Okay. Sorry, Swift.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: If that's. If that's the truth, if that's how you feel, which I'm not. I'm not gonna fully, completely disagree. I'm not gonna just sit here and be like, no, no, no. I think these have the potential to go all the way. I'm not saying.
But what I am saying is, if that is true and if that's how you feel, I would then say, let. We should move on all too well. It's that it. It's the song she did on, like, she does it on SNL. And it's incredible. It's such a moving performance, whereas, like, the last game, dynasty, is just fun. It's light.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:16:55] Speaker A: Nothing to it.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Here's the thing. My wife. I'm. And my wife is very knowledgeable, and she has assured me that there's a version that's not ten minutes long. And I will tell you.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: I will tell you. I don't think it's as good. I think.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: I think, no, it's better because it's not ten minutes long. Here's the thing. Taylor Swift is great at catchy choruses. Barely remember, like, her lyrics are great. She's very fun. She's not built to do a ten minute epic. This is not Taylor. Swiss ballpark. Get the fuck out of here. G swept. But if we're going with the three minute version, I'll give it to you. If I can just pretend for this round. Cause I guarantee she's not getting out of the next. That's fine. I'll give it to you.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: I mean, I'm. I'll take that. I'll take that. I will. I will take that knowledge. Um, if that's. If that's how we gotta play this game, I will say, I do want you to then listen to the. The. I think with the shorter version, miss it. It does feel like knowing that you have both versions. Once you listen to ten and you have every detail of the story, I think the shorter version feels like you're missing very crucial details of that. You're like, you gotta jump ahead a little bit.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: Here's the thing. I understand where you're coming from. You're a lore keeper. You're trying to keep the tomes. As someone who wants to listen to music and doesn't give a shit about the lore. It's just a longer version of a song that's not that good.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: Okay, that's fine. We're gonna. Hey, it sounds like we're moving all too well on. Perfect.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: All right, that's as long as. That's as long as we can agree that we'll do it. We can. However you need. Whatever you need for yourself to tell yourself. Let's move it on. All right, next up, we have the eight seed love story going up against the nine seed. August.
Cody, tell me about it. Tell me about your experience.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: Okay, now I got experience. I actually knew both these songs. Katherine likes the August album, whatever that one is. I've listened to it a couple times.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: Folklore. That's it. This is a folklore. Cut. This is the.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: You can't exist on earth without having heard love story. There's no way in hell. Right? But I've noticed. I've noticed some.
[00:18:54] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: Taylor Swift, before she got good, you can tell there's an instant, like, not good. She was always a pop princess, right?
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Yeah, of course.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: Before she transcended to people like me who are like, oh, wait, she's good.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: Right? Right. Yes.
[00:19:08] Speaker B: When she was doing her pop country shit. The second. And this is usually the opposite, so don't take this advice. But the second she got rid of banjo, she got good. Obviously, I would usually say add banjo because banjo's great, but the second she got rid of banjo, she was good. Love story is a banjo song.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: I was like. I was like, oh, I really thought.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: There'S a banjo shredding the whole time in the background for no reason.
Lyrically, God, I am drunk. Lyrically, she talks about, like, Romeo, sammy. And then for some reason, she throws the scarlet letter in and it just makes me feel so much like, oh, you are literally a senior in high school, and you're just using book titles that you read like, oh, good for you. I'm so glad. And that, hey, man, that's played out in the future. She's got good reading comprehension. I like that.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: I would actually argue that she doesn't. This is none of her references because she's like, they don't make sense sometimes.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: Like, when she's, like, when she talks about Romeo and Juliet, and my daddy said, stay away from Juliet. Like, romeo never proposes to Juliet. They die. Like. And then the scarlet letter is, like, there's to reference. That would imply you've done something so treacherous. And you're like, I've had a crush.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: I have scarlet letter now. With who? With your family, with your school? Who's got this.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: Like, yeah, like, where is this coming? Because the scarlet letter is for adultery, which you are not referencing.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: And if you were, or if you're even doing it at another level, it's witchcraft and Taylor Swift. Right now. You're in your country era. You are not doing witchcraft. Dog not at all.
[00:20:46] Speaker A: Here's. I have to. All right. Hearing what yours. I get it 100% because I do think this is a really. I think what I love about this matchup is you are getting first edition Taylor Swift version 1.0.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: We have.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: This is the 1.0. This is like, she has perfected what she started. And this is the most perfect version of, like, 1.0. Taylor, this is. I mean, we're not Super Saiyan, but we're getting close. And so. Or maybe this is, like, saying one. Maybe. Yeah.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Anyway, this is Kaioken, where he first learned out of. It doesn't matter, but you get.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: It doesn't matter. So I like that. This is. You get to see that. And now you're seeing her almost in, like, a super Saiyan. Like, you're like, I don't even recognize this. Wait, this is the same. It has a monkey tail and blue hair. That's nothing what I expected. They are so different. Era jaunt. Like, even versions of her that and, like. And one. Here's the thing. I got my point. I figured it out. Thank you.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: Okay. Thank God.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: My point is, August is so clearly a betters. There is no way to deny it's a better song, dude, on every level. On every level. Here's the thing about love story, in the way that pop music can be kind of stupid. And, like, when you break it down lyrically, it's not a good exercise.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: I wear t shirts.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Yeah, we're gonna get there. We're gonna get there. And I'll probably say the exact same thing in how dumb and naive the lyrics are that almost makes it better than this. Perfectly crafted, where every single word and syllable and line and note is so heavily, like, considered. Because that's where she's such an artist at this point that you can tell she cares about every detail. And this is just a kid who's like, I think I write catchy tunes and, like. And I think there's something. So I'm gonna move to Nashville and.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: Write songs about my boyfriend. It's like, I like that. Yeah, no, I like that energy.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Cause we're so this. This is still at the point where this can fail.
Like, this can fail. Like, she, like, Lian Rimes is a great example in country music of female artists who are very big, very young, and the machine turned against them. To be very clear, Leanne Rimes decided she wanted to be a woman. And they were like, well, you're a little girl. And she's like, I'm a woman. And then the machine turned on her. So Taylor Swift is at that moment.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: Like, meets it. And now, because she does that, she gets to make August, which is, like, clearly shows that, like, oh, you were truly, like.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: I think the problem comes, though, like, if I had to listen to these songs, I want to pick August every time. Love story is fine. I mean, it gives, it gives us Taylor Swift. It's our introduction to Taylor Swift. But as far as, like, songs, it's not even that good from a pop structure. Like, it's. It's fine. It's bubblegum pop. This was her door.
[00:23:44] Speaker A: Hey, brother. Hey, my brother. I I'm gonna. I can already tell. Starting right now, there's a reason why we don't do music brackets, and it's wild that we're doing two back to back.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: I've even. We took such a long break. Thank you all for coming back to us, by the way. We appreciate that. We took such a long break in between these two that I didn't even think about the fact that these are two music brackets, and we've only ever done five in out of 500 episodes. 1% of them have to do with music. That's crazy. You and I are friends because of.
[00:24:18] Speaker B: Me, and we love music.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: Yeah, we love it so much. But we have actively avoided talking about it because clearly it's not a. It will. We are never going to be on the same side. Because here's the issue. Here's the issue.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: So I will. I can completely agree with you on the musicality and, like, what is the better song? But in the way in which I will try to, like, reference to you, like, one's about bigger hit, for whatever reason, I'm going to tell you right now that I. We can go straight to the coin because I am for sure. Okay, great. Because I'm going. Because I'm going love story. Because if it were not for this song, this song releases right before the beginning of my senior year. I see the music video for it and I immediately am like, that's what I'm going to dress like for prop.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: Okay, here's the thing I fucking get so pissed off with you about is that you're always like, oh, you just pick the. You pick the song you like the most. You pick whatever you like to listen to.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: This is dog.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: You pick songs that have ridiculous life story intra intra involved in your life, and all of a sudden I suppose you're like, that's fine. Fuck you, man. It's obvious every time.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Feel it, feel that feel it. I need you to feel that.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Hey, because I just want to say, also for the record, who gets the threats when we do music seasons? Who do you think is like, I'm not worried about it. I'm not afraid to do music seasons. Nick's like, oh, I can't do music season. Me and Cody disagree. Oh, do we disagree? Or does the world disagree with Nick? And he gets. He's tired of the email.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: No, it's not that. So what we're gonna. So we will. So we will go to the american voting coin of 2004 as brought to you by random.org. low seed gets a pick. That's gonna be. Yeah. Low seed. Wait, low seed picks? Yes, low seed. Oh. Why? High pick would make more. The highest seed would make way more sense because that would imply that you're the loser. Like, that.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: You're.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: Wait. We've been doing this, dog. We've seen years and 500 episodes. We. I. Because I was, like, saying it the way I always know.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: It's because we agreed that we both are very negative people. So we both agree that winter has the disadvantage.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: And. Yeah, we're like, no, no, no.
[00:26:30] Speaker B: I don't want.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: No. Hey, no, no, no. Here's the way I see it.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:26:33] Speaker A: If you're the cause, low seed implies that you're actually better than. Yeah.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: You're fighting your way up. Yeah. This is your chance, dog.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: Wait, no, wait. That's never how we've done it, though. It's. Oh. We've always said low seed, but we've always meant the lowest number. The lowest number. So it's 9 August, dog. Why? This is breaking. No, it's always because. Okay. No, it's. We always say the lowest seed gets a pick. Nine is lower than.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: Lower than eight. Yes. On a line.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: On a line.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: On a graph.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: Damn, dog. We are. Wow. We're gonna do all of these. I don't. I can't. I can't wait to know if these end up in a vault somewhere that will be released upon one of our deaths. I don't know.
[00:27:12] Speaker B: Well, I'll decide. I'll edit tomorrow, maybe, and I'll.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: Well, we're gonna see. We got. We have three more episodes and we got way more drinks to have, so.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: That's true. It's only fucking.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: What is our. The guarantee? We said the rules were one. One drink an episode for sure. Figure it out.
[00:27:26] Speaker B: It doesn't. We don't. Hey, Nick, we say the rules. I'm already drunk. If we say the rules that we put ourselves, we're just going to keep. We're going to ride the walrus. Yes.
[00:27:34] Speaker A: All right.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: The rule is we will ride the walrus.
[00:27:38] Speaker A: Low seed in this. Between eight and nine is August, which is. Cody.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:27:44] Speaker A: So we've always done it. I cannot believe that I. That I've not. That this has not come up sooner and that I haven't been this fucked up about it. All right, I'm going to. George Bush facing us.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: No, no, I'm.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: John Kerry is on the other side.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: George W. Bush loves Taylor Swift, dude, if. If anyone regrets not having Taylor Swift babysit their kids, it's George W. Bush.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: It's wild. That. That is one of the more wild stories. That's like. Oh, yeah. That's the circle she was in, by the way. Is that.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Yeah. President.
[00:28:11] Speaker A: She was. She was babysitting.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: I grew up in the ghetto, girl. You. Your family made millions a year. I'm not. You're like the Elon musk of music. Calm down.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: I had no. I did this all on my own. Well, your dad maybe had some stock in a record company when you started anyway, Cody. So you're saying. George Bush.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: A bush baby.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: All right, we'll flip. That's a bush baby.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: Baby.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: Bush baby. All right, all right. Okay. Well. Damn it. Now this is going to be even worse because I'm. There's. I am.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: I'm. Dude, I'm not.
[00:28:41] Speaker A: I'm against August. I'm sorry. We don't. I don't know how much more we have to say, to be honest.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: Let's just get it over with.
[00:28:46] Speaker A: But I think we've talked a lot.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: A ten minute song? Nick, can I.
[00:28:50] Speaker A: The lore.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Nick, you don't.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: This is for the lore, Nick.
[00:28:54] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. No.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: Sh.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: Okay, I understand. For the lore. Okay, let's. Let's, like. Let's get the lore out of the room. Let's get jokes out of the room. This is very serious we're talking about, right? If you have to listen to a ten minute song, would you rather it has the guitar solo from free bird in it or it doesn't?
[00:29:12] Speaker A: That's not a fair question.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: That's. No.
[00:29:14] Speaker A: That.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Shut up. Answer the question.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: I would like to. I would love a song. I would love to have a song. Have the free bird.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: Okay, cool. I'm walking in August, then.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: Okay, I'm. I'm locking in.
[00:29:25] Speaker B: I'm not going to listen to a song that's ten minutes long. If it doesn't have the free bird solo or the solo from Bohemian Rhapsody, I'm sorry, I just can't do it.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: That's fair. And you're. I, once again, this comes down to 100%. This is. I'm just so glad that the roles are flipped. This is very fun for me to be in the antagonistic position where I know I'm wrong, but I'm going. I will. I will bulldoze.
[00:29:50] Speaker B: So every time you think you're wrong in bulldozing, you get the bad emails.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: Don't even worry about.
[00:29:56] Speaker B: I'm not worried about email.
[00:29:57] Speaker A: Stop, dog. Okay, okay.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: You get. Okay, let's do low seed gets a pick.
[00:30:02] Speaker A: That's me with the 16 seed. Because even. Even the bracketologists going back to our early days would acknowledge, this ain't it.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: This ain't it.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: This ain't it, dog. But here we are. All too well. I'm gonna. This is a John Kerry ass song. This is the most John Carrie.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Long as fuck and didn't get anywhere.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. All right. We'll flip George Bush.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: Bush, baby. Get out of here.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: Wow.
Starting to lose faith in God already. That's fine. Didn't think it would happen on the first bracket. Usually takes a little bit longer. But, hey, who am I? You know? Who am I?
All right, folks, August off of the folklore album, moving on into the final four, we'll go up against the champions of Group B, C and D. But you gotta listen to those as they come out over the next two weeks. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of friendly competition. If you want to help out your boys, a few things that you can do, as always, tell a friend, share this with a friend. Wherever you listen to this, make sure you hit that, follow that, subscribe. And if you can give five stars, well, by golly, we'd sure love you to give us all five of them.
[00:31:16] Speaker B: If you could absolutely just give us five. False. On all our social media, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. I know Nick doesn't post.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: He's.
[00:31:22] Speaker B: He's trying, though. Look at him.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: Twitter will never. Twitter's never going to happen again.
[00:31:26] Speaker B: But we can send him encouragement, though.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: But Facebook and Instagram. We're back. We're back. We're back.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: We're back in the.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: We're back. We're back. I feel it. I feel it in my heart also, probably because I'm a little drunk with Nick. Sober is usually very against this, but I feel. I'm back. I'm back. We're back. The poster back.
[00:31:44] Speaker B: We're back.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: We're back. This is it. This is the rebrand this is the episode not changing, I would say.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: I want to say we're back, but literally it's the first time Nick is going to consistently post. So we're there. Email us if you have other examples of Nick not posting.
[email protected] four seasons as always, shout outs.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: To charizard for that intro to music. You want to hear more of their stuff? Headed over to band camp, type in charizard. Replace those vowels with sixes. That is it for us, folks. We got group B coming out on Wednesday, but until then, I've been Nick Carey.
[00:32:22] Speaker B: And I'm Cody see on the boat.
